The Saint Geran thenpresented itself to our view, her gallery crowded with people, her yardsand main topmast laid upon the deck, her flag shivered, with four cables ather head, and one by which she was held at the stern. She had anchoredbetween the Isle of Amber and the main land, within that chain of breakerswhich encircles the island, and which bar she had passed over, in a placewhere no vessel had ever gone before. She presented her head to the waveswhich rolled from the open sea; and as each billow rushed into the straits,the ship heaved, so that her keel was in air; and at the same moment herstern, plunging into the water, disappeared altogether, as if it wereswallowed up by the surges. In this position, driven by the winds and wavestowards the shore, it was equally impossible for her to return by thepassage through which she had made her way; or, by cutting her cables, tothrow herself upon the beach, from which she was separated by sand banks,mingled with breakers. Every billow which broke upon the coast advancedroaring to the bottom of the bay, and threw planks to the distance of fiftyfeet upon the land; then rushing back, laid bare its sandy bed, from whichit rolled immense stones, with a hoarse dismal noise. The sea, swelled bythe violence of the wind, rose higher every moment; and the channel betweenthis island the Isle of Amber was but one vast sheet of white foam, withyawning pits of black deep billows. The foam boiling in the gulf was morethan six feet high: and the winds which swept its surface, bore it over thesteep coast more than half a league upon the land. Those innumerable whiteflakes, driven horizontally as far as the foot of the mountain, appearedlike snow issuing from the ocean, which was now confounded with the sky.Thick clouds, of a horrible form, swept along the zenith with the swiftnessof birds, while others appeared motionless as rocks. No spot of azure couldbe discerned in the firmament; only a pale yellow gleam displayed theobjects of earth sea, and skies.
"From the violent efforts of the ship, what we dreaded happened. The cablesat the head of the vessel were torn away; it was then held by one anchoronly, and was instantly dashed upon the rocks, at the distance of half acable's length from the shore. A general cry of horror issued from thespectators. Paul rushed towards the sea, when, seizing him by the arm, Iexclaimed, 'Would you perish?'--'Let me go to save her,' cried he, 'ordie!' Seeing that despair deprived him of reason, Domingo and I, in orderto preserve him, fastened a long cord round his waist, and seized hold ofeach end. Paul then precipitated himself towards the ship, now swimming,and now walking upon the breakers. Sometimes he had the hope of reachingthe vessel, which the sea, in its irregular movements, had left almost dry,so that you could have made its circuit on foot; but suddenly the wavesadvancing with new fury, shrouded it beneath mountains of water, which thenlifted it upright upon its keel. The billows at the same moment threw theunfortunate Paul far upon the beach, his legs bathed in blood, his bosomwounded, and himself half dead. The moment he had recovered his senses, hearose, and returned with new ardour towards the vessel, the planks of whichnow yawned asunder from the violent strokes of the billows. The crew, thendespairing of their safety, threw themselves in crowds into the sea, uponyards, planks, hencoops, tables, and barrels. At this moment we beheld anobject fitted to excite eternal sympathy; a young lady in the gallery ofthe stern of the Saint Geran, stretching out her arms towards him who madeso many efforts to join her. It was Virginia. She had discovered her loverby his intrepidity. The sight of this amiable young woman, exposed to suchhorrible danger, filled us with unutterable despair. As for Virginia, witha firm and dignified mien, she waved her hand, as if bidding us an eternalfarewell. All the sailors had flung themselves into the sea, except one,who still remained upon the deck, and who was naked, and strong asHercules. This man approached Virginia with respect, and, kneeling at herfeet attempted to force her to throw off her clothes; but she repulsed himwith modesty, and turned away her head. Then was heard redoubled cries fromthe spectators, 'Save her! Save her! Do not leave her!' But at that momenta mountain billow, of enormous magnitude, ingulfed itself between the Isleof Amber and the coast, and menaced the shattered vessel, towards which itrolled bellowing, with its black sides and foaming head. At this terriblesight the sailor flung himself into the sea; and Virginia seeing deathinevitable, placed one hand upon her clothes, the other on her heart, andlifting up her lovely eyes, seemed an angel prepared to take her flight toheaven.
