[page 89, continued:] |
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 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 towards
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. [page
90:] The vessel in sight was a large
hermaphrodite brig,
of a Dutch build, and painted black, with a tawdry gilt figurehead. 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
foresail 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 towards 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. 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 appeared
to
us. The brig came on slowly, and now more
steadily than
before, [page 91:] 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 her 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. 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 [page 92:]
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 seagull, 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 further 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
stupified,
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
towards
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. 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 [page 93:] 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! I have, since this period, vainly
endeavored 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 everything 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. |
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