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.
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, 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 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 eying 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 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 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 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 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.