anchor near the foot of the mountain, but found, when he wished to resume his course, that his anchor's flukes were caught in something heavy that could not be detached from the bottom withoiit great effort. However, yielding to the persuasion of the windlass, the obstacle, whatever it was, after a while began to come slowly to the surface, with many an uneasy tug. The skipper's curiosity was great, and richly was it Digitized by Microsoft® At the Gate of the Highlands 321 rewarded, for, with one supreme effort, the crew raised to the surface and into the vessel — a small cannon ! It might have been taken as a natural inference that the rusty weapon belonged to some British vessel of war, or was a trophy of American valour; but not so did the wiseacres decide. It was gravely pro- nounced to be a relic of Captain Kidd! Then a speculator worked up the idea and inter- ested a number of people of the class that the proverb mentions as being soon parted from their money, and a company was formed with $22,000 capital to explore for the wealth that everybody at once knew must be lying there. People talked of the auger that had bored through the deck of the sunken ship and brought up silver with it. To be sure, no one had seen the silver, but the auger was probably not denied to any seeker after conviction. The work went on merrily for some time, but after a while funds ran low and faith began to waver, and the' pumping station no longer pumped. Well, after all, was it any more silly than to be duped into subscribing to a compan37- that engaged to make gold out of sea- water? From the veracious chronicle of the adventures of that delightful son of Manhattan, Dolph Heyliger, as told by Washington Irving, we get an invaluable treasure of goblin lore. The Dunderberg is particu- larly mentioned as being the haunt of unearthly creat- ures whose instinct for mischief was calculated to keep the toiling sons of the river in perpetual disquiet. Digitized by Microsoft® 322 The Hudson River It is certain that strange things have been seen in these high- lands in storms. The captains of the river craft talk of a little bulbous-bottomed Dutch goblin, in trunk-hose and sugar-loafed hat, with a speaking-trumpet in his hand, which they say keeps about the Dunderberg. They declare that they have heard him, in stormy weather, in the midst of the turmoil, giving orders in Low Dutch for the piping up of a fresh gust of wind, or the rattling off of another thunder-clap. That sometimes he has been seen surrounded by a crew of little imps in broad breeches and short doublets; tumbling head-over-heels in the rack and mist, and playing a thousand gambols in the air; or buzzing like a swarm of flies about Antony's Nose; and that, at such times, the hurry scurry of the storm was always greatest. One time a sloop, in passing by the Dunderberg, was over- taken by a thunder gust, that came scouring round the mount- ain, and seemed to burst just over the vessel. Though tight and well ballasted, she laboured dreadfully, and the water came over the gunwale. All the crew were amazed when it was dis- covered that there was a little white sugar-loaf hat on the mast-head, known at once to be the hat of the Heer of the Dunderberg. Nobody, however, dared to climb to the mast- head and get rid of this terrible hat. The sloop continued labour- ing and rocking, as if she, would have rolled her mast overboard, and seemed in continued danger- either of upsetting or of running on shore. In this way she drove quite through the highlands, until she had passed PoUopol's Island, where, it is said, the jurisdiction of the Dunderberg potentate ceases. No sooner had she passed this bourn, than the little hat spun up into the air like a top, whirled up all the clouds into a vortex, and hurried them back to the summit of the Dunderberg; while the sloop righted herself, and sailed on as quifetly as if in a mill-pond. Nothing saved her from utter' wreck but the fortunate circum- stance of -having a horse-shoe nailed against the miast — a wise precaution against evil spirits, s\nce adopted by all the Dutch captains that navigate this haunted river. There is another stoty told of this- foul- weather urchin by Skipper Daniel Ouselsticker of Fishkill, who was never known to tell a lie. He declared that, in a severe squall, he saw him Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® At the Gate of the Highlands 325 seated astride of his bowsprit, riding