We Could Hear The Captain Walking The Deck,
But It Was Too Dark To See Anything More Than One's Hand Before The
Face.
Soon the mate came forward again, and gave an order, in a
low tone, to clew up the main
Top-gallant sail; and so infectious
was the awe and silence, that the clewlines and buntlines were
hauled up without any of the customary singing out at the ropes.
An English lad and myself went up to furl it; and we had just got
the bunt up, when the mate called out to us, something, we did
not hear what, - but supposing it to be an order to bear-a-hand,
we hurried, and made all fast, and came down, feeling our way among
the rigging. When we got down we found all hands looking aloft,
and there, directly over where we had been standing, upon the main
top-gallant-mast-head, was a ball of light, which the sailors name
a corposant (corpus sancti), and which the mate had called out to
us to look at. They were all watching it carefully, for sailors
have a notion that if the corposant rises in the rigging, it is
a sign of fair weather, but if it comes lower down, there will
be a storm. Unfortunately, as an omen, it came down, and showed
itself on the top-gallant yard-arm. We were off the yard in good
season, for it is held a fatal sign to have the pale light of the
corposant thrown upon one's face.
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