lights in the deck above. On each side were two state-rooms probably
intended for the ship's officers. The doors were all open. The sand had
drifted in here and covered the floor and the berths. The floor of the
cabin was covered with sand to the depth of a foot. There was no large
opening through which it could enter: but it had probably penetrated
through the cracks of the doorway in a fine, impalpable dust, and had
covered every available surface within.

In the centre of the cabin was a table, secured to the floor, as ships'
tables always are; and immediately over it hung the barometer which was
now all corroded and covered with mould and rust. A half dozen stools
were around, some lying on their sides, some upside down, and one
standing upright. The door by which he had entered was at one side, on
the other side was another, and between the two stood a sofa, the shape
of which was plainly discernible under the sand. Over this was a clock,
which had ticked its last tick.

On some racks over the closet there were a few guns and swords,
intended, perhaps, for the defensive armament of the brig, but all in
the last stage of rust and of decay. Brandon took one or two down, but
they broke with their own weight.

The sand seemed to have drifted more deeply into the state-rooms, for
while its depth in the cabin was only a foot, in these the depth was
nearly two feet. Some of the bedding projected from the berths, but it
was a mass of mould and crumbled at the touch.

Brandon went into each of these rooms in succession, and brushed out the
heavy, wet sand from the berths. The rotten quilts and blankets fell
with the sand in matted masses to the floor. In each room was a seaman's