urg for
whaling in the southern seas. This brig was an old, ill-repaired
craft, and Mr. Barnard, the father of Augustus, was its skipper. His
son, who was to accompany him on the voyage, strongly urged Arthur
to go with him, and the latter would have asked nothing better, but
he knew that his family, and especially his mother, would never
consent to let him go.

This obstacle, however, could not stop a youth not much given to
submit to the wishes of his parents. His head was full of the
entreaties and persuasion of his companion, and he determined to
embark secretly on the _Grampus_, for Mr. Barnard would not have
authorized him to defy the prohibition of his family. He announced
that he had been invited to pass a few days with a friend at New
Bedford, took leave of his parents and left his home. Forty-eight
hours before the brig was to sail, he slipped on board unperceived,
and got into a hiding-place which had been prepared for him unknown
alike to Mr. Barnard and the crew.

The cabin occupied by Augustus communicated by a trap-door with the
hold of the _Grampus_, which was crowded with barrels, bales, and the
innumerable components of a cargo. Through the trap-door Arthur Pym
reached his hiding-place, which was a huge wooden chest with a
sliding side to it. This chest contained a mattress, blankets, a jar
of water, ship's biscuit, smoked sausage, a roast quarter of
mutton, a few bottles of cordials and liqueurs, and also
writing-materials. Arthur Pym, supplied with a lantern, candles, and
tinder, remained three days and nights in his retreat. Augustus
Barnard had not been able to visit him until just before the _Grampus_
set sail.

An hour later, Arthur Pym began to feel the rolling and pitching of
the brig. He was very uncomfortable in the chest, so he got out of
it, and in the dark, while holding on by a rope which was stretched
across the hold to the trap of his friend's cabin, he was
violently sea-sick in the midst of the chaos. Then he crept back
into his chest, ate, and fell asleep.

Several days elapsed without the reappearance of Augustus Barnard.
Either he had not been able to get down into the hold again, or he
had not ventured to do so, fearing to betray the presence of Arthur
Pym, and thinking the moment for confessing everything to his father
had not yet come.

Arthur Pym, meanwhile, was beginning to suffer from the hot and
vitiated atmosphere of the hold. Terrible nightmares troubled his
sleep.