The Castaways Read online

  CHAPTER TWO.

  THE HAMMER-HEAD.

  For some time the castaways had been seated in moody silence, now andthen glancing at the corpse in the bottom of the boat, some of them nodoubt thinking how long it might be before they themselves would occupythe same situation.

  But now and then, also, their looks were turned upon one another, nothopefully, but with a mechanical effort of despair.

  In one of these occasional glances, Captain Redwood noticed theunnatural glare in the eyes of the surviving sailor, as also did theIrishman. Simultaneously were both struck with it, and a significantlook was exchanged between them.

  For a period of over twenty hours this man had been behaving oddly; andthey had conceived something more than a suspicion of his insanity. Thedeath of the sailor lying at the bottom of the boat, now the ninth, hadrendered him for a time more tranquil, and he sat quiet on his seat,with elbows resting on his knees, his cheeks held between the palms ofhis hands. But the wild stare in his eyes seemed to have become onlymore intensified as he kept them fixed upon the corpse of his comrade.It was a look worse than wild; it had in it the expression of _craving_.

  On perceiving it, and after a moment spent in reflection, the captainmade a sign to the ship-carpenter, at the same time saying,--

  "Murtagh, it's no use our keeping the body any longer in the boat. Letus give it such burial as the sea vouchsafes to a sailor,--and a trueone he was."

  He spoke these words quietly, and in a low tone, as if not intendingthem to be heard by the suspected maniac.

  "A thrue sailor!" rejoined the Irishman. "Truth ye're roight there,captin. Och, now! to think he's the ninth of them we've throwedoverboard, all the crew of the owld ship, exceptin' our three selves,widout countin' the Malay an' the childer. If it wasn't that yerhonour's still left, I'd say the best goes first; for the nigger therelooks as if he'd last out the whole lot of--"

  The captain, to whom this imprudent speech was torture, with a gesturebrought it to an abrupt termination. He was in fear of its effect noton the Malay, but on the insane sailor. The latter, however, showed nosign of having heard or understood it; and in a whisper Murtagh receivedinstructions how to act.

  "You lay hold of him by the shoulders," were the words spoken, "while Itake the feet. Let us slip him quietly over without making any stir.Saloo, remain you where you are; we won't need your help."

  This last speech was addressed to the Malay, and in his own language,which would not be understood by any other than himself. The reason forlaying the injunction upon him was, that he sat in the boat beyond theman deemed mad, and his coming across to the others might excite thelatter, and bring about some vaguely dreaded crisis.

  The silent Malay simply nodded an assent, showing no sign that hecomprehended why his assistance was not desired. For all that, heunderstood it, he too having observed the mental condition of thesailor. Rising silently from their seats, and advancing toward the deadbody, the captain and carpenter, as agreed upon, laid hold of and raisedit up in their arms. Even weak as both were, it was not much of a liftto them. It was not a corpse, only a skeleton, with the skin stilladhering, and drawn tightly over the bones.

  Resting it upon the gunwale of the boat, they made a moment's pause,their eyes turned heavenward, as if mentally repeating a prayer.

  The Irishman, a devout believer in the efficacy of outward observances,with one hand detached from the corpse, made the sign of the cross.

  Then was the body again raised between them, held at arm's lengthoutward, and tenderly lowered down upon the water.

  There was no plunge, only a tiny plashing, as if a chair, or some otherpiece of light wood-work, had been dropped gently upon the surface ofthe sea. But slight as was the sound, it produced an effect, startlingas instantaneous. The sailor, whose dead comrade was thus beingconsigned to the deep, as it were, surreptitiously, all at once sprangto his feet, sending forth a shriek that rang far over the tranquilwater. With one bound, causing the pinnace to heel fearfully over, heplaced himself by the side over which the corpse had been lowered, andstood with arms upraised, as if intending to plunge after it.

  The sight underneath should have awed him. The dead body was slowly,gradually sinking, its garb of dark blue Guernsey shirt becoming lighterblue as it went deeper down in the cerulean water; while fast advancingto meet it, as if coming up from the darkest depths of the ocean, was acreature of monstrous shape, the very type of a monster. It was thehideous hammer-headed shark, the dreaded _zygaena_ of the Celebes Sea.

  With a pair of enormous eyes glaring sullenly out from two immensecheek-like protuberances, giving to its head that singular sledge-hammerappearance whence it has its name, it advanced directly toward theslow-descending corpse, itself, however, moving so rapidly that thespectators above had scarce taken in the outlines of its horrid form,when this was no longer visible. It was hidden in what appeared ashower of bluish pearls suddenly projected underneath the water, andenveloping both the dead body of the sailor and the living form of theshark. Through the dimness could be distinguished gleams of a palephosphoric sheen like lightning flashes through a sky cloud; and soonafter froth and bubbles rose effervescing upon the surface of the sea.

  It was a terrible spectacle, though only of an instants duration. Whenthe subaqueous cloud cleared away, and they again looked with peeringeyes down into the pellucid depths, there was nothing there, neitherdead body of man, nor living form of monster. The _zygaena_ had securedits prey, and carried the skeleton corpse to some dark cavern of thedeep! [Note 1.]

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  Note 1. The hammer-headed shark, in common language, is rightlydesignated one of the most hideous of marine animals. We mean hideousin outward appearance, for, of course, there is much both wonderful andbeautiful in its internal organisation, and in the exquisite fitness ofits structure for its peculiar part in the economy of nature. In thegeneral outline of its body, which is something like that of a cylinder,it resembles the ordinary sharks; and its distinctive feature is itshead, which, on either side, expands like a double-headed hammer. Theeyes are very large, and placed at each extremity. It is found in theMediterranean Sea, as well as in the Indian Ocean, and is noted for itsfierceness and voracity.