 the time of the accident
the ship had been navigated with proper and seamanlike care. They said Yes to
that, goodness knows why, and then they declared that there was no evidence to
show the exact cause of the accident. A floating derelict probably. I myself
remember that a Norwegian barque bound out with a cargo of pitch-pine had been
given up as missing about that time, and it was just the sort of craft that
would capsize in a squall and float bottom up for months - a kind of maritime
ghoul on the prowl to kill ships in the dark. Such wandering corpses are common
enough in the North Atlantic, which is haunted by all the terrors of the sea -
fogs, icebergs, dead ships bent upon mischief, and long, sinister gales that
fasten upon one like a vampire till all the strength and the spirit and even
hope are gone, and one feels like the empty shell of a man. But there - in those
seas - the incident was rare enough to resemble a special arrangement of a
malevolent providence, which, unless it had for its object the killing of a
donkeyman and the bringing of worse than death upon Jim, appeared an utterly
aimless piece of devilry. This view occurring to me took off my attention. For a
time I was aware of the magistrate's voice as a sound merely; but in a moment it
shaped itself into distinct words... in utter disregard of their plain duty, it
said. The next sentence escaped me somehow, and then... abandoning in the moment
of danger the lives and property confided to their charge... went on the voice
evenly, and stopped. A pair of eyes under the white forehead shot darkly a
glance above the edge of the paper. I looked for Jim hurriedly, as though I had
expected him to disappear. He was very still - but he was there. He sat pink and
fair and extremely attentive. Therefore... began the voice emphatically. He
stared with parted lips, hanging upon the words of the man behind the desk.
These came out into the stillness wafted on the wind made by the punkahs, and I,
watching for their effect upon him, caught only the fragments of official
language.... The Court... Gustav So-and-so... master... native of Germany...
James So-and-so... mate... certificates cancelled. A silence fell. The
magistrate had dropped the paper, and leaning sideways on the arm of his chair,
began to talk
