and looked forward with
gloomy apprehension at those that still awaited me. I sought in vain,
among all my actions since I left my mother's care, one single deed of
virtue--one that sprang from a good motive. There was, it is true, an
outward gloss and polish for the world to look at; but all was dark
within; and I felt that a keener eye than that of mortality was
searching my soul, where deception was worse than useless.

At twelve o'clock, before I had once closed my eyes, I was called to
relieve the deck; having what is called the middle-watch, i.e. from
midnight till four in the morning. We had, the day before, buried a
quarter-master, nick-named Quid, an old seaman who had destroyed himself
by drinking--no very uncommon case in His Majesty's service. The corpse
of a man who has destroyed his inside by intemperance is generally in a
state of putridity immediately after death: and the decay, particularly
in warm climates, is very rapid. A few hours after Quid's death, the
body emitted certain effluvia denoting the necessity of immediate
interment. It was accordingly sewn up in a hammock; and as the ship lay
in deep water, with a current sweeping round the bay, and the boats
being at the same time all employed in the dockyard, the first
lieutenant caused shot to be tied to the feet, and, having read the
funeral service, launched the body overboard from the gangway, as the
ship lay at anchor.

I was walking the deck, in no very happy state of mind, reflecting
seriously on parts of that Bible which for more than two years I had
never looked into, when my thoughts were called to the summons which
poor Quid had received, and the beauty of the funeral service which I
had read over him--"I am the resurrection and the life." The moon,
which had been obscured, suddenly burst from a cloud, and a cry of
horror proceeded from the look-out-man on the starboard gangway. I ran
to inquire the cause, and found him in such a nervous state of agitation
that he could only say,--"Quid--Quid!" and point with his finger into
the water.

I looked over the side, and, to my amazement there was the body of Quid:

"All in dreary hammock shrouded."

perfectly upright, and floating with the head and shoulders above water.
A slight undulation of the waves gave it the appearance of nodding its
head; while the rays of the moon enabled us to trace the remainder of
the body underneath the surface. For a few moments, I felt a horror
w