Strange to say, he seemed next morning to outward appearance not much the worse for his accident.
From that day, however, he was in reality a changed man. Once among the most high-spirited and joyous of the crew, he became melancholy and silent, though he went through his duty as usual. About a month afterwards, as Adair was going forward, he saw a whitehaired man sitting on the coamings of the fore-hatchway.
“Where did that old man come from?” he asked of Snatchblock.
“I never saw so strange a thing in all my life, sir,” was the answer. “Last night when he turned in his hair was as black as mine, and this morning, when the hammocks were piped up, it was as you see it. That man, sir, is Ned Somers!”
Adair could scarcely believe what he heard till he spoke to poor Ned, who, however, not having a looking-glass, did not seem to be aware of the change. After this he grew weaker and weaker; his nervous system, when he fell overboard, had received a shock which was too much for him. Murray had resolved to send him home, when the surgeon reported that the poor fellow had not many hours to live. Before night he breathed his last, and was buried in the seaman’s wide sepulchre, the Ocean. He survived the accident scarcely three months.
Chapter Twenty Three.
Up the Parana—Murray’s forebodings—Battle of Punta Obligado—Attacked by fireships—Schooner blows up—Jack and Murray perform a gallant exploit—Murray wounded—The batteries stormed—Tom and Gerald carried off by Gauchos.
“Hurrah! my boy, there is a prospect of more glorious or, at all events, more exciting work than slave-hunting,” exclaimed Adair, as he came on board the Supplejack from the Tudor, both vessels then lying in Rio harbour.