He couldn't stand
that forever. This mornin' the pain sorter left him, but there was that
one idee on his mind. The ship was all loaded, and he'd got to wait for
high tide to git it off, and he wanted to go to sleep, but he couldn't,
because he'd got to watch the tide.
"'Oh, if I could only rest, now,' he kep' a savin', weak and slow. 'If I
could only go to sleep now;' and so he moaned and moaned.
"So I got close to his ear and I says, 'You go to sleep, now, 'Lihu, and
I'll watch,' I says; 'I'll wake you up when it's high tide,' I says; but
he only shook his head. So then, I says, 'Aint there none o' the folks
you can trust to watch?' And he shook his head, and so he moaned and
moaned.
"By and by, all of a sudden, 'Lihu looked up at me different, with his
eyes wide open, so that for a minute, I was most fool enough to think
'Lihu was gittin' well, and he smiled as though he wanted to say
something. So I leant over. 'I--know--somebody,' he says, as slow as
that, for he was all worn out. 'Who then, 'Lihu?' says I. 'Jesus,' says
he, with that queer, smilin' look, as though it was the naturalest thing
on earth. 'He'll--wake--me--up--when--', and he couldn't wait no longer,
his head fell over as heavy as a log, and that's the way he's been ever
since, sleepin' like death.
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