?l)c Cam&en Journal.
VOLUME 11. CAMDEN, SOUTH-CAROLINA, AUGUST 30, 1850. NUMBER 69.
t From the Southern Literarv Gazette.
THE MAROON.
A LEGEND OF THE CARRIBEES.
BY W. GILMORE SIMMS, ESQ.,
Author of " Tlie Yemassee," etc.
(Concluded.)
We shall say nothing of her shows of fondness.
Maria do Pacheco was not feeble or
rhildis.fi, not wanton, indped, in the display of
her attachments. She was too proud for the
exhibition of lore in its weakness and dependence.
But she indulged the mo?>d somewhat
nfier the fashion of the Sultana of the East.?
She willed to love and to be loved, and she required
obedience. It was necessary that Lof?ez
should prove that he was not ungrateful for
<tl?e risks which she had run, and the sacrifices
Vhich she had made, in his behalf. Ft was
tnerdful that his attachment should be as fond,
Sand bis behavior as dutiful, as it had l?cen be.
Fore the unfortunate discovery which had placed
at iHp m<*rer of Juan. That he was
%UC>I|I ?"*?? .... - - J ... , _
reluctant, or forgetful in any respect, Maria
was not suffered to perceive. Excited as she
was hv her own emotions, the consciousness of
a great battle fought, and a triumph gained?
tho last trophies of which were now in her
bands?she. perhaps, would have been slow to
detect the wandering mood and the indifferent
manner of her companion, even if he had he.
frayed either. But the timid nature is always
solicitous how it alarms or offends the hold one;
and on the score of his devotedness, Maria be- j
held nothing, as yet, to occasion her jealousy. I
But his will, which kept him observant of her
moods, was not sufficient to prescribe to hprthe
course to be pursued, or to arrest her eager pro.
gress. Her impetuous spirit hurried her forward;
and the ground which?feeling his way
at every step?it had taken Lopez Revral days
to traverse, when he first undertook to explore
his territory, was now overcome in a tew hours.
Vainly did he seek to detain her gaze*, to arrest
her progress, and inspire in her an admiration
of olijerts which had never once fixpd his own.
Hi* artifices, though never suspected, were al.
ways fruitless. She still made fearful progress.
The seashore was abandoned, the cool groves
received them; the plain rose beneath hpr foot.
*tcp??they were already upon the slopes of
that elevation, at the exlremi.y of which lay
the secret and the treasure ofthe Maroon. He
looked back in terror for the run. His round
red orb still shone high and proudly in the heavens;
'and it was with equal wonder and selfreproach
that Lopez remembered how long it
wa* before his timid spirit had suffered him to
compass the same extent or territory. The
paths naturally opened for her footsteps. They
had often been traversed by his own : and-'it
wan with a mortal fear that Lopez momently
caught glimnse* of the small, naked footstep of
Amaya. on ihe softer sands, as *hp had wandered
beside him in their rambles. But these were
nee?r seen hy Maria de Parheeo. The ea rnest
and intense nature teldom pause* for the small
detail* in a progress. Her proud spirit was alway*
upward as well as onward, always above
the earth. She threw herself suddenly down
l?eneaih the thicket. There was a pause. Our
Maroon enjoyed a brief respite from his terrors.
He threw himself beside hpr, and her eyes
closed in hi* embrace. To a fieire and intense'
nature *?rh a* iter*, there is something deli
cious in the pauses of the strife, but it is only
because they are momentary. The rest front
conquest is perhaps the only real luxu-y of enthuniasm
; but the interval is brief, and is simply
designed to afford a renewal of the vitality
necessary for continued action.
"How sweet, how beautiful, is the repose of
sky and shore and sen ? What a delicious Ian
mior of atmosphere is this!" and a moment ?f
o
ter speakfYig rhui*. Maria Hp Pacheco shook off
her own languor, and was once more upon her
feet.
