4. The keeping of the place--the boat is the scene of action for three
different groups, only the last group being the immediate actors.
5. The excellent clues to the shrouds as the hiding place. (See pages
237, ... “top-sails being pursed up ... but not stowed”; 238, ...
“handing down like huge, over-ripe pears,” etc.)
6. The logic of McCord’s not finding the hiding place of the cook.
(First sentence, page 255.) This illustrates Poe’s theory as set forth
in “The Purloined Letter.”
7. The use of suspense. The reader wonders whether the explanation will
lie in the supernatural or the natural. Suspense is satisfied only in
the dénouement, after which the end comes quickly.
8. The motivation for the whole story. It lies in _fear_: “the one
universal and uncontrollable passion.” And it is heightened by
placing in opposition representatives of two races, neither of which
understands the other. Here, then, is the real _struggle_.