Not A Word Was Spoken, But Every One Stood
As Though Waiting For Something To Happen.
In a few minutes the
mate came forward; and in a low tone, which was almost a whisper,
told us to haul down the jib.
The fore and mizen top-gallant sails
were taken in, in the same silent manner; and we lay motionless upon
the water, with an uneasy expectation, which, from the long suspense,
became actually painful. 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. As it was, the English lad did
not feel comfortably at having had it so near him, and directly
over his head. In a few minutes it disappeared, and showed itself
again on the fore top-gallant yard; and after playing about for
some time, disappeared again; when the man on the forecastle
pointed to it upon the flying-jib-boom-end. But our attention
was drawn from watching this, by the falling of some drops of
rain and by a perceptible increase of the darkness, which seemed
suddenly to add a new shade of blackness to the night. In a few
minutes, low, grumbling thunder was heard, and some random flashes
of lightning came from the south-west. Every sail was taken in
but the topsails, still, no squall appeared to be coming. A few
puffs lifted the topsails, but they fell again to the mast, and all
was as still as ever. A moment more, and a terrific flash and peal
broke simultaneously upon us, and a cloud appeared to open directly
over our heads and let down the water in one body, like a falling
ocean. We stood motionless, and almost stupefied; yet nothing had
been struck. Peal after peal rattled over our heads, with a sound
which seemed actually to stop the breath in the body, and the
"speedy gleams" kept the whole ocean in a glare of light.
The violent fall of rain lasted but a few minutes, and was
succeeded by occasional drops and showers; but the lightning
continued incessant for several hours, breaking the midnight
darkness with irregular and blinding flashes. During all which
time there was not a breath stirring, and we lay motionless, like a
mark to be shot at, probably the only object on the surface of the
ocean for miles and miles. We stood hour after hour, until our
watch was out, and we were relieved, at four o'clock. During all
this time, hardly a word was spoken; no bells were struck, and the
wheel was silently relieved. The rain fell at intervals in heavy
showers, and we stood drenched through and blinded by the flashes,
which broke the Egyptian darkness with a brightness which seemed
almost malignant; while the thunder rolled in peals, the concussion
of which appeared to shake the very ocean. A ship is not often
injured by lightning, for the electricity is separated by the
great number of points she presents, and the quantity of iron
which she has scattered in various parts. The electric fluid
ran over our anchors, top-sail sheets and ties; yet no harm was
done to us. We went below at four o'clock, leaving things in the
same state. It is not easy to sleep, when the very next flash may
tear the ship in two, or set her on fire; or where the deathlike
calm may be broken by the blast of a hurricane, taking the masts
out of the ship. But a man is no sailor if he cannot sleep when
he turns-in, and turn out when he's called. And when, at seven
bells, the customary "All the larboard watch, ahoy?" brought us
on deck, it was a fine, clear, sunny morning, the ship going
leisurely along, with a good breeze and all sail set.
CHAPTER XXXV
A DOUBLE-REEF-TOP-SAIL BREEZE - SCURVY - A FRIEND IN NEED - PREPARING
FOR PORT - THE GULF STREAM
From the latitude of the West Indies, until we got inside the Bermudas,
where we took the westerly and south-westerly winds, which blow
steadily off the coast of the United States early in the autumn,
we had every variety of weather, and two or three moderate gales,
or, as sailors call them, double-reef-topsail breezes, which came
on in the usual manner, and of which one is a specimen of all. - A
fine afternoon; all hands at work, some in the rigging, and others
on deck; a stiff breeze, and ship close upon the wind, and skysails
brailed down.
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