"What do they now, maiden?" said Ivanhoe; "look forth yet again-this is no time to faint at bloodshed."

"It is over for the time," answered Rebecca; "our friends strengthen themselves within the outwork which they have mastered, and it affords them so good a shelter from the foemen's shot, that the garrison only bestow a few bolts on it from interval to interval, as if rather to disquiet than effectually to injure them."

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

CLXXXVI.-°DOUGLAS AND MARMION.

NOT far advanced was morning day,
When Marmion did his troops array,
To Surrey's camp to ride;

He had safe conduct for his band,
Beneath the royal seal and hand,
And Douglas gave a guide:
The ancient Earl, with stately grace,
Would Clara on her °palfrey place,
And whispered, in an under tone,
"Let the hawk stoop, his prey is flown."
The train from out the castle drew;
But Marmion stopped to bid adieu:-
“Though something I might plain,” he said,
"Of cold respect to stranger guest,
Sent hither by your king's behest,
While in Tantallon's towers I stayed,
Part we in friendship from your land,
And, noble Earl, receive my hand.”

But Douglas round him drew his cloak,
Folded his arms, and thus he spoke :-
"My manors, halls, and bowers, shall still
Be open,.at my sovereign's will,
To each one whom he lists, howe'er
Unmeet to be the owner's °peer.
My castles are my king's alone,
From turret to foundation stone,-
The hand of Douglas is his own
And never shall, in friendly grasp,
The hand of such as Marmion clasp."

Burned Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire,

And shook his very frame with °ire,

And-"This to me!" he said,-
"An't were not for thy hoary beard,
Such hand as Marmion's had not spâred
To cleave the Douglas' head!

And, first, I tell thee, haughty peer,
He, who does England's message here,
Although the meanest in her state,
May well, proud Angus, be thy mate;
And, Douglas, more I tell thee here,
Even in thy pitch of pride,

Here in thy hold, thy °vassals near,
(Nay, never look upon your lord,
And lay your hands upon your sword,)
I tell thee, thou'rt defied!

And if thou saidst, I am not peer
To any Lord in Scotland here,
"Lowland or Highland, far or near,
Lord Angus, thou hast lied!"

On the Earl's cheek the flush of rage

O'ercame the ashen hue of age;

Fierce he broke forth: " And dar'st thou then

To beard the lion in his den,

The Douglas in his hall?

And hop'st thou hence unscathed to go?-
No, by Saint Bryde of Bothwell, no!—

Up drawbridge, grooms-what, warder, ho!
Let the portcullis fall."

Lord Marmion turned,-well was his need,-
And dashed the rowels in his steed,
Like arrow through the archway sprung,-
The ponderous gate behind him rung:
Το pass there was such scanty room,
The bars, descending, razed his plume.

The steed along the drawbridge flies,
Just as it trembles on the rise;
Not lighter does the swallow skim
Along the smooth lake's level brim.

And when Lord Marmion reached his band,

He halts, and turns with clenched hand,

And shouts of loud defiance pours

And shook his gauntlet at the towers.

"Horse! horse!" the Douglas cried, “and chase !” But soon he reined his fury's pace;

"A royal messenger he came,
Though most unworthy of the name.—
Saint Mary mend my fiery mood!
Old age ne'er cools the Douglas blood,
I thought to slay him where he stood.-
'Tis pity of him, too,” he cried;
"Bold can he speak, and fairly ride:
I warrant him a warrior tried.”—
With this his mandate he recalls,
And slowly seeks his castle halls.

SIR WALTER SCOTT

CLXXXVII.-CAPTURE OF A WHALE.

THIRTY days out from Hobart Town, our vessel floated under an unbroken arch of pure blue sky, clear and translucent. On the dis. tant horizon rested the light tradewind clouds, reflecting all the splendor of the rising sun. The quiet dreamy beauty of the scene was indescribable-so I am saved the trouble of describing it. The helmsman felt it, and leaned sleepily against the wheel. The officer of the watch shut his eyes to it, and nodded on the skylight. I, with head and arms resting on the 'bulwarks, was "deep in the charm," when, from the topmast crosstrees, a clear voice rang out, "Thêre she spouts! Blackskin ahead! There, there she blows again!" "Where away?" shouted the mate.-"Three points on the weather bow. Hurra! there she breaches clean out! Single spouts a school of sperms!"

The quiet people of the ship were awakened up as though they had all suddenly been galvanized, and jumped about with a delirious activity. The captain rushed up half dressed from his cabin, with one side of his face elaborately lathered, and a little rivulet of blood trickling from the other. The men blocked up the fore-scuttle, and tumbled over each other in their eagerness to reach the deck. Then followed rapid orders, rapidly executed. The ship, which had been slipping along under double-reefed otopsail, °foresail, and 'mizen, was easily hove to.. "Haul up the foresail! Back the mainyard! Pass the tubs into the boats! Bear a hand, and jump in! See the tackle falls clear. Ready?"-" Ay, ay, sir; all ready!”—“ Lower away!"

