THE STORM ON LAKE CONSTANCE.
The Kaufhaus is situated near the border of the lake. It was built for
a warehouse in 1388. The party were conducted immediately to a large
room with wooden pillars.
"This is the Kaufhaus, and this apartment is the one in which the
Council of Constance held its sessions," said Mr. Mapps.
"What's a Kaufhaus?" asked one of the boys who did not study German.
"What does _Kaufen_ mean?"
"To buy."
"Then it is a _buy_-house. It is a company's hall, like Goldsmiths'
Hall, Fishmongers', and others in London. The Council of Constance
assembled in 1414, and continued its sessions for three years and a
half. It was called to regulate the affairs of the Catholic Church,
especially in regard to the schism caused by some of the popes taking
up their abode in Avignon, France. Gregory XI. went from the residence
of his immediate predecessors to Rome in 1377, where he died the next
year. The Romans wanted a native of their own city to be pope. An
Italian--Urban VI.--was elected by the cardinals; but, as he was not a
Roman, there was much dissatisfaction. The French cardinals protested
against the election, and created Robert of Geneva pope, under the
title of Clement VII., who established himself at Avignon. Urban had
three successors, the last of whom was Gregory XII. The Avignon pope
was followed by Benedict XIII., who maintained his claim to the papal
chair till his death in 1424.
"There were two popes: the church was divided, and in doubt as to which
was the rightful successor of St. Peter. Gregory declared, at his
accession, that he would resign if Benedict at Avignon would do the
same. An attempt was made to get rid of both of them, so that they
could agree upon a third. The Council of Pisa deposed both, and elected
Alexander V. Benedict refused to vacate his chair; and Gregory retained
his position because his rival refused to compromise. Instead of
getting rid of one, the church had now three popes who claimed the
chair. Alexander died in 1410; and his successor, John XXIII., called
the Council of Constance. It was not a meeting of bishops merely, but
was attended by cardinals, archbishops, ambassadors of kings, knights,
and delegates from universities. John presided at the first session,
and was invited to resign the pontifical office. He promised to do so
if Gregory and Benedict would do the same; but the next night he fled
secretly to Schaffhausen, and from thence to Freiburg. After much
trouble, negotiations were opened with him, and he resigned his office.
He was afterwards thrown into prison with Huss. Gregory was a good man,
and gave the council no trouble, and for the sake of peace yielded up
his high office. But Benedict was obdurate to the end, claiming to be
pope, even after all his followers had forsaken him. The council
attempted to make terms with him; but when he refused to yield, it
condemned and deposed him, electing Martin V. to the papal chair.
"The council also gave its attention to the heresy of Wycliffe, whose
doctrines it condemned, commanding that his books should be burned, and
decreeing that his remains should be disinterred and burned. Huss was
condemned to the stake; and his disciple, Jerome of Prague, having
retracted his anti-Catholic doctrines, and then relapsed, shared his
fate a year afterwards."
In the hall are the chairs occupied, at the sittings of the council, by
the Emperor Sigismund and by the pope; a model of the dungeon in which
Huss was confined, with the real door and other parts which had been
preserved, and the car on which the reformer was drawn to the place of
execution. The house in which he lodged is pointed out in one of the
streets. The field wherein he suffered, with the spot where the stake
stood, is shown to those who are curious enough to visit it.
The students examined the quaint old buildings in the town with much
interest. In the middle of the afternoon, they embarked in the steamer
for Friedrichshafen. The weather had been warm and oppressive, for the
season, for the last two days; and there were strong indications of a
change. A barometer at the hotel in Constance indicated an unusual
depression. The students dreaded a storm of long continuance, they were
so impatient to see the wonders which were yet in store for them; and
the idea of being shut up in a small hotel, for two or three days, was
not pleasant in the anticipation, whatever it might prove to be in
reality.
By the time the steamer was half way to her destination, the wind began
to come in fitful gusts, increasing in force, till the captain of the
steamer wore a rather anxious expression on his face. The young salts
laughed at the idea of a fresh-water tempest; and if anybody else was
alarmed, they were not. The steamer began to tumble about; but nothing
serious occurred, though some of the lady passengers were sea sick.
Others, who had never seen a storm at sea, were frightened, and
screamed every time the boat gave a heavy lurch.
