that the attempt was
useless. The strange ship (and every man on board felt certain it was the
same that had so long been seen hanging in the north-western horizon) came
on, through the mist, with a swiftness that nearly equalled the velocity
of the tempestuous winds themselves. Not a thread of canvas was seen on
board her. Each line of spars, even to the tapering and delicate
top-gallant-masts, was in its place, preserving the beauty and symmetry of
the whole fabric; but nowhere was the smallest fragment of a sail opened
to the gale. Under her bows rolled a volume of foam, that was even
discernible amid the universal agitation of the ocean; and, as she came
within sound, the sullen roar of the water might have been likened to the
noise of a cascade. At first, the spectators on the decks of the
"Caroline" believed they were not seen, and some of the men called madly
for lights, in order that the disasters of the night might not terminate
in the dreaded encounter.

"No!" exclaimed Wilder; "too many see us there already!"

"No, no," muttered Nighthead; "no fear but we are seen; and by such eyes,
too, as never yet looked out of mortal head!"

The seamen paused. In another instant, the long-seen and mysterious ship
was within a hundred feet of them. The very power of that wind, which was
wont usually to raise the billows, now pressed the element, with the
weight of mountains, into its bed. The sea was every where a sheet of
froth, but no water swelled above the level of the surface. The instant a
wave lifted itself from the security of the vast depths, the fluid was
borne away before the tornado in driving, glittering spray. Along this
frothy but comparatively motionless surface, then, the stranger came
booming, with the steadiness and grandeur with which a dark cloud is seen
to sail before the hurricane. No sign of life was any where discovered
about her. If men looked out, from their secret places, upon the
straitened and discomfited wreck of the Bristol trader, it was covertly,
and as darkly as the tempest before which they drove. Wilder held his
breath, for the moment the stranger drew nighest, in the very excess of
suspense; but, as he saw no signal of recognition, no human form, nor any
intention to arrest, if possible, the furious career of the other, a smile
of exultation gleamed across his countenance, and his lips moved rapidly,
as though he found pleasure in being abandoned to his distress. The
stranger drove