The birds themselves gyrated and screamed meanwhile
among the rigging; and when we looked into the galley,
their outrush drove us back. Savage-looking fowl they
were, savagely beaked, and some of the black ones great
as eagles. Half-buried in the slush, we were aware of
a litter of kegs in the waist; and these, on being
somewhat cleaned, proved to be water-beakers and
quarter-casks of mess beef with some colonial brand,
doubtless collected there before the TEMPEST hove
in sight, and while Trent and his men had no better
expectation than to strike for Honolulu in the boats.
Nothing else was notable on deck, save where the loose
topsail had played some havoc with the rigging, and
there hung, and swayed, and sang in the declining wind,
a raffle of intorted cordage.
With a shyness that was almost awe, Nares and I
descended the companion. The stair turned upon itself
and landed us just forward of a thwart-ship bulkhead
that cut the poop in two. The fore part formed a kind
of miscellaneous store-room, with a double-bunked
division for the cook (as Nares supposed) and second
mate.
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