"Do you think there is any danger, Commodore Kendall," asked Grace,
thrilled by the cries of the females.
"I don't see how there can be. If this boat is good for anything, she
ought to ride out one of these freshwater gales," replied Paul.
"It is going to be a fearful storm."
"I should think it would be, from the indications of the barometer."
"Do you see that boat, Paul?" said Shuffles, pointing to one of the
Swiss small craft, which was laboring heavily in the billows.
"She is making bad weather of it," added Paul, as he examined the
position of the storm-tossed craft.
"The boatman don't seem to know what he is about," continued Shuffles,
who had for some time been studying the movements of the boat. "She
lowered her sail a while ago, and she seems to be rolling at the mercy
of the waves."
The steamer was headed towards her, and the party on board of her soon
discovered that the boatman was trying to put a reef in his sail.
Besides himself, the boat contained a lady.
"I suppose that is a Swiss boatman," said Shuffles. "If he is, he knows
no more about a boat than a mountaineer who never saw one."
"That's so," added Paul, anxiously.
"He has put her before the wind, and is trying to hoist his mainsail."
A fierce gust struck the canvas, as he began to hoist it, carrying out
the boom, and whirling the boat up into the wind. Certainly the person
on board of her had pluck enough; for he stuck to the halyards, though
he was nearly jerked overboard by the sudden pitching and rolling of
the craft. Recovering the sheet which had run out into the water, he
took his place at the helm. He flattened down the sail, when the flaw
had spent its force, and headed his boat towards Friedrichshafen. The
next gust that struck the sail carried her down so that the water
poured in over her lee rail by the barrel. The lady screamed lustily;
and the tones of her voice indicated that she did not belong to the
Swiss peasantry.
"Help! Help!" she shrieked; and her voice thrilled the souls of all on
board the steamer.
"Cannot something be done?" cried Grace.
"I don't see what can be done," replied Paul.
"The boatman is a fool!" said Shuffles, impatiently. "Why don't he let
out his sheet, or luff her up?"
"Can't you do something?" pleaded Grace, earnestly, as she clung to the
railing over the cabin ladder.
"Help! Help!" shouted the boatman, in good English; and it was plain
that he was not a Swiss.
Indeed, the lady and gentleman could now be seen plainly enough to
ascertain that they were English or American. Both of them were well
dressed, and both were quite young.
"We can launch the steamer's boat, if the captain will let us,"
suggested Paul.
The wind threw the boat round at this moment, and the sail shook
violently in the blast. Then it filled again, and drove her directly
into the path of the steamer, which was now close aboard of her.
"Stop her! Stop her!" shouted several persons, in French and German.
The captain gave the order to stop the engine; but it was doubtful
whether it was given in season to save the unfortunate couple in the
boat. Paul and Shuffles rushed to the bow of the steamer, and the
latter climbed upon the rail just as the mast of the boat swayed over
against the stem. He seized it, and nimbly slid down into the craft. As
the steamer was running nearly against the wind, her headway was easily
checked by a turn or two of the wheels backward; though the boat bumped
pretty hard against the steamer once or twice.
Shuffles evidently believed that skilful management alone could save
the sail-boat, and the lives of those who were in her. His mission, as
he understood it, was to supply this needed skill. The steamer had only
a single boat on deck, which was so dried up by the sun, that none of
the salt-water tars believed it would float. She had only a single pair
of oars, and it would be impossible to make any headway against the
gale in it. The captain declared that he could only save the imperilled
voyagers by running alongside their boat, and taking them out of it: he
could do nothing by sending his jolly-boat after them.
By excellent good fortune, the steamer was checked at the right moment;
though Shuffles supposed the boat would be stove, and he only got into
her for the purpose of assisting the young lady. The captain backed his
vessel so that she left the craft alone again. But the bold commander
of the Young America was not dismayed by the situation. He instantly
let go the halyards, and secured the sail as it came down. He glanced
at the trembling lady, who crouched in the stern to save her head from
the threshing of the boom. Grasping one of the oars, he pulled the boat
around till she lay head to the wind. She was almost water-logged, and
he saw that it was necessary to relieve her of some of this extra
weight before she could be manageable.
"Won't they save us?" gasped the lady, glancing at the steamer, which
was drifting rapidly away from them.