44 Will she now return to the shore?to the
palms where I told her I had slept ?" Such was
the secret inquiry of his heart. She had no
such purpose. Her curiosity was still unsnlis.
tied. Besides, to walk simply upon the solid
earth, after *eek*on shipboard, is itself a lux
nry. The sun was still high, and bright, though
sloping gradually to the sea. The step of Ma
ria was taken forward, and Lopez followed, like
a criminal, with reluctant footsteps, as if going
to execution. They stood at length on th* brow
of the hill, which looked over to the Caribbean
ahore. The abrupt precipice arrested her far.
tber progress, and she stood gazing with eager
satisfaction upon the small, snug and lovely do
main of the Maroon.
XXIII.
The thoughts coursed rapidly through the
brain of Lopez de Levya. He felt that she was
on the brink of his secret. Another step, to
the right or to the left, and the descending pathway
would lead 10 the sandy esplanade at the
mouth of the cave; and, with her restless glances,
what could keep her from discovering its
critious portal and penetrating to its inmost re.
cesses. Were she to make thisdiscovery with-out
his assistance, her suspicions might wpII he
awakened! He resolved with unaccustomed
boldness. He made a merit of necessity. He
. put his band upon her arm, and with a sweet
significant smile looked upon her face as she
,gazed upward, *
u I hare reserved for the last, my greatest curiosity.
I have conducted you hither to surprise
ynti. Follow me now and you will see how
compVte is my establishment I"
She did not reflect that he had been guided
by Ju-r footsteps, and that his reluctance at her
inspection of iris territories had been declared
from the beginning. She was sufficiently hap
py, and indulged in no recollections or reflections,
which might occasion doubt or suspicion.
He led the way and she descended to the beach.
He conducted her to the cave, and with the ea.
gcr delight ot a curious child, she darted into iU
re 'prsps. The antechamber was a wonder,
but the interior aroused all that was romantic
in her nature. It was just the sort of dwelling
tor one trained among the gypsies of the Alpuxarras.
The chamber was so wild and snug!
The stone, such a truly Egyptian fire-place !?
She did not dream of its uses as an altar, nordid
he breathe a syllable on this subject. And the
courh in which he had slept, in which there
Rtill remained a sufficient supply of moss and
leaves, to render it suitable for the same purpose,
was one to determine her instantly that it
should be hers that very night.
We need not describe the consternation of
Lopez as he listitierl to this resolve. It completed
hi? disquiet and annoyance. He had trembled
at ererv step which she had taken?at ev
ery glancp of her eye* when the cave was en
lered. He feared her eager survey, her penetratinir
scrutiny. His eyes stole frequently and
llllljgv* lilt m^irs, ur ?i?u o?? , nuu ?? ? .?#?? ??
de Par.lieco luxuriated in the delights of love,
he gratified his newly gotten liberty by sacrifices
hi the aliars of a very different deity.
Ordinary precautions are soon foigotten in
the acquisition rtf extraordinary pleasures. No
one thought of tempest. The evening remain
ed ca'm. There was little wind stirring. jiul
enough to break into irregular but not threatening
billows, the vast surface of the sea. The
stars were out soon, large, bright and very nil
oterous. A thin drift of clouds might be seen
to scud slowly away among them from the west
to the east. Lopez would have led his companion
away from the cavern?would have persuaded
her to a couch among the palms where, as
he showed her, his own had first been made.?
But she had resolved upon the chamber in the
cavern, and he was compelled to submit. They
re-entered it with heedful footsteps. The interinr
was wholly datk, except where, in the
inner apartment, the light of the stars made its
way through the two small apertures whicli^he
Maroon had left unclosed. It was long before
they slept. Much hail Maria de P-checo to relate.
She gave him he details ol the con?pira
cy ngain?t Vela?qpz. She suppressed nothing
of her own share in the proceedings, and ile
clared a very natural and leuiiuine horror at the
catastrophe, which she vet insisted on a? lice's
sary to her own Hfety and to hi?. The Maroon
listened to the narrative with conflicting
feeiings and in silence. The conduct of Maria
established a new claim upon his gratitude; but
it did not contribute to the strength of his formei
passion ; and his thoughts, though fascinated
by the terrible story to which he listened, were
sometimes startled from their propriety, as lie
heard, more than once, what seemed to him n
deep sigh from the hiding place of Amaya. It
may have been in his fancy only that this intrusive
monitor was hpard, but it sufficed to
keep him apprehensive- Fortunately, Muria
de Paclieco heard nothing. She had no suspi.
cions. and, in the deHth of Juan and Velasquez
her fears were all ended. In the recovery of
the Maroon all her hopes seemed to ho satisfied.
