g up and displaying equal choler; 'where she should be--in
hell!--Leave this cottage or you may fare worse.'

"'Ha--ha!' replied the hunter, 'would you harm a potent spirit of the
Hartz Mountains. Poor mortal, who must needs wed a weir wolf.'

"'Out demon! I defy thee and thy power.'

"'Yet shall you feel it; remember your oath--your solemn oath--never
to raise your hand against her to harm her.'

"'I made no compact with evil spirits.'

"'You did; and if you failed in your vow, you were to meet the
vengeance of the spirits. Your children were to perish by the vulture,
the wolf--'

"'Out, out, demon!'

"'And their bones blanch in the wilderness. Ha!--ha!'

"My father, frantic with rage, seized his axe, and raised it over
Wilfred's head to strike.

"'All this I swear,' continued the huntsman, mockingly.

"The axe descended; but it passed through the form of the hunter, and
my father lost his balance, and fell heavily on the floor.

"'Mortal!' said the hunter, striding over my father's body, 'we have
power over those only who have committed murder. You have been guilty
of a double murder--you shall pay the penalty attached to your
marriage vow. Two of your children are gone; the third is yet to
follow--and follow them he will, for your oath is registered. Go--it
were kindness to kill thee--your punishment is--that you live!'

"With these words the spirit disappeared. My father rose from the
floor, embraced me tenderly, and knelt down in prayer.

"The next morning he quitted the cottage for ever. He took me with him
and bent his steps to Holland, where we safely arrived. He had some
little money with him; but he had not been many days in Amsterdam
before he was seized with a brain fever, and died raving mad. I was
put into the Asylum, and afterwards was sent to sea before the mast.
You now know all my history. The question is, whether I am to pay the
penalty of my father's oath? I am myself perfectly convinced that, in
some way or another, I shall."

On the twenty-second day the high land of the south of Sumatra was in
view; as there were no vessels in sight, they resolved to keep their
course through the Straits, and run for Pulo Penang, which they
expected, as their vessel laid so close to the wind, to reach in seven
or eight days. By constant exposure, Philip and Krantz were now so
bronzed, that with their long beards and Mussulman dresses, they might
easily have passed off for natives. They had steered