Whethei living or dead, none can say, but doomed to a perpetual journey across the river he undoubtedly is,for many a boat-man on the river has heard the sound of his oars, and more than one damsel, being rowed o' moonlit nights on the river, has clung in terror to her swain, as she fancied she saw in the distance the shadowy form of Rambout Van Dam. There is another haunting shape that occasionally troubles these waters ; it is that of the Storm-ship that makes mysterious journeys, never heeding shoal or headland, tacking when the wind is fair and running free in the teeth of a gale, with never a concession to any weather that mortals give heed to. Into the moonlight she comes suddenly, from some unknown quarter

THE TLYINC, DUTCHMAN

Spectres of the Tappan Zee 2 15

and as siiddenl>', while the eye is fixed u])()n her, vanishes completely as a bubble that floats for a moment where a wa\'e has broken, and then, in a twinkling, is dissipated. There have been people who have really doul)ted the existence of the i)hantom ship and class it with fabulous monsters, Brocken spectres, and the like : but these are not people who have navigated the waters of the Tappan Zee at night. Two hundred years ago the Storm-ship was first seen passing New Amsterdam, going up the stream against a strong ebb tide. She was flying Dutch colours and her sails bellied with a w4nd that certainly was not apparent to those who gazed at her, wide-eyed and whispering, from the fort. In spite of the trade regulations that forbade the passing of any vessel up the river without a permit, regardless of signals or challenge, the stranger sailed on. Then a gun was fired from the battery, but her hull did not stop the ball, nor did the ball check her course.