XXV.
The night began to wane ; the \vin<i rose, it
could he hpard shrilly to whistle through the
crevices of the rock, as if in threat and warning.
But Maria slept, not dpeply, and her head waR
on the arm of the Maroon. When he sought
to rise, which more than once he did, she slatted
from her Rleep with disquietude. If he but
stirred, she was conscious of it. Her sleep was
troubled. Her dreams revenged upon her con
science the obtuscness which, by the force of
her will, she imposed upon it in her waking
moments. It enabled her to restrain, though
unconsciously, the movements of her companion.
He made repeated attempts todisengage
himself from her grasp, and rise. He wished
to confer with Amaya. We may conjecture
what he would have said. Rut he strove in vain.
In watching for tho moment when the sleep of
unconsciously to the remote corner of the cave
in which he had concealed 4maya; and while
he trembled at the possible discoveries of the
Spanish woman, his companion, his heart Rinote
liirn for those which the poor girl of Caribbee
must have already made- For Maria de Pacliecn,
assuming the duly and devotion of her
lover, had not spared her endearments. The
silence and the secrecy of the cavern seemed to
invite them. She had hung upon his neck with
her caresses, and he had been compelled to re.
quite them, though in fe.irand trembling. His
conscience smote hiin when he thought of the
unselfish and confiding passion of A may a?her
simple truth, her gentle nature, and the artless
sweetness of her affections. But to withstand
the imperious spirit of the won an at his side,
was not within his strength and courage. His
fears, and the new-born agonies of the Indian
women, may he more easily imagined than de.
scribed.
XXIV.
Again did the two emerge from the cavern.
The sun had set! Night was falling rapidly,
as is its wunt in those regions, where the day
makes, h* it were, hut a single transition, from
meridian brightness to the stillness and the du-k
of midnight. An angry flu?h lay in the region
where the sun went down, to the wary mariner
denoting wind and tempest. But neither Lo.
pez nor his companion thought of storm; nor
lid this fear impress the seamen on hoard the
Dian de Burgos. The fruits from the shore,
the momentary pause from the ordinary duties
of the sea, and a division of a portion of the
treasures of Velasqu?z and Juan among the
crew, by way of hush-money and bounty, called
for something like indulgence. The Dian
de Burgos was not without her luxuries. The
stores of her late captain were fished up. Linares
was disposed to he liberal to his firmer
comrades; and wine and stronger beverages
were not denied to their enjoyment. It was
among the infirmities of Linares that lie himselt
was not wholly insensible to the joys oftho vine.
As the heir to Velasquez he might certainly inL:
u.. .im . ?.?i
Maria should become sufficiently deep to afford
him the desired opportunity, he finally Blepl himself.
Nature yielded at last, and his slumbers
were soon quite as profound as those of his companion.
Wi.hout being well conscious that he slept at
all, he was suddenly awakened, as if by a deathcold
hand upon his wrist. He started, and was
confounded when he unclosed his eyes, to behold
the cavern brightly illuminated. The fire
which had been suffered to go out by the Caribbean
damsel, in the sweet .experience of her
first mortal passion, had been suddenly revived
and by her hnnds. She stood between him and
the altar-place, her eyes wildly sad and staring
upon him and his companion. A *orch was still
grasped in one ot her uplifted hands. She had
probably been inspecting closply the sleeping
features of the woman who had first taught her
to feel the agony which belongs to a consciousness
of the infidelity of the beloved one. As,
at his awakening, the head of the .Maroon was
involuntarily uplilted. she cast the brand which
she held upon the altar, flung one of her hands
despairingly and reproachfully toward him, and
darted headlong from the chamber.
XXVI.
