Story 6--Chapter VII.
It required but one day to complete the year since the Princess Serena first beheld Alonzo, when, as they sat in her bower, watching the blue tranquil sea in the distance, he folded her in his arms, and told her, with a voice of tenderness, that he must for a short time quit her. In vain she endeavoured to draw from him the reason of his intended absence. He assured her that it would be but for a few short hours, that he must go to a distant part of the island, and that he would faithfully return. She entreated to be allowed to accompany him, but to that he could not consent. Had he entrusted his awful secret to her, though it would have terrified her to find that she had got a Spirit for a husband, it might have been happier for him.
Every argument which the Princess could use was employed in vain to induce the seeming Alonzo to remain; far more powerful were the stern decrees of Neptune. Once more pressing her to his heart, he tore himself from her, and rushed out along the beach till the tall rocks hid him from her sight. The Princess remained bathed in tears, and overcome with grief and forebodings of evil.
Meantime Alonzo wandered along the shore in search of some sequestered cavern, where he might leave in security the mortal form he wore, while he repaired, according to his bounden duty, to Neptune’s conclave. For some time he could not satisfy himself, for he was naturally fearful of being disturbed or injured. Far, far better would it have been had he entrusted his body to the safe and loving care of the Princess. At last he discovered a cavern which could only be entered from the sea. Inside it there was a small extent of sand and several ledges of dry rock, to which the waters never reached. Nothing could be better suited to his purpose; so, standing at the mouth of the cave, he stretched out his hand over the sea, and uttered this potent spell:—
“Haste, wandering form,
Dark mist o’er the main.
From wind and from storm,
I call thee again.
I once bade thee retire,
But now hither repair,
Whether glowing in fire,
Or sailing in air.
Again this stern spell,
Dark shape, thou must hear,
Come, come, whence you dwell,
Haste hither, appear!”
As he spoke a thick mist seemed to rise from the sea in the horizon, extending upward, and growing denser and denser, till it assumed the faint outlines of Borasco’s form. Then it glided forward, as if borne onward by a gentle wind, till it reached the mouth of the cavern. Meantime Alonzo placed himself on an upper ledge of the rock in an attitude of sleep, and forthwith his spirit passed into his proper form, from which an awful voice uttered these words:—
“Rest thee, mortal form, rest here,
Till I once again appear.
Cursed the hands that dare to smite thee,
Or by injury to blight thee.
Let with horror fate condemn them,
And the raging seas o’erwhelm them.”
While he was thus speaking, Borasco glided over the sea till he disappeared in the far distance.
Now it happened, as we have said, that the pirates, whom Alonzo had ordered to quit the island, instead of so doing, had hid themselves among the rocks on the sea-shore, waiting for an opportunity to wreak their vengeance on him; and as they were rowing along in their boat, they reached the mouth of the cavern in which he had left the body of Alonzo. Leaving their boat secured to a rock, they jumped on to the sand.
“Ah, here is a secure place indeed, where we may remain concealed though all the people of the island were hunting for us, till an opportunity occurs for punishing our traitor Captain,” said Almagro, who was now chief of the band, and was afraid, should Alonzo return, of losing his authority.
“It’s secure enough; but if the sea were to get up we should be caught, like mice in a trap,” observed Sancho, one of the lieutenants. “Why, where’s the boat?” As he spoke the boat drifted away from the cavern out of their reach.
“What clumsy fellow pretended to secure the boat? Ah, see, the sea is already rising,” ejaculated Almagro, in a tone of horror.
The pirates were now compelled to retire higher up the cavern. What was their astonishment when, as they reached the further end, they saw before them the very man they had been seeking, as they supposed fast asleep. Immediately they held consultation what should be done. Sancho, and some of the more merciful, were for binding him and carrying him off to their ship, but Almagro, who saw that thus his object would probably be defeated, was for destroying him while he slept. Several of the worst sided with him, and before Sancho could interfere, they sprang forward and plunged their daggers into Alonzo’s form. Scarcely had they done so, when loud peals of thunder echoed along the rocks, vivid lightning flashed from the skies, and the foaming waves rushed up into the cavern.
In vain the guilty and affrighted pirates fled into the interior of the cave. The angry waters foamed up on every side. Shrieking they fled from rock to rock; still the waves rose higher and higher, and swept them far off into the boiling sea, while the dead body of Alonzo was carried away into the depths of the ocean.