276 NIMEOD OF THE SEA; OB, 



we gave in and returned to the ship. We had been on deck 

 but a few minutes, when the captain, in an agitated voice, 

 called for a couple of men to come below. Garvin and my- 

 self ran below, and found Beers with his head hanging over 

 the edge of his narrow berth, apparently dead. On lifting 

 him into the cabin, he breathed a moment, and was at 

 peace. 



Now comes the strange part of my sorrowful story, show- 

 ing the inconsistency of the queer mixture we are made of. 

 The captain stood by that soiled, ragged remnant of human- 

 ity, and wept, not a silent tear, but with child-like anguish. 

 I can never know what that old man saw in this poor dead 

 sailor. I could not read the memories of other dead which 

 this may have recalled, but I respected the officer the more 

 who could be thus moved by the sight of the poor boy. 

 And we, his rough shipmates, yet wet from a chase, in which 

 we might have wrestled with death tearlessly, we gathered 

 up the sheaf in Death's harvest, and carried him to the quar- 

 ter-deck, where we spread the ship's colors over him, backed 

 the mainyard, and left him to sleep. We had been informed 

 that while the boats were off, he came unaided to the deck 

 and in his old voice hailed the mast-head watch to know 

 where the boats were, and whether any were fast. When 

 answered, he went below, and all alone, perhaps, he "babbled 

 of green fields," and died. 



The next morning, with the dead weighing down the good 

 ship and the spirits of her crew, a school of sperm-whales 

 came close aboard, strange but fitting attendants at the 

 funeral of their enemy. The event struck us all as very 

 remarkable, and appealed strongly to the natural supersti- 

 tion of the credulous sailor. At no time during the voyage 

 had whales approached thus close to the ship, or manifested 

 such indifference to her presence. " Respect for the dead,'* 

 the captain said, " forbids the thought of lowering the boats." 



