It had not died away when
another and another smote upon my throbbing ear; and then I saw that
these inhuman monsters were actually launching their canoe over the
living bodies of their victims. But there was no pity in the breasts of
these men. Forward they went in ruthless indifference, shouting as they
went, while high above their voices rang the dying shrieks of those
wretched creatures, as, one after another, the ponderous canoe passed
over them, burst the eyeballs from their sockets, and sent the
life-blood gushing from their mouths. O reader, this is no fiction.
I would not, for the sake of thrilling you with horror, invent so terrible
a scene. It was witnessed. It is true--true as that accursed sin which
has rendered the human heart capable of such diabolical enormities!
When it was over, I turned round and fell upon the grass with a deep
groan; but Bill seized me by the arm, and lifting me up as if I had
been a child, cried--
"Come along, lad; let's away!"--and so, staggering and stumbling over
the tangled underwood, we fled from the fatal spot.
During the remainder of that day, I felt as if I were in a horrible
dream. I scarce knew what was said to me, and was more than once blamed
by the men for idling my time. At last the hour to return aboard came.
We marched down to the beach, and I felt relief for the first time when
my feet rested on the schooner's deck.
In the course of the evening I overheard part of a conversation between
the captain and the first mate, which startled me not a little.
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