, every power
of his mind had failed him; and, as before said, it was nearly an hour after
getting on board the Penguin before he became fully aware of his condition. In
regard to myself - I was resuscitated from a state bordering very nearly upon
death (and after every other means had been tried in vain for three hours and a
half) by vigorous friction with flannels bathed in hot oil - a proceeding
suggested by Augustus. The wound in my neck, although of an ugly appearance,
proved of little real consequence, and I soon recovered from its effects.
    The Penguin got into port about nine o'clock in the morning, after
encountering one of the severest gales ever experienced off Nantucket. Both
Augustus and myself managed to appear at Mr. Barnard's in time for breakfast -
which, luckily, was somewhat late, owing to the party overnight. I suppose, all
at the table were too much fatigued themselves to notice our jaded appearance -
of course, it would not have borne a very rigid scrutiny. School-boys, however,
can accomplish wonders in the way of deception, and I verily believe not one of
our friends in Nantucket had the slightest suspicion that the terrible story
told by some sailors in town of their having run down a vessel at sea and
drowned some thirty or forty poor devils, had reference either to the Ariel, my
companion, or myself. We two have since very frequently talked the matter over -
but never without a shudder. In one of our conversations Augustus frankly
confessed to me, that in his whole life he had at no time experienced so
excruciating a sense of dismay, as when on board our little boat he first
discovered the extent of his intoxication, and felt himself sinking beneath its
influence.
 

                                   Chapter II

In no affairs of mere prejudice, pro or con, do we deduce inferences with entire
certainty, even from the most simple data. It might be supposed that a
catastrophe such as I have just related would have effectually cooled my
incipient passion for the sea. On the contrary, I never experienced a more
ardent longing for the wild adventures incident to the life of a navigator than
within a week after our miraculous deliverance. This short period proved amply
long enough to erase from my memory the shadows, and bring out in vivid light
all the pleasurably exciting points of color, all the picturesqueness, of the
late perilous accident. My conversations with Augustus grew daily more frequent
and more intensely full of interest. He had a manner of relating his stories of
the ocean (more than one half of which I now suspect