"Don't be alarmed, miss," said Shuffles, as he seized a kind of tub
which was filled with fish-lines and other angling gear.
"What shall I do?" asked the young man, whose pluck had by this time
become quite exhausted in his vain battle with the elements.
"Can you pull an oar?" demanded Shuffles, rather sharply, of the clumsy
boatman.
"I can."
"Take this one, then, and keep her head as it is now."
The young man took the oar, and pulled as he was directed; and Shuffles
went to work vigorously with the tub, in throwing out the water. He
labored so diligently and effectually, that in a few moments he had
relieved the boat of the great burden of water within her. While he did
so, he gave the young man such directions as enabled him to keep the
craft poised with her head to the fierce gusts that beat upon her. In
this position she rose and fell on the great billows, and shipped very
little water. The steamer had started her wheels again; but while she
did not venture very near the boat, she lay by to render assistance if
the latter were swamped. The lady, finding that the frail craft, under
her present management, behaved very well, sorely as she was tried by
the tempest, was encouraged.
"Can I do anything?" she asked, in soft notes, though they were still
shaken by her fears.
"No, miss: if you will only keep perfectly still, I can take care of
her."
"Here is a basin," said she, holding up the implement. "Shall I throw
the water out of her?"
"If you please," answered Shuffles, willing to encourage her; for even
the belief that one is doing some good, in an emergency, assists in
quieting one's fears.
She went to work with a zeal which indicated a strong will, and if she
did not accomplish as much as she wished to do, it was only because the
uneasy tossing of the boat defeated her good intentions.
"Steady!" said Shuffles, to the young man at the oar. "You heave her
round so that she will take the wind on the other hand. Now pull away
with all your might!" he added, as the boat began to fall off.
"Are we going to stay here all night?" asked the other, who was nearly
exhausted by the violence of his efforts to keep her head up to the
blast.
"No, no!" replied Shuffles, impatiently, as he put out the other oar,
and assisted his companion, when the boat was in danger of catching the
wind on her beam. "I will get sail on her in a few moments."
In the lull of the blast, the young commander overhauled the sail, and
corrected the non-nautical reefing of his companion.
"Now, mind your eye!" shouted Shuffles, as he grasped the halyards.
"What shall I do?"
"Pull away!"
"I'm losing my wind," gasped the sufferer, who had really struggled
with the oar till his exertions and excitement had nearly disabled him.
"Pull away for half a minute more," replied Shuffles, as he ran up the
main-sail, which beat and thrashed fearfully in the gale.
Having secured the halyards, the new skipper sprang to the helm, and
seized the main sheet. Placing the lady on the weather side, he seated
himself on the rail, with the sheet in his right hand, and the tiller
in his left.
"Now let her go it!" he shouted to the young man. "Jump up to windward,
and keep your weather eye open!"
The weary oarsman was glad to be relieved from his exhausting task, and
promptly obeyed the order. Shuffles had put two reefs in the sail; but
without the most skilful handling, the boat could not carry even this
short canvas in such a fierce tempest. It was not such a sea as rages
in a storm upon the ocean, but it was altogether too rough for any
ordinary boat. It was not a long, bounding, rolling billow, but a
short, angry wave, that tried the timbers of the Swiss boat. As soon as
the rower ceased his occupation, the head of the craft fell off, the
sail filled, and she careened down to the gunwale.
"We shall certainly tip over!" gasped the lady, clinging to the rail.
"Don't be afraid, miss. This boat behaves very handsomely, and is stiff
enough to weather a gale," added Shuffles, confidently, as the little
vessel leaped upon one of the snappy, snarling billows, and then
plunged down into the trough of the sea.
"I never was terrified in a boat before," said she, shaking with alarm.
"It is a heavy storm, and not just the weather for a lady to be out in.
Don't be frightened, miss. The boat is doing very well under her double
reefs, and she will weather it, if you only believe in her."
There came another tremendous gust, which seemed to strike the boat
like a blow from an immense sledgehammer; and she bent down under it
till her rail was buried in the foaming waters. Shuffles "touched her
up" a little, and let out the sheet till the sail shook in the blast.
