Of a sudden, and all at
      once, there came wafted over the ocean from the strange vessel
      (which was now close upon us) a smell, a stench, such as the
      whole world has no name for—no conception of—hellish—utterly
      suffocating—insufferable, inconceivable. I gasped for breath, and
      turning to my companions, perceived that they were paler than
      marble. But we had now no time left for question or surmise—the
      brig was within fifty feet of us, and it seemed to be her
      intention to run under our counter, that we might board her
      without putting out a boat. We rushed aft, when, suddenly, a wide
      yaw threw her off full five or six points from the course she had
      been running, and, as she passed under our stern at the distance
      of about twenty feet, we had a full view of her decks. Shall I
      ever forget the triple horror of that spectacle? Twenty-five or
      thirty human bodies, among whom were several females, lay
      scattered about between the counter and the galley in the last
      and most loathsome state of putrefaction. We plainly saw that not
      a soul lived in that fated vessel! Yet we could not help shouting
      to the dead for help! Yes, long and loudly did we beg, in the
      agony of the moment, that those silent and disgusting images
      would stay for us, would not abandon us to become like them,
      would receive us among their goodly company! We were raving with
      horror and despair—thoroughly mad through the anguish of our
      grievous disappointment. As our first loud yell of terror broke forth, it was replied to
      by something, from near the bowsprit of the stranger, so closely
      resembling the scream of a human voice that the nicest ear might
      have been startled and deceived. At this instant another sudden
      yaw brought the region of the forecastle for a moment into view,
      and we beheld at once the origin of the sound. We saw the tall
      stout figure still leaning on the bulwark, and still nodding his
      head to and fro, but his face was now turned from us so that we
      could not behold it. His arms were extended over the rail, and
      the palms of his hands fell outward. His knees were lodged upon a
      stout rope, tightly stretched, and reaching from the heel of the
      bowsprit to a cathead. On his back, from which a portion of the
      shirt had been torn, leaving it bare, there sat a huge sea-gull,
      busily gorging itself with the horrible flesh, its bill and
      talons deep buried, and its white plumage spattered all over with
      blood. As the brig moved farther round so as to bring us close in
      view, the bird, with much apparent difficulty, drew out its
      crimsoned head, and, after eyeing us for a moment as if
      stupefied, arose lazily from the body upon which it had been
      feasting, and, flying directly above our deck, hovered there a
      while with a portion of clotted and liver-like substance in its
      beak. The horrid morsel dropped at length with a sullen splash
      immediately at the feet of Parker. May God forgive me, but now,
      for the first time, there flashed through my mind a thought, a
      thought which I will not mention, and I felt myself making a step
      toward the ensanguined spot. I looked upward, and the eyes of
      Augustus met my own with a degree of intense and eager meaning
      which immediately brought me to my senses. I sprang forward
      quickly, and, with a deep shudder, threw the frightful thing into
      the sea. The body from which it had been taken, resting as it did upon the
      rope, had been easily swayed to and fro by the exertions of the
      carnivorous bird, and it was this motion which had at first
      impressed us with the belief of its being alive. As the gull
      relieved it of its weight, it swung round and fell partially
      over, so that the face was fully discovered. Never, surely, was
      any object so terribly full of awe! The eyes were gone, and the
      whole flesh around the mouth, leaving the teeth utterly naked. This, then, was the smile which had cheered us on to hope! this
      the—but I forbear. The brig, as I have already told, passed under
      our stern, and made its way slowly but steadily to leeward. With
      her and with her terrible crew went all our gay visions of
      deliverance and joy. Deliberately as she went by, we might
      possibly have found means of boarding her, had not our sudden
      disappointment and the appalling nature of the discovery which
      accompanied it laid entirely prostrate every active faculty of
      mind and body. We had seen and felt, but we could neither think
      nor act, until, alas! too late. How much our intellects had been
      weakened by this incident may be estimated by the fact, that when
      the vessel had proceeded so far that we could perceive no more
      than the half of her hull, the proposition was seriously
      entertained of attempting to overtake her by swimming! I have, since this period, vainly endeavoured to obtain some clew
      to the hideous uncertainty which enveloped the fate of the
      stranger. Her build and general appearance, as I have before
      stated, led us to the belief that she was a Dutch trader, and the
      dresses of the crew also sustained this opinion. We might have
      easily seen the name upon her stern, and, indeed, taken other
      observations, which would have guided us in making out her
      character; but the intense excitement of the moment blinded us to
      every thing of that nature. From the saffron-like hue of such of
      the corpses as were not entirely decayed, we concluded that the
      whole of her company had perished by the yellow fever, or some
      other virulent disease of the same fearful kind. If such were the
      case (and I know not what else to imagine), death, to judge from
      the positions of the bodies, must have come upon them in a manner
      awfully sudden and overwhelming, in a way totally distinct from
      that which generally characterizes even the most deadly
      pestilences with which mankind are acquainted. It is possible,
      indeed, that poison, accidentally introduced into some of their
      sea-stores, may have brought about the disaster, or that the
      eating of some unknown venomous species of fish, or other marine
      animal, or oceanic bird, might have induced it—but it is utterly
      useless to form conjectures where all is involved, and will, no
      doubt, remain for ever involved, in the most appalling and
      unfathomable mystery. CHAPTER 11


      We spent the remainder of the day in a condition of stupid
      lethargy, gazing after the retreating vessel until the darkness,
      hiding her from our sight, recalled us in some measure to our
      senses.