---and now the glee
Of the loud hills shakes with their mountain-mirth.
Byron.
It is necessary to recapitulate a little, in order to connect events. The
signs of the hour had been gradually but progressively increasing. While
the lake was unruffled, a stillness so profound prevailed, that sounds
from the distant port, such as the heavy fall of an oar, or a laugh from
the waterman, had reached the ears of those in the Winkelried, bringing
with them the feeling of security, and the strong charm of a calm at even.
To these succeeded the gathering in the heavens, and the roaring of the
winds, as they came rushing down the sides of the Alps, in their first
descent into the basin of the Leman. As the sight grew useless, except as
it might study the dark omens of the impending vault, the sense of hearing
became doubly acute, and it had been a powerful agent in heightening the
vague but acute apprehensions of the travellers. The rushes of the wind,
which at first were broken, at intervals resembling the roar of a
chimney-top in a gale, had soon reached the fearful grandeur of those
aërial wheelings of squadrons, to which we have more than once alluded,
passing off in dread mutterings, that, in the deep quiet of all other
things, bore a close affinity to the rumbling of a surf upon the
sea-shore. The surface of the lake was first broken after one of these
symptoms, and it was this infallible sign of a gale which had assured Maso
there was no time to lose. This movement of the element in a calm is a
common phenomenon on waters that are much environed with elevated and
irregular head-lands, and it is a certain proof that wind is on some
distant portion of the sheet. It occurs frequently on the ocean, too,
where the mariner is accustomed to find a heavy sea setting in one
direction, the effects of some distant storm, while the breeze around him
is blowing in its opposite. It had been succeeded by the single rolling
swell, like the outer circle of waves produced by dropping a stone into
the water, and the regular and increasing agitation of the lake, until the
element broke as in a tempest, and that seemingly of its own volition,
since not a breath of air was stirring. This last and formidable symptom
of the force of the coming gust, however, had now become so unequivocal,
that, at the moment when the three travellers and the patron fell from her
gangway, the Winkelried, to use a seaman's phrase, was literally wallowing
in the troughs of the seas.
A dull unnatural light preceded the winds, and notwithstanding the
previous darkness, the nature of the accident was fully apparent to all.
Even the untamed spirits that had just been bent upon so fierce a
sacrifice to their superstitious dread, uttered cries of horror, while the
piercing shriek of Adelheid sounded, in that fearful moment, as if beings
of super-human attributes were riding in the gale. The name of Sigismund
was heard, too, in one of those wild appeals that the frantic suffer to
escape them, in their despair. But the interval between the plunge into
the water and the swoop of the tempest was so short, that, to the senses
of the travellers, the whole seemed the occurrence of the same teeming
moment.
Maso had completed his work on the forecasts, had seen that other
provisions which he had ordered were duly made, and had reached the
tiller, just in time to witness and to understand all that occurred.
Adelheid and her female attendants were already lashed to the principal
masts, and ropes were given to the others around her, as indispensable
precautions; for the deck of the bark, now cleared of every particle of
its freight, was as exposed and as defenceless against the power of the
wind, as a naked heath. Such was the situation of the Winkelried, when the
omens of the night changed to their dread reality.
Instinct, in cases of sudden and unusual danger must do the office of
reason. There was no necessity to warn the unthinking but panic-struck
crowd to provide for their own safety, for every man in the centre of the
barge threw his body flaon the deck, and grasped the cords that Maso had
taken care to provide for that purpose, with the tenacity with which all
who possess life cling to the means of existence. The dogs gave beautiful
proofs of the secret and wonderful means that nature has imparted, to
answer the ends of their creation. Old Uberto crouched, cowering, and
oppressed with a sense of helplessness, at the side of his master, while
the Newfoundland follower of the mariner went leaping from gangway to
gangway, snuffing the heated air, and barking wildly, as if he would
challenge the elements to close for the strife.
