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
We had little hopes that Augustus would recover, as he evinced no
signs of life; but, upon getting to him, we discovered that he
had merely swooned from the loss of blood, the bandages we had
placed around his wounded arm having been torn off by the water;
none of the ropes which held him to the windlass were drawn
sufficiently tight to occasion his death. Having relieved him
from the fastenings, and got him clear of the broken wood about
the windlass, we secured him in a dry place to windward, with his
head somewhat lower than his body, and all three of us busied
ourselves in chafing his limbs. In about half an hour he came to
himself, although it was not until the next morning that he gave
signs of recognizing any of us, or had sufficient strength to
speak. By the time we had thus got clear of our lashings it was
quite dark, and it began to cloud up, so that we were again in
the greatest agony lest it should come on to blow hard, in which
event nothing could have saved us from perishing, exhausted as we
were. By good fortune it continued very moderate during the
night, the sea subsiding every minute, which gave us great hopes
of ultimate preservation. A gentle breeze still blew from the N.
W., but the weather was not at all cold. Augustus was lashed
carefully to windward in such a manner as to prevent him from
slipping overboard with the rolls of the vessel, as he was still
too weak to hold on at all. For ourselves there was no such
necessity. We sat close together, supporting each other with the
aid of the broken ropes about the windlass, and devising methods
of escape from our frightful situation. We derived much comfort
from taking off our clothes and wringing the water from them.
When we put them on after this, they felt remarkably warm and
pleasant, and served to invigorate us in no little degree. We
helped Augustus off with his, and wrung them for him, when he
experienced the same comfort.
Our chief sufferings were now those of hunger and thirst, and
when we looked forward to the means of relief in this respect,
our hearts sunk within us, and we were induced to regret that we
had escaped the less dreadful perils of the sea. We endeavoured,
however, to console ourselves with the hope of being speedily
picked up by some vessel and encouraged each other to bear with
fortitude the evils that might happen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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