Читать книгу Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights - Kelly Miller - Страница 194

Finally Moeller climbed upon the upturned boat, where he lay listening to the shrieks of his companions. He said that their cries were most pitiful. The cabin boy was the next victim. He cried pitifully for a time, but finally became silent and slid into the water. One after another, the men died of exposure and slipped into the peaceful sea.

After a time the only persons remaining, besides the third mate, were the two who had thrown themselves across the bottom of the boat. Finally one of them gave up the struggle, and the other, in an effort to combat the cold, pulled the clothes from his dead body and wrapped them about himself. The boat settled a little, and finally both were corpses, lying with feet and hands dipping into the sea. The engineer said that he did not have the heart to push their bodies into the water, although he knew they were dead.

Finally the third mate was the only other man alive. The clothes of the engineer were frozen fast to his body, and he felt that he was dying of cold. The third mate started to get a sort of bluish black from the cold, and with a gasping cry he attempted to sit up straight. Then reason left him, and for a couple of hours he shouted and shrieked, and, as the sun began to streak the sky and dawn brought slight comfort, the demented man raved and swore.

Then a flash of reason seemed to return to him and he spoke to Moeller.

"I'm going," he said. "Give my love to my wife."

The man had been married just before starting on this ill-fated voyage. With this farewell message on his lips he died. When Moeller returned to his home he found that it was impossible to deliver the message to the wife of the dead man, because of the fact that worry had driven her insane.