There was a pause, and an exclamation of
horror from all present; but the Captain was too cool and steady to be
disconcerted. He immediately groped about until he got the candle,
and proceeding calmly to a remote corner of the chapel, took up a
half-burned peat which lay there, and after some trouble succeeded in
lighting it again. He then explained what had taken place; which indeed
was easily done, as the candle happened to be extinguished by a pigeon
which sat directly above it. The chapel, I should have observed, was at
this time, like many country chapels, unfinished inside, and the pigeons
of a neighboring dove-cot had built nests among the rafters of the
unceiled roof; which circumstance also explained the rushing of the
wings, for the birds had been affrighted by the sudden loudness of
the noise. The mocking voices were nothing but the echoes, rendered
naturally more awful by the scene, the mysterious object of the meeting,
and the solemn hour of the night.
When the candle was again lighted, and these startling circumstances
accounted for, the persons whose vengeance had been deepening more and
more during the night, rushed to the altar in a body, where each, in
a voice trembling with passionate eagerness, repeated the oath, and as
every word was pronounced, the same echoes heightened the wildness
of the horrible ceremony, by their long and unearthly tones.
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