THE NIGHT KING 81 



them all and made him a hero in the hour of 

 death. 



In the afternoon, old Nelson sat on the deck 

 beside the corpse and with palm and needle fash- 

 ioned a long canvas bag. Into this the dead man 

 was sewed with a weight of brick and sand at his 

 feet. 



At sunset, when all hands were on deck for the 

 dog watch, they carried the body down on the 

 main deck and with feet to the sea, laid it on 

 the gang-plank which had been removed from 

 the rail. There in the waist the ship's company 

 gathered with uncovered heads. Over all was 

 the light of the sunset, flushing the solemn, rough 

 faces and reddening the running white-caps of 

 the sea. The captain called me to him and 

 placed a Bible in my hands. 



" Read a passage of scripture," he said. 



Dumbfounded that I should be called upon to 

 officiate at the burial service over the man I had 

 hated, I took my stand on the main hatch at 

 the head of the body and prepared to obey or- 

 ders. No passage to fit my singular situation 

 occurred to me and I opened the book at random. 



