THERE was an old and quiet man, ""Tis five-and-fifty years gone by, 66 A young man, in a home-bound ship, She was a trim, stout-timbered ship, A lovely thing on the wave was she, "For forty days, like a winged thing, She went before the gale, Nor all that time we slackened speed, She was a laden argosy Of wealth from the Spanish main, And the treasure hoards of a Portuguese Returning home again. "An old and silent man was he, And his face was yellow and lean; In the golden lands of Mexico A miner he had been. "His body was wasted, bent, and bowed And amid his gold he lay; Amid iron chests that were bound with brass And he watched them night and day. "No word he spoke to any on board, "But list ye me on the lone high seas, And I heard, from among those iron chests, I started to my feet, and, lo! "I heard it drop into the sea, With a heavy, splashing sound, And I saw the captain's bloody hands As he quickly turned him round; And he drew in his breath when me he saw Like one convulsed, whom the withering awe Of a spectre doth astound. "But I saw his white and palsied lips, When he turned in hurried haste away,- He was chained to the deck with his heavy guilt, « "Twas a cursed thing,' said I, to kill That old man in his sleep! And the plagues of the storm will come from him, Ten thousand fathoms deep! "And the plagues of the storm will follow us, "And he slowly lifted his bloody hand, His aching eyes to shade; But the blood that was wet did freeze his soul, And he shrinked like one afraid. "And even then-that very hour "I told no one within the ship For I saw the hand of God at work, And when they spoke of the murdered man, And the El Dorado hoard, They all surmised he had walked in dreams, "But I, alone, and the murderer, That dreadful thing did know, How he lay in his sin-a murdered man, "And many days, and many more And the heavy waves of that sleeping sea "And not a breeze came, east or west, And stifling was each breath we drew "Oh me! there was a smell of death "In his cabin, alone, the captain kept, And he bolted fast the door; And up and down the sailors walked, The captain's son was on board with us,— With a merry look, that all men loved, "I loved the child,—and I took his hand, And made him kneel, and pray That the crime, for which the calm was sent, Might be purged clean away. "For I thought that God would hear his prayer, And set the vessel free; For a dreadful thing it was to lie Upon that charnel sea. Yet I told him not wherefore he prayed.— Nor why the calm was sent ; I would not give that knowledge dark To a soul so innocent. "At length I saw a little cloud Arise in that sky of flame; A little cloud, but it grew, and grew, And we saw the sea beneath its track And water-spouts, with a rushing sound, And all around, 'twixt sky and sea, A hollow wind did blow; And the waves were heaved from the ocean depths, And the ship rocked to and fro. "I knew it was that fierce death calm Its horrid hold undoing; And I saw the plagues of wind and storm "There was a yell in the gathering winds, And the captain rushed from the hold below, "He seized each rope with a madman's haste, And he set the helm to go; And every sail he crowded on As the furious winds did blow. "And away they went, like autumn leaves Before the tempest's rout; And the naked masts with a crash came down, The men to spars and splintered boards "And 'mid the creaking timber's din, And the roaring of the sea, 66 I heard the dismal, drowning cries, Of their last agony. There was a curse in the wind that blew,— And the captain knew that vengeance came |