"Sit still, and hear the last of our sea sorrow."--_Shakspeare_
The weight of the tempest had been felt at that hapless moment when Earing
and his unfortunate companions were precipitated from their giddy
elevation into the sea. Though the wind continued to blow long after this
fatal event, it was with a constantly diminishing power. As the gale
decreased the sea began to rise, and the vessel to labour in proportion.
Then followed two hours of anxious watchfulness on the part of Wilder,
during which the whole of his professional knowledge was needed in order
to keep the despoiled hull of the Bristol trader from becoming a prey to
the greedy waters. His consummate skill, however, proved equal to the task
that was required at his hands; and, just as the symptoms of day were
becoming visible along the east, both wind and waves were rapidly
subsiding together. During the whole of this doubtful period our
adventurer did not receive the smallest assistance from any of the crew,
with the exception of two experienced seamen whom he had previously
stationed at the wheel. But to this neglect he was indifferent; since
little more was required than his own judgment, seconded, as it faithfully
was, by the exertions of the manners more immediately under his eye.
The day dawned on a scene entirely different from that which had marked
the tempestuous deformity of the night. The whole fury of the winds
appear ed to have been expended in their precocious effort. From the
moderate gale, to which they had fallen by the end of the middle watch,
they further altered to a vacillating breeze; and, ere the sun had risen,
the changeful air had subsided into a flat calm. The sea went down as
suddenly as the power which had raised, it vanished; and, by the time the
broad golden light of the sun was shed fairly and fully upon the unstable
element, it lay unruffled and polished, though still gently heaving in
swells so long and heavy as to resemble the placid respiration of a
sleeping infant.
The hour was still early, and the serene appearance of the sky and the
ocean gave every promise of a day which might be passed in devising the
expedients necessary to bring the ship again, in some measure, under the
command of her people.
"Sound the pumps," said Wilder, observing that the crew were appearing
from the different places in which they had bestowed their cares and their
persons together, during the later hours of the night.
"Do you hear me, sir?" he added sternly, observing that no one moved to
obey his order. "Let the pumps be sounded, and the ship cleared of every
inch of water."
Nighthead, to whom Wilder had now addressed himself, regarded his
Commander with an oblique ind sullen eye, and then exchanged singularly
intelligent glances with his comrades, before he saw fit to make the
smallest motion towards compliance. But there was that, in the
authoritative mien of his superior, which finally induced him to comply.
The dilatory manner in which the seamen performed the duty was quickened,
however, as the rod ascended, and the well-known signs of a formidable
leak met their eyes. The experiment was repeated with greater activity,
and with far more precision.
"If witchcraft can clear the hold of a ship that is already half full of
water," said Nighthead, casting another sullen glance towards the
attentive Wilder "the sooner it is done the better; for the whole cunning
of something more than a bungler in the same will be needed, in order to
make the pumps of the 'Royal Caroline' suck!"
"Does the ship leak?" demanded his superior with a quickness of utterance
which sufficiently proclaimed how important he deemed the intelligence.
"Yesterday, I would have boldly put my name to the articles of any craft
that floats the ocean; and had the Captain asked me if I understood her
nature and character, as certain as that my name is Francis Nighthead, I
should have told him, yes. But I find that the oldest seaman may still
learn something of the water; though it should be got in crossing a ferry
in a flat."
"What mean you, sir?" demanded Wilder, who, for the first time, began to
note the mutinous looks assumed by his mate, no less than the threatening
manner in which he was seconded by the crew. "Have the pumps rigged
without delay, and clear the ship of the water."
Nighthead slowly complied with the former part of this order; and, in a
few moments, every thing was arranged to commence the necessary, and, as
it would seem, urgent duty of pumping. But no man lifted his hand to the
laborious employment. The quick eye of Wilder, who had now taken the
alarm, was not slow in detecting this reluctance; and he repeated the
order more sternly, calling to two of the seamen, by name, to set the
example of obedience. The men hesitated, giving an opportunity to the mate
to confirm them, by his voice, in their mutinous intentions.
"What need of hands to work a pump in a vessel like this?" he said, with
a coarse laugh, but in which secret terror struggled strangely with open
malice. "After what we have all seen this night, none here will be amazed,
should the vessel begin to spout out the brine like a breathing whale."
