THE NIGHT KING 70 



perched on the bottom of the upturned boat or 

 clinging to floating sweeps. Fouled in the rig- 

 ging of the sail, held suspended beneath the 

 wreck in the green crystal of the sea water, they 

 found the Night King, dead. 



When the whale crushed the boa? — at the very 

 moment, it must have been — the Night King had 

 snatched the knife kept fastened in a sheath on 

 the bow thwart and with one stroke of the razor 

 blade, severed the harpoon lines. He thus re- 

 leased the whale and prevented it from dragging 

 the boat away in its mad race. The Night 

 King's last act had saved the lives of his com- 

 panions. 



I helped lift the body over the rail. We laid 

 it on the quarter deck near the skylight. It 

 lurched and shifted in a ghastly sort of way as 

 the ship rolled, the glazed eyes open to the blue 

 sky. The captain's Newfoundland dog came 

 and sniffed at the corpse. Sheltered from the 

 captain's eye behind the galley, the Kanaka cabin 

 boy shook a furtive fist at the dead man and 

 ground out between clenched teeth, " You black 

 devil, you'll never kick me again." Standing not 



