THE WHALEMAN WHO WENT 

 ON THE STAGE. 



1 Being in a ship is being in jail, with a chance of being drowned." 



— Dr. Samtiel Johnson. 



John Pierce certainly came down from aloft. 

 There could be no possible doubt about that. I 

 certainly spoke with him as he passed me on his 

 way to the forecastle. This much, I am sure, will 

 never be called in question. 



But what followed — even to this hour it makes 

 me shudder, sickened with dread, to recall what 

 followed — the days of anxiety, the grim mystery, 

 the final despair, and the haunting, harrowing 

 problem of that tragical disappearance! 



We had put in at Fayal to ship home some 

 hundred barrels and more of sperm oil, and then 

 cleared away and steered to the south, carrying 

 all sail to get away from the island. We left at 

 five in the afternoon, and by eleven o'clock that 

 night, when we had made about fifteen miles 

 offing, I gave orders to take in our top-gallant 

 sails, and poor Pierce went aloft with the others. 

 As he slid down the backstay and passed me on 

 deck, I had a pleasant word with him, and then he 



