"Have you overhauled the midshipmen's berth, Mr Marline?"
"Yes, sir."
"The whole ship has been searched," said little Binnacle, who had just returned from below; "cable-tier, hold, and all. The boatswain and carpenter have been all over her. The gunner has even looked into the magazine. Mr De Walden is not on board, sir."
"Poo, there he is at the masthead,—there," said I; for as I looked up I distinctly saw, either with my bodily optic, or my mind's eye, I am not quite certain which to this hour, a dark figure standing on the long-yard, with one hand holding on by a backstay, while with the other it pointed upwards into the pure sky. Old Dick at this was in a towering passion. "Come down—Mr De Walden—come down. sir—what is the fun of all this?—why, your absence has put the whole ship in a fuss—we thought you had fallen overboard." The dark object remained stock-still. "What can the captain see?" passed amongst the men. "Why, I see nothing, but Mr Brail does," quoth el señor teniente. "Do you see any thing at the masthead?" said one to his neighbour—"Do you see any thing?" quoth another. No one saw any thing but myself. "Look there, Sprawl—there—by Heaven what can this mean—do you really see nothing there?" The worthy fellow shaded his eyes with his hand, and kept twisting and turning and rolling his head about, as if it had been fixed on the ball and socket principle; but the object that had fascinated me was invisible to him. Gradually the figure, without changing its position, thinned; and anon, as if it had been a shred of dark vapour between us and the heavens, the stars were seen through it; but the outline, to my distempered vision, was still as well defined as ever. Presently, however, it began to grow indistinct and misty; and, whatever it was, it imperceptibly melted away and disappeared. De Walden was nowhere to be found. I looked back towards the dark estuary we had left. The sky in the background was heavy, black, and surcharged, as if it had been one vast thundercloud; but the white line of breakers on the bar continued distinctly visible; over which the heavenly moonlight rainbow still hovered, although gradually fading; and even as I looked it ceased to be distinguishable. As it disappeared in the surrounding blackness, even so vanished all hope from my mind of young De Walden's safety: and remembering the poor boy's last words—"A good omen!" said I, "Alas, alas, an evil one it hath been to thee, poor boy!"
"Call the watch, boatswain's mate," said Lanyard; and without speaking a word more, he, old Davie, and I descended to the cabin again.
"What saw you aloft, Benjie? tell us truly—none of your waking dreams, you mongrel, half Scotchman, half Pat," said Sprawl.
I told him.
"I know it is downright nonsense—there was no one aloft, and I am persuaded it was all a delusion; still"——
"Nonsense—to be sure it is all nonsense—regular moonshine, Benjie," said Davie—"cannot be—you are overfatigued, man—you will laugh at all this to-morrow—but poor young De Walden—he must have fallen overboard when we drove the Don on the reef. God help us—what a melancholy report we shall have to make to Sir Oliver! but give us some grog, Lanyard, you sticky old villain, and I will lie down on the locker till daylight."
I was bewildered—my mind from my early youth was tinged with superstition, but, nevertheless, what could this have been? For four-and-twenty hours, whatever I might have drank, I had eaten little or nothing,—and I began to perceive that I laboured under the oppressive effects of such a recoil as one experiences after having had the folly and audacity to get tipsy on unaided champagne, without having stowed away a ground tier of wholesome solid food; besides, I now found that the blow on my head, hard and thick as that might be, was beginning to tell; for I was aware that my pulse was feverish, and I had had several attacks of giddiness during the evening. I puzzled myself for half-an-hour in vain; at length I came to the conclusion, no doubt the correct one, that it was a freak of the imagination. When I raised my head from my hand, by which time the lamp was flickering in the socket, I saw my friends sound asleep, so I was not long in following their example, and worn out as I was, I soon forgot every thing, and was as fast as they were.