s
direction, only to see that the unfortunate man whom he supported was in
quite as bad a plight. It was evident not only that the poor fellow was
dead, but also that death must have been instantaneous, the neck being
broken, and the crown of the skull apparently crushed in such a way that
the brain could be seen protruding, and the deck also was bespattered.

"Pass the word for the surgeon, there, somebody, and tell him to look
smart!" gasped poor old David in a voice so hoarse and changed with
horror and grief that I should never have recognised it as his had I not
seen his lips move.

In a minute or two the surgeon made his appearance on the scene, and a
very brief examination sufficed to enable him to pronounce both the men
dead.

The first lieutenant undertook to announce the sad intelligence to the
skipper, who still remained standing in the same position, apparently as
unconcerned as if nothing had happened. I must confess that I, for one,
fully expected to see some very decided manifestation of emotion on the
captain's part when he learned the tragical nature of the disaster; but,
instead of that, on being told the news, he--to the horror and
indignation of everybody who heard him--simply said:

"Um! dead, are they? Then throw the lubbers overboard!" And this was
actually done. Without the slightest pretence to ceremony or reverence
of any kind, without so much as a single prayer to consecrate their
dismissal to their final resting-place in the bosom of the deep, without
even pausing to sew up the poor fellows in their hammocks, with a shot
at their feet to ensure their safe arrival in the quiet and peaceful
region of the ocean's bed, the bodies were straightway raised from the
deck and, with a "One, two, three, _heave_!" were flung over the side,
to be instantly fought over and torn to pieces by some half a dozen
sharks which had put in an unsuspected appearance on the scene. Many a
curse, "not loud but deep," was called down upon the skipper's head that
night by the shipmates of the murdered men--for murdered they
undoubtedly were--and many a vow of complete and speedy vengeance was
solemnly registered. Insulted, scoffed at, derided, their last spark of
self-respect--if indeed any such thing still remained to them--outraged
and trodden under foot, the crew were that night changed from men to
devils; and if, at the conclusion of those unceremonious obsequies, a
leader had but stepped forward and plac