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diff --git a/old/1142-0.txt b/old/1142-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1602285 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1142-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3710 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Typhoon + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #1142] +[Last Updated: April 10, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +[The other stories included in this volume (“Amy Foster,” “Falk: A +Reminiscence,” and “To-morrow”) being already available in another +volume, have not been entered here.] + + + +TYPHOON + +BY JOSEPH CONRAD + + + +Far as the mariner on highest mast Can see all around upon the calmed +vast, So wide was Neptune's hall . . . -- KEATS + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +The main characteristic of this volume consists in this, that all the +stories composing it belong not only to the same period but have been +written one after another in the order in which they appear in the book. + +The period is that which follows on my connection with Blackwood's +Magazine. I had just finished writing “The End of the Tether” and was +casting about for some subject which could be developed in a shorter +form than the tales in the volume of “Youth” when the instance of a +steamship full of returning coolies from Singapore to some port in +northern China occurred to my recollection. Years before I had heard +it being talked about in the East as a recent occurrence. It was for us +merely one subject of conversation amongst many others of the kind. Men +earning their bread in any very specialized occupation will talk shop, +not only because it is the most vital interest of their lives but also +because they have not much knowledge of other subjects. They have never +had the time to get acquainted with them. Life, for most of us, is not +so much a hard as an exacting taskmaster. + +I never met anybody personally concerned in this affair, the interest of +which for us was, of course, not the bad weather but the extraordinary +complication brought into the ship's life at a moment of exceptional +stress by the human element below her deck. Neither was the story itself +ever enlarged upon in my hearing. In that company each of us could +imagine easily what the whole thing was like. The financial difficulty +of it, presenting also a human problem, was solved by a mind much too +simple to be perplexed by anything in the world except men's idle talk +for which it was not adapted. + +From the first the mere anecdote, the mere statement I might say, that +such a thing had happened on the high seas, appeared to me a sufficient +subject for meditation. Yet it was but a bit of a sea yarn after all. I +felt that to bring out its deeper significance which was quite apparent +to me, something other, something more was required; a leading motive +that would harmonize all these violent noises, and a point of view that +would put all that elemental fury into its proper place. + +What was needed of course was Captain MacWhirr. Directly I perceived him +I could see that he was the man for the situation. I don't mean to +say that I ever saw Captain MacWhirr in the flesh, or had ever come in +contact with his literal mind and his dauntless temperament. MacWhirr is +not an acquaintance of a few hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. He +is the product of twenty years of life. My own life. Conscious invention +had little to do with him. If it is true that Captain MacWhirr never +walked and breathed on this earth (which I find for my part extremely +difficult to believe) I can also assure my readers that he is perfectly +authentic. I may venture to assert the same of every aspect of the +story, while I confess that the particular typhoon of the tale was not a +typhoon of my actual experience. + +At its first appearance “Typhoon,” the story, was classed by some +critics as a deliberately intended storm-piece. Others picked out +MacWhirr, in whom they perceived a definite symbolic intention. Neither +was exclusively my intention. Both the typhoon and Captain MacWhirr +presented themselves to me as the necessities of the deep conviction +with which I approached the subject of the story. It was their +opportunity. It was also my opportunity; and it would be vain to +discourse about what I made of it in a handful of pages, since the pages +themselves are here, between the covers of this volume, to speak for +themselves. + +This is a belated reflection. If it had occurred to me before it would +have perhaps done away with the existence of this Author's Note; for, +indeed, the same remark applies to every story in this volume. None +of them are stories of experience in the absolute sense of the word. +Experience in them is but the canvas of the attempted picture. Each of +them has its more than one intention. With each the question is what the +writer has done with his opportunity; and each answers the question for +itself in words which, if I may say so without undue solemnity, were +written with a conscientious regard for the truth of my own sensations. +And each of those stories, to mean something, must justify itself in its +own way to the conscience of each successive reader. + +“Falk”--the second story in the volume--offended the delicacy of one +critic at least by certain peculiarities of its subject. But what is the +subject of “Falk”? I personally do not feel so very certain about it. He +who reads must find out for himself. My intention in writing “Falk” + was not to shock anybody. As in most of my writings I insist not on +the events but on their effect upon the persons in the tale. But in +everything I have written there is always one invariable intention, and +that is to capture the reader's attention, by securing his interest and +enlisting his sympathies for the matter in hand, whatever it may be, +within the limits of the visible world and within the boundaries of +human emotions. + +I may safely say that Falk is absolutely true to my experience of +certain straightforward characters combining a perfectly natural +ruthlessness with a certain amount of moral delicacy. Falk obeys the law +of self-preservation without the slightest misgivings as to his right, +but at a crucial turn of that ruthlessly preserved life he will not +condescend to dodge the truth. As he is presented as sensitive enough to +be affected permanently by a certain unusual experience, that experience +had to be set by me before the reader vividly; but it is not the subject +of the tale. If we go by mere facts then the subject is Falk's attempt +to get married; in which the narrator of the tale finds himself +unexpectedly involved both on its ruthless and its delicate side. + +“Falk” shares with one other of my stories (“The Return” in the “Tales +of Unrest” volume) the distinction of never having been serialized. I +think the copy was shown to the editor of some magazine who rejected it +indignantly on the sole ground that “the girl never says anything.” This +is perfectly true. From first to last Hermann's niece utters no word in +the tale--and it is not because she is dumb, but for the simple reason +that whenever she happens to come under the observation of the narrator +she has either no occasion or is too profoundly moved to speak. The +editor, who obviously had read the story, might have perceived that for +himself. Apparently he did not, and I refrained from pointing out the +impossibility to him because, since he did not venture to say that “the +girl” did not live, I felt no concern at his indignation. + +All the other stories were serialized. The “Typhoon” appeared in the +early numbers of the Pall Mall Magazine, then under the direction of the +late Mr. Halkett. It was on that occasion, too, that I saw for the first +time my conceptions rendered by an artist in another medium. Mr. Maurice +Grieffenhagen knew how to combine in his illustrations the effect of his +own most distinguished personal vision with an absolute fidelity to the +inspiration of the writer. “Amy Foster” was published in The Illustrated +London News with a fine drawing of Amy on her day out giving tea to the +children at her home, in a hat with a big feather. “To-morrow” appeared +first in the Pall Mall Magazine. Of that story I will only say that +it struck many people by its adaptability to the stage and that I was +induced to dramatize it under the title of “One Day More”; up to the +present my only effort in that direction. I may also add that each of +the four stories on their appearance in book form was picked out on +various grounds as the “best of the lot” by different critics, who +reviewed the volume with a warmth of appreciation and understanding, a +sympathetic insight and a friendliness of expression for which I cannot +be sufficiently grateful. + + +1919. J. C. + + + +TYPHOON + +I + +Captain MacWhirr, of the steamer Nan-Shan, had a physiognomy that, in +the order of material appearances, was the exact counterpart of his +mind: it presented no marked characteristics of firmness or stupidity; +it had no pronounced characteristics whatever; it was simply ordinary, +irresponsive, and unruffled. + +The only thing his aspect might have been said to suggest, at times, was +bashfulness; because he would sit, in business offices ashore, sunburnt +and smiling faintly, with downcast eyes. When he raised them, they were +perceived to be direct in their glance and of blue colour. His hair was +fair and extremely fine, clasping from temple to temple the bald dome +of his skull in a clamp as of fluffy silk. The hair of his face, on the +contrary, carroty and flaming, resembled a growth of copper wire clipped +short to the line of the lip; while, no matter how close he shaved, +fiery metallic gleams passed, when he moved his head, over the +surface of his cheeks. He was rather below the medium height, a bit +round-shouldered, and so sturdy of limb that his clothes always looked a +shade too tight for his arms and legs. As if unable to grasp what is due +to the difference of latitudes, he wore a brown bowler hat, a complete +suit of a brownish hue, and clumsy black boots. These harbour togs gave +to his thick figure an air of stiff and uncouth smartness. A thin silver +watch chain looped his waistcoat, and he never left his ship for the +shore without clutching in his powerful, hairy fist an elegant umbrella +of the very best quality, but generally unrolled. Young Jukes, the chief +mate, attending his commander to the gangway, would sometimes venture +to say, with the greatest gentleness, “Allow me, sir”--and possessing +himself of the umbrella deferentially, would elevate the ferule, shake +the folds, twirl a neat furl in a jiffy, and hand it back; going through +the performance with a face of such portentous gravity, that Mr. Solomon +Rout, the chief engineer, smoking his morning cigar over the skylight, +would turn away his head in order to hide a smile. “Oh! aye! The blessed +gamp. . . . Thank 'ee, Jukes, thank 'ee,” would mutter Captain MacWhirr, +heartily, without looking up. + +Having just enough imagination to carry him through each successive day, +and no more, he was tranquilly sure of himself; and from the very same +cause he was not in the least conceited. It is your imaginative superior +who is touchy, overbearing, and difficult to please; but every ship +Captain MacWhirr commanded was the floating abode of harmony and peace. +It was, in truth, as impossible for him to take a flight of fancy as +it would be for a watchmaker to put together a chronometer with nothing +except a two-pound hammer and a whip-saw in the way of tools. Yet the +uninteresting lives of men so entirely given to the actuality of the +bare existence have their mysterious side. It was impossible in Captain +MacWhirr's case, for instance, to understand what under heaven could +have induced that perfectly satisfactory son of a petty grocer in +Belfast to run away to sea. And yet he had done that very thing at the +age of fifteen. It was enough, when you thought it over, to give you the +idea of an immense, potent, and invisible hand thrust into the ant-heap +of the earth, laying hold of shoulders, knocking heads together, and +setting the unconscious faces of the multitude towards inconceivable +goals and in undreamt-of directions. + +His father never really forgave him for this undutiful stupidity. “We +could have got on without him,” he used to say later on, “but there's +the business. And he an only son, too!” His mother wept very much after +his disappearance. As it had never occurred to him to leave word behind, +he was mourned over for dead till, after eight months, his first letter +arrived from Talcahuano. It was short, and contained the statement: +“We had very fine weather on our passage out.” But evidently, in the +writer's mind, the only important intelligence was to the effect that +his captain had, on the very day of writing, entered him regularly on +the ship's articles as Ordinary Seaman. “Because I can do the work,” he +explained. The mother again wept copiously, while the remark, “Tom's an +ass,” expressed the emotions of the father. He was a corpulent man, with +a gift for sly chaffing, which to the end of his life he exercised +in his intercourse with his son, a little pityingly, as if upon a +half-witted person. + +MacWhirr's visits to his home were necessarily rare, and in the course +of years he despatched other letters to his parents, informing them of +his successive promotions and of his movements upon the vast earth. In +these missives could be found sentences like this: “The heat here is +very great.” Or: “On Christmas day at 4 P. M. we fell in with some +icebergs.” The old people ultimately became acquainted with a good +many names of ships, and with the names of the skippers who commanded +them--with the names of Scots and English shipowners--with the names +of seas, oceans, straits, promontories--with outlandish names of +lumber-ports, of rice-ports, of cotton-ports--with the names of +islands--with the name of their son's young woman. She was called Lucy. +It did not suggest itself to him to mention whether he thought the name +pretty. And then they died. + +The great day of MacWhirr's marriage came in due course, following +shortly upon the great day when he got his first command. + +All these events had taken place many years before the morning when, in +the chart-room of the steamer Nan-Shan, he stood confronted by the +fall of a barometer he had no reason to distrust. The fall--taking into +account the excellence of the instrument, the time of the year, and +the ship's position on the terrestrial globe--was of a nature ominously +prophetic; but the red face of the man betrayed no sort of inward +disturbance. Omens were as nothing to him, and he was unable to discover +the message of a prophecy till the fulfilment had brought it home to his +very door. “That's a fall, and no mistake,” he thought. “There must be +some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about.” + +The Nan-Shan was on her way from the southward to the treaty port of +Fu-chau, with some cargo in her lower holds, and two hundred Chinese +coolies returning to their village homes in the province of Fo-kien, +after a few years of work in various tropical colonies. The morning was +fine, the oily sea heaved without a sparkle, and there was a queer white +misty patch in the sky like a halo of the sun. The fore-deck, packed +with Chinamen, was full of sombre clothing, yellow faces, and pigtails, +sprinkled over with a good many naked shoulders, for there was no wind, +and the heat was close. The coolies lounged, talked, smoked, or stared +over the rail; some, drawing water over the side, sluiced each other; +a few slept on hatches, while several small parties of six sat on their +heels surrounding iron trays with plates of rice and tiny teacups; and +every single Celestial of them was carrying with him all he had in the +world--a wooden chest with a ringing lock and brass on the corners, +containing the savings of his labours: some clothes of ceremony, +sticks of incense, a little opium maybe, bits of nameless rubbish of +conventional value, and a small hoard of silver dollars, toiled for in +coal lighters, won in gambling-houses or in petty trading, grubbed out +of earth, sweated out in mines, on railway lines, in deadly jungle, +under heavy burdens--amassed patiently, guarded with care, cherished +fiercely. + +A cross swell had set in from the direction of Formosa Channel about ten +o'clock, without disturbing these passengers much, because the Nan-Shan, +with her flat bottom, rolling chocks on bilges, and great breadth of +beam, had the reputation of an exceptionally steady ship in a sea-way. +Mr. Jukes, in moments of expansion on shore, would proclaim loudly +that the “old girl was as good as she was pretty.” It would never have +occurred to Captain MacWhirr to express his favourable opinion so loud +or in terms so fanciful. + +She was a good ship, undoubtedly, and not old either. She had been built +in Dumbarton less than three years before, to the order of a firm of +merchants in Siam--Messrs. Sigg and Son. When she lay afloat, finished +in every detail and ready to take up the work of her life, the builders +contemplated her with pride. + +“Sigg has asked us for a reliable skipper to take her out,” remarked one +of the partners; and the other, after reflecting for a while, said: +“I think MacWhirr is ashore just at present.” “Is he? Then wire him +at once. He's the very man,” declared the senior, without a moment's +hesitation. + +Next morning MacWhirr stood before them unperturbed, having travelled +from London by the midnight express after a sudden but undemonstrative +parting with his wife. She was the daughter of a superior couple who had +seen better days. + +“We had better be going together over the ship, Captain,” said the +senior partner; and the three men started to view the perfections of the +Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and from her keelson to the trucks of her +two stumpy pole-masts. + +Captain MacWhirr had begun by taking off his coat, which he hung on the +end of a steam windless embodying all the latest improvements. + +“My uncle wrote of you favourably by yesterday's mail to our good +friends--Messrs. Sigg, you know--and doubtless they'll continue you out +there in command,” said the junior partner. “You'll be able to boast of +being in charge of the handiest boat of her size on the coast of China, +Captain,” he added. + +“Have you? Thank 'ee,” mumbled vaguely MacWhirr, to whom the view of +a distant eventuality could appeal no more than the beauty of a wide +landscape to a purblind tourist; and his eyes happening at the moment to +be at rest upon the lock of the cabin door, he walked up to it, full of +purpose, and began to rattle the handle vigorously, while he observed, +in his low, earnest voice, “You can't trust the workmen nowadays. A +brand-new lock, and it won't act at all. Stuck fast. See? See?” + +As soon as they found themselves alone in their office across the yard: +“You praised that fellow up to Sigg. What is it you see in him?” asked +the nephew, with faint contempt. + +“I admit he has nothing of your fancy skipper about him, if that's what +you mean,” said the elder man, curtly. “Is the foreman of the joiners +on the Nan-Shan outside? . . . Come in, Bates. How is it that you let +Tait's people put us off with a defective lock on the cabin door? The +Captain could see directly he set eye on it. Have it replaced at once. +The little straws, Bates . . . the little straws. . . .” + +The lock was replaced accordingly, and a few days afterwards the +Nan-Shan steamed out to the East, without MacWhirr having offered any +further remark as to her fittings, or having been heard to utter a +single word hinting at pride in his ship, gratitude for his appointment, +or satisfaction at his prospects. + +With a temperament neither loquacious nor taciturn he found very little +occasion to talk. There were matters of duty, of course--directions, +orders, and so on; but the past being to his mind done with, and the +future not there yet, the more general actualities of the day required +no comment--because facts can speak for themselves with overwhelming +precision. + +Old Mr. Sigg liked a man of few words, and one that “you could be sure +would not try to improve upon his instructions.” MacWhirr satisfying +these requirements, was continued in command of the Nan-Shan, and +applied himself to the careful navigation of his ship in the China seas. +She had come out on a British register, but after some time Messrs. Sigg +judged it expedient to transfer her to the Siamese flag. + +At the news of the contemplated transfer Jukes grew restless, as if +under a sense of personal affront. He went about grumbling to himself, +and uttering short scornful laughs. “Fancy having a ridiculous +Noah's Ark elephant in the ensign of one's ship,” he said once at the +engine-room door. “Dash me if I can stand it: I'll throw up the billet. +Don't it make you sick, Mr. Rout?” The chief engineer only cleared his +throat with the air of a man who knows the value of a good billet. + +The first morning the new flag floated over the stern of the Nan-Shan +Jukes stood looking at it bitterly from the bridge. He struggled with +his feelings for a while, and then remarked, “Queer flag for a man to +sail under, sir.” + +“What's the matter with the flag?” inquired Captain MacWhirr. “Seems all +right to me.” And he walked across to the end of the bridge to have a +good look. + +“Well, it looks queer to me,” burst out Jukes, greatly exasperated, and +flung off the bridge. + +Captain MacWhirr was amazed at these manners. After a while he stepped +quietly into the chart-room, and opened his International Signal +Code-book at the plate where the flags of all the nations are correctly +figured in gaudy rows. He ran his finger over them, and when he came to +Siam he contemplated with great attention the red field and the white +elephant. Nothing could be more simple; but to make sure he brought the +book out on the bridge for the purpose of comparing the coloured drawing +with the real thing at the flagstaff astern. When next Jukes, who was +carrying on the duty that day with a sort of suppressed fierceness, +happened on the bridge, his commander observed: + +“There's nothing amiss with that flag.” + +“Isn't there?” mumbled Jukes, falling on his knees before a deck-locker +and jerking therefrom viciously a spare lead-line. + +“No. I looked up the book. Length twice the breadth and the elephant +exactly in the middle. I thought the people ashore would know how to +make the local flag. Stands to reason. You were wrong, Jukes. . . .” + +“Well, sir,” began Jukes, getting up excitedly, “all I can say--” He +fumbled for the end of the coil of line with trembling hands. + +“That's all right.” Captain MacWhirr soothed him, sitting heavily on a +little canvas folding-stool he greatly affected. “All you have to do is +to take care they don't hoist the elephant upside-down before they get +quite used to it.” + +Jukes flung the new lead-line over on the fore-deck with a loud “Here +you are, bo'ss'en--don't forget to wet it thoroughly,” and turned with +immense resolution towards his commander; but Captain MacWhirr spread +his elbows on the bridge-rail comfortably. + +“Because it would be, I suppose, understood as a signal of distress,” he +went on. “What do you think? That elephant there, I take it, stands for +something in the nature of the Union Jack in the flag. . . .” + +“Does it!” yelled Jukes, so that every head on the Nan-Shan's decks +looked towards the bridge. Then he sighed, and with sudden resignation: +“It would certainly be a dam' distressful sight,” he said, meekly. + +Later in the day he accosted the chief engineer with a confidential, +“Here, let me tell you the old man's latest.” + +Mr. Solomon Rout (frequently alluded to as Long Sol, Old Sol, or Father +Rout), from finding himself almost invariably the tallest man on board +every ship he joined, had acquired the habit of a stooping, leisurely +condescension. His hair was scant and sandy, his flat cheeks were pale, +his bony wrists and long scholarly hands were pale, too, as though he +had lived all his life in the shade. + +He smiled from on high at Jukes, and went on smoking and glancing about +quietly, in the manner of a kind uncle lending an ear to the tale of an +excited schoolboy. Then, greatly amused but impassive, he asked: + +“And did you throw up the billet?” + +“No,” cried Jukes, raising a weary, discouraged voice above the harsh +buzz of the Nan-Shan's friction winches. All of them were hard at work, +snatching slings of cargo, high up, to the end of long derricks, only, +as it seemed, to let them rip down recklessly by the run. The cargo +chains groaned in the gins, clinked on coamings, rattled over the +side; and the whole ship quivered, with her long gray flanks smoking in +wreaths of steam. “No,” cried Jukes, “I didn't. What's the good? I might +just as well fling my resignation at this bulkhead. I don't believe you +can make a man like that understand anything. He simply knocks me over.” + +At that moment Captain MacWhirr, back from the shore, crossed the deck, +umbrella in hand, escorted by a mournful, self-possessed Chinaman, +walking behind in paper-soled silk shoes, and who also carried an +umbrella. + +The master of the Nan-Shan, speaking just audibly and gazing at his +boots as his manner was, remarked that it would be necessary to call +at Fu-chau this trip, and desired Mr. Rout to have steam up to-morrow +afternoon at one o'clock sharp. He pushed back his hat to wipe his +forehead, observing at the same time that he hated going ashore +anyhow; while overtopping him Mr. Rout, without deigning a word, smoked +austerely, nursing his right elbow in the palm of his left hand. +Then Jukes was directed in the same subdued voice to keep the forward +'tween-deck clear of cargo. Two hundred coolies were going to be put +down there. The Bun Hin Company were sending that lot home. Twenty-five +bags of rice would be coming off in a sampan directly, for stores. All +seven-years'-men they were, said Captain MacWhirr, with a camphor-wood +chest to every man. The carpenter should be set to work nailing +three-inch battens along the deck below, fore and aft, to keep these +boxes from shifting in a sea-way. Jukes had better look to it at once. +“D'ye hear, Jukes?” This chinaman here was coming with the ship as far +as Fu-chau--a sort of interpreter he would be. Bun Hin's clerk he +was, and wanted to have a look at the space. Jukes had better take him +forward. “D'ye hear, Jukes?” + +Jukes took care to punctuate these instructions in proper places with +the obligatory “Yes, sir,” ejaculated without enthusiasm. His brusque +“Come along, John; make look see” set the Chinaman in motion at his +heels. + +“Wanchee look see, all same look see can do,” said Jukes, who having no +talent for foreign languages mangled the very pidgin-English cruelly. He +pointed at the open hatch. “Catchee number one piecie place to sleep in. +Eh?” + +He was gruff, as became his racial superiority, but not unfriendly. The +Chinaman, gazing sad and speechless into the darkness of the hatchway, +seemed to stand at the head of a yawning grave. + +“No catchee rain down there--savee?” pointed out Jukes. “Suppose all'ee +same fine weather, one piecie coolie-man come topside,” he pursued, +warming up imaginatively. “Make so--Phooooo!” He expanded his chest and +blew out his cheeks. “Savee, John? Breathe--fresh air. Good. Eh? Washee +him piecie pants, chow-chow top-side--see, John?” + +With his mouth and hands he made exuberant motions of eating rice and +washing clothes; and the Chinaman, who concealed his distrust of this +pantomime under a collected demeanour tinged by a gentle and refined +melancholy, glanced out of his almond eyes from Jukes to the hatch and +back again. “Velly good,” he murmured, in a disconsolate undertone, and +hastened smoothly along the decks, dodging obstacles in his course. He +disappeared, ducking low under a sling of ten dirty gunny-bags full of +some costly merchandise and exhaling a repulsive smell. + +Captain MacWhirr meantime had gone on the bridge, and into the +chart-room, where a letter, commenced two days before, awaited +termination. These long letters began with the words, “My darling wife,” + and the steward, between the scrubbing of the floors and the dusting +of chronometer-boxes, snatched at every opportunity to read them. They +interested him much more than they possibly could the woman for whose +eye they were intended; and this for the reason that they related in +minute detail each successive trip of the Nan-Shan. + +Her master, faithful to facts, which alone his consciousness reflected, +would set them down with painstaking care upon many pages. The house +in a northern suburb to which these pages were addressed had a bit of +garden before the bow-windows, a deep porch of good appearance, +coloured glass with imitation lead frame in the front door. He paid +five-and-forty pounds a year for it, and did not think the rent too +high, because Mrs. MacWhirr (a pretentious person with a scraggy +neck and a disdainful manner) was admittedly ladylike, and in the +neighbourhood considered as “quite superior.” The only secret of her +life was her abject terror of the time when her husband would come home +to stay for good. Under the same roof there dwelt also a daughter called +Lydia and a son, Tom. These two were but slightly acquainted with their +father. Mainly, they knew him as a rare but privileged visitor, who of +an evening smoked his pipe in the dining-room and slept in the house. +The lanky girl, upon the whole, was rather ashamed of him; the boy +was frankly and utterly indifferent in a straightforward, delightful, +unaffected way manly boys have. + +And Captain MacWhirr wrote home from the coast of China twelve times +every year, desiring quaintly to be “remembered to the children,” and +subscribing himself “your loving husband,” as calmly as if the words so +long used by so many men were, apart from their shape, worn-out things, +and of a faded meaning. + +The China seas north and south are narrow seas. They are seas full of +every-day, eloquent facts, such as islands, sand-banks, reefs, swift and +changeable currents--tangled facts that nevertheless speak to a seaman +in clear and definite language. Their speech appealed to Captain +MacWhirr's sense of realities so forcibly that he had given up his +state-room below and practically lived all his days on the bridge of +his ship, often having his meals sent up, and sleeping at night in the +chart-room. And he indited there his home letters. Each of them, without +exception, contained the phrase, “The weather has been very fine this +trip,” or some other form of a statement to that effect. And this +statement, too, in its wonderful persistence, was of the same perfect +accuracy as all the others they contained. + +Mr. Rout likewise wrote letters; only no one on board knew how chatty he +could be pen in hand, because the chief engineer had enough imagination +to keep his desk locked. His wife relished his style greatly. They were +a childless couple, and Mrs. Rout, a big, high-bosomed, jolly woman of +forty, shared with Mr. Rout's toothless and venerable mother a little +cottage near Teddington. She would run over her correspondence, at +breakfast, with lively eyes, and scream out interesting passages in a +joyous voice at the deaf old lady, prefacing each extract by the +warning shout, “Solomon says!” She had the trick of firing off +Solomon's utterances also upon strangers, astonishing them easily by the +unfamiliar text and the unexpectedly jocular vein of these quotations. +On the day the new curate called for the first time at the cottage, she +found occasion to remark, “As Solomon says: 'the engineers that go down +to the sea in ships behold the wonders of sailor nature';” when a change +in the visitor's countenance made her stop and stare. + +“Solomon. . . . Oh! . . . Mrs. Rout,” stuttered the young man, very red +in the face, “I must say . . . I don't. . . .” + +“He's my husband,” she announced in a great shout, throwing herself +back in the chair. Perceiving the joke, she laughed immoderately with a +handkerchief to her eyes, while he sat wearing a forced smile, and, +from his inexperience of jolly women, fully persuaded that she must +be deplorably insane. They were excellent friends afterwards; for, +absolving her from irreverent intention, he came to think she was a +very worthy person indeed; and he learned in time to receive without +flinching other scraps of Solomon's wisdom. + +“For my part,” Solomon was reported by his wife to have said once, “give +me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. There is a way to +take a fool; but a rogue is smart and slippery.” This was an airy +generalization drawn from the particular case of Captain MacWhirr's +honesty, which, in itself, had the heavy obviousness of a lump of clay. +On the other hand, Mr. Jukes, unable to generalize, unmarried, and +unengaged, was in the habit of opening his heart after another fashion +to an old chum and former shipmate, actually serving as second officer +on board an Atlantic liner. + +First of all he would insist upon the advantages of the Eastern trade, +hinting at its superiority to the Western ocean service. He extolled +the sky, the seas, the ships, and the easy life of the Far East. The +Nan-Shan, he affirmed, was second to none as a sea-boat. + +“We have no brass-bound uniforms, but then we are like brothers here,” + he wrote. “We all mess together and live like fighting-cocks. . . . All +the chaps of the black-squad are as decent as they make that kind, and +old Sol, the Chief, is a dry stick. We are good friends. As to our old +man, you could not find a quieter skipper. Sometimes you would think he +hadn't sense enough to see anything wrong. And yet it isn't that. Can't +be. He has been in command for a good few years now. He doesn't do +anything actually foolish, and gets his ship along all right without +worrying anybody. I believe he hasn't brains enough to enjoy kicking +up a row. I don't take advantage of him. I would scorn it. Outside the +routine of duty he doesn't seem to understand more than half of what you +tell him. We get a laugh out of this at times; but it is dull, too, to +be with a man like this--in the long-run. Old Sol says he hasn't much +conversation. Conversation! O Lord! He never talks. The other day I had +been yarning under the bridge with one of the engineers, and he must +have heard us. When I came up to take my watch, he steps out of the +chart-room and has a good look all round, peeps over at the sidelights, +glances at the compass, squints upward at the stars. That's his regular +performance. By-and-by he says: 'Was that you talking just now in the +port alleyway?' 'Yes, sir.' 'With the third engineer?' 'Yes, sir.' He +walks off to starboard, and sits under the dodger on a little campstool +of his, and for half an hour perhaps he makes no sound, except that I +heard him sneeze once. Then after a while I hear him getting up over +there, and he strolls across to port, where I was. 'I can't understand +what you can find to talk about,' says he. 'Two solid hours. I am not +blaming you. I see people ashore at it all day long, and then in the +evening they sit down and keep at it over the drinks. Must be saying the +same things over and over again. I can't understand.' + +“Did you ever hear anything like that? And he was so patient about it. +It made me quite sorry for him. But he is exasperating, too, sometimes. +Of course one would not do anything to vex him even if it were worth +while. But it isn't. He's so jolly innocent that if you were to put your +thumb to your nose and wave your fingers at him he would only wonder +gravely to himself what got into you. He told me once quite simply that +he found it very difficult to make out what made people always act so +queerly. He's too dense to trouble about, and that's the truth.” + +Thus wrote Mr. Jukes to his chum in the Western ocean trade, out of the +fulness of his heart and the liveliness of his fancy. + +He had expressed his honest opinion. It was not worthwhile trying to +impress a man of that sort. If the world had been full of such men, life +would have probably appeared to Jukes an unentertaining and unprofitable +business. He was not alone in his opinion. The sea itself, as if sharing +Mr. Jukes' good-natured forbearance, had never put itself out to startle +the silent man, who seldom looked up, and wandered innocently over +the waters with the only visible purpose of getting food, raiment, +and house-room for three people ashore. Dirty weather he had known, of +course. He had been made wet, uncomfortable, tired in the usual way, +felt at the time and presently forgotten. So that upon the whole he had +been justified in reporting fine weather at home. But he had never been +given a glimpse of immeasurable strength and of immoderate wrath, the +wrath that passes exhausted but never appeased--the wrath and fury +of the passionate sea. He knew it existed, as we know that crime and +abominations exist; he had heard of it as a peaceable citizen in a town +hears of battles, famines, and floods, and yet knows nothing of what +these things mean--though, indeed, he may have been mixed up in a street +row, have gone without his dinner once, or been soaked to the skin in +a shower. Captain MacWhirr had sailed over the surface of the oceans as +some men go skimming over the years of existence to sink gently into +a placid grave, ignorant of life to the last, without ever having been +made to see all it may contain of perfidy, of violence, and of terror. +There are on sea and land such men thus fortunate--or thus disdained by +destiny or by the sea. + + + +II + +Observing the steady fall of the barometer, Captain MacWhirr thought, +“There's some dirty weather knocking about.” This is precisely what he +thought. He had had an experience of moderately dirty weather--the term +dirty as applied to the weather implying only moderate discomfort to the +seaman. Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the +end of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic +disturbance of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information +under the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had +no experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply +comprehension. The wisdom of his country had pronounced by means of an +Act of Parliament that before he could be considered as fit to take +charge of a ship he should be able to answer certain simple questions on +the subject of circular storms such as hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons; +and apparently he had answered them, since he was now in command of the +Nan-Shan in the China seas during the season of typhoons. But if he +had answered he remembered nothing of it. He was, however, conscious of +being made uncomfortable by the clammy heat. He came out on the bridge, +and found no relief to this oppression. The air seemed thick. He gasped +like a fish, and began to believe himself greatly out of sorts. + +The Nan-Shan was ploughing a vanishing furrow upon the circle of the +sea that had the surface and the shimmer of an undulating piece of +gray silk. The sun, pale and without rays, poured down leaden heat in a +strangely indecisive light, and the Chinamen were lying prostrate about +the decks. Their bloodless, pinched, yellow faces were like the faces +of bilious invalids. Captain MacWhirr noticed two of them especially, +stretched out on their backs below the bridge. As soon as they had +closed their eyes they seemed dead. Three others, however, were +quarrelling barbarously away forward; and one big fellow, half naked, +with herculean shoulders, was hanging limply over a winch; another, +sitting on the deck, his knees up and his head drooping sideways in +a girlish attitude, was plaiting his pigtail with infinite languor +depicted in his whole person and in the very movement of his fingers. +The smoke struggled with difficulty out of the funnel, and instead +of streaming away spread itself out like an infernal sort of cloud, +smelling of sulphur and raining soot all over the decks. + +“What the devil are you doing there, Mr. Jukes?” asked Captain MacWhirr. + +This unusual form of address, though mumbled rather than spoken, caused +the body of Mr. Jukes to start as though it had been prodded under the +fifth rib. He had had a low bench brought on the bridge, and sitting on +it, with a length of rope curled about his feet and a piece of canvas +stretched over his knees, was pushing a sail-needle vigorously. He +looked up, and his surprise gave to his eyes an expression of innocence +and candour. + +“I am only roping some of that new set of bags we made last trip for +whipping up coals,” he remonstrated, gently. “We shall want them for the +next coaling, sir.” + +“What became of the others?” + +“Why, worn out of course, sir.” + +Captain MacWhirr, after glaring down irresolutely at his chief mate, +disclosed the gloomy and cynical conviction that more than half of them +had been lost overboard, “if only the truth was known,” and retired +to the other end of the bridge. Jukes, exasperated by this unprovoked +attack, broke the needle at the second stitch, and dropping his work got +up and cursed the heat in a violent undertone. + +The propeller thumped, the three Chinamen forward had given up +squabbling very suddenly, and the one who had been plaiting his tail +clasped his legs and stared dejectedly over his knees. The lurid +sunshine cast faint and sickly shadows. The swell ran higher and swifter +every moment, and the ship lurched heavily in the smooth, deep hollows +of the sea. + +“I wonder where that beastly swell comes from,” said Jukes aloud, +recovering himself after a stagger. + +“North-east,” grunted the literal MacWhirr, from his side of the bridge. +“There's some dirty weather knocking about. Go and look at the glass.” + +When Jukes came out of the chart-room, the cast of his countenance had +changed to thoughtfulness and concern. He caught hold of the bridge-rail +and stared ahead. + +The temperature in the engine-room had gone up to a hundred and +seventeen degrees. Irritated voices were ascending through the skylight +and through the fiddle of the stokehold in a harsh and resonant uproar, +mingled with angry clangs and scrapes of metal, as if men with limbs of +iron and throats of bronze had been quarrelling down there. The second +engineer was falling foul of the stokers for letting the steam go down. +He was a man with arms like a blacksmith, and generally feared; but that +afternoon the stokers were answering him back recklessly, and slammed +the furnace doors with the fury of despair. Then the noise ceased +suddenly, and the second engineer appeared, emerging out of the +stokehold streaked with grime and soaking wet like a chimney-sweep +coming out of a well. As soon as his head was clear of the fiddle he +began to scold Jukes for not trimming properly the stokehold +ventilators; and in answer Jukes made with his hands deprecatory +soothing signs meaning: “No wind--can't be helped--you can see for +yourself.” But the other wouldn't hear reason. His teeth flashed angrily +in his dirty face. He didn't mind, he said, the trouble of punching +their blanked heads down there, blank his soul, but did the condemned +sailors think you could keep steam up in the God-forsaken boilers simply +by knocking the blanked stokers about? No, by George! You had to get +some draught, too--may he be everlastingly blanked for a swab-headed +deck-hand if you didn't! And the chief, too, rampaging before the +steam-gauge and carrying on like a lunatic up and down the engine-room +ever since noon. What did Jukes think he was stuck up there for, if he +couldn't get one of his decayed, good-for-nothing deck-cripples to turn +the ventilators to the wind? + +The relations of the “engine-room” and the “deck” of the Nan-Shan were, +as is known, of a brotherly nature; therefore Jukes leaned over and +begged the other in a restrained tone not to make a disgusting ass of +himself; the skipper was on the other side of the bridge. But the second +declared mutinously that he didn't care a rap who was on the other side +of the bridge, and Jukes, passing in a flash from lofty disapproval into +a state of exaltation, invited him in unflattering terms to come up and +twist the beastly things to please himself, and catch such wind as a +donkey of his sort could find. The second rushed up to the fray. He +flung himself at the port ventilator as though he meant to tear it out +bodily and toss it overboard. All he did was to move the cowl round a +few inches, with an enormous expenditure of force, and seemed spent +in the effort. He leaned against the back of the wheelhouse, and Jukes +walked up to him. + +“Oh, Heavens!” ejaculated the engineer in a feeble voice. He lifted +his eyes to the sky, and then let his glassy stare descend to meet the +horizon that, tilting up to an angle of forty degrees, seemed to hang on +a slant for a while and settled down slowly. “Heavens! Phew! What's up, +anyhow?” + +Jukes, straddling his long legs like a pair of compasses, put on an +air of superiority. “We're going to catch it this time,” he said. “The +barometer is tumbling down like anything, Harry. And you trying to kick +up that silly row. . . .” + +The word “barometer” seemed to revive the second engineer's mad +animosity. Collecting afresh all his energies, he directed Jukes in a +low and brutal tone to shove the unmentionable instrument down his +gory throat. Who cared for his crimson barometer? It was the steam--the +steam--that was going down; and what between the firemen going faint and +the chief going silly, it was worse than a dog's life for him; he didn't +care a tinker's curse how soon the whole show was blown out of the +water. He seemed on the point of having a cry, but after regaining his +breath he muttered darkly, “I'll faint them,” and dashed off. He stopped +upon the fiddle long enough to shake his fist at the unnatural daylight, +and dropped into the dark hole with a whoop. + +When Jukes turned, his eyes fell upon the rounded back and the big red +ears of Captain MacWhirr, who had come across. He did not look at his +chief officer, but said at once, “That's a very violent man, that second +engineer.” + +“Jolly good second, anyhow,” grunted Jukes. “They can't keep up steam,” + he added, rapidly, and made a grab at the rail against the coming lurch. + +Captain MacWhirr, unprepared, took a run and brought himself up with a +jerk by an awning stanchion. + +“A profane man,” he said, obstinately. “If this goes on, I'll have to +get rid of him the first chance.” + +“It's the heat,” said Jukes. “The weather's awful. It would make a saint +swear. Even up here I feel exactly as if I had my head tied up in a +woollen blanket.” + +Captain MacWhirr looked up. “D'ye mean to say, Mr. Jukes, you ever had +your head tied up in a blanket? What was that for?” + +“It's a manner of speaking, sir,” said Jukes, stolidly. + +“Some of you fellows do go on! What's that about saints swearing? I wish +you wouldn't talk so wild. What sort of saint would that be that would +swear? No more saint than yourself, I expect. And what's a blanket got +to do with it--or the weather either. . . . The heat does not make me +swear--does it? It's filthy bad temper. That's what it is. And what's +the good of your talking like this?” + +Thus Captain MacWhirr expostulated against the use of images in speech, +and at the end electrified Jukes by a contemptuous snort, followed by +words of passion and resentment: “Damme! I'll fire him out of the ship +if he don't look out.” + +And Jukes, incorrigible, thought: “Goodness me! Somebody's put a new +inside to my old man. Here's temper, if you like. Of course it's the +weather; what else? It would make an angel quarrelsome--let alone a +saint.” + +All the Chinamen on deck appeared at their last gasp. + +At its setting the sun had a diminished diameter and an expiring brown, +rayless glow, as if millions of centuries elapsing since the morning +had brought it near its end. A dense bank of cloud became visible to the +northward; it had a sinister dark olive tint, and lay low and motionless +upon the sea, resembling a solid obstacle in the path of the ship. She +went floundering towards it like an exhausted creature driven to its +death. The coppery twilight retired slowly, and the darkness brought +out overhead a swarm of unsteady, big stars, that, as if blown upon, +flickered exceedingly and seemed to hang very near the earth. At eight +o'clock Jukes went into the chart-room to write up the ship's log. + +He copies neatly out of the rough-book the number of miles, the course +of the ship, and in the column for “wind” scrawled the word “calm” from +top to bottom of the eight hours since noon. He was exasperated by the +continuous, monotonous rolling of the ship. The heavy inkstand would +slide away in a manner that suggested perverse intelligence in dodging +the pen. Having written in the large space under the head of “Remarks” + “Heat very oppressive,” he stuck the end of