WE MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS. THE FATAL REPAST. (Blackwood's Magazine.) E had been nearly five weeks at sea, when the captain found, by a nautical observation, that we were within one hundred and thirty miles of the north side of Jamaica. Favourable winds and smooth seas had hitherto been our constant attendants, and every thing on board conspired to render the confinement and monotony of a long voyage less annoying than they usually are. The cabin passengers consisted of Major and Mrs. L-, a new-married couple; Miss P- sister to the latter; Mr. Da young Irishman, and myself. Our captain was a man of pleasing manners and liberal ideas, and formed an important acquisition to our party, by joining in all its recreations, and affording every facility to the indulgence of them. Much of our time was spent in conversation, and in walking on deck; and when the dews of evening obliged us to descend to the cabin, the captain would often entertain us with a relation of the various dangers which he and other persons had encountered at sea, or detail, with great gravity, some of the prevailing superstitions of sailors. Although he possessed more general information than usually falls to the lot of sea-faring persons, his mind was tinctured with some of their weaknesses and prejudices. The ladies of our party had a great taste for natural history, and wished to obtain specimens of all the most interesting kinds of seabirds. They had several times requested the captain to shoot one of Mother Carey's chickens, that they might take a drawing from it; however, he always declined doing so, but never gave any satisfactory reason for his unwillingness to oblige them in this respect. At last, Mr. D killed two of the birds, after having several times missed whole flocks of them. The captain seemed very much startled when he saw the animals drop on the waves-" Will you have the goodness to let down the boat to pick up the game?" said Mr. "Yes, sir," replied he, "if you'll go off in her, and never return on board this vessel-Here is a serious business-Be assured we have not seen the end of it." He then walked away without offering to give any orders about lowering the boat; and the seamen, who witnessed the transaction, looked as if they would not have obeyed him had he even done so. Though we saw no land, every thing proved that we were in the West India seas. The sky had, within a few days, begun to assume a more dazzling aspect, and long ranges of conical shaped clouds floated along the horizon. Land birds, with beautiful plumage, often hovered round the vessel, and we sometimes fancied we could discover a vegetable fragrance in the breezes that swelled our sails. One delightful clear morning, when we were in hourly expectation of making the land, some dolphin appeared astern. As the weather was very moderate, the captain proposed that we should fish for them; and a great many hooks were immediately baited for that purpose by the seamen. We caught large quantities of dolphin, and of another kind of fish, and put the whole into the hands of the steward, with orders that part should be dressed for dinner, and part distributed among the crew. When the dinner-hour arrived, we all assembled in the cabin, in high spirits, and sat down to table. It being St. George's day, the captain, who was an Englishman, had ordered that every thing should be provided and set forth in the most sumptuous style, and the steward had done full justice to his directions. We made the wines, which were exquisite and abundant, circulate rapidly, and every glass increased our gaiety and good humour, while the influence of our mirth rendered the ladies additionally amusing and animated. The captain remarked, that as there were two clarionet players among the crew, we ought to have a dance upon the quarter-deck at sunset. This proposal was received with much delight, particularly by the females of our party; and the captain had just told the servant in waiting to bid the musicians prepare themselves, when the mate entered the cabin, and said, that the man at the helm had dropped down almost senseless, and that another of the crew was so ill that he could scarcely speak. The captain, on receiving this information, grew very pale, and seemed at a loss what to reply. At last, he started from his chair, and hurried up the gangway. Our mirth ceased in a moment, though none of us appeared to know why; but the minds of all were evidently occupied by what they had just heard, and Major L― remarked, with a faultering voice, that seamen were very liable to be taken suddenly ill in hot climates. After a little time, we sent the servant to inquire what was going forward upon deck. He returned immediately, and informed us that the two sailors were worse, and that a third had just been attacked in the same way. He had scarcely said these words, when Mrs. L gave a shriek, and cried out that her sister had fainted away. This added to our confusion and alarm; and the Major and Mr. D. trembled so much, that they were hardly able to convey the young lady to her state room. All conversation was now at an end, and no one uttered a word till Mrs. L-returned from her sister's apart ment. While we were inquiring how the latter was, the captain entered the cabin in a state of great agitation."This is a dreadful busines," said he. "The fact is-it is my duty to tell you -I fear we are all poisoned by the fish we have ate-One of the crew died a few minutes since, and five others are dangerously ill." "Poisoned my God! Do you say so? Must we all die" exclaimed Mrs. dropping on her knees. "What is to be done" cried the Major distractedly; "are there no means of counteracting it ?"