Maria dp Pacheco still slept. It was now
doubly important to the u Maroon" that she
should do so. To rise softly?which he now
succeeded in doing, without arousing her?to
extinguish the brands and to steal forth, and see
what was the course, and what the purpose of
Arnava, was the next natural movement of Lo.
pez. H? soon smothprpdthe flame and quenched
the burning embers ; but the night had grown
dark;?the stars were ahrouded, and, when he
emergpd from the cavern, he could see nothing.
He stole hack, trembling with doubt and apprel
_ 1 J? t. .?.AA f..l
Ilt?n?iun, miu wuiiurrm^ wuaa iicai nuuiu i?r
low. Maria had awakened.
" Where are you??was her salutation as
he drew nigh?44 Where have you been ?"
44 Hear you the wind, Maria ? The night is
very dark and gusty ? We shall have a storm
to-morrow."
44 But we are safe, Lopez!" was the reply.
441 am not sure of that," was the secret whisper
of his guilty heart.
The night passed without further interruptions:
At dawn, the .Maroon arose before his
companion. He proceeded to his treasure
which he now prepared to have in readiness to
convey, without Iwing suspected, on board the
vessel. The richer pearls were hidden in his
bosom, and in the folds of bis garments. The
rest worn stored away caretiilly in the Doitom
of the largest basket which he had found in his
cavern, and which he pretended had been pick*
ed up on the shore. A few Itanannas were laid
upon the top to prevent inquiry. His arrange*
meats were all complete before Maria awakened.
With the sunrise they had both emerged
upon I he beach. But the sun rose faint and
struggled on his course against numerous clouds.
The wind came in sudden gusts sweeping the
ocean into temporary anger. The lulls between
were not lens unpromising ; and, to the
old seaman, the signs were pregnant ol those
wild and capricious changes of the weather,
which so frequently converted into a scene of
wniili and horror, the otherwise sweet serene.
r .1 I .. I. ? ? i?...
4)1 lllCSe lilllllOUUS. ixji ni<uiu umi urn nrru
these signs, in the conciousness of the ati-iin*
menl of her desires. Lopez was too anxious to
leave the neighborhood of the poor Caribbean
damsel, about whom his heart constantly reproached
itself; and those whom we left on ship*
hoard were quite too happy in the enjoyment of
their unfrequent saturnalia, to disturb themselves
with anticipations of the future. It inay
have been a fancy only, but, looking back at
the moment ere he stepped into the boat which
was to convey him front the isles, did he catch
a glimpse of the slender firm of Aoiaya among
the palms, with her arm outstretched and point*
itlg to the cavern ? A second and more ear*
nest glance revealed him nothing.
Salely within the ship, his treasures tnade secure,
and with the example of all around him
persuading Itiin to licentiousness, Lopez de Le.
-i ! i -...l.. i
vya soon gave ?vav in f jccm which conn muieo
to mak?' hi n forgetful of the damsel hi' had deserted.
He vvii- p'ci'ivfd with half maudlin affection
by Linares and tin* crmv. This coarser
pleasures in which these were indulging were
transferred, with some qualifying refinements,
tn the cabin of Vela?quez. Here, from flagons
of go Id and silver, did our ".Maroon" quufl'the
intoxicating beverage to the health of Maria de
Paehecu, and the prosperous fortune" ol the
L)ian do Burgos. The day passed in prolonged
indulgence. The excesses which |might have
revolted Maria and her companion ui another
time, were now only the outpourings of a natural
exultation which was due to a sense of new.
ly acquired freedom, and the acquisition of novel
luxuries. The gradual progress of (lie hours
brought on increase of wind which finally grew
in Kinrin. But this occasioned no ili.souiet and
did not lessen the enjoyment6 of any of the par.
ties. Linares like a veteran seaman, full of
wine as he was. first took care to see if his veg.
gel was secure. He was in good anchorage.
His ship was stripped to the storm, and he >ad
no reason to apprehend that she would drag her
anchor under any pressure of the gale. A good
watch was set, and wishing for more freedom
in his revels, he withdrew from the cabin to the
more gonial, if more rough association of the
crew.
