WACOUSTA;
or
THE PROPHECY.
Volume Three of Three
by
John Richardson
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII |
| VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV |
CHAPTER I.
The night passed away without further event on board the schooner, yetin all the anxiety that might be supposed incident to men so perilouslysituated. Habits of long-since acquired superstition, too powerful tobe easily shaken off, moreover contributed to the dejection of themariners, among whom there were not wanting those who believed thesilent steersman was in reality what their comrade had represented,—animmaterial being, sent from the world of spirits to warn them of someimpending evil. What principally gave weight to this impression werethe repeated asseverations of Fuller, during the sleepless night passedby all on deck, that what he had seen was no other, could be no other,than a ghost! exhibiting in its hueless, fleshless cheek, thewell-known lineaments of one who was supposed to be no more: and, ifthe story of their comrade had needed confirmation among men in whomfaith in, rather than love for, the marvellous was a constitutionalingredient, the terrible effect that seemed to have been produced onCaptain de Haldimar by the same mysterious visitation would have beenmore than conclusive. The very appearance of the night, too, favouredthe delusion. The heavens, comparatively clear at the moment when thecanoe approached the vessel, became suddenly enveloped in the deepestgloom at its departure, as if to enshroud the course of