178 THE WHALE AND 



The Living Dead. Horrible Disclosure. 



hatchway, which they found closed, they de- 

 scended to the cabin. 



They first came to the apartment which Cap- 

 tain Warrens viewed through the port-hole. A 

 tremor seized him as he entered it. Its inmate 

 retained its former position, and seemed to be 

 insensible to strangers. He was found to be a 

 corpse, and a green damp mold had covered 

 his cheeks and forehead, and veiled his eye-balls. 

 He had a pen in his hand, and a log-book lay 

 before him, the last sentence in whose unfinish- 

 ed page ran thus : " November llth, 1762. We 

 have now been inclosed in the ice seventeen 

 days. The fire went out yesterday, and our 

 master has been trying ever since to kindle it 

 again without success. His wife died this 

 morning. There is no relief." 



Captain Warrens and his seamen hurried 

 from the spot without uttering a word. On en- 

 tering the principal cabin, the first object that 

 attracted their attention was the dead body of a 

 female, reclining on a bed in an attitude of deep 

 interest and attention. Her countenance re- 

 tained the freshness of life, and a contraction of 

 the limbs alone showed that her form was inani- 

 mate. Seated on the floor was the corpse of an 



