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
All sail was now put upon the brig, and she continued her
original course to the southwest—the mutineers being bent upon
some piratical expedition, in which, from all that could be
understood, a ship was to be intercepted on her way from the Cape
Verd Islands to Porto Rico. No attention was paid to Augustus,
who was untied and suffered to go about anywhere forward of the
cabin companion-way. Dirk Peters treated him with some degree of
kindness, and on one occasion saved him from the brutality of the
cook. His situation was still one of the most precarious, as the
men were continually intoxicated, and there was no relying upon
their continued good-humor or carelessness in regard to himself.
His anxiety on my account he represented, however, as the most
distressing result of his condition; and, indeed, I had never
reason to doubt the sincerity of his friendship. More than once
he had resolved to acquaint the mutineers with the secret of my
being on board, but was restrained from so doing, partly through
recollection of the atrocities he had already beheld, and partly
through a hope of being able soon to bring me relief. For the
latter purpose he was constantly on the watch; but, in spite of
the most constant vigilance, three days elapsed after the boat
was cut adrift before any chance occurred. At length, on the
night of the third day, there came on a heavy blow from the
eastward, and all hands were called up to take in sail. During
the confusion which ensued, he made his way below unobserved, and
into the stateroom. What was his grief and horror in discovering
that the latter had been rendered a place of deposit for a
variety of sea-stores and ship-furniture, and that several
fathoms of old chain-cable, which had been stowed away beneath
the companion-ladder, had been dragged thence to make room for a
chest, and were now lying immediately upon the trap! To remove it
without discovery was impossible, and he returned on deck as
quickly as he could. As he came up, the mate seized him by the
throat, and demanding what he had been doing in the cabin, was
about flinging him over the larboard bulwark, when his life was
again preserved through the interference of Dirk Peters. Augustus
was now put in handcuffs (of which there were several pairs on
board), and his feet lashed tightly together. He was then taken
into the steerage, and thrown into a lower berth next to the
forecastle bulkheads, with the assurance that he should never put
his foot on deck again “until the brig was no longer a brig.”
This was the expression of the cook, who threw him into the
berth—it is hardly possible to say what precise meaning intended
by the phrase. The whole affair, however, proved the ultimate
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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