midnight
Slowly sank the broad disk behind the purple horizon , as the solemn ceremony drew to an end . The ensign , that meteor flag , beneath whose folds so many heroes have fought and died , was gently raised , and at the words `` Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of His great mercy to take unto Himself the souls of our dear brothers here departed , we therefore commit their bodies to the deep , '' -- the inner ends of the gratings upon which the dead lay were slowly elevated , the sullen plunge of the bodies smote upon the ear , and the last ray of the departing sun flashed upon the swirling eddies where they had disappeared , dyeing them deep in crimson and gold . The ocean suddenly darkened , the gorgeous cloud-tints faded into tender grey , and , as the service came to a conclusion , a gun boomed the frigate 's farewell to her lost ones ; the main-yard was swung ; and the dead were left to their last long sleep deep within the sheltering bosom of the ocean they had loved in life so well . We stood on until midnight , when we tacked to the northward ; in which direction we steered during the whole of next day and the following night , when we deemed ourselves far enough to windward to enable us to pass between the Islands of Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and fetch Barbadoes on the other tack . In the meantime all the wounded were doing well except poor little Fisher . His injuries were of a very serious nature , a cutlass-blow having cloven his right shoulder until it had nearly severed the arm from the body , and his right lung was penetrated by a pike-thrust . The skipper had ordered a cot to be slung for the little fellow in his own cabin , and thither I went as often as I could , to sit beside him , help him to the cooling drinks which our kind-hearted medico had concocted for him , and cheer him up when his spirits drooped , as they too often did .