A vast body of warm air had passed unheeded athwart the bark, during the
minute that preceded the intended sacrifice of Balthazar. It was the
forerunner of the hurricane, which had chased it from the bed where it had
been sleeping, since the warm and happy noon-tide. Ten thousand chariots
at their speed could not have equalled the rumbling that succeeded, when
the winds came booming over the lake. As if too eager to permit anything
within their fangs to escape, they brought with them a wild, dull light,
which filled while it clouded the atmosphere, and which, it was scarcely
fanciful to imagine, had been hurried down, in their vortex, from those
chill glaciers, where they had so long been condensing their forces for
the present descent. The waves were not increased, but depressed by the
pressure of this atmospheric column, though it took up hogshead, of water
from their crests, scattering it in fine penetrating spray, till the
entire space between the heavens and the earth seemed saturated with its
particles.
The Winkelried received the shock at a moment when the lee-side of her
broad deck was wallowing in the trough, and its weather was protruded on
the summit of a swell. The wind howled when it struck the pent limits, as
if angered at being thwarted, and there was a roar under the wide
gangways, resembling that of lions. The reeling vessel was raised in a
manner to cause those or board to believe it about to be lifted bodily
from the water, but the ceaseless rolling of the element restored the
balance. Maso afterwards affirmed that nothing but this accidental
position, which formed a sort of lee, prevented all in the bark from being
swept from the deck, before the first gust of the hurricane.
Sigismund had heard the heart-rending appeal of Adelheid, and,
notwithstanding the awful strife of the elements and the fearful character
of the night, he alone breasted the shock on his feet. Though aided by a
rope, and bowed like a reed, his herculean frame trembled under the shock,
in a way to render even his ability to resist seriously doubtful. But, the
first blast expended, he sprang to the gangway, and leaped into the
cauldron of the lake unhesitatingly, and yet in the possession of all his
faculties. He was desperately bent on saving a life so dear to Adelheid,
or on dying in the attempt.
Maso had watched the crisis with a seaman's eye, a seaman's resources, and
a seaman's coolness. He had not refused to quit his feet, but kneeling on
one knee, he pressed the tiller down, lashed it, and clinging to the
massive timber, faced the tempest with the steadiness of a water-god.
There was sublimity in the intelligence, deliberation, and calculating
skill, with which this solitary, unknown, and nearly hopeless, mariner
obeyed his professional instinct, in that fearful concussion of the
elements, which, loosened from every restraint, now appeared abandoned to
their own wild and fierce will. He threw aside his cap, pushed forward his
thick but streaming locks, as veils to protect his eyes, and watched the
first encounter of the wind, as the wary but sullen lion keeps his gaze on
the hostile elephant. A grim smile stole across his features, when he felt
the vessel settle again into its watery bed, after that breathless moment
in which there had been reason to fear it might actually be lifted from
its proper element. Then the precaution, which had seemed so useless and
incomprehensible to others, came in play. The bark made a fearful whirl
from the spot where it had so long lain, yielding to the touch of the gust
like a vane turning on its pivot, while the water gurgled several streaks
on deck. But the cables were no sooner taut than the numerous anchors
resisted, and brought the bark head to wind. Maso felt the yielding of the
vessel's stern, as she swung furiously round, and he cheered aloud. The
trembling of the timbers, the dashing against the pointed beak, and that
high jet of water, which shot up over the bows and fell heavily on the
forecastle, washing aft in a flood, were so many evidences that the cables
were true. Advancing from his post, with some such dignity as a master of
fence displays in the exercise of his art, he shouted for his dog.
"Nettuno!--Nettuno!--where art thou, brave Nettuno?"
The faithful animal was whining near him, unheard in that war of the
elements. He waited only for this encouragement to act. No sooner was his
master's voice heard, than, barking bravely, he snuffed the gale, dashed
to the side of the vessel, and leaped into the boiling lake.
When Melchior de Willading and his friend returned to the surface, after
their plunge, it was like men making their appearance in a world abandoned
to the infernal humors of the fiends of darkness. The reader will
understand it was at the instant of the swoop of the winds, that has just
been detailed, for what we have taken so many pages to describe in words,
scarce needed a minute of time in the accomplishment.
