Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/120

120THE HALLIG.

back to their former companionship, and forced it to
consider how it would have been, had their lots been
changed. "But where are the nine ?" For the
strangers this question was a sermon never to be for-
gotten. It seemed also as if in announcing this text
the pastor had wished to make a forcible but brief ap-
peal to the hearts of the strangers, for in the end he
spoke much less than many of his hearers had expected
with reference to the special circumstances before him,
and made a general application of the peculiar occur-
rences, not forgetting the congregation in the few.
Perhaps for this very reason his words found an en-
trance into the hearts of these few. In this way they
were spared the disagreeable consciousness that every
eye and every thought were upon them, and of hear-
ing only a discourse addressed to or concerning them-
selves. They could now follow the sermon with entire
attention, as their fancy was not continually carried
back to the scene of horror through which they had
just passed. They were not disturbed by a false de-
scription of the circumstances of their peril and rescue,
by a depicting of emotions which they had never felt,
by a detail of wishes and vows which had never entered
their minds. After the sermon, the coffins were carried
to the adjoining burying-ground by three successive
processions, as the want of a sufficient number of bear-
ers made it impossible to take them all at once. But a
single grave received the three, and the great flag of
the ship, to which the last service of their life had been
given, was to be lowered upon the coffins. Godber had
borne this flag, which was hung with black crape, be-
fore the procession; but as he was about to lower it