the penholder in his teeth, +pipe fashion, and mopped his face carefully. + +“Ship rolling heavily in a high cross swell,” he began again, and +commented to himself, “Heavily is no word for it.” Then he wrote: +“Sunset threatening, with a low bank of clouds to N. and E. Sky clear +overhead.” + +Sprawling over the table with arrested pen, he glanced out of the door, +and in that frame of his vision he saw all the stars flying upwards +between the teakwood jambs on a black sky. The whole lot took flight +together and disappeared, leaving only a blackness flecked with white +flashes, for the sea was as black as the sky and speckled with foam +afar. The stars that had flown to the roll came back on the return swing +of the ship, rushing downwards in their glittering multitude, not of +fiery points, but enlarged to tiny discs brilliant with a clear wet +sheen. + +Jukes watched the flying big stars for a moment, and then wrote: “8 P.M. +Swell increasing. Ship labouring and taking water on her decks. Battened +down the coolies for the night. Barometer still falling.” He paused, and +thought to himself, “Perhaps nothing whatever'll come of it.” And then +he closed resolutely his entries: “Every appearance of a typhoon coming +on.” + +On going out he had to stand aside, and Captain MacWhirr strode over the +doorstep without saying a word or making a sign. + +“Shut the door, Mr. Jukes, will you?” he cried from within. + +Jukes turned back to do so, muttering ironically: “Afraid to catch cold, +I suppose.” It was his watch below, but he yearned for communion with +his kind; and he remarked cheerily to the second mate: “Doesn't look so +bad, after all--does it?” + +The second mate was marching to and fro on the bridge, tripping down +with small steps one moment, and the next climbing with difficulty the +shifting slope of the deck. At the sound of Jukes' voice he stood still, +facing forward, but made no reply. + +“Hallo! That's a heavy one,” said Jukes, swaying to meet the long roll +till his lowered hand touched the planks. This time the second mate made +in his throat a noise of an unfriendly nature. + +He was an oldish, shabby little fellow, with bad teeth and no hair on +his face. He had been shipped in a hurry in Shanghai, that trip when +the second officer brought from home had delayed the ship three hours +in port by contriving (in some manner Captain MacWhirr could never +understand) to fall overboard into an empty coal-lighter lying +alongside, and had to be sent ashore to the hospital with concussion of +the brain and a broken limb or two. + +Jukes was not discouraged by the unsympathetic sound. “The Chinamen must +be having a lovely time of it down there,” he said. “It's lucky for them +the old girl has the easiest roll of any ship I've ever been in. There +now! This one wasn't so bad.” + +“You wait,” snarled the second mate. + +With his sharp nose, red at the tip, and his thin pinched lips, he +always looked as though he were raging inwardly; and he was concise in +his speech to the point of rudeness. All his time off duty he spent +in his cabin with the door shut, keeping so still in there that he was +supposed to fall asleep as soon as he had disappeared; but the man who +came in to wake him for his watch on deck would invariably find him with +his eyes wide open, flat on his back in the bunk, and glaring irritably +from a soiled pillow. He never wrote any letters, did not seem to hope +for news from anywhere; and though he had been heard once to mention +West Hartlepool, it was with extreme bitterness, and only in connection +with the extortionate charges of a boarding-house. He was one of those +men who are picked up at need in the ports of the world. They are +competent enough, appear hopelessly hard up, show no evidence of any +sort of vice, and carry about them all the signs of manifest failure. +They come aboard on an emergency, care for no ship afloat, live in their +own atmosphere of casual connection amongst their shipmates who know +nothing of them, and make up their minds to leave at inconvenient times. +They clear out with no words of leavetaking in some God-forsaken port +other men would fear to be stranded in, and go ashore in company of a +shabby sea-chest, corded like a treasure-box, and with an air of shaking +the ship's dust off their feet. + +“You wait,” he repeated, balanced in great swings with his back to +Jukes, motionless and implacable. + +“Do you mean to say we are going to catch it hot?” asked Jukes with +boyish interest. + +“Say? . . . I say nothing. You don't catch me,” snapped the little +second mate, with a mixture of pride, scorn, and cunning, as if Jukes' +question had been a trap cleverly detected. “Oh, no! None of you here +shall make a fool of me if I know it,” he mumbled to himself. + +Jukes reflected rapidly that this second mate was a mean little beast, +and in his heart he wished poor Jack Allen had never smashed himself up +in the coal-lighter. The far-off blackness ahead of the ship was like +another night seen through the starry night of the earth--the starless +night of the immensities beyond the created universe, revealed in its +appalling stillness through a low fissure in the glittering sphere of +which the earth is the kernel. + +“Whatever there might be about,” said Jukes, “we are steaming straight +into it.” + +“You've said it,” caught up the second mate, always with his back to +Jukes. “You've said it, mind--not I.” + +“Oh, go to Jericho!” said Jukes, frankly; and the other emitted a +triumphant little chuckle. + +“You've said it,” he repeated. + +“And what of that?” + +“I've known some real good men get into trouble with their skippers for +saying a dam' sight less,” answered the second mate feverishly. “Oh, no! +You don't catch me.” + +“You seem deucedly anxious not to give yourself away,” said Jukes, +completely soured by such absurdity. “I wouldn't be afraid to say what I +think.” + +“Aye, to me! That's no great trick. I am nobody, and well I know it.” + +The ship, after a pause of comparative steadiness, started upon a series +of rolls, one worse than the other, and for a time Jukes, preserving +his equilibrium, was too busy to open his mouth. As soon as the violent +swinging had quieted down somewhat, he said: “This is a bit too much of +a good thing. Whether anything is coming or not I think she ought to be +put head on to that swell. The old man is just gone in to lie down. Hang +me if I don't speak to him.” + +But when he opened the door of the chart-room he saw his captain reading +a book. Captain MacWhirr was not lying down: he was standing up with +one hand grasping the edge of the bookshelf and the other holding open +before his face a thick volume. The lamp wriggled in the gimbals, +the loosened books toppled from side to side on the shelf, the long +barometer swung in jerky circles, the table altered its slant every +moment. In the midst of all this stir and movement Captain MacWhirr, +holding on, showed his eyes above the upper edge, and asked, “What's the +matter?” + +“Swell getting worse, sir.” + +“Noticed that in here,” muttered Captain MacWhirr. “Anything wrong?” + +Jukes, inwardly disconcerted by the seriousness of the eyes looking at +him over the top of the book, produced an embarrassed grin. + +“Rolling like old boots,” he said, sheepishly. + +“Aye! Very heavy--very heavy. What do you want?” + +At this Jukes lost his footing and began to flounder. “I was thinking of +our passengers,” he said, in the manner of a man clutching at a straw. + +“Passengers?” wondered the Captain, gravely. “What passengers?” + +“Why, the Chinamen, sir,” explained Jukes, very sick of this +conversation. + +“The Chinamen! Why don't you speak plainly? Couldn't tell what you +meant. Never heard a lot of coolies spoken of as passengers before. +Passengers, indeed! What's come to you?” + +Captain MacWhirr, closing the book on his forefinger, lowered his arm +and looked completely mystified. “Why are you thinking of the Chinamen, +Mr. Jukes?” he inquired. + +Jukes took a plunge, like a man driven to it. “She's rolling her decks +full of water, sir. Thought you might put her head on perhaps--for a +while. Till this goes down a bit--very soon, I dare say. Head to the +eastward. I never knew a ship roll like this.” + +He held on in the doorway, and Captain MacWhirr, feeling his grip on +the shelf inadequate, made up his mind to let go in a hurry, and fell +heavily on the couch. + +“Head to the eastward?” he said, struggling to sit up. “That's more than +four points off her course.” + +“Yes, sir. Fifty degrees. . . . Would just bring her head far enough +round to meet this. . . .” + +Captain MacWhirr was now sitting up. He had not dropped the book, and he +had not lost his place. + +“To the eastward?” he repeated, with dawning astonishment. “To the . . . +Where do you think we are bound to? You want me to haul a full-powered +steamship four points off her course to make the Chinamen comfortable! +Now, I've heard more than enough of mad things done in the world--but +this. . . . If I didn't know you, Jukes, I would think you were in +liquor. Steer four points off. . . . And what afterwards? Steer four +points over the other way, I suppose, to make the course good. What put +it into your head that I would start to tack a steamer as if she were a +sailing-ship?” + +“Jolly good thing she isn't,” threw in Jukes, with bitter readiness. +“She would have rolled every blessed stick out of her this afternoon.” + +“Aye! And you just would have had to stand and see them go,” said +Captain MacWhirr, showing a certain animation. “It's a dead calm, isn't +it?” + +“It is, sir. But there's something out of the common coming, for sure.” + +“Maybe. I suppose you have a notion I should be getting out of the +way of that dirt,” said Captain MacWhirr, speaking with the utmost +simplicity of manner and tone, and fixing the oilcloth on the floor +with a heavy stare. Thus he noticed neither Jukes' discomfiture nor the +mixture of vexation and astonished respect on his face. + +“Now, here's this book,” he continued with deliberation, slapping his +thigh with the closed volume. “I've been reading the chapter on the +storms there.” + +This was true. He had been reading the chapter on the storms. When he +had entered the chart-room, it was with no intention of taking the book +down. Some influence in the air--the same influence, probably, that +caused the steward to bring without orders the Captain's sea-boots and +oilskin coat up to the chart-room--had as it were guided his hand to +the shelf; and without taking the time to sit down he had waded with a +conscious effort into the terminology of the subject. He lost himself +amongst advancing semi-circles, left- and right-hand quadrants, the +curves of the tracks, the probable bearing of the centre, the shifts of +wind and the readings of barometer. He tried to bring all these +things into a definite relation to himself, and ended by becoming +contemptuously angry with such a lot of words, and with so much advice, +all head-work and supposition, without a glimmer of certitude. + +“It's the damnedest thing, Jukes,” he said. “If a fellow was to believe +all that's in there, he would be running most of his time all over the +sea trying to get behind the weather.” + +Again he slapped his leg with the book; and Jukes opened his mouth, but +said nothing. + +“Running to get behind the weather! Do you understand that, Mr. Jukes? +It's the maddest thing!” ejaculated Captain MacWhirr, with pauses, +gazing at the floor profoundly. “You would think an old woman had been +writing this. It passes me. If that thing means anything useful, then +it means that I should at once alter the course away, away to the devil +somewhere, and come booming down on Fu-chau from the northward at the +tail of this dirty weather that's supposed to be knocking about in our +way. From the north! Do you understand, Mr. Jukes? Three hundred extra +miles to the distance, and a pretty coal bill to show. I couldn't bring +myself to do that if every word in there was gospel truth, Mr. Jukes. +Don't you expect me. . . .” + +And Jukes, silent, marvelled at this display of feeling and loquacity. + +“But the truth is that you don't know if the fellow is right, anyhow. +How can you tell what a gale is made of till you get it? He isn't aboard +here, is he? Very well. Here he says that the centre of them things +bears eight points off the wind; but we haven't got any wind, for all +the barometer falling. Where's his centre now?” + +“We will get the wind presently,” mumbled Jukes. + +“Let it come, then,” said Captain MacWhirr, with dignified indignation. +“It's only to let you see, Mr. Jukes, that you don't find everything in +books. All these rules for dodging breezes and circumventing the winds +of heaven, Mr. Jukes, seem to me the maddest thing, when you come to +look at it sensibly.” + +He raised his eyes, saw Jukes gazing at him dubiously, and tried to +illustrate his meaning. + +“About as queer as your extraordinary notion of dodging the ship head +to sea, for I don't know how long, to make the Chinamen comfortable; +whereas all we've got to do is to take them to Fu-chau, being timed to +get there before noon on Friday. If the weather delays me--very well. +There's your log-book to talk straight about the weather. But suppose +I went swinging off my course and came in two days late, and they asked +me: 'Where have you been all that time, Captain?' What could I say to +that? 'Went around to dodge the bad weather,' I would say. 'It must've +been dam' bad,' they would say. 'Don't know,' I would have to say; 'I've +dodged clear of it.' See that, Jukes? I have been thinking it all out +this afternoon.” + +He looked up again in his unseeing, unimaginative way. No one had ever +heard him say so much at one time. Jukes, with his arms open in the +doorway, was like a man invited to behold a miracle. Unbounded wonder +was the intellectual meaning of his eye, while incredulity was seated in +his whole countenance. + +“A gale is a gale, Mr. Jukes,” resumed the Captain, “and a full-powered +steam-ship has got to face it. There's just so much dirty weather +knocking about the world, and the proper thing is to go through it with +none of what old Captain Wilson of the Melita calls 'storm strategy.' +The other day ashore I heard him hold forth about it to a lot of +shipmasters who came in and sat at a table next to mine. It seemed to me +the greatest nonsense. He was telling them how he outmanoeuvred, I +think he said, a terrific gale, so that it never came nearer than fifty +miles to him. A neat piece of head-work he called it. How he knew there +was a terrific gale fifty miles off beats me altogether. It was like +listening to a crazy man. I would have thought Captain Wilson was old +enough to know better.” + +Captain MacWhirr ceased for a moment, then said, “It's your watch below, +Mr. Jukes?” + +Jukes came to himself with a start. “Yes, sir.” + +“Leave orders to call me at the slightest change,” said the Captain. +He reached up to put the book away, and tucked his legs upon the couch. +“Shut the door so that it don't fly open, will you? I can't stand a +door banging. They've put a lot of rubbishy locks into this ship, I must +say.” + +Captain MacWhirr closed his eyes. + +He did so to rest himself. He was tired, and he experienced that state +of mental vacuity which comes at the end of an exhaustive discussion +that has liberated some belief matured in the course of meditative +years. He had indeed been making his confession of faith, had he only +known it; and its effect was to make Jukes, on the other side of the +door, stand scratching his head for a good while. + +Captain MacWhirr opened his eyes. + +He thought he must have been asleep. What was that loud noise? Wind? Why +had he not been called? The lamp wriggled in its gimbals, the barometer +swung in circles, the table altered its slant every moment; a pair of +limp sea-boots with collapsed tops went sliding past the couch. He put +out his hand instantly, and captured one. + +Jukes' face appeared in a crack of the door: only his face, very red, +with staring eyes. The flame of the lamp leaped, a piece of paper flew +up, a rush of air enveloped Captain MacWhirr. Beginning to draw on the +boot, he directed an expectant gaze at Jukes' swollen, excited features. + +“Came on like this,” shouted Jukes, “five minutes ago . . . all of a +sudden.” + +The head disappeared with a bang, and a heavy splash and patter of drops +swept past the closed door as if a pailful of melted lead had been +flung against the house. A whistling could be heard now upon the +deep vibrating noise outside. The stuffy chart-room seemed as full of +draughts as a shed. Captain MacWhirr collared the other sea-boot on its +violent passage along the floor. He was not flustered, but he could not +find at once the opening for inserting his foot. The shoes he had flung +off were scurrying from end to end of the cabin, gambolling playfully +over each other like puppies. As soon as he stood up he kicked at them +viciously, but without effect. + +He threw himself into the attitude of a lunging fencer, to reach after +his oilskin coat; and afterwards he staggered all over the confined +space while he jerked himself into it. Very grave, straddling his legs +far apart, and stretching his neck, he started to tie deliberately +the strings of his sou'-wester under his chin, with thick fingers that +trembled slightly. He went through all the movements of a woman putting +on her bonnet before a glass, with a strained, listening attention, as +though he had expected every moment to hear the shout of his name in the +confused clamour that had suddenly beset his ship. Its increase filled +his ears while he was getting ready to go out and confront whatever it +might mean. It was tumultuous and very loud--made up of the rush of the +wind, the crashes of the sea, with that prolonged deep vibration of the +air, like the roll of an immense and remote drum beating the charge of +the gale. + +He stood for a moment in the light of the lamp, thick, clumsy, shapeless +in his panoply of combat, vigilant and red-faced. + +“There's a lot of weight in this,” he muttered. + +As soon as he attempted to open the door the wind caught it. Clinging +to the handle, he was dragged out over the doorstep, and at once found +himself engaged with the wind in a sort of personal scuffle whose +object was the shutting of that door. At the last moment a tongue of air +scurried in and licked out the flame of the lamp. + +Ahead of the ship he perceived a great darkness lying upon a multitude +of white flashes; on the starboard beam a few amazing stars drooped, dim +and fitful, above an immense waste of broken seas, as if seen through a +mad drift of smoke. + +On the bridge a knot of men, indistinct and toiling, were making great +efforts in the light of the wheelhouse windows that shone mistily on +their heads and backs. Suddenly darkness closed upon one pane, then on +another. The voices of the lost group reached him after the manner of +men's voices in a gale, in shreds and fragments of forlorn shouting +snatched past the ear. All at once Jukes appeared at his side, yelling, +with his head down. + +“Watch--put in--wheelhouse shutters--glass--afraid--blow in.” + +Jukes heard his commander upbraiding. + +“This--come--anything--warning--call me.” + +He tried to explain, with the uproar pressing on his lips. + +“Light air--remained--bridge--sudden--north-east--could +turn--thought--you--sure--hear.” + +They had gained the shelter of the weather-cloth, and could converse +with raised voices, as people quarrel. + +“I got the hands along to cover up all the ventilators. Good job I had +remained on deck. I didn't think you would be asleep, and so . . . What +did you say, sir? What?” + +“Nothing,” cried Captain MacWhirr. “I said--all right.” + +“By all the powers! We've got it this time,” observed Jukes in a howl. + +“You haven't altered her course?” inquired Captain MacWhirr, straining +his voice. + +“No, sir. Certainly not. Wind came out right ahead. And here comes the +head sea.” + +A plunge of the ship ended in a shock as if she had landed her forefoot +upon something solid. After a moment of stillness a lofty flight of +sprays drove hard with the wind upon their faces. + +“Keep her at it as long as we can,” shouted Captain MacWhirr. + +Before Jukes had squeezed the salt water out of his eyes all the stars +had disappeared. + + + +III + +Jukes was as ready a man as any half-dozen young mates that may be +caught by casting a net upon the waters; and though he had been somewhat +taken aback by the startling viciousness of the first squall, he had +pulled himself together on the instant, had called out the hands and had +rushed them along to secure such openings about the deck as had not been +already battened down earlier in the evening. Shouting in his fresh, +stentorian voice, “Jump, boys, and bear a hand!” he led in the work, +telling himself the while that he had “just expected this.” + +But at the same time he was growing aware that this was rather more than +he had expected. From the first stir of the air felt on his cheek the +gale seemed to take upon itself the accumulated impetus of an avalanche. +Heavy sprays enveloped the Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and instantly in +the midst of her regular rolling she began to jerk and plunge as though +she had gone mad with fright. + +Jukes thought, “This is no joke.” While he was exchanging explanatory +yells with his captain, a sudden lowering of the darkness came upon the +night, falling before their vision like something palpable. It was as +if the masked lights of the world had been turned down. Jukes was +uncritically glad to have his captain at hand. It relieved him as though +that man had, by simply coming on deck, taken most of the gale's weight +upon his shoulders. Such is the prestige, the privilege, and the burden +of command. + +Captain MacWhirr could expect no relief of that sort from any one on +earth. Such is the loneliness of command. He was trying to see, with +that watchful manner of a seaman who stares into the wind's eye as if +into the eye of an adversary, to penetrate the hidden intention and +guess the aim and force of the thrust. The strong wind swept at him out +of a vast obscurity; he felt under his feet the uneasiness of his ship, +and he could not even discern the shadow of her shape. He wished it +were not so; and very still he waited, feeling stricken by a blind man's +helplessness. + +To be silent was natural to him, dark or shine. Jukes, at his elbow, +made himself heard yelling cheerily in the gusts, “We must have got +the worst of it at once, sir.” A faint burst of lightning quivered all +round, as if flashed into a cavern--into a black and secret chamber of +the sea, with a floor of foaming crests. + +It unveiled for a sinister, fluttering moment a ragged mass of clouds +hanging low, the lurch of the long outlines of the ship, the black +figures of men caught on the bridge, heads forward, as if petrified in +the act of butting. The darkness palpitated down upon all this, and then +the real thing came at last. + +It was something formidable and swift, like the sudden smashing of +a vial of wrath. It seemed to explode all round the ship with an +overpowering concussion and a rush of great waters, as if an immense dam +had been blown up to windward. In an instant the men lost touch of each +other. This is the disintegrating power of a great wind: it isolates one +from one's kind. An earthquake, a landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man +incidentally, as it were--without passion. A furious gale attacks him +like a personal enemy, tries to grasp his limbs, fastens upon his mind, +seeks to rout his very spirit out of him. + +Jukes was driven away from his commander. He fancied himself whirled a +great distance through the air. Everything disappeared--even, for +a moment, his power of thinking; but his hand had found one of +the rail-stanchions. His distress was by no means alleviated by an +inclination to disbelieve the reality of this experience. Though young, +he had seen some bad weather, and had never doubted his ability to +imagine the worst; but this was so much beyond his powers of fancy that +it appeared incompatible with the existence of any ship whatever. He +would have been incredulous about himself in the same way, perhaps, had +he not been so harassed by the necessity of exerting a wrestling effort +against a force trying to tear him away from his hold. Moreover, the +conviction of not being utterly destroyed returned to him through the +sensations of being half-drowned, bestially shaken, and partly choked. + +It seemed to him he remained there precariously alone with the stanchion +for a long, long time. The rain poured on him, flowed, drove in sheets. +He breathed in gasps; and sometimes the water he swallowed was fresh and +sometimes it was salt. For the most part he kept his eyes shut tight, as +if suspecting his sight might be destroyed in the immense flurry of +the elements. When he ventured to blink hastily, he derived some moral +support from the green gleam of the starboard light shining feebly upon +the flight of rain and sprays. He was actually looking at it when its +ray fell upon the uprearing sea which put it out. He saw the head of the +wave topple over, adding the mite of its crash to the tremendous uproar +raging around him, and almost at the same instant the stanchion was +wrenched away from his embracing arms. After a crushing thump on his +back he found himself suddenly afloat and borne upwards. His first +irresistible notion was that the whole China Sea had climbed on the +bridge. Then, more sanely, he concluded himself gone overboard. All the +time he was being tossed, flung, and rolled in great volumes of water, +he kept on repeating mentally, with the utmost precipitation, the words: +“My God! My God! My God! My God!” + +All at once, in a revolt of misery and despair, he formed the crazy +resolution to get out of that. And he began to thresh about with his +arms and legs. But as soon as he commenced his wretched struggles he +discovered that he had become somehow mixed up with a face, an oilskin +coat, somebody's boots. He clawed ferociously all these things in +turn, lost them, found them again, lost them once more, and finally was +himself caught in the firm clasp of a pair of stout arms. He returned +the embrace closely round a thick solid body. He had found his captain. + +They tumbled over and over, tightening their hug. Suddenly the water +let them down with a brutal bang; and, stranded against the side of the +wheelhouse, out of breath and bruised, they were left to stagger up in +the wind and hold on where they could. + +Jukes came out of it rather horrified, as though he had escaped some +unparalleled outrage directed at his feelings. It weakened his faith in +himself. He started shouting aimlessly to the man he could feel near him +in that fiendish blackness, “Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir?” till his +temples seemed ready to burst. And he heard in answer a voice, as if +crying far away, as if screaming to him fretfully from a very great +distance, the one word “Yes!” Other seas swept again over the bridge. +He received them defencelessly right over his bare head, with both his +hands engaged in holding. + +The motion of the ship was extravagant. Her lurches had an appalling +helplessness: she pitched as if taking a header into a void, and seemed +to find a wall to hit every time. When she rolled she fell on her side +headlong, and she would be righted back by such a demolishing blow that +Jukes felt her reeling as a clubbed man reels before he collapses. The +gale howled and scuffled about gigantically in the darkness, as though +the entire world were one black gully. At certain moments the air +streamed against the ship as if sucked through a tunnel with a +concentrated solid force of impact that seemed to lift her clean out +of the water and keep her up for an instant with only a quiver running +through her from end to end. And then she would begin her tumbling again +as if dropped back into a boiling cauldron. Jukes tried hard to compose +his mind and judge things coolly. + +The sea, flattened down in the heavier gusts, would uprise and overwhelm +both ends of the Nan-Shan in snowy rushes of foam, expanding wide, +beyond both rails, into the night. And on this dazzling sheet, spread +under the blackness of the clouds and emitting a bluish glow, Captain +MacWhirr could catch a desolate glimpse of a few tiny specks black as +ebony, the tops of the hatches, the battened companions, the heads of +the covered winches, the foot of a mast. This was all he could see of +his ship. Her middle structure, covered by the bridge which bore him, +his mate, the closed wheelhouse where a man was steering shut up with +the fear of being swept overboard together with the whole thing in one +great crash--her middle structure was like a half-tide rock awash upon a +coast. It was like an outlying rock with the water boiling up, streaming +over, pouring off, beating round--like a rock in the surf to which +shipwrecked people cling before they let go--only it rose, it sank, it +rolled continuously, without respite and rest, like a rock that should +have miraculously struck adrift from a coast and gone wallowing upon the +sea. + +The Nan-Shan was being looted by the storm with a senseless, destructive +fury: trysails torn out of the extra gaskets, double-lashed awnings +blown away, bridge swept clean, weather-cloths burst, rails twisted, +light-screens smashed--and two of the boats had gone already. They had +gone unheard and unseen, melting, as it were, in the shock and smother +of the wave. It was only later, when upon the white flash of another +high sea hurling itself amidships, Jukes had a vision of two pairs of +davits leaping black and empty out of the solid blackness, with one +overhauled fall flying and an iron-bound block capering in the air, that +he became aware of what had happened within about three yards of his +back. + +He poked his head forward, groping for the ear of his commander. His +lips touched it--big, fleshy, very wet. He cried in an agitated tone, +“Our boats are going now, sir.” + +And again he heard that voice, forced and ringing feebly, but with a +penetrating effect of quietness in the enormous discord of noises, as if +sent out from some remote spot of peace beyond the black wastes of the +gale; again he heard a man's voice--the frail and indomitable sound that +can be made to carry an infinity of thought, resolution and purpose, +that shall be pronouncing confident words on the last day, when heavens +fall, and justice is done--again he heard it, and it was crying to him, +as if from very, very far--“All right.” + +He thought he had not managed to make himself understood. “Our boats--I +say boats--the boats, sir! Two gone!” + +The same voice, within a foot of him and yet so remote, yelled sensibly, +“Can't be helped.” + +Captain MacWhirr had never turned his face, but Jukes caught some more +words on the wind. + +“What can--expect--when hammering through--such--Bound to +leave--something behind--stands to reason.” + +Watchfully Jukes listened for more. No more came. This was all Captain +MacWhirr had to say; and Jukes could picture to himself rather than see +the broad squat back before him. An impenetrable obscurity pressed down +upon the ghostly glimmers of the sea. A dull conviction seized upon +Jukes that there was nothing to be done. + +If the steering-gear did not give way, if the immense volumes of water +did not burst the deck in or smash one of the hatches, if the engines +did not give up, if way could be kept on the ship against this terrific +wind, and she did not bury herself in one of these awful seas, of whose +white crests alone, topping high above her bows, he could now and then +get a sickening glimpse--then there was a chance of her coming out of +it. Something within him seemed to turn over, bringing uppermost the +feeling that the Nan-Shan was lost. + +“She's done for,” he said to himself, with a surprising mental +agitation, as though he had discovered an unexpected meaning in this +thought. One of these things was bound to happen. Nothing could be +prevented now, and nothing could be remedied. The men on board did not +count, and the ship could not last. This weather was too impossible. + +Jukes felt an arm thrown heavily over his shoulders; and to this +overture he responded with great intelligence by catching hold of his +captain round the waist. + +They stood clasped thus in the blind night, bracing each other against +the wind, cheek to cheek and lip to ear, in the manner of two hulks +lashed stem to stern together. + +And Jukes heard the voice of his commander hardly any louder than +before, but nearer, as though, starting to march athwart the prodigious +rush of the hurricane, it had approached him, bearing that strange +effect of quietness like the serene glow of a halo. + +“D'ye know where the hands got to?” it asked, vigorous and evanescent at +the same time, overcoming the strength of the wind, and swept away from +Jukes instantly. + +Jukes didn't know. They were all on the bridge when the real force of +the hurricane struck the ship. He had no idea where they had crawled to. +Under the circumstances they were nowhere, for all the use that could be +made of them. Somehow the Captain's wish to know distressed Jukes. + +“Want the hands, sir?” he cried, apprehensively. + +“Ought to know,” asserted Captain MacWhirr. “Hold hard.” + +They held hard. An outburst of unchained fury, a vicious rush of the +wind absolutely steadied the ship; she rocked only, quick and light like +a child's cradle, for a terrific moment of suspense, while the whole +atmosphere, as it seemed, streamed furiously past her, roaring away from +the tenebrous earth. + +It suffocated them, and with eyes shut they tightened their grasp. +What from the magnitude of the shock might have been a column of water +running upright in the dark, butted against the ship, broke short, +and fell on her bridge, crushingly, from on high, with a dead burying +weight. + +A flying fragment of that collapse, a mere splash, enveloped them in one +swirl from their feet over their heads, filling violently their ears, +mouths and nostrils with salt water. It knocked out their legs, wrenched +in haste at their arms, seethed away swiftly under their chins; and +opening their eyes, they saw the piled-up masses of foam dashing to and +fro amongst what looked like the fragments of a ship. She had given way +as if driven straight in. Their panting hearts yielded, too, before the +tremendous blow; and all at once she sprang up again to her desperate +plunging, as if trying to scramble out from under the ruins. + +The seas in the dark seemed to rush from all sides to keep her back +where she might perish. There was hate in the way she was handled, and +a ferocity in the blows that fell. She was like a living creature thrown +to the rage of a mob: hustled terribly, struck at, borne up, flung +down, leaped upon. Captain MacWhirr and Jukes kept hold of each other, +deafened by the noise, gagged by the wind; and the great physical +tumult beating about their bodies, brought, like an unbridled display +of passion, a profound trouble to their souls. One of those wild and +appalling shrieks that are heard at times passing mysteriously overhead +in the steady roar of a hurricane, swooped, as if borne on wings, upon +the ship, and Jukes tried to outscream it. + +“Will she live through this?” + +The cry was wrenched out of his breast. It was as unintentional as the +birth of a thought in the head, and he heard nothing of it himself. It +all became extinct at once--thought, intention, effort--and of his cry +the inaudible vibration added to the tempest waves of the air. + +He expected nothing from it. Nothing at all. For indeed what answer +could be made? But after a while he heard with amazement the frail and +resisting voice in his ear, the dwarf sound, unconquered in the giant +tumult. + +“She may!” + +It was a dull yell, more difficult to seize than a whisper. And +presently the voice returned again, half submerged in the vast crashes, +like a ship battling against the waves of an ocean. + +“Let's hope so!” it cried--small, lonely and unmoved, a stranger to +the visions of hope or fear; and it flickered into disconnected words: +“Ship. . . . . This. . . . Never--Anyhow . . . for the best.” Jukes gave +it up. + +Then, as if it had come suddenly upon the one thing fit to withstand +the power of a storm, it seemed to gain force and firmness for the last +broken shouts: + +“Keep on hammering . . . builders . . . good men. . . . . And chance it +. . . engines. . . . Rout . . . good man.” + +Captain MacWhirr removed his arm from Jukes' shoulders, and thereby +ceased to exist for his mate, so dark it was; Jukes, after a tense +stiffening of every muscle, would let himself go limp all over. The +gnawing of profound discomfort existed side by side with an incredible +disposition to somnolence, as though he had been buffeted and worried +into drowsiness. The wind would get hold of his head and try to shake +it off his shoulders; his clothes, full of water, were as heavy as lead, +cold and dripping like an armour of melting ice: he shivered--it lasted +a long time; and with his hands closed hard on his hold, he was letting +himself sink slowly into the depths of bodily misery. His mind became +concentrated upon himself in an aimless, idle way, and when something +pushed lightly at the back of his knees he nearly, as the saying is, +jumped out of his skin. + +In the start forward he bumped the back of Captain MacWhirr, who didn't +move; and then a hand gripped his thigh. A lull had come, a menacing +lull of the wind, the holding of a stormy breath--and he felt himself +pawed all over. It was the boatswain. Jukes recognized these hands, so +thick and enormous that they seemed to belong to some new species of +man. + +The boatswain had arrived on the bridge, crawling on all fours against +the wind, and had found the chief mate's legs with the top of his head. +Immediately he crouched and began to explore Jukes' person upwards with +prudent, apologetic touches, as became an inferior. + +He was an ill-favoured, undersized, gruff sailor of fifty, coarsely +hairy, short-legged, long-armed, resembling an elderly ape. His +strength was immense; and in his great lumpy paws, bulging like brown +boxing-gloves on the end of furry forearms, the heaviest objects were +handled like playthings. Apart from the grizzled pelt on his chest, the +menacing demeanour and the hoarse voice, he had none of the classical +attributes of his rating. His good nature almost amounted to imbecility: +the men did what they liked with him, and he had not an ounce of +initiative in his character, which was easy-going and talkative. For +these reasons Jukes disliked him; but Captain MacWhirr, to Jukes' +scornful disgust, seemed to regard him as a first-rate petty officer. + +He pulled himself up by Jukes' coat, taking that liberty with the +greatest moderation, and only so far as it was forced upon him by the +hurricane. + +“What is it, boss'n, what is it?” yelled Jukes, impatiently. What could +that fraud of a boss'n want on the bridge? The typhoon had got on Jukes' +nerves. The husky bellowings of the other, though unintelligible, seemed +to suggest a state of lively satisfaction. + +There could be no mistake. The old fool was pleased with something. + +The boatswain's other hand had found some other body, for in a changed +tone he began to inquire: “Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir?” The wind +strangled his howls. + +“Yes!” cried Captain MacWhirr. + + + +IV + +All that the boatswain, out of a superabundance of yells, could make +clear to Captain MacWhirr was the bizarre intelligence that “All them +Chinamen in the fore 'tween deck have fetched away, sir.” + +Jukes to leeward could hear these two shouting within six inches of +his face, as you may hear on a still night half a mile away two men +conversing across a field. He heard Captain MacWhirr's exasperated +“What? What?” and the strained pitch of the other's hoarseness. “In a +lump . . . seen them myself. . . . Awful sight, sir . . . thought . . . +tell you.” + +Jukes remained indifferent, as if rendered irresponsible by the force +of the hurricane, which made the very thought of action utterly vain. +Besides, being very young, he had found the occupation of keeping his +heart completely steeled against the worst so engrossing that he had +come to feel an overpowering dislike towards any other form of activity +whatever. He was not scared; he knew this because, firmly believing he +would never see another sunrise, he remained calm in that belief. + +These are the moments of do-nothing heroics to which even good men +surrender at times. Many officers of ships can no doubt recall a case +in their experience when just such a trance of confounded stoicism would +come all at once over a whole ship's company. Jukes, however, had +no wide experience of men or storms. He conceived himself to be +calm--inexorably calm; but as a matter of fact he was daunted; not +abjectly, but only so far as a decent man may, without becoming +loathsome to himself. + +It was rather like a forced-on numbness of spirit. The long, long +stress of a gale does it; the suspense of the interminably culminating +catastrophe; and there is a bodily fatigue in the mere holding on to +existence within the excessive tumult; a searching and insidious fatigue +that penetrates deep into a man's breast to cast down and sadden his +heart, which is incorrigible, and of all the gifts of the earth--even +before life itself--aspires to peace. + +Jukes was benumbed much more than he supposed. He held on--very wet, +very cold, stiff in every limb; and in a momentary hallucination of +swift visions (it is said that a drowning man thus reviews all his life) +he beheld all sorts of memories altogether unconnected with his present +situation. He remembered his father, for instance: a worthy business +man, who at an unfortunate crisis in his affairs went quietly to bed +and died forthwith in a state of resignation. Jukes did not recall these +circumstances, of course, but remaining otherwise unconcerned he seemed +to see distinctly the poor man's face; a certain game of nap played when +quite a boy in Table Bay on board a ship, since lost with all hands; +the thick eyebrows of his first skipper; and without any emotion, as +he might years ago have walked listlessly into her room and found her +sitting there with a book, he remembered his mother--dead, too, now--the +resolute woman, left badly off, who had been very firm in his bringing +up. + +It could not have lasted more than a second, perhaps not so much. A +heavy arm had fallen about his shoulders; Captain MacWhirr's voice was +speaking his name into his ear. + +“Jukes! Jukes!” + +He detected the tone of deep concern. The wind had thrown its weight +on the ship, trying to pin her down amongst the seas. They made a clean +breach over her, as over a deep-swimming log; and the gathered weight +of crashes menaced monstrously from afar. The breakers flung out of the +night with a ghostly light on their crests--the light of sea-foam that +in a ferocious, boiling-up pale flash showed upon the slender body of +the ship the toppling rush, the downfall, and the seething mad scurry +of each wave. Never for a moment could she shake herself clear of +the water; Jukes, rigid, perceived in her motion the ominous sign of +haphazard floundering. She was no longer struggling intelligently. It +was the beginning of the end; and the note of busy concern in Captain +MacWhirr's voice sickened him like an exhibition of blind and pernicious +folly. + +The spell of the storm had fallen upon Jukes. He was penetrated by it, +absorbed by it; he was rooted in it with a rigour of dumb attention. +Captain MacWhirr persisted in his cries, but the wind got between them +like a solid wedge. He hung round Jukes' neck as heavy as a millstone, +and suddenly the sides of their heads knocked together. + +“Jukes! Mr. Jukes, I say!” + +He had to answer that voice that would not be silenced. He answered in +the customary manner: “. . . Yes, sir.” + +And directly, his heart, corrupted by the storm that breeds a craving +for peace, rebelled against the tyranny of training and command. + +Captain MacWhirr had his mate's head fixed firm in the crook of his +elbow, and pressed it to his yelling lips mysteriously. Sometimes +Jukes would break in, admonishing hastily: “Look out, sir!” or Captain +MacWhirr would bawl an earnest exhortation to “Hold hard, there!” and +the whole black universe seemed to reel together with the ship. They +paused. She floated yet. And Captain MacWhirr would resume, his shouts. +“. . . . Says . . . whole lot . . . fetched away. . . . Ought to see +. . . what's the matter.” + +Directly the full force of the hurricane had struck the ship, every part +of her deck became untenable; and the sailors, dazed and dismayed, took +shelter in the port alleyway under the bridge. It had a door aft, which +they shut; it was very black, cold, and dismal. At each heavy fling of +the ship they would groan all together in the dark, and tons of water +could be heard scuttling about as if trying to get at them from above. +The boatswain had been keeping up a gruff talk, but a more unreasonable +lot of men, he said afterwards, he had never been with. They were snug +enough there, out of harm's way, and not wanted to do anything, either; +and yet they did nothing but grumble and complain peevishly like so many +sick kids. Finally, one of them said that if there had been at least +some light to see each other's noses by, it wouldn't be so bad. It was +making him crazy, he declared, to lie there in the dark waiting for the +blamed hooker to sink. + +“Why don't you step outside, then, and be done with it at once?” the +boatswain turned on him. + +This called up a shout of execration. The boatswain found himself +overwhelmed with reproaches of all sorts. They seemed to take it ill +that a lamp was not instantly created for them out of nothing. They +would whine after a light to get drowned by--anyhow! And though the +unreason of their revilings was patent--since no one could hope to reach +the lamp-room, which was forward--he became greatly distressed. He did +not think it was decent of them to be nagging at him like this. He told +them so, and was met by general contumely. He sought refuge, therefore, +in an embittered silence. At the same time their grumbling and sighing +and muttering worried him greatly, but by-and-by it occurred to him that +there were six globe lamps hung in the 'tween-deck, and that there could +be no harm in depriving the coolies of one of them. + +The Nan-Shan had an athwartship coal-bunker, which, being at times used +as cargo space, communicated by an iron door with the fore 'tween-deck. +It was empty then, and its manhole was the foremost one in the alleyway. +The boatswain could get in, therefore, without coming out on deck at +all; but to his great surprise he found he could induce no one to help +him in taking off the manhole cover. He groped for it all the same, but +one of the crew lying in his way refused to budge. + +“Why, I only want to get you that blamed light you are crying for,” he +expostulated, almost pitifully. + +Somebody told him to go and put his head in a bag. He regretted he could +not recognize the voice, and that it was too dark to see, otherwise, +as he said, he would have put a head on that son of a sea-cook, anyway, +sink or swim. Nevertheless, he had made up his mind to show them he +could get a light, if he were to die for it. + +Through the violence of the ship's rolling, every movement was +dangerous. To be lying down seemed labour enough. He nearly broke +his neck dropping into the bunker. He fell on his back, and was sent +shooting helplessly from side to side in the dangerous company of a +heavy iron bar--a coal-trimmer's slice probably--left down there by +somebody. This thing made him as nervous as though it had been a +wild beast. He could not see it, the inside of the bunker coated with +coal-dust being perfectly and impenetrably black; but he heard it +sliding and clattering, and striking here and there, always in the +neighbourhood of his head. It seemed to make an extraordinary noise, +too--to give heavy thumps as though it had been as big as a bridge +girder. This was remarkable enough for him to notice while he was flung +from port to starboard and back again, and clawing desperately the +smooth sides of the bunker in the endeavour to stop himself. The door +into the 'tween-deck not fitting quite true, he saw a thread of dim +light at the bottom. + +Being a sailor, and a still active man, he did not want much of a chance +to regain his feet; and as luck would have it, in scrambling up he put +his hand on the iron slice, picking it up as he rose. Otherwise he would +have been afraid of the thing breaking his legs, or at least knocking +him down again. At first he stood still. He felt unsafe in this darkness +that seemed to make the ship's motion unfamiliar, unforeseen, and +difficult to counteract. He felt so much shaken for a moment that he +dared not move for