Part 8 (1/2)

The air was bright, the wind blew fresh He drank in great draughts of that delicious breeze, and the salt sea seemed to be inhaled at each breath

The sun shone brilliantly The sea rolled afar and all around, and sparkled before hihter, that [Greek: anaerithelasma] of which Aeschylus spoke in his deep love of the salt sea Speaking parenthetically, itepithets for the sea are the old Greek, the Scandinavian, and the Englishth and life with every breath, till at last he began to think once

But even yet he feared that when he entered that cabin the spell would be on hi it was intolerable Yet as to be done? To reo back to his rock was not to be thought of

But an effort et rid of this womanly fear; why should he yield to this? Surely there were other thoughts which he ht call to his mind There came over him the memory of that villain who had cast hi in his fancied success and bearing back to his ht of his father, and his wrongs, and his woe There ca hiht of those who yet lived and suffered in England, at the mercy of a pitiless enemy

Should he falter at a superstitious fancy, he--who, if he lived, had so great a purpose?

All superstitious fancy faded away The thirst for revenge, the sense of intolerable wrong arose Fear and horror died out utterly, destroyed by Vengeance

”The Presence, then, is o and face It”

And he walked resolutely, with a firm step, back into the cabin

Yet even then it needed all the new-born resolution which he had su, to sustain him as he entered that inner rooh hi, resolute, stubborn soul

[Illustration: ”THERE SEEMED A GHASTLY COMICALITY IN SUCH A THING AS THIS,” ETC]

The rooainst the side, which looked like a leaf which could hang down in case of necessity A trunk stood opposite the door, with the open lid projecting upward out of athe collar of a coat and part of the shoulders, the rest having apparently fallen away frouished; it was red, and the epaulets showed that it had belonged to a British officer

Brandon on entering took in all these details at a glance, and then his eyes were drawn to the berth at the end of the roo lay whose presence he had felt and feared, and which he knew by an internal conviction must be here

There It awaited him, on the berth Sand had covered it, like a coverlet, up to the neck, while beyond that protruded the head It was turned toward him: a bony, skeleton head, whose hollow cavities seeloomily at him--dark eyes fixed,years, watching wistfully for hih that doorway And this was the Being who had assisted hi of sand hich he had concealed hi him here before him Brandon stood motionless, mute The face was turned toward hihtful since it is the face of Death--the face of a skeleton The jaws had fallen apart, and that fearful grin which is fixed on the fleshless face here seemed like an effort at a s to that head, and hung down over the fleshless forehead, giving ita new horror to that which already pervaded this Dweller in the shi+p

”The nightmare Life-in-Death was he, That thicks men's blood with cold”

Brandon stood while his blood ran chill, and his breath came fast

If that Form had suddenly thrown off its sandy coverlet and risen to his feet, and advanced with extended hand to meet him, he would not have been surprised, nor would he have been one whit more horror-stricken

Brandon stood fixed He could not htid A spell was upon him His eyes seemed to fasten themselves on the hollow cavities of the Form before hiether sink Slowly his spirit rose; a thought of flight came, but it was instantly rejected The nextbreath ”I'm an infernal fool and coward,” he muttered

He took three steps forward, and stood beside the Figure He laid his hand firmly upon the head; the hair fell off at his touch ”Poor devil,”

said he, ”I'll bury your bones at any rate” The spell was broken, and Brandon was hiain

Once more Brandon walked out into the open air, but this tie of horror left He had encountered what he dreaded, and it was now in his eyes only a gle which had raged within him had exhausted him

The sea-breeze played about hith What next to do was the question, and after some deliberation he decided at once to remove the skeleton and bury it