Maso knelt on the verge of the gangway, sustaining himself by passing an
arm around a shroud, and, bending forward, he gazed into the cauldron of
the lake with aching eyes. Once or twice, he thought he heard the stifled
breathing of one who struggled with the raging water; but, in that roar of
the winds, it was easy to be deceived. He shouted encouragement to his
dog, however, and gathering a small rope rapidly, he made a heaving coil
of one of its ends. This he cast far from him, with a peculiar swing and
dexterity, hauling-in, and repeating the experiments, steadily and with
unwearied industry. The rope was necessarily thrown at hazard, for the
misty light prevented more than it aided vision; and the howling of the
powers of the air filled his ears with sounds that resembled the laugh of
devils.
In the cultivation of the youthful manly exercises, neither of the old
nobles had neglected the useful skill of being able to buffet with the
waves. But both possessed what was far better, in such a strait, than the
knowledge of a swimmer, in that self-command and coolness in emergencies
which they are apt to acquire, who pass their time in encountering the
hazards and in overcoming the difficulties of war. Each retained a
sufficiency of recollection, therefore, on coming to the surface, to
understand his situation, and not to increase the danger by the
ill-directed and frantic efforts that usually drown the frightened. The
case was sufficiently desperate, at the best, without the additional risk
of distraction, for the bark had already drifted to some unseen spot,
that, as respects them, was quite unattainable. In this uncertainty, it
would have been madness to steer amid the waste of waters, as likely to
go wrong as right, and they limited their efforts to mutual support and
encouragement, placing their trust in God.
Not so with Sigismund. To him the roaring tempest was mute, the boiling
and hissing lake had no horrors, and he had plunged into the fathomless
Leman as recklessly as he could have leaped to land. The shriek, the
"Sigismund! oh, Sigismund!" of Adelheid, was in his ears, and her cry of
anguish thrilled on every nerve. The athletic young Swiss was a practised
and expert swimmer, or it is improbable that even these strong impulses
could have overcome the instinct of self-preservation. In a tranquil
basin, it would have been no extraordinary or unusual feat for him to
conquer the distance between the Winkelried and the shores of Vaud; but,
like all the others, on casting himself into the water, he was obliged to
shape his course at random, and this, too, amid such a driving spray as
rendered even respiration difficult. As has been said, the waves were
compressed into their bed rather than augmented by the wind; but, had it
been otherwise, the mere heaving and settling of the element, while it
obstructs his speed, offers a support rather than an obstacle to the
practised swimmer.
Notwithstanding all these advantages, the strength of his impulses, and
the numberless occasions on which he had breasted the surges of the
Mediterranean, Sigismund, on recovering from his plunge, felt the fearful
chances of the risk he ran, as the stern soldier meets the hazards of
battle, in which he knows if there is victory there is also death. He
dashed the troubled water aside, though he swam blindly, and each stroke
urged him farther from the bark, his only hope of safety. He was between
dark rolling mounds, and, on rising to their summits, a hurricane of mist
made him glad to sink again within a similar shelter. The breaking crests
of the waves, which were glancing off in foam, also gave him great
annoyance, for such was their force, that, more than once, he was hurled
helpless as a log before them. Still he swam boldly, and with strength;
nature having gifted him with more than the usual physical energy of man.
But, uncertain in his course, unable to see the length of his own body,
and pressed hard upon by the wind, even the spirit of Sigismund Steinbach
could not long withstand so many adverse circumstances. He had already
turned, wavering in purpose, thinking to catch a glimpse of the bark in
the direction he had come, when a dark mass floated immediately before his
eyes, and he felt the cold clammy nose of the dog, scenting about his
face. The admirable instinct, or we might better say, the excellent
training of Nettuno, told him that his services were not needed here, and,
barking with wild delight, as if in mockery of the infernal din of the
tempest, he sheered aside, and swam swiftly on. A thought flashed like
lightning on the brain of Sigismund. His best hope was in the inexplicable
faculties of this animal. Throwing forward an arm, he seized the bushy
tail of the dog, and suffered himself to be dragged ahead, he knew not
whither, though he seconded the movement with his own exertions. Another
bark proclaimed that the experiment was successful, and voices, rising as
it were from the water, close at hand, announced the proximity of human
beings. The brunt of the hurricane was past, and the washing of the waves,
which had been stilled by the roar and the revelry of the winds, again
became audible.
The strength of the two struggling old men was sinking fast. The Signor
Grimaldi had, thus far, generously sustained his friend, who was less
expert than himself in the water, and he continued to cheer him with a
hope he did not feel himself, nobly refusing to the last to separate their
fortunes.
