<h2><SPAN name="chap3.11"></SPAN>CHAPTER 10</h2>
<p>Shortly afterward an incident occurred which I am induced to look upon as
more intensely productive of emotion, as far more replete with the
extremes first of delight and then of horror, than even any of the
thousand chances which afterward befell me in nine long years, crowded
with events of the most startling and, in many cases, of the most
unconceived and unconceivable character. We were lying on the deck near
the companion-way, and debating the possibility of yet making our way into
the storeroom, when, looking toward Augustus, who lay fronting myself, I
perceived that he had become all at once deadly pale, and that his lips
were quivering in the most singular and unaccountable manner. Greatly
alarmed, I spoke to him, but he made me no reply, and I was beginning to
think that he was suddenly taken ill, when I took notice of his eyes,
which were glaring apparently at some object behind me. I turned my head,
and shall never forget the ecstatic joy which thrilled through every
particle of my frame, when I perceived a large brig bearing down upon us,
and not more than a couple of miles off. I sprung to my feet as if a
musket bullet had suddenly struck me to the heart; and, stretching out my
arms in the direction of the vessel, stood in this manner, motionless, and
unable to articulate a syllable. Peters and Parker were equally affected,
although in different ways. The former danced about the deck like a
madman, uttering the most extravagant rhodomontades, intermingled with
howls and imprecations, while the latter burst into tears, and continued
for many minutes weeping like a child.</p>
<p>The vessel in sight was a large hermaphrodite brig, of a Dutch build, and
painted black, with a tawdry gilt figure-head. She had evidently seen a
good deal of rough weather, and, we supposed, had suffered much in the
gale which had proved so disastrous to ourselves; for her foretopmast was
gone, and some of her starboard bulwarks. When we first saw her, she was,
as I have already said, about two miles off and to windward, bearing down
upon us. The breeze was very gentle, and what astonished us chiefly was,
that she had no other sails set than her foremast and mainsail, with a
flying jib—of course she came down but slowly, and our impatience
amounted nearly to phrensy. The awkward manner in which she steered, too,
was remarked by all of us, even excited as we were. She yawed about so
considerably, that once or twice we thought it impossible she could see
us, or imagined that, having seen us, and discovered no person on board,
she was about to tack and make off in another direction. Upon each of
these occasions we screamed and shouted at the top of our voices, when the
stranger would appear to change for a moment her intention, and again hold
on toward us—this singular conduct being repeated two or three
times, so that at last we could think of no other manner of accounting for
it than by supposing the helmsman to be in liquor.</p>
<p>No person was seen upon her decks until she arrived within about a quarter
of a mile of us. We then saw three seamen, whom by their dress we took to
be Hollanders. Two of these were lying on some old sails near the
forecastle, and the third, who appeared to be looking at us with great
curiosity, was leaning over the starboard bow near the bowsprit. This last
was a stout and tall man, with a very dark skin. He seemed by his manner
to be encouraging us to have patience, nodding to us in a cheerful
although rather odd way, and smiling constantly, so as to display a set of
the most brilliantly white teeth. As his vessel drew nearer, we saw a red
flannel cap which he had on fall from his head into the water; but of this
he took little or no notice, continuing his odd smiles and gesticulations.
I relate these things and circumstances minutely, and I relate them, it
must be understood, precisely as they <i>appeared</i>to us.</p>
<p>The brig came on slowly, and now more steadily than before, and—I
cannot speak calmly of this event—our hearts leaped up wildly within
us, and we poured out our whole souls in shouts and thanksgiving to God
for the complete, unexpected, and glorious deliverance that was so
palpably at hand. Of a sudden, and all at once, there came wafted over the
ocean from the strange vessel (which was now close upon us) a smell, a
stench, such as the whole world has no name for—no conception of—hellish—utterly
suffocating—insufferable, inconceivable. I gasped for breath, and
turning to my companions, perceived that they were paler than marble. But
we had now no time left for question or surmise—the brig was within
fifty feet of us, and it seemed to be her intention to run under our
counter, that we might board her without putting out a boat. We rushed
aft, when, suddenly, a wide yaw threw her off full five or six points from
the course she had been running, and, as she passed under our stern at the
distance of about twenty feet, we had a full view of her decks. Shall I
ever forget the triple horror of that spectacle? Twenty-five or thirty
human bodies, among whom were several females, lay scattered about between
the counter and the galley in the last and most loathsome state of
putrefaction. We plainly saw that not a soul lived in that fated vessel!