The boat righted, and for a moment had a partial respite from the
savage pounding of the tempest. The young man, who clung to the weather
rail with a tenacity which indicated that he had not yet recovered his
self-possession, glanced ahead, and then at the steamer, whose course
now diverged from that of the sail-boat, and the two craft were
increasing their distance from each other.
"We wish to go to Friedrichshafen," said he, apparently troubled by the
discovery he had made.
"So do I," replied Shuffles, quietly, without taking his eye from the
sail.
"This will not bring us there," added the ex-skipper.
"Any port in a storm," said the gallant helmsman. "If I let the boat
fall off enough to lay a course for Friedrichshafen, she will fill in
the twinkling of an eye."
"I don't see why she should," added the young man, evidently not
satisfied with the action of the new skipper.
"I think you ought to see it, after you have half filled the boat
yourself on that tack. Don't you understand that it would throw the
boat into the trough of the sea, and make her roll? Look at that
steamer. I am not sure that she will not be obliged to throw her head
up into it, and lay too for a while."
"Pray do just as you think best, sir," interposed the lady.
"That is what I intend to do, miss. Really there is only one thing you
can do when it blows like this--keep her head up to it."
Again it was necessary for Shuffles to use all his skill and strength,
as the heavy gusts were repeated, to prevent the boat from filling.
Easing off the sheet, and crowding her up into the wind, the boat
weathered another shock, and then had another brief respite. The spray
dashed in the fierce blast like hailstones into the face and eyes of
the intrepid captain, and he was nearly blinded by the charge. His
hands were full, holding the tiller and the sheet. Securing the latter
with his knee, he tried to take his handkerchief from his pocket, to
wipe the water from his eyes. But a jerk of the boat compelled him to
grasp the helm suddenly, and the wind carried away the handkerchief
like a feather.
"My eyes are full of spray," said he, without even glancing at the
flight of the lost article.
"You have lost your handkerchief," replied the young lady, tenderly.
"Pray take mine."
"I am obliged to use both hands. May I trouble you to wipe the water
from my eyes? I can hardly see, I am so blinded."
The young lady promptly complied with the request, and holding on to
the rail with her left hand, she wiped the water from the captain's
eyes.
"Thank you," said he, greatly relieved by the act.
"Let me change seats with you, Feodora," interposed the young man.
"Perhaps I may be able to assist in working the boat."
"Sit still! Don't move!" shouted Shuffles, sternly.
"I only wish to help you," replied the other.
"You will help me most by keeping entirely still," answered Shuffles,
as another fierce blast struck the sail, and required the skipper's
whole attention. Again the cutting spray blinded him, though, as any
other skilful boatman can, he was able to comprehend by the feeling the
motion of the boat.
"Shall I wipe your eyes again?" asked the young lady.
"If you please."
Gently, her eyes beaming with interest and sympathy, the lady wiped the
drops of water from his eyes. Though her companion said nothing, he did
not seem to regard the operation with much favor. Very likely he
thought it was quite unnecessary to wipe the skipper's eyes at every
fresh gust. Again he proposed to change places with her; but Shuffles
peremptorily forbade the movement, either because he thought the young
lady could wipe his eyes better than the young man, or because he was
afraid some accident would happen in making the change.
The storm rather increased than diminished in violence, and for an hour
Shuffles held on his course. The steamer had gone into Friedrichshafen,
though she had been obliged, in some of the fiercest blasts, to throw
her head up into the wind, and hold on till its fierceness subsided a
little. After every gust, the young lady wiped the eyes of her gallant
preserver, for as such she regarded him; and such he doubtless was, for
the boat would have gone to the bottom long before without his skilful
assistance. She soon learned to perform the kindly office without a
word, though the captain did not fail to thank her every time.
The boat did not make rapid progress; by keeping her close-hauled,
continually easing off the sheet, and touching her up, she made
considerable lee way. At the end of two hours, and when it was
beginning to grow dark, Shuffles found himself nearing the shore on the
north side of the lake. He must either make a harbor or go about on the
other tack. It was impossible to land on the exposed shore, against
which the waves were beating in the madness of their fury. He was at
least ten miles above the port to which he and his passenger wished to
go. Directly ahead of him was a point of land, which projected out into
the lake. Beyond it there was an indentation in the shore, within which
he might possibly find a partial shelter from the fury of the storm. It
was doubtful whether he could weather the point; but he did not wish to
tack, and stand farther out into the lake. The night was coming on, and
all his skill and courage could not insure the safety of the boat in
the darkness and on unknown waters.
