"Had I not better close the companionway, Captain Vonved, if you wish to converse without risk of being overheard ?” Yes, do so." Lundt first spoke to the steersman, and bade him keep the course which had been given, and immediately report any sail which hove in sight, or any material change of wind, and then carefully closed the two little folding-doors forming the front of the companion, and drew the slide closely over. "Now for a bottle of your best !” cried Vonved cheerfully. "What wine will you prefer, Captain Vonved ?" Champagne, let it be, for my heart is light and grateful now that I once more feel myself afloat in my first love-the dainty Little Amalia!" The young man hastened to raise a trap door in the flooring of the cabin, beneath which the runs of the vessel formed a cool and capital wine cellar, and from thence he extracted a couple of bottles of champagne, which, with the proper glasses, he placed on the table. part of the vessel beneath the poop-deck, | through either of the stern windows, and and two neat little state rooms were sit- motioned to Herr Lundt to seat himself uated forward of it, in what in a large opposite, but the latter hesitated, and versel would be called the steerage. They remarked in a whisper: communicated with the cabin through doors in the bulkhead of the latter. The cabin itself was nine feet in breadth by seven feet in length. In the center stood an oblong table covered by a snow-white damask cloth, and all round were lockers provided with crimson silk cushions, to serve as seats. The front of these lockers and all the paneling of the cabin was of rich mahogany, polished so brightly that the pier-glass suspended on one side was almost superfluous. The moulding filling up the angle between the paneling and the deck overhead was gilt, and the deck itself (forming the ceiling) was beautifully painted with fanciful and allegorical devices and figures, wreaths of flowers, etc. From the deck was suspended a large antique bronze oil lamb, of peculiar forma tion, having three projecting dragons' heads, the mouths of which each contained a wick for burning. Between the two windows at the stern was a semi-circular zebra-wood locker, the front of which was inlaid with various precious woods in the most elaborate manner, so as to represent the mariner's compass, and in a small shield in the center of this fanciful compass was painted an exact facsimile of the mysterious symbols and motto of Vonved's signet-ring-an eagle flying with a double-edged sword in its beak above a ship in full sail. This locker was ostensibly supported by a species of bracket, a solid piece of Danish oak exquisitely carved in the semblance of the conventional head and flowing beard of old father Neptune. Along the paneling on each side of the cabin were arranged several weapons offensive and defensive. The little cabin was excellently lighted, not only by the two stern windows, but also by the large skylight overhead, which being composed of richly-stained glass, cast a warm and varied light below. A small stove of polished steel, with brass fittings, and a bright copper flue, stood on one side the vessel against the bulkhead, and may be said to complete the chief fittings of the snug and tasteful little cabin, in which a man of ordinary stature could just stand upright. "Would you take any repast also, Captain Vonved? I can give you some fine fresh lax, and some "No, sir, I require nothing at present; and I must apologize," added Vonved, with an air of high and courtly breeding, "for permitting you to act as steward, but I have reason to wish for our interview to be private." "O Captain Vonved!" eagerly cried Lundt, blushing and bowing, "how can you say that? You know that it is a pleasure and a privilege for me!" Lars Vonved gazed half-mournfully and half-affectionately at the flushed ingenuous features of his young officer, and sighing deeply, he slowly echoed : "A pleasure and a privilege! And do you esteem it such to be the companion. the familiar friend of an outlaw, a doomed man, one denounced as an arch-miscreant, one upon whose head a heavy price is set by the government of his country?" "I do!" answered the young man energetically. "You have saved my life On entering, Vonved sat down at the you have honored me with your conend of the table in a position which ena-fidence and I know that he whom men bled him to command a view of the sea call the Rover of the Baltic is one whose qualities are worthy of friendship and admiration. Yes, I am linked to your fortunes, be it for good or for evil, and I am proud of the friendship of the Count of Els "Hold!" interrupted Vonved, raising his forefinger significantly. "I am only Lars Vonved, Captain Vonved! But as for what you assert-be it so; all I can say is, that I trust that if your friendship and connection with me does not operate to your weal, it may not be to your woe! And now let us drink!" The glasses were brimmed with the cool sparkling vintage of the sunny South, and