urgle;
but in that pitch black darkness, relieved only by the red glow from
the north, not one of us dared to venture to his rescue. We knew that
he would be dead, anyhow, before we could get to him; so we stood
watch, sharing the blankets we had when our time came to sleep.

"It was a wretched night that we spent on the top of that after house.
It began to rain before midnight, the heavy drops coming down almost in
solid waves; then came wind, out of the south, cold and biting, with
real waves, that rolled even over the house, forcing us to lash
ourselves. The red glow to the north was hidden by the rain and spume,
and, to add to our discomfort, we were showered with ashes, which, even
though the surface wind was from the south, must have been brought from
the north by an upper air current.

"We did not find the dead man when the faint daylight came; and so
could not tell whether or not he had used his knife. His body must have
washed over the rail with a sea, and we hoped the invisible killer had
gone, too. But we hoped too much. With courage born of this hope a man
went forward to lower the masthead lights, prodding his way with the
pike pole.

"We watched him closely, the pole in one hand, his knife in the other.
But he went under at the fore rigging without even a yell, and the pole
went with him, while we could see, even at the distance and through the
disturbed water, that his arms were close to his sides, and that he
made no movement, except for the quick darting to and fro. After a few
moments, however, the pike pole floated to the surface, but the man's
body, drained, no doubt, of its buoyant fluids, remained on the deck.

"It was an hour later, with the pike pole for a feeler, before we dared
approach the body, hook on to it, and tow it aft. It resembled that of
the first victim, a skeleton clothed with skin, with the same look of
horror on the face. We buried it like the other, and held to the poop,
still drenched by the downpour of rain, hammered by the seas, and
choked by ashes from the sky.

"As the shower of ashes increased it became dark as twilight, and
though the three lights aloft burned out at about midday, I forbade a
man to go forward to lower them, contenting myself with a turpentine
flare lamp that I brought up from the lazaret, and filled, ready to
show if the lights of a craft came in view. Before the afternoon was
half gone it was dark as night, and down below, up to his waist in
water,