"What am I to understand by this hesitation, and by this language?" said
Wilder, approaching Nighthead with a firm step, and an eye too proud to
quail before the plainest symptoms of insubordination. "Is it you, sir,
who should be foremost in exertion at a moment like this, who dare to set
an example of disobedience?"
The mate recoiled a pace, and his lips moved, still he uttered no audible
reply. Wilder once more bade him, in a calm and authoritative tone, lay
his own hands to the brake. Nighthead then found his voice, in time to
make a flat refusal; and, at the next moment, he was felled to the feet of
his indignant Commander, by a blow he had neither the address nor the
power to resist. This act of decision was succeeded by one single moment
of breathless, wavering silence among the crew; and then the common cry,
and the general rush of every man upon our defenceless and solitary
adventurer, were the signals that open hostility had commenced. A shriek
from the quarter-deck arrested their efforts; just as a dozen hands were
laid violently upon the person of Wilder, and, for the moment, occasioned
a truce. It was the fearful cry of Gertrude, which possessed even the
influence to still the savage intentions of a set of beings so rude and so
unnurtured as those whose passions had just been awakened into fierce
activity. Wilder was released; and all eyes turned, by a common impulse,
in the direction of the sound.
During the more momentous hours of the past night, the very existence of
the passengers below had been forgotten by most of those whose duty kept
them to the deck. If they had been recalled at all to the recollection of
any, it was at those fleeting moments when the mind of the young mariner,
who directed the movements of the ship, found leisure to catch stolen
glimpses of softer scenes than the wild warring of the elements that was
so actively raging before his eyes. Nighthead had named them, as he would
have made allusion to a part of the cargo, but their fate had little
influence on his hardened nature. Mrs Wyllys and her charge had therefore
remained below during the whole period, perfectly unapprised of the
disasters of the intervening time. Buried in the recesses of their births,
they had heard the roaring of the winds, and the incessant washing of the
waters; but these usual accompaniments of a storm had served to conceal
the crashing of masts, and the hoarse cries of the mariners. For the
moments of terrible suspense while the Bristol trader lay on her side, the
better informed governess had, indeed, some fearful glimmerings of the
truth; but, conscious of her uselessness and unwilling to alarm her less
instructed companion she had sufficient self-command to be mute. The
subsequent silence, and comparative calm, induced her to believe that she
had been mistaken in her apprehensions; and, long ere morning dawned, both
she and Gertrude had sunk into sweet and refreshing slumbers. They had
risen and mounted to the deck together, and were still in the first burst
of their wonder at the desolation which met their gaze, when the
long-meditated attack on Wilder was made.
"What means this awful change?" demanded Mrs Wyllys, with a lip that
quivered, and a cheek which, notwithstanding the extraordinary power she
possessed over her feelings, was blanched to the colour of death.
The eye of Wilder was glowing, and his brow dark as those heavens from
which they had just so happily escaped, as he answered, menacing his
assailants with an arm,--
"It means mutiny, Madam; rascally, cowardly mutiny!"
"Could mutiny strip a vessel of her masts, and leave her a helpless log
upon the sea?"
"Hark ye, Madam!" roughly interrupted the mate 'to you I will speak
freely; for it is well known who you are, and that you came on board the
'Caroline' a paying passenger. This night have I seen the heavens and the
ocean behave as I have never seen them behave before. Ships have been
running afore the wind, light and buoyant as corks, with all their spars
stepped and steady, when other ships have been shaved of every mast as
close as the razor sweeps the chin. Cruisers have been fallen in with,
sailing without living hands to work them; and, all together, no man here
has ever before passed a middle watch like the one gone by."
"And what has this to do with the violence I have just witnessed? Is the
vessel fated to endure every evil!--Can _you_ explain this, Mr Wilder?"
"You cannot say, at least, you had no warning of danger," returned Wilder,
smiling bitterly.
"Ay, the devil is obliged to be honest on compulsion," resumed the mate.
"Each of his imps sails with his orders; and, thank Heaven! however he may
be minded to overlook the same, he has neither courage nor power to do it.
