s. Poor mortal, who must needs wed a were wolf.'
"`Out, demon! I defy thee and thy power.'
"`Yet shall you feel it; remember your oath--your solemn oath--never to
raise your hand against her to harm her.'
"`I made no compact with evil spirits.'
"`You did, and if you failed in your vow, you were to meet the vengeance
of the spirits. Your children were to perish by the vulture, the
wolf--'
"`Out, out, demon!'
"`And their bones blanch in the wilderness. Ha!--ha!'
"My father, frantic with rage, seized his axe, and raised it over
Wilfred's head to strike.
"`All this I swear,' continued the huntsman, mockingly.
"The axe descended; but it passed through the form of the hunter, and my
father lost his balance, and tell heavily on the floor.
"`Mortal!' said the hunter, striding over my father's body, `we have
power over those only who have committed murder. You have been guilty
of a double murder: you shall pay the penalty attached to your marriage
vow. Two of your children are gone, the third is yet to follow--and
follow them he will, for your oath is registered. Go--it were kindness
to kill thee--your punishment is, that you live!'
"With these words the spirit disappeared. My father rose from the
floor, embraced me tenderly, and knelt down in prayer.
"The next morning he quitted the cottage for ever. He took me with him,
and bent his steps to Holland, where we safely arrived. He had some
little money with him; but he had not been many days in Amsterdam before
he was seized with a brain fever, and died raving mad. I was put into
the asylum, and afterwards was sent to sea before the mast. You now
know all my history. The question is, whether I am to pay the penalty
of my father's oath? I am myself perfectly convinced that, in some way
or another, I shall."
On the twenty-second day the high land of the south of Sumatra was in
view: as there were no vessels in sight, they resolved to keep their
course through the Straits, and run for Pulo Penang, which they
expected, as their vessel lay so close to the wind, to reach in seven or
eight days. By constant exposure Philip and Krantz were now so bronzed
that with their long beards and Mussulman dresses, they might easily
have passed off for natives. They had steered the whole of the days
exposed to a burning sun; they had lain down and slept in the dew of the
night; but their health had not suffered. But for several days, since
he had confid
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