fear of “taking charge again.” He had no mind to get +battered to pieces in that bunker. + +He had struck his head twice; he was dazed a little. He seemed to hear +yet so plainly the clatter and bangs of the iron slice flying about +his ears that he tightened his grip to prove to himself he had it there +safely in his hand. He was vaguely amazed at the plainness with which +down there he could hear the gale raging. Its howls and shrieks seemed +to take on, in the emptiness of the bunker, something of the human +character, of human rage and pain--being not vast but infinitely +poignant. And there were, with every roll, thumps, too--profound, +ponderous thumps, as if a bulky object of five-ton weight or so had got +play in the hold. But there was no such thing in the cargo. Something on +deck? Impossible. Or alongside? Couldn't be. + +He thought all this quickly, clearly, competently, like a seaman, and +in the end remained puzzled. This noise, though, came deadened from +outside, together with the washing and pouring of water on deck above +his head. Was it the wind? Must be. It made down there a row like the +shouting of a big lot of crazed men. And he discovered in himself +a desire for a light, too--if only to get drowned by--and a nervous +anxiety to get out of that bunker as quickly as possible. + +He pulled back the bolt: the heavy iron plate turned on its hinges; and +it was as though he had opened the door to the sounds of the tempest. +A gust of hoarse yelling met him: the air was still; and the rushing +of water overhead was covered by a tumult of strangled, throaty shrieks +that produced an effect of desperate confusion. He straddled his legs +the whole width of the doorway and stretched his neck. And at first +he perceived only what he had come to seek: six small yellow flames +swinging violently on the great body of the dusk. + +It was stayed like the gallery of a mine, with a row of stanchions +in the middle, and cross-beams overhead, penetrating into the gloom +ahead--indefinitely. And to port there loomed, like the caving in of +one of the sides, a bulky mass with a slanting outline. The whole place, +with the shadows and the shapes, moved all the time. The boatswain +glared: the ship lurched to starboard, and a great howl came from that +mass that had the slant of fallen earth. + +Pieces of wood whizzed past. Planks, he thought, inexpressibly startled, +and flinging back his head. At his feet a man went sliding over, +open-eyed, on his back, straining with uplifted arms for nothing: and +another came bounding like a detached stone with his head between his +legs and his hands clenched. His pigtail whipped in the air; he made a +grab at the boatswain's legs, and from his opened hand a bright white +disc rolled against the boatswain's foot. He recognized a silver dollar, +and yelled at it with astonishment. With a precipitated sound of +trampling and shuffling of bare feet, and with guttural cries, the mound +of writhing bodies piled up to port detached itself from the ship's side +and sliding, inert and struggling, shifted to starboard, with a dull, +brutal thump. The cries ceased. The boatswain heard a long moan through +the roar and whistling of the wind; he saw an inextricable confusion of +heads and shoulders, naked soles kicking upwards, fists raised, tumbling +backs, legs, pigtails, faces. + +“Good Lord!” he cried, horrified, and banged-to the iron door upon this +vision. + +This was what he had come on the bridge to tell. He could not keep it +to himself; and on board ship there is only one man to whom it is +worth while to unburden yourself. On his passage back the hands in the +alleyway swore at him for a fool. Why didn't he bring that lamp? What +the devil did the coolies matter to anybody? And when he came out, the +extremity of the ship made what went on inside of her appear of little +moment. + +At first he thought he had left the alleyway in the very moment of her +sinking. The bridge ladders had been washed away, but an enormous sea +filling the after-deck floated him up. After that he had to lie on his +stomach for some time, holding to a ring-bolt, getting his breath now +and then, and swallowing salt water. He struggled farther on his hands +and knees, too frightened and distracted to turn back. In this way +he reached the after-part of the wheelhouse. In that comparatively +sheltered spot he found the second mate. + +The boatswain was pleasantly surprised--his impression being that +everybody on deck must have been washed away a long time ago. He asked +eagerly where the Captain was. + +The second mate was lying low, like a malignant little animal under a +hedge. + +“Captain? Gone overboard, after getting us into this mess.” The mate, +too, for all he knew or cared. Another fool. Didn't matter. Everybody +was going by-and-by. + +The boatswain crawled out again into the strength of the wind; not +because he much expected to find anybody, he said, but just to get away +from “that man.” He crawled out as outcasts go to face an inclement +world. Hence his great joy at finding Jukes and the Captain. But what +was going on in the 'tween-deck was to him a minor matter by that time. +Besides, it was difficult to make yourself heard. But he managed to +convey the idea that the Chinaman had broken adrift together with their +boxes, and that he had come up on purpose to report this. As to the +hands, they were all right. Then, appeased, he subsided on the deck in +a sitting posture, hugging with his arms and legs the stand of the +engine-room telegraph--an iron casting as thick as a post. When that +went, why, he expected he would go, too. He gave no more thought to the +coolies. + + +Captain MacWhirr had made Jukes understand that he wanted him to go down +below--to see. + +“What am I to do then, sir?” And the trembling of his whole wet body +caused Jukes' voice to sound like bleating. + +“See first . . . Boss'n . . . says . . . adrift.” + +“That boss'n is a confounded fool,” howled Jukes, shakily. + +The absurdity of the demand made upon him revolted Jukes. He was as +unwilling to go as if the moment he had left the deck the ship were sure +to sink. + +“I must know . . . can't leave. . . .” + +“They'll settle, sir.” + +“Fight . . . boss'n says they fight. . . . Why? Can't have . . . +fighting . . . board ship. . . . Much rather keep you here . . . case +. . . I should . . . washed overboard myself. . . . Stop it . . . some +way. You see and tell me . . . through engine-room tube. Don't want you +. . . come up here . . . too often. Dangerous . . . moving about . . . +deck.” + +Jukes, held with his head in chancery, had to listen to what seemed +horrible suggestions. + +“Don't want . . . you get lost . . . so long . . . ship isn't. . . . . +Rout . . . Good man . . . Ship . . . may . . . through this . . . all +right yet.” + +All at once Jukes understood he would have to go. + +“Do you think she may?” he screamed. + +But the wind devoured the reply, out of which Jukes heard only the one +word, pronounced with great energy “. . . . Always. . . .” + +Captain MacWhirr released Jukes, and bending over the boatswain, yelled, +“Get back with the mate.” Jukes only knew that the arm was gone off +his shoulders. He was dismissed with his orders--to do what? He was +exasperated into letting go his hold carelessly, and on the instant +was blown away. It seemed to him that nothing could stop him from being +blown right over the stern. He flung himself down hastily, and the +boatswain, who was following, fell on him. + +“Don't you get up yet, sir,” cried the boatswain. “No hurry!” + +A sea swept over. Jukes understood the boatswain to splutter that the +bridge ladders were gone. “I'll lower you down, sir, by your hands,” + he screamed. He shouted also something about the smoke-stack being +as likely to go overboard as not. Jukes thought it very possible, and +imagined the fires out, the ship helpless. . . . The boatswain by his +side kept on yelling. “What? What is it?” Jukes cried distressfully; and +the other repeated, “What would my old woman say if she saw me now?” + +In the alleyway, where a lot of water had got in and splashed in the +dark, the men were still as death, till Jukes stumbled against one of +them and cursed him savagely for being in the way. Two or three voices +then asked, eager and weak, “Any chance for us, sir?” + +“What's the matter with you fools?” he said brutally. He felt as though +he could throw himself down amongst them and never move any more. But +they seemed cheered; and in the midst of obsequious warnings, “Look +out! Mind that manhole lid, sir,” they lowered him into the bunker. The +boatswain tumbled down after him, and as soon as he had picked himself +up he remarked, “She would say, 'Serve you right, you old fool, for +going to sea.'” + +The boatswain had some means, and made a point of alluding to them +frequently. His wife--a fat woman--and two grown-up daughters kept a +greengrocer's shop in the East-end of London. + +In the dark, Jukes, unsteady on his legs, listened to a faint thunderous +patter. A deadened screaming went on steadily at his elbow, as it were; +and from above the louder tumult of the storm descended upon these near +sounds. His head swam. To him, too, in that bunker, the motion of the +ship seemed novel and menacing, sapping his resolution as though he had +never been afloat before. + +He had half a mind to scramble out again; but the remembrance of Captain +MacWhirr's voice made this impossible. His orders were to go and see. +What was the good of it, he wanted to know. Enraged, he told himself he +would see--of course. But the boatswain, staggering clumsily, warned him +to be careful how he opened that door; there was a blamed fight going +on. And Jukes, as if in great bodily pain, desired irritably to know +what the devil they were fighting for. + +“Dollars! Dollars, sir. All their rotten chests got burst open. Blamed +money skipping all over the place, and they are tumbling after it head +over heels--tearing and biting like anything. A regular little hell in +there.” + +Jukes convulsively opened the door. The short boatswain peered under his +arm. + +One of the lamps had gone out, broken perhaps. Rancorous, guttural cries +burst out loudly on their ears, and a strange panting sound, the working +of all these straining breasts. A hard blow hit the side of the ship: +water fell above with a stunning shock, and in the forefront of the +gloom, where the air was reddish and thick, Jukes saw a head bang the +deck violently, two thick calves waving on high, muscular arms twined +round a naked body, a yellow-face, open-mouthed and with a set wild +stare, look up and slide away. An empty chest clattered turning over; +a man fell head first with a jump, as if lifted by a kick; and farther +off, indistinct, others streamed like a mass of rolling stones down +a bank, thumping the deck with their feet and flourishing their arms +wildly. The hatchway ladder was loaded with coolies swarming on it +like bees on a branch. They hung on the steps in a crawling, stirring +cluster, beating madly with their fists the underside of the battened +hatch, and the headlong rush of the water above was heard in the +intervals of their yelling. The ship heeled over more, and they began +to drop off: first one, then two, then all the rest went away together, +falling straight off with a great cry. + +Jukes was confounded. The boatswain, with gruff anxiety, begged him, +“Don't you go in there, sir.” + +The whole place seemed to twist upon itself, jumping incessantly the +while; and when the ship rose to a sea Jukes fancied that all these men +would be shot upon him in a body. He backed out, swung the door to, and +with trembling hands pushed at the bolt. . . . + +As soon as his mate had gone Captain MacWhirr, left alone on the bridge, +sidled and staggered as far as the wheelhouse. Its door being hinged +forward, he had to fight the gale for admittance, and when at last he +managed to enter, it was with an instantaneous clatter and a bang, as +though he had been fired through the wood. He stood within, holding on +to the handle. + +The steering-gear leaked steam, and in the confined space the glass of +the binnacle made a shiny oval of light in a thin white fog. The wind +howled, hummed, whistled, with sudden booming gusts that rattled +the doors and shutters in the vicious patter of sprays. Two coils of +lead-line and a small canvas bag hung on a long lanyard, swung wide off, +and came back clinging to the bulkheads. The gratings underfoot were +nearly afloat; with every sweeping blow of a sea, water squirted +violently through the cracks all round the door, and the man at the +helm had flung down his cap, his coat, and stood propped against the +gear-casing in a striped cotton shirt open on his breast. The little +brass wheel in his hands had the appearance of a bright and fragile +toy. The cords of his neck stood hard and lean, a dark patch lay in the +hollow of his throat, and his face was still and sunken as in death. + +Captain MacWhirr wiped his eyes. The sea that had nearly taken him +overboard had, to his great annoyance, washed his sou'-wester hat off +his bald head. The fluffy, fair hair, soaked and darkened, resembled a +mean skein of cotton threads festooned round his bare skull. His face, +glistening with sea-water, had been made crimson with the wind, with +the sting of sprays. He looked as though he had come off sweating from +before a furnace. + +“You here?” he muttered, heavily. + +The second mate had found his way into the wheelhouse some time before. +He had fixed himself in a corner with his knees up, a fist pressed +against each temple; and this attitude suggested rage, sorrow, +resignation, surrender, with a sort of concentrated unforgiveness. He +said mournfully and defiantly, “Well, it's my watch below now: ain't +it?” + +The steam gear clattered, stopped, clattered again; and the helmsman's +eyeballs seemed to project out of a hungry face as if the compass card +behind the binnacle glass had been meat. God knows how long he had been +left there to steer, as if forgotten by all his shipmates. The bells had +not been struck; there had been no reliefs; the ship's routine had gone +down wind; but he was trying to keep her head north-north-east. The +rudder might have been gone for all he knew, the fires out, the engines +broken down, the ship ready to roll over like a corpse. He was +anxious not to get muddled and lose control of her head, because the +compass-card swung far both ways, wriggling on the pivot, and sometimes +seemed to whirl right round. He suffered from mental stress. He was +horribly afraid, also, of the wheelhouse going. Mountains of water kept +on tumbling against it. When the ship took one of her desperate dives +the corners of his lips twitched. + +Captain MacWhirr looked up at the wheelhouse clock. Screwed to the +bulk-head, it had a white face on which the black hands appeared to +stand quite still. It was half-past one in the morning. + +“Another day,” he muttered to himself. + +The second mate heard him, and lifting his head as one grieving amongst +ruins, “You won't see it break,” he exclaimed. His wrists and his knees +could be seen to shake violently. “No, by God! You won't. . . .” + +He took his face again between his fists. + +The body of the helmsman had moved slightly, but his head didn't budge +on his neck,--like a stone head fixed to look one way from a column. +During a roll that all but took his booted legs from under him, and +in the very stagger to save himself, Captain MacWhirr said austerely, +“Don't you pay any attention to what that man says.” And then, with an +indefinable change of tone, very grave, he added, “He isn't on duty.” + +The sailor said nothing. + +The hurricane boomed, shaking the little place, which seemed air-tight; +and the light of the binnacle flickered all the time. + +“You haven't been relieved,” Captain MacWhirr went on, looking down. “I +want you to stick to the helm, though, as long as you can. You've +got the hang of her. Another man coming here might make a mess of it. +Wouldn't do. No child's play. And the hands are probably busy with a job +down below. . . . Think you can?” + +The steering-gear leaped into an abrupt short clatter, stopped +smouldering like an ember; and the still man, with a motionless gaze, +burst out, as if all the passion in him had gone into his lips: “By +Heavens, sir! I can steer for ever if nobody talks to me.” + +“Oh! aye! All right. . . .” The Captain lifted his eyes for the first +time to the man, “. . . Hackett.” + +And he seemed to dismiss this matter from his mind. He stooped to the +engine-room speaking-tube, blew in, and bent his head. Mr. Rout below +answered, and at once Captain MacWhirr put his lips to the mouthpiece. + +With the uproar of the gale around him he applied alternately his lips +and his ear, and the engineer's voice mounted to him, harsh and as if +out of the heat of an engagement. One of the stokers was disabled, +the others had given in, the second engineer and the donkey-man were +firing-up. The third engineer was standing by the steam-valve. The +engines were being tended by hand. How was it above? + +“Bad enough. It mostly rests with you,” said Captain MacWhirr. Was the +mate down there yet? No? Well, he would be presently. Would Mr. Rout +let him talk through the speaking-tube?--through the deck speaking-tube, +because he--the Captain--was going out again on the bridge directly. +There was some trouble amongst the Chinamen. They were fighting, it +seemed. Couldn't allow fighting anyhow. . . . + +Mr. Rout had gone away, and Captain MacWhirr could feel against his ear +the pulsation of the engines, like the beat of the ship's heart. Mr. +Rout's voice down there shouted something distantly. The ship pitched +headlong, the pulsation leaped with a hissing tumult, and stopped dead. +Captain MacWhirr's face was impassive, and his eyes were fixed aimlessly +on the crouching shape of the second mate. Again Mr. Rout's voice +cried out in the depths, and the pulsating beats recommenced, with slow +strokes--growing swifter. + +Mr. Rout had returned to the tube. “It don't matter much what they do,” + he said, hastily; and then, with irritation, “She takes these dives as +if she never meant to come up again.” + +“Awful sea,” said the Captain's voice from above. + +“Don't let me drive her under,” barked Solomon Rout up the pipe. + +“Dark and rain. Can't see what's coming,” uttered the voice. +“Must--keep--her--moving--enough to steer--and chance it,” it went on to +state distinctly. + +“I am doing as much as I dare.” + +“We are--getting--smashed up--a good deal up here,” proceeded the voice +mildly. “Doing--fairly well--though. Of course, if the wheelhouse should +go. . . .” + +Mr. Rout, bending an attentive ear, muttered peevishly something under +his breath. + +But the deliberate voice up there became animated to ask: “Jukes turned +up yet?” Then, after a short wait, “I wish he would bear a hand. I want +him to be done and come up here in case of anything. To look after the +ship. I am all alone. The second mate's lost. . . .” + +“What?” shouted Mr. Rout into the engine-room, taking his head away. +Then up the tube he cried, “Gone overboard?” and clapped his ear to. + +“Lost his nerve,” the voice from above continued in a matter-of-fact +tone. “Damned awkward circumstance.” + +Mr. Rout, listening with bowed neck, opened his eyes wide at this. +However, he heard something like the sounds of a scuffle and broken +exclamations coming down to him. He strained his hearing; and all the +time Beale, the third engineer, with his arms uplifted, held between +the palms of his hands the rim of a little black wheel projecting at the +side of a big copper pipe. + +He seemed to be poising it above his head, as though it were a correct +attitude in some sort of game. + +To steady himself, he pressed his shoulder against the white bulkhead, +one knee bent, and a sweat-rag tucked in his belt hanging on his hip. +His smooth cheek was begrimed and flushed, and the coal dust on his +eyelids, like the black pencilling of a make-up, enhanced the liquid +brilliance of the whites, giving to his youthful face something of a +feminine, exotic and fascinating aspect. When the ship pitched he would +with hasty movements of his hands screw hard at the little wheel. + +“Gone crazy,” began the Captain's voice suddenly in the tube. “Rushed at +me. . . . Just now. Had to knock him down. . . . This minute. You heard, +Mr. Rout?” + +“The devil!” muttered Mr. Rout. “Look out, Beale!” + +His shout rang out like the blast of a warning trumpet, between the iron +walls of the engine-room. Painted white, they rose high into the dusk of +the skylight, sloping like a roof; and the whole lofty space resembled +the interior of a monument, divided by floors of iron grating, with +lights flickering at different levels, and a mass of gloom lingering in +the middle, within the columnar stir of machinery under the motionless +swelling of the cylinders. A loud and wild resonance, made up of all the +noises of the hurricane, dwelt in the still warmth of the air. There was +in it the smell of hot metal, of oil, and a slight mist of steam. The +blows of the sea seemed to traverse it in an unringing, stunning shock, +from side to side. + +Gleams, like pale long flames, trembled upon the polish of metal; from +the flooring below the enormous crank-heads emerged in their turns +with a flash of brass and steel--going over; while the connecting-rods, +big-jointed, like skeleton limbs, seemed to thrust them down and pull +them up again with an irresistible precision. And deep in the half-light +other rods dodged deliberately to and fro, crossheads nodded, discs +of metal rubbed smoothly against each other, slow and gentle, in a +commingling of shadows and gleams. + +Sometimes all those powerful and unerring movements would slow down +simultaneously, as if they had been the functions of a living organism, +stricken suddenly by the blight of languor; and Mr. Rout's eyes would +blaze darker in his long sallow face. He was fighting this fight in a +pair of carpet slippers. A short shiny jacket barely covered his loins, +and his white wrists protruded far out of the tight sleeves, as though +the emergency had added to his stature, had lengthened his limbs, +augmented his pallor, hollowed his eyes. + +He moved, climbing high up, disappearing low down, with a restless, +purposeful industry, and when he stood still, holding the guard-rail in +front of the starting-gear, he would keep glancing to the right at the +steam-gauge, at the water-gauge, fixed upon the white wall in the light +of a swaying lamp. The mouths of two speaking-tubes gaped stupidly at his +elbow, and the dial of the engine-room telegraph resembled a clock of +large diameter, bearing on its face curt words instead of figures. The +grouped letters stood out heavily black, around the pivot-head of the +indicator, emphatically symbolic of loud exclamations: AHEAD, ASTERN, +SLOW, Half, STAND BY; and the fat black hand pointed downwards to the +word FULL, which, thus singled out, captured the eye as a sharp cry +secures attention. + +The wood-encased bulk of the low-pressure cylinder, frowning portly from +above, emitted a faint wheeze at every thrust, and except for that +low hiss the engines worked their steel limbs headlong or slow with a +silent, determined smoothness. And all this, the white walls, the moving +steel, the floor plates under Solomon Rout's feet, the floors of +iron grating above his head, the dusk and the gleams, uprose and sank +continuously, with one accord, upon the harsh wash of the waves against +the ship's side. The whole loftiness of the place, booming hollow to the +great voice of the wind, swayed at the top like a tree, would go over +bodily, as if borne down this way and that by the tremendous blasts. + +“You've got to hurry up,” shouted Mr. Rout, as soon as he saw Jukes +appear in the stokehold doorway. + +Jukes' glance was wandering and tipsy; his red face was puffy, as though +he had overslept himself. He had had an arduous road, and had travelled +over it with immense vivacity, the agitation of his mind corresponding +to the exertions of his body. He had rushed up out of the bunker, +stumbling in the dark alleyway amongst a lot of bewildered men who, trod +upon, asked “What's up, sir?” in awed mutters all round him;--down the +stokehold ladder, missing many iron rungs in his hurry, down into a +place deep as a well, black as Tophet, tipping over back and forth like +a see-saw. The water in the bilges thundered at each roll, and lumps of +coal skipped to and fro, from end to end, rattling like an avalanche of +pebbles on a slope of iron. + +Somebody in there moaned with pain, and somebody else could be seen +crouching over what seemed the prone body of a dead man; a lusty voice +blasphemed; and the glow under each fire-door was like a pool of flaming +blood radiating quietly in a velvety blackness. + +A gust of wind struck upon the nape of Jukes' neck and next moment +he felt it streaming about his wet ankles. The stokehold ventilators +hummed: in front of the six fire-doors two wild figures, stripped to the +waist, staggered and stooped, wrestling with two shovels. + +“Hallo! Plenty of draught now,” yelled the second engineer at once, as +though he had been all the time looking out for Jukes. The donkeyman, +a dapper little chap with a dazzling fair skin and a tiny, gingery +moustache, worked in a sort of mute transport. They were keeping a full +head of steam, and a profound rumbling, as of an empty furniture van +trotting over a bridge, made a sustained bass to all the other noises of +the place. + +“Blowing off all the time,” went on yelling the second. With a sound as +of a hundred scoured saucepans, the orifice of a ventilator spat upon +his shoulder a sudden gush of salt water, and he volleyed a stream of +curses upon all things on earth including his own soul, ripping and +raving, and all the time attending to his business. With a sharp clash +of metal the ardent pale glare of the fire opened upon his bullet head, +showing his spluttering lips, his insolent face, and with another clang +closed like the white-hot wink of an iron eye. + +“Where's the blooming ship? Can you tell me? blast my eyes! Under +water--or what? It's coming down here in tons. Are the condemned cowls +gone to Hades? Hey? Don't you know anything--you jolly sailor-man you +. . . ?” + +Jukes, after a bewildered moment, had been helped by a roll to dart +through; and as soon as his eyes took in the comparative vastness, peace +and brilliance of the engine-room, the ship, setting her stern heavily +in the water, sent him charging head down upon Mr. Rout. + +The chief's arm, long like a tentacle, and straightening as if worked +by a spring, went out to meet him, and deflected his rush into a +spin towards the speaking-tubes. At the same time Mr. Rout repeated +earnestly: + +“You've got to hurry up, whatever it is.” + +Jukes yelled “Are you there, sir?” and listened. Nothing. Suddenly the +roar of the wind fell straight into his ear, but presently a small voice +shoved aside the shouting hurricane quietly. + +“You, Jukes?--Well?” + +Jukes was ready to talk: it was only time that seemed to be wanting. It +was easy enough to account for everything. He could perfectly imagine +the coolies battened down in the reeking 'tween-deck, lying sick and +scared between the rows of chests. Then one of these chests--or perhaps +several at once--breaking loose in a roll, knocking out others, sides +splitting, lids flying open, and all these clumsy Chinamen rising up in +a body to save their property. Afterwards every fling of the ship would +hurl that tramping, yelling mob here and there, from side to side, in a +whirl of smashed wood, torn clothing, rolling dollars. A struggle once +started, they would be unable to stop themselves. Nothing could stop +them now except main force. It was a disaster. He had seen it, and that +was all he could say. Some of them must be dead, he believed. The rest +would go on fighting. . . . + +He sent up his words, tripping over each other, crowding the narrow +tube. They mounted as if into a silence of an enlightened comprehension +dwelling alone up there with a storm. And Jukes wanted to be dismissed +from the face of that odious trouble intruding on the great need of the +ship. + + + +V + +He waited. Before his eyes the engines turned with slow labour, that in +the moment of going off into a mad fling would stop dead at Mr. Rout's +shout, “Look out, Beale!” They paused in an intelligent immobility, +stilled in mid-stroke, a heavy crank arrested on the cant, as if +conscious of danger and the passage of time. Then, with a “Now, then!” + from the chief, and the sound of a breath expelled through clenched +teeth, they would accomplish the interrupted revolution and begin +another. + +There was the prudent sagacity of wisdom and the deliberation of +enormous strength in their movements. This was their work--this patient +coaxing of a distracted ship over the fury of the waves and into the +very eye of the wind. At times Mr. Rout's chin would sink on his breast, +and he watched them with knitted eyebrows as if lost in thought. + +The voice that kept the hurricane out of Jukes' ear began: “Take the +hands with you . . . ,” and left off unexpectedly. + +“What could I do with them, sir?” + +A harsh, abrupt, imperious clang exploded suddenly. The three pairs of +eyes flew up to the telegraph dial to see the hand jump from FULL +to STOP, as if snatched by a devil. And then these three men in the +engineroom had the intimate sensation of a check upon the ship, of a +strange shrinking, as if she had gathered herself for a desperate leap. + +“Stop her!” bellowed Mr. Rout. + +Nobody--not even Captain MacWhirr, who alone on deck had caught sight of +a white line of foam coming on at such a height that he couldn't believe +his eyes--nobody was to know the steepness of that sea and the awful +depth of the hollow the hurricane had scooped out behind the running +wall of water. + +It raced to meet the ship, and, with a pause, as of girding the loins, +the Nan-Shan lifted her bows and leaped. The flames in all the lamps +sank, darkening the engine-room. One went out. With a tearing crash and +a swirling, raving tumult, tons of water fell upon the deck, as though +the ship had darted under the foot of a cataract. + +Down there they looked at each other, stunned. + +“Swept from end to end, by God!” bawled Jukes. + +She dipped into the hollow straight down, as if going over the edge of +the world. The engine-room toppled forward menacingly, like the inside +of a tower nodding in an earthquake. An awful racket, of iron things +falling, came from the stokehold. She hung on this appalling slant long +enough for Beale to drop on his hands and knees and begin to crawl as if +he meant to fly on all fours out of the engine-room, and for Mr. Rout +to turn his head slowly, rigid, cavernous, with the lower jaw dropping. +Jukes had shut his eyes, and his face in a moment became hopelessly +blank and gentle, like the face of a blind man. + +At last she rose slowly, staggering, as if she had to lift a mountain +with her bows. + +Mr. Rout shut his mouth; Jukes blinked; and little Beale stood up +hastily. + +“Another one like this, and that's the last of her,” cried the chief. + +He and Jukes looked at each other, and the same thought came into their +heads. The Captain! Everything must have been swept away. Steering-gear +gone--ship like a log. All over directly. + +“Rush!” ejaculated Mr. Rout thickly, glaring with enlarged, doubtful +eyes at Jukes, who answered him by an irresolute glance. + +The clang of the telegraph gong soothed them instantly. The black hand +dropped in a flash from STOP to FULL. + +“Now then, Beale!” cried Mr. Rout. + +The steam hissed low. The piston-rods slid in and out. Jukes put his +ear to the tube. The voice was ready for him. It said: “Pick up all the +money. Bear a hand now. I'll want you up here.” And that was all. + +“Sir?” called up Jukes. There was no answer. + +He staggered away like a defeated man from the field of battle. He had +got, in some way or other, a cut above his left eyebrow--a cut to the +bone. He was not aware of it in the least: quantities of the China Sea, +large enough to break his neck for him, had gone over his head, had +cleaned, washed, and salted that wound. It did not bleed, but only gaped +red; and this gash over the eye, his dishevelled hair, the disorder of +his clothes, gave him the aspect of a man worsted in a fight with fists. + +“Got to pick up the dollars.” He appealed to Mr. Rout, smiling pitifully +at random. + +“What's that?” asked Mr. Rout, wildly. “Pick up . . . ? I don't care. +. . .” Then, quivering in every muscle, but with an exaggeration of +paternal tone, “Go away now, for God's sake. You deck people'll drive +me silly. There's that second mate been going for the old man. Don't you +know? You fellows are going wrong for want of something to do. . . .” + +At these words Jukes discovered in himself the beginnings of anger. Want +of something to do--indeed. . . . Full of hot scorn against the +chief, he turned to go the way he had come. In the stokehold the plump +donkeyman toiled with his shovel mutely, as if his tongue had been cut +out; but the second was carrying on like a noisy, undaunted maniac, who +had preserved his skill in the art of stoking under a marine boiler. + +“Hallo, you wandering officer! Hey! Can't you get some of your +slush-slingers to wind up a few of them ashes? I am getting choked with +them here. Curse it! Hallo! Hey! Remember the articles: Sailors and +firemen to assist each other. Hey! D'ye hear?” + +Jukes was climbing out frantically, and the other, lifting up his face +after him, howled, “Can't you speak? What are you poking about here for? +What's your game, anyhow?” + +A frenzy possessed Jukes. By the time he was back amongst the men in the +darkness of the alleyway, he felt ready to wring all their necks at the +slightest sign of hanging back. The very thought of it exasperated him. +He couldn't hang back. They shouldn't. + +The impetuosity with which he came amongst them carried them along. They +had already been excited and startled at all his comings and goings--by +the fierceness and rapidity of his movements; and more felt than seen +in his rushes, he appeared formidable--busied with matters of life and +death that brooked no delay. At his first word he heard them drop into +the bunker one after another obediently, with heavy thumps. + +They were not clear as to what would have to be done. “What is it? What +is it?” they were asking each other. The boatswain tried to explain; +the sounds of a great scuffle surprised them: and the mighty shocks, +reverberating awfully in the black bunker, kept them in mind of their +danger. When the boatswain threw open the door it seemed that an eddy of +the hurricane, stealing through the iron sides of the ship, had set all +these bodies whirling like dust: there came to them a confused uproar, +a tempestuous tumult, a fierce mutter, gusts of screams dying away, and +the tramping of feet mingling with the blows of the sea. + +For a moment they glared amazed, blocking the doorway. Jukes pushed +through them brutally. He said nothing, and simply darted in. Another +lot of coolies on the ladder, struggling suicidally to break through the +battened hatch to a swamped deck, fell off as before, and he disappeared +under them like a man overtaken by a landslide. + +The boatswain yelled excitedly: “Come along. Get the mate out. He'll be +trampled to death. Come on.” + +They charged in, stamping on breasts, on fingers, on faces, catching +their feet in heaps of clothing, kicking broken wood; but before they +could get hold of him Jukes emerged waist deep in a multitude of clawing +hands. In the instant he had been lost to view, all the buttons of his +jacket had gone, its back had got split up to the collar, his waistcoat +had been torn open. The central struggling mass of Chinamen went over to +the roll, dark, indistinct, helpless, with a wild gleam of many eyes in +the dim light of the lamps. + +“Leave me alone--damn you. I am all right,” screeched Jukes. “Drive them +forward. Watch your chance when she pitches. Forward with 'em. Drive +them against the bulkhead. Jam 'em up.” + +The rush of the sailors into the seething 'tween-deck was like a splash +of cold water into a boiling cauldron. The commotion sank for a moment. + +The bulk of Chinamen were locked in such a compact scrimmage that, +linking their arms and aided by an appalling dive of the ship, the +seamen sent it forward in one great shove, like a solid block. Behind +their backs small clusters and loose bodies tumbled from side to side. + +The boatswain performed prodigious feats of strength. With his long arms +open, and each great paw clutching at a stanchion, he stopped the rush +of seven entwined Chinamen rolling like a boulder. His joints cracked; +he said, “Ha!” and they flew apart. But the carpenter showed the greater +intelligence. Without saying a word to anybody he went back into the +alleyway, to fetch several coils of cargo gear he had seen there--chain +and rope. With these life-lines were rigged. + +There was really no resistance. The struggle, however it began, had +turned into a scramble of blind panic. If the coolies had started up +after their scattered dollars they were by that time fighting only +for their footing. They took each other by the throat merely to save +themselves from being hurled about. Whoever got a hold anywhere would +kick at the others who caught at his legs and hung on, till a roll sent +them flying together across the deck. + +The coming of the white devils was a terror. Had they come to kill? The +individuals torn out of the ruck became very limp in the seamen's hands: +some, dragged aside by the heels, were passive, like dead bodies, with +open, fixed eyes. Here and there a coolie would fall on his knees as if +begging for mercy; several, whom the excess of fear made unruly, were +hit with hard fists between the eyes, and cowered; while those who were +hurt submitted to rough handling, blinking rapidly without a plaint. +Faces streamed with blood; there were raw places on the shaven heads, +scratches, bruises, torn wounds, gashes. The broken porcelain out of the +chests was mostly responsible for the latter. Here and there a Chinaman, +wild-eyed, with his tail unplaited, nursed a bleeding sole. + +They had been ranged closely, after having been shaken into submission, +cuffed a little to allay excitement, addressed in gruff words of +encouragement that sounded like promises of evil. They sat on the deck +in ghastly, drooping rows, and at the end the carpenter, with two hands +to help him, moved busily from place to place, setting taut and hitching +the life-lines. The boatswain, with one leg and one arm embracing a +stanchion, struggled with a lamp pressed to his breast, trying to get +a light, and growling all the time like an industrious gorilla. The +figures of seamen stooped repeatedly, with the movements of gleaners, +and everything was being flung into the bunker: clothing, smashed wood, +broken china, and the dollars, too, gathered up in men's jackets. Now +and then a sailor would stagger towards the doorway with his arms full +of rubbish; and dolorous, slanting eyes followed his movements. + +With every roll of the ship the long rows of sitting Celestials would +sway forward brokenly, and her headlong dives knocked together the line +of shaven polls from end to end. When the wash of water rolling on the +deck died away for a moment, it seemed to Jukes, yet quivering from his +exertions, that in his mad struggle down there he had overcome the wind +somehow: that a silence had fallen upon the ship, a silence in which the +sea struck thunderously at her sides. + +Everything had been cleared out of the 'tween-deck--all the wreckage, +as the men said. They stood erect and tottering above the level of heads +and drooping shoulders. Here and there a coolie sobbed for his breath. +Where the high light fell, Jukes could see the salient ribs of one, the +yellow, wistful face of another; bowed necks; or would meet a dull stare +directed at his face. He was amazed that there had been no corpses; but +the lot of them seemed at their last gasp, and they appeared to him more +pitiful than if they had been all dead. + +Suddenly one of the coolies began to speak. The light came and went on +his lean, straining face; he threw his head up like a baying hound. From +the bunker came the sounds of knocking and the tinkle of some dollars +rolling loose; he stretched out his arm, his mouth yawned black, and the +incomprehensible guttural hooting sounds, that did not seem to belong to +a human language, penetrated Jukes with a strange emotion as if a brute +had tried to be eloquent. + +Two more started mouthing what seemed to Jukes fierce denunciations; the +others stirred with grunts and growls. Jukes ordered the hands out of +the 'tweendecks hurriedly. He left last himself, backing through the +door, while the grunts rose to a loud murmur and hands were extended +after him as after a malefactor. The boatswain shot the bolt, and +remarked uneasily, “Seems as if the wind had dropped, sir.” + +The seamen were glad to get back into the alleyway. Secretly each of +them thought that at the last moment he could rush out on deck--and +that was a comfort. There is something horribly repugnant in the idea +of being drowned under a deck. Now they had done with the Chinamen, they +again became conscious of the ship's position. + +Jukes on coming out of the alleyway found himself up to the neck in +the noisy water. He gained the bridge, and discovered he could detect +obscure shapes as if his sight had become preternaturally acute. He saw +faint outlines. They recalled not the familiar aspect of the Nan-Shan, +but something remembered--an old dismantled steamer he had seen years +ago rotting on a mudbank. She recalled that wreck. + +There was no wind, not a breath, except the faint currents created by +the lurches of the ship. The smoke tossed out of the funnel was settling +down upon her deck. He breathed it as he passed forward. He felt the +deliberate throb of the engines, and heard small sounds that seemed to +have survived the great uproar: the knocking of broken fittings, the +rapid tumbling of some piece of wreckage on the bridge. He perceived +dimly the squat shape of his captain holding on to a twisted +bridge-rail, motionless and swaying as if rooted to the planks. The +unexpected stillness of the air oppressed Jukes. + +“We have done it, sir,” he gasped. + +“Thought you would,” said Captain MacWhirr. + +“Did you?” murmured Jukes to himself. + +“Wind fell all at once,” went on the Captain. + +Jukes burst out: “If you think it was an easy job--” + +But his captain, clinging to the rail, paid no attention. “According to +the books the worst is not over yet.” + +“If most of them hadn't been half dead with seasickness and fright, not +one of us would have come out of that 'tween-deck alive,” said Jukes. + +“Had to do what's fair by them,” mumbled MacWhirr, stolidly. “You don't +find everything in books.” + +“Why, I believe they would have risen on us if I hadn't ordered the +hands out of that pretty quick,” continued Jukes with warmth. + +After the whisper of their shouts, their ordinary tones, so distinct, +rang out very loud to their ears in the amazing stillness of the air. It +seemed to them they were talking in a dark and echoing vault. + +Through a jagged aperture in the dome of clouds the light of a few stars +fell upon the black sea, rising and falling confusedly. Sometimes the +head of a watery cone would topple on board and mingle with the rolling +flurry of foam on the swamped deck; and the Nan-Shan wallowed heavily at +the bottom of a circular cistern of clouds. This ring of dense vapours, +gyrating madly round the calm of the centre, encompassed the ship like +a motionless and unbroken wall of an aspect inconceivably sinister. +Within, the sea, as if agitated by an internal commotion, leaped in +peaked mounds that jostled each other, slapping heavily against her +sides; and a low moaning sound, the infinite plaint of the storm's +fury, came from beyond the limits of the menacing calm. Captain MacWhirr +remained silent, and Jukes' ready ear caught suddenly the faint, +long-drawn roar of some immense wave rushing unseen under that thick +blackness, which made the appalling boundary of his vision. + +“Of course,” he started resentfully, “they thought we had caught at the +chance to plunder them. Of course! You said--pick up the money. Easier +said than done. They couldn't tell what was in our heads. We came in, +smash--right into the middle of them. Had to do it by a rush.” + +“As long as it's done . . . ,” mumbled the Captain, without attempting +to look at Jukes. “Had to do what's fair.” + +“We shall find yet there's the devil to pay when this is over,” said +Jukes, feeling very sore. “Let them only recover a bit, and you'll +see. They will fly at our throats, sir. Don't forget, sir, she isn't +a British ship now. These brutes know it well, too. The damned Siamese +flag.” + +“We are on board, all the same,” remarked Captain MacWhirr. + +“The trouble's not over yet,” insisted Jukes, prophetically, reeling and +catching on. “She's a wreck,” he added, faintly. + +“The trouble's not over yet,” assented Captain MacWhirr, half aloud +. . . . “Look out for her a minute.” + +“Are you going off the deck, sir?” asked Jukes, hurriedly, as if the +storm were sure to pounce upon him as soon as he had been left alone +with the ship. + +He watched her, battered and solitary, labouring heavily in a wild scene +of mountainous black waters lit by the gleams of distant worlds. She +moved slowly, breathing into the still core of the hurricane the excess +of her strength in a white cloud of steam--and the deep-toned vibration +of the escape was like the defiant trumpeting of a living creature of +the sea impatient for the renewal of the contest. It ceased suddenly. +The still air moaned. Above Jukes' head a few stars shone into a pit +of black vapours. The inky edge of the cloud-disc frowned upon the ship +under the patch of glittering sky. The stars, too, seemed to look at her +intently, as if for the last time, and the cluster of their splendour +sat like a diadem on a lowering brow. + +Captain MacWhirr had gone into the chart-room. There was no light there; +but he could feel the disorder of that place where he used to live +tidily. His armchair was upset. The books had tumbled out on the floor: +he scrunched a piece of glass under his boot. He groped for the matches, +and found a box on a shelf with a deep ledge. He struck one, and +puckering the corners of his eyes, held out the little flame towards +the barometer whose glittering top of glass and metals nodded at him +continuously. + +It stood very low--incredibly low, so low that Captain MacWhirr grunted. +The match went out, and hurriedly he extracted another, with thick, +stiff fingers. + +Again a little flame flared up before the nodding glass and metal of the +top. His eyes looked at it, narrowed with attention, as if expecting +an imperceptible sign. With his grave face he resembled a booted and +misshapen pagan burning incense before the oracle of a Joss. There was +no mistake. It was the lowest reading he had ever seen in his life. + +Captain MacWhirr emitted a low whistle. He forgot himself till the flame +diminished to a blue spark, burnt his fingers and vanished. Perhaps +something had gone wrong with the thing! + +There was an aneroid glass screwed above the couch. He turned that +way, struck another match, and discovered the white face of the other +instrument looking at him from the bulkhead, meaningly, not to be +gainsaid, as though the wisdom of men were made unerring by the +indifference of matter. There was no room for doubt now. Captain +MacWhirr pshawed at it, and threw the match down. + +The worst was to come, then--and if the books were right this worst +would be very bad. The experience of the last six hours had enlarged his +conception of what heavy weather could be like. “It'll be terrific,” he +pronounced, mentally. He had not consciously looked at anything by the +light of the matches except at the barometer; and yet somehow he had +seen that his water-bottle and the two tumblers had been flung out of +their stand. It seemed to give him a more intimate knowledge of the +tossing the ship had gone through. “I wouldn't have believed it,” he +thought. And his table had been cleared, too; his rulers, his pencils, +the inkstand--all the things that had their safe appointed places--they +were gone, as if a mischievous hand had plucked them out one by one +and flung them on the wet floor. The hurricane had broken in upon the +orderly arrangements of his privacy. This had never happened before, and +the feeling of dismay reached the very seat of his composure. And the +worst was to come yet! He was glad the trouble in the 'tween-deck had +been discovered in time. If the ship had to go after all, then, at +least, she wouldn't be going to the bottom with a lot of people in +her fighting teeth and claw. That would have been odious. And in that +feeling there was a humane intention and a vague sense of the fitness of +things. + +These instantaneous thoughts were yet in their essence heavy and slow, +partaking of the nature of the man. He extended his hand to put back the +matchbox in its corner of the shelf. There were always matches there--by +his order. The steward had his instructions impressed upon him long +before. “A box . . . just there, see? Not so very full . . . where I can +put my hand on it, steward. Might want a light in a hurry. Can't tell on +board ship what you might want in a hurry. Mind, now.” + +And of course on his side he would be careful to put it back in its +place scrupulously. He did so now, but before he removed his hand it +occurred to him that perhaps he would never have occasion to use that +box any more. The vividness of the thought checked him and for an +infinitesimal fraction of a second his fingers closed again on the small +object as though it had been the symbol of all these little habits that +chain us to the weary round of life. He released it at last, and letting +himself fall on the settee, listened for the first sounds of returning +wind. + +Not yet. He heard only the wash of water, the heavy splashes, the dull +shocks of the confused seas boarding his ship from all sides. She would +never have a chance to clear her decks. + +But the quietude of the air was startlingly tense and unsafe, like a +slender hair holding a sword suspended over his head. By this awful +pause the storm penetrated the defences of the man and unsealed his +lips. He spoke out in the solitude and the pitch darkness of the cabin, +as if addressing another being awakened within his breast. + +“I shouldn't like to lose her,” he said half aloud. + +He sat unseen, apart from the sea, from his ship, isolated, as if +withdrawn from the very current of his own existence, where such freaks +as talking to himself surely had no place. His palms reposed on his +knees, he bowed his short neck and puffed heavily, surrendering to +a strange sensation of weariness he was not enlightened enough to +recognize for the fatigue of mental stress. + +From where he sat he could reach the door of a washstand locker. There +should have been a towel there. There was. Good. . . . He took it out, +wiped his face, and afterwards went on rubbing his wet head. He towelled +himself with energy in the dark, and then remained motionless with the +towel on his knees. A moment passed, of a stillness so profound that +no one could have guessed there was a man sitting in that cabin. Then a +murmur arose. + +“She may come out of it yet.” + +When Captain MacWhirr came out on deck, which he did brusquely, as +though he had suddenly become conscious of having stayed away too long, +the calm had lasted already more than fifteen minutes--long enough to +make itself intolerable even to his imagination. Jukes, motionless on +the forepart of the bridge, began to speak at once. His voice, blank and +forced as though he were talking through hard-set teeth, seemed to flow +away on all sides into the darkness, deepening again upon the sea. + +“I had the wheel relieved. Hackett began to sing out that he was done. +He's lying in there alongside the steering-gear with a face like death. +At first I couldn't get anybody to crawl out and relieve the poor devil. +That boss'n's worse than no good, I always said. Thought I would have +had to go myself and haul out one of them by the neck.” + +“Ah, well,” muttered the Captain. He stood watchful by Jukes' side. + +“The second mate's in there, too, holding his head. Is he hurt, sir?” + +“No--crazy,” said Captain MacWhirr, curtly. + +“Looks as if he had a tumble, though.” + +“I had to give him a push,” explained the Captain. + +Jukes gave an impatient sigh. + +“It will come very sudden,” said Captain MacWhirr, “and from over there, +I fancy. God only knows though. These books are only good to muddle your +head and make you jumpy. It will be bad, and there's an end. If we only +can steam her round in time to meet it. . . .” + +A minute passed. Some of the stars winked rapidly and vanished. + +“You left them pretty safe?” began the Captain abruptly, as though the +silence were unbearable. + +“Are you thinking of the coolies, sir? I rigged lifelines all ways +across that 'tween-deck.” + +“Did you? Good idea, Mr. Jukes.” + +“I didn't . . . think you cared to . . . know,” said Jukes--the lurching +of the ship cut his speech as though somebody had been jerking him +around while he talked--“how I got on with . . . that infernal job. We +did it. And it may not matter in the end.” + +“Had to do what's fair, for all--they are only Chinamen. Give them the +same chance with ourselves--hang it all. She isn't lost yet. Bad enough +to be shut up below in a gale--” + +“That's what I thought when you gave me the job, sir,” interjected +Jukes, moodily. + +“--without being battered to pieces,” pursued Captain MacWhirr with +rising vehemence. “Couldn't let that go on in my ship, if I knew she +hadn't five minutes to live. Couldn't bear it, Mr. Jukes.” + +A hollow echoing noise, like that of a shout rolling in a rocky chasm, +approached the ship and went away again. The last star, blurred, +enlarged, as if returning to the fiery mist of its beginning, struggled +with the colossal depth of blackness hanging over the ship--and went +out. + +“Now for it!” muttered Captain MacWhirr. “Mr. Jukes.” + +“Here, sir.” + +The two men were growing indistinct to each other. + +“We must trust her to go through it and come out on the other side. +That's plain and straight. There's no room for Captain Wilson's +storm-strategy here.” + +“No, sir.” + +“She will be smothered and swept again for hours,” mumbled the Captain. +“There's not much left by this time above deck for the sea to take +away--unless you or me.” + +“Both, sir,” whispered Jukes, breathlessly. + +“You are always meeting trouble half way, Jukes,” Captain MacWhirr +remonstrated quaintly. “Though it's a fact that the second mate is no +good. D'ye hear, Mr. Jukes? You would be left alone if. . . .” + +Captain MacWhirr interrupted himself, and Jukes, glancing on all sides, +remained silent. + +“Don't you be put out by anything,” the Captain continued, mumbling +rather fast. “Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the +heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it--always facing it--that's the +way to get through. You are a young sailor. Face it. That's enough for +any man. Keep a cool head.” + +“Yes, sir,” said Jukes, with a flutter of the heart. + +In the next few seconds the Captain spoke to the engine-room and got an +answer. + +For some reason Jukes experienced an access of confidence, a sensation +that came from outside like a warm breath, and made him feel equal to +every demand. The distant muttering of the darkness stole into his ears. +He noted it unmoved, out of that sudden belief in himself, as a man safe +in a shirt of mail would watch a point. + +The ship laboured without intermission amongst the black hills of water, +paying with this hard tumbling the price of her life. She rumbled in +her depths, shaking a white plummet of steam into the night, and +Jukes' thought skimmed like a bird through the engine-room, where Mr. +Rout--good man--was ready. When the rumbling ceased it seemed to him +that there was a pause of every sound, a dead pause in which Captain +MacWhirr's voice rang out startlingly. + +“What's that? A puff of wind?”