"How dost find thyself, old Melchior?" he asked. "Cheer thee, friend--I
think there is succor at hand."
The water gurgled at the mouth of the baron, who was near the gasp.
"'Tis late--bless thee, dearest Gaetano--God be with my child--my
Adelheid--poor Adelheid!"
The utterance of this precious name, under a father's agony of spirit,
most probably saved his life. The sinewy arm of Sigismund, directed by the
words, grasped his dress, and he felt at once that a new and preserving
power had interposed between him and the caverns of the lake. It was time,
for the water had covered the face of the failing baron, ere the muscular
arm of the youth came to perform its charitable office.
"Yield thee to the dog, Signore," said Sigismund, clearing his mouth of
water to speak calmly, once assured of his own burthen; "trust to his
sagacity, and,--God keep us in mind!--all may yet be well!"
The Signor Grimaldi retained sufficient presence of mind to follow this
advice, and it was probably quite as fortunate that his friend had so far
lost his consciousness, as to become an unresisting burthen in the hands
of Sigismund.
"Nettuno!--gallant Nettuno!"--swept past them on the gale for the first
time, the partial hushing of the winds permitting the clear call of Maso
to reach so far. The sound directed the efforts of Sigismund, though the
dog had swum steadily away the moment he had the Genoese in his gripe, and
with a certainty of manner that showed he was at no loss for a direction.
But Sigismund had taxed his powers too far. He, who could have buffeted
an ordinary sea for hours, was now completely exhausted by the unwonted
exertions, the deadening influence of the tempest, and the log-like weight
of his burthen He would not desert the father of Adelheid, and yet each
fainting and useless stroke told him to despair. The dog had already
disappeared in the darkness, and he was even uncertain again of the true
position of the bark. He prayed in agony for a single glimpse of the
rocking masts and yards, or to catch one syllable of the cheering voice of
Maso. But in both his wishes were vain. In place of the former, he had
naught but the veiled misty light, that had come on with the hurricane;
and, instead of the latter, his ears were filled with the washing of the
waves and the roars of the gusts. The blasts now descended to the surface
of the lake, and now went whirling and swelling upward, in a way to lead
the listener to fancy that the viewless winds might, for once, be seen.
For a single painful instant, in one of those disheartening moments of
despair that will come over the stoutest, his hand was about to relinquish
its hold of the baron, and to make the last natural struggle for life; but
that fair and modest picture of maiden loveliness and truth, which had so
long haunted his waking hours and adorned his night-dreams, interposed to
prevent the act. After this brief and fleeting weakness, the young man
seemed endowed with new energy. He swam stronger, and with greater
apparent advantage, than before.
"Nettuno--gallant Nettuno!"--again drove over him, bringing with it the
chilling certainty, that turned from his course by the rolling of the
water he had thrown away these desperate efforts, by taking a direction
which led him from the bark. While there was the smallest appearance of
success no difficulties, of whatever magnitude, could entirely extinguish
hope; but when the dire conviction that he had been actually aiding,
instead of diminishing the danger, pressed upon Sigismund, he abandoned
his efforts. The most he endeavored or hoped to achieve, was to keep his
own head and that of his companion above the fatal element, while he
answered the cry of Maso with a shout of despair.
"Nettuno!--gallant Nettuno!"--again flew past on the gale.
This cry might have been an answer, or it might merely be the Italian
encouraging his dog to bear on the body, with which it was already loaded
Sigismund uttered a shout, which he felt must be the last. He struggled
desperately, but in vain the world and its allurements were vanishing from
his thoughts, when a dark line whirled over him, and fell thrashing upon
the very wave which covered his face. An instinctive grasp caught it, and
the young soldier felt himself impelled ahead. He had seized the rope
which the mariner had not ceased to throw, as the fisherman casts his
line, and he was at the side of the bark, before his confused faculties
enabled him to understand the means employed for his rescue.
