A NIGHTMARE O THE DOLDRUMS.

7

&

4k - /{// 4

” e —— b i

i’ - - A - [ THEY LAY THERE IN TIHE COOLNESS,

the coolness with plenty of cold water beside them and a heaven of stars above, mstead of a low-pitched ceiling of grimy beam and plank dark with processions of cockroaches, and dim with the smoke of the stinking slush lamp.

All this occupied us till about half-past ten. When T went aft I was scized with nausea, and, sinking upon the skyvlight, dabbled my brow in the dew betwixt the lifted lids for the refreshment of the moisture. I believed that my time had come, and that this sickness was the cholera, Archer followed me, and sceing me in a posture of torment, as he supposcd, con- cluded that I was a dead man. Hece flung himself upon the deck with a groan, and lay motionless, crying out at intervals, * God, have mercy ! God, have mercy ! and that was all.

In about half an hour's time the sensa- tion of sickness passed. I went below for some brandy, swallowed half a glass, and returned with a dram for Archer, but the man had either swooned or fallen asleep, and I let him lie. I had my senses per- fectly, but felt shockingly weak in body,

197

and I could think of nothing consolatory to diminish my ex- quisite distress of mind. Indecd, the capacity of realisation grew uncndurably poignant. I ima- oined too welly I figured teo clearly. [ pictured mysclf as lying dead upon the deck of the barque, found a corpse by some passing vessel after many days ; and so I drcamt, often breaking away from my horrible 1ma- ginations with moans and starts, then pacing the deck to rid me of the nightmare hag of thought till I was in a fever, then cool- ing my head by laying my

check upon the dew-covered skylight.

By and by the moon rose, and I sat watching it. In halt an hour she was a bright light in the ecast, and the shaft of silver that slept under her stretched to the barque's side. It was just then that one of the two sick men on the forccastle sent up a yell. The dreadful note rang through the wvessel, and dropped back to the deck i an ccho from the canvas. A moment after [ saw a hgure get on to the forecastle rail and spring overboard. I hcard the splash of his body, and, bounding over to Archer, who lay on the deck, I pulled and hauled at him, roaring out that onc of the sick men had jumped overboard, and then rushed for- ward and looked over into the water in the place where the man had leapt, but saw nothing, not even a ripple.

I turned and peered close at the man who lay on the forecastle, and discovercd that the fellow who had jumped was the boatswain. 1 went again to the rail to look, and lifted a coil of rope from a pin, ready to fling the fakes to the man, should he rise. The moonlight was streaming along the ocean on this side of the ship, and now, when I leaned over the rail for the sccond time, I saw a figure close under the bows., T stared a minute or two : the colour of the body blended with the gloom, yet the moonlight was upon him too, and then 1t was that after looking awhile, and obzerving the thing to lie motionless, | perceived that it was the body that had been upon the raft! No doubt the ex- treme horror raised in me by the sight