Still with his back to us standing, the pilot went on with his story:—­
  “Instantly, all the people, with looks of reproach and compassion,
  Flocked round the prostrate woman.  The children cried, and their mothers
  Hugged them tight to their breasts; but the gambler said to the
     captain,—­
  ’Put me off there at the town that lies round the bend of the river. 
  Here, you! rise at once, and be ready now to go with me.’ 
  Roughly he seized the woman’s arm and strove to uplift her. 
  She—­she seemed not to heed him, but rose like one that is dreaming,
  Slid from his grasp, and fleetly mounted the steps of the gangway,
  Up to the hurricane-deck, in silence, without lamentation. 
  Straight to the stern of the boat, where the wheel was, she ran, and
     the people
  Followed her fast till she turned and stood at bay for a moment,
  Looking them in the face, and in the face of the gambler. 
  Not one to save her,—­not one of all the compassionate people! 
  Not one to save her, of all the pitying angels in heaven! 
  Not one bolt of God to strike him dead there before her! 
  Wildly she waved him back, we waiting in silence and horror. 
  Over the swarthy face of the gambler a pallor of passion
  Passed, like a gleam of lightning over the west in the night-time. 
  White, she stood, and mute, till he put forth his hand to secure her;
  Then she turned and leaped,—­in mid air fluttered a moment,—­
  Down, there, whirling, fell, like a broken-winged bird from a tree-top,
  Down on the cruel wheel, that caught her, and hurled her, and
     crushed her,
  And in the foaming water plunged her, and hid her forever.”

  VI.

  Still with his back to us all the pilot stood, but we heard him
  Swallowing hard, as he pulled the bell-rope to stop her.  Then, turning,—­
  “This is the place where it happened,” brokenly whispered the pilot. 
  “Somehow, I never like to go by here alone in the night-time.” 
  Darkly the Mississippi flowed by the town that lay in the starlight,
  Cheerful with lamps.  Below we could hear them reversing the engines,
  And the great boat glided up to the shore like a giant exhausted. 
  Heavily sighed her pipes.  Broad over the swamps to the eastward
  Shone the full moon, and turned our far-trembling wake into silver. 
  All was serene and calm, but the odorous breath of the willows
  Smote like the subtile breath of an infinite sorrow upon us.

A DAY WITH THE DEAD.

“Good morning!” said the old custodian, as he stood in the door of the lodge, brushing out with his knuckles the cobwebs of sleep entangled in his eyelashes, and ventilating the apartments of his fleshly tabernacle with prolonged oscitations.  “You are on hand early this time, a’n’t you?  You’re the first live man I’ve seen since I got up.”

So saying, he vanished, and reappearing in a moment with a huge brass key, entered the arch, unlocked the gate which closed the aperture fronting the east like the cover of a porthole, and sent it with a heavy push wide open.