The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-02-02
A Burial at Sea.

| 1 had always conceived a burial at
sea to be very solemn and awe-in-
| spring event, but l was quickly disil-
lusioned, by this burial at any rate.
| One of the hunters, a little dark-eyed
man whom his mates called Smoke"
was telling stories literally inter-
| sprinkled with oath and obscenities;
and every minute or so the group of
hunters would give mouth to a laugh
ter that sounded to me like chorus
of wolves. The sailors trooped noisily
aft, some of the watch below rubbing
the sleep from their eyes, and talked in
low tone together. There was an
ominous and worried expression on
their faces. 1t was evident that they
did not like the outlook of a voyage
under such a captain and begun so
inauspiciously. From time to time
they stole. glances at Wolf Larsen, and
l could see that they were apprehensive
of the man.
He stepped up to the hatch cover,
and all caps came off. l ran my eyes
over them-twenty men all told, TWEEN
ty-two including the man at the wheel
and myself. l was pardonably curious
in my survey, for it appeared my fate
to be pent up with them on this minia-
ture floating world for l knew not how
many weeks or months. The sailors,
in the main, were English and Scandi-
navian, and their faces seemed of the
heavy, stolid order. The hunters, on
the other hand, had stronger and more
diversified faces, with hard lines and
the marks of the free play of passions.
Strange to say, and / noted it at once,
Wolf Larsen's features showed no such
evil stamp. There seemed nothing vi
cious in them. True, there were lines;
but they were the lines of decision and
firmness. 1t seemed, rather, a frank
and open countenance, which frank
ness or openness was enhanced by the
fact that he was smooth shaver. I
could hardly believe, until the next in
cident occurred, that it was the face of
man who could behave as he behaved
to the cabin boy.
At this moment, as he opened his
mouth to speak, puff after puff struck
the schooner and pressed her side I'M
der The wind shrieked a wild song
through the rigging. Some of the
hunters glanced anXiously aloft. The
whole lee rail, where the dead man lay,
was buried in the sea, and as the
schooner lifted and righted, the water
swept across the deck, wetting us
above our shoetops. A shower of rain
drove down upon us, each singing like
a hailstone. AS it passed, Wolf Lar
sen began to speak, the bareheaded
men swaying in unison to the heave
and lunge of the deck.
II only remember one part of the
service" he said, land that Is And
the body shall be cast into the sea- So
cast it in" He ceased speaking. The
men holding the hatch cover seemed
perplexed by the briefness of the cere-
mony. He burst upon them in fury.
Lift up that end there! What the
IS the matter with you?"
They elevated the end Of the hatch
cover with pitiful haste, and, like
log flung oversize, the dead man slid
feet first into the sea. The coal at
his feet dragged him down. He was
gone.
"Johansen," Wolf Larsen said brisk
y to the new mate, keep all hands on
ieck now they're here. Get in the top
sails and outer jibs. We're in for
u'easter. Reef the jib and the
nainsail, too, while you're about it,
from Jack Londons THE Sea Wolf"