o land in what
seemed a copse of low trees, but in every instance I was deceived. Still
I pulled up that mysterious river, ignorant at the time of even its
name, praying only for one little spot of upland where I might camp.

While thus employed, I peered over my shoulder, into the gloom, and
beheld what seemed to be a vision; for, out of a cloud of mist rose the
skeleton lines of a large ship, with all its sails furled to the yards.
"A ship at anchor, and in this out-of-the-way place!" I ejaculated,
scarcely believing my eyes; but when I pointed the canoe towards it, and
again looked over my shoulder, the vision of hope was gone.

Again I saw tall masts cutting through the mists, but the ship's hull
could not be distinguished, and as I rowed towards the objects, first
the lower masts disappeared, then the topmasts dissolved, and later,
the topgallant and royal masts faded away. For half an hour I rowed
and rowed for that mysterious vessel, which was veiled and unveiled to
my sight. Never did so spectral an object haunt or thwart me. It seemed
to change its position on the water, as well as in the atmosphere, and
I was too busily employed in trying to reach it to discover in the
darkness that the current, which I could not distinguish from smooth
water, was whirling me down stream as fast as I would approach the
weird vessel.

Drawing once more from the current, I followed the marsh until the canoe
was opposite the anchorage of a real ship; then, with hearty pulls, I
shot around its stern, and shouted: "Ship ahoy!"

No one answered the hail. The vessel looked like a man-of-war, but not
of American build. Not a light gleamed from her ports, not a footfall
came from her decks. She seemed to be deserted in the middle of the
river, surrounded by a desolate waste of marshes. The current gurgled
and sucked about her run, as the ebb-tide washed her black hull on its
way to the sea. The spectacle seemed now even more mysterious than when,
mirage-like, it peered forth from a cloud of mist. But it was real, and
not fantastic. Another hail, louder than the first, went forth into the
night air, and penetrated to the ship's forecastle, for a sailor
answered my call, and reported to the captain in the cabin the presence
of a boat at the ship's side.

A quick, firm tread sounded upon the deck; then, with a light bound, a
powerfully-built young man landed upon the high rail of the vessel. He
peered down from his stately ship upon