XXVII,
Night came on?a night of storm and many
terrors. Maria de Pacheco and our "Maroon"
were not wholly insensible to its dangers. At
? J ,I
moment* when the pressure of wind was most
severely felt, they would pause in t^n midst of
their delights, and think oj the solid, security of
the chamber in the tfock. But the revol went
on without rase.rvo. The rich flagon stood bolore
them in the cabin. They wore alone with
eae^ pther. They lived for each other, and
. there was no tyrannic power at hand to arroit
(hern as they carried the intoxicating draught of j
rapture to their lips. No longer conscious of
othereyes, Lopez de Levya requited the caresses
ofhis companion with an ardency quite equal
to her own. They spoke of their mutual de.
lights. They declared their mutual hopes of
home, and in the increasing exultation which
he felt in his security, and the increasing influence
of the wine which he had quaffed, the Ma-->
roon revealed to Maria the wealth of pearl
which were contained in his bosom and his
baskets. He poured forth his milk-white but
transparent treasures, into her lap, and wound
the lengthened strands about her neck. His
form resting upon one knee before her, her
head stooping to his embrace, neither of them
perceived, for several moments, that while they
were most drunk with delight, they had a visitor.
The door of the. cabin had'npened silently
? ?i .1? j ,..j .1 i ?r
Iy upuu lfit-in, hiiu >iic uenrrieu uaiunri ui hid
Caribbees, standing erect, with hands drooping
at her side, and eyes staring intently, hut vacantly
and wild upon them, now stood, beholding,
herself, for a while unseen, their almost
infantile caresses. Stern and mournful did she
stand, surveying this scene of tenderness, which
every pulse of her passionate young heart told
her was indulged at her expense. She neither
sighed nor spoke, nor moved after her first entrance.
Was it an instinct of their own souls
which taught them that another and a hostile
spirit was at hand and which made the proud
Spanish woman start to her feet, with a sudden
terror, while the ''Maroon" sinking lower upon
both knees, looked round him in shame and
trepidatiim at the unexpected presence ? To
him the deserted woman gave hut a single
glance, but that declared every thing in their
mutual histories. Advancing toward Maria de
Pacheco, before her porpnse could be divined,
suddenly tore the strands of pearl from the bared
I neck and hosoin to which they seemed beauti
fully kindred, then, dashing them to the floor,
trampled them under foot, and fled from the
cabin with a shriek which sounded like that of
doom in the ears of the "Maroon." He had
apprehended a worse danger when he saw her
so suddenly approach Maria. He had seen
in the grasp of the Indian maiden, the same
broad and heavy cleaver of stone, with which
he beheld the priestess, on the night of her
first entrance to the cave, sever the long sable
tresses from her neck, and devote them, in sac.
rifice, on behalf of her future destinies. That
she would use this fearful instrument on the
forehead of the Spanish woman was the spontaneous
fear in the heart of Lopez; but, at
that moment, so suddenly had he been snrpri
sed by her presence, and so greatly was be con*
I I,v his friiill and torror. she might have
safely executed (be deed of death had murder
been her purpose.
Inflamed with wine, stung by the indignity
to which she had been subjected, Maria de
Paeheco recovered from her astonishment much
sooner than her paramour from his fears. Con.
fronting him with a firece and flashing glance
from her dark imperial eye, she demanded, in
choking accents, the explanation of the scene.
But. filled with terror, partly intoxicated, and
wholly confused and bewildered by the condi.
lion in which he found himself, the unmeaning
muttering* from his lips gave no satisfaction to
the eager and heated inquirer. With a speech
lull of equal scorn and suspicion, she flung away
from his approach, and darted out upon
lite (leek of the vessel in pursuit ot the stranger.
There, all was storm and darkness. The black
masses of night seemed to crowd and accurnulate
before her path, filling up the passages,
and preventing her progress. The vessel
pitched awfully. The woman couid scarcely
keep her feet; though quite as much accustomed
to the motion of the ship as any of the seamen.
She felt her way along the bulwarks.
She saw nothing, heard nothing?nothing but
the awful roaring of the winds as they fell up.
on the waves in the fury of a mortal conflict.
