CHAPTER 10



SHORTLY afterward an incident occurred which I am induced to look
upon as more intensely productive of emotion, as far more replete
with the extremes first of delight and then of horror, than even any
of the thousand chances which afterward befell me in nine long years,
crowded with events of the most startling and, in many cases, of the
most unconceived and unconceivable character. We were lying on the
deck near the companion-way, and debating the possibility of yet
making our way into the storeroom, when, looking toward Augustus, who
lay fronting myself, I perceived that he had become all at once
deadly pale, and that his lips were quivering in the most singular
and unaccountable manner. Greatly alarmed, I spoke to him, but he
made me no reply, and I was beginning to think that he was suddenly
taken ill, when I took notice of his eyes, which were glaring
apparently at some object behind me. I turned my head, and shall
never forget the ecstatic joy which thrilled through every particle
of my frame, when I perceived a large brig bearing down upon us, and
not more than a couple of miles off. I sprung to my feet as if a
musket bullet had suddenly struck me to the heart; and, stretching
out my arms in the direction of the vessel, stood in this manner,
motionless, and unable to articulate a syllable. Peters and Parker
were equally affected, although in different ways. The former danced
about the deck like a madman, uttering the most extravagant
rhodomontades, intermingled with howls and imprecations, while the
latter burst into tears, and continued for many minutes weeping like
a child.