Maso took a hasty turn with the rope, and, stooping forward, favored by a
roll of the vessel, he drew the Baron de Willading upon deck. Watching his
time, he repeated the experiment, always with admirable coolness and
dexterity, placing Sigismund also in safety. The former was immediately
dragged senseless to the centre of the bark, where he received those
attentions that had just been eagerly offered to the Signior Grimaldi, and
with the same happy results. But Sigismund motioned all away from himself,
knowing that their cares were needed elsewhere. He staggered forward a
few paces, and then, yielding to a complete exhaustion of his power, he
fell at full length on the wet planks. He long lay panting, speechless,
and unable to move, with a sense of death on his frame.
"Nettuno! gallant, gallant Nettuno!"--shouted the indefatigable Maso,
still at his post on the gangway, whence he cast his rope with unchanging
perseverance. The fitful winds, which had already played so many fierce
antics that eventful night, sensibly lulled, and, giving one or two sighs,
as if regretting that they were about to be curbed again by that almighty
Master, from whose benevolent hands they had so furtively escaped, as
suddenly ceased blowing. The yards creaked, swinging loosely, above the
crowded deck, and the dull washing of water filled the ear. To these
diminished sounds were to be added the barking of the dog, who was still
abroad in the darkness, and a struggling noise like the broken and
smothered attempts of human voices. Although the time appeared an age to
all who awaited the result, scarcely five minutes had elapsed since the
accident occurred and the hurricane had reached them. There was still
hope, therefore, for those who yet remained in the water. Maso felt the
eagerness of one who had already been successful beyond his hopes, and, in
his desire to catch some guiding signal, he leaned forward, till the
rolling lake washed into his face.
"Ha! gallant--gallant Nettuno!"
Men certainly spoke, and that near him. But the sounds resembled words
uttered beneath a cover. The wind whistled, too, though but for a moment,
and then it seemed to sail upward into the dark vault of the heavens.
Nettuno barked audibly, and his master answered with another shout, for
the sympathy of man in his kind is inextinguishable.
"My brave, my noble Nettuno!"
The stillness was now imposing, and Maso heard the dog growl. This
ill-omened signal was undeniably followed by smothered voices. The latter
became clearer, as if the mocking winds were willing that a sad exhibition
of human frailty should be known, or, what is more probable, violent
passion had awakened stronger powers of speech. This much the mariner
understood.
"Loosen thy grasp, accursed Baptiste!"
"Wretch, loosen thine own!"
"Is God naught with thee?"
"Why dost throttle so, infernal Nicklaus?"
"Thou wilt die damned!"
"Thou chokest--villain--pardon!--pardon!"
He heard no more. The merciful elements interposed to drown the appalling
strife. Once or twice the dog howled, but the tempest came across the
Leman again in its might, as if the short pause had been made merely to
take breath. The winds took a new direction; and the bark, still held by
its anchors, swung wide off from its former position, tending in towards
the mountains of Savoy. During the first burst of this new blast, even
Maso was glad to crouch to the deck, for millions of infinitely fine
particles were lifted from the lake, and driven on with the atmosphere
with a violence to take away his breath. The danger of being swept before
the furious tide of the driving element was also an accident not
impossible. When the lull returned, no exertion of his faculties could
catch a single sound foreign to the proper character of the scene, such as
the plash of the water, and the creaking of the long, swinging yards.
The mariner now felt a deep concern for his dog. He called to him until he
grew hoarse, but fruitlessly. The change of position, with the constant
and varying drift of the vessel, had carried them beyond the reach of the
human voice. More time was expended in summoning "Nettuno! gallant
Nettuno!" than had been consumed in the passage of all the events which it
has been necessary to our object to relate so minutely, and always with
the same want of success. The mind of Maso was pitched to a degree far
above the opinions and habits of those with whom his life brought him
ordinarily in contact, but as even fine gold will become tarnished by
exposure to impure air, he had not entirely escaped the habitual
weaknesses of the Italians of his class. When he found that no cry could
recall his faithful companion, he threw himself upon the deck in a
paroxysm of passion, tore his hair, and wept audibly.
"Nettuno! my brave, my faithful Nettuno!" he said. "What are all these to
me, without thee! Thou alone lovedst me--thou alone hast passed with me
through fair and foul--through good and evil, without change, or wish for
another master! When the pretended friend has been false, thou hast
remained faithful! When others were sycophants thou wert never a
flatterer!"