The falls whizzed through the davit heads; the men, already seated at their oars, struck out the instant the boats touched the water. Among the men who struck out I was one, and I was then about for the first time to commit assault and battery against the

monarch of the sea, and help, if possible, to part leviathan among the merchants.

Another boat lowered soon after we left the ship, and pulled in our wake; she followed as a "pick-up boat" in case of accident. The ship-which had still a boat's crew and the idlers aboard—with yards braced sharp up, and the leech of the topgallant sail touching, was laying a course nearly parallel to our own. The chief mate "headed" the boat in which I rowed, and we had with us the best boat steerer in the ship. Both were anxious to be first "fast" to the first whale of the season. For me, it was the first whale of my life, and, though I had been rather scared by the tough °yarns of the old stagers about being "chawed up by whales," and eaten alive by sharks, yet the active exercise and rapid motion soon stirred my blood, and I shared fully in the general excitement.

Three of our crew were natives of Tasmania (born of English parents), the best boatmen and the most daring whalers in the world; and, impelled by their powerful strokes, our boat was soon considerably ahead of the others. Though able to pull a good oar in a common way, I quickly found that this was very different sport to any that I had before attempted. Our tough ash oars of eighteen feet length bent and buckled with the strain. The boat sprang from each vigorous stroke, and hummed through the water as a bullet through the air. The headsman standing in the stern, with the 'peg of the steer oar grasped in his left hand, stamped and raved with excitement, throwing his body forward in sympathy with each stroke, and with the right hand "" backing up" the after oar with all his strength. At the same time, he was encouraging and urging us to fresh exertions, making the most absurd promises in case of success, and threatening, if he missed the whale, the boat steerer with all sorts of awful consequences.

By this time we were in sight of the school, and, turning my head, I could distinguish several of the low, bushy spouts of the spermwhale, and catch an occasional glimpse of a huge black mass rolling in the water. But there was no time for contemplation. Another boat was creeping up to us, and we were yet some distance from the game. The headsman grew more frantic. "Give way, my sons! Lift her to it! Long strokes! Pile it on, my hearties! Well done, Derwenters! I've three pretty sisters you shall pick from. There she blows again! Twenty minutes more, and it's our whale." Suddenly his face changed. "Turned flukes!" said he.

The whales had disappeared, and with peaked oars we lay motionless on the water waiting their return to the surface. In a few minutes a short gush of steam and spray broke midway between the two boats. "Half a dozen long strokes. Steady, my lads, softly, so ho! Stand up!" and the boat steerer, °peaking his oar, took his

066

place in the bows. "Into her! Stern all!" shouted the headsman. Both irons were buried in the whale, which lay for an instant perfectly still, while we backed hastily. Then the great black flukes rose into the air, and the whale “sounded" or dived, the line running out of the tub, round the loggerhead at the stern, and out at the head, with wonderful velocity. The wood smoked and cracked with the friction, and the boat's head sank under the pressure. More than half the line was carried out before it slacked, and in the moment that it did so, we began to haul in again and coil away in the tub. But the "struck fish" quickly appeared, the momentum acquired in rising carrying him nearly clean out of the water. He was evidently gallied," making short darts in different directions; but, as the boat approached, he started off, "eyes out," at full speed. The line was now checked by a turn round the loggerhead, and only allowed to surge out gradually. The boat's velocity became terrific. We were carried through the water at the rate of nearly twenty miles an hour. Our little craft swept on in a deep trough; a huge wave of foam rolling ahead of us, and two green walls rising above the gunwale, threatening every moment to descend upon the boat, already half-filled by the blinding spray. But the huge animal to which our boat was harnessed, soon tired of this labor, the line again slackened, and the monster lay on the surface writhing in agony, snapping his enormous jaws, and furiously lashing with his tail. As we coiled away the line, and as the distance between us and our prey decreased, I will candidly own that I was as "gallied" as the whale itself, and would have given my own share of him to have been absent from the scene. Habit accustoms a man even to whaling; but few men, when "fast," for the first time, feel altogether easy.

Our headsman stood coolly in the bows, lance in hand, exclaiming-"Haul me up, and he's a dead whale! A hundred barreler ! Lay me on, lads!" And with the boat's nose nearly touching, he plunged a lance repeatedly into its side. "Stern all!" The whale started ahead, but the keen weapon had reached "the life," and spouting thick jets of blood, he fell into the "flurry." That was a tremendous spectacle. The enormous animal, convulsed in the agonies of death, rapidly circling in the midst of a dizzy whirl of blood and foam, striking alternately with head and tail, vast sheets of water flying from beneath the mighty blows, which roared like cracks of thunder. At the same time, beyond the vortex, the light boat danced as in triumph at her victory; and yet her light frame trembled and vibrated with each stroke, as though she shuddered at the havoc she had caused. In a short time the struggling ceased: the whale turned slowly over. We had then leisure to look about us.

The two other boats were both fast to one fish, and nearly out of