ship inside, with a raised poop standing some three feet
higher than the deck, and a small forward house, for the men's bunks and
the galley, just abaft the foremast. There was one boat on the house,
and another and larger one, in beds on deck, on either hand of it. She
had been painted white, with tropical economy, outside and in; and we
found, later on, that the stanchions of the rail, hoops of the scuttle
but, etc., were picked out with green. At that time, however, when we
first stepped aboard, all was hidden under the droppings of innumerable
sea-birds.

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. The after part contained, in the midst,
the main cabin, running in a kind of bow into the curvature of the
stern; on the port side, a pantry opening forward and a stateroom for
the mate; and on the starboard, the captain's berth and water-closet.
Into these we did but glance: the main cabin holding us. It was dark,
for the sea-birds had obscured the skylight with their droppings; it
smelt rank and fusty; and it was beset with a loud swarm of flies that
beat continually in our faces. Supposing them close attendants upon man
and his broken meat, I marvelled how they had found their way to Midway
reef; it was sure at least some vessel must have brought them, and that
long ago, for they had multiplied exceedingly. Part of the floor was
strewn with a confusion of clothes, books, nautical instrument