Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

XXVII.

1505

While round the ship the crew their bodies lave,
And laugh and plunge beneath the lucid wave,
The naval youths, as near the chief they stood,
Descried the insatiate prowler of the flood,
And loudly call, with horror in their cry,
Shipmates, a shark! his jaws devouring fly!
Scar'd at the sound, no more the swimmers roam,
But toil and pant to gain their floating home;
Whom nimbly o'er the deep the fish pursues, 1510
As with a greedy eye their forms he views,
And oft his jaws distend with triple rows
Of pointed fangs, as on the wave he glows.
Paul scarce escapes with life-his stirring heel
The monster's glancing tooth is made to feel; 1515
With shrieks the brine he cleaves the side to gain,
And the crew, bending, raise him from the main.
Meantime a wily tar, on half-bent knee,

Throws out the bait, and watches mute the sea;
The shark is snar'd, amidst tumultuous cries, 1520
And haul'd on deck, a promontory lies.

teristic association in the minds of the crew, it may gratify curiosity to cite some from a frigate's battery. Main-deck :-Repeal of Orders in Council, Brother Jonathan, Washington, Mad Tom, Revenge, Liberty, Liberty or Death, Yankey Protection, Defiance, Wilful Murder, Rights of Man, Independence, Bunker's Hill, Full-blooded Yankey, Decatur, &c.

XXVIII.

In haste the ocean-monarch caught his spear,
And, gaily rising, to the spot drew near,
Where rushing on with shouts, the gallant crew.
Crowd round the shark, their vengeful foe to view.
A horrid monster, of enormous length,

Of bulk prodigious, and resistless strength,
Who, like a madd'ning thresher with his flail,
Destruction threatens as he lifts his tail.

The master-seaman, leaning o'er the wheel,* 1530
In the gay scene an interest seem'd to feel,
While ruddy Frank stood laughing by his side,
With Paul more serious, both in youthful pride:
So shine two roses, fresh with early bloom,
That from their native stalk dispense perfume. 1535
Loud sounds the gather'd storm-o'er all the floor
The thundering cloud of war is seen to pour;
And ever and anon, to charm the crowd,
Blind Shelty pipes a descant sweetly loud;
A hoary minstrel, cherish'd and rever'd
For his sweet pipe, and silver length of beard.

1540

Ships of burden are steered by a wheel, which stands on the after part of the quarter-deck, and communicates by the tiller-rope to the helm below.

Propp'd on his mace, the ocean-monarch stood,
And calm bespoke the wanderers of the flood:
One combatant, not all the hostile crew,
Should meet the foe in battle to subdue.

He said: the seamen their assent exprest,
And Neptune's counsel dwells in every breast.

1545

XXIX.

1550

Reuben, a cabin-boy, no whit dismay'd,
His fortune in the fray the first essay'd,
And a mess-bowl which in his hand he bore
Hurl'd at the shark, but shiver'd on the floor.
Then as the fish display'd his teeth, he took
With trembling joints to flight, and flying shook,
And bellow'd loud, amidst the revel rout
Of those who bade him put his ship about.

1555

XXX.

Sam Splice was near, a tar six feet at least,
A glutton feeder, dreadful at a feast;
Well fitted he to wrestle with the storm,
Of strength redoubtable, and giant form.
His scornful breast with indignation swell'd,
Aloft a fearful battle-axe he held;

1560

And as he swung it vengeful o'er the foe,
From the shark's tail met his own overthrow.*
Panting and sick, his body downward bends,
He shudders-staggers-on the deck descends;
And as he lay all mad and furious grew,
And execrations on the monster threw.

[ocr errors]

XXXI.

While on the plank outstretch'd the sailor lay,
A simple son of Afric seeks the fray;

Yarrow, a youth from Gambia's sultry shore, 1570
A sable, unsophisticated Moor.

His vest of purple left his dark arm bare,

His trowsers white were quilted with nice care,

The redoubtable strength of the shark, when hauled on board, was experienced by no less a personage than Napoleon in his passage to the rock of his ostracism. One afternoon (says Las Casas) the sailors on board the Northumberland caught an enormous shark. The Emperor enquired the cause of the great noise and confusion which he suddenly heard overhead; being informed of what had occurred, he expressed a wish to have a sight of the sea-monster. He accordingly went upon deck, and incautiously approached too near the animal, which by a sudden movement knocked down four or five of the sailors, and had well nigh broken the Emperor's legs. He descended the larboard gangway covered with blood; we thought he was severely hurt, but it proved to be only the blood of the shark.

Journal of Las Casas, vol. I.

His ear a ring adorn'd of golden sheen,
And gave a splendour to his graceful mien.
Tied in a true-love knot his 'kerchief blue
Hung on his breast, broad, open to the view;
A wreath of coral, braided round his brow,
Rivall'd the ruby of his full lip's glow;

A snowy turban on his head he wore,

1575

1580

And his whole garb proclaim'd him still a Moor.
Bondage had not subdued his innate grace-
His native majesty of form and face-

Beneath a milder planet at his birth,

He might have strode a sovereign of the earth,
Or, like Othello, at a senate's call,

1590

A nation rescued from oppression's thrall.
He was belov'd by all the naval band,
For, kind of heart, he ofttimes gave the hand
To poor blind Shelty, when his truant boy
Left him his hours in pastime to employ.
Propp'd on his spear, the child of nature stood
To contemplate the savage of the flood-
A wide mouth'd laugh his deep amaze express'd,
The lung's loud crow, the rapture of the breast,
And as the monster stretch'd, and roll'd his eyes,
The gaping negro shew'd a new surprize.

« AnteriorContinuar »