--it spoke much louder than Jukes had ever +heard it before--“On the bow. That's right. She may come out of it yet.” + +The mutter of the winds drew near apace. In the forefront could be +distinguished a drowsy waking plaint passing on, and far off the growth +of a multiple clamour, marching and expanding. There was the throb as +of many drums in it, a vicious rushing note, and like the chant of a +tramping multitude. + +Jukes could no longer see his captain distinctly. The darkness was +absolutely piling itself upon the ship. At most he made out movements, a +hint of elbows spread out, of a head thrown up. + +Captain MacWhirr was trying to do up the top button of his oilskin coat +with unwonted haste. The hurricane, with its power to madden the seas, +to sink ships, to uproot trees, to overturn strong walls and dash the +very birds of the air to the ground, had found this taciturn man in +its path, and, doing its utmost, had managed to wring out a few words. +Before the renewed wrath of winds swooped on his ship, Captain MacWhirr +was moved to declare, in a tone of vexation, as it were: “I wouldn't +like to lose her.” + +He was spared that annoyance. + + + +VI + +On A bright sunshiny day, with the breeze chasing her smoke far ahead, +the Nan-Shan came into Fu-chau. Her arrival was at once noticed on +shore, and the seamen in harbour said: “Look! Look at that steamer. +What's that? Siamese--isn't she? Just look at her!” + +She seemed, indeed, to have been used as a running target for the +secondary batteries of a cruiser. A hail of minor shells could not have +given her upper works a more broken, torn, and devastated aspect: and +she had about her the worn, weary air of ships coming from the far ends +of the world--and indeed with truth, for in her short passage she had +been very far; sighting, verily, even the coast of the Great Beyond, +whence no ship ever returns to give up her crew to the dust of the +earth. She was incrusted and gray with salt to the trucks of her masts +and to the top of her funnel; as though (as some facetious seaman said) +“the crowd on board had fished her out somewhere from the bottom of the +sea and brought her in here for salvage.” And further, excited by the +felicity of his own wit, he offered to give five pounds for her--“as she +stands.” + +Before she had been quite an hour at rest, a meagre little man, with a +red-tipped nose and a face cast in an angry mould, landed from a sampan +on the quay of the Foreign Concession, and incontinently turned to shake +his fist at her. + +A tall individual, with legs much too thin for a rotund stomach, and +with watery eyes, strolled up and remarked, “Just left her--eh? Quick +work.” + +He wore a soiled suit of blue flannel with a pair of dirty cricketing +shoes; a dingy gray moustache drooped from his lip, and daylight could +be seen in two places between the rim and the crown of his hat. + +“Hallo! what are you doing here?” asked the ex-second-mate of the +Nan-Shan, shaking hands hurriedly. + +“Standing by for a job--chance worth taking--got a quiet hint,” + explained the man with the broken hat, in jerky, apathetic wheezes. + +The second shook his fist again at the Nan-Shan. “There's a fellow there +that ain't fit to have the command of a scow,” he declared, quivering +with passion, while the other looked about listlessly. + +“Is there?” + +But he caught sight on the quay of a heavy seaman's chest, painted brown +under a fringed sailcloth cover, and lashed with new manila line. He +eyed it with awakened interest. + +“I would talk and raise trouble if it wasn't for that damned Siamese +flag. Nobody to go to--or I would make it hot for him. The fraud! Told +his chief engineer--that's another fraud for you--I had lost my nerve. +The greatest lot of ignorant fools that ever sailed the seas. No! You +can't think . . .” + +“Got your money all right?” inquired his seedy acquaintance suddenly. + +“Yes. Paid me off on board,” raged the second mate. “'Get your breakfast +on shore,' says he.” + +“Mean skunk!” commented the tall man, vaguely, and passed his tongue on +his lips. “What about having a drink of some sort?” + +“He struck me,” hissed the second mate. + +“No! Struck! You don't say?” The man in blue began to bustle about +sympathetically. “Can't possibly talk here. I want to know all about it. +Struck--eh? Let's get a fellow to carry your chest. I know a quiet place +where they have some bottled beer. . . .” + +Mr. Jukes, who had been scanning the shore through a pair of glasses, +informed the chief engineer afterwards that “our late second mate hasn't +been long in finding a friend. A chap looking uncommonly like a bummer. +I saw them walk away together from the quay.” + +The hammering and banging of the needful repairs did not disturb +Captain MacWhirr. The steward found in the letter he wrote, in a tidy +chart-room, passages of such absorbing interest that twice he was +nearly caught in the act. But Mrs. MacWhirr, in the drawing-room of the +forty-pound house, stifled a yawn--perhaps out of self-respect--for she +was alone. + +She reclined in a plush-bottomed and gilt hammock-chair near a tiled +fireplace, with Japanese fans on the mantel and a glow of coals in the +grate. Lifting her hands, she glanced wearily here and there into the +many pages. It was not her fault they were so prosy, so completely +uninteresting--from “My darling wife” at the beginning, to “Your loving +husband” at the end. She couldn't be really expected to understand all +these ship affairs. She was glad, of course, to hear from him, but she +had never asked herself why, precisely. + +“. . . They are called typhoons . . . The mate did not seem to like it +. . . Not in books . . . Couldn't think of letting it go on. . . .” + +The paper rustled sharply. “. . . . A calm that lasted more than twenty +minutes,” she read perfunctorily; and the next words her thoughtless +eyes caught, on the top of another page, were: “see you and the children +again. . . .” She had a movement of impatience. He was always thinking +of coming home. He had never had such a good salary before. What was the +matter now? + +It did not occur to her to turn back overleaf to look. She would have +found it recorded there that between 4 and 6 A. M. on December 25th, +Captain MacWhirr did actually think that his ship could not possibly +live another hour in such a sea, and that he would never see his wife +and children again. Nobody was to know this (his letters got mislaid +so quickly)--nobody whatever but the steward, who had been greatly +impressed by that disclosure. So much so, that he tried to give the cook +some idea of the “narrow squeak we all had” by saying solemnly, “The old +man himself had a dam' poor opinion of our chance.” + +“How do you know?” asked, contemptuously, the cook, an old soldier. “He +hasn't told you, maybe?” + +“Well, he did give me a hint to that effect,” the steward brazened it +out. + +“Get along with you! He will be coming to tell me next,” jeered the old +cook, over his shoulder. + +Mrs. MacWhirr glanced farther, on the alert. “. . . Do what's fair. . . +Miserable objects . . . . Only three, with a broken leg each, and one +. . . Thought had better keep the matter quiet . . . hope to have done +the fair thing. . . .” + +She let fall her hands. No: there was nothing more about coming home. +Must have been merely expressing a pious wish. Mrs. MacWhirr's mind was +set at ease, and a black marble clock, priced by the local jeweller at +3L. 18s. 6d., had a discreet stealthy tick. + +The door flew open, and a girl in the long-legged, short-frocked period +of existence, flung into the room. + +A lot of colourless, rather lanky hair was scattered over her shoulders. +Seeing her mother, she stood still, and directed her pale prying eyes +upon the letter. + +“From father,” murmured Mrs. MacWhirr. “What have you done with your +ribbon?” + +The girl put her hands up to her head and pouted. + +“He's well,” continued Mrs. MacWhirr languidly. “At least I think so. +He never says.” She had a little laugh. The girl's face expressed a +wandering indifference, and Mrs. MacWhirr surveyed her with fond pride. + +“Go and get your hat,” she said after a while. “I am going out to do +some shopping. There is a sale at Linom's.” + +“Oh, how jolly!” uttered the child, impressively, in unexpectedly grave +vibrating tones, and bounded out of the room. + +It was a fine afternoon, with a gray sky and dry sidewalks. Outside the +draper's Mrs. MacWhirr smiled upon a woman in a black mantle of generous +proportions armoured in jet and crowned with flowers blooming falsely +above a bilious matronly countenance. They broke into a swift little +babble of greetings and exclamations both together, very hurried, as if +the street were ready to yawn open and swallow all that pleasure before +it could be expressed. + +Behind them the high glass doors were kept on the swing. People couldn't +pass, men stood aside waiting patiently, and Lydia was absorbed in +poking the end of her parasol between the stone flags. Mrs. MacWhirr +talked rapidly. + +“Thank you very much. He's not coming home yet. Of course it's very sad +to have him away, but it's such a comfort to know he keeps so well.” + Mrs. MacWhirr drew breath. “The climate there agrees with him,” she +added, beamingly, as if poor MacWhirr had been away touring in China for +the sake of his health. + +Neither was the chief engineer coming home yet. Mr. Rout knew too well +the value of a good billet. + +“Solomon says wonders will never cease,” cried Mrs. Rout joyously at the +old lady in her armchair by the fire. Mr. Rout's mother moved slightly, +her withered hands lying in black half-mittens on her lap. + +The eyes of the engineer's wife fairly danced on the paper. “That +captain of the ship he is in--a rather simple man, you remember, +mother?--has done something rather clever, Solomon says.” + +“Yes, my dear,” said the old woman meekly, sitting with bowed silvery +head, and that air of inward stillness characteristic of very old +people who seem lost in watching the last flickers of life. “I think I +remember.” + +Solomon Rout, Old Sol, Father Sol, the Chief, “Rout, good man”--Mr. +Rout, the condescending and paternal friend of youth, had been the baby +of her many children--all dead by this time. And she remembered him best +as a boy of ten--long before he went away to serve his apprenticeship in +some great engineering works in the North. She had seen so little of him +since, she had gone through so many years, that she had now to retrace +her steps very far back to recognize him plainly in the mist of time. +Sometimes it seemed that her daughter-in-law was talking of some strange +man. + +Mrs. Rout junior was disappointed. “H'm. H'm.” She turned the page. “How +provoking! He doesn't say what it is. Says I couldn't understand how +much there was in it. Fancy! What could it be so very clever? What a +wretched man not to tell us!” + +She read on without further remark soberly, and at last sat looking +into the fire. The chief wrote just a word or two of the typhoon; +but something had moved him to express an increased longing for the +companionship of the jolly woman. “If it hadn't been that mother must be +looked after, I would send you your passage-money to-day. You could set +up a small house out here. I would have a chance to see you sometimes +then. We are not growing younger. . . .” + +“He's well, mother,” sighed Mrs. Rout, rousing herself. + +“He always was a strong healthy boy,” said the old woman, placidly. + +But Mr. Jukes' account was really animated and very full. His friend in +the Western Ocean trade imparted it freely to the other officers of his +liner. “A chap I know writes to me about an extraordinary affair that +happened on board his ship in that typhoon--you know--that we read of +in the papers two months ago. It's the funniest thing! Just see for +yourself what he says. I'll show you his letter.” + +There were phrases in it calculated to give the impression of +light-hearted, indomitable resolution. Jukes had written them in good +faith, for he felt thus when he wrote. He described with lurid effect +the scenes in the 'tween-deck. “. . . It struck me in a flash that +those confounded Chinamen couldn't tell we weren't a desperate kind of +robbers. 'Tisn't good to part the Chinaman from his money if he is the +stronger party. We need have been desperate indeed to go thieving in +such weather, but what could these beggars know of us? So, without +thinking of it twice, I got the hands away in a jiffy. Our work was +done--that the old man had set his heart on. We cleared out without +staying to inquire how they felt. I am convinced that if they had not +been so unmercifully shaken, and afraid--each individual one of them +--to stand up, we would have been torn to pieces. Oh! It was pretty +complete, I can tell you; and you may run to and fro across the Pond to +the end of time before you find yourself with such a job on your hands.” + +After this he alluded professionally to the damage done to the ship, and +went on thus: + +“It was when the weather quieted down that the situation became +confoundedly delicate. It wasn't made any better by us having been +lately transferred to the Siamese flag; though the skipper can't see +that it makes any difference--'as long as we are on board'--he says. +There are feelings that this man simply hasn't got--and there's an end +of it. You might just as well try to make a bedpost understand. But +apart from this it is an infernally lonely state for a ship to be going +about the China seas with no proper consuls, not even a gunboat of her +own anywhere, nor a body to go to in case of some trouble. + +“My notion was to keep these Johnnies under hatches for another fifteen +hours or so; as we weren't much farther than that from Fu-chau. We would +find there, most likely, some sort of a man-of-war, and once under +her guns we were safe enough; for surely any skipper of a +man-of-war--English, French or Dutch--would see white men through as +far as row on board goes. We could get rid of them and their money +afterwards by delivering them to their Mandarin or Taotai, or whatever +they call these chaps in goggles you see being carried about in +sedan-chairs through their stinking streets. + +“The old man wouldn't see it somehow. He wanted to keep the matter +quiet. He got that notion into his head, and a steam windlass couldn't +drag it out of him. He wanted as little fuss made as possible, for the +sake of the ship's name and for the sake of the owners--'for the sake of +all concerned,' says he, looking at me very hard. + +“It made me angry hot. Of course you couldn't keep a thing like that +quiet; but the chests had been secured in the usual manner and were safe +enough for any earthly gale, while this had been an altogether fiendish +business I couldn't give you even an idea of. + +“Meantime, I could hardly keep on my feet. None of us had a spell of +any sort for nearly thirty hours, and there the old man sat rubbing his +chin, rubbing the top of his head, and so bothered he didn't even think +of pulling his long boots off. + +“'I hope, sir,' says I, 'you won't be letting them out on deck before we +make ready for them in some shape or other.' Not, mind you, that I felt +very sanguine about controlling these beggars if they meant to take +charge. A trouble with a cargo of Chinamen is no child's play. I was +dam' tired, too. 'I wish,' said I, 'you would let us throw the whole +lot of these dollars down to them and leave them to fight it out amongst +themselves, while we get a rest.' + +“'Now you talk wild, Jukes,' says he, looking up in his slow way that +makes you ache all over, somehow. 'We must plan out something that would +be fair to all parties.' + +“I had no end of work on hand, as you may imagine, so I set the hands +going, and then I thought I would turn in a bit. I hadn't been asleep in +my bunk ten minutes when in rushes the steward and begins to pull at my +leg. + +“'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes, come out! Come on deck quick, sir. Oh, do +come out!' + +“The fellow scared all the sense out of me. I didn't know what had +happened: another hurricane--or what. Could hear no wind. + +“'The Captain's letting them out. Oh, he is letting them out! Jump on +deck, sir, and save us. The chief engineer has just run below for his +revolver.' + +“That's what I understood the fool to say. However, Father Rout swears +he went in there only to get a clean pocket-handkerchief. Anyhow, I made +one jump into my trousers and flew on deck aft. There was certainly a +good deal of noise going on forward of the bridge. Four of the hands +with the boss'n were at work abaft. I passed up to them some of the +rifles all the ships on the China coast carry in the cabin, and led them +on the bridge. On the way I ran against Old Sol, looking startled and +sucking at an unlighted cigar. + +“'Come along,' I shouted to him. + +“We charged, the seven of us, up to the chart-room. All was over. There +stood the old man with his sea-boots still drawn up to the hips and +in shirt-sleeves--got warm thinking it out, I suppose. Bun Hin's dandy +clerk at his elbow, as dirty as a sweep, was still green in the face. I +could see directly I was in for something. + +“'What the devil are these monkey tricks, Mr. Jukes?' asks the old man, +as angry as ever he could be. I tell you frankly it made me lose my +tongue. 'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes,' says he, 'do take away these rifles +from the men. Somebody's sure to get hurt before long if you don't. +Damme, if this ship isn't worse than Bedlam! Look sharp now. I want +you up here to help me and Bun Hin's Chinaman to count that money. You +wouldn't mind lending a hand, too, Mr. Rout, now you are here. The more +of us the better.' + +“He had settled it all in his mind while I was having a snooze. Had we +been an English ship, or only going to land our cargo of coolies in an +English port, like Hong-Kong, for instance, there would have been no +end of inquiries and bother, claims for damages and so on. But these +Chinamen know their officials better than we do. + +“The hatches had been taken off already, and they were all on deck after +a night and a day down below. It made you feel queer to see so many +gaunt, wild faces together. The beggars stared about at the sky, at the +sea, at the ship, as though they had expected the whole thing to have +been blown to pieces. And no wonder! They had had a doing that would +have shaken the soul out of a white man. But then they say a Chinaman +has no soul. He has, though, something about him that is deuced tough. +There was a fellow (amongst others of the badly hurt) who had had his +eye all but knocked out. It stood out of his head the size of half a +hen's egg. This would have laid out a white man on his back for a month: +and yet there was that chap elbowing here and there in the crowd and +talking to the others as if nothing had been the matter. They made a +great hubbub amongst themselves, and whenever the old man showed his +bald head on the foreside of the bridge, they would all leave off jawing +and look at him from below. + +“It seems that after he had done his thinking he made that Bun Hin's +fellow go down and explain to them the only way they could get their +money back. He told me afterwards that, all the coolies having worked in +the same place and for the same length of time, he reckoned he would be +doing the fair thing by them as near as possible if he shared all the +cash we had picked up equally among the lot. You couldn't tell one man's +dollars from another's, he said, and if you asked each man how much +money he brought on board he was afraid they would lie, and he would +find himself a long way short. I think he was right there. As to giving +up the money to any Chinese official he could scare up in Fu-chau, he +said he might just as well put the lot in his own pocket at once for all +the good it would be to them. I suppose they thought so, too. + +“We finished the distribution before dark. It was rather a sight: the +sea running high, the ship a wreck to look at, these Chinamen staggering +up on the bridge one by one for their share, and the old man still +booted, and in his shirt-sleeves, busy paying out at the chartroom door, +perspiring like anything, and now and then coming down sharp on myself +or Father Rout about one thing or another not quite to his mind. He took +the share of those who were disabled himself to them on the No. 2 hatch. +There were three dollars left over, and these went to the three most +damaged coolies, one to each. We turned-to afterwards, and shovelled +out on deck heaps of wet rags, all sorts of fragments of things without +shape, and that you couldn't give a name to, and let them settle the +ownership themselves. + +“This certainly is coming as near as can be to keeping the thing quiet +for the benefit of all concerned. What's your opinion, you pampered +mail-boat swell? The old chief says that this was plainly the only thing +that could be done. The skipper remarked to me the other day, 'There are +things you find nothing about in books.' I think that he got out of it +very well for such a stupid man.” + + + + +[The other stories included in this volume (“Amy Foster,” “Falk: A +Reminiscence,” and “To-morrow”) being already available in another +volume, have not been entered here.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + +***** This file should be named 1142.txt or 1142.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/4/1142/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/1142-0.zip b/old/1142-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..292b2a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1142-0.zip diff --git a/old/1142-8.txt b/old/1142-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3109e6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1142-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3710 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Typhoon + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #1142] +Last Updated: September 9, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +[The other stories included in this volume (Amy Foster, Falk: A +Reminiscence, and To-morrow) being already available in another +volume, have not been entered here.] + + + +TYPHOON + +BY JOSEPH CONRAD + + + +Far as the mariner on highest mast Can see all around upon the calmed +vast, So wide was Neptunes hall . . . -- KEATS + + + +AUTHORS NOTE + +The main characteristic of this volume consists in this, that all the +stories composing it belong not only to the same period but have been +written one after another in the order in which they appear in the book. + +The period is that which follows on my connection with Blackwoods +Magazine. I had just finished writing The End of the Tether and was +casting about for some subject which could be developed in a shorter +form than the tales in the volume of Youth when the instance of a +steamship full of returning coolies from Singapore to some port in +northern China occurred to my recollection. Years before I had heard +it being talked about in the East as a recent occurrence. It was for us +merely one subject of conversation amongst many others of the kind. Men +earning their bread in any very specialized occupation will talk shop, +not only because it is the most vital interest of their lives but also +because they have not much knowledge of other subjects. They have never +had the time to get acquainted with them. Life, for most of us, is not +so much a hard as an exacting taskmaster. + +I never met anybody personally concerned in this affair, the interest of +which for us was, of course, not the bad weather but the extraordinary +complication brought into the ships life at a moment of exceptional +stress by the human element below her deck. Neither was the story itself +ever enlarged upon in my hearing. In that company each of us could +imagine easily what the whole thing was like. The financial difficulty +of it, presenting also a human problem, was solved by a mind much too +simple to be perplexed by anything in the world except mens idle talk +for which it was not adapted. + +From the first the mere anecdote, the mere statement I might say, that +such a thing had happened on the high seas, appeared to me a sufficient +subject for meditation. Yet it was but a bit of a sea yarn after all. I +felt that to bring out its deeper significance which was quite apparent +to me, something other, something more was required; a leading motive +that would harmonize all these violent noises, and a point of view that +would put all that elemental fury into its proper place. + +What was needed of course was Captain MacWhirr. Directly I perceived him +I could see that he was the man for the situation. I dont mean to +say that I ever saw Captain MacWhirr in the flesh, or had ever come in +contact with his literal mind and his dauntless temperament. MacWhirr is +not an acquaintance of a few hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. He +is the product of twenty years of life. My own life. Conscious invention +had little to do with him. If it is true that Captain MacWhirr never +walked and breathed on this earth (which I find for my part extremely +difficult to believe) I can also assure my readers that he is perfectly +authentic. I may venture to assert the same of every aspect of the +story, while I confess that the particular typhoon of the tale was not a +typhoon of my actual experience. + +At its first appearance Typhoon, the story, was classed by some +critics as a deliberately intended storm-piece. Others picked out +MacWhirr, in whom they perceived a definite symbolic intention. Neither +was exclusively my intention. Both the typhoon and Captain MacWhirr +presented themselves to me as the necessities of the deep conviction +with which I approached the subject of the story. It was their +opportunity. It was also my opportunity; and it would be vain to +discourse about what I made of it in a handful of pages, since the pages +themselves are here, between the covers of this volume, to speak for +themselves. + +This is a belated reflection. If it had occurred to me before it would +have perhaps done away with the existence of this Authors Note; for, +indeed, the same remark applies to every story in this volume. None +of them are stories of experience in the absolute sense of the word. +Experience in them is but the canvas of the attempted picture. Each of +them has its more than one intention. With each the question is what the +writer has done with his opportunity; and each answers the question for +itself in words which, if I may say so without undue solemnity, were +written with a conscientious regard for the truth of my own sensations. +And each of those stories, to mean something, must justify itself in its +own way to the conscience of each successive reader. + +Falk--the second story in the volume--offended the delicacy of one +critic at least by certain peculiarities of its subject. But what is the +subject of Falk? I personally do not feel so very certain about it. He +who reads must find out for himself. My intention in writing Falk + was not to shock anybody. As in most of my writings I insist not on +the events but on their effect upon the persons in the tale. But in +everything I have written there is always one invariable intention, and +that is to capture the readers attention, by securing his interest and +enlisting his sympathies for the matter in hand, whatever it may be, +within the limits of the visible world and within the boundaries of +human emotions. + +I may safely say that Falk is absolutely true to my experience of +certain straightforward characters combining a perfectly natural +ruthlessness with a certain amount of moral delicacy. Falk obeys the law +of self-preservation without the slightest misgivings as to his right, +but at a crucial turn of that ruthlessly preserved life he will not +condescend to dodge the truth. As he is presented as sensitive enough to +be affected permanently by a certain unusual experience, that experience +had to be set by me before the reader vividly; but it is not the subject +of the tale. If we go by mere facts then the subject is Falks attempt +to get married; in which the narrator of the tale finds himself +unexpectedly involved both on its ruthless and its delicate side. + +Falk shares with one other of my stories (The Return in the Tales +of Unrest volume) the distinction of never having been serialized. I +think the copy was shown to the editor of some magazine who rejected it +indignantly on the sole ground that the girl never says anything. This +is perfectly true. From first to last Hermanns niece utters no word in +the tale--and it is not because she is dumb, but for the simple reason +that whenever she happens to come under the observation of the narrator +she has either no occasion or is too profoundly moved to speak. The +editor, who obviously had read the story, might have perceived that for +himself. Apparently he did not, and I refrained from pointing out the +impossibility to him because, since he did not venture to say that the +girl did not live, I felt no concern at his indignation. + +All the other stories were serialized. The Typhoon appeared in the +early numbers of the Pall Mall Magazine, then under the direction of the +late Mr. Halkett. It was on that occasion, too, that I saw for the first +time my conceptions rendered by an artist in another medium. Mr. Maurice +Grieffenhagen knew how to combine in his illustrations the effect of his +own most distinguished personal vision with an absolute fidelity to the +inspiration of the writer. Amy Foster was published in The Illustrated +London News with a fine drawing of Amy on her day out giving tea to the +children at her home, in a hat with a big feather. To-morrow appeared +first in the Pall Mall Magazine. Of that story I will only say that +it struck many people by its adaptability to the stage and that I was +induced to dramatize it under the title of One Day More; up to the +present my only effort in that direction. I may also add that each of +the four stories on their appearance in book form was picked out on +various grounds as the best of the lot by different critics, who +reviewed the volume with a warmth of appreciation and understanding, a +sympathetic insight and a friendliness of expression for which I cannot +be sufficiently grateful. + + +1919. J. C. + + + +TYPHOON + +I + +Captain MacWhirr, of the steamer Nan-Shan, had a physiognomy that, in +the order of material appearances, was the exact counterpart of his +mind: it presented no marked characteristics of firmness or stupidity; +it had no pronounced characteristics whatever; it was simply ordinary, +irresponsive, and unruffled. + +The only thing his aspect might have been said to suggest, at times, was +bashfulness; because he would sit, in business offices ashore, sunburnt +and smiling faintly, with downcast eyes. When he raised them, they were +perceived to be direct in their glance and of blue colour. His hair was +fair and extremely fine, clasping from temple to temple the bald dome +of his skull in a clamp as of fluffy silk. The hair of his face, on the +contrary, carroty and flaming, resembled a growth of copper wire clipped +short to the line of the lip; while, no matter how close he shaved, +fiery metallic gleams passed, when he moved his head, over the +surface of his cheeks. He was rather below the medium height, a bit +round-shouldered, and so sturdy of limb that his clothes always looked a +shade too tight for his arms and legs. As if unable to grasp what is due +to the difference of latitudes, he wore a brown bowler hat, a complete +suit of a brownish hue, and clumsy black boots. These harbour togs gave +to his thick figure an air of stiff and uncouth smartness. A thin silver +watch chain looped his waistcoat, and he never left his ship for the +shore without clutching in his powerful, hairy fist an elegant umbrella +of the very best quality, but generally unrolled. Young Jukes, the chief +mate, attending his commander to the gangway, would sometimes venture +to say, with the greatest gentleness, Allow me, sir--and possessing +himself of the umbrella deferentially, would elevate the ferule, shake +the folds, twirl a neat furl in a jiffy, and hand it back; going through +the performance with a face of such portentous gravity, that Mr. Solomon +Rout, the chief engineer, smoking his morning cigar over the skylight, +would turn away his head in order to hide a smile. Oh! aye! The blessed +gamp. . . . Thank ee, Jukes, thank ee, would mutter Captain MacWhirr, +heartily, without looking up. + +Having just enough imagination to carry him through each successive day, +and no more, he was tranquilly sure of himself; and from the very same +cause he was not in the least conceited. It is your imaginative superior +who is touchy, overbearing, and difficult to please; but every ship +Captain MacWhirr commanded was the floating abode of harmony and peace. +It was, in truth, as impossible for him to take a flight of fancy as +it would be for a watchmaker to put together a chronometer with nothing +except a two-pound hammer and a whip-saw in the way of tools. Yet the +uninteresting lives of men so entirely given to the actuality of the +bare existence have their mysterious side. It was impossible in Captain +MacWhirrs case, for instance, to understand what under heaven could +have induced that perfectly satisfactory son of a petty grocer in +Belfast to run away to sea. And yet he had done that very thing at the +age of fifteen. It was enough, when you thought it over, to give you the +idea of an immense, potent, and invisible hand thrust into the ant-heap +of the earth, laying hold of shoulders, knocking heads together, and +setting the unconscious faces of the multitude towards inconceivable +goals and in undreamt-of directions. + +His father never really forgave him for this undutiful stupidity. We +could have got on without him, he used to say later on, but theres +the business. And he an only son, too! His mother wept very much after +his disappearance. As it had never occurred to him to leave word behind, +he was mourned over for dead till, after eight months, his first letter +arrived from Talcahuano. It was short, and contained the statement: +We had very fine weather on our passage out. But evidently, in the +writers mind, the only important intelligence was to the effect that +his captain had, on the very day of writing, entered him regularly on +the ships articles as Ordinary Seaman. Because I can do the work, he +explained. The mother again wept copiously, while the remark, Toms an +ass, expressed the emotions of the father. He was a corpulent man, with +a gift for sly chaffing, which to the end of his life he exercised +in his intercourse with his son, a little pityingly, as if upon a +half-witted person. + +MacWhirrs visits to his home were necessarily rare, and in the course +of years he despatched other letters to his parents, informing them of +his successive promotions and of his movements upon the vast earth. In +these missives could be found sentences like this: The heat here is +very great. Or: On Christmas day at 4 P. M. we fell in with some +icebergs. The old people ultimately became acquainted with a good +many names of ships, and with the names of the skippers who commanded +them--with the names of Scots and English shipowners--with the names +of seas, oceans, straits, promontories--with outlandish names of +lumber-ports, of rice-ports, of cotton-ports--with the names of +islands--with the name of their sons young woman. She was called Lucy. +It did not suggest itself to him to mention whether he thought the name +pretty. And then they died. + +The great day of MacWhirrs marriage came in due course, following +shortly upon the great day when he got his first command. + +All these events had taken place many years before the morning when, in +the chart-room of the steamer Nan-Shan, he stood confronted by the +fall of a barometer he had no reason to distrust. The fall--taking into +account the excellence of the instrument, the time of the year, and +the ships position on the terrestrial globe--was of a nature ominously +prophetic; but the red face of the man betrayed no sort of inward +disturbance. Omens were as nothing to him, and he was unable to discover +the message of a prophecy till the fulfilment had brought it home to his +very door. Thats a fall, and no mistake, he thought. There must be +some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about. + +The Nan-Shan was on her way from the southward to the treaty port of +Fu-chau, with some cargo in her lower holds, and two hundred Chinese +coolies returning to their village homes in the province of Fo-kien, +after a few years of work in various tropical colonies. The morning was +fine, the oily sea heaved without a sparkle, and there was a queer white +misty patch in the sky like a halo of the sun. The fore-deck, packed +with Chinamen, was full of sombre clothing, yellow faces, and pigtails, +sprinkled over with a good many naked shoulders, for there was no wind, +and the heat was close. The coolies lounged, talked, smoked, or stared +over the rail; some, drawing water over the side, sluiced each other; +a few slept on hatches, while several small parties of six sat on their +heels surrounding iron trays with plates of rice and tiny teacups; and +every single Celestial of them was carrying with him all he had in the +world--a wooden chest with a ringing lock and brass on the corners, +containing the savings of his labours: some clothes of ceremony, +sticks of incense, a little opium maybe, bits of nameless rubbish of +conventional value, and a small hoard of silver dollars, toiled for in +coal lighters, won in gambling-houses or in petty trading, grubbed out +of earth, sweated out in mines, on railway lines, in deadly jungle, +under heavy burdens--amassed patiently, guarded with care, cherished +fiercely. + +A cross swell had set in from the direction of Formosa Channel about ten +oclock, without disturbing these passengers much, because the Nan-Shan, +with her flat bottom, rolling chocks on bilges, and great breadth of +beam, had the reputation of an exceptionally steady ship in a sea-way. +Mr. Jukes, in moments of expansion on shore, would proclaim loudly +that the old girl was as good as she was pretty. It would never have +occurred to Captain MacWhirr to express his favourable opinion so loud +or in terms so fanciful. + +She was a good ship, undoubtedly, and not old either. She had been built +in Dumbarton less than three years before, to the order of a firm of +merchants in Siam--Messrs. Sigg and Son. When she lay afloat, finished +in every detail and ready to take up the work of her life, the builders +contemplated her with pride. + +Sigg has asked us for a reliable skipper to take her out, remarked one +of the partners; and the other, after reflecting for a while, said: +I think MacWhirr is ashore just at present. Is he? Then wire him +at once. Hes the very man, declared the senior, without a moments +hesitation. + +Next morning MacWhirr stood before them unperturbed, having travelled +from London by the midnight express after a sudden but undemonstrative +parting with his wife. She was the daughter of a superior couple who had +seen better days. + +We had better be going together over the ship, Captain, said the +senior partner; and the three men started to view the perfections of the +Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and from her keelson to the trucks of her +two stumpy pole-masts. + +Captain MacWhirr had begun by taking off his coat, which he hung on the +end of a steam windless embodying all the latest improvements. + +My uncle wrote of you favourably by yesterdays mail to our good +friends--Messrs. Sigg, you know--and doubtless theyll continue you out +there in command, said the junior partner. Youll be able to boast of +being in charge of the handiest boat of her size on the coast of China, +Captain, he added. + +Have you? Thank ee, mumbled vaguely MacWhirr, to whom the view of +a distant eventuality could appeal no more than the beauty of a wide +landscape to a purblind tourist; and his eyes happening at the moment to +be at rest upon the lock of the cabin door, he walked up to it, full of +purpose, and began to rattle the handle vigorously, while he observed, +in his low, earnest voice, You cant trust the workmen nowadays. A +brand-new lock, and it wont act at all. Stuck fast. See? See? + +As soon as they found themselves alone in their office across the yard: +You praised that fellow up to Sigg. What is it you see in him? asked +the nephew, with faint contempt. + +I admit he has nothing of your fancy skipper about him, if thats what +you mean, said the elder man, curtly. Is the foreman of the joiners +on the Nan-Shan outside? . . . Come in, Bates. How is it that you let +Taits people put us off with a defective lock on the cabin door? The +Captain could see directly he set eye on it. Have it replaced at once. +The little straws, Bates . . . the little straws. . . . + +The lock was replaced accordingly, and a few days afterwards the +Nan-Shan steamed out to the East, without MacWhirr having offered any +further remark as to her fittings, or having been heard to utter a +single word hinting at pride in his ship, gratitude for his appointment, +or satisfaction at his prospects. + +With a temperament neither loquacious nor taciturn he found very little +occasion to talk. There were matters of duty, of course--directions, +orders, and so on; but the past being to his mind done with, and the +future not there yet, the more general actualities of the day required +no comment--because facts can speak for themselves with overwhelming +precision. + +Old Mr. Sigg liked a man of few words, and one that you could be sure +would not try to improve upon his instructions. MacWhirr satisfying +these requirements, was continued