Otherwise, a peaceful voyage would be such a rarity, in these unsettled
times, that few men would be found hardy enough to venture on the water
for a livelihood.--A warning! Ay, we will own you gave us open and
frequent warning. It was a notice, that the consignee should not have
overlooked, when Nicholas Nichols met with the hurt, as the anchor was
leaving the bottom I never knew an accident happen at such a time and no
evil come of it. Then, had we a warning with the old man in the boat;
besides the never-failing ill luck of sending the pilot violently out of
the ship. As if all this wasn't enough, instead of taking a hint, and
lying peaceably at our anchors, we got the ship under way, and left a safe
and friendly harbour of a Friday, of all the days in a week![2] So far
from being surprised at what has happened, I only wonder at finding myself
still a living man; the reason of which is simply this, that I have given
my faith where faith only is due, and not to unknown mariners and strange
Commanders. Had Edward Earing done the same, he might still have had a
plank between him and the bottom; but, though half inclined to believe in
the truth, he had, after all, too much leaning to superstition and
credulity."
[Footnote 2: The superstition, that Friday is an evil day, was not
peculiar to Nighthead; it prevails, more or less, among seamen to this
hour. An intelligent merchant of Connecticut had a desire to do his part
in eradicating an impression that is sometimes inconvenient. He caused
the keel of a vessel to be laid on a Friday; she was launched on a
Friday; named the "Friday;" and sailed on her first voyage on a Friday.
Unfortunately for the success of this well-intentioned experiment,
neither vessel nor crew were ever again heard of!]
This laboured and characteristic profession of faith in the mate, though
sufficiently intelligible to Wilder, was still a perfect enigma to his
female listeners. But Nighthead had not formed his resolution by halves,
neither had he gone thus far, with any intention to stop short of the
completion of his whole design. In a very few summary words, he explained
to Mrs Wyllys the desolate condition of the ship, and the utter
improbability that she could continue to float many hours; since actual
observation had told him that her lower hold was already half full of
water.
"And what is then to be done?" demanded the governess, casting a glance of
bitter distress towards the pallid and attentive Gertrude. "Is there no
sail in sight, to take us from the wreck? or must we perish in our
helplessness!"
"God-protect us from anymore strange sails!" exclaimed the surly
Nighthead. "There we have the pinnace hanging at the stern, and here must
be land at some forty leagues to the north-west. Water and food are
plenty, and twelve, stout hands can soon pull a boat to the continent of
America; that is, always provided, America is left where it was seen no
later than at the sun-set of yesterday."
"You then propose to abandon the vessel?"
"I do. The interest of the owners is dear to all good seamen, but life is
sweeter than gold."
"The will of heaven be done! But surely you meditate no violence against
this gentleman, who, I am quite certain, has governed the vessel, in very
critical circumstances, with a discretion far beyond his years!"
Nighthead muttered his intentions, whatever they might be, to himself; and
then he walked apart, apparently to confer with the men, who already
seemed but too well disposed to second any of his views, however mistaken
or lawless. During the few moments of suspense that succeeded, Wilder
stood silent and composed, a smile of something like scorn struggling
about his lip, and maintaining the air rather of one who had power to
decide on the fortunes of others, than of a man whose own fate was most
probably at that very moment in discussion. When the dull minds of the
seamen had arrived at their conclusion, the mate advanced to proclaim the
result. Indeed, words were unnecessary, in order to make known a very
material part of their decision; for a party of the men proceeded
instantly to lower the stern-boat into the water, while others set about
supplying it with the necessary means of subsistence.
"There is room for all the Christians in the ship to stow themselves in
this pinnace," resumed Nighthead; "and as for those that place their
dependance on any particular persons, why, let them call for aid where
they have been used to receive it."
"From all which I am to infer that it is your intention," said Wilder,
calmly, "to abandon the wreck and your duty?"
The half-awed but still resentful mate returned a look in which fear and
triumph struggled for the mastery, as he answered,--
"You, who know how to sail a ship without a crew, can never want a boat!
Besides, you shall never say to your friends, whoever they may be, that we
leave you without the means of reaching the land, if you are indeed a
land-bird at all. There is the launch."
"There is the launch! but well do you know, that, without masts, all your
united strengths could not lift it from the deck; else would it not be
left."
