Bartleby the Scrivener: A Tale of Wall Street

BENITO CERENO 97
Delano. It was no lamp —no match—no live coal.
Could it have been a jewel % But how come sailors with
jewels \— or with silk-trimmed under-shirts either ? Has
he been robbing the trunks of the dead cabin passengers %
But if so, he would hardly wear one of the stolen articles
on board ship here. Ah, ah—
if, now, that was, indeed,
a secret sign I saw passing between this suspicious
fellow and his captain a while since if I ; could only be
certain that, in my uneasiness, my senses did not deceive,
me, then
Here, passing from one suspicious thing to another,
his mind revolved the strange questions put to him
concerning his ship.
.^.
By a curious coincidence , as each point was recalled,
the black wizards of Ashantee would strike up with their
hatchets, as in ominous comment on the white stranger's
thoughts. Pressed by such enigmas and portents, it
would have been almost against nature, had not, even
into the least distrustful heart, some ugly misgivings
obtruded.