The crew had dined about an hour and a half before us, and consequently felt the effects of the poison much earlier than we did. Every one, however, now began to exhibit alarming symptoms. Mr. D. became delirious; the major lay upon the cabin floor in a state of torpidity; and the captain had drowned all sense and recollection by drinking a large quantity of brandy. Mrs. L. watched her husband and her sister alternately, in a state of quiet despair.
I was comparatively but little affected, and therefore employed myself in assisting others until they seemed to be past all relief, and then sat down, anticipating the horrid consequences which would result from the death of the whole ship's company.
While thus occupied, I heard the steersman call out, — "Taken all aback here." A voice, which I knew to be the mate's immediately answered, "Well, and what's that to us? Put her before the wind, and let her go where she pleases." I soon perceived, by the rushing of the water, that there was a great increase in the velocity of the ship's progress, and went upon deck to ascertain the cause.
I found the mate stretched upon the top of the companion, and addressed him, but he made no reply. The man at the helm was tying a rope round the tiller, and told me he had become so blind and dizzy, that he could neither steer, nor see the compass, and would therefore fix the rudder in such a manner, as would keep the ship's head as near the wind as possible. On going forward to the bows, I found the crew lying motionless in every direction. They were either insensible of the dangerous situation in which our vessel was, or totally indifferent to it; and all my representations on this head failed to draw forth an intelligible remark from any of them. Our ship carried a great press of canvas, the lower studding sails being set, for we had enjoyed a gentle breeze directly astern, before the wind headed us in the way already mentioned.
About an hour after sunset, almost every person on board seemed to have become worse. I alone retained my senses unimpaired. The wind now blew very fresh, and we went through the water at the rate of ten knots an hour. The night looked dreary and turbulent. The sky was covered with large fleeces of broken clouds, and the stars flashed angrily through them, as they were wildly hurried along by the blast. The sea began to run high, and the masts showed, by their incessant creaking, that they carried more sail than they could well sustain.
I stood alone abaft the binnacle. Nothing could be heard above or below deck, but the dashing of the surges, and the moaning of the wind. All the people on board were to me the same as dead; and I was tossed about, in the vast expanse of waters, without a companion or fellow-suff'erer. I knew not what might be my fate, or where I should be carried. The vessel, as it careered along the raging deep, uncontrolled by human hands, seemed under the guidance of a relentless demon, to whose caprices its ill-fated crew had been mysteriously consigned by some superior power.
I was filled with dread lest we should strike upon rocks, or run ashore, and often imagined that the clouds which bordered the horizon were the black cliff's of some desolate coast. At last, I distinctly saw a light at some distance — I anticipated instant destruction — I grew irresolute whether to remain upon deck, and face death, or to wait for it below. I soon discovered a ship a little way ahead — I instinctively ran to the helm, and loosed the rope that tied the tiller, which at once bounded back, and knocked me over. A horrible crashing, and loud cries, now broke upon my ear, and I saw that we had got entangled with another vessel. But the velocity with which we swept along, rendered our extrication instantaneous; and, on looking back, I saw a ship, without a bowsprit, pitching irregularly among the waves, and heard the rattling of cordage, and a tumult of voices. But, after a little time, nothing was distinguishable by the eye or by the ear. My situation appeared doubly horrible, when I reflected that I had just been within call of human creatures, who might have saved and assisted all on board, had not an evil destiny hurried us along, and made us the means of injuring those who alone were capable of affording us relief.
About midnight, our fore top-mast gave way, and fell upon deck with a tremendous noise. The ship immediately swung round, and began to labor in a terrible manner, while several waves broke over her successively.
I had just resolved to descend the gangway for shelter, when a white figure rushed past me with a wild shriek, and sprung overboard. I saw it struggling among the billows, and tossing about its arms distractedly, but had no means of affording it any assistance. I watched it for some time, and observed its convulsive motions gradually grow more feeble; but its form soon became undistinguishable amidst the foam of the bursting waves. The darkness prevented me from discovering who had thus committed himself to the deep in a moment of madness, and I felt a strong repugnance at attempting to ascertain it, and rather wished it might have been some spectre, or the offspring of my perturbed imagination, than a human being.
As the sea continued to break over the vessel, I went down to the cabin, after having closely shut the gangway doors and companion. Total darkness prevailed below. I addressed the captain and all my fellow passengers by name, but received no reply from any of them, though I sometimes fancied I heard moans and quick breathing, when the tumult of waters without happened to subside a little. But I thought that it was perhaps imagination, and that they were probably all dead. I began to catch for breath, and felt as if I had been immured in a large coffin along with a number of corpses, and was doomed to linger out life beside them. The sea beat against the vessel with a noise like that of artillery, and the crashing of the bulwarks, driven in by its violence, gave startling proof of the dangers that threatened us. Having several times been dashed against the walls and transoms of the cabin by the violent pitching of the ship, I groped for my bed, and lay down in it, and, notwithstanding the horrors that surrounded me, gradually dropped asleep.
When I awaked, I perceived, by the sunbeams that shone through the skylight, that the morning was far advanced. The ship rolled violently at intervals, but the noise of wind and waves had altogether ceased. I got up hastily, and almost dreaded to look round, lest I should find my worst anticipations concerning my companions too fatally realized.
I immediately discovered the captain lying on one side of the cabin quite dead. Opposite him was Major L., stretched along the floor, and grasping firmly the handle of the door of his wife's apartment. He looked like a dying man, and Mrs. L., who sat beside him, seemed to be exhausted with grief and terror. She tried to speak several times, and at last succeeded in informing me that her sister was better. I could not discover Mr. D. anywhere, and therefore concluded that he was the person who had leaped overboard the preceding night.
On going upon deck, I found that every thing wore a new aspect. The sky was dazzling and cloudless, and not the faintest breath of wind could be felt. The sea had a beautiful bright green color, and was calm as a small lake, except when an occasional swell rolled from that quarter in which the wind had been the preceding night; and the water was so clear, that I saw to the bottom, and even distinguished little fishes sporting around the keel of our vessel.
Four of the seamen were dead, but the mate and the remaining three had so far recovered, as to be able to walk across the deck. The ship was almost in a disabled state. Part of the wreck of the fore top-mast lay upon her bows, and the rigging and sails of the mainmast had suffered much injury. The mate told me, that the soundings, and almost every thing else, proved we were on the Bahama banks, though he had not yet ascertained on what part of them we lay, and consequently could not say whether we had much chance of soon falling in with any vessel.