GAY, SAD SCHEVENINGEN. 105 



" We who watched doubted not lier ejacula- 

 tion of praise and thanksgiving was finished 

 just beyond our dull ears' hearing, and the 

 hand she raised with her last fluttering heai't 

 beat was laid in the hand of him she saw ' so 

 grand and fair ' waiting for her upon the phan- 

 tom ship. 



" When all was over Herr Witzman told me 

 Emilie's sad story. 



" Eighteen years before Der Leitstern sailed 

 away to fish for herring on the seas about Scot- 

 land. No braver, truer man sailed with her 

 than Heinrich Bretzel, to whom Emilie was 

 betrothed and to whom she should be wed when 

 the flotilla returned from its fishing cruise. 



" Scarcely a week after the boats went out a 

 fearful storm came on ; the heavens were black 

 for days, and the angry sea below seemed ris- 

 ing to meet the angry sky above. Der Leit- 

 stern was never seen again nor its crew heard 

 from. But knowing the character and habits of 

 the Scheveningen fishermen, we believe that 

 after doing their utmost, then, as their custom 

 is, they shut every aperture of the boats, and 

 going into the cabin read the words of him 

 who ' ruleth the raging of the sea ' and waited 

 his win. 



" When the boats came no more, Emilie, who 