silently bowing to each other, the two friends quaffed. "Truly, wine gladdens the heart of man, as was said of old," exclaimed the Rover; "and yet I have been refreshed and gladdened more in my time by a stinted draught of water-neither pure nor sparkling-than by any wine I ever drunk." "That would be in the tropios, sir?" "In the tropics-and elsewhere." "I, also, Captain Vopved. know by fearful experience the value of a draught of water!" Lundt observed, seeing that Vonved was not indisposed to prolong a desultory conversation ere discussing matters of present and weighty interest. "You, Herr Lundt! When and where ?" "Off the coast of Africa." "I was not aware that you had ever sailed on the main ocean?” "I believe I never mentioned to you before, Captain Vonved, that in my twentieth year, I, for the first and only time, sailed on the Atlantic, and very disastrous the outward voyage proved. To my dying day I shall never forget the sufferings I underwent-for more than the ordinary anguish which befalls a man in many years was condensed, as it were, in the space of a few hours." "The ship was becalmed and short of water?" "Not so, Captain Vonved. The sufferings from thirst to which I alluded were experienced only by myself-a solitary wretch, tossed helplessly about, the sport of every wave." These words caused Vonved to steadily regard his companion with a look of surprise and suddenly aroused interest. "Ah!" said he, very quietly, "I have myself undergone a somewhat similar adventure, although, in my case, a burning tropical sun did not increase my sufferings." "Indeed, sir; where was that?" "Here, in the Baltic; and it occurred. only yesterday." 66 Yesterday, Captain Vonved? Impossible!" "Why impossible, Herr Lundt?" drily demanded the Rover. "The bark which is yet in sight picked me up yesterday evening, clinging to a spar, almost at my last gasp, and, as I believe, the solitary survivor of a terrible catastrophe." The young man started, became deadly pale, and faintly cried: "O Captain Vonved! can it indeed be that the Skildpadde and all her brave crew have perished?" "Not so, my young friend, no calamity has happened to her, I trust. It is the Falk that has perished, and every soul on board, myself excepted." "The Falk! the brig-of-war cruising off Bornholm! And you were on board her?" Vonved calmly nodded. "As a prisoner, Captain Vonved ?" "As a prisoner, sir; what else should I be?" "Then you were betrayed?" "I should not otherwise have been captured, as you may well believe," answered Vonved, with a bitter smile. "And who was the traitor-do you know?* "I do know, Herr Lundt, and fearfully shall he expiate his treachery." As Vonved uttered these words, his usual calm imperturbability instantly disappeared, and his lips quivered, revealing his broad white teeth closely clenched, his features writhed with passion, and his eyes flashed with a fire all the more terrible because so rarely evinced. This emotion, however uncontrollable it might be at the moment, was merely transient in duration, for in a few seconds Vonved's countenance resumed its gentle yet thoughtful expression. Then Vonved, in a low impressive tone, calmly narrated to his astonished companion the story of his betrayal, capture, and ultimate escape. Most if not all our readers have heard this proverb applied, when some one has attempted what was out of his province. But assuredly none of them ever saw it so royally exemplified as it was in the true history I am about to relate, the principal actor in which was no less a personage than Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, the grandfather of the present king of that country, and one of the most loving, as well as one of the most beloved monarchs, that ever wielded a scepter. On one hot summer day, King Maximilian, clad in very plain habiliments, had gone out alone, (as was his wont,) to walk in the fine park which surrounds his castle of Tegernue, and after a time, drew a volume from his pocket, and seated himself on a bench to read. The sultriness of the air, and the perfect stillness of the place, made his eyes heavy, and laying down his book on the bench beside him, the monarch fell into a doze. His slumber did not last long, however, and on awaking, he rose to continue his walk, but forgot his book, and left it lying on the bench. Wandering onwards, from one division of the extensive park to another, he at length passed beyond its limits, and entered on those grassy downs which stretch down to the margin of the lake. * All at once, the king remembered his book, and the possibility that it might be seen and appropriated by some stranger passing by. Unwilling to lose a book he valued, and equally unwilling to retrace the way he had come, while the lake path to the castle lay temptingly before him, the king looked round in every direction, for some one whom he could send for the volume; but the only human being within view was a boy, tending a large flock of geese. The monarch, therefore, went