Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

by Volume 01-05 (lit)

  abandoned himself to despair, never hoping to leave the berth alive.

  He now came to the resolution of acquainting the first of the men who

  should come down with my situation, thinking it better to let me take

  my chance with the mutineers than perish of thirst in the hold,- for

  it had been ten days since I was first imprisoned, and my jug of

  water was not a plentiful supply even for four. As he was thinking on

  this subject, the idea came all at once into his head that it might

  be possible to communicate with me by the way of the main hold. In

  any other circumstances, the difficulty and hazard of the undertaking

  would have pre. vented him from attempting it; but now he had, at all

  events, little prospect of life, and consequently little to lose, he

  bent his whole mind, therefore, upon the task.

  His handcuffs were the first consideration. At first he saw no

  method of removing them, and feared that he should thus be baffled in

  the very outset; but upon a closer scrutiny he discovered that the

  irons could be slipped off and on at pleasure, with very little

  effort or inconvenience, merely by squeezing his hands through them,-

  this species of manacle being altogether ineffectual in confining

  young persons, in whom the smaller bones readily yield to pressure.

  He now untied his feet, and, leaving the cord in such a manner that

  it could easily be readjusted in the event of any person's coming

  down, proceeded to examine the bulkhead where it joined the berth.

  The partition here was of soft pine board, an inch thick, and he saw

  that he should have little trouble in cutting his way through. A

  voice was now heard at the forecastle companion-way, and he had just

  time to put his right hand into its handcuff (the left had not been

  removed) and to draw the rope in a slipknot around his ankle, when

  Dirk Peters came below, followed by Tiger, who immediately leaped

  into the berth and lay down. The dog had been brought on board by

  Augustus, who knew my attachment to the animal, and thought it would

  give me pleasure to have him with me during the voyage. He went up to

  our house for him immediately after first taking me into the hold,

  but did not think of mentioning the circumstance upon his bringing

  the watch. Since the mutiny, Augustus had not seen him before his

  appearance with Dirk Peters, and had given him up for lost, supposing

  him to have been thrown overboard by some of the malignant villains

  belonging to the mate's gang. It appeared afterward that he had

  crawled into a hole beneath a whale-boat, from which, not having room

  to turn round, he could not extricate himself. Peters at last let him

  out, and, with a species of good feeling which my friend knew well

  how to appreciate, had now brought him to him in the forecastle as a

  companion, leaving at the same time some salt junk and potatoes, with

  a can of water, he then went on deck, promising to come down with

  something more to eat on the next day.

  When he had gone, Augustus freed both hands from the manacles and

  unfastened his feet. He then turned down the head of the mattress on

  which he had been lying, and with his penknife (for the ruffians had

  not thought it worth while to search him) commenced cutting

  vigorously across one of the partition planks, as closely as possible

  to the floor of the berth. He chose to cut here, because, if suddenly

  interrupted, he would be able to conceal what had been done by

  letting the head of the mattress fall into its proper position. For

  the remainder of the day, however, no disturbance occurred, and by

  night he had completely divided the plank. It should here be observed

  that none of the crew occupied the forecastle as a sleeping-place,

  living altogether in the cabin since the mutiny, drinking the wines

  and feasting on the sea-stores of Captain Barnard, and giving no more

  heed than was absolutely necessary to the navigation of the brig.

  These circumstances proved fortunate both for myself and Augustus;

  for, had matters been otherwise, he would have found it impossible to

  reach me. As it was, he proceeded with confidence in his design. It

  was near daybreak, however, before he completed the second division

  of the board (which was about a foot above the first cut), thus

  making an aperture quite large enough to admit his passage through

  with facility to the main orlop deck. Having got here, he made his

  way with but little trouble to the lower main hatch, although in so

  doing he had to scramble over tiers of oil-casks piled nearly as high

  as the upper deck, there being barely room enough left for his body.

  Upon reaching the hatch he found that Tiger had followed him below,

  squeezing between two rows of the casks. It was now too late,

  however, to attempt getting to me before dawn, as the chief

  difficulty lay in passing through the close stowage in the lower

  hold. He therefore resolved to return, and wait till the next night.

  With this design, he proceeded to loosen the hatch, so that he might

  have as little detention as possible when he should come again. No

  sooner had he loosened it than Tiger sprang eagerly to the small

  opening produced, snuffed for a moment, and then uttered a long

  whine, scratching at the same time, as if anxious to remove the

  covering with his paws. There could be no doubt, from his behaviour,

  that he was aware of my being in the hold, and Augustus thought it

  possible that he would be able to get to me if he put him down. He

  now hit upon the expedient of sending the note, as it was especially

  desirable that I should make no attempt at forcing my way out at

  least under existing circumstances, and there could be no certainty

  of his getting to me himself on the morrow as he intended.

