University of Virginia Library

THE COAST OF SICILY.
A Hut by the Sea-side—a Fisherman and a Boy.
FISHERMAN.
Here's a black sky! I knew this sultry noon
Foreboded something.

Boy.
Master, 'tis a storm—

Fisherman.
It thunders yonder; 'twill be here anon—
See, and get in the boat! Haul away, boy!

Boy.
There was a flash!

Fisherman.
Ay, it comes on apace,
And blackens more and more: 't was still as death—
Now, how it blows, as if 't would tear to tatters;
And bawls at us!

Boy.
In! in! good father.

Fisherman.
Hold!
Look there!

Boy.
A ship driving before the wind!

[Boy goes out.
Fisherman.
So!—Mercy on their souls!

Old Woman,
from the Hut.
What Hoa! Josepho!—
Come in, old man! why will you keep abroad
This stormy weather?

Fisherman.
Get thee in, good dame,
And shut the door upon the tempest!—Marco!
Holla! boy, holla! Go not near the surf!
Keep up the beach!

Boy,
running in.
See, father, see! the ship
Has sprung her mast!

Old Woman.
Josepho!

Boy.
See she drifts
Upon the reef—

Old Woman,
louder.
Josepho!

Fisherman.
Nought can save her!
She is a wreck!

Old Woman,
louder still.
Josepho!

Fisherman.
Hoa! I hear thee—

Old Woman.
How long am I to bawl and bawl to you?
Come in, old man! How can you keep me here,
And see the tempest beating in my face?
Come in, Josepho!

Fisherman.
Shut the door, I say!
There is a wreck driving upon the shore,
And hap'ly I may save some honest soul.
Get in—get in—and find my flask and hook,
And give them to the boy.

Old Woman.
Ay! ay! the boy;
And let thy crazy bones fare as they may:
Well! well! Old man, I'll get thy flask and hook—
Ugh! what a day!

[Goes into the hut.
Fisherman.
What cry was that?

Boy.
The ship
Has struck. This way, good father—this way.—

[Exeunt.