up to him, and said: "Hearken, *The same romantic residence to which the still suffering King of Prussia resorted last summer. GOOSE HERD. my lad: dost think thou could'st find for me a book I left lying in such and such a part of the park? thou'lt get two ‘zwanzigers* for bringing it to me." The boy, who had never before seen the king, cast a most incredulous look on the corpulent gentleman who made him so astounding a proffer, and then turned away, saying, with an air of comical resentment: "I am not so stupid as you take me for." "Why do you think I consider you stupid ?" asked the monarch. Because you offer me two zwanzigers for so trifling a service; so much money can not be earned so easily," was the sturdy reply. "Now, indeed," said the king, smiling good - humoredly, "I must think thee a simpleton! why do you thus doubt my word ?" "Those up yonder," replied the boy, pointing in the direction of the distant castle, "are ready enough to make sport of the like of us, and ye're one of them, I'm thinking." "And suppose I were" said the king; "but see, here are the two zwanzigers; take them, and fetch me the book." The herd-boy's eyes sparkled as he held actually in his hand a sum of money nearly equal to the hard coin of his summer's herding, and yet he hesitated. "How now," cried the king; "why don't you set off at once?" "I would fain to do it--but I dare not," said the poor fellow; "for if the villagers hear I have left the plaguy geese, they will turn me off, and how shall I earn my bread then ?" "Simpleton!" exclaimed the king, “I will herd the geese till you return." "You!" said the rustic, with a most contemptuous elongation of the pronoun; you would make a pretty goose-herd; you are much too fat, and much too stiff: 66 * An Austrian coin, value 7d. or 8d. sterling. suppose they broke away from you now, and got into the rich meadow yonder, I should have more trespass money to pay than my year's wages come to. Just look at the Court Gardener there, him with the black head and wings; he is a regular deserter, a false knave; he is for all the world one of the court trash, and they, we all know, are good for nothing. He would lead you a fine dance! Nay, nay, it would never do." The king felt ready to burst with suppressed laughter; but mastering himself, asked, with tolerable composure: "Why, can I not keep geese in order as easily as men? I have plenty of them to control." "You," again said the boy, sneeringly, as he measured the monarch from head to foot; "they must be silly ones, then; but perhaps you're a schoolmaster? Yet, even if ye be, it is much easier to manage boys than geese; that I can tell ye." "It may be so," said the king; "but come, make short work of it: will you bring the book or will you not ?" "I would gladly do it," stammered the boy, "but 66 "I'll be answerable for the geese," cried the king, "and pay all damages, if such there be." This decided the question; and so, after exacting a promise that his substitute would pay special attention to the doings of the stately gander, whom he designated as the "Court Gardener," and pronounced an incorrigible breaker of bounds, and prime seducer of the flock, he placed the whip in the king's hands, and set off on his errand. But scarcely had he run a few yards when he turned back again. "What is the matter now?" called out the king. ran off at full speed in the direction the king had indicated. The monarch, who could now indulge in a hearty laugh, sat himself down on a tree-stump which the goose-herd had previously occupied, to await the return of his messenger. But it really seemed as if his feathered charge had discovered that the whip was no longer wielded by their accustomed prompt and vigilant commander, for the treacherous "Court Gardener" suddenly stretched out his long neck, and, after reconnoitring on all sides, uttered two or three shrill screams; upon which, as if a tempest had all at once rushed under the multitude of wings, the whole flock rose simultaneously into the air, and before the king could recover from his surprise, they were careering, with loud screams, toward the rich meadows bordering the lake, over which they quickly spread themselves in all possible directions. At the first outburst, the royal herdsman called "halt," with all his might; he brandished and tried hard to crack the whip, but extracted no sound which could intimidate the Court Gardener. He then ran to and fro, until, teeming with perspiration, and yielding to adverse fate, he reseated himself on the tree-stump, and, leaving the geese to their own devices, quietly awaited the return of his messenger. "The boy was right, after all," said he to himself: "it is easier to govern a couple of millions of men than a flock of plaguy geese,' and a court gardener can do a deal of mischief." But Meanwhile the boy had reached the bench, found the book, and sped back in triumph, little dreaming of the discomfit-. ure his substitute had experienced. when, on coming close up to