Page:The Rambler in Mexico.djvu/233

Rh I cannot describe to you the effect produced upon the mind, as, during the long watches of that night, the fevered and agonizing ravings of the dying man were heard mingling with the whistling of the wind in the cordage, the wash of the sea, and the roll of the thunder. The rocking of the vessel on the short seas, and the shocks which it received, evidently aggravated his sufferings — and from sundown to sunrise, neither spirit nor body found repose. He frequently called us by name; but when we crept to the side of his berth, all was incoherence.

Poor young man! he had been brought up in the heartless school of French immorality, and had lived without God or shame; and now, with clouded reason and senses, was dying beyond the sense of sorrow and repentance for sin. The day which followed was a weary one; we all trod the deck in silence. The patient got no rest. His spirit was literally "raving round its prison walls," and seeking exit. Towards evening, the last fatal symptom of his dreadful malady came on — the black vomit — and yet he lived. We could none of us rest, but watched when the end would come. Our captain was a noble character, and his behaviour was, throughout, such as to reflect honour on himself and the service. Had he been the dying man's brother, he could not have evinced a more complete and more generous devotedness than he did from first to last. There he sat, hour after hour, supporting the languid head, and watching the gasping breath, perfectly regardless of the risk of infection; and when about half past one, on the morning of the eighth, the sufferer at length ceased to breathe, he was still at his post.

When all was over, energetic measures were immediately adopted to avert danger to the passengers and crew. The body was strongly sewed up in canvass; and by seven o'clock most signs of the past trial had been carefully removed. But there was still the shapeless corpse, which, covered with a flag, lay extended upon a plank, resting upon the starboard bulwarks of the vessel.

There had been no indecent hurry — at the same time