The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3Poe, Edgar Allan
General
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American
August 1. A continuance of the same calm weather, with an
oppressively hot sun. Suffered exceedingly from thirst, the water
in the jug being absolutely putrid and swarming with vermin. We
contrived, nevertheless, to swallow a portion of it by mixing it
with wine; our thirst, however, was but little abated. We found
more relief by bathing in the sea, but could not avail ourselves
of this expedient except at long intervals, on account of the
continual presence of sharks. We now saw clearly that Augustus
could not be saved; that he was evidently dying. We could do
nothing to relieve his sufferings, which appeared to be great.
About twelve o’clock he expired in strong convulsions, and
without having spoken for several hours. His death filled us with
the most gloomy forebodings, and had so great an effect upon our
spirits that we sat motionless by the corpse during the whole
day, and never addressed each other except in a whisper. It was
not until some time after dark that we took courage to get up and
throw the body overboard. It was then loathsome beyond
expression, and so far decayed that, as Peters attempted to lift
it, an entire leg came off in his grasp. As the mass of
putrefaction slipped over the vessel’s side into the water, the
glare of phosphoric light with which it was surrounded plainly
discovered to us seven or eight large sharks, the clashing of
whose horrible teeth, as their prey was torn to pieces among
them, might have been heard at the distance of a mile. We shrunk
within ourselves in the extremity of horror at the sound.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account