--"None that I know of," returned the Captain. "All remedies are vain. The poison is always fatal, except—but I begin to feel its effects-support me-can this be imagiD ATHENEUM VOL. 10. nation?" He staggered to one side, and would have fallen upon the floor, had not I assisted him. Mrs. Lnotwithstanding his apparent insensibility, clung to his arm, crying out, in a tone of despair, "Is there no helpno pity-no one to save us?" and then fainted away on her husband's bosom, who, turning to me, said, with quivering lips, "You are a happy man; you have nothing to embitter your last moments-Oh, Providence! was I permitted to escape so many dangers, merely that I might suffer this misery?" Mrs. L soon regained her senses, and I endeavoured to calm her agitation by remarking, that we might possibly escape the fatal influence of the poison, as some constitutions were not so easily affected by it as others. "Is there then a little hope ?" she exclaimed. "Oh! God grant it may be so! How dreadful to die in the midst of the ocean, far from friends and home, and then to be thrown into the deep!". "There is one thing," said the captain, faintly, "I was going to tell you, that but this sensation-I mean a remedy."-" Speak on," cried the Major, in breathless 66 It suspense. may have a chance of saving you," continued the former; "you must immediately”He gave a deep sigh, and dropped his head upon his shoulder, apparently unable to utter a word more. “Oh, this is the worst of all!" cried Mrs. L— in agony; "he was on the point of telling us how to counteract the effects of the poison-Was it heavenly mercy that deprived him of the power of speech? Can it be called mercy". "Hush, hush! you rave," returned her husband. "We have only to be resigned now-Let us at least die together." The crew had dined about an hour and a half before us, and consequently felt the effects of the poison much earlier than we did. Every one, however, now began to exhibit alarming symptoms. Mr. D became delirious; the Major lay upon the cabin floor in a state of torpidity; and the captain had drowned all sense and recollection by drinking a large quantity watched her the masts shewed, by their insessant creaking, that they carried more sail than they could well sustain. of brandy. Mrs. L husband and her sister alternately, in a state of quiet despair. I was comparatively but little affected, and therefore employed myself in assisting others until they seemed to be past all relief, and then sat down, anticipating the horrid consequences which would result from the death of the whole ship's company. While thus occupied, I heard the steersman call out, "Taken all aback here." A voice, which I knew to be the mate's, immediately answered, "Well, and what's that to us? Put her before the wind, and let her go where she pleases." I soon perceived, by the rushing of the water, that there was a great increase in the velocity of the ship's progress, and went upon deck to ascertain the cause. I found the mate stretched upon the top of the companion, and addressed him, but he made no reply. The man at the helm was tying a rope round the tiller, and told me he had become so blind and dizzy, that he could neither steer, nor see the compass, and would therefore fix the rudder in such a manner, as would keep the ship's head as near the wind as possible. On going forward to the bows, I found the crew lying motionless, in every direction. They were either insensible of the dangerous situation in which our vessel was, or totally indifferent to it; and all my representations on this head failed to draw forth an intelligible remark from any of them. Our ship carried a deal of canvass, the lower studding sails being up, for we had enjoyed a gentle breeze directly astern, before the wind headed us in the way already mentioned. About an hour after sunset, almost every person on board seemed to have become worse. I alone retained my senses unimpaired. The wind now blew very fresh, and we went through the water at the rate of ten miles an hour. The night looked dreary and turbulent. The sky was covered with large fleeces of broken clouds, and the stars flashed angrily through them, as they were wildly hurried along by the blast. The sea began to run high, and I stood alone near the stern of the ship. Nothing could be heard above or below deck, but