k, half full of galley coal, was
fastened to his feet.

It was bitter cold. The weather-side of every rope, spar, and stay was
coated with ice, while all the rigging was a harp, singing and shouting
under the fierce hand of the wind. The schooner, hove to, lurched and
floundered through the sea, rolling her scuppers under and perpetually
flooding the deck with icy salt water. We of the forecastle stood in sea-
boots and oilskins. Our hands were mittened, but our heads were bared in
the presence of the death we did not respect. Our ears stung and numbed
and whitened, and we yearned for the body to be gone. But the
interminable reading of the burial service went on. The captain had
mistaken his place, and while he read on without purpose we froze our
ears and resented this final hardship thrust upon us by the helpless
cadaver. As from the beginning, so to the end, everything had gone wrong
with the Bricklayer. Finally, the captain's son, irritated beyond
measure, jerked the book from the palsied fingers of the old man and
found the place. Again the quavering voice of the captain arose. Then
came the cue: "And the body shall be cast into the sea." We elevated one
end of the hatch-cover, and the Bricklayer plunged outboard and was gone.

Back into the forecastle we cleaned house, washing out the dead man's
bunk and removing every vestige of him. By sea law and sea custom, we
should have gathered his effects together and turned them over to the
captain, who, later, would have held an auction in which we should have
bid for the various articles. But no man wanted them, so we tossed them
up on deck and overboard in the wake of the departed body--the last ill-
treatment we could devise to wreak upon the one we had hated so. Oh, it
was raw, believe me; but the life we lived was raw, and we were as raw as
the life.

The Bricklayer's bunk was better than mine. Less sea water leaked down
through the deck into it, and the light was better for lying in bed and
reading. Partly for this reason I proceeded to move into his bunk. My
other reason was pride. I saw the sailors were superstitious, and by
this act I determined to show that I was braver than they. I would cap
my proved equality by a deed that would compel their recognition of my
superiority. Oh, the arrogance of youth! But let that pass. The
sailors were appalled by my intention. One and all, they warned me that
in the history of the sea no man had ta