Struck with this singular exhibition of sorrow, the good Augustine, who,
until now, like all the others, had been looking to his own safety, or
employed in restoring the exhausted, took advantage of the favorable
change in the weather, and advanced with the language of consolation.
"Thou hast saved all our lives, bold mariner," he said; "and there are
those in the bark who will know how to reward thy courage and skill,
Forget, then, thy dog, and indulge in a grateful heart to Maria and the
saints, that they have been our friends and thine in this exceeding
jeopardy."
"Father, I have eaten with the animal--slept with the animal--fought,
swum, and made merry with him, and I could now drown with him! What are
thy nobles and their gold to me, without my dog? The gallant brute will
die the death of despair, swimming about in search of the bark in the
midst of the darkness, until even one of his high breed and courage must
suffer his heart to burst."
"Christians have been called into the dread presence, unconfessed and
unshrived, to-night; and we should bethink us of their souls, rather than
indulge in this grief in behalf of one that, however faithful, ends but an
unreasoning and irresponsible existence."
All this was thrown away upon Maso, who crossed himself habitually at the
allusion to the drowned, but who did not the less bewail the loss of his
dog, whom he seemed to love, like the affection that David bore for
Jonathan, with a love surpassing that of women. Perceiving that his
counsel was useless, the good Augustine turned away, to knee and offer up
his own orisons of gratitude, and to bethink him of the dead.
"Nettuno! _povera, carissima bestia!_" continued Maso, "whither art thou
swimming, in this infernal quarrel between the air and water? Would I were
with thee, dog! No mortal shall ever share the love I bore thee, _povero
Nettuno!_--I will never take another to my heart, like thee!"
The outbreaking of Maso's grief was sudden, and it was brief in its
duration. In this respect it might be likened to the hurricane that had
just passed. Excessive violence, in both cases, appeared to bring its own
remedy, for the irregular fitful gusts from the mountains had already
ceased, and were succeeded by a strong but steady gale from the north; and
the sorrow of Maso soon ended its characteristic plaints, to take a more
continued and even character.
During the whole of the foregoing scenes, the Common passengers had
crouched to the deck, partly in stupor, partly in superstitious dread,
and much of the time, from a positive inability to move without incurring
the risk of being driven from the defenceless vessel into the lake. But,
as the wind diminished in force, and the motion of the bark became more
regular, they rallied their senses, like men who had been in a trance, and
one by one they rose to their feet. About this time Adelheid heard the
sound of her father's voice, blessing her care, and consoling her sorrow.
The north wind blew away the canopy of clouds, and the stars shone upon
the angry Leman, bringing with them some such promise of divine aid as the
pillar of fire afforded to the Israelites in their passage of the Red Sea.
Such an evidence of returning peace brought renewed confidence. All in the
bark, passengers as well as crew, took courage at the benignant signs,
while Adelheid wept, in gratitude and joy, over the gray hairs of her
father.
Maso had now obtained complete command of the Winkelried, as much by the
necessity of the case, as by the unrivalled skill and courage he had
manifested during the fearful minutes of their extreme jeopardy. No sooner
did he succeed in staying his own grief, than he called the people about
him, and issued his orders for the new measures that had become necessary.
All who have ever been subject to their influence know that there is
nothing more uncertain than the winds. Their fickleness has passed into a
proverb; but their inconstancy, as well as their power, from the fanning
air to the destructive tornado, are to be traced to causes that are
sufficiently clear, though hid in their nature from the calculations of
our forethought. The tempest of the night was owing to the simple fact,
that a condensed and chilled column of the mountains had pressed upon the
heated substratum of the lake, and the latter, after a long resistance,
suddenly finding vent for its escape, had been obliged to let in the
cataract from above. As in all extraordinary efforts, whether physical or
moral, reaction would seem to be a consequence of excessive action, the
currents of air, pushed beyond their proper limits, were now setting back
again, like a tide on its reflux. This cause produced the northern gale
that succeeded the hurricane.
