'Save me! Save me!' he cried, and then looked round on the blanket of fog. His horror turned to despair, and in a steady voice he said, 'You had better come too, captain, before it is too late.'

'He is there! I know the secret now. The sea will save me from him, and it is all that is left!' Before I could say a word, or move forward to seize him, he sprang on the bulwark and deliberately threw himself into the sea. I suppose I know the secret too, now. It was this madman who had got rid of the men one by one, and now he has followed them himself. God help me! How am I to account for all these horrors when I get to port? When I get to port! Will that ever be?

4 August. Still fog, which the sunrise cannot pierce, I know there is sunrise because I am a sailor, why else I do not know. I dared not go below, I dared not leave the helm, so here all night I stayed, and in the dimness of the night I saw it, Him! God, forgive me, but the mate was right to jump overboard. It was better to die like a man. To die like a sailor in blue water, no man can object. But I am captain, and I must not leave my ship. But I shall baffle this fiend or monster, for I shall tie my hands to the wheel when my strength begins to fail, and along with them I shall tie that which He, It, dare not touch.

Vocabulary:

Despair: The feeling that there is no hope
Seize: To strongly hold on to something
Bulwark: The side of a ship
Account for: Explain
Pierce: Stab through with something sharp
Dimness: Light, but only just
Baffle: Stop from working
Fiend: A devil