‘“No!” said the witch of Lapland.
‘The figure of Torquil Randa grew less and less distinct, and as it disappeared, the flame of the lamp brightened up again, and the ravens, which had nestled at Tronda’s feet, flew back to their perches on her chair.
‘The next day, the galley meanwhile lying not far from Cape Tiberoon, in Hispaniola, there came on board, in a small canoe, a Spanish girl, who seemed, shipmates, to have hardly life in her to climb up the low side of the galley. This girl was of a beauty rarely seen upon the earth, but those who looked upon the bright red spot in her white cheek, and the sickly flash of her black floating eyes, knew that there was hardly a month’s life flickering in her bosom; so she went slowly into the cabin, and fell upon her knees before the witch.
‘“Mother,” she said, “I am dying fast, as you can see. I have a lover, my betrothed. He is coming across the ocean to bid me farewell. Oh, that I might live to see him! I have little gold, but for what I have, grant him a fair breeze, that his ship may come to land before I die, and that I may give up my spirit in his arms.”
‘So saying, the Spanish girl held forth a piece of gold the size of a walnut. Tronda had opened her mouth to speak, when a third woman entered the cabin. She was a tall and haughty dame, and as she observed the dying girl, a smile like that of a fiend passed over her face. Her cheeks flushed, and her eyes glanced with the fire of deadly spite. The younger girl started back at her aspect, and then sunk all trembling and sobbing upon the floor.
‘Then the elder spoke thus—
‘“I hate that woman. She is my rival. She has won from me the man I love. I would prevent their meeting. She is poor, but I am rich. This, for a wind which will keep back his ship, until she be no more.”
‘With that, shipmates, the woman laid upon the table a lump of virgin ore, as big as a cocoa-nut. The other girl said nothing, but still held out her smaller offering. Tronda stood between them musing. At last, she took the large lump, and dropped it into the great chestfull at her feet.
‘“You shall have a baffling wind,” she said to the jealous rival. The poor girl, who was dying, rose feebly, and passed out weeping; the crew let her down with careful hands into her canoe.
‘But at the moment when Tronda had made her decision, the sudden moan of a hollow sounding wind passed through the air, and the galley rocked and laboured, as though an invisible hand had smote her. The witch remained long musing in the cabin, until, hearing the dash of oars, she rose and went on deck. The galley was deserted, the whole crew, embarked in the boats, were pulling fast for the land, while the horizon was again clouded as it had been when the witch drew lightning from the heavens. Tronda mounted upon the poop, and stretched forth her arms, to curse the faithless crew, when her eye suddenly fell upon Torquil, standing as he had stood, beneath the mainmast, when the levin bolt struck him. Then she forbore, and remained with drooping head, gazing into the sea below. But what was remarkable, was, that when the whole crew of the galley left her at once, instead of rising, she sunk still deeper in the water; and as a heavy swell began to lift and heave around, the ship rolled and pitched with a strange sickly motion.