Ham watches the sea, standing alone, with the silence of suspended breath behind him, and the storm before, until there is a great retiring wave, when, with a backward glance at those who hold the rope which is made fast round his body, he dashes in after it and in a moment is buffeting with the water; rising with the hills, falling with the valleys, lost beneath the rugged foam,-borne in toward the shore,-borne on toward the ship,-striving hard and valiantly. The distance is nothing, but the power of the sea and wind makes the strife deadly. At length he nears the wreck. He is so near that with one of his vigorous strokes he will be clinging to it-when a high, green, vast hillside of water, moving on shoreward, from beyond the ship, seems to leap up into it with a mighty bound, and the ship is gone! They haul in hastily, but consternation is seen in every face-for there at their feet lies poor old Ham-dead! He had been beaten to death by the great wave and his generous heart was stilled forever. And as they bend compassionately over the form of their brave young comrade, another body is washed ashore-that of the solitary figure which had been seen alone upon the mast, -and there next to him whom he had so unjustly wronged, lay the dead body of James Steerforth! COMO BY JOAQUIN MILLER The red-clad fishers row and creep Below the crags, as half asleep, The walls are steep, The waves are deep; And if the dead man should be found By these fishers in their round, Why, who shall say but he was drowned? The lake lay bright, as bits of broken moon The stars, as large as lilies, flecked the blue; A gala night it was-the season's prime; A gorgeous tiger-lily, flaming red, So full of battle, of the trumpet's blare, I galloped past, I leaned, I clutched it there. And cried "Lo! this to-night shall deck her hair. The citadel where I shall set this sign.' He spoke no spare word all the after while. That he glared like some wild beast well at bay! Oh, she shone fairer than the summer star, Who loves, who truly loves, will stand aloof, From out the dance I stood, and watched my star, A thousand beauties flashed at love's advance; The swift feet shot and glittered in the dance. Her presence, it was majesty-so tall; Her proud development encompassed-all. She filled all space. I sought, I saw but her. Adown the dance she moved with matchless pace. I clutched my blade; I sprang; I caught my breath, And so stood leaning still as death. And they stood still. She blushed, then reached and tore The lily as she passed, and down the floor She strewed its heart like bits of gushing gore. 'Twas he said heads, not hearts, were made to break. I learned too well. The dance was done. Ere morn The walls are steep, The waves are deep; And if the dead man should be found Why, who shall say but he was-drowned? THE REVENGE BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a flutter'd bird, came flying from far away: "Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!" Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: 'Fore God I am no coward; 66 But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear, And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick. We are six ships of the line; can we fight with fifty-three?" Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: "I know you are no coward; You fly them for a moment to fight with them again. To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain." So Lord Howard past away with five ships of war that day, Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven; But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the land Very carefully and slow, Men of Bideford in Devon, And we laid them on the ballast down below; For we brought them all aboard, |