A DEATH AT SEA. 



227 



I cannot describe to you the effect produced upon the 

 mind, as, during the long watches of that night, the fe- 

 vered and agonizing ravings of the dying man were 

 heard mingling with the whistling of the wind in the 

 cordage, the wash of the sea, and the roll of the thunder. 

 The rocking of the vessel on the short seas, and the 

 shocks which it received, evidently aggravated his suf- 

 ferings — and from sundown to sunrise, neither spirit nor 

 body found repose. He frequently called us by name ; 

 but when we crept to the side of his berth, all was inco- 

 herence. 



Poor young man ! he had been brought up in the 

 heartless school of French immorality, and had lived 

 without God or shame ; and now, with clouded reason 

 and senses, was dying beyond the sense of sorrow and 

 repentance for sin. The day which followed was a 

 weary one ; we all trod the deck in silence. The patient 

 got no rest. His spirit was literally 44 raving round its 

 prison walls,'' and seeking exit. Towards evening, the 

 last fatal symptom of his dreadful malady came on — the 

 black vomit — and yet he lived. We could none of us 

 rest, but watched when the end would come. Our cap- 

 tain was a noble character, and his behaviour was, 

 throughout, such as to reflect honour on himself and the 

 service. Had he been the dying man's brother, he could 

 not have evinced a more complete and more generous 

 devotedness than he did from first to last. There he 

 sat, hour after hour, supporting the languid head, and 

 watching the gasp for breath, perfectly regardless of the 

 risk of infection ; and when about half past one, on the 

 morning of the eighth, the sufferer at length ceased to 

 breathe, he was still at his post. 



When all was over, energetic measures were imme- 

 diately adopted to avert danger to the passengers and 

 crew. The body was strongly sewed up in canvass ; 

 and by seven o'clock most signs of the past trial had been 

 carefully removed. But there was still the shapeless 

 corpse, which, covered with a flag, lay extended upon a 

 plank, resting upon the starboard bulwarks of the vessel. 



There had been no indecent hurry — at the same time 