in command of the Nan-Shan, and +applied himself to the careful navigation of his ship in the China seas. +She had come out on a British register, but after some time Messrs. Sigg +judged it expedient to transfer her to the Siamese flag. + +At the news of the contemplated transfer Jukes grew restless, as if +under a sense of personal affront. He went about grumbling to himself, +and uttering short scornful laughs. Fancy having a ridiculous +Noahs Ark elephant in the ensign of ones ship, he said once at the +engine-room door. Dash me if I can stand it: Ill throw up the billet. +Dont it make you sick, Mr. Rout? The chief engineer only cleared his +throat with the air of a man who knows the value of a good billet. + +The first morning the new flag floated over the stern of the Nan-Shan +Jukes stood looking at it bitterly from the bridge. He struggled with +his feelings for a while, and then remarked, Queer flag for a man to +sail under, sir. + +Whats the matter with the flag? inquired Captain MacWhirr. Seems all +right to me. And he walked across to the end of the bridge to have a +good look. + +Well, it looks queer to me, burst out Jukes, greatly exasperated, and +flung off the bridge. + +Captain MacWhirr was amazed at these manners. After a while he stepped +quietly into the chart-room, and opened his International Signal +Code-book at the plate where the flags of all the nations are correctly +figured in gaudy rows. He ran his finger over them, and when he came to +Siam he contemplated with great attention the red field and the white +elephant. Nothing could be more simple; but to make sure he brought the +book out on the bridge for the purpose of comparing the coloured drawing +with the real thing at the flagstaff astern. When next Jukes, who was +carrying on the duty that day with a sort of suppressed fierceness, +happened on the bridge, his commander observed: + +Theres nothing amiss with that flag. + +Isnt there? mumbled Jukes, falling on his knees before a deck-locker +and jerking therefrom viciously a spare lead-line. + +No. I looked up the book. Length twice the breadth and the elephant +exactly in the middle. I thought the people ashore would know how to +make the local flag. Stands to reason. You were wrong, Jukes. . . . + +Well, sir, began Jukes, getting up excitedly, all I can say-- He +fumbled for the end of the coil of line with trembling hands. + +Thats all right. Captain MacWhirr soothed him, sitting heavily on a +little canvas folding-stool he greatly affected. All you have to do is +to take care they dont hoist the elephant upside-down before they get +quite used to it. + +Jukes flung the new lead-line over on the fore-deck with a loud Here +you are, bossen--dont forget to wet it thoroughly, and turned with +immense resolution towards his commander; but Captain MacWhirr spread +his elbows on the bridge-rail comfortably. + +Because it would be, I suppose, understood as a signal of distress, he +went on. What do you think? That elephant there, I take it, stands for +something in the nature of the Union Jack in the flag. . . . + +Does it! yelled Jukes, so that every head on the Nan-Shans decks +looked towards the bridge. Then he sighed, and with sudden resignation: +It would certainly be a dam distressful sight, he said, meekly. + +Later in the day he accosted the chief engineer with a confidential, +Here, let me tell you the old mans latest. + +Mr. Solomon Rout (frequently alluded to as Long Sol, Old Sol, or Father +Rout), from finding himself almost invariably the tallest man on board +every ship he joined, had acquired the habit of a stooping, leisurely +condescension. His hair was scant and sandy, his flat cheeks were pale, +his bony wrists and long scholarly hands were pale, too, as though he +had lived all his life in the shade. + +He smiled from on high at Jukes, and went on smoking and glancing about +quietly, in the manner of a kind uncle lending an ear to the tale of an +excited schoolboy. Then, greatly amused but impassive, he asked: + +And did you throw up the billet? + +No, cried Jukes, raising a weary, discouraged voice above the harsh +buzz of the Nan-Shans friction winches. All of them were hard at work, +snatching slings of cargo, high up, to the end of long derricks, only, +as it seemed, to let them rip down recklessly by the run. The cargo +chains groaned in the gins, clinked on coamings, rattled over the +side; and the whole ship quivered, with her long gray flanks smoking in +wreaths of steam. No, cried Jukes, I didnt. Whats the good? I might +just as well fling my resignation at this bulkhead. I dont believe you +can make a man like that understand anything. He simply knocks me over. + +At that moment Captain MacWhirr, back from the shore, crossed the deck, +umbrella in hand, escorted by a mournful, self-possessed Chinaman, +walking behind in paper-soled silk shoes, and who also carried an +umbrella. + +The master of the Nan-Shan, speaking just audibly and gazing at his +boots as his manner was, remarked that it would be necessary to call +at Fu-chau this trip, and desired Mr. Rout to have steam up to-morrow +afternoon at one oclock sharp. He pushed back his hat to wipe his +forehead, observing at the same time that he hated going ashore +anyhow; while overtopping him Mr. Rout, without deigning a word, smoked +austerely, nursing his right elbow in the palm of his left hand. +Then Jukes was directed in the same subdued voice to keep the forward +tween-deck clear of cargo. Two hundred coolies were going to be put +down there. The Bun Hin Company were sending that lot home. Twenty-five +bags of rice would be coming off in a sampan directly, for stores. All +seven-years-men they were, said Captain MacWhirr, with a camphor-wood +chest to every man. The carpenter should be set to work nailing +three-inch battens along the deck below, fore and aft, to keep these +boxes from shifting in a sea-way. Jukes had better look to it at once. +Dye hear, Jukes? This chinaman here was coming with the ship as far +as Fu-chau--a sort of interpreter he would be. Bun Hins clerk he +was, and wanted to have a look at the space. Jukes had better take him +forward. Dye hear, Jukes? + +Jukes took care to punctuate these instructions in proper places with +the obligatory Yes, sir, ejaculated without enthusiasm. His brusque +Come along, John; make look see set the Chinaman in motion at his +heels. + +Wanchee look see, all same look see can do, said Jukes, who having no +talent for foreign languages mangled the very pidgin-English cruelly. He +pointed at the open hatch. Catchee number one piecie place to sleep in. +Eh? + +He was gruff, as became his racial superiority, but not unfriendly. The +Chinaman, gazing sad and speechless into the darkness of the hatchway, +seemed to stand at the head of a yawning grave. + +No catchee rain down there--savee? pointed out Jukes. Suppose allee +same fine weather, one piecie coolie-man come topside, he pursued, +warming up imaginatively. Make so--Phooooo! He expanded his chest and +blew out his cheeks. Savee, John? Breathe--fresh air. Good. Eh? Washee +him piecie pants, chow-chow top-side--see, John? + +With his mouth and hands he made exuberant motions of eating rice and +washing clothes; and the Chinaman, who concealed his distrust of this +pantomime under a collected demeanour tinged by a gentle and refined +melancholy, glanced out of his almond eyes from Jukes to the hatch and +back again. Velly good, he murmured, in a disconsolate undertone, and +hastened smoothly along the decks, dodging obstacles in his course. He +disappeared, ducking low under a sling of ten dirty gunny-bags full of +some costly merchandise and exhaling a repulsive smell. + +Captain MacWhirr meantime had gone on the bridge, and into the +chart-room, where a letter, commenced two days before, awaited +termination. These long letters began with the words, My darling wife, + and the steward, between the scrubbing of the floors and the dusting +of chronometer-boxes, snatched at every opportunity to read them. They +interested him much more than they possibly could the woman for whose +eye they were intended; and this for the reason that they related in +minute detail each successive trip of the Nan-Shan. + +Her master, faithful to facts, which alone his consciousness reflected, +would set them down with painstaking care upon many pages. The house +in a northern suburb to which these pages were addressed had a bit of +garden before the bow-windows, a deep porch of good appearance, +coloured glass with imitation lead frame in the front door. He paid +five-and-forty pounds a year for it, and did not think the rent too +high, because Mrs. MacWhirr (a pretentious person with a scraggy +neck and a disdainful manner) was admittedly ladylike, and in the +neighbourhood considered as quite superior. The only secret of her +life was her abject terror of the time when her husband would come home +to stay for good. Under the same roof there dwelt also a daughter called +Lydia and a son, Tom. These two were but slightly acquainted with their +father. Mainly, they knew him as a rare but privileged visitor, who of +an evening smoked his pipe in the dining-room and slept in the house. +The lanky girl, upon the whole, was rather ashamed of him; the boy +was frankly and utterly indifferent in a straightforward, delightful, +unaffected way manly boys have. + +And Captain MacWhirr wrote home from the coast of China twelve times +every year, desiring quaintly to be remembered to the children, and +subscribing himself your loving husband, as calmly as if the words so +long used by so many men were, apart from their shape, worn-out things, +and of a faded meaning. + +The China seas north and south are narrow seas. They are seas full of +every-day, eloquent facts, such as islands, sand-banks, reefs, swift and +changeable currents--tangled facts that nevertheless speak to a seaman +in clear and definite language. Their speech appealed to Captain +MacWhirrs sense of realities so forcibly that he had given up his +state-room below and practically lived all his days on the bridge of +his ship, often having his meals sent up, and sleeping at night in the +chart-room. And he indited there his home letters. Each of them, without +exception, contained the phrase, The weather has been very fine this +trip, or some other form of a statement to that effect. And this +statement, too, in its wonderful persistence, was of the same perfect +accuracy as all the others they contained. + +Mr. Rout likewise wrote letters; only no one on board knew how chatty he +could be pen in hand, because the chief engineer had enough imagination +to keep his desk locked. His wife relished his style greatly. They were +a childless couple, and Mrs. Rout, a big, high-bosomed, jolly woman of +forty, shared with Mr. Routs toothless and venerable mother a little +cottage near Teddington. She would run over her correspondence, at +breakfast, with lively eyes, and scream out interesting passages in a +joyous voice at the deaf old lady, prefacing each extract by the +warning shout, Solomon says! She had the trick of firing off +Solomons utterances also upon strangers, astonishing them easily by the +unfamiliar text and the unexpectedly jocular vein of these quotations. +On the day the new curate called for the first time at the cottage, she +found occasion to remark, As Solomon says: the engineers that go down +to the sea in ships behold the wonders of sailor nature; when a change +in the visitors countenance made her stop and stare. + +Solomon. . . . Oh! . . . Mrs. Rout, stuttered the young man, very red +in the face, I must say . . . I dont. . . . + +Hes my husband, she announced in a great shout, throwing herself +back in the chair. Perceiving the joke, she laughed immoderately with a +handkerchief to her eyes, while he sat wearing a forced smile, and, +from his inexperience of jolly women, fully persuaded that she must +be deplorably insane. They were excellent friends afterwards; for, +absolving her from irreverent intention, he came to think she was a +very worthy person indeed; and he learned in time to receive without +flinching other scraps of Solomons wisdom. + +For my part, Solomon was reported by his wife to have said once, give +me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. There is a way to +take a fool; but a rogue is smart and slippery. This was an airy +generalization drawn from the particular case of Captain MacWhirrs +honesty, which, in itself, had the heavy obviousness of a lump of clay. +On the other hand, Mr. Jukes, unable to generalize, unmarried, and +unengaged, was in the habit of opening his heart after another fashion +to an old chum and former shipmate, actually serving as second officer +on board an Atlantic liner. + +First of all he would insist upon the advantages of the Eastern trade, +hinting at its superiority to the Western ocean service. He extolled +the sky, the seas, the ships, and the easy life of the Far East. The +Nan-Shan, he affirmed, was second to none as a sea-boat. + +We have no brass-bound uniforms, but then we are like brothers here, + he wrote. We all mess together and live like fighting-cocks. . . . All +the chaps of the black-squad are as decent as they make that kind, and +old Sol, the Chief, is a dry stick. We are good friends. As to our old +man, you could not find a quieter skipper. Sometimes you would think he +hadnt sense enough to see anything wrong. And yet it isnt that. Cant +be. He has been in command for a good few years now. He doesnt do +anything actually foolish, and gets his ship along all right without +worrying anybody. I believe he hasnt brains enough to enjoy kicking +up a row. I dont take advantage of him. I would scorn it. Outside the +routine of duty he doesnt seem to understand more than half of what you +tell him. We get a laugh out of this at times; but it is dull, too, to +be with a man like this--in the long-run. Old Sol says he hasnt much +conversation. Conversation! O Lord! He never talks. The other day I had +been yarning under the bridge with one of the engineers, and he must +have heard us. When I came up to take my watch, he steps out of the +chart-room and has a good look all round, peeps over at the sidelights, +glances at the compass, squints upward at the stars. Thats his regular +performance. By-and-by he says: Was that you talking just now in the +port alleyway? Yes, sir. With the third engineer? Yes, sir. He +walks off to starboard, and sits under the dodger on a little campstool +of his, and for half an hour perhaps he makes no sound, except that I +heard him sneeze once. Then after a while I hear him getting up over +there, and he strolls across to port, where I was. I cant understand +what you can find to talk about, says he. Two solid hours. I am not +blaming you. I see people ashore at it all day long, and then in the +evening they sit down and keep at it over the drinks. Must be saying the +same things over and over again. I cant understand. + +Did you ever hear anything like that? And he was so patient about it. +It made me quite sorry for him. But he is exasperating, too, sometimes. +Of course one would not do anything to vex him even if it were worth +while. But it isnt. Hes so jolly innocent that if you were to put your +thumb to your nose and wave your fingers at him he would only wonder +gravely to himself what got into you. He told me once quite simply that +he found it very difficult to make out what made people always act so +queerly. Hes too dense to trouble about, and thats the truth. + +Thus wrote Mr. Jukes to his chum in the Western ocean trade, out of the +fulness of his heart and the liveliness of his fancy. + +He had expressed his honest opinion. It was not worthwhile trying to +impress a man of that sort. If the world had been full of such men, life +would have probably appeared to Jukes an unentertaining and unprofitable +business. He was not alone in his opinion. The sea itself, as if sharing +Mr. Jukes good-natured forbearance, had never put itself out to startle +the silent man, who seldom looked up, and wandered innocently over +the waters with the only visible purpose of getting food, raiment, +and house-room for three people ashore. Dirty weather he had known, of +course. He had been made wet, uncomfortable, tired in the usual way, +felt at the time and presently forgotten. So that upon the whole he had +been justified in reporting fine weather at home. But he had never been +given a glimpse of immeasurable strength and of immoderate wrath, the +wrath that passes exhausted but never appeased--the wrath and fury +of the passionate sea. He knew it existed, as we know that crime and +abominations exist; he had heard of it as a peaceable citizen in a town +hears of battles, famines, and floods, and yet knows nothing of what +these things mean--though, indeed, he may have been mixed up in a street +row, have gone without his dinner once, or been soaked to the skin in +a shower. Captain MacWhirr had sailed over the surface of the oceans as +some men go skimming over the years of existence to sink gently into +a placid grave, ignorant of life to the last, without ever having been +made to see all it may contain of perfidy, of violence, and of terror. +There are on sea and land such men thus fortunate--or thus disdained by +destiny or by the sea. + + + +II + +Observing the steady fall of the barometer, Captain MacWhirr thought, +Theres some dirty weather knocking about. This is precisely what he +thought. He had had an experience of moderately dirty weather--the term +dirty as applied to the weather implying only moderate discomfort to the +seaman. Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the +end of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic +disturbance of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information +under the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had +no experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply +comprehension. The wisdom of his county had pronounced by means of an +Act of Parliament that before he could be considered as fit to take +charge of a ship he should be able to answer certain simple questions on +the subject of circular storms such as hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons; +and apparently he had answered them, since he was now in command of the +Nan-Shan in the China seas during the season of typhoons. But if he +had answered he remembered nothing of it. He was, however, conscious of +being made uncomfortable by the clammy heat. He came out on the bridge, +and found no relief to this oppression. The air seemed thick. He gasped +like a fish, and began to believe himself greatly out of sorts. + +The Nan-Shan was ploughing a vanishing furrow upon the circle of the +sea that had the surface and the shimmer of an undulating piece of +gray silk. The sun, pale and without rays, poured down leaden heat in a +strangely indecisive light, and the Chinamen were lying prostrate about +the decks. Their bloodless, pinched, yellow faces were like the faces +of bilious invalids. Captain MacWhirr noticed two of them especially, +stretched out on their backs below the bridge. As soon as they had +closed their eyes they seemed dead. Three others, however, were +quarrelling barbarously away forward; and one big fellow, half naked, +with herculean shoulders, was hanging limply over a winch; another, +sitting on the deck, his knees up and his head drooping sideways in +a girlish attitude, was plaiting his pigtail with infinite languor +depicted in his whole person and in the very movement of his fingers. +The smoke struggled with difficulty out of the funnel, and instead +of streaming away spread itself out like an infernal sort of cloud, +smelling of sulphur and raining soot all over the decks. + +What the devil are you doing there, Mr. Jukes? asked Captain MacWhirr. + +This unusual form of address, though mumbled rather than spoken, caused +the body of Mr. Jukes to start as though it had been prodded under the +fifth rib. He had had a low bench brought on the bridge, and sitting on +it, with a length of rope curled about his feet and a piece of canvas +stretched over his knees, was pushing a sail-needle vigorously. He +looked up, and his surprise gave to his eyes an expression of innocence +and candour. + +I am only roping some of that new set of bags we made last trip for +whipping up coals, he remonstrated, gently. We shall want them for the +next coaling, sir. + +What became of the others? + +Why, worn out of course, sir. + +Captain MacWhirr, after glaring down irresolutely at his chief mate, +disclosed the gloomy and cynical conviction that more than half of them +had been lost overboard, if only the truth was known, and retired +to the other end of the bridge. Jukes, exasperated by this unprovoked +attack, broke the needle at the second stitch, and dropping his work got +up and cursed the heat in a violent undertone. + +The propeller thumped, the three Chinamen forward had given up +squabbling very suddenly, and the one who had been plaiting his tail +clasped his legs and stared dejectedly over his knees. The lurid +sunshine cast faint and sickly shadows. The swell ran higher and swifter +every moment, and the ship lurched heavily in the smooth, deep hollows +of the sea. + +I wonder where that beastly swell comes from, said Jukes aloud, +recovering himself after a stagger. + +North-east, grunted the literal MacWhirr, from his side of the bridge. +Theres some dirty weather knocking about. Go and look at the glass. + +When Jukes came out of the chart-room, the cast of his countenance had +changed to thoughtfulness and concern. He caught hold of the bridge-rail +and stared ahead. + +The temperature in the engine-room had gone up to a hundred and +seventeen degrees. Irritated voices were ascending through the skylight +and through the fiddle of the stokehold in a harsh and resonant uproar, +mingled with angry clangs and scrapes of metal, as if men with limbs of +iron and throats of bronze had been quarrelling down there. The second +engineer was falling foul of the stokers for letting the steam go down. +He was a man with arms like a blacksmith, and generally feared; but that +afternoon the stokers were answering him back recklessly, and slammed +the furnace doors with the fury of despair. Then the noise ceased +suddenly, and the second engineer appeared, emerging out of the +stokehold streaked with grime and soaking wet like a chimney-sweep +coming out of a well. As soon as his head was clear of the fiddle he +began to scold Jukes for not trimming properly the stokehold +ventilators; and in answer Jukes made with his hands deprecatory +soothing signs meaning: No wind--cant be helped--you can see for +yourself. But the other wouldnt hear reason. His teeth flashed angrily +in his dirty face. He didnt mind, he said, the trouble of punching +their blanked heads down there, blank his soul, but did the condemned +sailors think you could keep steam up in the God-forsaken boilers simply +by knocking the blanked stokers about? No, by George! You had to get +some draught, too--may he be everlastingly blanked for a swab-headed +deck-hand if you didnt! And the chief, too, rampaging before the +steam-gauge and carrying on like a lunatic up and down the engine-room +ever since noon. What did Jukes think he was stuck up there for, if he +couldnt get one of his decayed, good-for-nothing deck-cripples to turn +the ventilators to the wind? + +The relations of the engine-room and the deck of the Nan-Shan were, +as is known, of a brotherly nature; therefore Jukes leaned over and +begged the other in a restrained tone not to make a disgusting ass of +himself; the skipper was on the other side of the bridge. But the second +declared mutinously that he didnt care a rap who was on the other side +of the bridge, and Jukes, passing in a flash from lofty disapproval into +a state of exaltation, invited him in unflattering terms to come up and +twist the beastly things to please himself, and catch such wind as a +donkey of his sort could find. The second rushed up to the fray. He +flung himself at the port ventilator as though he meant to tear it out +bodily and toss it overboard. All he did was to move the cowl round a +few inches, with an enormous expenditure of force, and seemed spent +in the effort. He leaned against the back of the wheelhouse, and Jukes +walked up to him. + +Oh, Heavens! ejaculated the engineer in a feeble voice. He lifted +his eyes to the sky, and then let his glassy stare descend to meet the +horizon that, tilting up to an angle of forty degrees, seemed to hang on +a slant for a while and settled down slowly. Heavens! Phew! Whats up, +anyhow? + +Jukes, straddling his long legs like a pair of compasses, put on an +air of superiority. Were going to catch it this time, he said. The +barometer is tumbling down like anything, Harry. And you trying to kick +up that silly row. . . . + +The word barometer seemed to revive the second engineers mad +animosity. Collecting afresh all his energies, he directed Jukes in a +low and brutal tone to shove the unmentionable instrument down his +gory throat. Who cared for his crimson barometer? It was the steam--the +steam--that was going down; and what between the firemen going faint and +the chief going silly, it was worse than a dogs life for him; he didnt +care a tinkers curse how soon the whole show was blown out of the +water. He seemed on the point of having a cry, but after regaining his +breath he muttered darkly, Ill faint them, and dashed off. He stopped +upon the fiddle long enough to shake his fist at the unnatural daylight, +and dropped into the dark hole with a whoop. + +When Jukes turned, his eyes fell upon the rounded back and the big red +ears of Captain MacWhirr, who had come across. He did not look at his +chief officer, but said at once, Thats a very violent man, that second +engineer. + +Jolly good second, anyhow, grunted Jukes. They cant keep up steam, + he added, rapidly, and made a grab at the rail against the coming lurch. + +Captain MacWhirr, unprepared, took a run and brought himself up with a +jerk by an awning stanchion. + +A profane man, he said, obstinately. If this goes on, Ill have to +get rid of him the first chance. + +Its the heat, said Jukes. The weathers awful. It would make a saint +swear. Even up here I feel exactly as if I had my head tied up in a +woollen blanket. + +Captain MacWhirr looked up. Dye mean to say, Mr. Jukes, you ever had +your head tied up in a blanket? What was that for? + +Its a manner of speaking, sir, said Jukes, stolidly. + +Some of you fellows do go on! Whats that about saints swearing? I wish +you wouldnt talk so wild. What sort of saint would that be that would +swear? No more saint than yourself, I expect. And whats a blanket got +to do with it--or the weather either. . . . The heat does not make me +swear--does it? Its filthy bad temper. Thats what it is. And whats +the good of your talking like this? + +Thus Captain MacWhirr expostulated against the use of images in speech, +and at the end electrified Jukes by a contemptuous snort, followed by +words of passion and resentment: Damme! Ill fire him out of the ship +if he dont look out. + +And Jukes, incorrigible, thought: Goodness me! Somebodys put a new +inside to my old man. Heres temper, if you like. Of course its the +weather; what else? It would make an angel quarrelsome--let alone a +saint. + +All the Chinamen on deck appeared at their last gasp. + +At its setting the sun had a diminished diameter and an expiring brown, +rayless glow, as if millions of centuries elapsing since the morning +had brought it near its end. A dense bank of cloud became visible to the +northward; it had a sinister dark olive tint, and lay low and motionless +upon the sea, resembling a solid obstacle in the path of the ship. She +went floundering towards it like an exhausted creature driven to its +death. The coppery twilight retired slowly, and the darkness brought +out overhead a swarm of unsteady, big stars, that, as if blown upon, +flickered exceedingly and seemed to hang very near the earth. At eight +oclock Jukes went into the chart-room to write up the ships log. + +He copies neatly out of the rough-book the number of miles, the course +of the ship, and in the column for wind scrawled the word calm from +top to bottom of the eight hours since noon. He was exasperated by the +continuous, monotonous rolling of the ship. The heavy inkstand would +slide away in a manner that suggested perverse intelligence in dodging +the pen. Having written in the large space under the head of Remarks + Heat very oppressive, he stuck the end of the penholder in his teeth, +pipe fashion, and mopped his face carefully. + +Ship rolling heavily in a high cross swell, he began again, and +commented to himself, Heavily is no word for it. Then he wrote: +Sunset threatening, with a low bank of clouds to N. and E. Sky clear +overhead. + +Sprawling over the table with arrested pen, he glanced out of the door, +and in that frame of his vision he saw all the stars flying upwards +between the teakwood jambs on a black sky. The whole lot took flight +together and disappeared, leaving only a blackness flecked with white +flashes, for the sea was as black as the sky and speckled with foam +afar. The stars that had flown to the roll came back on the return swing +of the ship, rushing downwards in their glittering multitude, not of +fiery points, but enlarged to tiny discs brilliant with a clear wet +sheen. + +Jukes watched the flying big stars for a moment, and then wrote: 8 P.M. +Swell increasing. Ship labouring and taking water on her decks. Battened +down the coolies for the night. Barometer still falling. He paused, and +thought to himself, Perhaps nothing whateverll come of it. And then +he closed resolutely his entries: Every appearance of a typhoon coming +on. + +On going out he had to stand aside, and Captain MacWhirr strode over the +doorstep without saying a word or making a sign. + +Shut the door, Mr. Jukes, will you? he cried from within. + +Jukes turned back to do so, muttering ironically: Afraid to catch cold, +I suppose. It was his watch below, but he yearned for communion with +his kind; and he remarked cheerily to the second mate: Doesnt look so +bad, after all--does it? + +The second mate was marching to and fro on the bridge, tripping down +with small steps one moment, and the next climbing with difficulty the +shifting slope of the deck. At the sound of Jukes voice he stood still, +facing forward, but made no reply. + +Hallo! Thats a heavy one, said Jukes, swaying to meet the long roll +till his lowered hand touched the planks. This time the second mate made +in his throat a noise of an unfriendly nature. + +He was an oldish, shabby little fellow, with bad teeth and no hair on +his face. He had been shipped in a hurry in Shanghai, that trip when +the second officer brought from home had delayed the ship three hours +in port by contriving (in some manner Captain MacWhirr could never +understand) to fall overboard into an empty coal-lighter lying +alongside, and had to be sent ashore to the hospital with concussion of +the brain and a broken limb or two. + +Jukes was not discouraged by the unsympathetic sound. The Chinamen must +be having a lovely time of it down there, he said. Its lucky for them +the old girl has the easiest roll of any ship Ive ever been in. There +now! This one wasnt so bad. + +You wait, snarled the second mate. + +With his sharp nose, red at the tip, and his thin pinched lips, he +always looked as though he were raging inwardly; and he was concise in +his speech to the point of rudeness. All his time off duty he spent +in his cabin with the door shut, keeping so still in there that he was +supposed to fall asleep as soon as he had disappeared; but the man who +came in to wake him for his watch on deck would invariably find him with +his eyes wide open, flat on his back in the bunk, and glaring irritably +from a soiled pillow. He never wrote any letters, did not seem to hope +for news from anywhere; and though he had been heard once to mention +West Hartlepool, it was with extreme bitterness, and only in connection +with the extortionate charges of a boarding-house. He was one of those +men who are picked up at need in the ports of the world. They are +competent enough, appear hopelessly hard up, show no evidence of any +sort of vice, and carry about them all the signs of manifest failure. +They come aboard on an emergency, care for no ship afloat, live in their +own atmosphere of casual connection amongst their shipmates who know +nothing of them, and make up their minds to leave at inconvenient times. +They clear out with no words of leavetaking in some God-forsaken port +other men would fear to be stranded in, and go ashore in company of a +shabby sea-chest, corded like a treasure-box, and with an air of shaking +the ships dust off their feet. + +You wait, he repeated, balanced in great swings with his back to +Jukes, motionless and implacable. + +Do you mean to say we are going to catch it hot? asked Jukes with +boyish interest. + +Say? . . . I say nothing. You dont catch me, snapped the little +second mate, with a mixture of pride, scorn, and cunning, as if Jukes +question had been a trap cleverly detected. Oh, no! None of you here +shall make a fool of me if I know it, he mumbled to himself. + +Jukes reflected rapidly that this second mate was a mean little beast, +and in his heart he wished poor Jack Allen had never smashed himself up +in the coal-lighter. The far-off blackness ahead of the ship was like +another night seen through the starry night of the earth--the starless +night of the immensities beyond the created universe, revealed in its +appalling stillness through a low fissure in the glittering sphere of +which the earth is the kernel. + +Whatever there might be about, said Jukes, we are steaming straight +into it. + +Youve said it, caught up the second mate, always with his back to +Jukes. Youve said it, mind--not I. + +Oh, go to Jericho! said Jukes, frankly; and the other emitted a +triumphant little chuckle. + +Youve said it, he repeated. + +And what of that? + +Ive known some real good men get into trouble with their skippers for +saying a dam sight less, answered the second mate feverishly. Oh, no! +You dont catch me. + +You seem deucedly anxious not to give yourself away, said Jukes, +completely soured by such absurdity. I wouldnt be afraid to say what I +think. + +Aye, to me! Thats no great trick. I am nobody, and well I know it. + +The ship, after a pause of comparative steadiness, started upon a series +of rolls, one worse than the other, and for a time Jukes, preserving +his equilibrium, was too busy to open his mouth. As soon as the violent +swinging had quieted down somewhat, he said: This is a bit too much of +a good thing. Whether anything is coming or not I think she ought to be +put head on to that swell. The old man is just gone in to lie down. Hang +me if I dont speak to him. + +But when he opened the door of the chart-room he saw his captain reading +a book. Captain MacWhirr was not lying down: he was standing up with +one hand grasping the edge of the bookshelf and the other holding open +before his face a thick volume. The lamp wriggled in the gimbals, +the loosened books toppled from side to side on the shelf, the long +barometer swung in jerky circles, the table altered its slant every +moment. In the midst of all this stir and movement Captain MacWhirr, +holding on, showed his eyes above the upper edge, and asked, Whats the +matter? + +Swell getting worse, sir. + +Noticed that in here, muttered Captain MacWhirr. Anything wrong? + +Jukes, inwardly disconcerted by the seriousness of the eyes looking at +him over the top of the book, produced an embarrassed grin. + +Rolling like old boots, he said, sheepishly. + +Aye! Very heavy--very heavy. What do you want? + +At this Jukes lost his footing and began to flounder. I was thinking of +our passengers, he said, in the manner of a man clutching at a straw. + +Passengers? wondered the Captain, gravely. What passengers? + +Why, the Chinamen, sir, explained Jukes, very sick of this +conversation. + +The Chinamen! Why dont you speak plainly? Couldnt tell what you +meant. Never heard a lot of coolies spoken of as passengers before. +Passengers, indeed! Whats come to you? + +Captain MacWhirr, closing the book on his forefinger, lowered his arm +and looked completely mystified. Why are you thinking of the Chinamen, +Mr. Jukes? he inquired. + +Jukes took a plunge, like a man driven to it. Shes rolling her decks +full of water, sir. Thought you might put her head on perhaps--for a +while. Till this goes down a bit--very soon, I dare say. Head to the +eastward. I never knew a ship roll like this. + +He held on in the doorway, and Captain MacWhirr, feeling his grip on +the shelf inadequate, made up his mind to let go in a hurry, and fell +heavily on the couch. + +Head to the eastward? he said, struggling to sit up. Thats more than +four points off her course. + +Yes, sir. Fifty degrees. . . . Would just bring her head far enough +round to meet this. . . . + +Captain MacWhirr was now sitting up. He had not dropped the book, and he +had not lost his place. + +To the eastward? he repeated, with dawning astonishment. To the . . . +Where do you think we are bound to? You want me to haul a full-powered +steamship four points off her course to make the Chinamen comfortable! +Now, Ive heard more than enough of mad things done in the world--but +this. . . . If I didnt know you, Jukes, I would think you were in +liquor. Steer four points off. . . . And what afterwards? Steer four +points over the other way, I suppose, to make the course good. What put +it into your head that I would start to tack a steamer as if she were a +sailing-ship? + +Jolly good thing she isnt, threw in Jukes, with bitter readiness. +She would have rolled every blessed stick out of her this afternoon. + +Aye! And you just would have had to stand and see them go, said +Captain MacWhirr, showing a certain animation. Its a dead calm, isnt +it? + +It is, sir. But theres something out of the common coming, for sure. + +Maybe. I suppose you have a notion I should be getting out of the +way of that dirt, said Captain MacWhirr, speaking with the utmost +simplicity of manner and tone, and fixing the oilcloth on the floor +with a heavy stare. Thus he noticed neither Jukes discomfiture nor the +mixture of vexation and astonished respect on his face. + +Now, heres this book, he continued with deliberation, slapping his +thigh with the closed volume. Ive been reading the chapter on the +storms there. + +This was true. He had been reading the chapter on the storms. When he +had entered the chart-room, it was with no intention of taking the book +down. Some influence in the air--the same influence, probably, that +caused the steward to bring without orders the Captains sea-boots and +oilskin coat up to the chart-room--had as it were guided his hand to +the shelf; and without taking the time to sit down he had waded with a +conscious effort into the terminology of the subject. He lost himself +amongst advancing semi-circles, left- and right-hand quadrants, the +curves of the tracks, the probable bearing of the centre, the shifts of +wind and the readings of barometer. He tried to bring all these +things into a definite relation to himself, and ended by becoming +contemptuously angry with such a lot of words, and with so much advice, +all head-work and supposition, without a glimmer of certitude. + +Its the damnedest thing, Jukes, he said. If a fellow was to believe +all thats in there, he would be running most of his time all over the +sea trying to get behind the weather. + +Again he slapped his leg with the book; and Jukes opened his mouth, but +said nothing. + +Running to get behind the weather! Do you understand that, Mr. Jukes? +Its the maddest thing! ejaculated Captain MacWhirr, with pauses, +gazing at the floor profoundly. You would think an old woman had been +writing this. It passes me. If that thing means anything useful, then +it means that I should at once alter the course away, away to the devil +somewhere, and come booming down on Fu-chau from the northward at the +tail of this dirty weather thats supposed to be knocking about in our +way. From the north! Do you understand, Mr. Jukes? Three hundred extra +miles to the distance, and a pretty coal bill to show. I couldnt bring +myself to do that if every word in there was gospel truth, Mr. Jukes. +Dont you expect me. . . . + +And Jukes, silent, marvelled at this display of feeling and loquacity. + +But the truth is that you dont know if the fellow is right, anyhow. +How can you tell what a gale is made of till you get it? He isnt aboard +here, is he? Very well. Here he says that the centre of them things +bears eight points off the wind; but we havent got any wind, for all +the barometer falling. Wheres his centre now? + +We will get the wind presently, mumbled Jukes. + +Let it come, then, said Captain MacWhirr, with dignified indignation. +Its only to let you see, Mr. Jukes, that you dont find everything in +books. All these rules for dodging breezes and circumventing the winds +of heaven, Mr. Jukes, seem to me the maddest thing, when you come to +look at it sensibly. + +He raised his eyes, saw Jukes gazing at him dubiously, and tried to +illustrate his meaning. + +About as queer as your extraordinary notion of dodging the ship head +to sea, for I dont know how long, to make the Chinamen comfortable; +whereas all weve got to do is to take them to Fu-chau, being timed to +get there before noon on Friday. If the weather delays me--very well. +Theres your log-book to talk straight about the weather. But suppose +I went swinging off my course and came in two days late, and they asked +me: Where have you been all that time, Captain? What could I say to +that? Went around to dodge the bad weather, I would say. It mustve +been dam bad, they would say. Dont know, I would have to say; Ive +dodged clear of it. See that, Jukes? I have been thinking it all out +this afternoon. + +He looked up again in his unseeing, unimaginative way. No one had ever +heard him say so much at one time. Jukes, with his arms open in the +doorway, was like a man invited to behold a miracle. Unbounded wonder +was the intellectual meaning of his eye, while incredulity was seated in +his whole countenance. + +A gale is a gale, Mr. Jukes, resumed the Captain, and a full-powered +steam-ship has got to face it. Theres just so much dirty weather +knocking about the world, and the proper thing is to go through it with +none of what old Captain Wilson of the Melita calls storm strategy. +The other day ashore I heard him hold forth about it to a lot of +shipmasters who came in and sat at a table next to mine. It seemed to me +the greatest nonsense. He was telling them how he outmanoeuvred, I +think he said, a terrific gale, so that it never came nearer than fifty +miles to him. A neat piece of head-work he called it. How he knew there +was a terrific gale fifty miles off beats me altogether. It was like +listening to a crazy man. I would have thought Captain Wilson was old +enough to know better. + +Captain MacWhirr ceased for a moment, then said, Its your watch below, +Mr. Jukes? + +Jukes came to himself with a start. Yes, sir. + +Leave orders to call me at the slightest change, said the Captain. +He reached up to put the book away, and tucked his legs upon the couch. +Shut the door so that it dont fly open, will you? I cant stand a +door banging. Theyve put a lot of rubbishy locks into this ship, I must +say. + +Captain MacWhirr closed his eyes. + +He did so to rest himself. He was tired, and he experienced that state +of mental vacuity which comes at the end of an exhaustive discussion +that has liberated some belief matured in the course of meditative +years. He had indeed been making his confession of faith, had he only +known it; and its effect was to make Jukes, on the other side of the +door, stand scratching his head for a good while. + +Captain MacWhirr opened his eyes. + +He thought he must have been asleep. What was that loud noise? Wind? Why +had he not been called? The lamp wriggled in its gimbals, the barometer +swung in circles, the table altered its slant every moment; a pair of +limp sea-boots with collapsed tops went sliding past the couch. He put +out his hand instantly, and captured one. + +Jukes face appeared in a crack of the door: only his face, very red, +with staring eyes. The flame of the lamp leaped, a piece of paper flew +up, a rush of air enveloped Captain MacWhirr. Beginning to draw on the +boot, he directed an expectant gaze at Jukes swollen, excited features. + +Came on like this, shouted Jukes, five minutes ago . . . all of a +sudden. + +The head disappeared with a bang, and a heavy splash and patter of drops +swept past the closed door as if a pailful of melted lead had been +flung against the house. A whistling could be heard now upon the +deep vibrating noise outside. The stuffy chart-room seemed as full of +draughts as a shed. Captain MacWhirr collared the other sea-boot on its +violent passage along the floor. He was not flustered, but he could not +find at once the opening for inserting his foot. The shoes he had flung +off were scurrying from end to end of the cabin, gambolling playfully +over each other like puppies. As soon as he stood up he kicked at them +viciously, but without effect. + +He threw himself into the attitude of a lunging fencer, to reach after +his oilskin coat; and afterwards he staggered all over the confined +space while he jerked himself into it. Very grave, straddling his legs +far apart, and stretching his neck, he started to tie deliberately +the strings of his sou-wester under his chin, with thick fingers that +trembled slightly. He went through all the movements of a woman putting +on her bonnet before a glass, with a strained, listening attention, as +though he had expected every moment to hear the shout of his name in the +confused clamour that had suddenly beset his ship. Its increase filled +his ears while he was getting ready to go out and confront whatever it +might mean. It was tumultuous and very loud--made up of the rush of the +wind, the crashes of the sea, with that prolonged deep vibration of the +air, like the roll of an immense and remote drum beating the charge of +the gale. + +He stood for a moment in the light of the lamp, thick, clumsy, shapeless +in his panoply of combat, vigilant and red-faced. + +Theres a lot of weight in this, he muttered. + +As soon as he attempted to open the door the wind caught it. Clinging +to the handle, he was dragged out over the doorstep, and at once found +himself engaged with the wind in a sort of personal scuffle whose +object was the shutting of that door. At the last moment a tongue of air +scurried in and licked out the flame of the lamp. + +Ahead of the ship he perceived a great darkness lying upon a multitude +of white flashes; on the starboard beam a few amazing stars drooped, dim +and fitful, above an immense waste of broken seas, as if seen through a +mad drift of smoke. + +On the bridge a knot of men, indistinct and toiling, were making great +efforts in the light of the wheelhouse windows that shone mistily on +their heads and backs. Suddenly darkness closed upon one pane, then on +another. The voices of the lost group reached him after the manner of +mens voices in a gale, in shreds and fragments of forlorn shouting +snatched past the ear. All at once Jukes appeared at his side, yelling, +with his head down. + +Watch--put in--wheelhouse shutters--glass--afraid--blow in. + +Jukes heard his commander upbraiding. + +This--come--anything--warning--call me. + +He tried to explain, with the uproar pressing on his lips. + +Light air--remained--bridge--sudden--north-east--could +turn--thought--you--sure--hear. + +They had gained the shelter of the weather-cloth, and could converse +with raised voices, as people quarrel. + +I got the hands along to cover up all the ventilators. Good job I had +remained on deck. I didnt think you would be asleep, and so . . . What +did you say, sir? What? + +Nothing, cried Captain MacWhirr. I said--all right. + +By all the powers! Weve got it this time, observed Jukes in a howl. + +You havent altered her course? inquired Captain MacWhirr, straining +his voice. + +No, sir. Certainly not. Wind came out right ahead. And here comes the +head sea. + +A plunge of the ship ended in a shock as if she had landed her forefoot +upon something solid. After a moment of stillness a lofty flight of +sprays drove hard with the wind upon their faces. + +Keep her at it as long as we can, shouted Captain MacWhirr. + +Before Jukes had squeezed the salt water out of his eyes all the stars +had disappeared. + + + +III + +Jukes was as ready a man as any half-dozen young mates that may be +caught by casting a net upon the waters; and though he had been somewhat +taken aback by the startling viciousness of the first squall, he had +pulled himself together on the instant, had called out the hands and had +rushed them along to secure such openings about the deck as had not been +already battened down earlier in the evening. Shouting in his fresh, +stentorian voice, Jump, boys, and bear a hand! he led in the work, +telling himself the while that he had just expected this. + +But at the same