lly
examined that no straggling rope connected the boat to the wreck, to draw
them under with the foundering mass; and he had assured himself that food,
water, compass, and the imperfect instruments that were then in use to
ascertain the position of a ship, were all carefully disposed of in their
several places, and ready to his hand. When all was in this state of
preparation, he disposed of himself in the stern of the boat, and
endeavoured, by the composure of his manner, to inspire his less resolute
companions with a portion of his own firmness.

The bright sun-shine was sleeping in a thousand places on every side of
the silent and deserted wreck. The sea had subsided to such a state of
utter rest, that it was only at long intervals that the huge and helpless
mass on which the ark of the expectants lay was lifted from its dull
quietude, to roll heavily, for a moment, in the washing waters, and then
to settle lower into the greedy and absorbing element. Still the
disappearance of the hull was slow, and even tedious, to those who looked
forward with such impatience to its total immersion, as to the crisis of
their own fortunes.

During these hours of weary and awful suspense, the discourse, between the
watchers, though conducted in tones of confidence, and often of
tenderness, was broken by long intervals of deep and musing silence. Each
forbore to dwell upon the danger of their situation, in consideration of
the feelings of the rest; but neither could conceal the imminent risk they
ran, from that jealous watchfulness of love of life which was common to
them all. In this manner, minutes, hours, and the day itself, rolled by,
and the darkness was seen stealing along the deep, gradually narrowing the
boundary of their view towards the east, until the whole of the empty
scene was limited to a little dusky circle around the spot on which they
lay. To this change succeeded another fearful hour, during which it
appeared that death was about to visit them, environed by its most
revolting horrors. The heavy plunge of the wallowing whale, as he cast his
huge form upon the surface of the sea, was heard, accompanied by the mimic
blowings of a hundred imitators, that followed in the train of the
monarch of the ocean. It appeared to the alarmed and feverish imagination
of Gertrude, that the brine was giving up all its monsters; and,
notwithstanding the calm assurances of Wilder, that these accustomed
sounds were rather the harbinge