Taking me by the arm, he said in a low voice:
"We are floating just above the masthead of a Norwegian bark. The men
are having a little frolic on board, and are playing and singing!"
He then went on to explain how he had overhauled the bark shortly after
I had gone below, and hearing the music had dropped a little and
slackened speed to enjoy it.
I looked over the rail and a weird sight it was. Just below, through
the turgid atmosphere, was the huge silhouette of the ship, magnified in
the fog. A few lights were visible along her deck, and near the center
was a reddish glow through which shadowy figures moved and danced. No
detail was visible. Nothing but the shifting shadows and the light, and
the great mass of the vessel. It was like a huge kinetoscope, with the
addition of music.
"The fellows are having a good time!" said Torrence; "sometimes in rifts
of the fog we can see them more distinctly. Far from home, and with a
good-natured skipper, there is nothing to prevent their enjoying
themselves!"
At one moment the shadows would form a circle, when one would step into
the glowing center and perform some fantastic evolutions to the music.
The whole scene was wild and weird in the extreme. A pink nebulosity
from out which dark mysterious figures were forever coming and going,
dancing, falling, and jumping.
We lingered quite awhile, looking and listening without their having a
suspicion of our proximity, and then Torrence, with a sudden burst of
enthusiasm over one of the performers, shouted "Hooray," at the top of
his voice. Instantly the music stopped, and every man, seized with
panic, looked aloft; but we were dark and silent, and gave no token.
Slowly we rose again in the air, and in another minute had left the
Norwegian bark far behind. It was a queer experience, and I have often
wondered how those people explained the mystery of the heavenward voice.
*XI.*
The morning was radiant; not a cloud in the sky, nor a hatful of wind.
It was Torry’s turn to rest, while I kept watch, and that he needed it
was shown by the fact that he slept until noon. Meanwhile I got my own
breakfast, and set his aside; and then resumed the lookout above. From
my lofty perch I caught the occasional glint of a sail, or the dark
trail of smoke from a southerly steamer, but these were quickly dropped
astern, no matter what their course. Our rate of progress was
uninterrupted, and the fascination of flight grew with familiarity.
When Torrence came on deck he decided to increase our speed, wishing to
make the coast of Norway before night, on account of the intricacy of
the mountain channels to be encountered there.
"Once in sight of land," he said, "we can shape our course and elevation
accordingly."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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