"They that took the masts out of the 'Caroline' can put them in again,"
rejoined a grinning seaman; "it will not be an hour after we leave you,
before a sheer-hulk will come alongside, to step the spars again, and then
you may go cruise in company."
Wilder appeared to be superior to any reply. He began to pace the deck,
thoughtful, it is true, but still composed, and entirely self-possessed.
In the mean time, as a common desire to quit the wreck as soon as possible
actuated all the men, their preparations advanced with incredible
activity. The wondering and alarmed females had hardly time to think
clearly on the extraordinary situation in which they found themselves,
before they saw the form of the helpless Master borne past them to the
boat; and, in another minute, they were summoned to take their places at
his side.
Thus imperiously called upon to act, they began to feel the necessity of
decision. Remonstrances, they feared, would be useless; for the fierce and
malignant looks which were cast, from time to time, at Wilder, as the
labour proceeded, proclaimed the danger of awakening such obstinate and
ignorant minds into renewed acts of violence. The governess bethought her
of an appeal to the wounded man, but the look of wild care which he had
cast about him, on being lifted to the deck, and the expression of bodily
and mental pain that gleamed across his rugged features, as he buried them
in the blankets by which he was enveloped, but too plainly announced that
little assistance was, in his present condition, to be expected from him.
"What remains for us to do?" she at length demanded of the seemingly
insensible object of her concern.
"I would I knew!" he answered quickly, casting a keen but hurried glance
around the whole horizon. "It is not improbable that they should reach the
shore. Four-and-twenty hours of calm will assure it."
"And if otherwise?"
"A blow at north-west, or from any quarter off the land, will prove their
ruin."
"But the ship?"
"If deserted, she must sink."
"Then will I speak in your favour to these hearts of flint! I know not why
I feel such interest in your welfare, inexplicable young man, but much
would I suffer rather than believe that you incurred this peril."
"Stop, dearest Madam," said Wilder, respectfully arresting her movement
with his hand. "I cannot leave the vessel."
"We know not yet. The most stubborn natures may be subdued; even ignorance
can be made to open its ears at the voice of entreaty. I may prevail."
"There is one temper to be quelled--one reason to convince--one prejudice
to conquer, over which you have no power."
"Whose is that?"
"My own."
"What mean you, sir? Surely you are not weak enough to suffer resentment
against such beings to goad you to an act of madness?"
"Do I seem mad?" demanded Wilder. "The feeling by which I am governed may
be false, but, such as it is, it is grafted on my habits, my opinions; I
will say, my principles. Honour forbids me to quit a ship that I command,
while a plank of her is afloat."
"Of what use can a single arm prove at such a crisis?".
"None," he answered, with a melancholy smile. "I must die, in order that
others, who may be serviceable hereafter, should do their duty."
Both Mrs Wyllys and Gertrude stood regarding his kindling eye, but
otherwise placid countenance, with looks whose concern amounted to horror.
The former read, in the very composure of his mien, the unalterable
character of his resolution; and the latter shuddering as the prospect of
the cruel fate which awaited him crowded on her mind, felt a glow about
her own youthful heart that almost tempted her to believe his
self-devotion commendable. But the governess saw new reasons for
apprehension in the determination of Wilder. If she had hitherto felt
reluctance to trust herself and her ward with a band such as that which
now possessed the sole authority, it was more than doubly increased by the
rude and noisy summons she received to hasten and take her place among
them.
"Would to Heaven I knew in what manner to choose!" she exclaimed. "Speak
to us, young man, as you would counsel mother and sister."
"Were I so fortunate as to possess relatives so near and dear," returned
the other, with emphasis "nothing should separate us at a time like this."
"Is there hope for those who remain on the wreck?"
"But little."
"And in the boat?"
It was near a minute before Wilder made any answer. He again turned his
look around the bright and broad horizon, and he appeared to study the
heavens, in the direction of the distant Continent, with infinite care. No
omen that could indicate the probable character of the weather escaped his
vigilance while his countenance reflected all the various emotions by
which he was governed, as he gazed.
"As I am a man, Madam," he answered with fervour "and one who is bound not
only to counsel but to protect your sex, I distrust the time. I think the
chance of being seen by some passing sail equal to the probability that
those who adventure in the pinnace will ever reach the land."
