masts, carrying upon the foremast a large standing
lug and a jib, and a small lug upon the jigger-mast. These latter, that
is to say the jigger-mast and the small lug, we stretched over the
stern-sheets of the longboat in the same way as we had dealt with the
gig, leading the yoke lines forward on top of the sail, so that the
steering arrangements might not be interfered with. And finally, we
close-reefed the big lug and took in the jib, when we were as ready for
the expected outfly as it was possible for people in such circumstances
to be.

That something more than a mere thunderstorm was impending there could
now be no possible doubt. The strange light of which I have spoken, and
which had seemed to emanate from the clouds, had now vanished, giving
place to a darkness so profound that it seemed to oppress us like some
material substance; and the silence was as profound and oppressive as
the darkness--so profound, indeed, was it that any accidental sound
which happened to break in upon it, such as the occasional lap of the
water against the boat's planking, the scuffling movement of a man, or
the intermittent flap of the sail as the longboat stirred upon a
wandering ridge of slow-moving swell, smote upon the ear with an
exaggerated distinctness that was positively startling to an almost
painful degree. I accounted for this, at the time, by attributing it in
part to the peculiar electrical condition of the atmosphere, and partly
to the fact that we had all been wrought up to a condition of high
nervous tension by the conviction that something--we did not quite know
what--was impending, for which we were all anxiously on the watch, and
that, in the Cimmerian darkness which enveloped us, we were obliged to
depend for adequate warning, upon our hearing alone, which caused us to
resent and be impatient of all extraneous sounds. That this was to some
extent the case was evidenced by the fact that, our preparations
finished, we had, as with one consent, subsided into silence, which was
broken only in a low whisper if anyone felt it necessary to speak.

Suddenly, as we all sat waiting for the outburst of the threatened
storm, a long-drawn, piercing cry pealed out across the water,
apparently from a spot at no very great distance from us. It was,
although not very loud, the most appalling, soul-harrowing sound that
had ever smote upon my ears, and a violent shudder of horror thrilled me
from head to foot, while I felt t