Once they heard a cry, asif of sailors from another vessel. Then they strained their eyes to gazeinto the fog, and a whole island seemed to be turning itself upside down,its peak coming down, while its base went uppermost, and the whole waterboiled for leagues around, as if both earth and sea were upheaved.The sun rose upon this chaos of waters. No demon hand was anywherevisible, nor any island, but a few icebergs were in sight, and thefrightened sailors rowed away and made sail for home. It was rare to seeicebergs so far south, and this naturally added to the general dismay.Amid the superstition of the sailors, the tales grew and grew, and all theterrors became mingled. But tradition says that there were some veteranSpanish sailors along that coast, men who had sailed on longer voyages,and that these persons actually laughed at the whole story of Satan'sHand, saying that any one who had happened to see an iceberg topple overwould know all about it. It was more generally believed, however, that allthis was mere envy and jealousy; the daring fishermen remained heroes forthe rest of their days; and it was only within a century or two that theisland of Satanaxio disappeared from the charts.XVANTILLIA, THE ISLAND OF THE SEVEN CITIESThe young Spanish page, Luis de Vega, had been for some months at thecourt of Don Rodrigo, king of Spain, when he heard the old knightslamenting, as they came out of the palace at Toledo, over the king's lastand most daring whim.
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