“And how were they punished?” asked Edric.
“Oh, you haven’t heard half they did yet!” said the man. “When they were put in prison for their pranks, the Old One came to their help, and carried them off in a flame of fire, leaving a long train of light after them in the sky, like the tail of a blazing comet. Dick Jones, who was telling me, swears he saw them all going off together. The old one hanging by the Devil’s horn, and the young one keeping fast hold of his tail!”
“Shocking!” said Edric, scarcely able, however, to repress a smile at this proof of the vividness of Dick Jones’s imagination.
“I haven’t told you half,” resumed the man. “All Grand Cairo rings with it; several have gone mad, and others died with fear; and the man who was with Dick Jones, and who was one of the soldiers of the guard set over them, assured me as a positive fact, that the chains they had had on, and left behind them, crumbled between his fingers like a bit of rotten wood.”
“It is very awful!” said Edric.
“Aye, is it not?” rejoined the man; “thank God I was not there to see! I am sure the very look of one of those conjurors would have driven me mad! I never could abide such things.”
Edric now, with some difficulty, persuaded the man to return to the subject of their transit.
“I am very sorry, Sir,” said he; “but I don’t think there’ll be a vessel going out to Constantinople for this week at least; for they’ve got the plague there, and our magistrates won’t let a ship that has been there, return to our harbour again without performing quarantine; and that is such a hindrance to trade that our folks don’t like it. But perhaps you’re in no hurry, and can wait?”
“Oh yes, we can wait quite well!” said the doctor, trembling with anxiety to be off.
The sailor, however, had no occasion to say more; for the bare mention of the plague was quite sufficient to deter our travellers from visiting Constantinople; and finding he was bound for Malta, and that no other vessel would quit the harbour that day, they hastily embarked, notwithstanding his vessel was old and inconvenient, and not forwarded by steam, though the superior certainty of the steam-packets was now so generally felt and acknowledged by all, that perhaps this was the only common sailing-boat in the harbour. The joy of our travellers at their deliverance was, however, too great to permit them to dwell upon trifles; and as the cabin was scarcely habitable, they resolved to remain on deck the whole of the voyage, being determined to submit to anything sooner than delay their departure. Accordingly they stretched themselves upon their cloaks, and, reclining against some ropes, watched attentively the lovely scene around them. The evening was beautiful, and, as the shores of Egypt swiftly receded from their view, they felt their minds soothed by the contemplation of the grand scene that presented itself. There is, indeed, something in the awful majesty of the world of waters, which, like the gigantic monuments of Egypt, powerfully affects the mind by its very simplicity, and, by raising the soul far above the common trifling occurrences of life, soothes it to tranquillity.
The voyage was long, for contrary winds impeded their progress; and one evening, after Dr. Entwerfen had remained for some time gazing steadfastly on the water, with a look of deep abstraction, he exclaimed suddenly, “There will be a storm!”
“Impossible!” returned Edric. “The sun set in unwonted splendour, spreading its rays of purple and gold through the waters like a jewelled diadem; and the wind is even now dying away to a gentle breeze, which scarcely curls the surface of the ocean as our bark dances gaily over it.”
“That is a bad sign,” said the doctor. “Have you not often heard that a storm is generally preceded by a calm? You will find it no metaphor now.”
The moon soon shone brightly; and as the ship ploughed her way slowly through the almost motionless waves, its beams sparkled through the spray, which fell in silvery showers over the prow. All now was still, except the heaving of the vessel, and the monotonous splashing of the waters as she slowly worked her way through them. The wind gradually sunk, and the sails only feebly flapped in the breeze that could no longer inflate them, till at last even that failed, and the vessel completely becalmed lay like a log upon the water, which spread like a vast and tranquil mirror around her.
Bitterly now did our travellers regret the precipitate haste that had made them embark in such a frail, unmanageable boat; and they regarded with longing eyes the compact steam-packets that glided past them; their black smoke curling in the air as they were wafted swiftly along. It was too late, however, to repent; and the doctor consoled himself by taking advantage of the effect produced by the thick black smoke, as they saw it rising in the distance, to illustrate the lecture he had formerly given his pupil on the theory of combustion and decomposition of amphlites, till he fairly lulled him to sleep.
Morning came, but brought not with it the wished-for breeze. Edric rose, and walking upon deck, encountered the doctor. “How still all seems!” said he. “Nature seems to sleep: but ’tis an awful stillness, such as falls upon a dying patient, prophetic of his end. Nature seems exhausted, and I could fancy is seeking a short repose to rally her energies for some decisive blow.”
“You are fanciful, Edric,” said the doctor; “you alarm yourself unnecessarily. The violent shock your nerves have sustained, unfits you for exertion, and renders you disposed to see everything in a gloomy light.”
“I beg your pardon, Sir,” said a ragged English sailor, who happened to be on board; “in my opinion the gentleman
