day a man died � an one of the best divers that season in the � that is what it was though how could come on board when there had been no known cases i he heathen ashore when we left is beyond me there it was though � a man dead and three others down on their backs there was nothing to be done we could not the sick nor could we care for them we were packed like there was nothing to do but rot and die � that is there was nothing to do after the night that followed the first death on that night the mate the the polish jew and four native divers away in the large whale boat they were never heard of again in the morning the captain promptly the remaining boats and there we were that day there were two deaths the following day three then it jumped to eight it was curious to see how we took it the natives for instance fell into a condition of dumb stolid fear the captain � his name was a frenchman � became very nervous and he actually got the he was a large man weighing at least two hundred pounds the heathen and he quickly became a faithful representation of a quivering mountain of fat the german the two americans and myself bought up all the scotch and proceeded to stay drunk the theory was beautiful � namely if we kept ourselves soaked in every that came into contact with us would immediately be to a and the theory worked though i must confess that neither captain nor ah were attacked by the disease either the frenchman did not drink at all while all himself to one drink daily it was a pretty time the sun going into northern was straight overhead there was no wind except for frequent which blew fiercely for from five minutes to half an hour and wound up by us with rain after each the awful sun would come out drawing clouds of steam from the soaked decks the steam was not nice it was the of death with millions and millions is the heathen of we always took another drink when we saw it going up from the dead and dying and usually we took two or three more drinks mixing them also we made it a rule to take an additional several each time they the dead over to the that about us we had a week of it and then the gave out it is just as well or i shouldn t be alive now it took a sober man to pull through what followed as you will agree when i mention the little fact that only two men did pull through the other man was the heathen � at least that was what i heard captain call him at the m ment i first became aware of the heathen s existence but to come back it was at the end of the week with the gone and the pearl sober that i happened to glance at the that hung in the cabin its normal register in the was and it was quite customary to see it between and or even the heathen but to see it as i saw it down to was sufficient to sober the most drunken that ever in scotch i called captain s attention to it only to be informed that he had watched it going down for several hours there was little to do but that little he did very well considering the circumstances he took off the light sails right down to storm canvas spread life lines and waited for the wind his mistake lay in what he did after the wind came he to on the port tack which was the right thing to do south of the if � and there was the rub � one were not in the direct path of the we were in the direct path i could see that by the steady increase of the wind and the equally steady fall of the i wanted him to turn and run with the wind on the port quarter until the ceased falling and then to heave to we argued till he was reduced to but is the heathen he would not the worst of it was that i could not get the rest of the to back me up who was i anyway to know more about the sea and its ways than a properly qualified captain was what was in their minds i knew of course the sea rose with the wind and i shall never forget the first three seas the she had fallen off as vessels do at times when to and the first sea made a clean breach the life lines were only for the strong and well and little good were they even for � them when the women and children the and the pigs and trade boxes the sick and the dying were swept along in a solid groaning mass the second sea filled the s decks flush with the rails and as her stem sank down and her bow tossed all the miserable of life and luggage poured aft it was a human torrent they came head first feet first rolling over and over twisting the heathen and up now and again one caught a grip on a or a rope but the weight of the bodies behind tore such loose one man i noticed fetch up head on and square on with the his head cracked like an egg i saw what was coming sprang on top of the cabin and from there into the itself ah and one of the americans tried to follow me but i was one jump ahead of them the american was swept away and over the stern like a piece of ah caught a spoke of the wheel 