THE CAST-AWAY. 151 



At last we turned back and went aboard the 

 whalers. "We had satisfied ourselves that the 

 cooper had ere this met his death. 



There was grief and remorse aboard the Hope. 

 Half our men had murder written red across 

 their souls. 



All the next day the crew brooded and repented 

 and growled. There were no songs in the fore- 

 castle. There was no mention of " The Sailor's 

 Grave." There was no allusion to faces seen in 

 dreams. They had all seen the same face. Nor 

 was there any inclination to go ashore. The town 

 was a haunted town, the boat-house a haunted 

 house. The men longed to leave port. In the 

 changeless routine of sailing or the adventurous 

 vicissitudes of whale-hunting, they could forget 

 their crime. 



And so even the third day went by much as 

 had the others before it, though there was a lively 

 scuffle in the forecastle late that afternoon. Mat- 

 tapoisett Joe was knocked down and jumped upon 

 by three of his shipmates. 



When I looked into the matter I found that 

 Mattapoisett had been assaulted as a punishment 

 for — what do you think ? — whistling ! A trivial 

 offense, you say. Yes, but listen. 



" You can't blame us, sir,'' said Weatherface, 

 when all hands had been called aft for the investi- 