Yet we could not help shouting to the dead for help! Yes, long and loudly
did we beg, in the agony of the moment, that those silent and disgusting
images would stay for us, would not abandon us to become like them, would
receive us among their goodly company! We were raving with horror and
despair—thoroughly mad through the anguish of our grievous
disappointment.</p>
<p>As our first loud yell of terror broke forth, it was replied to by
something, from near the bowsprit of the stranger, so closely resembling
the scream of a human voice that the nicest ear might have been startled
and deceived. At this instant another sudden yaw brought the region of the
forecastle for a moment into view, and we beheld at once the origin of the
sound. We saw the tall stout figure still leaning on the bulwark, and
still nodding his head to and fro, but his face was now turned from us so
that we could not behold it. His arms were extended over the rail, and the
palms of his hands fell outward. His knees were lodged upon a stout rope,
tightly stretched, and reaching from the heel of the bowsprit to a
cathead. On his back, from which a portion of the shirt had been torn,
leaving it bare, there sat a huge sea-gull, busily gorging itself with the
horrible flesh, its bill and talons deep buried, and its white plumage
spattered all over with blood. As the brig moved farther round so as to
bring us close in view, the bird, with much apparent difficulty, drew out
its crimsoned head, and, after eyeing us for a moment as if stupefied,
arose lazily from the body upon which it had been feasting, and, flying
directly above our deck, hovered there a while with a portion of clotted
and liver-like substance in its beak. The horrid morsel dropped at length
with a sullen splash immediately at the feet of Parker. May God forgive
me, but now, for the first time, there flashed through my mind a thought,
a thought which I will not mention, and I felt myself making a step toward
the ensanguined spot. I looked upward, and the eyes of Augustus met my own
with a degree of intense and eager meaning which immediately brought me to
my senses. I sprang forward quickly, and, with a deep shudder, threw the
frightful thing into the sea.</p>
<p>The body from which it had been taken, resting as it did upon the rope,
had been easily swayed to and fro by the exertions of the carnivorous
bird, and it was this motion which had at first impressed us with the
belief of its being alive. As the gull relieved it of its weight, it swung
round and fell partially over, so that the face was fully discovered.
Never, surely, was any object so terribly full of awe! The eyes were gone,
and the whole flesh around the mouth, leaving the teeth utterly naked.
This, then, was the smile which had cheered us on to hope! this the—but
I forbear. The brig, as I have already told, passed under our stern, and
made its way slowly but steadily to leeward. With her and with her
terrible crew went all our gay visions of deliverance and joy.
Deliberately as she went by, we might possibly have found means of
boarding her, had not our sudden disappointment and the appalling nature
of the discovery which accompanied it laid entirely prostrate every active
faculty of mind and body. We had seen and felt, but we could neither think
nor act, until, alas! too late. How much our intellects had been weakened
by this incident may be estimated by the fact, that when the vessel had
proceeded so far that we could perceive no more than the half of her hull,
the proposition was seriously entertained of attempting to overtake her by
swimming!</p>
<p>I have, since this period, vainly endeavoured to obtain some clew to the
hideous uncertainty which enveloped the fate of the stranger. Her build
and general appearance, as I have before stated, led us to the belief that
she was a Dutch trader, and the dresses of the crew also sustained this
opinion. We might have easily seen the name upon her stern, and, indeed,
taken other observations, which would have guided us in making out her
character; but the intense excitement of the moment blinded us to every
thing of that nature. From the saffron-like hue of such of the corpses as
were not entirely decayed, we concluded that the whole of her company had
perished by the yellow fever, or some other virulent disease of the same
fearful kind. If such were the case (and I know not what else to imagine),
death, to judge from the positions of the bodies, must have come upon them
in a manner awfully sudden and overwhelming, in a way totally distinct
from that which generally characterizes even the most deadly pestilences
with which mankind are acquainted. It is possible, indeed, that poison,
accidentally introduced into some of their sea-stores, may have brought
about the disaster, or that the eating of some unknown venomous species of
fish, or other marine animal, or oceanic bird, might have induced it—but
it is utterly useless to form conjectures where all is involved, and will,
no doubt, remain for ever involved, in the most appalling and unfathomable
mystery.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.