time he was growing aware that this was rather more than +he had expected. From the first stir of the air felt on his cheek the +gale seemed to take upon itself the accumulated impetus of an avalanche. +Heavy sprays enveloped the Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and instantly in +the midst of her regular rolling she began to jerk and plunge as though +she had gone mad with fright. + +Jukes thought, This is no joke. While he was exchanging explanatory +yells with his captain, a sudden lowering of the darkness came upon the +night, falling before their vision like something palpable. It was as +if the masked lights of the world had been turned down. Jukes was +uncritically glad to have his captain at hand. It relieved him as though +that man had, by simply coming on deck, taken most of the gales weight +upon his shoulders. Such is the prestige, the privilege, and the burden +of command. + +Captain MacWhirr could expect no relief of that sort from any one on +earth. Such is the loneliness of command. He was trying to see, with +that watchful manner of a seaman who stares into the winds eye as if +into the eye of an adversary, to penetrate the hidden intention and +guess the aim and force of the thrust. The strong wind swept at him out +of a vast obscurity; he felt under his feet the uneasiness of his ship, +and he could not even discern the shadow of her shape. He wished it +were not so; and very still he waited, feeling stricken by a blind mans +helplessness. + +To be silent was natural to him, dark or shine. Jukes, at his elbow, +made himself heard yelling cheerily in the gusts, We must have got +the worst of it at once, sir. A faint burst of lightning quivered all +round, as if flashed into a cavern--into a black and secret chamber of +the sea, with a floor of foaming crests. + +It unveiled for a sinister, fluttering moment a ragged mass of clouds +hanging low, the lurch of the long outlines of the ship, the black +figures of men caught on the bridge, heads forward, as if petrified in +the act of butting. The darkness palpitated down upon all this, and then +the real thing came at last. + +It was something formidable and swift, like the sudden smashing of +a vial of wrath. It seemed to explode all round the ship with an +overpowering concussion and a rush of great waters, as if an immense dam +had been blown up to windward. In an instant the men lost touch of each +other. This is the disintegrating power of a great wind: it isolates one +from ones kind. An earthquake, a landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man +incidentally, as it were--without passion. A furious gale attacks him +like a personal enemy, tries to grasp his limbs, fastens upon his mind, +seeks to rout his very spirit out of him. + +Jukes was driven away from his commander. He fancied himself whirled a +great distance through the air. Everything disappeared--even, for +a moment, his power of thinking; but his hand had found one of +the rail-stanchions. His distress was by no means alleviated by an +inclination to disbelieve the reality of this experience. Though young, +he had seen some bad weather, and had never doubted his ability to +imagine the worst; but this was so much beyond his powers of fancy that +it appeared incompatible with the existence of any ship whatever. He +would have been incredulous about himself in the same way, perhaps, had +he not been so harassed by the necessity of exerting a wrestling effort +against a force trying to tear him away from his hold. Moreover, the +conviction of not being utterly destroyed returned to him through the +sensations of being half-drowned, bestially shaken, and partly choked. + +It seemed to him he remained there precariously alone with the stanchion +for a long, long time. The rain poured on him, flowed, drove in sheets. +He breathed in gasps; and sometimes the water he swallowed was fresh and +sometimes it was salt. For the most part he kept his eyes shut tight, as +if suspecting his sight might be destroyed in the immense flurry of +the elements. When he ventured to blink hastily, he derived some moral +support from the green gleam of the starboard light shining feebly upon +the flight of rain and sprays. He was actually looking at it when its +ray fell upon the uprearing sea which put it out. He saw the head of the +wave topple over, adding the mite of its crash to the tremendous uproar +raging around him, and almost at the same instant the stanchion was +wrenched away from his embracing arms. After a crushing thump on his +back he found himself suddenly afloat and borne upwards. His first +irresistible notion was that the whole China Sea had climbed on the +bridge. Then, more sanely, he concluded himself gone overboard. All the +time he was being tossed, flung, and rolled in great volumes of water, +he kept on repeating mentally, with the utmost precipitation, the words: +My God! My God! My God! My God! + +All at once, in a revolt of misery and despair, he formed the crazy +resolution to get out of that. And he began to thresh about with his +arms and legs. But as soon as he commenced his wretched struggles he +discovered that he had become somehow mixed up with a face, an oilskin +coat, somebodys boots. He clawed ferociously all these things in +turn, lost them, found them again, lost them once more, and finally was +himself caught in the firm clasp of a pair of stout arms. He returned +the embrace closely round a thick solid body. He had found his captain. + +They tumbled over and over, tightening their hug. Suddenly the water +let them down with a brutal bang; and, stranded against the side of the +wheelhouse, out of breath and bruised, they were left to stagger up in +the wind and hold on where they could. + +Jukes came out of it rather horrified, as though he had escaped some +unparalleled outrage directed at his feelings. It weakened his faith in +himself. He started shouting aimlessly to the man he could feel near him +in that fiendish blackness, Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir? till his +temples seemed ready to burst. And he heard in answer a voice, as if +crying far away, as if screaming to him fretfully from a very great +distance, the one word Yes! Other seas swept again over the bridge. +He received them defencelessly right over his bare head, with both his +hands engaged in holding. + +The motion of the ship was extravagant. Her lurches had an appalling +helplessness: she pitched as if taking a header into a void, and seemed +to find a wall to hit every time. When she rolled she fell on her side +headlong, and she would be righted back by such a demolishing blow that +Jukes felt her reeling as a clubbed man reels before he collapses. The +gale howled and scuffled about gigantically in the darkness, as though +the entire world were one black gully. At certain moments the air +streamed against the ship as if sucked through a tunnel with a +concentrated solid force of impact that seemed to lift her clean out +of the water and keep her up for an instant with only a quiver running +through her from end to end. And then she would begin her tumbling again +as if dropped back into a boiling cauldron. Jukes tried hard to compose +his mind and judge things coolly. + +The sea, flattened down in the heavier gusts, would uprise and overwhelm +both ends of the Nan-Shan in snowy rushes of foam, expanding wide, +beyond both rails, into the night. And on this dazzling sheet, spread +under the blackness of the clouds and emitting a bluish glow, Captain +MacWhirr could catch a desolate glimpse of a few tiny specks black as +ebony, the tops of the hatches, the battened companions, the heads of +the covered winches, the foot of a mast. This was all he could see of +his ship. Her middle structure, covered by the bridge which bore him, +his mate, the closed wheelhouse where a man was steering shut up with +the fear of being swept overboard together with the whole thing in one +great crash--her middle structure was like a half-tide rock awash upon a +coast. It was like an outlying rock with the water boiling up, streaming +over, pouring off, beating round--like a rock in the surf to which +shipwrecked people cling before they let go--only it rose, it sank, it +rolled continuously, without respite and rest, like a rock that should +have miraculously struck adrift from a coast and gone wallowing upon the +sea. + +The Nan-Shan was being looted by the storm with a senseless, destructive +fury: trysails torn out of the extra gaskets, double-lashed awnings +blown away, bridge swept clean, weather-cloths burst, rails twisted, +light-screens smashed--and two of the boats had gone already. They had +gone unheard and unseen, melting, as it were, in the shock and smother +of the wave. It was only later, when upon the white flash of another +high sea hurling itself amidships, Jukes had a vision of two pairs of +davits leaping black and empty out of the solid blackness, with one +overhauled fall flying and an iron-bound block capering in the air, that +he became aware of what had happened within about three yards of his +back. + +He poked his head forward, groping for the ear of his commander. His +lips touched it--big, fleshy, very wet. He cried in an agitated tone, +Our boats are going now, sir. + +And again he heard that voice, forced and ringing feebly, but with a +penetrating effect of quietness in the enormous discord of noises, as if +sent out from some remote spot of peace beyond the black wastes of the +gale; again he heard a mans voice--the frail and indomitable sound that +can be made to carry an infinity of thought, resolution and purpose, +that shall be pronouncing confident words on the last day, when heavens +fall, and justice is done--again he heard it, and it was crying to him, +as if from very, very far--All right. + +He thought he had not managed to make himself understood. Our boats--I +say boats--the boats, sir! Two gone! + +The same voice, within a foot of him and yet so remote, yelled sensibly, +Cant be helped. + +Captain MacWhirr had never turned his face, but Jukes caught some more +words on the wind. + +What can--expect--when hammering through--such--Bound to +leave--something behind--stands to reason. + +Watchfully Jukes listened for more. No more came. This was all Captain +MacWhirr had to say; and Jukes could picture to himself rather than see +the broad squat back before him. An impenetrable obscurity pressed down +upon the ghostly glimmers of the sea. A dull conviction seized upon +Jukes that there was nothing to be done. + +If the steering-gear did not give way, if the immense volumes of water +did not burst the deck in or smash one of the hatches, if the engines +did not give up, if way could be kept on the ship against this terrific +wind, and she did not bury herself in one of these awful seas, of whose +white crests alone, topping high above her bows, he could now and then +get a sickening glimpse--then there was a chance of her coming out of +it. Something within him seemed to turn over, bringing uppermost the +feeling that the Nan-Shan was lost. + +Shes done for, he said to himself, with a surprising mental +agitation, as though he had discovered an unexpected meaning in this +thought. One of these things was bound to happen. Nothing could be +prevented now, and nothing could be remedied. The men on board did not +count, and the ship could not last. This weather was too impossible. + +Jukes felt an arm thrown heavily over his shoulders; and to this +overture he responded with great intelligence by catching hold of his +captain round the waist. + +They stood clasped thus in the blind night, bracing each other against +the wind, cheek to cheek and lip to ear, in the manner of two hulks +lashed stem to stern together. + +And Jukes heard the voice of his commander hardly any louder than +before, but nearer, as though, starting to march athwart the prodigious +rush of the hurricane, it had approached him, bearing that strange +effect of quietness like the serene glow of a halo. + +Dye know where the hands got to? it asked, vigorous and evanescent at +the same time, overcoming the strength of the wind, and swept away from +Jukes instantly. + +Jukes didnt know. They were all on the bridge when the real force of +the hurricane struck the ship. He had no idea where they had crawled to. +Under the circumstances they were nowhere, for all the use that could be +made of them. Somehow the Captains wish to know distressed Jukes. + +Want the hands, sir? he cried, apprehensively. + +Ought to know, asserted Captain MacWhirr. Hold hard. + +They held hard. An outburst of unchained fury, a vicious rush of the +wind absolutely steadied the ship; she rocked only, quick and light like +a childs cradle, for a terrific moment of suspense, while the whole +atmosphere, as it seemed, streamed furiously past her, roaring away from +the tenebrous earth. + +It suffocated them, and with eyes shut they tightened their grasp. +What from the magnitude of the shock might have been a column of water +running upright in the dark, butted against the ship, broke short, +and fell on her bridge, crushingly, from on high, with a dead burying +weight. + +A flying fragment of that collapse, a mere splash, enveloped them in one +swirl from their feet over their heads, filling violently their ears, +mouths and nostrils with salt water. It knocked out their legs, wrenched +in haste at their arms, seethed away swiftly under their chins; and +opening their eyes, they saw the piled-up masses of foam dashing to and +fro amongst what looked like the fragments of a ship. She had given way +as if driven straight in. Their panting hearts yielded, too, before the +tremendous blow; and all at once she sprang up again to her desperate +plunging, as if trying to scramble out from under the ruins. + +The seas in the dark seemed to rush from all sides to keep her back +where she might perish. There was hate in the way she was handled, and +a ferocity in the blows that fell. She was like a living creature thrown +to the rage of a mob: hustled terribly, struck at, borne up, flung +down, leaped upon. Captain MacWhirr and Jukes kept hold of each other, +deafened by the noise, gagged by the wind; and the great physical +tumult beating about their bodies, brought, like an unbridled display +of passion, a profound trouble to their souls. One of those wild and +appalling shrieks that are heard at times passing mysteriously overhead +in the steady roar of a hurricane, swooped, as if borne on wings, upon +the ship, and Jukes tried to outscream it. + +Will she live through this? + +The cry was wrenched out of his breast. It was as unintentional as the +birth of a thought in the head, and he heard nothing of it himself. It +all became extinct at once--thought, intention, effort--and of his cry +the inaudible vibration added to the tempest waves of the air. + +He expected nothing from it. Nothing at all. For indeed what answer +could be made? But after a while he heard with amazement the frail and +resisting voice in his ear, the dwarf sound, unconquered in the giant +tumult. + +She may! + +It was a dull yell, more difficult to seize than a whisper. And +presently the voice returned again, half submerged in the vast crashes, +like a ship battling against the waves of an ocean. + +Lets hope so! it cried--small, lonely and unmoved, a stranger to +the visions of hope or fear; and it flickered into disconnected words: +Ship. . . . . This. . . . Never--Anyhow . . . for the best. Jukes gave +it up. + +Then, as if it had come suddenly upon the one thing fit to withstand +the power of a storm, it seemed to gain force and firmness for the last +broken shouts: + +Keep on hammering . . . builders . . . good men. . . . . And chance it +. . . engines. . . . Rout . . . good man. + +Captain MacWhirr removed his arm from Jukes shoulders, and thereby +ceased to exist for his mate, so dark it was; Jukes, after a tense +stiffening of every muscle, would let himself go limp all over. The +gnawing of profound discomfort existed side by side with an incredible +disposition to somnolence, as though he had been buffeted and worried +into drowsiness. The wind would get hold of his head and try to shake +it off his shoulders; his clothes, full of water, were as heavy as lead, +cold and dripping like an armour of melting ice: he shivered--it lasted +a long time; and with his hands closed hard on his hold, he was letting +himself sink slowly into the depths of bodily misery. His mind became +concentrated upon himself in an aimless, idle way, and when something +pushed lightly at the back of his knees he nearly, as the saying is, +jumped out of his skin. + +In the start forward he bumped the back of Captain MacWhirr, who didnt +move; and then a hand gripped his thigh. A lull had come, a menacing +lull of the wind, the holding of a stormy breath--and he felt himself +pawed all over. It was the boatswain. Jukes recognized these hands, so +thick and enormous that they seemed to belong to some new species of +man. + +The boatswain had arrived on the bridge, crawling on all fours against +the wind, and had found the chief mates legs with the top of his head. +Immediately he crouched and began to explore Jukes person upwards with +prudent, apologetic touches, as became an inferior. + +He was an ill-favoured, undersized, gruff sailor of fifty, coarsely +hairy, short-legged, long-armed, resembling an elderly ape. His +strength was immense; and in his great lumpy paws, bulging like brown +boxing-gloves on the end of furry forearms, the heaviest objects were +handled like playthings. Apart from the grizzled pelt on his chest, the +menacing demeanour and the hoarse voice, he had none of the classical +attributes of his rating. His good nature almost amounted to imbecility: +the men did what they liked with him, and he had not an ounce of +initiative in his character, which was easy-going and talkative. For +these reasons Jukes disliked him; but Captain MacWhirr, to Jukes +scornful disgust, seemed to regard him as a first-rate petty officer. + +He pulled himself up by Jukes coat, taking that liberty with the +greatest moderation, and only so far as it was forced upon him by the +hurricane. + +What is it, bossn, what is it? yelled Jukes, impatiently. What could +that fraud of a bossn want on the bridge? The typhoon had got on Jukes +nerves. The husky bellowings of the other, though unintelligible, seemed +to suggest a state of lively satisfaction. + +There could be no mistake. The old fool was pleased with something. + +The boatswains other hand had found some other body, for in a changed +tone he began to inquire: Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir? The wind +strangled his howls. + +Yes! cried Captain MacWhirr. + + + +IV + +All that the boatswain, out of a superabundance of yells, could make +clear to Captain MacWhirr was the bizarre intelligence that All them +Chinamen in the fore tween deck have fetched away, sir. + +Jukes to leeward could hear these two shouting within six inches of +his face, as you may hear on a still night half a mile away two men +conversing across a field. He heard Captain MacWhirrs exasperated +What? What? and the strained pitch of the others hoarseness. In a +lump . . . seen them myself. . . . Awful sight, sir . . . thought . . . +tell you. + +Jukes remained indifferent, as if rendered irresponsible by the force +of the hurricane, which made the very thought of action utterly vain. +Besides, being very young, he had found the occupation of keeping his +heart completely steeled against the worst so engrossing that he had +come to feel an overpowering dislike towards any other form of activity +whatever. He was not scared; he knew this because, firmly believing he +would never see another sunrise, he remained calm in that belief. + +These are the moments of do-nothing heroics to which even good men +surrender at times. Many officers of ships can no doubt recall a case +in their experience when just such a trance of confounded stoicism would +come all at once over a whole ships company. Jukes, however, had +no wide experience of men or storms. He conceived himself to be +calm--inexorably calm; but as a matter of fact he was daunted; not +abjectly, but only so far as a decent man may, without becoming +loathsome to himself. + +It was rather like a forced-on numbness of spirit. The long, long +stress of a gale does it; the suspense of the interminably culminating +catastrophe; and there is a bodily fatigue in the mere holding on to +existence within the excessive tumult; a searching and insidious fatigue +that penetrates deep into a mans breast to cast down and sadden his +heart, which is incorrigible, and of all the gifts of the earth--even +before life itself--aspires to peace. + +Jukes was benumbed much more than he supposed. He held on--very wet, +very cold, stiff in every limb; and in a momentary hallucination of +swift visions (it is said that a drowning man thus reviews all his life) +he beheld all sorts of memories altogether unconnected with his present +situation. He remembered his father, for instance: a worthy business +man, who at an unfortunate crisis in his affairs went quietly to bed +and died forthwith in a state of resignation. Jukes did not recall these +circumstances, of course, but remaining otherwise unconcerned he seemed +to see distinctly the poor mans face; a certain game of nap played when +quite a boy in Table Bay on board a ship, since lost with all hands; +the thick eyebrows of his first skipper; and without any emotion, as +he might years ago have walked listlessly into her room and found her +sitting there with a book, he remembered his mother--dead, too, now--the +resolute woman, left badly off, who had been very firm in his bringing +up. + +It could not have lasted more than a second, perhaps not so much. A +heavy arm had fallen about his shoulders; Captain MacWhirrs voice was +speaking his name into his ear. + +Jukes! Jukes! + +He detected the tone of deep concern. The wind had thrown its weight +on the ship, trying to pin her down amongst the seas. They made a clean +breach over her, as over a deep-swimming log; and the gathered weight +of crashes menaced monstrously from afar. The breakers flung out of the +night with a ghostly light on their crests--the light of sea-foam that +in a ferocious, boiling-up pale flash showed upon the slender body of +the ship the toppling rush, the downfall, and the seething mad scurry +of each wave. Never for a moment could she shake herself clear of +the water; Jukes, rigid, perceived in her motion the ominous sign of +haphazard floundering. She was no longer struggling intelligently. It +was the beginning of the end; and the note of busy concern in Captain +MacWhirrs voice sickened him like an exhibition of blind and pernicious +folly. + +The spell of the storm had fallen upon Jukes. He was penetrated by it, +absorbed by it; he was rooted in it with a rigour of dumb attention. +Captain MacWhirr persisted in his cries, but the wind got between them +like a solid wedge. He hung round Jukes neck as heavy as a millstone, +and suddenly the sides of their heads knocked together. + +Jukes! Mr. Jukes, I say! + +He had to answer that voice that would not be silenced. He answered in +the customary manner: . . . Yes, sir. + +And directly, his heart, corrupted by the storm that breeds a craving +for peace, rebelled against the tyranny of training and command. + +Captain MacWhirr had his mates head fixed firm in the crook of his +elbow, and pressed it to his yelling lips mysteriously. Sometimes +Jukes would break in, admonishing hastily: Look out, sir! or Captain +MacWhirr would bawl an earnest exhortation to Hold hard, there! and +the whole black universe seemed to reel together with the ship. They +paused. She floated yet. And Captain MacWhirr would resume, his shouts. +. . . . Says . . . whole lot . . . fetched away. . . . Ought to see +. . . whats the matter. + +Directly the full force of the hurricane had struck the ship, every part +of her deck became untenable; and the sailors, dazed and dismayed, took +shelter in the port alleyway under the bridge. It had a door aft, which +they shut; it was very black, cold, and dismal. At each heavy fling of +the ship they would groan all together in the dark, and tons of water +could be heard scuttling about as if trying to get at them from above. +The boatswain had been keeping up a gruff talk, but a more unreasonable +lot of men, he said afterwards, he had never been with. They were snug +enough there, out of harms way, and not wanted to do anything, either; +and yet they did nothing but grumble and complain peevishly like so many +sick kids. Finally, one of them said that if there had been at least +some light to see each others noses by, it wouldnt be so bad. It was +making him crazy, he declared, to lie there in the dark waiting for the +blamed hooker to sink. + +Why dont you step outside, then, and be done with it at once? the +boatswain turned on him. + +This called up a shout of execration. The boatswain found himself +overwhelmed with reproaches of all sorts. They seemed to take it ill +that a lamp was not instantly created for them out of nothing. They +would whine after a light to get drowned by--anyhow! And though the +unreason of their revilings was patent--since no one could hope to reach +the lamp-room, which was forward--he became greatly distressed. He did +not think it was decent of them to be nagging at him like this. He told +them so, and was met by general contumely. He sought refuge, therefore, +in an embittered silence. At the same time their grumbling and sighing +and muttering worried him greatly, but by-and-by it occurred to him that +there were six globe lamps hung in the tween-deck, and that there could +be no harm in depriving the coolies of one of them. + +The Nan-Shan had an athwartship coal-bunker, which, being at times used +as cargo space, communicated by an iron door with the fore tween-deck. +It was empty then, and its manhole was the foremost one in the alleyway. +The boatswain could get in, therefore, without coming out on deck at +all; but to his great surprise he found he could induce no one to help +him in taking off the manhole cover. He groped for it all the same, but +one of the crew lying in his way refused to budge. + +Why, I only want to get you that blamed light you are crying for, he +expostulated, almost pitifully. + +Somebody told him to go and put his head in a bag. He regretted he could +not recognize the voice, and that it was too dark to see, otherwise, +as he said, he would have put a head on that son of a sea-cook, anyway, +sink or swim. Nevertheless, he had made up his mind to show them he +could get a light, if he were to die for it. + +Through the violence of the ships rolling, every movement was +dangerous. To be lying down seemed labour enough. He nearly broke +his neck dropping into the bunker. He fell on his back, and was sent +shooting helplessly from side to side in the dangerous company of a +heavy iron bar--a coal-trimmers slice probably--left down there by +somebody. This thing made him as nervous as though it had been a +wild beast. He could not see it, the inside of the bunker coated with +coal-dust being perfectly and impenetrably black; but he heard it +sliding and clattering, and striking here and there, always in the +neighbourhood of his head. It seemed to make an extraordinary noise, +too--to give heavy thumps as though it had been as big as a bridge +girder. This was remarkable enough for him to notice while he was flung +from port to starboard and back again, and clawing desperately the +smooth sides of the bunker in the endeavour to stop himself. The door +into the tween-deck not fitting quite true, he saw a thread of dim +light at the bottom. + +Being a sailor, and a still active man, he did not want much of a chance +to regain his feet; and as luck would have it, in scrambling up he put +his hand on the iron slice, picking it up as he rose. Otherwise he would +have been afraid of the thing breaking his legs, or at least knocking +him down again. At first he stood still. He felt unsafe in this darkness +that seemed to make the ships motion unfamiliar, unforeseen, and +difficult to counteract. He felt so much shaken for a moment that he +dared not move for fear of taking charge again. He had no mind to get +battered to pieces in that bunker. + +He had struck his head twice; he was dazed a little. He seemed to hear +yet so plainly the clatter and bangs of the iron slice flying about +his ears that he tightened his grip to prove to himself he had it there +safely in his hand. He was vaguely amazed at the plainness with which +down there he could hear the gale raging. Its howls and shrieks seemed +to take on, in the emptiness of the bunker, something of the human +character, of human rage and pain--being not vast but infinitely +poignant. And there were, with every roll, thumps, too--profound, +ponderous thumps, as if a bulky object of five-ton weight or so had got +play in the hold. But there was no such thing in the cargo. Something on +deck? Impossible. Or alongside? Couldnt be. + +He thought all this quickly, clearly, competently, like a seaman, and +in the end remained puzzled. This noise, though, came deadened from +outside, together with the washing and pouring of water on deck above +his head. Was it the wind? Must be. It made down there a row like the +shouting of a big lot of crazed men. And he discovered in himself +a desire for a light, too--if only to get drowned by--and a nervous +anxiety to get out of that bunker as quickly as possible. + +He pulled back the bolt: the heavy iron plate turned on its hinges; and +it was as though he had opened the door to the sounds of the tempest. +A gust of hoarse yelling met him: the air was still; and the rushing +of water overhead was covered by a tumult of strangled, throaty shrieks +that produced an effect of desperate confusion. He straddled his legs +the whole width of the doorway and stretched his neck. And at first +he perceived only what he had come to seek: six small yellow flames +swinging violently on the great body of the dusk. + +It was stayed like the gallery of a mine, with a row of stanchions +in the middle, and cross-beams overhead, penetrating into the gloom +ahead--indefinitely. And to port there loomed, like the caving in of +one of the sides, a bulky mass with a slanting outline. The whole place, +with the shadows and the shapes, moved all the time. The boatswain +glared: the ship lurched to starboard, and a great howl came from that +mass that had the slant of fallen earth. + +Pieces of wood whizzed past. Planks, he thought, inexpressibly startled, +and flinging back his head. At his feet a man went sliding over, +open-eyed, on his back, straining with uplifted arms for nothing: and +another came bounding like a detached stone with his head between his +legs and his hands clenched. His pigtail whipped in the air; he made a +grab at the boatswains legs, and from his opened hand a bright white +disc rolled against the boatswains foot. He recognized a silver dollar, +and yelled at it with astonishment. With a precipitated sound of +trampling and shuffling of bare feet, and with guttural cries, the mound +of writhing bodies piled up to port detached itself from the ships side +and sliding, inert and struggling, shifted to starboard, with a dull, +brutal thump. The cries ceased. The boatswain heard a long moan through +the roar and whistling of the wind; he saw an inextricable confusion of +heads and shoulders, naked soles kicking upwards, fists raised, tumbling +backs, legs, pigtails, faces. + +Good Lord! he cried, horrified, and banged-to the iron door upon this +vision. + +This was what he had come on the bridge to tell. He could not keep it +to himself; and on board ship there is only one man to whom it is +worth while to unburden yourself. On his passage back the hands in the +alleyway swore at him for a fool. Why didnt he bring that lamp? What +the devil did the coolies matter to anybody? And when he came out, the +extremity of the ship made what went on inside of her appear of little +moment. + +At first he thought he had left the alleyway in the very moment of her +sinking. The bridge ladders had been washed away, but an enormous sea +filling the after-deck floated him up. After that he had to lie on his +stomach for some time, holding to a ring-bolt, getting his breath now +and then, and swallowing salt water. He struggled farther on his hands +and knees, too frightened and distracted to turn back. In this way +he reached the after-part of the wheelhouse. In that comparatively +sheltered spot he found the second mate. + +The boatswain was pleasantly surprised--his impression being that +everybody on deck must have been washed away a long time ago. He asked +eagerly where the Captain was. + +The second mate was lying low, like a malignant little animal under a +hedge. + +Captain? Gone overboard, after getting us into this mess. The mate, +too, for all he knew or cared. Another fool. Didnt matter. Everybody +was going by-and-by. + +The boatswain crawled out again into the strength of the wind; not +because he much expected to find anybody, he said, but just to get away +from that man. He crawled out as outcasts go to face an inclement +world. Hence his great joy at finding Jukes and the Captain. But what +was going on in the tween-deck was to him a minor matter by that time. +Besides, it was difficult to make yourself heard. But he managed to +convey the idea that the Chinaman had broken adrift together with their +boxes, and that he had come up on purpose to report this. As to the +hands, they were all right. Then, appeased, he subsided on the deck in +a sitting posture, hugging with his arms and legs the stand of the +engine-room telegraph--an iron casting as thick as a post. When that +went, why, he expected he would go, too. He gave no more thought to the +coolies. + + +Captain MacWhirr had made Jukes understand that he wanted him to go down +below--to see. + +What am I to do then, sir? And the trembling of his whole wet body +caused Jukes voice to sound like bleating. + +See first . . . Bossn . . . says . . . adrift. + +That bossn is a confounded fool, howled Jukes, shakily. + +The absurdity of the demand made upon him revolted Jukes. He was as +unwilling to go as if the moment he had left the deck the ship were sure +to sink. + +I must know . . . cant leave. . . . + +Theyll settle, sir. + +Fight . . . bossn says they fight. . . . Why? Cant have . . . +fighting . . . board ship. . . . Much rather keep you here . . . case +. . . I should . . . washed overboard myself. . . . Stop it . . . some +way. You see and tell me . . . through engine-room tube. Dont want you +. . . come up here . . . too often. Dangerous . . . moving about . . . +deck. + +Jukes, held with his head in chancery, had to listen to what seemed +horrible suggestions. + +Dont want . . . you get lost . . . so long . . . ship isnt. . . . . +Rout . . . Good man . . . Ship . . . may . . . through this . . . all +right yet. + +All at once Jukes understood he would have to go. + +Do you think she may? he screamed. + +But the wind devoured the reply, out of which Jukes heard only the one +word, pronounced with great energy . . . . Always. . . . + +Captain MacWhirr released Jukes, and bending over the boatswain, yelled, +Get back with the mate. Jukes only knew that the arm was gone off +his shoulders. He was dismissed with his orders--to do what? He was +exasperated into letting go his hold carelessly, and on the instant +was blown away. It seemed to him that nothing could stop him from being +blown right over the stern. He flung himself down hastily, and the +boatswain, who was following, fell on him. + +Dont you get up yet, sir, cried the boatswain. No hurry! + +A sea swept over. Jukes understood the boatswain to splutter that the +bridge ladders were gone. Ill lower you down, sir, by your hands, + he screamed. He shouted also something about the smoke-stack being +as likely to go overboard as not. Jukes thought it very possible, and +imagined the fires out, the ship helpless. . . . The boatswain by his +side kept on yelling. What? What is it? Jukes cried distressfully; and +the other repeated, What would my old woman say if she saw me now? + +In the alleyway, where a lot of water had got in and splashed in the +dark, the men were still as death, till Jukes stumbled against one of +them and cursed him savagely for being in the way. Two or three voices +then asked, eager and weak, Any chance for us, sir? + +Whats the matter with you fools? he said brutally. He felt as though +he could throw himself down amongst them and never move any more. But +they seemed cheered; and in the midst of obsequious warnings, Look +out! Mind that manhole lid, sir, they lowered him into the bunker. The +boatswain tumbled down after him, and as soon as he had picked himself +up he remarked, She would say, Serve you right, you old fool, for +going to sea. + +The boatswain had some means, and made a point of alluding to them +frequently. His wife--a fat woman--and two grown-up daughters kept a +greengrocers shop in the East-end of London. + +In the dark, Jukes, unsteady on his legs, listened to a faint thunderous +patter. A deadened screaming went on steadily at his elbow, as it were; +and from above the louder tumult of the storm descended upon these near +sounds. His head swam. To him, too, in that bunker, the motion of the +ship seemed novel and menacing, sapping his resolution as though he had +never been afloat before. + +He had half a mind to scramble out again; but the remembrance of Captain +MacWhirrs voice made this impossible. His orders were to go and see. +What was the good of it, he wanted to know. Enraged, he told himself he +would see--of course. But the boatswain, staggering clumsily, warned him +to be careful how he opened that door; there was a blamed fight going +on. And Jukes, as if in great bodily pain, desired irritably to know +what the devil they were fighting for. + +Dollars! Dollars, sir. All their rotten chests got burst open. Blamed +money skipping all over the place, and they are tumbling after it head +over heels--tearing and biting like anything. A regular little hell in +there. + +Jukes convulsively opened the door. The short boatswain peered under his +arm. + +One of the lamps had gone out, broken perhaps. Rancorous, guttural cries +burst out loudly on their ears, and a strange panting sound, the working +of all these straining breasts. A hard blow hit the side of the ship: +water fell above with a stunning shock, and in the forefront of the +gloom, where the air was reddish and thick, Jukes saw a head bang the +deck violently, two thick calves waving on high, muscular arms twined +round a naked body, a yellow-face, open-mouthed and with a set wild +stare, look up and slide away. An empty chest clattered turning over; +a man fell head first with a jump, as if lifted by a kick; and farther +off, indistinct, others streamed like a mass of rolling stones down +a bank, thumping the deck with their feet and flourishing their arms +wildly. The hatchway ladder was loaded with coolies swarming on it +like bees on a branch. They hung on the steps in a crawling, stirring +cluster, beating madly with their fists the underside of the battened +hatch, and the headlong rush of the water above was heard in the +intervals of their yelling. The ship heeled over more, and they began +to drop off: first one, then two, then all the rest went away together, +falling straight off with a great cry. + +Jukes was confounded. The boatswain, with gruff anxiety, begged him, +Dont you go in there, sir. + +The whole place seemed to twist upon itself, jumping incessantly the +while; and when the ship rose to a sea Jukes fancied that all these men +would be shot upon him in a body. He backed out, swung the door to, and +with trembling hands pushed at the bolt. . . . + +As soon as his mate had gone Captain MacWhirr, left alone on the bridge, +sidled and staggered as far as the wheelhouse. Its door being hinged +forward, he had to fight the gale for admittance, and when at last he +managed to enter, it was with an instantaneous clatter and a bang, as +though he had been fired through the wood. He stood within, holding on +to the handle. + +The steering-gear leaked steam, and in the confined space the glass of +the binnacle made a shiny oval of light in a thin white fog. The wind +howled, hummed, whistled, with sudden booming gusts that rattled +the doors and shutters in the vicious patter of sprays. Two coils of +lead-line and a small canvas bag hung on a long lanyard, swung wide off, +and came back clinging to the bulkheads. The gratings underfoot were +nearly afloat; with every sweeping blow of a sea, water squirted +violently through the cracks all round the door, and the man at the +helm had flung down his cap, his coat, and stood propped against the +gear-casing in a striped cotton shirt open on his breast. The little +brass wheel in his hands had the appearance of a bright and fragile +toy. The cords of his neck stood hard and lean, a dark patch lay in the +hollow of his throat, and his face was still and sunken as in death. + +Captain MacWhirr wiped his eyes. The sea that had nearly taken him +overboard had, to his great annoyance, washed his sou-wester hat off +his bald head. The fluffy, fair hair, soaked and darkened, resembled a +mean skein of cotton threads festooned round his bare skull. His face, +glistening with sea-water, had been made crimson with the wind, with +the sting of sprays. He looked as though he had come off sweating from +before a furnace. + +You here? he muttered, heavily. + +The second mate had found his way into the wheelhouse some time before. +He had fixed himself in a corner with his knees up, a fist pressed +against each temple; and this attitude suggested rage, sorrow, +resignation, surrender, with a sort of concentrated unforgiveness. He +said mournfully and defiantly, Well, its my watch below now: aint +it? + +The steam gear clattered, stopped, clattered again; and the helmsmans +eyeballs seemed to project out of a hungry face as if the compass card +behind the binnacle glass had been meat. God knows how long he had been +left there to steer, as if forgotten by all his shipmates. The bells had +not been struck; there had been no reliefs; the ships routine had gone +down wind; but he was trying to keep her head north-north-east. The +rudder might have been gone for all he knew, the fires out, the engines +broken down, the ship ready to roll over like a corpse. He was +anxious not to get muddled and lose control of her head, because the +compass-card swung far both ways, wriggling on the pivot, and sometimes +seemed to whirl right round. He suffered from mental stress. He was +horribly afraid, also, of the wheelhouse going. Mountains of water kept +on tumbling against it. When the ship took one of her desperate dives +the corners of his lips twitched. + +Captain MacWhirr looked up at the wheelhouse clock. Screwed to the +bulk-head, it had a white face on which the black hands appeared to +stand quite still. It was half-past one in the morning. + +Another day, he muttered to himself. + +The second mate heard him, and lifting his head as one grieving amongst +ruins, You wont see it break, he exclaimed. His wrists and his knees +could be seen to shake violently. No, by God! You wont. . . . + +He took his face again between his fists. + +The body of the helmsman had moved slightly, but his head didnt budge +on his neck,--like a stone head fixed to look one way from a column. +During a roll that all but took his booted legs from under him, and +in the very stagger to save himself, Captain MacWhirr said austerely, +Dont you pay any attention to what that man says. And then, with an +indefinable change of tone, very grave, he added, He isnt on duty. + +The sailor said nothing. + +The hurricane boomed, shaking the little place, which seemed air-tight; +and the light of the binnacle flickered all the time. + +You havent been relieved, Captain MacWhirr went on, looking down. I +want you to stick to the helm, though, as long as you can. Youve +got the hang of her. Another man coming here might make a mess of it. +Wouldnt do. No childs play. And the hands are probably busy with a job +down below. . . . Think you can? + +The steering-gear leaped into an abrupt short clatter, stopped +smouldering like an ember; and the still man, with a motionless gaze, +burst out, as if all the passion in him had gone into his lips: By +Heavens, sir! I can steer for ever if nobody talks to me. + +Oh! aye! All right. . . . The Captain lifted his eyes for the first +time to the man, . . . Hackett. + +And he seemed to dismiss this matter from his mind. He stooped to the +engine-room speaking-tube, blew in, and bent his head. Mr. Rout below +answered, and at once Captain MacWhirr put his lips to the mouthpiece. + +With the uproar of the gale around him he applied alternately his lips +and his ear, and the engineers voice mounted to him, harsh and as if +out of the heat of an engagement. One of the stokers was disabled, +the others had given in, the second engineer and the donkey-man were +firing-up. The third engineer was standing by the steam-valve. The +engines were being tended by hand. How was it above? + +Bad enough. It mostly rests with you, said Captain MacWhirr. Was the +mate down there yet? No? Well, he would be presently. Would Mr. Rout +let him talk through the speaking-tube?