There is a clear and bright blue lake Embosom’d in the rocky north; No murmurs e’er its silence break, As on its waves we sally forth; The mountain bird floats high aloft, Above his wild and craggy nest, And gazes from his towering throne, Upon the torrent’s sparkling breast; While far beneath, in light and shade, The bright green valleys frown and smile, And in the bed sweet nature made, The lake sleeps soft and sweet the while. O’er many a green and lovely wild, The golden sun-beams gaily smile; But ’mid them all he doth not break, As on his race he sallies forth, On fairer scene, or sweeter lake, Than that within the rocky north. M. T.
BY THE AUTHOR OF “CRUIZING IN THE LAST WAR.”
“Steady, there, steady!” thundered the master of the merchantman, his voice seeming, however, in the fierce uproar of the gale, to die away into a whisper.
I looked ahead. A giant wave, towering as high as the yard arm, its angry crest hissing above us, and its dark green bosom seeming to open to engulph our fated bark, was rolling down toward us, shutting out half the horizon from sight, and striking terror into the stoutest heart. It was a fearful spectacle. Involuntarily I glanced around the horizon. All was dark, lowering, and ominous. On every hand the mountain waves were heaving to the sky, while the roar of the hurricane was awfully sublime. Now we rose to the heavens: now sunk into a yawning abyss. But I had little time to gaze upon the fearful scene. Already the angry billow was rushing down upon our bows, when the master again sang out, as if with the voice of a giant.
“_Hold on all!_” and as he spoke, the huge volume of waters came tumbling in upon us, sweeping our decks like a whirlwind, hissing, roaring, and foaming along, and making the merchantman quiver in every timber from bulwark to kelson. Not a moveable thing was left. The long boat was swept from the decks like chaff before a hurricane. For an instant the merchantman lay powerless beneath the blow, as if a thunderbolt had stunned her; but gradually recovering from the shock, she shook the waters gallantly from her bows, emerged from the deluge, and rolling her tall masts heavily to starboard, once more breasted the storm.