ose you to give way to
these chimeras," said I; "you must endeavour to resist them. Perhaps
things aren't so bad as you suppose."--"This is not a lonely
situation," replied Morvalden, in a solemn tone. "Perhaps you will
have proof of what I say before you leave us. Many vessels used to be
lost here, and a few are wrecked still; and the skeletons and corpses
of those who have perished lie all over the sand-bank. Sometimes, at
midnight, I have seen crowds of human figures moving backwards and
forwards upon the surface of the ocean, almost as far as the eye could
reach. I neither knew who they were, nor what they did there. When
watching the lantern alone, I often hear a number of voices talking
together, as it were, under the waves; and I twice caught the very
words they uttered, but I cannot repeat them--they dwell incessantly
in my memory, but my tongue refuses to pronounce them, or to explain
to others what they meant."

"Do not let your senses be imposed upon by a distempered imagination,"
said I; "there is no reality in the things you have told XXXX
me."--"Perhaps my mind occasionally wanders a little, for it has a
heavy burden upon it," returned Morvalden. "I have been guilty of a
dreadful crime. Many that now lie in the deep below us might start up
and accuse me of what I am just going to reveal to you. One stormy
night, shortly after I began to take charge of this beacon, while
watching on deck, I fell into a profound sleep. I know not how long it
continued, but I was awakened by horrible shouts and cries. I started
up, and instantly perceived that all the lamps in the lantern were
extinguished. It was very dark, and the sea raged furiously; but
notwithstanding all this, I observed a ship aground on the bank, a
little way from me, her sails fluttering in the wind, and the waves
breaking over her with violence. Half frantic with horror, I ran down
to the cabin for a taper, and lighted the lamps as fast as possible.
The lantern, when hoisted to the top of the mast, threw a vivid glare
on the surrounding ocean, and showed me the vessel disappearing among
the billows. Hundreds of people lay gasping in the water near her.
Men, women, and children writhed together in agonising struggles,
and uttered soul-harrowing cries; and their countenances, as they
gradually stiffened under the hand of death, were all turned towards
me with glassy stare, while the lurid expression of their glistening
eyes upbraided me with having b