The Darkness, And Complete Stillness Of The Night,
And The Solitude Of The Ocean, Gave To The Sound A Dreadful And
Almost Supernatural Effect.
I stood perfectly still, and my heart
beat quick.
The sound woke up the rest of the watch, who stood looking at one
another. "What, in the name of God, is that?" said the second mate,
coming slowly forward. The first thought I had was, that it might
be a boat, with the crew of some wrecked vessel, or perhaps the
boat of some whaleship, out over night, and we had run them down
in the darkness. Another scream, but less loud than the first.
This started us, and we ran forward, and looked over the bows,
and over the sides, to leeward, but nothing was to be seen or
heard. What was to be done. Call the captain, and heave the
ship aback? Just at this moment, in crossing the forecastle,
one of the men saw a light below, and looking down the scuttle,
saw the watch all out of their berths, and afoul of one poor
fellow, dragging him out of his berth, and shaking him, to wake
him out of a nightmare.
They had been waked out of their sleep, and as much alarmed at the
scream as we were, and were hesitating whether to come on deck,
when the second sound, coming directly from one of the berths,
revealed the cause of the alarm. The fellow got a good shaking
for the trouble he had given.
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