The seas were, in those days, infested by a band of pirates, who were
possessed of several large ships, with which they defied all efforts to
destroy them. The chief of the pirates was called Don Alonzo. Though
very blood-thirsty and wicked, for he robbed all he met, and spared no
one who made any resistance, he was very brave, and young, and handsome;
indeed, on looking at him, few would believe that he could commit the
crimes of which he was guilty. It happened that his ship, having
separated from her consorts, was sailing across the Pacific.
Now, as Borasco was returning from Neptune's conclave to his own palace,
he espied her in the far distance floating calmly on the waves. He soon
knew her to be the ship of the pirate Alonzo, and instantly summoning
all his wildest spirits to his aid, a violent tempest began to rage, and
thus the Spirit of the Storm sang, as, riding on his foam-crested steed,
he followed the doomed bark:--
"'Tis now that the billows are covered with foam--
'Tis now my wild spirit rejoices to roam,
When waves tossing high with dark clouds are at play,
To dim the pale moon with their bright frothy spray;
When loud-rolling thunder resounds thro' the skies,
And fast through the night air the northern mist flies;
Oh! now is the time when my spirit is free,
And wildly I ride o'er the fathomless sea.
"Yon tempest-toss'd vessel before me now flies,
And loudly I echo the mariners' cries,
As sadly they gaze on the breakers before,
Which madly leap over the iron-bound shore,
When hope has deserted, and, pallid with fear,
The stoutest heart trembles at death drawing near.
Oh! now is the time I shout loudest with glee,
And gaily ride over the foam-covered sea."
Onward sailed the sea-robbers, thoughtless of coming danger, when
suddenly the gentle breeze, which had hitherto been wafting them on
their course, rose to a furious gale. Over the ship heeled to its rage.
The tall masts bent and cracked, and one by one, with crash upon crash,
they were carried away, till the ship drove before the tempest a
helpless wreck on the waste of waters. The wild cries of the seamen, as
they saw their doom approach, rose above the shrieks of the sea-bird, or
the mocking laughter of the Spirits of the Storm. Their chief alone
stood undaunted, youth in his eye, and manly vigour in every limb;
though the lightning flashed around his head--though the foaming billows
washed over the frail planks on which his feet were planted, and death
with all its horrors frowned upon him.
On, on drove the ship--dark clouds above, the yawning waves below--till
the land (it was the Island of Gracia), at that part fringed with sharp,
threatening rocks, appeared ahead. On she went. The eager waves leaped
round her; they lifted her to their summit, and then down she came,
crashing upon the rocks. Her timbers were riven asunder and scattered
far and wide, and of the human beings who lately trod her deck but one
alone was washed on shore, and from his body life had departed, though
it was uninjured, either by the rocks or shattered planks and spars. It
was that of Alonzo, the captain of the pirate crew. No sooner did
Borasco behold the work which his powers had accomplished, than he
hastened to the beach, and there he found, stretched on the sand, the
body of the pirate. He looked at it delighted, for the form was very
handsome; and though life was gone, it yet retained its warmth. High
rocks surrounded the spot, so that no human being could observe what was
happening. A voice (it seemed to come from the air) then uttered, in an
awful tone, the following spell:--
"Dark form! my mystic words obey,
To thin air vanish, haste away!
Go, wander o'er the boundless main,
Nor dare this shape resume again,
Till by dark spells of potent might,
I summon thee to re-unite."
As he spoke the hideous form began gradually to expand into vast
proportions, growing each moment more mist-like and indistinct. Signs
of animation now returned to the body of Alonzo, who speedily arose, and
while he waved his arm, the shape Borasco had lately worn mingled with
the surrounding atmosphere, till it finally disappeared like a mist
blown off from the sea.
Alonzo, or rather Alonzo's form animated by Borasco's spirit, walked
slowly on, for he felt weary, as a person does who has long buffeted
with the waves, for with the form so he partook in a measure of the
human feelings of the pirate. His nature, however, in other respects
was not altered; his love for Serena was rather increased than lost, and
he was still the same bold Spirit he had before been, with the same
power, only softened and refined by the magic influence of love.
He looked into a mirror-like pool of water among the rocks, and there,
seeing his new figure reflected, he drew himself up, and stretching out
his arms proudly, he exclaimed, "Ah, I now look like a man indeed; I
feel the life-blood rush fleetly through my veins, my pulses beat
steadily; methinks when the maiden sees me she will not fly from me as
she did before. Ah, now in truth I have a chance of winning her.
Thanks, thanks, mighty Neptune! for the aid you have afforded me. The
dawn approaches; she will soon be here! and then once more, lovely
Princess! I shall again behold thy matchless beauty." As he spoke a
few faint streaks, the harbingers of the rising sun, appeared, in the
eastern sky, the wind went down, and the sea grew perfectly smooth.
After wandering along the sea beach for some distance to stretch his
legs, for he naturally felt somewhat strange in his new form, he at
length, overcome with fatigue and a desire for repose, laid himself down
on the dry sand under the shade of an overhanging rock. Here, in the
course of a few minutes, he fell fast asleep; and so sound was his sleep
that he appeared like some shipwrecked mariner who had been drowned and
washed on shore by the stormy waves.