"He ceased, that is, I heard no more,
Though other words pass'd idly by,
And Andrew chatter'd as before,
And laugh'd-I mark'd him not-not I.
'Tis at thy choice!' that sound alone
Rang in mine ear-voice else was none.

"I could not eat, -the untasted flask

Mock'd my parch'd lip, -I pass'd it by.
What ails thee, man?' he seem'd to ask. -
I felt, but could not meet his eye. -
'Tis at thy choice!" - it sounded yet-
A sound I never may forget.

-"Haste! haste! the day draws on, I cried, 'And Andrew, thou hast far to go!'

*Hast far to go!" the Fiend replied

Within me,-"twas not Andrew-no! 'Twas Andrew's voice no more-'twas HE Whose then I was, and aye must be !

-On, on we went: the dreary plain

Was all around us we were Here! Then came the storm, the lightning, -rain, No earthly living thing was near, Save one wild Raven on the wing, -If that indeed were earthly thing!

"I heard its hoarse and screaming voice High hovering o'er my frenzied head, "Tis, Gervase Matcham, at thy choice! But he the Boy!' methought it said. -Nay, Andrew, check that vengeful frown, I loved thee when I struck thee down!

"'Twas done! the deed that damns me-done I know not how-I never knew ;And Here I stood-but not alone, The prostrate Boy my madness slew, Was by my side-limb, feature, name, 'Twas HE!!-another-yet the same!

"Away! away! in frantic haste

Throughout that live-long night I flew-
Away! away!-across the waste,-

I know not how I never knew.-
My mind was one wild blank-and I
Had but one thought, -one hope to fly!

"And still the lightning plough'd the ground, The thunder roar'd-and there would come Amidst its loudest bursts a sound

Familiar once-it was-A DRUM!

Then came the morn, and light, and then Streets, houses, -spires, the hum of men.

"And Ocean roll'd before me-fain

Would I have whelm'd me in its tide, At once beneath the billowy main

My shame, my guilt, my crime to hide; But He was there!-HE crossed my track, I dared not pass-He waved me back!

"And then rude hands detain'd me-sure
Justice had grasp'd her victim-no!
Though powerless, hopeless, bound, secure,
A captive thrall, it was not so;
They cry 'The Frenchman's on the wave!'
The press was hot and I a slave.

"They dragg'd me o'er the vessel's side;
The world of waters roll'd below;
The gallant ship in all her pride
Of dreadful beauty sought her foe;
-Thou saw'st me; William, in the strife-
Alack! I bore a charmed life!

"In vain the bullets round me fly,

In vain mine eager breast I bare; Death shuns the wretch who longs to die, And every sword falls edgeless there!

Still He is near;-and seems to cry,
'Not here, nor thus, may Matcham die!'-

"Thou saw'st me on that fearful day,
When, fruitless all attempts to save,
Our pinnace foundering in the bay,
The boat's-crew met a watery grave,-
All, all-save ONE-the ravenous sea
That swallow'd all-reject'd ME!

"And now, when fifteen suns have each
Fulfill'd in turn its circling year,
Thrown back again on England's beach,
Our bark paid off-He drives me Here!
I could not die in flood or fight-
He drives me HERE!!"-

"And sarve you right!

What! bilk your Commander ! - desart - and then

rob!

And go scuttling a poor little Drummer-boy's nob; Why, my precious eyes! what a bloodthirsty swab!

There's old Davy Jones, Who cracks sailors' bones

For his jaw-work, would never, I'm sure, s'elp me Bob,

Have come for to go for to do sich a job!

Hark ye, Waters, --or Matcham, whichever's your

purser-name,

-T'other, your own, is, I'm sartain, the worser

name,

Twelve years have we lived on like brother and

brother!

Now-your course lays one way, and mine lays

another!"

"No, William, it may not be so;

Blood calls for blood! -'tis Heaven's decree!

And thou with me this night must go,
And give me to the gallows-tree!
Ha!-see-HE Smiles-HE points the way!
On, William, on!-no more delay!"

Now Bill, so the story, as told to me, goes,
And who, as his last speech sufficiently shows,

Was a "regular trump," - did not like to "turn

Nose;"

But then came a thunder-clap louder than any
Of those that preceded, though they were so many:
And hark!-as its rumblings subside in a hum,

What sound mingles too?-By the hokey-A DRUM!!