Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/274

 lee gangway, wrapped in an American flag, while the bier was a rough plank. The funeral services were conducted by Captain Hudson. A deathlike stillness pervaded the ship. At the words, "We commit his body to the deep," a plunge was heard, and a momentary melancholy seemed to impress the minds of all hands. Three volleys were fired over the lonely ocean grave, and the  boatswain’s call announced that all was over. The yards were braced, and we kept on our course.

EATING POE.

Early the next morning we made Monterey Bay. The Porpoise was sent in with the letter-bag and we then  directed our course for the Sandwich Islands. On the 18th we came to anchor in the harbor of Honolulu. While here, we had one day’s liberty on shore. The natives were highly delighted at our return. While on shore the boys, Kinney, Roberts, and myself, took a  cruise out to the "Punch Bowl," where we dined with  one of the chiefs and his family. The dinner consisted of half-cooked fish and poe. The latter was made from