  After-events proved how fortunate it was that the idea occurred to

  him as it did; for, had it not been for the receipt of the note, I

  should undoubtedly have fallen upon some plan, however desperate, of

  alarming the crew, and both our lives would most probably have been

  sacrificed in consequence.

  Having concluded to write, the difficulty was now to procure the

  mate. rials for so doing. An old toothpick was soon made into a pen;

  and this by means of feeling altogether, for the between-decks was as

  dark as pitch. Paper enough was obtained from the back of a letter- a

  duplicate of the forged letter from Mr. Ross. This had been the

  original draught; but the handwriting not being sufficiently well

  imitated, Augustus had written another, thrusting the first, by good

  fortune, into his coat-pocket, where it was now most opportunely

  discovered. Ink alone was thus wanting, and a substitute was

  immediately found for this by means of a slight incision with the

  pen-knife on the back of a finger just above the nail- a copious flow

  of blood ensuing, as usual, from wounds in that vicinity. The note

  was now written, as well as it could be in the dark and under the

  circumstances. It briefly explained that a mutiny had taken place;

  that Captain Barnard was set adrift; and that I might expect

  immediate relief a
s far as provisions were concerned, but must not

  venture upon making any disturbance. It concluded with these words:

  "_I have scrawled this with blood- your life depends upon lying

  close._"

  This slip of paper being tied upon the dog, he was now put down

  the hatchway, and Augustus made the best of his way back to the

  forecastle, where be found no reason to believe that any of the crew

  had been in his absence. To conceal the hole in the partition, he

  drove his knife in just above it, and hung up a pea-jacket which he

  found in the berth. His handcuffs were then replaced, and also the

  rope around his ankles.

  These arrangements were scarcely completed when Dirk Peters came

  below, very drunk, but in excellent humour, and bringing with him my

  friend's allowance of provision for the day. This consisted of a

  dozen large Irish potatoes roasted, and a pitcher of water. He sat

  for some time on a chest by the berth, and talked freely about the

  mate and the general concerns of the brig. His demeanour was

  exceedingly capricious, and even grotesque. At one time Augustus was

  much alarmed by odd conduct. At last, however, he went on deck,

  muttering a promise to bring his prisoner a good dinner on the

  morrow. During the day two of the crew (harpooners) came down,

  accompanied by the cook, all three in nearly the last stage of

  intoxication. Like Peters, they made no scruple of talking

  unreservedly about their plans. It appeared that they were much

  divided among themselves as to their ultimate course, agreeing in no

  point, except the attack on the ship from the Cape Verd Islands, with

  which they were in hourly expectation of meeting. As far as could be

  ascertained, the mutiny had not been brought about altogether for the

  sake of booty; a private pique of the chief mate's against Captain

  Barnard having been the main instigation. There now seemed to be two

  principal factions among the crew- one headed by the mate, the other

  by the cook. The former party were for seizing the first suitable

  vessel which should present itself, and equipping it at some of the

  West India Islands for a piratical cruise. The latter division,

  however, which was the stronger, and included Dirk Peters among its

  partisans, were bent upon pursuing the course originally laid out for

  the brig into the South Pacific; there either to take whale, or act

  otherwise, as circumstances should suggest. The representations of

  Peters, who had frequently visited these regions, had great weight,

  apparently, with the mutineers, wavering, as they were, between

  half-engendered notions of profit and pleasure. He dwelt on the world

  of novelty and amusement to be found among the innumerable islands of

  the Pacific, on the perfect security and freedom from all restraint

  to be enjoyed, but, more particularly, on the deliciousness of the

  climate, on the abundant means of good living, and on the voluptuous

  beauty of the women. As yet, nothing had been absolutely determined

  upon; but the pictures of the hybrid line-manager were taking strong

  hold upon the ardent imaginations of the seamen, and there was every

  possibility that his intentions would be finally carried into effect.