She made her way to the prow. The excel
lent lookout ol veteran setwoeu ?>!?
had provided for the watch was nowhere lobe
seen. She Called to them below, and a couple
of drunken (tailor* scrambled up and loitered to.
ward her. They had seen nothing. She could
H"o nothing. Nothing was to be heard. Yet,
more vigilant, more sober, nod less passionate
ikeu'ties might have delected, even while she
made her inquiries, certain dull and heavy
strokes, which, at pauses in the storm, seemed
to arise from the deep, and to run along the
cable. Liitlo did Lopez de Levva divine tho
fiitul purpose lor which the Carriobeau damsel
carried with her that hatchet of stone.
Impatient, with a bruin fuil of suspicions, and
a heart seveied by disappointment, Maria de
Paeheco returned to the cabin, leaving the two
half drunken sailors in possession ot toe watch.
They might have been, and probably were,
famous watchers at all other times. Bio the
liquors of Velasquez had been equally potent
and tempting, and they were siill provided with
a flush of the delicious beverage. They drank
and sang together in defiance of the storm.
What was tho storm to them? The Diuu de
Burgos was as tight a creature as ever swam
the sea9, and firm were the sands, in which
their anchors found their rest. Besides, since
they came on deck, th? storm seemed somewhat
?i? hnvii milwiiterl. Tho seas were not so high.
The ship no longer plunged with that peevish
and cumbersome uiotiun? like u high mottled
horse under the discipline of a cruel rurb, bu;
rose easily and gently with the play of the billows*
as it she wero smouthly posting, with a
fair gale, ulung accustomed pathways of the
sea. The observations of our watch were of
this satisfactory complexion. It never occurred
to them as possible that the ship really was
in motion?that sho no longer opposed the reaistance
of hor mighty bulk to the winds and
waters, but oheyod placidly the impulses which
their united powers gave. They little dreamed
how rnueh of their consolation, was drawn from
causes of their greatest danger.
XXVIII. . .
Meanwhile, in the cabin of theDiande Burgos,
the tempest raged as fiercely as it did without, and
entirely excluded the terrors ot wind and sea.
; The ready instincts of Maria de Pacheco had con!
ducted her to much of the secret of her paramour.
She now recalled his relictance to conduct her
over the island,?the art, which, when on the eve
of discovery, had made a merit of necessity, and
led her into the recesses of the cavern?the uneasiness
which seemed heedless of her endearment?;
the disquiet which they seemed to occasion?h>8
disappearances at midnight and the pearl, the
treasure, of which he was so unaccountably possessed.
The sudden appearance of the Indian
damsel revealed the whole secret, and led to con- _
jeetures which made the courso of the M Maroon"
seem more odious to Afariathan it possibly could
have been under a frank and honest statement of
the facts. To have made this statement required
nothing more than common courage. But this
was the very laculty which Lopez wanted most.
When hie secret was extorted from him, as it final,
ly was, and the whole of its detailc surrendered,
the vexation of the Spanish woman was not so
much because of the events, as because of his
withholding them. It betrayed a want of confi.
dence in her, and this was proof of deficient sym.
pathy. Upon this sv > petny she had staked her
life?had periled all that was feminine inherna.
ture; ami the appalling terror, lest she should have
periled all in vain, might well justify the fearful
aspect, and stern and keen reproaches, with which
6hc encountered.
She was at last pacified. It was her policy to
be so. When the heart has made its last investment,
it is slow to doubt its own securities. His
declarations of attachment,when he had somewhat
recovered his confidence, began to re-assure her.
.Qho vioMorl In hia norQitaainno tn hia hlanrliflh.
nients and caresses, rather than to his reasons, or
such as he urged in bis justification. It was in the
midst of these endearments that a voice was beard
faintly singing at the cabin entrance, a voice which
the Maroon but too painfully remembered. The
tones, though faint, were distinct. The song was
in the dialect of the Caribbee, and it was one of
which a feeble translation has been already given;
a ballad which the poor Amaya had been wont to
sing him, when she would beguile him to join her
in her sports of ocean. It rehearsed the delights
and the treasures of the deep; its cool chrystaline
chambers, always secure from the shafts of the
sun; its couches of moss and sea weed, 'and of the
sweet devotion of the sea maid who implored him
to her embraces. The pathetic tenderness of her
tone?the wild but pleading earnestness of her
plaint?the solemn sweetness and mysterious force
of that invocation with which the separate verses
were burdened,
"Come, seek the ocean's depths with me!"
startled the guilty Maroon with a new and name*
less terror. He started to bis feet, bat remained
stationary, incapable of motion. But the angry
spirit of Maria de Pacheco was aroused once more.
