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
indignant, as well as the whole ship’s crew, at a speech evincing
so base a degree of heartless atrocity. He spoke plainly, seeing
himself upheld by the men, told the captain he considered him a
fit subject for the gallows, and that he would disobey his orders
if he were hanged for it the moment he set his foot on shore. He
strode aft, jostling Block (who turned pale and made no answer)
on one side, and seizing the helm, gave the word, in a firm
voice, Hard-a-lee! The men flew to their posts, and the ship went
cleverly about. All this had occupied nearly five minutes, and it
was supposed to be hardly within the bounds of possibility that
any individual could be saved—allowing any to have been on board
the boat. Yet, as the reader has seen, both Augustus and myself
were rescued; and our deliverance seemed to have been brought
about by two of those almost inconceivable pieces of good fortune
which are attributed by the wise and pious to the special
interference of Providence.
While the ship was yet in stays, the mate lowered the jolly-boat
and jumped into her with the very two men, I believe, who spoke
up as having seen me at the helm. They had just left the lee of
the vessel (the moon still shining brightly) when she made a long
and heavy roll to windward, and Henderson, at the same moment,
starting up in his seat bawled out to his crew to back water. He
would say nothing else—repeating his cry impatiently, back water!
back water! The men put back as speedily as possible, but by this
time the ship had gone round, and gotten fully under headway,
although all hands on board were making great exertions to take
in sail. In despite of the danger of the attempt, the mate clung
to the main-chains as soon as they came within his reach. Another
huge lurch now brought the starboard side of the vessel out of
water nearly as far as her keel, when the cause of his anxiety
was rendered obvious enough. The body of a man was seen to be
affixed in the most singular manner to the smooth and shining
bottom (the Penguin was coppered and copper-fastened), and
beating violently against it with every movement of the hull.
After several ineffectual efforts, made during the lurches of the
ship, and at the imminent risk of swamping the boat I was finally
disengaged from my perilous situation and taken on board—for the
body proved to be my own. It appeared that one of the
timber-bolts having started and broken a passage through the
copper, it had arrested my progress as I passed under the ship,
and fastened me in so extraordinary a manner to her bottom. The
head of the bolt had made its way through the collar of the green
baize jacket I had on, and through the back part of my neck,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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