  The three men went away in about an hour, and no one else entered

  the forecastle all day. Augustus lay quiet until nearly night. He

  then freed himself from the rope and irons, and prepared for his

  attempt. A bottle was found in one of the berths, and this he filled

  with water from the pitcher left by Peters, storing his pockets at

  the same time with cold potatoes. To his great joy he also came

  across a lantern, with a small piece of tallow candle in it. This he

  could light at any moment, as be had in his possession a box of

  phosphorus matches. When it was quite dark, he got through the hole

  in the bulkhead, having taken the precaution to arrange the

  bedclothes in the berth so as to convey the idea of a person covered

  up. When through, he hung up the pea-jacket on his knife, as before,

  to conceal the aperture- this manoeuvre being easily effected, as he

  did not readjust the piece of plank taken out until afterward. He was

  now on the main orlop deck, and proceeded to make his way, as before,

  between the upper deck and the oil-casks to the main hatchway. Having

  reached this, he lit the piece of candle, and descended, groping with

  extreme difficulty among the compact stowage of the hold. In a few

  moments he became alarmed at the insufferable stench and the

  closeness of the atmosphere. He could not think it possible that I

  had survived my confinement for so long a period breathing so

  oppressive an air. He called my name repeatedly, but I made him no

  reply, and his apprehensions seemed thus to be confirmed. The brig

  was rolling violently, and there was so much noise in consequence,

  that it was useless to listen for any weak sound, such as those of my

  breathing or snoring. He threw open the lantern, and held it as high

  as possible, whenever an opportunity occurred, in order that, by

  observing the light, I might, if alive, be aware that succor was

  approaching. Still nothing was heard from me, and the supposition of

  my death began to assume the character of certainty. He determined,

  nevertheless, to force a passage, if possible, to the box, and at

  least ascertain beyond a doubt the truth of his surmises. He pushed

  on for some time in a most pitiable state of anxiety, until, at

  length, he found the pathway utterly blocked up, and that there was

  no possibility of making any farther way by the course in which he

  had set out. Overcome now by his feelings, he threw himself among the

  lumber in despair, and wept like a child. It was at this period that

  he heard the crash occasioned by the bottle which I had thrown down.

  Fortunate, indeed, was it that the incident occurred- for, upon this

  incident, trivial as it appears, the thread of my destiny depended.

  Many years elapsed, however, before I was aware of this fact. A

  natural shame and regret for his weakness and indecision prevented

  Augustus from confiding to me at once what a more intimate and

  unreserved communion afterward induced him to reveal. Upon finding

  his further progress in the hold impeded by obstacles which he could

  not overcome, he had resolved to abandon his attempt at reaching me,

  and return at once to the forecastle. Before condemning him entirely

  on this head, the harassing circumstances which embarrassed him

  should be taken into consideration. The night was fast wearing away,

  and his absence from the forecastle might be discovered; and indeed

  would necessarily be so, if be should fail to get back to the berth

  by daybreak. His candle was expiring in the socket, and there would

  be the greatest difficulty in retracing his way to the hatchway in

  the dark. It must be allowed, too, that he had every good reason to

  believe me dead; in which event no benefit could result to me from

  his reaching the box, and a world of danger would be encountered to

  no purpose by himself. He had repeatedly called, and I had made him

 
no answer. I had been now eleven days and nights with no more water

  than that contained in the jug which he had left with me- a supply

  which it was not at all probable I had boarded in the beginning of my

  confinement, as I had every cause to expect a speedy release. The

  atmosphere of the hold, too, must have appeared to him, coming from

  the comparatively open air of the steerage, of a nature absolutely

  poisonous, and by far more intolerable than it had seemed to me upon

  my first taking up my quarters in the box- the hatchways at that time

  having been constantly open for many months previous. Add to these

  considerations that of the scene of bloodshed and terror so lately

  witnessed by my friend; his confinement, privations, and narrow

  escapes from death, together with the frail and equivocal tenure by

  which he still existed- circumstances all so well calculated to

  prostrate every energy of mind- and the reader will be easily

  brought, as I have been, to regard his apparent falling off in

  friendship and in faith with sentiments rather of sorrow than of

  anger.

  The crash of the bottle was distinctly heard, yet Augustus was

  not sure that it proceeded from the hold. The doubt, however, was

  sufficient inducement to persevere. He clambered up nearly to the

  orlop deck by means of the stowage, and then, watching for a lull in

  the pitchings of the vessel, he called out to me in as loud a tone as

  he could command, regardless, for the moment, of being overheard by

  the crew. It will be remembered that on this occasion the voice

  reached me, but I was so entirely overcome by violent agitation as to

  be incapable of reply. Confident, now, that his worst apprehensions

  were well founded, be descended, with a view of getting back to the

  forecastle without loss of time. In his haste some small boxes were

  thrown down, the noise occasioned by which I heard, as will be

  recollected. He had made considerable progress on his return when the

  fall of the knife again caused him to hesitate. He retraced his steps

  immediately, and, clambering up the stowage a second time, called out

  my name, loudly as before, having watched for a lull. This time I

  found voice to answer. Overjoyed at discovering me to be still alive,