the dashing of the surges, and the moanings of the wind. All the people on board were to me the same as dead; and I was tossed about, in the vast expanse of waters, without a companion or fellow-sufferer. I knew not what might be my fate, or where I should be carried. The vessel, as it careered along the raging deep, uncontrolled by human hands, seemed under the guidance of a relentless demon, to whose caprices its illfated crew had been mysteriously assigned by some superior power. I was filled with dread lest we should strike upon rocks, or run ashore, and often imagined that the clouds which bordered the horizon were the black cliffs of some desolate coast. At last, I distinctly saw a light at some distance I anticipated instant destruction-I grew irresolute whether to remain upon deck, and face death, or to wait for it below. I soon discovered a ship a lit.tle way ahead-I instinctively ran to the helm, and loosed the rope that tied the tiller, which at once bounded back, and knocked me over. A horrible crashing, and loud cries, now broke upon my ear, and I saw that we had got entangled with another vessel.But the velocity with which we swept along, rendered our extrication instantaneous; and, on looking back, I saw a ship, without a bowsprit, pitching irregularly among the waves, and heard the rattling of cordage, and a tumult of voices. But, after a little time, nothing was distinguishable by the eye or by the ear. My situation appeared doubly horrible, when I reflected that I had just been within call of human creatures, who might have saved and assisted all on board, had not an evil destiny hurried us along, and made us the means of injuring those who alone were capable of affording us relief. About midnight, our fore-top-mast gave way, and fell upon deck with a tremendous noise. The ship immediately swung round, and began to la bour in a terrible manner, while several waves broke over her successively. I had just resolved to descend the gang-way for shelter, when a white figure rushed past me with a wild shriek, and sprung overboard. I saw it struggling among the billows, and tossing about its arms distractedly, but had no means of affording it any assistance. I watched it for some time, and observed its convulsive motions gradually grow more feeble; but its form soon became undistinguishable amidst the foam of the bursting waves. The darkness prevented me from discovering who had thus committed himself to the deep, in a moment of madness, and I felt a strong repugnance at attempting to ascertain it, and rather wished that it might have been some spectre, or the offspring of my perturbed imagination, than a human being. As the sea continued to break over the vessel, I went down to the cabin, after having closely shut the gang-way doors and companion. Total darkness prevailed below. I addressed the captain and all my fellow-passengers by name, but received no reply from any of them, though I sometimes fancied I heard moans and quick breathing, when the tumult of waters without happened to subside a little. But I thought that it was perhaps imagination, and that they were probably all dead. I began to catch for breath, and felt as if I had been immured in a large coffin along with a number of corpses, and was doomed to linger out life beside them. The sea beat against the vessel with a noise like that of artillery, and the crashing of the bulwarks, driven in by its violence, gave startling proof of the danger that threatened us. Having several times been dashed against the cabin walls by the violent pitching of the ship, I groped for my bed, and lay down in it, and, notwithstanding the horrors that surrounded me, gradually dropped asleep. When I awaked, I perceived, by the sun-beams that shone through the skylight, that the morning was far advanced. The ship rolled violently at intervals, but the noise of winds and wave. had altogether geased. I got up hastily, and almost dreaded to look round, lest I should find my worst anticipations concerning my companions too fatally realized. I immediately discovered the captain lying on one side of the cabin quite dead. Opposite him was Major L, stretched along the floor, and grasping firmly the handle of the door of his wife's apartment. He had, I suppose, in a moment of agony, wished to take farewell of the partner of his heart, but had been unable to get beyond the spot where he now lay. He looked like a dying man, and Mrs. Lwho sat beside him, scemed to be exhausted with grief and terror. She tried to speak several times, and at last succeeded in informing me that her sister was better. I could not discover Mr. D— any where, and therefore concluded that he was the person who had leaped overboard the preceding night. On going upon deck, I found that every thing wore a new aspect. The sky was dazzling and cloudless, and not the faintest breath of wind could be felt. The sea had a beautiful bright green colour, and was calm as a small lake, except when an occasional swell rolled from that quarter in