"Oh, day of horror! Alas! every thing was swallowed up by the relentlessbillows. The surge threw some of the spectators far upon the beach, whom animpulse of humanity prompted to advance towards Virginia, and also thesailor who had endeavoured to save her life. This man, who had escaped fromalmost certain death, kneeling on the sand, exclaimed, 'Oh, my God! thouhast saved my life, but I would have given it willingly for that poor youngwoman!'
"Domingo and myself drew Paul senseless to the shore, the blood flowingfrom his mouth and ears. The governor put him into the hands of a surgeon,while we sought along the beach for the corpse of Virginia. But the windhaving suddenly changed, which frequently happens during hurricanes, oursearch was in vain; and we lamented that we could not even pay thisunfortunate young woman the last sad sepulchral duties.
"We retired from the spot overwhelmed with dismay, and our minds whollyoccupied by one cruel loss, although numbers had perished in the wreck.Some of the spectators seemed tempted, from the fatal destiny of thisvirtuous young woman, to doubt the existence of Providence. Alas! there arein life such terrible, such unmerited evils, that even the hope of the wiseis sometimes shaken.
"In the meantime, Paul, who began to recover his senses, was taken to ahouse in the neighbourhood, till he was able to be removed to his ownhabitation. Thither I bent my way with Domingo, and undertook the sad taskof preparing Virginia's mother and her friend for the melancholy eventwhich had happened. When we reached the entrance of the valley of the riverof Fan-Palms, some negroes informed us that the sea had thrown many piecesof the wreck into the opposite bay. We descended towards it; and one of thefirst objects which struck my sight upon the beach was the corpse ofVirginia. The body was half covered with sand, and in the attitude in whichwe had seen her perish. Her features were not changed; her eyes wereclosed, her countenance was still serene; but the pale violets of deathwere blended on her cheek with the blush of virgin modesty. One of herhands was placed upon her clothes: and the other, which she held on herheart, was fast closed, and so stiffened, that it was with difficulty Itook from its grasp a small box. How great was my emotion, when I saw itcontained the picture of Paul; which she had promised him never to partwith while she lived! At the sight of this last mark of the fidelity andtenderness of the unfortunate girl, I wept bitterly. As for Domingo, hebeat his breast, and pierced the air with his cries. We carried the body ofVirginia to a fisher's hut, and gave it in charge to some poor Malabarwomen, who carefully washed away the sand.
"While they were employed in this melancholy office, we ascended withtrembling steps to the plantation. We found Madame de la Tour and Margaretat prayer, while waiting for tidings from the ship. As soon as Madame de laTour saw me coming, she eagerly cried, 'Where is my child, my dear child?'My silence and my tears apprised her of her misfortune. She was seized withconvulsive stiflings, with agonizing pains, and her voice was only heard ingroans. Margaret cried, 'Where is my son? I do not see my son!' andfainted. We ran to her assistance. In a short time she recovered, and beingassured that her son was safe, and under the care of the governor, she onlythought of succouring her friend, who had long successive faintings. Madamede la Tour passed the night in sufferings so exquisite, that I becameconvinced there was no sorrow like a mother's sorrow. When she recoveredher senses, she cast her languid and steadfast looks on heaven. In vain herfriend and myself pressed her hands in ours: in vain we called upon her bythe most tender names; she appeared wholly insensible; and her oppressedbosom heaved deep and hollow moans.
"In the morning Paul was brought home in a palanquin. He was now restoredto reason but unable to utter a word. His interview with his mother andMadame de la Tour, which I had dreaded, produced a better effect than allmy
cares. A ray of consolation gleamed upon the countenances of thoseunfortunate mothers. They flew to meet him, clasped him in their arms, andbathed him with tears, which excess of anguish had till now forbidden toflow. Paul mixed his tears with theirs; and nature having thus foundrelief, a long stupor succeeded the convulsive pangs they had suffered, andgave them a lethargic repose like that of death.
"Monsieur de la Bourdonnais sent to apprise me secretly that the corpse ofVirginia had been borne to the town by his order, from whence it was to betransferred to the church of the Shaddock Grove. I hastened to Port Louis,and found a multitude assembled from all parts, in order to be present atthe funeral solemnity, as if the whole island had lost its fairestornament. The vessels in the harbour had their yards crossed, their flagshoisted, and fired guns at intervals. The grenadiers led the
Paul and Virginia from the French of J.B.H. de Saint Pierre Page 18