"Is Mr De Walden aft there?" continued little Binnacle.
A sudden light flashed on me--I trembled, and a chill curdled the blood at my heart, for I had not seen him since we had hove the schooner on the reef. I ran on deck, but as I ascended the ladder, "Pooh," said I to myself, "all nonsense--why put myself into a flurry?" And as I stepped off the ladder, little Binnacle called down the main-hatchway--
"I say, De Walden--Henry--Henry De Walden--come on deck, man--come on deck--this is no time for skylarking--Mr Lanyard is on deck."
Several gruff voices replied from below, "Mr De Walden is _not_ here, sir."--"No Mr De Walden here."
The buzz increased--"Is Mr De Walden forward there?"
Old Bloody Politeful, kind-hearted soul as he always was, had now also turned out--"Why, Brail, what is all this bother about?"
"My dear Sprawl," said I, greatly excited, "young De Walden is nowhere to be seen."
"Nonsense," rejoined he; "why, he was standing close beside me the whole time we were crossing the bar, even up to the time when I was fool enough to _squir_ my old hat over the masthead."
"Then beat to quarters," said Mr Lanyard;--"the gallant youngster never missed muster yet--Desire them to beat to quarters, Mr Marline."
"Ay, ay, sir," responded the midshipman. All hands turned out promptly.
"Men," said the lieutenant--"Mr De Walden is missing.--Have any of you seen him?"
"No, sir,--none of us have seen him since the strange schooner struck."
"Have you overhauled the midshipmen's berth, Mr Marline?"
"The whole ship has been searched," said little Binnacle, who had just returned from below; "cable-tier, hold, and all. The boatswain and carpenter have been all over her. The gunner has even looked into the magazine. Mr De Walden _is not_ on board, sir."
"Poo, there he is at the masthead,--there," said I; for as I looked up I distinctly saw, either with my bodily optic, or my mind's eye, I am not quite certain which to this hour, a dark figure standing on the long-yard, with one hand holding on by a backstay, while with the other it pointed upwards into the pure sky. Old Dick at this was in a towering passion. "Come down--Mr De Walden--come down. sir--what is the fun of all this?--why, your absence has put the whole ship in a fuss--we thought you had fallen overboard." The dark object remained stock-still. "What _can_ the captain see?" passed amongst the men. "Why, _I_ see nothing, but Mr Brail does," quoth _el señor teniente_. "Do you see any thing at the masthead?" said one to his neighbour--"Do _you_ see any thing?" quoth another. No one saw any thing but myself. "Look there, Sprawl--there--by Heaven what can this mean--_do_ you really see nothing there?" The worthy fellow shaded his eyes with his hand, and kept twisting and turning and rolling his head about, as if it had been fixed on the ball and socket principle; but the object that had fascinated me was invisible to him. Gradually the figure, without changing its position, _thinned_; and anon, as if it had been a shred of dark vapour between us and the heavens, the stars were seen through it; but the outline, to my distempered vision, was still as well defined as ever. Presently, however, it began to grow indistinct and misty; and, whatever it was, it imperceptibly melted away and disappeared. _De Walden was nowhere to be found_. I looked back towards the dark estuary we had left. The sky in the background was heavy, black, and surcharged, as if it had been one vast thundercloud; but the white line of breakers on the bar continued distinctly visible; over which the heavenly moonlight rainbow still hovered, although gradually fading; and even as I looked it ceased to be distinguishable. As it disappeared in the surrounding blackness, even so vanished all hope from my mind of young De Walden's safety: and remembering the poor boy's last words--"A good omen!" said I, "Alas, alas, an evil one it hath been to thee, poor boy!"