The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket: Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827.Poe, Edgar Allan
General
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket: Comprising the details of a mutiny and atrocious butchery on board the American brig Grampus, on her way to the South Seas, in the month of June, 1827.
Poe, Edgar Allan
Sea stories; Stowaways -- Fiction; Whaling ships -- Fiction; Young men -- Fiction
most remote reason for suspecting to be on board, were assembled in the
cabin, with the exception of Allen, the watch; and his gigantic stature
(he was six feet six inches high) was too familiar in their eyes to
permit the notion that he was the apparition before them to enter their
minds even for an instant. Add to these considerations the
awe-inspiring nature of the tempest, and that of the conversation
brought about by Peters; the deep impression which the loathsomeness of
the actual corpse had made in the morning upon the imaginations of the
men; the excellence of the imitation in my person; and the uncertain
and wavering light in which they beheld me, as the glare of the cabin
lantern, swinging violently to and fro, fell dubiously and fitfully
upon my figure, and there will be no reason to wonder that the
deception had even more than the entire effect which we had
anticipated. The mate sprang up from the mattress on which he was
lying, and, without uttering a syllable, fell back, stone dead, upon
the cabin floor, and was hurled to the leeward like a log by a heavy
roll of the brig. Of the remaining seven there were but three who had
at first any degree of presence of mind. The four others sat for some
time rooted apparently to the floor, the most pitiable objects of
horror and utter despair my eyes ever encountered. The only opposition
we experienced at all was from the cook, John Hunt, and Richard Parker;
but they made but a feeble and irresolute defence. The two former were
shot instantly by Peters, and I felled Parker with a blow on the head
from the pump-handle which I had brought with me. In the mean time
Augustus seized one of the muskets lying on the floor, and shot another
mutineer (---- Wilson) through the breast. There were now but three
remaining; but by this time they had become aroused from their
lethargy, and perhaps began to see that a deception had been practised
upon them, for they fought with great resolution and fury, and, but for
the immense muscular strength of Peters, might have ultimately got the
better of us. These three men were ---- Jones, ---- Greely, and Absalom
Hicks. Jones had thrown Augustus on the floor, stabbed him in several
places along the right arm, and would no doubt have soon despatched him
(as neither Peters nor myself could immediately get rid of our own
antagonists), had it not been for the timely aid of a friend upon whose
assistance we surely had never depended. This friend was no other than
Tiger. With a low growl he bounded into the cabin, at a most critical
moment for Augustus, and throwing himself upon Jones, pinned him to the
floor in an instant. My friend, however, was now too much injured to
render us any aid whatever, and I was so encumbered with my disguise
that I could do but little. The dog would not leave his hold upon the
throat of Jones--Peters, nevertheless, was far more than a match for
the two men who remained, and would, no doubt, have despatched them
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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