She put him aside, and darted to the entrance of
ho />uhin Ac oha thrau; it nnpn A u'hiLO form flash.
ed upon the darkness. It seemed as if a spirit had
shot away from her grasp, and darting high in air,
had disappeared in the black waste of sky and sea
beyond. A shriek, rather in exultation than grief,
was heard amid the roar of wind and water. It was
followed by the human scream of A'aria. "Madre
de Diosf' the ship is moving. We are at the mercy
of the seas ! Ho! there, Lopez ! Linares J
Awake ! arouse ye, or we perish 1"
Her cries were cut short by her terrors. The
prow of the ship was lifted, fearfully lifted, as if
by somp unseen power from below. The water
surged awfullv beneath, and a terrible roar follow.
ed, as if from a herd of wild animals deep in the
hollows of the sea
"What is that. Lopez ! what is this?" whispered
the woman to the faint-hearted paramour who
had crept beside her A terrible shock followed ;
another and another! and the whole dreadfu' danger
was apparent in an instant to both. They were
among the rocks. The ship had struck, and the
ready memory of the Maroon, well conceived the
fearful condition in which they stood, borne by the
irresistible and treacherous currents upon those silent
and terrible masses of rock, where, in moments
of the sea's serene, he had so frequently
shared in the wild sports of his Caribbean beauty.
Well might he remember those rude and sullen
masses. Often had he remarked, with a shudder,
the dark and fearful abysses which settled, still
and gloomy, in theirdark mysterious chambers ?
But he had now no time to recall the periods of
their grim repose. Another moment, and the ship,
awiuliy plunging under the constant impulsions of
the sea, bur.e her 6harp bow, with a deep groan,
in the black and seeihin? waters. The breakers
rushed over them with a fall like that of a cataract.
For a single instant, the Dian de Burgos hung suspended
as it were, upon a pinnacle. Then, even
ilmuiill Kacnttar) an/? nrilv tmlf nu'akpncfi sail.
i,,W ?? v..V -
or.*, were mulling out on deck, she divided in the
middle, one part falling over into the r servoip
among the rocks, the other tumbling hack upon
the seas, to be driven forward, by successive
shocks, and in smaller fragments, to a like destiny.
In this fearful moment, Maria de Pacheco, was
separated, by the numerous waves, from the side,
of the " Maroon." He heard her voice through
the awful roar.
" Where are you, Lopea?O! let me not lose
you now!" But he could make no answer. He
heard her no more. Her cries coased with that
single one. He had not strength to cry, for he
urns afrucrtrlinrr himself with the seas, and with.
* C? - "
anulher peril. While the fierce current* bore him
forward,?while the wild billows torefiim away
trom the fragment of wreck which he had grasped,
spasmodically, in the moment when the ship went
to pieces?he was conscious of a spddsn plunge
beside liirn,--of an arm fondly wrapped about his
neck, and of a voice that sung in tones the most
mournful and pathetic in his ears, even aR he sank,
and sinking with him, that, fond ballad of the ( a.
ribbean damsel. It waa a heart-broken chaunt,
which had somo exultation in it. The last human
words of which the feeble and perfidious 'Maroon"
was conscious, were those of tho'entreating sea
nymph,
" Come, seen t)?c ocean'* depUm wiih me!"
Tho Susan Loud and Georgiana, tho two.
American vessels captured at the island or Contov
by the Spanish forces, at the time of tho
Lopez excitement, have boon finally disposed of
at Havana. The brig Susan Loud, being an
old, worm.eaten vessel, was sold at auction
on the 29th ult., but the barque Goorgiana,
| proving a fine staunch craft, was to be sont to
| Cadis as a trophy of tho loyalty of the Cuban
I subjects to tho Queeu of Spain.
J