HUMAN FLESH FOR BAIT
JANUARY 8.--All night I remained by the side of the poor fellow's
corpse, and several times Miss Herbey joined me in my mournful watch.
Before daylight dawned, the body was quite cold, and as I knew there
must be no delay in throwing it overboard, I asked Curtis to assist me
in the sad office. The body was frightfully emaciated, and I had every
hope that it would not float.
As soon as it was quite light, taking every precaution that no one
should see what we were about, Curtis and I proceeded to our melancholy
task. We took a few articles from the lieutenant's pockets, which we
purposed, if either of us should survive, to remit to his mother. But
as we wrapped him in his tattered garments that would have to suffice
for his winding sheet, I started back with a thrill of horror. The
right foot had gone, leaving the leg a bleeding stump.
No doubt that, overcome by fatigue, I must have fallen asleep for an
interval during the night, and some one had taken advantage of my
slumber to mutilate the corpse. But who could have been guilty of so
foul a deed? Curtis looked around with anger flashing in his eye; but
all seemed as usual, and the silence was only broken by a few groans of
agony.
But there was no time to be lost; perhaps we were already observed, and
more horrible scenes might be likely to occur. Curtis said a few short
prayers, and we cast the body into the sea. It sank immediately.
"They are feeding the sharks well, and no mistake," said a voice behind
me.
I turned round quickly, and found that it was Jynxstrop who had spoken.
As the boatswain now approached, I asked him whether he thought it
possible that any of the wretched men could have taken the dead man's
foot.
"Oh, yes, I dare say," he replied in a significant tone, "and perhaps
they thought they were right."
"Right! what do you mean?" I exclaimed.
"Well, sir," he said coldly, "isn't it better to eat a dead man than a
living one?"
I was at a loss to comprehend him, and, turning away, laid myself down
at the end of the raft.
Toward eleven o'clock a most suspicious incident occurred. The
boatswain, who had cast his lines early in the morning, caught three
large cod, each more than thirty inches long, of the species which,
when dried, is known by the name of stock-fish. Scarcely had he hauled
them on board when the sailors made a dash at them, and it was with the
utmost difficulty that Curtis, Falsten and myself could restore order,
so that we might divide the fish into equal portions. Three cod were
not much among fourteen starving persons, but, small as the quantity
was, it was allotted in strictly equal shares. Most of us devoured the
food raw, almost I might say, alive; only Curtis, Andre, and Miss
Herbey having the patience to wait until their allowance had been
boiled at a fire which they made with a few scraps of wood. For myself,
I confess that I swallowed my portion of fish as it was--raw and
bleeding. M. Letourneur followed my example; the poor man devoured his
food like a famished wolf, and it is only a wonder to me how, after his
lengthened fast, he came to be alive at all.
The boatswain's delight at his success was excessive, and amounted
almost to delirium. I went up to him, and encouraged him to repeat his
attempt.
"Oh, yes," he said; "I'll try again. I'll try again."
"And why not try at once?" I asked.
"Not now," he said evasively; "the night is the best time for catching
large fish. Besides, I must manage to get some bait, for we have been
improvident enough not to save a single scrap."
"But you have succeeded once without bait; why may you not succeed
again?"
"Oh, I had some very good bait last night," he said.
I stared at him in amazement. He steadily returned my gaze, but said
nothing.
"Have you none left?" at last I asked.
"Yes!" he almost whispered, and left me without another word.
Our meal, meager as it had been, served to rally our shattered
energies; our hopes were slightly raised; there was no reason why the
boatswain should not have the same good luck again.
One evidence of the degree to which our spirits were revived was that
our minds were no longer fixed upon the miserable present and hopeless
future, but we began to recall and discuss the past; and M. Letourneur,
Andre, Mr. Falsten and I, held a long conversation with the captain
about the various incidents of our eventful voyage, speaking of our
lost companions, of the fire, or the stranding of the ship, of our
sojourn on Ham Rock, of the springing of the leak, of our terrible
voyage in the top-masts, of the construction of the raft, and of the
storm. All these things seemed to have happened so long ago, and yet we
were living still. Living, did I say? Ay, if such an existence as ours
could be called a life, fourteen of us were living still. Who would be
the next to go? We should then be thirteen.
"An unlucky number!" said Andre, with a mournful smile.
During the night the boatswain cast his lines from the stern of the
raft, and, unwilling to trust them to anyone else, remained watching
them himself. In the morning I went to ascertain what success had
attended his patience. It was scarcely light, and with eager eyes he
was peering down into the water. He had neither seen nor heard me
coming.
"Well, boatswain!" I said, touching him on the shoulder.
He turned round quickly.
"Those villainous sharks have eaten every morsel of my bait," he said,
in a desponding voice.
"And you have no more left?" I asked.
"No more," he said. Then grasping my arm, he added, "and that only
shows me that it is no good doing things by halves."
The truth flashed upon me at once, and I laid my hand upon his mouth.
Poor Walter!