by their scintillating brightness, or shedding their own peculiar and lucid atmosphere around them.  The breeze which had been so fresh, and which had even blown, at times, with a force that nearly amounted to a little gale, was lulling and becoming uncertain, as though awed by the more violent power that was gathering along the borders of the sea, in the direction of the neighbouring continent.  Each moment, the eastern puffs of air lost their strength, and became more and more feeble, until, in an incredibly short period, the heavy sails were heard flapping against the masts—­a frightful and ominous calm succeeding.  At this instant, a glancing, flashing gleam lighted the fearful obscurity of the ocean; and a roar, like that of a sudden burst of thunder, bellowed along the waters.  The seamen turned their startled looks on each other, and stood stupid, as though a warning had been given, from the heavens themselves, of what was to follow.  But their calm and more sagacious Commander put a different construction on the signal.  His lip curled, in high professional pride, and his mouth moved rapidly while he muttered to himself, with a species of scorn,—­

“Does he think we sleep?  Ay, he has got it himself and would open our eyes to what is coming!  What does he imagine we have been about, since the middle watch was set?”

Then, Wilder made a swift turn or two on the quarter-deck, never ceasing to bend his quick glances from one quarter of the heavens to another; from the black and lulling water on which his vessel was rolling, to the sails; and from his silent and profoundly expectant crew, to the dim lines of spars that were waving above his head, like so many pencils tracing their curvilinear and wanton images over the murky volumes of the superincumbent clouds.

“Lay the after-yards square!” he said, in a voice which was heard by every man on deck, though his words were apparently spoken but little above his breath.  Even the creaking of the blocks, as the spars came slowly and heavily round to the indicated position, contributed to the imposing character of the moment, and sounded, in the ears of all the instructed listeners, like notes of fearful preparation.

“Haul up the courses!” resumed Wilder, after a thoughtful, brief interval, with the same eloquent calmness of manner.  Then, taking another glance at the threatening horizon, he added, with emphasis, “Furl them—­furl them both:  Away aloft, and hand your courses,” he continued, in a shout; “roll them up, cheerily; in with them, boys, cheerily; in!”

The conscious seamen took their impulses from the tones of their Commander.  In a moment, twenty dark forms were seen leaping up the rigging, with the alacrity of so many quadrupeds; and, in another minute, the vast and powerful sheets of canvas were effectually rendered harmless, by securing them in tight rolls to their respective spars.  The men descended as swiftly as they had mounted to the yards;