merely enigmatical, senseless fragments.

Looking upon the cloud, he felt a deep anguish, full of unknown mystery,
that froze his very soul; he understood full well now that his poor
little brother would never more be seen; sorrow, which had been some
time penetrating the hard, rough rind of his heart, now gushed in and
brimmed it over. He beheld Sylvestre again with his soft childish eyes;
at the thought of embracing him no more, a veil fell between his eyelids
and his eyes, against his will; and, at first, he could not rightly
understand what it was--never having wept in all his manhood. But the
tears began to fall heavily and swiftly down his cheeks, and then sobs
rent his deep chest.

He went on with his fishing, losing no time and speaking to no one, and
his two mates, though hearing him in the deep silence, pretended not
to do so, for fear of irritating him, knowing him to be so haughty and
reserved.

In his opinion death was the end of it all. Out of respect he often
joined in the family prayers for the dead, but he believed in no
after-life of the soul. Between themselves, in their long talks, the
sailors all said the same, in a blunt taken-for-granted way, as a
well-known fact; but it did not stop them from believing in ghosts,
having a vague fear of graveyards, and an unlimited confidence in
protecting saints and images, and above all a deep respect for the
consecrated earth around the churches.

So Yann himself feared to be swallowed up by the sea, as if it would
annihilate him, and the thought of Sylvestre, so far away on the other
side of the earth, made his sorrow more dark and desperate. With his
contempt for his fellows, he had no shame or constraint in weeping, no
more than if he were alone.

Around the boat the chaos grew whiter, although it was only two o'clock,
and at the same time it appeared to spread farther, hollowing in a
fearful manner. With that kind of rising dawn, eyes opened wider, and
the awakened mind could conceive better the immensity of distance, as
the boundaries of visible space receded and widened away.

The pale aurora increased, seeming to come in tiny jets with slight
shocks; eternal things seemed to light up by sheer transparency, as if
white-flamed lamps had slowly been raised up behind the shapeless gray
clouds, and held there with mysterious care, for fear of disturbing the
calm, even rest of the sea. Below the horizon that colossal white lamp
was the sun, which dragge