“’Tis the ship of Altair,” cried Thyrza. “The night is gathering fast, and, unless he hears the bell in the dark, Altair will be wrecked upon the reefs. I must row to the bell, if I can, and sound the warning clang.”
And now the courageous maiden hastened to her little fishing boat and rowed through the dark and the gathering storm to the soundless bell. Long and hard she fought, and presently a great gust of the gale swept her down against the bell. Great waves were breaking over it in bitter spray, and it rolled and tossed and turned and plunged in the sea.
After tying her little boat to one of the figures, Thyrza took a round stone, which she used as a weight for a net, and began to sound the bell.
Nearer and nearer drew the ship of Altair. The fiery bars of the sunset faded from the clouds; the wild night closed in upon the sea.
“Ding--Dong! Ding--Dong!” went the bell. And the wind howled in the dark, and the waves thundered and broke as they fled. Suddenly Thyrza saw the lights of Altair’s ship close at hand; the vessel was safely entering the passageway.
So near she passed to the bell that Thyrza could almost have touched her oaken side.
Now, when the lights of Altair’s vessel had vanished in the night, Thyrza went to unloose her little boat and row ashore. Some fishers had seen her on the bell and built a great bonfire on the beach to guide her safely in. But suddenly the maid beheld the lights of a second ship, searching for the fairway and the bell.
Weak and chilled though she was, Thyrza sounded the bell till this vessel, too, had passed safely through the reefs. Much to the maiden’s surprise, this second vessel came about and anchored in the little fishing-harbor of the Isles!
Guided by the light of the fire, brave Thyrza safely made her way to the shore.
As for Altair, he continued on to the Land of the South, and was given the treasure and the crown of glory and honor for bringing the fairest and noblest bell.
And the bell of the earth hung in the belfry-tower, and in the morning and the evening spoke to men of the wonder and mystery of the earth and the changing sea.
And now the brave young sailor had riches and honors like unto a king, yet was he restless at heart, for he remembered the maiden Thyrza and was fain to make her his wife. Returning again to the sea, he sought the Perilous Isles, and hurried ashore to find the gray-eyed maid.
