like a maiden fanning
herself when she sees her lover, and nothing full but the upper duck, with
the sun fairly below the water in the western board. I was then young, and
quick of eye, as of foot, and therefore among the first to see the sight!"

"Which was----?" said Ludlow, interested in spite of his assumed air of
indifference.

"Why, here just above the bank of foul air, that ever rests on that coast,
there was seen an object, that looked like ribs of bright light, as if a
thousand stars had quitted their usual berths in the heaven, to warn us
off the land, by a supernatural beacon. The sight was in itself altogether
out of nature and surprising. As the night thickened, it grew brighter and
more glowing, as if 'twere meant in earnest to warn us from the coast. But
when the word was passed to send the glasses aloft, there was seen a
glittering cross on high, and far above the spars on which earthly ships
carry their private signals."

"This was indeed extraordinary! and what did you, to come at the character
of the heavenly symbol?"

"We wore off shore, and left it a clear berth for bolder mariners. Glad
enough was I to see, with the morning sun, the snowy hills of Corsica,
again!"

"And the appearance of that object was never explained?"

"Nor ever will be. I have since spoke with the mariners of that sea
concerning the sight, but never found any who could pretend to have seen
it. There was indeed one bold enough to say, there is a church, far
inland, of height and magnitude sufficient to be seen some leagues at sea,
and that, favored by our position and the mists that hung above the low
grounds, we had seen its upper works, looming above the fogs, and lighted
for some brilliant ceremony; but we were all too old in seaman's
experience to credit so wild a tale. I know not but a church may loom, as
well as a hill or a ship; but he, who pretends to say, that the hands of
man can thus pile stones among the clouds, should be certain of believers,
ere he pushes the tale too far."

"Your narrative is extraordinary, and the marvel should have been looked
into closer. It may truly have been a church, for there stands an edifice
at Rome, which towers to treble the height of a cruiser's masts."

"Having rarely troubled churches, I know not why a church should trouble
me," said the mariner of the sash, while he turned his back on the ocean,
as if indisposed to regard the waste of water longer. "It is now twelve
years