"Ha! what mean you?"
"Nothing. Kneel while I hang this amulet about thy neck."
Attaching to it a strand of her own long hair, she suspended it about his neck as he kneeled before her, chanting,
"Mystic charm, Shield from harm! Winds and waves, Be his slaves! Mortal, naught can injure thee, Spread thy sail and sweep the sea! Vengeance now is in thy hand. Be thy foe on sea or land! If thy oath be kept not well, Ill befall thee with this spell!"
Instantly thunder seemed to shake the hut, which was filled with a sulphurous flame, while a repetition of the sounds he had before heard filled him with consternation; and, ere he could rise to his feet, he was struck to the earth by an unseen hand.
When he recovered himself the hut was deserted, and, save a ray of moonlight streaming through the roof, buried in total darkness. Confused, his senses overpowered, and his imagination excited by the scenes he had been so prominent and passive an actor in, he left the hut, the door of which was wide open, sought his boat, and roused his men, who, save Lawrence, had fallen asleep.
Giving his orders briefly, he put out from the Witch's Isle, and at midnight stood on the deck of his vessel. Shortly afterward he got under weigh, sailed down the Narrows and put out to sea. When the morning broke, great was the surprise and delight of the worthy people of New Amsterdam to find that the stranger had departed as silently and mysteriously as he had come; and many were the sage conjectures ventured the following evening by the worthies that gathered, as usual, about the stoop of the "Boat and Anchor," as to his character; and, sooth to say, they hit not far from the truth.
CHAPTER IV.
"She saw the noble in the peasant's garb, And dared to love—nay, more, she dared to brave The world's dread frown, to follow him afar Amid the danger of the stormy wave."