"Then let us remain," said Gertrude, the blood, for the first time since
her re-appearance on deck, rushing into her colourless cheeks, until they
appeared charged to fulness. "I like not the wretches who would be our
companions in that boat."
"Away, away!" impatiently shouted Nighthead "Each minute of light is a
week of life to us all, and every moment of calm, a year. Away, away, or
we leave you!"
Mrs Wyllys answered not, but she stood the image of doubt and painful
indecision. Then the plash of oars was heard in the water, and at the next
moment the pinnace was seen gliding over the element, impelled by the
strong arms of six powerful rowers.
"Stay!" shrieked the governess, no longer undetermined; "receive my child,
though you abandon me!"
A wave of the hand, and an indistinct rumbling in the coarse tones of the
mate, were the only answers given to her appeal. A long, deep, and
breathing silence followed among the deserted. The grim countenances of
the seamen in the pinnace soon became confused and indistinct; and then
the boat itself began to lessen on the eye, until it seemed no more than a
dark and distant speck, rising and falling with the flow and reflux of the
blue waters. During all this time, not even a whispered word was spoken.
Each of the party gazed, until sight grew dim, at the receding object; and
it was only when his organs refused to convey the tiny image to his brain,
that Wilder himself shook off the impression of the sort of trance into
which he had fallen. His look became bent on his companions, and he
pressed his hand upon his forehead, as though his brain were bewildered by
the deep responsibility he had assumed in advising them to remain. But the
sickening apprehension quickly passed away, leaving in its place a firmer
mind, and a resolution too often tried in scenes of doubtful issue, to be
long or easily shaken from its calmness and self-possession.
"They are gone!" he exclaimed, breathing long and heavily, like one whose
respiration had been unnaturally suspended.
"They are gone!" echoed the governess, turning an eye, that was
contracting with the intensity or her care, on the marble-like and
motionless form of her pupil "There is no longer any hope."
The look that Wilder bestowed, on the same silent out lovely statue, was
scarcely less expressive than "he gaze of her who had nurtured the infancy
of the Southern Heiress, in innocence and love. His brow grew thoughtful,
and his lips became compressed, while all the resources of his fertile
imagination and long experience gathered in his mind, in engrossing
intense reflection.
"Is there hope?" demanded the governess, who was watching the change of
his working countenance, with an attention that never swerved.
The gloom passed away from his swarthy features, and the smile that
lighted them was like the radiance of the sun, as it breaks through the
blackest vapours of the drifting gust.
"There is!" he said with firmness; "our case is far from desperate."
"Then, may He who rules the ocean and the land receive the praise!" cried
the grateful governess giving vent to her long-suppressed agony in a flood
of tears.
Gertrude cast herself upon the neck of Mrs Wyllys, and for a minute their
unrestrained emotions were mingled.
"And now, my dearest Madam," said Gertrude, leaving the arms of her
governess, "let us trust to the skill of Mr Wilder; he has foreseen and
foretold this danger; equally well may he predict our safety."
"Foreseen and foretold!" returned the other, in a manner to show that her
faith in the professional prescience of the stranger was not altogether so
unbounded as that of her more youthful and ardent companion. "No mortal
could have foreseen this awful calamity; and least of all, foreseeing it,
would he have sought to incur its danger! Mr Wilder, I will not annoy you
with requests for explanations that might now be useless, but you will not
refuse to communicate your grounds of hope."
Wilder hastened to relieve a curiosity that he well knew must be as
painful as it was natural. The mutineers had left the largest, and much
the safest, of the two boats belonging to the wreck, from a desire to
improve the calm, well knowing that hours of severe labour would be
necessary to launch it, from the place it occupied between the stumps of
the two principal masts, into the ocean. This operation, which might have
been executed in a few minutes with the ordinary purchases of the ship,
would have required all their strength united, and that, too, to be
exercised with a discretion and care that would have consumed too many of
those moments which they rightly deemed to be so precious at that wild and
unstable season of the year. Into this little ark Wilder proposed to
convey such articles of comfort and necessity as he might hastily collect
from the abandoned vessel; and then, entering it with his companions, to
await the critical instant when the wreck should sink from beneath them.