--through the deck speaking-tube, +because he--the Captain--was going out again on the bridge directly. +There was some trouble amongst the Chinamen. They were fighting, it +seemed. Couldnt allow fighting anyhow. . . . + +Mr. Rout had gone away, and Captain MacWhirr could feel against his ear +the pulsation of the engines, like the beat of the ships heart. Mr. +Routs voice down there shouted something distantly. The ship pitched +headlong, the pulsation leaped with a hissing tumult, and stopped dead. +Captain MacWhirrs face was impassive, and his eyes were fixed aimlessly +on the crouching shape of the second mate. Again Mr. Routs voice +cried out in the depths, and the pulsating beats recommenced, with slow +strokes--growing swifter. + +Mr. Rout had returned to the tube. It dont matter much what they do, + he said, hastily; and then, with irritation, She takes these dives as +if she never meant to come up again. + +Awful sea, said the Captains voice from above. + +Dont let me drive her under, barked Solomon Rout up the pipe. + +Dark and rain. Cant see whats coming, uttered the voice. +Must--keep--her--moving--enough to steer--and chance it, it went on to +state distinctly. + +I am doing as much as I dare. + +We are--getting--smashed up--a good deal up here, proceeded the voice +mildly. Doing--fairly well--though. Of course, if the wheelhouse should +go. . . . + +Mr. Rout, bending an attentive ear, muttered peevishly something under +his breath. + +But the deliberate voice up there became animated to ask: Jukes turned +up yet? Then, after a short wait, I wish he would bear a hand. I want +him to be done and come up here in case of anything. To look after the +ship. I am all alone. The second mates lost. . . . + +What? shouted Mr. Rout into the engine-room, taking his head away. +Then up the tube he cried, Gone overboard? and clapped his ear to. + +Lost his nerve, the voice from above continued in a matter-of-fact +tone. Damned awkward circumstance. + +Mr. Rout, listening with bowed neck, opened his eyes wide at this. +However, he heard something like the sounds of a scuffle and broken +exclamations coming down to him. He strained his hearing; and all the +time Beale, the third engineer, with his arms uplifted, held between +the palms of his hands the rim of a little black wheel projecting at the +side of a big copper pipe. + +He seemed to be poising it above his head, as though it were a correct +attitude in some sort of game. + +To steady himself, he pressed his shoulder against the white bulkhead, +one knee bent, and a sweat-rag tucked in his belt hanging on his hip. +His smooth cheek was begrimed and flushed, and the coal dust on his +eyelids, like the black pencilling of a make-up, enhanced the liquid +brilliance of the whites, giving to his youthful face something of a +feminine, exotic and fascinating aspect. When the ship pitched he would +with hasty movements of his hands screw hard at the little wheel. + +Gone crazy, began the Captains voice suddenly in the tube. Rushed at +me. . . . Just now. Had to knock him down. . . . This minute. You heard, +Mr. Rout? + +The devil! muttered Mr. Rout. Look out, Beale! + +His shout rang out like the blast of a warning trumpet, between the iron +walls of the engine-room. Painted white, they rose high into the dusk of +the skylight, sloping like a roof; and the whole lofty space resembled +the interior of a monument, divided by floors of iron grating, with +lights flickering at different levels, and a mass of gloom lingering in +the middle, within the columnar stir of machinery under the motionless +swelling of the cylinders. A loud and wild resonance, made up of all the +noises of the hurricane, dwelt in the still warmth of the air. There was +in it the smell of hot metal, of oil, and a slight mist of steam. The +blows of the sea seemed to traverse it in an unringing, stunning shock, +from side to side. + +Gleams, like pale long flames, trembled upon the polish of metal; from +the flooring below the enormous crank-heads emerged in their turns +with a flash of brass and steel--going over; while the connecting-rods, +big-jointed, like skeleton limbs, seemed to thrust them down and pull +them up again with an irresistible precision. And deep in the half-light +other rods dodged deliberately to and fro, crossheads nodded, discs +of metal rubbed smoothly against each other, slow and gentle, in a +commingling of shadows and gleams. + +Sometimes all those powerful and unerring movements would slow down +simultaneously, as if they had been the functions of a living organism, +stricken suddenly by the blight of languor; and Mr. Routs eyes would +blaze darker in his long sallow face. He was fighting this fight in a +pair of carpet slippers. A short shiny jacket barely covered his loins, +and his white wrists protruded far out of the tight sleeves, as though +the emergency had added to his stature, had lengthened his limbs, +augmented his pallor, hollowed his eyes. + +He moved, climbing high up, disappearing low down, with a restless, +purposeful industry, and when he stood still, holding the guard-rail in +front of the starting-gear, he would keep glancing to the right at the +steam-gauge, at the water-gauge, fixed upon the white wall in the light +of a swaying lamp. The mouths of two speaking-tubes gaped stupidly at his +elbow, and the dial of the engine-room telegraph resembled a clock of +large diameter, bearing on its face curt words instead of figures. The +grouped letters stood out heavily black, around the pivot-head of the +indicator, emphatically symbolic of loud exclamations: AHEAD, ASTERN, +SLOW, Half, STAND BY; and the fat black hand pointed downwards to the +word FULL, which, thus singled out, captured the eye as a sharp cry +secures attention. + +The wood-encased bulk of the low-pressure cylinder, frowning portly from +above, emitted a faint wheeze at every thrust, and except for that +low hiss the engines worked their steel limbs headlong or slow with a +silent, determined smoothness. And all this, the white walls, the moving +steel, the floor plates under Solomon Routs feet, the floors of +iron grating above his head, the dusk and the gleams, uprose and sank +continuously, with one accord, upon the harsh wash of the waves against +the ships side. The whole loftiness of the place, booming hollow to the +great voice of the wind, swayed at the top like a tree, would go over +bodily, as if borne down this way and that by the tremendous blasts. + +Youve got to hurry up, shouted Mr. Rout, as soon as he saw Jukes +appear in the stokehold doorway. + +Jukes glance was wandering and tipsy; his red face was puffy, as though +he had overslept himself. He had had an arduous road, and had travelled +over it with immense vivacity, the agitation of his mind corresponding +to the exertions of his body. He had rushed up out of the bunker, +stumbling in the dark alleyway amongst a lot of bewildered men who, trod +upon, asked Whats up, sir? in awed mutters all round him;--down the +stokehold ladder, missing many iron rungs in his hurry, down into a +place deep as a well, black as Tophet, tipping over back and forth like +a see-saw. The water in the bilges thundered at each roll, and lumps of +coal skipped to and fro, from end to end, rattling like an avalanche of +pebbles on a slope of iron. + +Somebody in there moaned with pain, and somebody else could be seen +crouching over what seemed the prone body of a dead man; a lusty voice +blasphemed; and the glow under each fire-door was like a pool of flaming +blood radiating quietly in a velvety blackness. + +A gust of wind struck upon the nape of Jukes neck and next moment +he felt it streaming about his wet ankles. The stokehold ventilators +hummed: in front of the six fire-doors two wild figures, stripped to the +waist, staggered and stooped, wrestling with two shovels. + +Hallo! Plenty of draught now, yelled the second engineer at once, as +though he had been all the time looking out for Jukes. The donkeyman, +a dapper little chap with a dazzling fair skin and a tiny, gingery +moustache, worked in a sort of mute transport. They were keeping a full +head of steam, and a profound rumbling, as of an empty furniture van +trotting over a bridge, made a sustained bass to all the other noises of +the place. + +Blowing off all the time, went on yelling the second. With a sound as +of a hundred scoured saucepans, the orifice of a ventilator spat upon +his shoulder a sudden gush of salt water, and he volleyed a stream of +curses upon all things on earth including his own soul, ripping and +raving, and all the time attending to his business. With a sharp clash +of metal the ardent pale glare of the fire opened upon his bullet head, +showing his spluttering lips, his insolent face, and with another clang +closed like the white-hot wink of an iron eye. + +Wheres the blooming ship? Can you tell me? blast my eyes! Under +water--or what? Its coming down here in tons. Are the condemned cowls +gone to Hades? Hey? Dont you know anything--you jolly sailor-man you +. . . ? + +Jukes, after a bewildered moment, had been helped by a roll to dart +through; and as soon as his eyes took in the comparative vastness, peace +and brilliance of the engine-room, the ship, setting her stern heavily +in the water, sent him charging head down upon Mr. Rout. + +The chiefs arm, long like a tentacle, and straightening as if worked +by a spring, went out to meet him, and deflected his rush into a +spin towards the speaking-tubes. At the same time Mr. Rout repeated +earnestly: + +Youve got to hurry up, whatever it is. + +Jukes yelled Are you there, sir? and listened. Nothing. Suddenly the +roar of the wind fell straight into his ear, but presently a small voice +shoved aside the shouting hurricane quietly. + +You, Jukes?--Well? + +Jukes was ready to talk: it was only time that seemed to be wanting. It +was easy enough to account for everything. He could perfectly imagine +the coolies battened down in the reeking tween-deck, lying sick and +scared between the rows of chests. Then one of these chests--or perhaps +several at once--breaking loose in a roll, knocking out others, sides +splitting, lids flying open, and all these clumsy Chinamen rising up in +a body to save their property. Afterwards every fling of the ship would +hurl that tramping, yelling mob here and there, from side to side, in a +whirl of smashed wood, torn clothing, rolling dollars. A struggle once +started, they would be unable to stop themselves. Nothing could stop +them now except main force. It was a disaster. He had seen it, and that +was all he could say. Some of them must be dead, he believed. The rest +would go on fighting. . . . + +He sent up his words, tripping over each other, crowding the narrow +tube. They mounted as if into a silence of an enlightened comprehension +dwelling alone up there with a storm. And Jukes wanted to be dismissed +from the face of that odious trouble intruding on the great need of the +ship. + + + +V + +He waited. Before his eyes the engines turned with slow labour, that in +the moment of going off into a mad fling would stop dead at Mr. Routs +shout, Look out, Beale! They paused in an intelligent immobility, +stilled in mid-stroke, a heavy crank arrested on the cant, as if +conscious of danger and the passage of time. Then, with a Now, then! + from the chief, and the sound of a breath expelled through clenched +teeth, they would accomplish the interrupted revolution and begin +another. + +There was the prudent sagacity of wisdom and the deliberation of +enormous strength in their movements. This was their work--this patient +coaxing of a distracted ship over the fury of the waves and into the +very eye of the wind. At times Mr. Routs chin would sink on his breast, +and he watched them with knitted eyebrows as if lost in thought. + +The voice that kept the hurricane out of Jukes ear began: Take the +hands with you . . . , and left off unexpectedly. + +What could I do with them, sir? + +A harsh, abrupt, imperious clang exploded suddenly. The three pairs of +eyes flew up to the telegraph dial to see the hand jump from FULL +to STOP, as if snatched by a devil. And then these three men in the +engineroom had the intimate sensation of a check upon the ship, of a +strange shrinking, as if she had gathered herself for a desperate leap. + +Stop her! bellowed Mr. Rout. + +Nobody--not even Captain MacWhirr, who alone on deck had caught sight of +a white line of foam coming on at such a height that he couldnt believe +his eyes--nobody was to know the steepness of that sea and the awful +depth of the hollow the hurricane had scooped out behind the running +wall of water. + +It raced to meet the ship, and, with a pause, as of girding the loins, +the Nan-Shan lifted her bows and leaped. The flames in all the lamps +sank, darkening the engine-room. One went out. With a tearing crash and +a swirling, raving tumult, tons of water fell upon the deck, as though +the ship had darted under the foot of a cataract. + +Down there they looked at each other, stunned. + +Swept from end to end, by God! bawled Jukes. + +She dipped into the hollow straight down, as if going over the edge of +the world. The engine-room toppled forward menacingly, like the inside +of a tower nodding in an earthquake. An awful racket, of iron things +falling, came from the stokehold. She hung on this appalling slant long +enough for Beale to drop on his hands and knees and begin to crawl as if +he meant to fly on all fours out of the engine-room, and for Mr. Rout +to turn his head slowly, rigid, cavernous, with the lower jaw dropping. +Jukes had shut his eyes, and his face in a moment became hopelessly +blank and gentle, like the face of a blind man. + +At last she rose slowly, staggering, as if she had to lift a mountain +with her bows. + +Mr. Rout shut his mouth; Jukes blinked; and little Beale stood up +hastily. + +Another one like this, and thats the last of her, cried the chief. + +He and Jukes looked at each other, and the same thought came into their +heads. The Captain! Everything must have been swept away. Steering-gear +gone--ship like a log. All over directly. + +Rush! ejaculated Mr. Rout thickly, glaring with enlarged, doubtful +eyes at Jukes, who answered him by an irresolute glance. + +The clang of the telegraph gong soothed them instantly. The black hand +dropped in a flash from STOP to FULL. + +Now then, Beale! cried Mr. Rout. + +The steam hissed low. The piston-rods slid in and out. Jukes put his +ear to the tube. The voice was ready for him. It said: Pick up all the +money. Bear a hand now. Ill want you up here. And that was all. + +Sir? called up Jukes. There was no answer. + +He staggered away like a defeated man from the field of battle. He had +got, in some way or other, a cut above his left eyebrow--a cut to the +bone. He was not aware of it in the least: quantities of the China Sea, +large enough to break his neck for him, had gone over his head, had +cleaned, washed, and salted that wound. It did not bleed, but only gaped +red; and this gash over the eye, his dishevelled hair, the disorder of +his clothes, gave him the aspect of a man worsted in a fight with fists. + +Got to pick up the dollars. He appealed to Mr. Rout, smiling pitifully +at random. + +Whats that? asked Mr. Rout, wildly. Pick up . . . ? I dont care. +. . . Then, quivering in every muscle, but with an exaggeration of +paternal tone, Go away now, for Gods sake. You deck peoplell drive +me silly. Theres that second mate been going for the old man. Dont you +know? You fellows are going wrong for want of something to do. . . . + +At these words Jukes discovered in himself the beginnings of anger. Want +of something to do--indeed. . . . Full of hot scorn against the +chief, he turned to go the way he had come. In the stokehold the plump +donkeyman toiled with his shovel mutely, as if his tongue had been cut +out; but the second was carrying on like a noisy, undaunted maniac, who +had preserved his skill in the art of stoking under a marine boiler. + +Hallo, you wandering officer! Hey! Cant you get some of your +slush-slingers to wind up a few of them ashes? I am getting choked with +them here. Curse it! Hallo! Hey! Remember the articles: Sailors and +firemen to assist each other. Hey! Dye hear? + +Jukes was climbing out frantically, and the other, lifting up his face +after him, howled, Cant you speak? What are you poking about here for? +Whats your game, anyhow? + +A frenzy possessed Jukes. By the time he was back amongst the men in the +darkness of the alleyway, he felt ready to wring all their necks at the +slightest sign of hanging back. The very thought of it exasperated him. +He couldnt hang back. They shouldnt. + +The impetuosity with which he came amongst them carried them along. They +had already been excited and startled at all his comings and goings--by +the fierceness and rapidity of his movements; and more felt than seen +in his rushes, he appeared formidable--busied with matters of life and +death that brooked no delay. At his first word he heard them drop into +the bunker one after another obediently, with heavy thumps. + +They were not clear as to what would have to be done. What is it? What +is it? they were asking each other. The boatswain tried to explain; +the sounds of a great scuffle surprised them: and the mighty shocks, +reverberating awfully in the black bunker, kept them in mind of their +danger. When the boatswain threw open the door it seemed that an eddy of +the hurricane, stealing through the iron sides of the ship, had set all +these bodies whirling like dust: there came to them a confused uproar, +a tempestuous tumult, a fierce mutter, gusts of screams dying away, and +the tramping of feet mingling with the blows of the sea. + +For a moment they glared amazed, blocking the doorway. Jukes pushed +through them brutally. He said nothing, and simply darted in. Another +lot of coolies on the ladder, struggling suicidally to break through the +battened hatch to a swamped deck, fell off as before, and he disappeared +under them like a man overtaken by a landslide. + +The boatswain yelled excitedly: Come along. Get the mate out. Hell be +trampled to death. Come on. + +They charged in, stamping on breasts, on fingers, on faces, catching +their feet in heaps of clothing, kicking broken wood; but before they +could get hold of him Jukes emerged waist deep in a multitude of clawing +hands. In the instant he had been lost to view, all the buttons of his +jacket had gone, its back had got split up to the collar, his waistcoat +had been torn open. The central struggling mass of Chinamen went over to +the roll, dark, indistinct, helpless, with a wild gleam of many eyes in +the dim light of the lamps. + +Leave me alone--damn you. I am all right, screeched Jukes. Drive them +forward. Watch your chance when she pitches. Forward with em. Drive +them against the bulkhead. Jam em up. + +The rush of the sailors into the seething tween-deck was like a splash +of cold water into a boiling cauldron. The commotion sank for a moment. + +The bulk of Chinamen were locked in such a compact scrimmage that, +linking their arms and aided by an appalling dive of the ship, the +seamen sent it forward in one great shove, like a solid block. Behind +their backs small clusters and loose bodies tumbled from side to side. + +The boatswain performed prodigious feats of strength. With his long arms +open, and each great paw clutching at a stanchion, he stopped the rush +of seven entwined Chinamen rolling like a boulder. His joints cracked; +he said, Ha! and they flew apart. But the carpenter showed the greater +intelligence. Without saying a word to anybody he went back into the +alleyway, to fetch several coils of cargo gear he had seen there--chain +and rope. With these life-lines were rigged. + +There was really no resistance. The struggle, however it began, had +turned into a scramble of blind panic. If the coolies had started up +after their scattered dollars they were by that time fighting only +for their footing. They took each other by the throat merely to save +themselves from being hurled about. Whoever got a hold anywhere would +kick at the others who caught at his legs and hung on, till a roll sent +them flying together across the deck. + +The coming of the white devils was a terror. Had they come to kill? The +individuals torn out of the ruck became very limp in the seamens hands: +some, dragged aside by the heels, were passive, like dead bodies, with +open, fixed eyes. Here and there a coolie would fall on his knees as if +begging for mercy; several, whom the excess of fear made unruly, were +hit with hard fists between the eyes, and cowered; while those who were +hurt submitted to rough handling, blinking rapidly without a plaint. +Faces streamed with blood; there were raw places on the shaven heads, +scratches, bruises, torn wounds, gashes. The broken porcelain out of the +chests was mostly responsible for the latter. Here and there a Chinaman, +wild-eyed, with his tail unplaited, nursed a bleeding sole. + +They had been ranged closely, after having been shaken into submission, +cuffed a little to allay excitement, addressed in gruff words of +encouragement that sounded like promises of evil. They sat on the deck +in ghastly, drooping rows, and at the end the carpenter, with two hands +to help him, moved busily from place to place, setting taut and hitching +the life-lines. The boatswain, with one leg and one arm embracing a +stanchion, struggled with a lamp pressed to his breast, trying to get +a light, and growling all the time like an industrious gorilla. The +figures of seamen stooped repeatedly, with the movements of gleaners, +and everything was being flung into the bunker: clothing, smashed wood, +broken china, and the dollars, too, gathered up in mens jackets. Now +and then a sailor would stagger towards the doorway with his arms full +of rubbish; and dolorous, slanting eyes followed his movements. + +With every roll of the ship the long rows of sitting Celestials would +sway forward brokenly, and her headlong dives knocked together the line +of shaven polls from end to end. When the wash of water rolling on the +deck died away for a moment, it seemed to Jukes, yet quivering from his +exertions, that in his mad struggle down there he had overcome the wind +somehow: that a silence had fallen upon the ship, a silence in which the +sea struck thunderously at her sides. + +Everything had been cleared out of the tween-deck--all the wreckage, +as the men said. They stood erect and tottering above the level of heads +and drooping shoulders. Here and there a coolie sobbed for his breath. +Where the high light fell, Jukes could see the salient ribs of one, the +yellow, wistful face of another; bowed necks; or would meet a dull stare +directed at his face. He was amazed that there had been no corpses; but +the lot of them seemed at their last gasp, and they appeared to him more +pitiful than if they had been all dead. + +Suddenly one of the coolies began to speak. The light came and went on +his lean, straining face; he threw his head up like a baying hound. From +the bunker came the sounds of knocking and the tinkle of some dollars +rolling loose; he stretched out his arm, his mouth yawned black, and the +incomprehensible guttural hooting sounds, that did not seem to belong to +a human language, penetrated Jukes with a strange emotion as if a brute +had tried to be eloquent. + +Two more started mouthing what seemed to Jukes fierce denunciations; the +others stirred with grunts and growls. Jukes ordered the hands out of +the tweendecks hurriedly. He left last himself, backing through the +door, while the grunts rose to a loud murmur and hands were extended +after him as after a malefactor. The boatswain shot the bolt, and +remarked uneasily, Seems as if the wind had dropped, sir. + +The seamen were glad to get back into the alleyway. Secretly each of +them thought that at the last moment he could rush out on deck--and +that was a comfort. There is something horribly repugnant in the idea +of being drowned under a deck. Now they had done with the Chinamen, they +again became conscious of the ships position. + +Jukes on coming out of the alleyway found himself up to the neck in +the noisy water. He gained the bridge, and discovered he could detect +obscure shapes as if his sight had become preternaturally acute. He saw +faint outlines. They recalled not the familiar aspect of the Nan-Shan, +but something remembered--an old dismantled steamer he had seen years +ago rotting on a mudbank. She recalled that wreck. + +There was no wind, not a breath, except the faint currents created by +the lurches of the ship. The smoke tossed out of the funnel was settling +down upon her deck. He breathed it as he passed forward. He felt the +deliberate throb of the engines, and heard small sounds that seemed to +have survived the great uproar: the knocking of broken fittings, the +rapid tumbling of some piece of wreckage on the bridge. He perceived +dimly the squat shape of his captain holding on to a twisted +bridge-rail, motionless and swaying as if rooted to the planks. The +unexpected stillness of the air oppressed Jukes. + +We have done it, sir, he gasped. + +Thought you would, said Captain MacWhirr. + +Did you? murmured Jukes to himself. + +Wind fell all at once, went on the Captain. + +Jukes burst out: If you think it was an easy job-- + +But his captain, clinging to the rail, paid no attention. According to +the books the worst is not over yet. + +If most of them hadnt been half dead with seasickness and fright, not +one of us would have come out of that tween-deck alive, said Jukes. + +Had to do whats fair by them, mumbled MacWhirr, stolidly. You dont +find everything in books. + +Why, I believe they would have risen on us if I hadnt ordered the +hands out of that pretty quick, continued Jukes with warmth. + +After the whisper of their shouts, their ordinary tones, so distinct, +rang out very loud to their ears in the amazing stillness of the air. It +seemed to them they were talking in a dark and echoing vault. + +Through a jagged aperture in the dome of clouds the light of a few stars +fell upon the black sea, rising and falling confusedly. Sometimes the +head of a watery cone would topple on board and mingle with the rolling +flurry of foam on the swamped deck; and the Nan-Shan wallowed heavily at +the bottom of a circular cistern of clouds. This ring of dense vapours, +gyrating madly round the calm of the centre, encompassed the ship like +a motionless and unbroken wall of an aspect inconceivably sinister. +Within, the sea, as if agitated by an internal commotion, leaped in +peaked mounds that jostled each other, slapping heavily against her +sides; and a low moaning sound, the infinite plaint of the storms +fury, came from beyond the limits of the menacing calm. Captain MacWhirr +remained silent, and Jukes ready ear caught suddenly the faint, +long-drawn roar of some immense wave rushing unseen under that thick +blackness, which made the appalling boundary of his vision. + +Of course, he started resentfully, they thought we had caught at the +chance to plunder them. Of course! You said--pick up the money. Easier +said than done. They couldnt tell what was in our heads. We came in, +smash--right into the middle of them. Had to do it by a rush. + +As long as its done . . . , mumbled the Captain, without attempting +to look at Jukes. Had to do whats fair. + +We shall find yet theres the devil to pay when this is over, said +Jukes, feeling very sore. Let them only recover a bit, and youll +see. They will fly at our throats, sir. Dont forget, sir, she isnt +a British ship now. These brutes know it well, too. The damned Siamese +flag. + +We are on board, all the same, remarked Captain MacWhirr. + +The troubles not over yet, insisted Jukes, prophetically, reeling and +catching on. Shes a wreck, he added, faintly. + +The troubles not over yet, assented Captain MacWhirr, half aloud +. . . . Look out for her a minute. + +Are you going off the deck, sir? asked Jukes, hurriedly, as if the +storm were sure to pounce upon him as soon as he had been left alone +with the ship. + +He watched her, battered and solitary, labouring heavily in a wild scene +of mountainous black waters lit by the gleams of distant worlds. She +moved slowly, breathing into the still core of the hurricane the excess +of her strength in a white cloud of steam--and the deep-toned vibration +of the escape was like the defiant trumpeting of a living creature of +the sea impatient for the renewal of the contest. It ceased suddenly. +The still air moaned. Above Jukes head a few stars shone into a pit +of black vapours. The inky edge of the cloud-disc frowned upon the ship +under the patch of glittering sky. The stars, too, seemed to look at her +intently, as if for the last time, and the cluster of their splendour +sat like a diadem on a lowering brow. + +Captain MacWhirr had gone into the chart-room. There was no light there; +but he could feel the disorder of that place where he used to live +tidily. His armchair was upset. The books had tumbled out on the floor: +he scrunched a piece of glass under his boot. He groped for the matches, +and found a box on a shelf with a deep ledge. He struck one, and +puckering the corners of his eyes, held out the little flame towards +the barometer whose glittering top of glass and metals nodded at him +continuously. + +It stood very low--incredibly low, so low that Captain MacWhirr grunted. +The match went out, and hurriedly he extracted another, with thick, +stiff fingers. + +Again a little flame flared up before the nodding glass and metal of the +top. His eyes looked at it, narrowed with attention, as if expecting +an imperceptible sign. With his grave face he resembled a booted and +misshapen pagan burning incense before the oracle of a Joss. There was +no mistake. It was the lowest reading he had ever seen in his life. + +Captain MacWhirr emitted a low whistle. He forgot himself till the flame +diminished to a blue spark, burnt his fingers and vanished. Perhaps +something had gone wrong with the thing! + +There was an aneroid glass screwed above the couch. He turned that +way, struck another match, and discovered the white face of the other +instrument looking at him from the bulkhead, meaningly, not to be +gainsaid, as though the wisdom of men were made unerring by the +indifference of matter. There was no room for doubt now. Captain +MacWhirr pshawed at it, and threw the match down. + +The worst was to come, then--and if the books were right this worst +would be very bad. The experience of the last six hours had enlarged his +conception of what heavy weather could be like. Itll be terrific, he +pronounced, mentally. He had not consciously looked at anything by the +light of the matches except at the barometer; and yet somehow he had +seen that his water-bottle and the two tumblers had been flung out of +their stand. It seemed to give him a more intimate knowledge of the +tossing the ship had gone through. I wouldnt have believed it, he +thought. And his table had been cleared, too; his rulers, his pencils, +the inkstand--all the things that had their safe appointed places--they +were gone, as if a mischievous hand had plucked them out one by one +and flung them on the wet floor. The hurricane had broken in upon the +orderly arrangements of his privacy. This had never happened before, and +the feeling of dismay reached the very seat of his composure. And the +worst was to come yet! He was glad the trouble in the tween-deck had +been discovered in time. If the ship had to go after all, then, at +least, she wouldnt be going to the bottom with a lot of people in +her fighting teeth and claw. That would have been odious. And in that +feeling there was a humane intention and a vague sense of the fitness of +things. + +These instantaneous thoughts were yet in their essence heavy and slow, +partaking of the nature of the man. He extended his hand to put back the +matchbox in its corner of the shelf. There were always matches there--by +his order. The steward had his instructions impressed upon him long +before. A box . . . just there, see? Not so very full . . . where I can +put my hand on it, steward. Might want a light in a hurry. Cant tell on +board ship what you might want in a hurry. Mind, now. + +And of course on his side he would be careful to put it back in its +place scrupulously. He did so now, but before he removed his hand it +occurred to him that perhaps he would never have occasion to use that +box any more. The vividness of the thought checked him and for an +infinitesimal fraction of a second his fingers closed again on the small +object as though it had been the symbol of all these little habits that +chain us to the weary round of life. He released it at last, and letting +himself fall on the settee, listened for the first sounds of returning +wind. + +Not yet. He heard only the wash of water, the heavy splashes, the dull +shocks of the confused seas boarding his ship from all sides. She would +never have a chance to clear her decks. + +But the quietude of the air was startlingly tense and unsafe, like a +slender hair holding a sword suspended over his head. By this awful +pause the storm penetrated the defences of the man and unsealed his +lips. He spoke out in the solitude and the pitch darkness of the cabin, +as if addressing another being awakened within his breast. + +I shouldnt like to lose her, he said half aloud. + +He sat unseen, apart from the sea, from his ship, isolated, as if +withdrawn from the very current of his own existence, where such freaks +as talking to himself surely had no place. His palms reposed on his +knees, he bowed his short neck and puffed heavily, surrendering to +a strange sensation of weariness he was not enlightened enough to +recognize for the fatigue of mental stress. + +From where he sat he could reach the door of a washstand locker. There +should have been a towel there. There was. Good. . . . He took it out, +wiped his face, and afterwards went on rubbing his wet head. He towelled +himself with energy in the dark, and then remained motionless with the +towel on his knees. A moment passed, of a stillness so profound that +no one could have guessed there was a man sitting in that cabin. Then a +murmur arose. + +She may come out of it yet. + +When Captain MacWhirr came out on deck, which he did brusquely, as +though he had suddenly become conscious of having stayed away too long, +the calm had lasted already more than fifteen minutes--long enough to +make itself intolerable even to his imagination. Jukes, motionless on +the forepart of the bridge, began to speak at once. His voice, blank and +forced as though he were talking through hard-set teeth, seemed to flow +away on all sides into the darkness, deepening again upon the sea. + +I had the wheel relieved. Hackett began to sing out that he was done. +Hes lying in there alongside the steering-gear with a face like death. +At first I couldnt get anybody to crawl out and relieve the poor devil. +That bossns worse than no good, I always said. Thought I would have +had to go myself and haul out one of them by the neck. + +Ah, well, muttered the Captain. He stood watchful by Jukes side. + +The second mates in there, too, holding his head. Is he hurt, sir? + +No--crazy, said Captain MacWhirr, curtly. + +Looks as if he had a tumble, though. + +I had to give him a push, explained the Captain. + +Jukes gave an impatient sigh. + +It will come very sudden, said Captain MacWhirr, and from over there, +I fancy. God only knows though. These books are only good to muddle your +head and make you jumpy. It will be bad, and theres an end. If we only +can steam her round in time to meet it. . . . + +A minute passed. Some of the stars winked rapidly and vanished. + +You left them pretty safe? began the Captain abruptly, as though the +silence were unbearable. + +Are you thinking of the coolies, sir? I rigged lifelines all ways +across that tween-deck. + +Did you? Good idea, Mr. Jukes. + +I didnt . . . think you cared to . . . know, said Jukes--the lurching +of the ship cut his speech as though somebody had been jerking him +around while he talked--how I got on with . . . that infernal job. We +did it. And it may not matter in the end. + +Had to do whats fair, for all--they are only Chinamen. Give them the +same chance with ourselves--hang it all. She isnt lost yet. Bad enough +to be shut up below in a gale-- + +Thats what I thought when you gave me the job, sir, interjected +Jukes, moodily. + +--without being battered to pieces, pursued Captain MacWhirr with +rising vehemence. Couldnt let that go on in my ship, if I knew she +hadnt five minutes to live. Couldnt bear it, Mr. Jukes. + +A hollow echoing noise, like that of a shout rolling in a rocky chasm, +approached the ship and went away again. The last star, blurred, +enlarged, as if returning to the fiery mist of its beginning, struggled +with the colossal depth of blackness hanging over the ship--and went +out. + +Now for it! muttered Captain MacWhirr. Mr. Jukes. + +Here, sir. + +The two men were growing indistinct to each other. + +We must trust her to go through it and come out on the other side. +Thats plain and straight. Theres no room for Captain Wilsons +storm-strategy here. + +No, sir. + +She will be smothered and swept again for hours, mumbled the Captain. +Theres not much left by this time above deck for the sea to take +away--unless you or me. + +Both, sir, whispered Jukes, breathlessly. + +You are always meeting trouble half way, Jukes, Captain MacWhirr +remonstrated quaintly. Though its a fact that the second mate is no +good. Dye hear, Mr. Jukes? You would be left alone if. . . . + +Captain MacWhirr interrupted himself, and Jukes, glancing on all sides, +remained silent. + +Dont you be put out by anything, the Captain continued, mumbling +rather fast. Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the +heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it--always facing it--thats the +way to get through. You are a young sailor. Face it. Thats enough for +any man. Keep a cool head. + +Yes, sir, said Jukes, with a flutter of the heart. + +In the next few seconds the Captain spoke to the engine-room and got an +answer. + +For some reason Jukes experienced an access of confidence, a sensation +that came from outside like a warm breath, and made him feel equal to +every demand. The distant muttering of the darkness stole into his ears. +He noted it unmoved, out of that sudden belief in himself, as a man safe +in a shirt of mail would watch a point. + +The ship laboured without intermission amongst the black hills of water, +paying with this hard tumbling the price of her life. She rumbled in +her depths, shaking a white plummet of steam into the night, and +Jukes thought skimmed like a bird through the engine-room, where Mr. +Rout--good man--was ready. When the rumbling ceased it seemed to him +that there was a pause of every sound, a dead pause in which Captain +MacWhirrs voice rang out startlingly. + +Whats that? A puff of wind?--it spoke much louder than Jukes had ever +heard it before--On the bow. Thats right. She may come out of it yet. + +The mutter of the winds drew near apace. In the forefront could be +distinguished a drowsy waking plaint passing on, and far off the growth +of a multiple clamour, marching and expanding. There was the throb as +of many drums in it, a vicious rushing note, and like the chant of a +tramping multitude. + +Jukes could no longer see his captain distinctly. The darkness was +absolutely piling itself upon the ship. At most he made out movements, a +hint of elbows spread out, of a head thrown up. + +Captain MacWhirr was trying to do up the top button of his oilskin coat +with unwonted haste. The hurricane, with its power to madden the seas, +to sink ships, to uproot trees, to overturn strong walls and dash the +very birds of the air to the ground, had found this taciturn man in +its path, and, doing its utmost, had managed to wring out a few words. +Before the renewed wrath of winds swooped on his ship, Captain MacWhirr +was moved to declare, in a tone of vexation, as it were: I wouldnt +like to lose her. + +He was spared that annoyance. + + + +VI + +On A bright sunshiny day, with the breeze chasing her smoke far ahead, +the Nan-Shan came into Fu-chau. Her arrival was at once noticed on +shore, and the seamen in harbour said: Look! Look at that steamer. +Whats that? Siamese--isnt she? Just look at her! + +She seemed, indeed, to have been used as a running target for the +secondary batteries of a cruiser. A hail of minor shells could not have +given her upper works a more broken, torn, and devastated aspect: and +she had about her the worn, weary air of ships coming from the far ends +of the world--and indeed with truth, for in her short passage she had +been very far; sighting, verily, even the coast of the Great Beyond, +whence no ship ever returns to give up her crew to the dust of the +earth. She was incrusted and gray with salt to the trucks of her masts +and to the top of her funnel; as though (as some facetious seaman said) +the crowd on board had fished her out somewhere from the bottom of the +sea and brought her in here for salvage. And further, excited by the +felicity of his own wit, he offered to give five pounds for her--as she +stands. + +Before she had been quite an hour at rest, a meagre little man, with a +red-tipped nose and a face cast in an angry mould, landed from a sampan +on the quay of the Foreign Concession, and incontinently turned to shake +his fist at her. + +A tall individual, with legs much too thin for a rotund stomach, and +with watery eyes, strolled up and remarked, Just left her--eh? Quick +work. + +He wore a soiled suit of blue flannel with a pair of dirty cricketing +shoes; a dingy gray moustache drooped from his lip, and daylight could +be seen in two places between the rim and the crown of his hat. + +Hallo! what are you doing here? asked the ex-second-mate of the +Nan-Shan, shaking hands hurriedly. + +Standing by for a job--chance worth taking--got a quiet hint, + explained the man with the broken hat, in jerky, apathetic wheezes. + +The second shook his fist again at the Nan-Shan. Theres a fellow there +that aint fit to have the command of a scow, he declared, quivering +with passion, while the other looked about listlessly. + +Is there? + +But he caught sight on the quay of a heavy seamans chest, painted brown +under a fringed sailcloth cover, and lashed with new manila line. He +eyed it with awakened interest. + +I would talk and raise trouble if it wasnt for that damned Siamese +flag. Nobody to go to--or I would make it hot for him. The fraud! Told +his chief engineer--thats another fraud for you--I had lost my nerve. +The greatest lot of ignorant fools that ever sailed the seas. No! You +cant think . . . + +Got your money all right? inquired his seedy acquaintance suddenly. + +Yes. Paid me off on board, raged the second mate. Get your breakfast +on shore, says he. + +Mean skunk! commented the tall man, vaguely, and passed his tongue on +his lips. What about having a drink of some sort? + +He struck me, hissed the second mate. + +No! Struck! You dont say? The man in blue began to bustle about +sympathetically. Cant possibly talk here. I want to know all about it. +Struck--eh? Lets get a fellow to carry your chest. I know a quiet place +where they have some bottled beer. . . . + +Mr. Jukes, who had been scanning the shore through a pair of glasses, +informed the chief engineer afterwards that our late second mate hasnt +been long in finding a friend. A chap looking uncommonly like a bummer. +I saw them walk away together from the quay. + +The hammering and banging of the needful repairs did not disturb +Captain MacWhirr. The steward found in the letter he wrote, in a tidy +chart-room, passages of such absorbing interest that twice he was +nearly caught in the act. But Mrs. MacWhirr, in the drawing-room of the +forty-pound house, stifled a yawn--perhaps out of self-respect--for she +was alone. + +She reclined in a plush-bottomed and gilt hammock-chair near a tiled +fireplace, with Japanese fans on the mantel and a glow of coals in the +grate. Lifting her hands, she glanced wearily here and there into the +many pages. It was not her fault they were so prosy, so completely +uninteresting--from My darling wife at the beginning, to Your loving +husband at the end. She couldnt be really expected to understand all +these ship affairs. She was glad, of course, to hear from him, but she +had never asked herself why, precisely. + +. . . They are called typhoons . . . The mate did not seem to like it +. . . Not in books . . . Couldnt think of letting it go on. . . . + +The paper rustled sharply. . . . . A calm that lasted more than twenty +minutes, she read perfunctorily; and the next words her thoughtless +eyes caught, on the top of another page, were: see you and the children +again. . . . She had a movement of impatience. He was always thinking +of coming home. He had never had such a good salary before. What was the +matter now? + +It did not occur to her to turn back overleaf to look. She would have +found it recorded there that between 4 and 6 A. M. on December 25th, +Captain MacWhirr did actually think that his ship could not possibly +live another hour in such a sea, and that he would never see his wife +and children again. Nobody was to know this (his letters got mislaid +so quickly)--nobody whatever but the steward, who had been greatly +impressed by that disclosure. So much so, that he tried to give the cook +some idea of the narrow squeak we all had by saying solemnly, The old +man himself had a dam poor opinion of our chance. + +How do you know? asked, contemptuously, the cook, an old soldier. He +hasnt told you, maybe? + +Well, he did give me a hint to that effect, the steward brazened it +out. + +Get along with you! He will be coming to tell me next, jeered the old +cook, over his shoulder. + +Mrs. MacWhirr glanced farther, on the alert. . . . Do whats fair. . . +Miserable objects . . . . Only three, with a broken leg each, and one +. . . Thought had better keep the matter quiet . . . hope to have done +the fair thing. . . . + +She let fall her hands. No: there was nothing more about coming home. +Must have been merely expressing a pious wish. Mrs. MacWhirrs mind was +set at ease, and a black marble clock, priced by the local jeweller at +3L. 18s. 6d., had a discreet stealthy tick. + +The door flew open, and a girl in the long-legged, short-frocked period +of existence, flung into the room. + +A lot of colourless, rather lanky hair was scattered over her shoulders. +Seeing her mother, she stood still, and directed her pale prying eyes +upon the letter. + +From father, murmured Mrs. MacWhirr. What have you done with your +ribbon? + +The girl put her hands up to her head and pouted. + +Hes well, continued Mrs. MacWhirr languidly. At least I think so. +He never says. She had a little laugh. The girls face expressed a +wandering indifference, and Mrs. MacWhirr surveyed her with fond pride. + +Go and get your hat, she said after a while. I am going out to do +some shopping. There is a sale at Linoms. + +Oh, how jolly! uttered the child, impressively, in unexpectedly grave +vibrating tones, and bounded out of the room. + +It was a fine afternoon, with a gray sky and dry sidewalks. Outside the +drapers Mrs. MacWhirr smiled upon a woman in a black mantle of generous +proportions armoured in jet and crowned with flowers blooming falsely +above a bilious matronly countenance. They broke into a swift little +babble of greetings and exclamations both together, very hurried, as if +the street were ready to yawn open and swallow all that pleasure before +it could be expressed. + +Behind them the high glass doors were kept on the swing. People couldnt +pass, men stood aside waiting patiently, and Lydia was absorbed in +poking the end of her parasol between the stone flags. Mrs. MacWhirr +talked rapidly. + +Thank you very much. Hes not coming home yet. Of course its very sad +to have him away, but its such a comfort to know he keeps so well. + Mrs. MacWhirr drew breath. The climate there agrees with him, she +added, beamingly, as if poor MacWhirr had been away touring in China for +the sake of his health. + +Neither was the chief engineer coming home yet. Mr. Rout knew too well +the value of a good billet. + +Solomon says wonders will never cease, cried Mrs. Rout joyously at the +old lady in her armchair by the fire. Mr. Routs mother moved slightly, +her withered hands lying in black half-mittens on her lap. + +The eyes of the engineers wife fairly danced on the paper. That +captain of the ship he is in--a rather simple man, you remember, +mother?