The first impression felt by the passengers of the "Pilgrim" in presence of this terrible was a combination of pity and horror. They only thought of this death of Captain and the five sailors. This fearful scene had just taken place almost under their eyes, while they could do nothing to save the poor men. They had not even been able to arrive in time to pick up the whale-boat's crew, their unfortunate companions, wounded, but still living, and to oppose the "Pilgrim's" hull to the jubarte's formidable blows. Captain Hull and his men had forever disappeared.  
When the arrived at the fatal place, Mrs. Weldon fell on her knees, her hands raised toward Heaven.
 
"Let us pray!" said the woman.
 
She was joined by her little , who threw himself on his knees, weeping, near his mother. The poor child understood it all. Dick Sand, Nan, Tom, and the other blacks remained , their heads bowed. All repeated the prayer that Mrs. Weldon addressed to God, recommending to His infinite goodness those who had just appeared before Him.
 
Then Mrs. Weldon, turning to her companions, "And now, my friends," said she, "let us ask Heaven for strength and courage for ourselves."
 
Yes! They could not too earnestly the aid of Him who can do all things, for their situation was one of the gravest!
 
This ship which carried them had no longer a captain to command her, no longer a crew to work her. She was in the middle of that immense Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles from any land, at the mercy of the winds and waves.
 
What then had brought that whale in the "Pilgrim's" course? What still greater fatality had urged the unfortunate Captain Hull, generally so wise, to risk everything in order to complete his ? And what a catastrophe to count among the rarest of the annals of whale-fishing was this one, which did not allow of the saving of one of the whale-boat's sailors!
 
Yes, it was a terrible fatality! In fact, there was no longer a on board the "Pilgrim." Yes, one—Dick Sand—and he was only a beginner, a young man of fifteen. Captain, boatswain, sailors, it may be said that the whole crew was now concentrated in him.
 
On board there was one lady passenger, a mother and her son, whose presence would render the situation much more difficult. Then there were also some blacks, honest men, and without a doubt, ready to obey whoever should undertake to command them, but ignorant of the simplest notions of the sailor's craft.
 
Dick Sand stood motionless, his arms crossed, looking at the place where Captain Hull had just been swallowed up—Captain Hull, his protector, for whom he felt a filial affection. Then his eyes searched the horizon, seeking to discover some ship, from which he would demand aid and assistance, to which he might be able at least to Mrs. Weldon. He would not abandon the "Pilgrim," no, indeed, without having tried his best to bring her into port. But Mrs. Weldon and her little boy would be in safety. He would have had nothing more to fear for those two beings, to whom he was body and soul.
 
The ocean was . Since the of the jubarte, not a came to alter the surface. All was sky and water around the "Pilgrim." The young knew only too well that he was beyond the routes followed by the ships of commerce, and that the other whalers were cruising still farther away at the fishing-grounds.
 
However, the question was, to look the situation in the face, to see things as they were. That is what Dick Sand did, asking God, from the depths of his heart, for aid and . What resolution was he going to take?
 
At that moment Negoro appeared on the deck, which he had left after the catastrophe. What had been felt in the presence of this irreparable misfortune by a being so enigmatical, no one could tell. He had the disaster without making a gesture, without departing from his speechlessness. His eye had evidently seized all the details of it. But if at such a moment one could think of observing him, he would be astonished at least, because not a muscle of his impassible face had moved. At any rate, and as if he had not heard it, he had not responded to the pious appeal of Mrs. Weldon, praying for the crew. Negoro walked aft, there even where Dick Sand was standing motionless. He stopped three steps from the novice.
 
"You wish to speak to me?" asked Dick Sand.
 
"I wish to speak to Captain Hull," replied Negoro, coolly, "or, in his absence, to boatswain Howik."
 
"You know well that both have perished!" cried the novice.
 
"Then who commands on board now?" asked Negoro, very .
 
"I," replied Dick Sand, without .
 
"You!" said Negoro, shrugging his shoulders. "A captain of fifteen years?"
 
"A captain of fifteen years!" replied the novice, advancing toward the cook.
 
The latter drew back.
 
"Do not forget it," then said Mrs. Weldon. "There is but one captain here—Captain Sand, and it is well for all to remember that he will know how to make himself obeyed."
 
Negoro bowed, murmuring in an tone a few words that they could not understand, and he returned to his post.
 
We see, Dick's resolution was taken.
 
Meanwhile the schooner, under the action of the breeze, which commenced to freshen, had already passed beyond the vast shoal of .
 
Dick Sand examined the condition of the sails; then his eyes were cast on the deck. He had then this sentiment, that, if a frightful responsibility fell upon him in the future, it was for him to have the strength to accept it. He dared to look at the of the "Pilgrim," whose eyes were now on him. And, reading in their faces that he could count on them, he said to them in two words, that they could in their turn count on him.
 
Dick Sand had, in all , examined his conscience.
 
If he was capable of taking in or setting the sails of the schooner, according to circumstances, by employing the arms of Tom and his companions, he evidently did not yet possess all the knowledge necessary to determine his position by calculation.
 
In four or five years more, Dick Sand would know that beautiful and difficult sailor's craft. He would know how to use the sextant—that instrument which Captain Hull's hand had held every day, and which gave him the height of the stars. He would read on the the hour of the of Greenwich, and from it would be able to deduce the by the hour angle. The sun would be made his each day. The moon—the planets would say to him, "There, on that point of the ocean, is thy ship!" That , on which the stars move like the hands of a perfect clock, which nothing shakes nor can , and whose accuracy is absolute—that firmament would tell him the hours and the distances. By observations he would know, as his captain had known every day, nearly to a mile, the place occupied by the "Pilgrim,&............