peared to be fond of this man, everybody
appeared to be afraid of him, and he had obtained a control over the
seamen which appeared unaccountable.

Such was the state of affairs on board the good ship _Ter Schilling_,
when, in company with two others, she lay becalmed about two days'
sail to the Cape. The weather was intensely hot, for it was the summer
in those southern latitudes, and Philip, who had been lying down under
the awning spread over the poop, was so overcome with the heat that he
had fallen asleep. He awoke with a shivering sensation of cold over
his whole body, particularly at his chest, and half-opening his eyes,
he perceived the pilot, Schriften, leaning over him, and holding
between his finger and his thumb a portion of the chain which had not
been concealed, and to which was attached the sacred relic. Philip
closed them again, to ascertain what were the man's intentions: he
found that he gradually dragged out the chain, and, when the relic was
clear, attempted to pass the whole over his head, evidently to gain
possession of it. Upon his attempt Philip started up and seized him by
the waist.

"Indeed!" cried Philip, with an indignant look, as he released the
chain from the pilot's hand.

But Schriften appeared not in the least confused at being detected
in his attempt: looking with his malicious one eye at Philip, he
mockingly observed:

"Does that chain hold her picture?--he! he!"

Vanderdecken rose, pushed him away, and folded his arms.

"I advise you not to be quite so curious, Master Pilot, or you may
repent it."

"Or perhaps," continued the pilot, quite regardless of Philip's wrath,
"it may be a child's caul, a sovereign remedy against drowning."

"Go forward to your duty, sir," cried Philip.

"Or, as you are a Catholic, the finger-nail of a saint; or, yes, I
have it--a piece of the holy cross."

Philip started.

"That's it! that's it!" cried Schriften, who now went forward to where
the seamen were standing at the gangway. "News for you, my lads!" said
he; "we've a bit of the holy cross aboard, and so we may defy the
devil!"

Philip, hardly knowing why, had followed Schriften as he descended the
poop-ladder, and was forward on the quarter-deck, when the pilot made
this remark to the seamen.

"Ay! ay!" replied an old seaman to the pilot; "not only the devil, but
the _Flying Dutchman_ to boot."

"The _Flying Dutchman_" thought Philip, "can that refer to--?" and
Philip walked a ste