“‘The secrets of the earth lie open to me; but the invisible——Ha! I saw a goodly vine; I ate of the fruit of it—knowledge, domination, gold—and it hath turned to ashes in my mouth! My heart was empty, and I sought to satisfy it—with hate; and the void is but increased!
“‘What, then, is hate? Is’t a mere nullity? the walling-in of the soul?
“‘Behold, now, this cell, a place walled off; I banish the light of it. So.’ (He touched a knob upon the wall, and instantly there was thick darkness.)
“‘Without is light—light of the sun; but not a ray thereof can enter here. No; but, if it be dark without, and I throw up walls, and roof them about, and stop up every nook and cranny, can I keep out the darkness, as now I do the light? No; for darkness is nothing. It cannot be shut out: only I make it to vanish with light. So.’ (And, on a sudden, the cell was flooded with bright light.)
“‘And as with light and darkness, is’t not so, also, with good and evil, love and hate? Ha! I see it! I see it! I know thy efficacy, Almighty Good! thou only real power, substance, and principle, Spirit, the One Spirit! With my intellect, in which the truth is dawning, I see it.... But thou comest not into this heart——’”
At this juncture, the Englishman’s relation was interrupted; a great gun was shot off on the poop overhead; and, while the ship yet shook with the reverberation, there came a great shout of cheering thrice repeated.
I sprang to my feet, and, on a nod from the Englishman, went from the cabin to find out what this might mean.
CHAPTER VII.
A HORRIBLE VILLAIN.
I stayed not long in doubt. The steel-grey light of dawn shone upon the sea; and there, within half a mile astern of us, was a great ship flying the flag of St. George.
She was out after us; a consort belike of the vessel we had crippled in our scampering away. A very swift sailer she must have been, considering the speedy sailing we had made all along. But there was small gratulation on that score for the King’s ship now. For her foremast had gone by the board, shot away by our stern-chasers; and, having slewed right round, she lay wallowing in the troughs of the sea.