which the wind had been the preceding night; and the water was so clear, that I saw to the bottom, and even distinguished little fishes sporting around the keel of our vessel. Four of the seamen were dead, but the mate and the remaining three had so far recovered, as to be able to walk across the deck. The ship was almost in a disabled state. Part of the wreck of the fore-top-mast lay upon her bows, and the rigging and sails of the mainmast had suffered much injury. The mate told me, that the soundings, and almost every thing else, proved we were on the Bahama banks, though he had not yet ascertained on what part of them we lay, and consequently could not say whether we had much chance of falling in with any vessel. The day passed gloomily. We regarded every cloud that rose upon the horizon as the fore-runner of a breeze, which we above all things feared to en counter. Much of our time was employed in preparing for the painful but necessary duty of interring the dead. The carpenter soon got ready a sufficient number of boards, to each of which we bound one of the corpses, and also weights enough to make it sink to the bottom. About ten at night, we began to commit the bodies to the deep. A dead calm had prevailed the whole day, and not a cloud obscured the sky. The sea reflected the stars so distinctly, that it seemed as if we were consigning our departed companions to a heaven as resplendent as that above us. There was an awful solemnity, alike in the scene and in our situation. I read the funeral service, and then we dropped the corpses overboard, one after another. The sea sparkled around each, as its sullen plunge announced that the waters were closing over it, and they all slowly and successively descended to the bottom, enveloped in a ghastly glimmering brightness, which enabled us to trace their progress through the motionless deep. When these last of fices of respect were performed, we retired in silence to different parts of the ship. About midnight, the mate ordered the men to put down our anchor, which, till then, they had not been able to accomplish. They likewise managed to furl most of the sails, and we went to bed, under the consoling idea, that though a breeze did spring up, our moorings would enable us to weather it without any risk. I was roused early next morning by a confused noise upon deck. When I got there, I found the men gazing intently over the side of the ship, and inquired if our anchor held fast?" Ay, ay," returned one of them, "rather faster than we want it." On approaching the bulwarks, and looking down, I perceived, to my horror and astonishment, all the corpses lying at the bottom of the sea, as if they had just been dropt into it. We could even distinguish their features glimmering confusedly through the superincumbent mass of ocean. A large block happened to fall overboard, and the agitation which it occasioned in the sea produced an apparent augmentation of their number, and a horrible distortion of their limbs and countenances. A hundred corpses seemed to start up and struggle wildly together, and then gradually to vanish among the eddying waters, as they subsided into a state of calmness. We were now exempted from the ravages and actual presence of death, but his form haunted us without intermission. We hardly dared to look over the ship's side, lest our eyes should encounter the ghastly features of some one who had formerly been a companion, and at whose funeral rites we had recently assisted. The seamen began to murmur among themselves, saying that we should never be able to leave the spot where we then were, and that our vessel would rot away as fast as the dead bodies that lay beneath it. In the evening a strong breeze sprung up, and filled us with hopes that some vessel would soon come in sight, and afford us relief. At sunset, when the mate was giving directions about the watch, one of the seamen cried out, "Thanked be God, there they are." And the other ran up to him, saying, "Where, where?" He pointed to a flock of Mother Carey's chickens that had just appeared astern, and began to count how many there were of them. I inquired what was the matter, and the mate replied, "Why only that we've seen the worst, that's all, master. I've a notion we'll fall in with a sail before twenty-four hours are past.”—“ Have you any particular reason for thinking so?" said I. "To be sure I have," returned he; "aren't them there birds the spirits of those brave fellows we threw overboard last night? I knew we never should be able to quit this place till they made their appearance above water. However, I'm not quite sure how it may go with us yet," continued he, looking anxiously astern; "they stay rather long about our ship.' "I have always understood," said I, "that these birds indicate bad weather, or some unfortunate event, and this appears to me to be true."-"Ay, ay," replied he, "they say experience teaches fools, and I have found it so; there was a time when I did not believe that these créatures were any thing but com |