The Water-Witch; Or, the Skimmer of the Seas: A TaleCooper, James Fenimore
General
The Water-Witch; Or, the Skimmer of the Seas: A Tale
Cooper, James Fenimore
Sea stories
My brigantine!
Trust to the mystic power that points thy way,
Trust to the eye that pierces from afar,
Trust the red meteors that around thee play,
And fearless trust the sea-green lady’s star;
Thou bark divine!
“He often sings thus,” whispered the boy, when the song was ended; “for
they say, the sea-green lady loves music that tells of the ocean, and
of her power.—Hark! he has bid me enter.”
“He did but touch the strings of the guitar, again, boy.”
“’Tis his signal, when the weather is fair. When we have the whistling
of the wind, and the roar of the water, then he has a louder call.”
Ludlow would have gladly listened longer; but the boy opened a door,
and, pointing the way to those he conducted, he silently vanished
himself, behind a curtain.
The visitors, more particularly the young commander of the Coquette,
found new subjects of admiration and wonder, on entering the main cabin
of the brigantine. The apartment, considering the size of the vessel,
was spacious and high. It received light from a couple of windows in
the stern, and it was evident that two smaller rooms, one on each of
the quarters, shared with it in this advantage. The space between these
state-rooms, as they are called in nautical language, necessarily
formed a deep alcove, which might be separated from the outer portion
of the cabin, by a curtain of crimson damask, that now hung in festoons
from a beam fashioned into a gilded cornice. A luxuriously-looking pile
of cushions, covered with red morocco, lay along the transom, in the
manner of an eastern divan; and against the bulk-head of each
state-room, stood an agrippina of mahogany, that was lined with the
same material. Neat and tasteful cases for books were suspended, here
and there; and the guitar which had so lately been used, lay on a small
table of some precious wood, that occupied the centre of the alcove.
There were also other implements, like those which occupy the leisure
of a cultivated but perhaps an effeminate rather than a vigorous mind,
scattered around, some evidently long neglected, and others appearing
to have been more recently in favor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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