"Call you this hope?" exclaimed Mrs Wyllys, when his short explanation was
ended, her cheek again blanching with disappointment. "I have heard that
the gulf, which foundering vessels leave, swallows all lesser objects that
are floating nigh!"
"It sometimes happens. For worlds I would not deceive you; and I now say
that I think our chance for escape equal to that of being ingulfed with
the vessel."
"This is terrible!" murmured the governess, "but the will of Heaven be
done! Cannot ingenuity supply the place of strength, and the boat be cast
from the decks before the fatal moment arrives?"
Wilder shook his head in an unequivocal negative.
"We are not so weak as you may think us," said Gertrude. "Give a direction
to our efforts, and let us see what may yet be done. Here is Cassandra,"
she added--turning to the black girl already introduced to the reader, who
stood behind her young and ardent mistress, with the mantle and shawls of
the latter thrown over her arm, as if about to attend her on an excursion
for the morning--"here is Cassandra who alone has nearly the strength of a
man."
"Had she the strength of twenty, I should despair of launching the boat
without the aid of machinery But we lose time in words; I will go below,
in order to judge of the probable duration of our doubt and then to our
preparations. Even you, fair and fragile as you seem, lovely being, may
aid in the latter."
He then pointed out such lighter objects as would be necessary to their
comfort, should they be so fortunate as to get clear of the wreck, and
advised their being put into the boat without delay. While the three
females were thus usefully employed, he descended into the hold of the
ship, in order to note the increase of the water, and make his
calculations on the time that would elapse before the sinking fabric must
entirely disappear. The fact proved their case to be more alarming than
even Wilder had been led to expect. Stripped of her masts, the vessel had
laboured so heavily as to open many of her seams; and, as the upper works
began to settle beneath the level of the ocean, the influx of the element
was increasing with frightful rapidity. As the young manner gazed about
him with an understanding eye, he cursed, in the bitterness of his heart,
the ignorance and superstition that had caused the desertion of the
remainder of the crew. There existed, in reality, no evil that exertion
and skill could not have remedied; but, deprived of all aid, he at once
saw the folly of even attempting to procrastinate a catastrophe that was
now unavoidable. Returning with a heavy heart to the deck, he immediately
set about those dispositions which were necessary to afford them the
smallest chance of escape.
While his companions deadened the sense of apprehension by their light but
equally necessary employment Wilder stepped the two masts of the boat, and
properly disposed of the sails, and those other implements that might be
useful in the event of success Thus occupied, a couple of hours flew by,
as though minutes were compressed into moments. At the expiration of that
period, his labour had ceased. He then cut the gripes that had kept the
launch in its place when the ship was in motion, leaving it standing
upright on its wooden beds, but in no other manner connected with the
hull, which, by this time, had settled so low as to create the
apprehension, that, at any moment, it might sink from beneath them. After
this measure of precaution was taken, the females were summoned to the
boat, lest the crisis might be nearer than he supposed; for he well knew
that a foundering ship was, like a tottering wall, liable at any moment to
yield to the impulse of the downward pressure. He then commenced the
scarcely less necessary operation of selection among the chaos of articles
with which the ill-directed zeal of his companions had so cumbered the
boat, that there was hardly room left in which they might dispose of their
more precious persons. Notwithstanding the often repeated and vociferous
remonstrances of the negress, boxes, trunks, and packages flew from either
side of the launch, as though Wilder had no consideration for the comfort
and care of that fair being in whose behalf Cassandra, unheeded, like her
ancient namesake of Troy, lifted her voice so often in the tones of
remonstrance. The boat was soon cleared of what, under their
circumstances, was literally lumber; leaving, however, far more than
enough to meet all their wants, and not a few of their comforts, in the
event that the elements should accord the permission to use them.
Then, and not till then, did Wilder relax in his exertions. He had
arranged his sails, ready to be hoisted in an instant; he had carefully
examined that no straggling rope connected the boat to the wreck, to draw
them under with the foundering mass; and he had assured himself that food,
water, compass, and the imperfect instruments that were then in use to
ascertain the position of a ship, were all carefully disposed of in their
several places, and ready to his hand. When all was in this state of
preparation, he disposed of himself in the stern of the boat, and
endeavoured, by the composure of his manner, to inspire his less resolute
companions with a portion of his own firmness.
