Next instant, the luckless mate, so full of furious life,
was smitten bodily into the air, and making a long arc in his descent,
fell into the sea at the distance of about fifty yards.
Not a chip of the boat was harmed, nor a hair of any oarsman's head;
but the mate for ever sank.
It is well to parenthesize here, that of the fatal accidents in the
Sperm-Whale Fishery, this kind is perhaps almost as frequent as any.
Sometimes, nothing is injured but the man who is thus annihilated;
oftener the boat's bow is knocked off, or the thigh-board, on which
the headsman stands, is torn from its place and accompanies the body.
But strangest of all is the circumstance, that in more instances than one,
when the body has been recovered, not a single mark of violence is
discernible the man being stark dead.
The whole calamity, with the falling form of Macey, was plainly descried
from the ship. Raising a piercing shriek--"The vial! the vial!"
Gabriel called off the terror-stricken crew from the further
hunting of the whale. This terrible event clothed the archangel
with added influence; because his credulous disciples believed
that he had specifically fore-announced it, instead of only making
a general prophecy, which any one might have done, and so have
chanced to hit one of many marks in the wide margin allowed.
Pages:
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521