And up and down the sailors walked,
And wished that the calm was o'er.

The captain's son was on board with us,
A fair child, seven years old,
With a merry look that all men loved,
And a spirit kind and bold.

I loved the child, and I took his hand,
And made him kneel and pray
That the crime; for which the calm was sent,
Might be purged clean away.

For I thought that God would hear his prayer,
And set the vessel free,--
For a dreadful thing it was to lie
Upon that charnel sea.

Yet I told him not wherefore he prayed,
Nor why the calm was sent
I would not give that knowledge dark
To a soul so innocent.

At length I saw a little cloud
Arise in that sky of flame,
A little cloud--but it grew and grew,
And blackened as it came.

And we saw the sea beneath its track
Grow dark as the frowning sky,