The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3Poe, Edgar Allan
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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American
August 2. The same fearfully calm and hot weather. The dawn found
us in a state of pitiable dejection as well as bodily exhaustion.
The water in the jug was now absolutely useless, being a thick
gelatinous mass; nothing but frightful-looking worms mingled with
slime. We threw it out, and washed the jug well in the sea,
afterward pouring a little vinegar in it from our bottles of
pickled tortoise. Our thirst could now scarcely be endured, and
we tried in vain to relieve it by wine, which seemed only to add
fuel to the flame, and excited us to a high degree of
intoxication. We afterward endeavoured to relieve our sufferings
by mixing the wine with seawater; but this instantly brought
about the most violent retchings, so that we never again
attempted it. During the whole day we anxiously sought an
opportunity of bathing, but to no purpose; for the hulk was now
entirely besieged on all sides with sharks—no doubt the identical
monsters who had devoured our poor companion on the evening
before, and who were in momentary expectation of another similar
feast. This circumstance occasioned us the most bitter regret and
filled us with the most depressing and melancholy forebodings. We
had experienced indescribable relief in bathing, and to have this
resource cut off in so frightful a manner was more than we could
bear. Nor, indeed, were we altogether free from the apprehension
of immediate danger, for the least slip or false movement would
have thrown us at once within reach of those voracious fish, who
frequently thrust themselves directly upon us, swimming up to
leeward. No shouts or exertions on our part seemed to alarm them.
Even when one of the largest was struck with an axe by Peters and
much wounded, he persisted in his attempts to push in where we
were. A cloud came up at dusk, but, to our extreme anguish,
passed over without discharging itself. It is quite impossible to
conceive our sufferings from thirst at this period. We passed a
sleepless night, both on this account and through dread of the
sharks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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