The wind that came from off the shores of Vaud was steady and fresh. The
barks of the Leman are not constructed for beating to windward, and it
might even have been questioned, whether the Winkelried would have borne
her canvass against so heavy a breeze. Maso, however, appeared to
understand himself thoroughly, and as he had acquired the influence which
hardihood and skill are sure to obtain over doubt and timidity in
situations of hazard, he was obeyed by all on board with submission, if
not with zeal. No more was heard of the headsman or of his supposed agency
in the storm; and, as he prudently kept himself in the back-ground, so as
not to endanger a revival of the superstition of his enemies, he seemed
entirely forgotten.
The business of getting the anchors occupied a considerable time, for Maso
refused, now there existed no necessity for the sacrifice, to permit a
yarn to be cut; but, released from this hold on the water, the bark
whirled away, and was soon driving before the wind. The mariner was at the
helm, and, causing the head-sail to be loosened, he steered directly for
the rocks of Savoy. This manoeuvre excited disagreeable suspicions in the
minds of several on board, for the lawless character of their pilot had
been more than suspected in the course of their short acquaintance, and
the coast towards which they were furiously rushing known to be
iron-bound, and, in such a gale fatal to all who came rudely upon its
rocks. Half-an-hour removed their apprehensions. When near enough to the
mountains to feel their deadening influence on the gale, the natural
effect of the eddies, formed by their resistance to the currents, he
luffed-to and set his main-sail. Relieved by this wise precaution, the
Winkelried now wore her canvass gallantly, and she dashed along the shore
of Savoy with a foaming beak, shooting past ravine, valley, glen, and
hamlet, as if sailing in air.
In less than an hour, St. Gingoulph, or the village through which the
dividing line between the territories of Switzerland and those of the King
of Sardinia passes, was abeam, and the excellent calculations of the
sagacious Maso became still more apparent. He had foreseen another shift
of wind, as the consequence of all this poise and counterpoise, and he was
here met by the true breeze of the night. The last current came out of the
gorge of the Valais, sullen, strong, and hoarse, bringing him, however,
fairly to windward of his port. The Winkelried was cast in season, and,
when the gale struck her anew, her canvass drew fairly, and she walked out
from beneath the mountains into the broad lake, like a swan obeying its
instinct.
The passage across the width of the Leman, in that horn of the crescent
and in such a breeze, required rather more than an hour. This time was
occupied among the common herd in self-felicitations, and in those vain
boastings that distinguish the vulgar who have escaped an imminent danger
without any particular merit of their own. Among those whose spirits were
better trained and more rebuked, there were attentions to the sufferers
and deep thanksgivings with the touching intercourse of the grateful and
happy. The late scenes, and the fearful fate of the patron and Nicholaus
Wagner, cast a shade upon their joy, but all inwardly felt that they had
been snatched from the jaws of death.
Maso shaped his course by the beacon that still blazed in the grate of old
Roger de Blonay. With his eye riveted on the luff of his sail, his hip
bearing hard against the tiller, and a heart that relieved itself, from
time to time, with bitter sighs, he ruled the bark like a presiding
spirit.
At length the black mass of the côtes of Vaud took more distinct and
regular forms. Here and there, a tower or a tree betrayed its outlines
against the sky, and then the objects on the margin of the lake began to
stand out in gloomy relief from the land. Lights flared along the strand,
and cries reached them, from the shore. A dark shapeless pile stood
directly athwart their watery path, and, at the next moment, it took the
aspect of a ruined castle-like edifice. The canvass flapped and was
handed, the Winkelried rose and set more slowly and with a gentler
movement, and glided into the little, secure, artificial haven of La Tour
de Peil. A forest of latine yards and low masts lay before them, but, by
giving the bark a rank sheer, Maso brought her to her berth, by the side
of another lake craft, with a gentleness of collision that, as the
mariners have it, would not have broken an egg.
A hundred voices greeted the travellers; for their approach had been seen
and watched with intense anxiety. Fifty eager Vévaisans poured upon her
deck, in a noisy crowd, the instant it was possible. Among others, a dark
shaggy object bounded foremost. It leaped wildly forward, and Maso found
himself in the embraces of Nettuno. A little later, when delight and a
more tempered feeling permitted examination, a lock of human hair was
discovered entangled in the teeth of the dog, and the following week the
bodies of Baptiste and the peasant of Berne were found still clenched in
the desperate death-gripe, washed upon the shores of Vaud.