Suppose they
were in the condition of cataleptics, sensible of what passed around
them, but paralyzed to the motionlessness and seeming insensibility of
death? Then the very garments under which I lay were of a proper kind to
keep a man in my situation quaking. My imagination went to work to tell
me to whom they had belonged, the bloody ends their owners had met at
the hands of the miscreants who despoiled them. I caught myself
listening--and there was enough to hear, too, what with the subdued
roaring of the wind, the splintering of ice, the occasional
creaking--not unlike a heavy booted tread--of the fabric of the
schooner--to the blasts of the gale against her masts, or to a movement
in the bed on which she reposed.

But plain sense came to my rescue at last. I resolved to have no more of
these night fears, so, blowing out the candle, I put my head on the coat
that formed my pillow, resolutely kept my eyes shut, and after awhile
fell asleep.

CHAPTER XIII.

I EXPLORE THE HOLD AND FORECASTLE.

It was pitch dark when I awoke, and I conceived it must be the middle of
the night, but to my astonishment, on lighting the lanthorn and looking
at the watch, which I had taken the precaution to wind up overnight, I
saw it wanted but twenty minutes of nine o'clock, so that I had passed
through twelve hours of solid sleep. However, it was only needful to
recollect where I was, and to cast a glance at the closed door and port,
to understand why it was dark. I had slept fairly warm, and awoke with
no sensation of cramp; but the keen air had caused the steam of my
breath to freeze upon my mouth in such a manner that, when feeling the
sticky inconvenience I put my finger to it, it fell like a little mask;
and I likewise felt the pain of cold in my face to such an extent that
had I been blistered there my cheeks, nose, and brow could not have
smarted more. This resolved me henceforward to wrap up my head and face
before going to rest.

I opened the door and passed out, and observed an amazing difference
between the temperature of the air in which I had been sleeping and that
of the atmosphere in the passage--a happy discovery, for it served to
assure me that, if I was careful to lie under plenty of coverings and to
keep the outer air excluded, the heat of my body would raise the
temperature of the little cabin; nor, providing the compartment was
ventilated throughout the day, was there anything to be feared from the
vit