It required but one day to complete the year since the Princess Serena
first beheld Alonzo, when, as they sat in her bower, watching the blue
tranquil sea in the distance, he folded her in his arms, and told her,
with a voice of tenderness, that he must for a short time quit her. In
vain she endeavoured to draw from him the reason of his intended
absence. He assured her that it would be but for a few short hours,
that he must go to a distant part of the island, and that he would
faithfully return. She entreated to be allowed to accompany him, but to
that he could not consent. Had he entrusted his awful secret to her,
though it would have terrified her to find that she had got a Spirit for
a husband, it might have been happier for him.
Every argument which the Princess could use was employed in vain to
induce the seeming Alonzo to remain; far more powerful were the stern
decrees of Neptune. Once more pressing her to his heart, he tore
himself from her, and rushed out along the beach till the tall rocks hid
him from her sight. The Princess remained bathed in tears, and overcome
with grief and forebodings of evil.
Meantime Alonzo wandered along the shore in search of some sequestered
cavern, where he might leave in security the mortal form he wore, while
he repaired, according to his bounden duty, to Neptune's conclave. For
some time he could not satisfy himself, for he was naturally fearful of
being disturbed or injured. Far, far better would it have been had he
entrusted his body to the safe and loving care of the Princess. At last
he discovered a cavern which could only be entered from the sea. Inside
it there was a small extent of sand and several ledges of dry rock, to
which the waters never reached. Nothing could be better suited to his
purpose; so, standing at the mouth of the cave, he stretched out his
hand over the sea, and uttered this potent spell:--
"Haste, wandering form,
Dark mist o'er the main.
From wind and from storm,
I call thee again.
I once bade thee retire,
But now hither repair,
Whether glowing in fire,
Or sailing in air.
Again this stern spell,
Dark shape, thou must hear,
Come, come, whence you dwell,
Haste hither, appear!"
As he spoke a thick mist seemed to rise from the sea in the horizon,
extending upward, and growing denser and denser, till it assumed the
faint outlines of Borasco's form. Then it glided forward, as if borne
onward by a gentle wind, till it reached the mouth of the cavern.
Meantime Alonzo placed himself on an upper ledge of the rock in an
attitude of sleep, and forthwith his spirit passed into his proper form,
from which an awful voice uttered these words:--
"Rest thee, mortal form, rest here,
Till I once again appear.
Cursed the hands that dare to smite thee,
Or by injury to blight thee.
Let with horror fate condemn them,
And the raging seas o'erwhelm them."
While he was thus speaking, Borasco glided over the sea till he
disappeared in the far distance.
Now it happened, as we have said, that the pirates, whom Alonzo had
ordered to quit the island, instead of so doing, had hid themselves
among the rocks on the sea-shore, waiting for an opportunity to wreak
their vengeance on him; and as they were rowing along in their boat,
they reached the mouth of the cavern in which he had left the body of
Alonzo. Leaving their boat secured to a rock, they jumped on to the
sand.
"Ah, here is a secure place indeed, where we may remain concealed though
all the people of the island were hunting for us, till an opportunity
occurs for punishing our traitor Captain," said Almagro, who was now
chief of the band, and was afraid, should Alonzo return, of losing his
authority.
"It's secure enough; but if the sea were to get up we should be caught,
like mice in a trap," observed Sancho, one of the lieutenants. "Why,
where's the boat?" As he spoke the boat drifted away from the cavern
out of their reach.
"What clumsy fellow pretended to secure the boat? Ah, see, the sea is
already rising," ejaculated Almagro, in a tone of horror.
The pirates were now compelled to retire higher up the cavern. What was
their astonishment when, as they reached the further end, they saw
before them the very man they had been seeking, as they supposed fast
asleep. Immediately they held consultation what should be done.
Sancho, and some of the more merciful, were for binding him and carrying
him off to their ship, but Almagro, who saw that thus his object would
probably be defeated, was for destroying him while he slept. Several of
the worst sided with him, and before Sancho could interfere, they sprang
forward and plunged their daggers into Alonzo's form. Scarcely had they
done so, when loud peals of thunder echoed along the rocks, vivid
lightning flashed from the skies, and the foaming waves rushed up into
the cavern.
In vain the guilty and affrighted pirates fled into the interior of the
cave. The angry waters foamed up on every side. Shrieking they fled
from rock to rock; still the waves rose higher and higher, and swept
them far off into the boiling sea, while the dead body of Alonzo was
carried away into the depths of the ocean.