The bright sun-shine was sleeping in a thousand places on every side of
the silent and deserted wreck. The sea had subsided to such a state of
utter rest, that it was only at long intervals that the huge and helpless
mass on which the ark of the expectants lay was lifted from its dull
quietude, to roll heavily, for a moment, in the washing waters, and then
to settle lower into the greedy and absorbing element. Still the
disappearance of the hull was slow, and even tedious, to those who looked
forward with such impatience to its total immersion, as to the crisis of
their own fortunes.
During these hours of weary and awful suspense, the discourse, between the
watchers, though conducted in tones of confidence, and often of
tenderness, was broken by long intervals of deep and musing silence. Each
forbore to dwell upon the danger of their situation, in consideration of
the feelings of the rest; but neither could conceal the imminent risk they
ran, from that jealous watchfulness of love of life which was common to
them all. In this manner, minutes, hours, and the day itself, rolled by,
and the darkness was seen stealing along the deep, gradually narrowing the
boundary of their view towards the east, until the whole of the empty
scene was limited to a little dusky circle around the spot on which they
lay. To this change succeeded another fearful hour, during which it
appeared that death was about to visit them, environed by its most
revolting horrors. The heavy plunge of the wallowing whale, as he cast his
huge form upon the surface of the sea, was heard, accompanied by the mimic
blowings of a hundred imitators, that followed in the train of the
monarch of the ocean. It appeared to the alarmed and feverish imagination
of Gertrude, that the brine was giving up all its monsters; and,
notwithstanding the calm assurances of Wilder, that these accustomed
sounds were rather the harbingers of peace than signs of any new danger,
they filled her mind with images of the secret recesses over which they
seemed suspended by a thread, and painted them replete with the disgusting
inhabitants of the caverns of the great deep. The intelligent seaman
himself was startled, when he saw, on the surface of the water, the dark
fins of the voracious shark stealing around the wreck, apprised, by his
instinct, that the contents of the devoted vessel were shortly to become
the prey of his tribe. Then came the moon, with its mild and deceptive
light, to throw the delusion of its glow on the varying but ever frightful
scene.
"See," said Wilder, as the luminary lifted its pale and melancholy orb out
of the bed of the ocean; "we shall have light for our hazardous launch!"
"Is it at hand?" demanded Mrs Wyllys, with all the resolution of manner
she could assume in so trying a situation.
"It is--the ship has already brought her scuppers to the water. Sometimes
a vessel will float until saturated with the brine. If ours sink at all,
it will be soon."
"If at all! Is there then hope that she can float?"
"None!" said Wilder, pausing to listen to the hollow and threatening
sounds which issued from the depths of the vessel, as the water broke
through her divisions, in passing from side to side, and which sounded
like the groaning of some heavy monster in the last agony of nature.
"None; she is already losing her level!"
His companions saw the change; but, not for the empire of the world, could
either of them have uttered a syllable. Another low, threatening,
rumbling sound was heard, and then the pent air beneath blew up the
forward part of the deck, with an explosion like that of a gun.
"Now grasp the ropes I have given you!" cried Wilder, breathless with his
eagerness to speak.
His words were smothered by the rushing and gurgling of waters. The vessel
made a plunge like a dying whale; and, raising its stern high into the
air, glided into the depths of the sea, like the leviathan seeking his
secret places. The motionless boat was lifted with the ship, until it
stood in an attitude fearfully approaching to the perpendicular. As the
wreck descended, the bows of the launch met the element, burying
themselves nearly to filling; but, buoyant and light, it rose again, and,
struck powerfully on the stern by the settling mass, the little ark shot
ahead, as though it had been driven by the hand of man. Still, as the
water rushed into the vortex, every thing within its influence yielded to
the suction; and, at the next instant, the launch was seen darting down
the declivity, as if eager to follow the vast machine, of which it had so
long formed a dependant, through the same gaping whirlpool, to the bottom.
Then it rose, rocking, to the surface; and, for a moment, was tossed and
whirled like a bubble circling in the eddies of a pool. After which, the
ocean moaned, and slept again; the moon-beams playing across its
treacherous bosom, sweetly and calm, as the rays are seen to quiver on a
lake that is embedded in sheltering mountains.