Chapter 42 - Page 2

most profound
fell upon us all. I glanced at Curtis as he stood with folded
arms intently gazing at the distant point. His brow was
furrowed, and he contracted every feature, as with half-closed
eyes, he concentrated his power of vision upon that one faint
spot in the far-off horizon.

But at length he dropped his arms and shook his head. I looked
again, but the spot was no longer there. If it were a ship, that
ship had disappeared; but probably it had been a mere reflection,
or, more likely still, only the crest of some curling wave.

A deep dejection followed this phantom ray of hope. All returned
to their accustomed places. Curtis alone remained motionless,
but his eye no longer scanned the distant view.

Owen now began to shriek more wildly than ever. He presented
truly a most melancholy sight; he writhed with the most hideous
contortions, and had all the appearance of suffering from
tetanus. His throat was contracted by repeated spasms, his
tongue was parched, his body swollen, and his pulse, though
feeble, was rapid and irregular. The poor wretch's symptoms were
precisely such as to lead us to suspect that he had taken some
corrosive poison. Of course it was quite out of our power to
administer any antidote; all that we could devise was to make him
swallow something that might act as an emetic. I asked Curtis
for a little of the lukewarm water. As the contents of the
broken barrel were now exhausted, the captain, in order to comply
with my request, was about to tap the other barrel, when Owen
started suddenly to his knees, and with a wild, unearthly shriek,
exclaimed,--

"No! no! no! of that water I will not touch a drop."

I supposed he did not understand what we were going to do, and
endeavoured to explain; but all in vain; he persisted in refusing
to taste the water in the second barrel. I then tried to induce
vomiting by tickling his uvula, and he brought off some bluish
secretion from his stomach, the character of which confirmed our
previous suspicions--that he had been poisoned by oxide of
copper. We now felt convinced that any efforts on our part to
save him would be of no avail. The vomiting, however, had for
the time relieved him, and he was able to speak.

Curtis and I both implored him to let us know what he had taken
to bring about consequences so serious. His reply fell upon us
as a startling blow.

The ill fated wretch had stolen several pints of water from the
barrel that had been untouched, and that water had poisoned him!