"Be not, my brave Borasco, thus dismay'd, You know my love, and I will give thee aid. I grant thee leave to seek some human form In which the life-blood yet is flowing warm, Which from some sea-tossed, shattered wreck is torn, And on the shore by raging billows borne. Such you may enter, while your present form Returns to mingle with the air and storm. But also learn, the force of fire or steel, Like other mortals, you'll be doomed to feel; And if of mortal life you are bereft, You must resume the native form you left, And thence for ever in that shape remain, Nor e'er in human semblance shine again; And also, every year you most repair To this my court in that same form you wear, Leaving your mortal shape in seeming sleep, While for one day you stay beneath the deep. Such is, Borasco, tried and faithful friend, The best assistance which I now can lend." On hearing these words, the looks of the Spirit of the Storm brightened. He rose and made obeisance. "Thanks, mighty Sovereign," he exclaimed; "my hopes brighten, my courage returns. I will, with your permission, at once hasten and put into execution this most excellent plan. It must succeed, and cannot fail to secure my happiness; and I here promise to obey your mandates, and faithfully to return once a year, to pay my respects at your court." "Do so," replied Neptune; "but remember that I can give you power only over the form of a human being who in his lifetime has been guilty of many crimes. With the innocent and virtuous no Spirit must interfere. Now let our court break up; and, Kings of the Sea, and ye, great Spirits of the Wind and Air, disperse yourselves across the billowy main." On hearing these words the Spirits answered: "We fly, mighty Monarch, we fly at thy will, With tempest and tumult the ocean to fill; Where rocks and where sandbanks and whirlpools abound, And barks are hurled onward, we there shall be found." When the Spirits ceased speaking they dispersed, with a loud rushing sound, in all directions, while the Kings of the Sea, the Islands, and Rocks, retired with a more dignified pace, and the vast hall was left, as before, in solitude and silence. STORY SIX, CHAPTER FOUR. The seas were, in those days, infested by a band of pirates, who were possessed of several large ships, with which they defied all efforts to destroy them. The chief of the pirates was called Don Alonzo. Though very blood-thirsty and wicked, for he robbed all he met, and spared no one who made any resistance, he was very brave, and young, and handsome; indeed, on looking at him, few would believe that he could commit the crimes of which he was guilty. It happened that his ship, having separated from her consorts, was sailing across the Pacific.