Hauling in the sheet a little, he braced the craft sharp up, and
struggled with the elements to clear the headland. He looked anxiously
into the green waters for any shoals on the lee bow. Fortunately there
was no obstruction in his path, and the boat weathered the headland,
though without the fraction of a point to spare. Easing off the sheet,
he ran the boat into the bay, and in a few moments she was slightly
sheltered by the shore to the eastward. This friendly relief enabled
him to keep her away a little, and run for the head of the bay, where
he perceived an opening, which looked like the mouth of a river.
No longer cramped by the helm and the sheet, the boat flew on her
course, and Shuffles presently satisfied himself that the opening he
saw was really the mouth of a stream. He realized that the battle had
been fought and won, but he said nothing to his fellow voyagers, who
were silent and anxious. On sped the boat, and as the waves became less
furious, he gave her more sheet, and she darted into the still waters
of the river, which was not more than a hundred feet wide, and with
banks high enough to afford perfect protection to the storm-shaken
craft. As she rushed into the quiet stream, Shuffles let go the sheet,
and the boat gradually lost her headway. Putting the helm down, he ran
her gently upon the shore, and the grating of her keel upon the
gravelly bank was sweet music to the ears of the voyagers.
"You are all right now," said Shuffles, as he rose from his seat in the
stern sheets.
Almost for the first time since he boarded the sailboat, he looked into
the face of the young lady. Her clothing was thoroughly drenched by the
spray, and her face was moist as though she were a mermaid just emerged
from the depths of the ocean. But even in her present plight Shuffles
saw that she was a very pretty girl. She was shivering with cold, and
it was necessary to do something for her comfort.
"We are really safe," replied the lady, with a grateful smile. "We owe
our lives to you, sir."
"We are exceedingly grateful to you for your service," added the young
man.
"I am very glad to have had an opportunity to serve you," replied
Shuffles, addressing his words to the young lady.
"I shall remember you, and be grateful to you as long as I live,"
continued the lady, warmly, as she bestowed upon him an earnest look,
which a skilful observer would have interpreted as one of admiration.
"But where are we?" asked the young man.
"I don't know, except that we must be ten or a dozen miles to the
eastward of Friedrichshafen," answered Shuffles.
"What shall we do?" asked his male companion.
"There are probably houses not far distant. You had better go on shore,
and when you see one, let us know it."
"Perhaps you would prefer to go," suggested the young man, glancing at
the lady.
"Having worked hard in the boat, I prefer to rest a little while,"
replied Shuffles.
"Go, Sir William," added the lady, reproachfully.
Sir William! Captain Shuffles was rather taken aback to find he had
been sending a young baronet to look for a house; but then he regarded
himself as the peer of any baronet, and he did not apologize.
Sir William leaped over the bow of the boat to the shore, and climbed
up the bank. He cast a glance back at the companions of his voyage, and
then disappeared.
"I think you must be a sailor, sir," said the young lady, when her
friend had gone.
"I am, miss. I am; at least I ought to be, since I am the captain of a
ship."
"A captain--and so young! O, I know what you are!" exclaimed she. "You
belong to the American Academy Ship."
"I do."
"But I did not see you at the emperor's ball in Paris."
"No. I was absent on duty."
"I had the pleasure of dancing with a captain on that occasion."
"I was appointed on the first of this month," explained Shuffles.
"I know your uniform very well; and I am glad to see you. I am sure you
are worthy of your high position."
"Thank you, miss. You are very kind."
"I should have been at the bottom of Lake Constance at this moment, if
you had been less gallant and skilful."
"Perhaps not," replied Shuffles, wondering all the time who the young
lady was.
The hail of Sir William from the bank above interrupted the
conversation. The boat had grounded a rod from the bank of the stream,
and Shuffles gallantly bore the fair passenger to the shore in his
arms. Assisting her up the bank, the party soon reached a cottage a
short distance from the mouth of the river. The young nobleman
imperiously ordered great fires and refreshments. He spoke German
fluently, and his commands were promptly obeyed. The rain now poured
down in floods, and the party congratulated themselves upon escaping
this added discomfort.