the king, he looked round in vain for his charge, and still worse, when their vociferous cackling led his eyes in the direction of the forbid"Aden meadow, he was so overwhelmed that, letting fall the book, he exclaimed, halfcrying with grief and vexation: "There we have it! I knew how it would be! Did I not say from the first you understood nothing? And what is to be done now? I can never get them together by myself. You must help, that's a fact." "Crack the whip," resounded in return. The monarch swung it with his best effort, but procured no sounding whack. "I thought so!" exclaimed the rustic. schoolmaster, forsooth, and can not crack a whip!" So saying, he snatched the whip from the king's hand, and began, with more zeal than success, to instruct him in the science of whip-cracking. The king, though scarcely able to contain himself, tried in right earnest, and at length succeeded in extracting a tolerably sharp report from the leathern instrument of authority; and the boy, after once more trying to impress the duties of his responsible office on his temporary substitute, VOL. XLIX.-NO. 4 The king consented; the herdboy placed him at one corner, showed him how to move his outstretched arms up and down, whilst he must shout with all his might; and then the boy himself set 36 out, whip in hand, to gather in the far-1 thest scattered of the flock. The king did his best, and after terrible exertions, the cackling runaways were once more congregated on their allotted territory. But now the boy gave free vent to his indignation, rated the king soundly for neglect, and wound up all by declaring: "Never shall any one get my whip from me again, or tempt me, with two zwanzi gers, to give up my geese. No; not to the king himself!" "You are quite right there, my fine fellow," said the good-natured Maximilian, bursting into a laugh; "he understands goose-herding quite as little as I do." "And you laugh at it, to the bargain!" said the boy, in high dudgeon. 66 Well, look "You!" once more reiterated the indignant goose-herd; "I am not such a flat as to believe that-not I. So lift up your book and get along with you." The king quickly took up his book, saying, as he handed four additional zwanzigers to the astonished lad: "Don't be angry with me, my boy; I give you my word, I'll never undertake to herd geese again." The boy fixed a doubting gaze on the mysterious donor of such unexampled treasure, then added, with a wise shake of the head: "You're a kind gentleman, whoever you may be; but you'll never make a good goose-herd!" From the Edinburgh Review. CEYLON-ITS ASPECTS, ANTIQUITIES, AND PRODUCTIONS.* AMIDST the labors of a life devoted to the assiduous discharge of public duties, both abroad and at home, Sir Emerson Tennent has found means to produce the most copious, interesting, and complete monograph which exists in our language on any of the possessions of the British Crown. The island of Ceylon can not, with any strictness or propriety, be termed a colony. It is one of the oldest kingdoms of the earth, inhabited by races whose origin is lost in primitive antiquity; traces of the demon worship of fattened serpents still linger among the superstitions of the people; and the lofty pinnacle called "Adam's Peak," which has served for ages as a landmark to the navigators of the Eastern seas, is still said to bear the footprint of the first created man. The chronicles of the island extend, if we may place implicit reliance on the profound researches of Mr. Turnour, the translator of the Mahawanso, in an unbroken series through twenty-three centuries, from 543 B.C. to the year of Christ 1758. The arts of agriculture were imported into Ceylon by the Bengal conquerors, who founded the dynasty of Wijayo, five centuries before Christ; in the first centuries of the Christian era civilization was established, and the population is supposed to have been ten times what it now is.* Irrigation by artificial lakes and enormous tanks, one of which was forty miles in circumference, gave life and fertility to the soil; and as the modern traveler penetrates by forgotten tracts into the recesses of the forest, he is every where struck by the vast and countless excavations and embankments which attest the industry and ingenuity of a great people. Two thousand years ago the Buddhist faith was introduced into Ceylon, and the island soon became one of the chief seats of that creed, which holds three hundred and fifty millions of human beings in its fetters; the mystical Bo-tree, which still flourishes in the holy precincts of Anarajapoora, de *Ceylon: An Account of the Island, Physical, Historical, and Topographical: with Notices of its Natural History, Antiquities, and Productions. *The population of all races in Ceylon amountHlustrated by Maps, Plans, and Drawings. By Sired in 1857 to 1,697,975, besides soldiers and aliens J. EMERSON TENNENT. Two vols. 8vo. London. estimated at about 30,000: yet the island is only about one sixth smaller than Ireland. 1859. |