--has done something rather clever, Solomon says. + +Yes, my dear, said the old woman meekly, sitting with bowed silvery +head, and that air of inward stillness characteristic of very old +people who seem lost in watching the last flickers of life. I think I +remember. + +Solomon Rout, Old Sol, Father Sol, the Chief, Rout, good man--Mr. +Rout, the condescending and paternal friend of youth, had been the baby +of her many children--all dead by this time. And she remembered him best +as a boy of ten--long before he went away to serve his apprenticeship in +some great engineering works in the North. She had seen so little of him +since, she had gone through so many years, that she had now to retrace +her steps very far back to recognize him plainly in the mist of time. +Sometimes it seemed that her daughter-in-law was talking of some strange +man. + +Mrs. Rout junior was disappointed. Hm. Hm. She turned the page. How +provoking! He doesnt say what it is. Says I couldnt understand how +much there was in it. Fancy! What could it be so very clever? What a +wretched man not to tell us! + +She read on without further remark soberly, and at last sat looking +into the fire. The chief wrote just a word or two of the typhoon; +but something had moved him to express an increased longing for the +companionship of the jolly woman. If it hadnt been that mother must be +looked after, I would send you your passage-money to-day. You could set +up a small house out here. I would have a chance to see you sometimes +then. We are not growing younger. . . . + +Hes well, mother, sighed Mrs. Rout, rousing herself. + +He always was a strong healthy boy, said the old woman, placidly. + +But Mr. Jukes account was really animated and very full. His friend in +the Western Ocean trade imparted it freely to the other officers of his +liner. A chap I know writes to me about an extraordinary affair that +happened on board his ship in that typhoon--you know--that we read of +in the papers two months ago. Its the funniest thing! Just see for +yourself what he says. Ill show you his letter. + +There were phrases in it calculated to give the impression of +light-hearted, indomitable resolution. Jukes had written them in good +faith, for he felt thus when he wrote. He described with lurid effect +the scenes in the tween-deck. . . . It struck me in a flash that +those confounded Chinamen couldnt tell we werent a desperate kind of +robbers. Tisnt good to part the Chinaman from his money if he is the +stronger party. We need have been desperate indeed to go thieving in +such weather, but what could these beggars know of us? So, without +thinking of it twice, I got the hands away in a jiffy. Our work was +done--that the old man had set his heart on. We cleared out without +staying to inquire how they felt. I am convinced that if they had not +been so unmercifully shaken, and afraid--each individual one of them +--to stand up, we would have been torn to pieces. Oh! It was pretty +complete, I can tell you; and you may run to and fro across the Pond to +the end of time before you find yourself with such a job on your hands. + +After this he alluded professionally to the damage done to the ship, and +went on thus: + +It was when the weather quieted down that the situation became +confoundedly delicate. It wasnt made any better by us having been +lately transferred to the Siamese flag; though the skipper cant see +that it makes any difference--as long as we are on board--he says. +There are feelings that this man simply hasnt got--and theres an end +of it. You might just as well try to make a bedpost understand. But +apart from this it is an infernally lonely state for a ship to be going +about the China seas with no proper consuls, not even a gunboat of her +own anywhere, nor a body to go to in case of some trouble. + +My notion was to keep these Johnnies under hatches for another fifteen +hours or so; as we werent much farther than that from Fu-chau. We would +find there, most likely, some sort of a man-of-war, and once under +her guns we were safe enough; for surely any skipper of a +man-of-war--English, French or Dutch--would see white men through as +far as row on board goes. We could get rid of them and their money +afterwards by delivering them to their Mandarin or Taotai, or whatever +they call these chaps in goggles you see being carried about in +sedan-chairs through their stinking streets. + +The old man wouldnt see it somehow. He wanted to keep the matter +quiet. He got that notion into his head, and a steam windlass couldnt +drag it out of him. He wanted as little fuss made as possible, for the +sake of the ships name and for the sake of the owners--for the sake of +all concerned, says he, looking at me very hard. + +It made me angry hot. Of course you couldnt keep a thing like that +quiet; but the chests had been secured in the usual manner and were safe +enough for any earthly gale, while this had been an altogether fiendish +business I couldnt give you even an idea of. + +Meantime, I could hardly keep on my feet. None of us had a spell of +any sort for nearly thirty hours, and there the old man sat rubbing his +chin, rubbing the top of his head, and so bothered he didnt even think +of pulling his long boots off. + +I hope, sir, says I, you wont be letting them out on deck before we +make ready for them in some shape or other. Not, mind you, that I felt +very sanguine about controlling these beggars if they meant to take +charge. A trouble with a cargo of Chinamen is no childs play. I was +dam tired, too. I wish, said I, you would let us throw the whole +lot of these dollars down to them and leave them to fight it out amongst +themselves, while we get a rest. + +Now you talk wild, Jukes, says he, looking up in his slow way that +makes you ache all over, somehow. We must plan out something that would +be fair to all parties. + +I had no end of work on hand, as you may imagine, so I set the hands +going, and then I thought I would turn in a bit. I hadnt been asleep in +my bunk ten minutes when in rushes the steward and begins to pull at my +leg. + +For Gods sake, Mr. Jukes, come out! Come on deck quick, sir. Oh, do +come out! + +The fellow scared all the sense out of me. I didnt know what had +happened: another hurricane--or what. Could hear no wind. + +The Captains letting them out. Oh, he is letting them out! Jump on +deck, sir, and save us. The chief engineer has just run below for his +revolver. + +Thats what I understood the fool to say. However, Father Rout swears +he went in there only to get a clean pocket-handkerchief. Anyhow, I made +one jump into my trousers and flew on deck aft. There was certainly a +good deal of noise going on forward of the bridge. Four of the hands +with the bossn were at work abaft. I passed up to them some of the +rifles all the ships on the China coast carry in the cabin, and led them +on the bridge. On the way I ran against Old Sol, looking startled and +sucking at an unlighted cigar. + +Come along, I shouted to him. + +We charged, the seven of us, up to the chart-room. All was over. There +stood the old man with his sea-boots still drawn up to the hips and +in shirt-sleeves--got warm thinking it out, I suppose. Bun Hins dandy +clerk at his elbow, as dirty as a sweep, was still green in the face. I +could see directly I was in for something. + +What the devil are these monkey tricks, Mr. Jukes? asks the old man, +as angry as ever he could be. I tell you frankly it made me lose my +tongue. For Gods sake, Mr. Jukes, says he, do take away these rifles +from the men. Somebodys sure to get hurt before long if you dont. +Damme, if this ship isnt worse than Bedlam! Look sharp now. I want +you up here to help me and Bun Hins Chinaman to count that money. You +wouldnt mind lending a hand, too, Mr. Rout, now you are here. The more +of us the better. + +He had settled it all in his mind while I was having a snooze. Had we +been an English ship, or only going to land our cargo of coolies in an +English port, like Hong-Kong, for instance, there would have been no +end of inquiries and bother, claims for damages and so on. But these +Chinamen know their officials better than we do. + +The hatches had been taken off already, and they were all on deck after +a night and a day down below. It made you feel queer to see so many +gaunt, wild faces together. The beggars stared about at the sky, at the +sea, at the ship, as though they had expected the whole thing to have +been blown to pieces. And no wonder! They had had a doing that would +have shaken the soul out of a white man. But then they say a Chinaman +has no soul. He has, though, something about him that is deuced tough. +There was a fellow (amongst others of the badly hurt) who had had his +eye all but knocked out. It stood out of his head the size of half a +hens egg. This would have laid out a white man on his back for a month: +and yet there was that chap elbowing here and there in the crowd and +talking to the others as if nothing had been the matter. They made a +great hubbub amongst themselves, and whenever the old man showed his +bald head on the foreside of the bridge, they would all leave off jawing +and look at him from below. + +It seems that after he had done his thinking he made that Bun Hins +fellow go down and explain to them the only way they could get their +money back. He told me afterwards that, all the coolies having worked in +the same place and for the same length of time, he reckoned he would be +doing the fair thing by them as near as possible if he shared all the +cash we had picked up equally among the lot. You couldnt tell one mans +dollars from anothers, he said, and if you asked each man how much +money he brought on board he was afraid they would lie, and he would +find himself a long way short. I think he was right there. As to giving +up the money to any Chinese official he could scare up in Fu-chau, he +said he might just as well put the lot in his own pocket at once for all +the good it would be to them. I suppose they thought so, too. + +We finished the distribution before dark. It was rather a sight: the +sea running high, the ship a wreck to look at, these Chinamen staggering +up on the bridge one by one for their share, and the old man still +booted, and in his shirt-sleeves, busy paying out at the chartroom door, +perspiring like anything, and now and then coming down sharp on myself +or Father Rout about one thing or another not quite to his mind. He took +the share of those who were disabled himself to them on the No. 2 hatch. +There were three dollars left over, and these went to the three most +damaged coolies, one to each. We turned-to afterwards, and shovelled +out on deck heaps of wet rags, all sorts of fragments of things without +shape, and that you couldnt give a name to, and let them settle the +ownership themselves. + +This certainly is coming as near as can be to keeping the thing quiet +for the benefit of all concerned. Whats your opinion, you pampered +mail-boat swell? The old chief says that this was plainly the only thing +that could be done. The skipper remarked to me the other day, There are +things you find nothing about in books. I think that he got out of it +very well for such a stupid man. + + + + +[The other stories included in this volume (Amy Foster, Falk: A +Reminiscence, and To-morrow) being already available in another +volume, have not been entered here.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + +***** This file should be named 1142.txt or 1142.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/4/1142/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/1142-8.zip b/old/1142-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae6e2fd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1142-8.zip diff --git a/old/1142-h.zip b/old/1142-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7448288 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1142-h.zip diff --git a/old/1142-h/1142-h.htm b/old/1142-h/1142-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..338c3d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1142-h/1142-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4319 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Typhoon + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #1142] +[Last Updated: April 10, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + <blockquote><p> + [PG NOTE: The other stories usually included in this volume (“Amy + Foster,” “Falk: A Reminiscence,” and “To-morrow”) being already + available in the PG catalog, are not entered them here.] + </p></blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + TYPHOON + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Joseph Conrad + </h2> + <h4> + Far as the mariner on highest mast<br /> Can see all around + upon the calmed vast, <br /> So + wide was Neptune's hall . . . — KEATS<br /> <br /> + </h4> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> AUTHOR'S NOTE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> TYPHOON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VI </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + AUTHOR'S NOTE + </h2> + <p> + The main characteristic of this volume consists in this, that all the + stories composing it belong not only to the same period but have been + written one after another in the order in which they appear in the book. + </p> + <p> + The period is that which follows on my connection with Blackwood's + Magazine. I had just finished writing “The End of the Tether” and was + casting about for some subject which could be developed in a shorter form + than the tales in the volume of “Youth” when the instance of a steamship + full of returning coolies from Singapore to some port in northern China + occurred to my recollection. Years before I had heard it being talked + about in the East as a recent occurrence. It was for us merely one subject + of conversation amongst many others of the kind. Men earning their bread + in any very specialized occupation will talk shop, not only because it is + the most vital interest of their lives but also because they have not much + knowledge of other subjects. They have never had the time to get + acquainted with them. Life, for most of us, is not so much a hard as an + exacting taskmaster. + </p> + <p> + I never met anybody personally concerned in this affair, the interest of + which for us was, of course, not the bad weather but the extraordinary + complication brought into the ship's life at a moment of exceptional + stress by the human element below her deck. Neither was the story itself + ever enlarged upon in my hearing. In that company each of us could imagine + easily what the whole thing was like. The financial difficulty of it, + presenting also a human problem, was solved by a mind much too simple to + be perplexed by anything in the world except men's idle talk for which it + was not adapted. + </p> + <p> + From the first the mere anecdote, the mere statement I might say, that + such a thing had happened on the high seas, appeared to me a sufficient + subject for meditation. Yet it was but a bit of a sea yarn after all. I + felt that to bring out its deeper significance which was quite apparent to + me, something other, something more was required; a leading motive that + would harmonize all these violent noises, and a point of view that would + put all that elemental fury into its proper place. + </p> + <p> + What was needed of course was Captain MacWhirr. Directly I perceived him I + could see that he was the man for the situation. I don't mean to say that + I ever saw Captain MacWhirr in the flesh, or had ever come in contact with + his literal mind and his dauntless temperament. MacWhirr is not an + acquaintance of a few hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. He is the + product of twenty years of life. My own life. Conscious invention had + little to do with him. If it is true that Captain MacWhirr never walked + and breathed on this earth (which I find for my part extremely difficult + to believe) I can also assure my readers that he is perfectly authentic. I + may venture to assert the same of every aspect of the story, while I + confess that the particular typhoon of the tale was not a typhoon of my + actual experience. + </p> + <p> + At its first appearance “Typhoon,” the story, was classed by some critics + as a deliberately intended storm-piece. Others picked out MacWhirr, in + whom they perceived a definite symbolic intention. Neither was exclusively + my intention. Both the typhoon and Captain MacWhirr presented themselves + to me as the necessities of the deep conviction with which I approached + the subject of the story. It was their opportunity. It was also my + opportunity; and it would be vain to discourse about what I made of it in + a handful of pages, since the pages themselves are here, between the + covers of this volume, to speak for themselves. + </p> + <p> + This is a belated reflection. If it had occurred to me before it would + have perhaps done away with the existence of this Author's Note; for, + indeed, the same remark applies to every story in this volume. None of + them are stories of experience in the absolute sense of the word. + Experience in them is but the canvas of the attempted picture. Each of + them has its more than one intention. With each the question is what the + writer has done with his opportunity; and each answers the question for + itself in words which, if I may say so without undue solemnity, were + written with a conscientious regard for the truth of my own sensations. + And each of those stories, to mean something, must justify itself in its + own way to the conscience of each successive reader. + </p> + <p> + “Falk”—the second story in the volume—offended the delicacy of + one critic at least by certain peculiarities of its subject. But what is + the subject of “Falk”? I personally do not feel so very certain about it. + He who reads must find out for himself. My intention in writing “Falk” was + not to shock anybody. As in most of my writings I insist not on the events + but on their effect upon the persons in the tale. But in everything I have + written there is always one invariable intention, and that is to capture + the reader's attention, by securing his interest and enlisting his + sympathies for the matter in hand, whatever it may be, within the limits + of the visible world and within the boundaries of human emotions. + </p> + <p> + I may safely say that Falk is absolutely true to my experience of certain + straightforward characters combining a perfectly natural ruthlessness with + a certain amount of moral delicacy. Falk obeys the law of + self-preservation without the slightest misgivings as to his right, but at + a crucial turn of that ruthlessly preserved life he will not condescend to + dodge the truth. As he is presented as sensitive enough to be affected + permanently by a certain unusual experience, that experience had to be set + by me before the reader vividly; but it is not the subject of the tale. If + we go by mere facts then the subject is Falk's attempt to get married; in + which the narrator of the tale finds himself unexpectedly involved both on + its ruthless and its delicate side. + </p> + <p> + “Falk” shares with one other of my stories (“The Return” in the “Tales of + Unrest” volume) the distinction of never having been serialized. I think + the copy was shown to the editor of some magazine who rejected it + indignantly on the sole ground that “the girl never says anything.” This + is perfectly true. From first to last Hermann's niece utters no word in + the tale—and it is not because she is dumb, but for the simple + reason that whenever she happens to come under the observation of the + narrator she has either no occasion or is too profoundly moved to speak. + The editor, who obviously had read the story, might have perceived that + for himself. Apparently he did not, and I refrained from pointing out the + impossibility to him because, since he did not venture to say that “the + girl” did not live, I felt no concern at his indignation. + </p> + <p> + All the other stories were serialized. The “Typhoon” appeared in the early + numbers of the Pall Mall Magazine, then under the direction of the late + Mr. Halkett. It was on that occasion, too, that I saw for the first time + my conceptions rendered by an artist in another medium. Mr. Maurice + Grieffenhagen knew how to combine in his illustrations the effect of his + own most distinguished personal vision with an absolute fidelity to the + inspiration of the writer. “Amy Foster” was published in The Illustrated + London News with a fine drawing of Amy on her day out giving tea to the + children at her home, in a hat with a big feather. “To-morrow” appeared + first in the Pall Mall Magazine. Of that story I will only say that it + struck many people by its adaptability to the stage and that I was induced + to dramatize it under the title of “One Day More”; up to the present my + only effort in that direction. I may also add that each of the four + stories on their appearance in book form was picked out on various grounds + as the “best of the lot” by different critics, who reviewed the volume + with a warmth of appreciation and understanding, a sympathetic insight and + a friendliness of expression for which I cannot be sufficiently grateful. + </p> + <p> + 1919. J. C. <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + TYPHOON + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr, of the steamer Nan-Shan, had a physiognomy that, in the + order of material appearances, was the exact counterpart of his mind: it + presented no marked characteristics of firmness or stupidity; it had no + pronounced characteristics whatever; it was simply ordinary, irresponsive, + and unruffled. + </p> + <p> + The only thing his aspect might have been said to suggest, at times, was + bashfulness; because he would sit, in business offices ashore, sunburnt + and smiling faintly, with downcast eyes. When he raised them, they were + perceived to be direct in their glance and of blue colour. His hair was + fair and extremely fine, clasping from temple to temple the bald dome of + his skull in a clamp as of fluffy silk. The hair of his face, on the + contrary, carroty and flaming, resembled a growth of copper wire clipped + short to the line of the lip; while, no matter how close he shaved, fiery + metallic gleams passed, when he moved his head, over the surface of his + cheeks. He was rather below the medium height, a bit round-shouldered, and + so sturdy of limb that his clothes always looked a shade too tight for his + arms and legs. As if unable to grasp what is due to the difference of + latitudes, he wore a brown bowler hat, a complete suit of a brownish hue, + and clumsy black boots. These harbour togs gave to his thick figure an air + of stiff and uncouth smartness. A thin silver watch chain looped his + waistcoat, and he never left his ship for the shore without clutching in + his powerful, hairy fist an elegant umbrella of the very best quality, but + generally unrolled. Young Jukes, the chief mate, attending his commander + to the gangway, would sometimes venture to say, with the greatest + gentleness, “Allow me, sir”—and possessing himself of the umbrella + deferentially, would elevate the ferule, shake the folds, twirl a neat + furl in a jiffy, and hand it back; going through the performance with a + face of such portentous gravity, that Mr. Solomon Rout, the chief + engineer, smoking his morning cigar over the skylight, would turn away his + head in order to hide a smile. “Oh! aye! The blessed gamp. . . . Thank + 'ee, Jukes, thank 'ee,” would mutter Captain MacWhirr, heartily, without + looking up. + </p> + <p> + Having just enough imagination to carry him through each successive day, + and no more, he was tranquilly sure of himself; and from the very same + cause he was not in the least conceited. It is your imaginative superior + who is touchy, overbearing, and difficult to please; but every ship + Captain MacWhirr commanded was the floating abode of harmony and peace. It + was, in truth, as impossible for him to take a flight of fancy as it would + be for a watchmaker to put together a chronometer with nothing except a + two-pound hammer and a whip-saw in the way of tools. Yet the uninteresting + lives of men so entirely given to the actuality of the bare existence have + their mysterious side. It was impossible in Captain MacWhirr's case, for + instance, to understand what under heaven could have induced that + perfectly satisfactory son of a petty grocer in Belfast to run away to + sea. And yet he had done that very thing at the age of fifteen. It was + enough, when you thought it over, to give you the idea of an immense, + potent, and invisible hand thrust into the ant-heap of the earth, laying + hold of shoulders, knocking heads together, and setting the unconscious + faces of the multitude towards inconceivable goals and in undreamt-of + directions. + </p> + <p> + His father never really forgave him for this undutiful stupidity. “We + could have got on without him,” he used to say later on, “but there's the + business. And he an only son, too!” His mother wept very much after his + disappearance. As it had never occurred to him to leave word behind, he + was mourned over for dead till, after eight months, his first letter + arrived from Talcahuano. It was short, and contained the statement: “We + had very fine weather on our passage out.” But evidently, in the writer's + mind, the only important intelligence was to the effect that his captain + had, on the very day of writing, entered him regularly on the ship's + articles as Ordinary Seaman. “Because I can do the work,” he explained. + The mother again wept copiously, while the remark, “Tom's an ass,” + expressed the emotions of the father. He was a corpulent man, with a gift + for sly chaffing, which to the end of his life he exercised in his + intercourse with his son, a little pityingly, as if upon a half-witted + person. + </p> + <p> + MacWhirr's visits to his home were necessarily rare, and in the course of + years he despatched other letters to his parents, informing them of his + successive promotions and of his movements upon the vast earth. In these + missives could be found sentences like this: “The heat here is very + great.” Or: “On Christmas day at 4 P. M. we fell in with some icebergs.” + The old people ultimately became acquainted with a good many names of + ships, and with the names of the skippers who commanded them—with + the names of Scots and English shipowners—with the names of seas, + oceans, straits, promontories—with outlandish names of lumber-ports, + of rice-ports, of cotton-ports—with the names of islands—with + the name of their son's young woman. She was called Lucy. It did not + suggest itself to him to mention whether he thought the name pretty. And + then they died. + </p> + <p> + The great day of MacWhirr's marriage came in due course, following shortly + upon the great day when he got his first command. + </p> + <p> + All these events had taken place many years before the morning when, in + the chart-room of the steamer Nan-Shan, he stood confronted by the fall of + a barometer he had no reason to distrust. The fall—taking into + account the excellence of the instrument, the time of the year, and the + ship's position on the terrestrial globe—was of a nature ominously + prophetic; but the red face of the man betrayed no sort of inward + disturbance. Omens were as nothing to him, and he was unable to discover + the message of a prophecy till the fulfilment had brought it home to his + very door. “That's a fall, and no mistake,” he thought. “There must be + some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about.” + </p> + <p> + The Nan-Shan was on her way from the southward to the treaty port of + Fu-chau, with some cargo in her lower holds, and two hundred Chinese + coolies returning to their village homes in the province of Fo-kien, after + a few years of work in various tropical colonies. The morning was fine, + the oily sea heaved without a sparkle, and there was a queer white misty + patch in the sky like a halo of the sun. The fore-deck, packed with + Chinamen, was full of sombre clothing, yellow faces, and pigtails, + sprinkled over with a good many naked shoulders, for there was no wind, + and the heat was close. The coolies lounged, talked, smoked, or stared + over the rail; some, drawing water over the side, sluiced each other; a + few slept on hatches, while several small parties of six sat on their + heels surrounding iron trays with plates of rice and tiny teacups; and + every single Celestial of them was carrying with him all he had in the + world—a wooden chest with a ringing lock and brass on the corners, + containing the savings of his labours: some clothes of ceremony, sticks of + incense, a little opium maybe, bits of nameless rubbish of conventional + value, and a small hoard of silver dollars, toiled for in coal lighters, + won in gambling-houses or in petty trading, grubbed out of earth, sweated + out in mines, on railway lines, in deadly jungle, under heavy burdens—amassed + patiently, guarded with care, cherished fiercely. + </p> + <p> + A cross swell had set in from the direction of Formosa Channel about ten + o'clock, without disturbing these passengers much, because the Nan-Shan, + with her flat bottom, rolling chocks on bilges, and great breadth of beam, + had the reputation of an exceptionally steady ship in a sea-way. Mr. + Jukes, in moments of expansion on shore, would proclaim loudly that the + “old girl was as good as she was pretty.” It would never have occurred to + Captain MacWhirr to express his favourable opinion so loud or in terms so + fanciful. + </p> + <p> + She was a good ship, undoubtedly, and not old either. She had been built + in Dumbarton less than three years before, to the order of a firm of + merchants in Siam—Messrs. Sigg and Son. When she lay afloat, + finished in every detail and ready to take up the work of her life, the + builders contemplated her with pride. + </p> + <p> + “Sigg has asked us for a reliable skipper to take her out,” remarked one + of the partners; and the other, after reflecting for a while, said: “I + think MacWhirr is ashore just at present.” “Is he? Then wire him at once. + He's the very man,” declared the senior, without a moment's hesitation. + </p> + <p> + Next morning MacWhirr stood before them unperturbed, having travelled from + London by the midnight express after a sudden but undemonstrative parting + with his wife. She was the daughter of a superior couple who had seen + better days. + </p> + <p> + “We had better be going together over the ship, Captain,” said the senior + partner; and the three men started to view the perfections of the Nan-Shan + from stem to stern, and from her keelson to the trucks of her two stumpy + pole-masts. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr had begun by taking off his coat, which he hung on the + end of a steam windless embodying all the latest improvements. + </p> + <p> + “My uncle wrote of you favourably by yesterday's mail to our good friends—Messrs. + Sigg, you know—and doubtless they'll continue you out there in + command,” said the junior partner. “You'll be able to boast of being in + charge of the handiest boat of her size on the coast of China, Captain,” + he added. + </p> + <p> + “Have you? Thank 'ee,” mumbled vaguely MacWhirr, to whom the view of a + distant eventuality could appeal no more than the beauty of a wide + landscape to a purblind tourist; and his eyes happening at the moment to + be at rest upon the lock of the cabin door, he walked up to it, full of + purpose, and began to rattle the handle vigorously, while he observed, in + his low, earnest voice, “You can't trust the workmen nowadays. A brand-new + lock, and it won't act at all. Stuck fast. See? See?” + </p> + <p> + As soon as they found themselves alone in their office across the yard: + “You praised that fellow up to Sigg. What is it you see in him?” asked the + nephew, with faint contempt. + </p> + <p> + “I admit he has nothing of your fancy skipper about him, if that's what + you mean,” said the elder man, curtly. “Is the foreman of the joiners on + the Nan-Shan outside? . . . Come in, Bates. How is it that you let Tait's + people put us off with a defective lock on the cabin door? The Captain + could see directly he set eye on it. Have it replaced at once. The little + straws, Bates . . . the little straws. . . .” + </p> + <p> + The lock was replaced accordingly, and a few days afterwards the Nan-Shan + steamed out to the East, without MacWhirr having offered any further + remark as to her fittings, or having been heard to utter a single word + hinting at pride in his ship, gratitude for his appointment, or + satisfaction at his prospects. + </p> + <p> + With a temperament neither loquacious nor taciturn he found very little + occasion to talk. There were matters of duty, of course—directions, + orders, and so on; but the past being to his mind done with, and the + future not there yet, the more general actualities of the day required no + comment—because facts can speak for themselves with overwhelming + precision. + </p> + <p> + Old Mr. Sigg liked a man of few words, and one that “you could be sure + would not try to improve upon his instructions.” MacWhirr satisfying these + requirements, was continued in command of the Nan-Shan, and applied + himself to the careful navigation of his ship in the China seas. She had + come out on a British register, but after some time Messrs. Sigg judged it + expedient to transfer her to the Siamese flag. + </p> + <p> + At the news of the contemplated transfer Jukes grew restless, as if under + a sense of personal affront. He went about grumbling to himself, and + uttering short scornful laughs. “Fancy having a ridiculous Noah's Ark + elephant in the ensign of one's ship,” he said once at the engine-room + door. “Dash me if I can stand it: I'll throw up the billet. Don't it make + you sick, Mr. Rout?” The chief engineer only cleared his throat with the + air of a man who knows the value of a good billet. + </p> + <p> + The first morning the new flag floated over the stern of the Nan-Shan + Jukes stood looking at it bitterly from the bridge. He struggled with his + feelings for a while, and then remarked, “Queer flag for a man to sail + under, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter with the flag?” inquired Captain MacWhirr. “Seems all + right to me.” And he walked across to the end of the bridge to have a good + look. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it looks queer to me,” burst out Jukes, greatly exasperated, and + flung off the bridge. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr was amazed at these manners. After a while he stepped + quietly into the chart-room, and opened his International Signal Code-book + at the plate where the flags of all the nations are correctly figured in + gaudy rows. He ran his finger over them, and when he came to Siam he + contemplated with great attention the red field and the white elephant. + Nothing could be more simple; but to make sure he brought the book out on + the bridge for the purpose of comparing the coloured drawing with the real + thing at the flagstaff astern. When next Jukes, who was carrying on the + duty that day with a sort of suppressed fierceness, happened on the + bridge, his commander observed: + </p> + <p> + “There's nothing amiss with that flag.” + </p> + <p> + “Isn't there?” mumbled Jukes, falling on his knees before a deck-locker + and jerking therefrom viciously a spare lead-line. + </p> + <p> + “No. I looked up the book. Length twice the breadth and the elephant + exactly in the middle. I thought the people ashore would know how to make + the local flag. Stands to reason. You were wrong, Jukes. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “Well, sir,” began Jukes, getting up excitedly, “all I can say—” He + fumbled for the end of the coil of line with trembling hands. + </p> + <p> + “That's all right.” Captain MacWhirr soothed him, sitting heavily on a + little canvas folding-stool he greatly affected. “All you have to do is to + take care they don't hoist the elephant upside-down before they get quite + used to it.” + </p> + <p> + Jukes flung the new lead-line over on the fore-deck with a loud “Here you + are, bo'ss'en—don't forget to wet it thoroughly,” and turned with + immense resolution towards his commander; but Captain MacWhirr spread his + elbows on the bridge-rail comfortably. + </p> + <p> + “Because it would be, I suppose, understood as a signal of distress,” he + went on. “What do you think? That elephant there, I take it, stands for + something in the nature of the Union Jack in the flag. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “Does it!” yelled Jukes, so that every head on the Nan-Shan's decks looked + towards the bridge. Then he sighed, and with sudden resignation: “It would + certainly be a dam' distressful sight,” he said, meekly. + </p> + <p> + Later in the day he accosted the chief engineer with a confidential, + “Here, let me tell you the old man's latest.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Solomon Rout (frequently alluded to as Long Sol, Old Sol, or Father + Rout), from finding himself almost invariably the tallest man on board + every ship he joined, had acquired the habit of a stooping, leisurely + condescension. His hair was scant and sandy, his flat cheeks were pale, + his bony wrists and long scholarly hands were pale, too, as though he had + lived all his life in the shade. + </p> + <p> + He smiled from on high at Jukes, and went on smoking and glancing about + quietly, in the manner of a kind uncle lending an ear to the tale of an + excited schoolboy. Then, greatly amused but impassive, he asked: + </p> + <p> + “And did you throw up the billet?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” cried Jukes, raising a weary, discouraged voice above the harsh buzz + of the Nan-Shan's friction winches. All of them were hard at work, + snatching slings of cargo, high up, to the end of long derricks, only, as + it seemed, to let them rip down recklessly by the run. The cargo chains + groaned in the gins, clinked on coamings, rattled over the side; and the + whole ship quivered, with her long gray flanks smoking in wreaths of + steam. “No,” cried Jukes, “I didn't. What's the good? I might just as well + fling my resignation at this bulkhead. I don't believe you can make a man + like that understand anything. He simply knocks me over.” + </p> + <p> + At that moment Captain MacWhirr, back from the shore, crossed the deck, + umbrella in hand, escorted by a mournful, self-possessed Chinaman, walking + behind in paper-soled silk shoes, and who also carried an umbrella. + </p> + <p> + The master of the Nan-Shan, speaking just audibly and gazing at his boots + as his manner was, remarked that it would be necessary to call at Fu-chau + this trip, and desired Mr. Rout to have steam up to-morrow afternoon at + one o'clock sharp. He pushed back his hat to wipe his forehead, observing + at the same time that he hated going ashore anyhow; while overtopping him + Mr. Rout, without deigning a word, smoked austerely, nursing his right + elbow in the palm of his left hand. Then Jukes was directed in the same + subdued voice to keep the forward 'tween-deck clear of cargo. Two hundred + coolies were going to be put down there. The Bun Hin Company were sending + that lot home. Twenty-five bags of rice would be coming off in a sampan + directly, for stores. All seven-years'-men they were, said Captain + MacWhirr, with a camphor-wood chest to every man. The carpenter should be + set to work nailing three-inch battens along the deck below, fore and aft, + to keep these boxes from shifting in a sea-way. Jukes had better look to + it at once. “D'ye hear, Jukes?” This chinaman here was coming with the + ship as far as Fu-chau—a sort of interpreter he would be. Bun Hin's + clerk he was, and wanted to have a look at the space. Jukes had better + take him forward. “D'ye hear, Jukes?” + </p> + <p> + Jukes took care to punctuate these instructions in proper places with the + obligatory “Yes, sir,” ejaculated without enthusiasm. His brusque “Come + along, John; make look see” set the Chinaman in motion at his heels. + </p> + <p> + “Wanchee look see, all same look see can do,” said Jukes, who having no + talent for foreign languages mangled the very pidgin-English cruelly. He + pointed at the open hatch. “Catchee number one piecie place to sleep in. + Eh?” + </p> + <p> + He was gruff, as became his racial superiority, but not unfriendly. The + Chinaman, gazing sad and speechless into the darkness of the hatchway, + seemed to stand at the head of a yawning grave. + </p> + <p> + “No catchee rain down there—savee?” pointed out Jukes. “Suppose + all'ee same fine weather, one piecie coolie-man come topside,” he pursued, + warming up imaginatively. “Make so—Phooooo!” He expanded his chest + and blew out his cheeks. “Savee, John? Breathe—fresh air. Good. Eh? + Washee him piecie pants, chow-chow top-side—see, John?” + </p> + <p> + With his mouth and hands he made exuberant motions of eating rice and + washing clothes; and the Chinaman, who concealed his distrust of this + pantomime under a collected demeanour tinged by a gentle and refined + melancholy, glanced out of his almond eyes from Jukes to the hatch and + back again. “Velly good,” he murmured, in a disconsolate undertone, and + hastened smoothly along the decks, dodging obstacles in his course. He + disappeared, ducking low under a sling of ten dirty gunny-bags full of + some costly merchandise and exhaling a repulsive smell. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr meantime had gone on the bridge, and into the chart-room, + where a letter, commenced two days before, awaited termination. These long + letters began with the words, “My darling wife,” and the steward, between + the scrubbing of the floors and the dusting of chronometer-boxes, snatched + at every opportunity to read them. They interested him much more than they + possibly could the woman for whose eye they were intended; and this for + the reason that they related in minute detail each successive trip of the + Nan-Shan. + </p> + <p> + Her master, faithful to facts, which alone his consciousness reflected, + would set them down with painstaking care upon many pages. The house in a + northern suburb to which these pages were addressed had a bit of garden + before the bow-windows, a deep porch of good appearance, coloured glass + with imitation lead frame in the front door. He paid five-and-forty pounds + a year for it, and did not think the rent too high, because Mrs. MacWhirr + (a pretentious person with a scraggy neck and a disdainful manner) was + admittedly ladylike, and in the neighbourhood considered as “quite + superior.” The only secret of her life was her abject terror of the time + when her husband would come home to stay for good. Under the same roof + there dwelt also a daughter called Lydia and a son, Tom. These two were + but slightly acquainted with their father. Mainly, they knew him as a rare + but privileged visitor, who of an evening smoked his pipe in the + dining-room and slept in the house. The lanky girl, upon the whole, was + rather ashamed of him; the boy was frankly and utterly indifferent in a + straightforward, delightful, unaffected way manly boys have. + </p> + <p> + And Captain MacWhirr wrote home from the coast of China twelve times every + year, desiring quaintly to be “remembered to the children,” and + subscribing himself “your loving husband,” as calmly as if the words so + long used by so many men were, apart from their shape, worn-out things, + and of a faded meaning. + </p> + <p> + The China seas north and south are narrow seas. They are seas full of + every-day, eloquent facts, such as islands, sand-banks, reefs, swift and + changeable currents—tangled facts that nevertheless speak to a + seaman in clear and definite language. Their speech appealed to Captain + MacWhirr's sense of realities so forcibly that he had given up his + state-room below and practically lived all his days on the bridge of his + ship, often having his meals sent up, and sleeping at night in the + chart-room. And he indited there his home letters. Each of them, without + exception, contained the phrase, “The weather has been very fine this + trip,” or some other form of a statement to that effect. And this + statement, too, in its wonderful persistence, was of the same perfect + accuracy as all the others they contained. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rout likewise wrote letters; only no one on board knew how chatty he + could be pen in hand, because the chief engineer had enough imagination to + keep his desk locked. His wife relished his style greatly. They were a + childless couple, and Mrs. Rout, a big, high-bosomed, jolly woman of + forty, shared with Mr. Rout's toothless and venerable mother a little + cottage near Teddington. She would run over her correspondence, at + breakfast, with lively eyes, and scream out interesting passages in a + joyous voice at the deaf old lady, prefacing each extract by the warning + shout, “Solomon says!” She had the trick of firing off Solomon's + utterances also upon strangers, astonishing them easily by the unfamiliar + text and the unexpectedly jocular vein of these quotations. On the day the + new curate called for the first time at the cottage, she found occasion to + remark, “As Solomon says: 'the engineers that go down to the sea in ships + behold the wonders of sailor nature';” when a change in the visitor's + countenance made her stop and stare. + </p> + <p> + “Solomon. . . . Oh! . . . Mrs. Rout,” stuttered the young man, very red in + the face, “I must say . . . I don't. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “He's my husband,” she announced in a great shout, throwing herself back + in the chair. Perceiving the joke, she laughed immoderately with a + handkerchief to her eyes, while he sat wearing a forced smile, and, from + his inexperience of jolly women, fully persuaded that she must be + deplorably insane. They were excellent friends afterwards; for, absolving + her from irreverent intention, he came to think she was a very worthy + person indeed; and he learned in time to receive without flinching other + scraps of Solomon's wisdom. + </p> + <p> + “For my part,” Solomon was reported by his wife to have said once, “give + me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. There is a way to take a + fool; but a rogue is smart and slippery.” This was an airy generalization + drawn from the particular case of Captain MacWhirr's honesty, which, in + itself, had the heavy obviousness of a lump of clay. On the other hand, + Mr. Jukes, unable to generalize, unmarried, and unengaged, was in the + habit of opening his heart after another fashion to an old chum and former + shipmate, actually serving as second officer on board an Atlantic liner. + </p> + <p> + First of all he would insist upon the advantages of the Eastern trade, + hinting at its superiority to the Western ocean service. He extolled the + sky, the seas, the ships, and the easy life of the Far East. The Nan-Shan, + he affirmed, was second to none as a sea-boat. + </p> + <p> + “We have no brass-bound uniforms, but then we are like brothers here,” he + wrote. “We all mess together and live like fighting-cocks. . . . All the + chaps of the black-squad are as decent as they make that kind, and old + Sol, the Chief, is a dry stick. We are good friends. As to our old man, + you could not find a quieter skipper. Sometimes you would think he hadn't + sense enough to see anything wrong. And yet it isn't that. Can't be. He + has been in command for a good few years now. He doesn't do anything + actually foolish, and gets his ship along all right without worrying + anybody. I believe he hasn't brains enough to enjoy kicking up a row. I + don't take advantage of him. I would scorn it. Outside the routine of duty + he doesn't seem to understand more than half of what you tell him. We get + a laugh out of this at times; but it is dull, too, to be with a man like + this—in the long-run. Old Sol says he hasn't much conversation. + Conversation! O Lord! He never talks. The other day I had been yarning + under the bridge with one of the engineers, and he must have heard us. + When I came up to take my watch, he steps out of the chart-room and has a + good look all round, peeps over at the sidelights, glances at the compass, + squints upward at the stars. That's his regular performance. By-and-by he + says: 'Was that you talking just now in the port alleyway?' 'Yes, sir.' + 'With the third engineer?' 'Yes, sir.' He walks off to starboard, and sits + under the dodger on a little campstool of his, and for half an hour + perhaps he makes no sound, except that I heard him sneeze once. Then after + a while I hear him getting up over there, and he strolls across to port, + where I was. 'I can't understand what you can find to talk about,' says + he. 'Two solid hours. I am not blaming you. I see people ashore at it all + day long, and then in the evening they sit down and keep at it over the + drinks. Must be saying the same things over and over again. I can't + understand.' + </p> + <p> + “Did you ever hear anything like that? And he was so patient about it. It + made me quite sorry for him. But he is exasperating, too, sometimes. Of + course one would not do anything to vex him even if it were worth while. + But it isn't. He's so jolly innocent that if you were to put your thumb to + your nose and wave your fingers at him he would only wonder gravely to + himself what got into you. He told me once quite simply that he found it + very difficult to make out what made people always act so queerly. He's + too dense to trouble about, and that's the truth.” + </p> + <p> + Thus wrote Mr. Jukes to his chum in the Western ocean trade, out of the + fulness of his heart and the liveliness of his fancy. + </p> + <p> + He had expressed his honest opinion. It was not worthwhile trying to + impress a man of that sort. If the world had been full of such men, life + would have probably appeared to Jukes an unentertaining and unprofitable + business. He was not alone in his opinion. The sea itself, as if sharing + Mr. Jukes' good-natured forbearance, had never put itself out to startle + the silent man, who seldom looked up, and wandered innocently over the + waters with the only visible purpose of getting food, raiment, and + house-room for three people ashore. Dirty weather he had known, of course. + He had been made wet, uncomfortable, tired in the usual way, felt at the + time and presently forgotten. So that upon the whole he had been justified + in reporting fine weather at home. But he had never been given a glimpse + of immeasurable strength and of immoderate wrath, the wrath that passes + exhausted but never appeased—the wrath and fury of the passionate + sea. He knew it existed, as we know that crime and abominations exist; he + had heard of it as a peaceable citizen in a town hears of battles, + famines, and floods, and yet knows nothing of what these things mean—though, + indeed, he may have been mixed up in a street row, have gone without his + dinner once, or been soaked to the skin in a shower. Captain MacWhirr had + sailed over the surface of the oceans as some men go skimming over the + years of existence to sink gently into a placid grave, ignorant of life to + the last, without ever having been made to see all it may contain of + perfidy, of violence, and of terror. There are on sea and land such men + thus fortunate—or thus disdained by destiny or by the sea. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> + <p> + Observing the steady fall of the barometer, Captain MacWhirr thought, + “There's some dirty weather knocking about.” This is precisely what he + thought. He had had an experience of moderately dirty weather—the + term dirty as applied to the weather implying only moderate discomfort to + the seaman. Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the end + of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic disturbance + of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information under the + simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had no experience + of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply comprehension. The + wisdom of his country had pronounced by means of an Act of Parliament that + before he could be considered as fit to take charge of a ship he should be + able to answer certain simple questions on the subject of circular storms + such as hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons; and apparently he had answered + them, since he was now in command of the Nan-Shan in the China seas during + the season of typhoons. But if he had answered he remembered nothing of + it. He was, however, conscious of being made uncomfortable by the clammy + heat. He came out on the bridge, and found no relief to this oppression. + The air seemed thick. He gasped like a fish, and began to believe himself + greatly out of sorts. + </p> + <p> + The Nan-Shan was ploughing a vanishing furrow upon the circle of the sea + that had the surface and the shimmer of an undulating piece of gray silk. + The sun, pale and without rays, poured down leaden heat in a strangely + indecisive light, and the Chinamen were lying prostrate about the decks. + Their bloodless, pinched, yellow faces were like the faces of bilious + invalids. Captain MacWhirr noticed two of them especially, stretched out + on their backs below the bridge. As soon as they had closed their eyes + they seemed dead. Three others, however, were quarrelling barbarously away + forward; and one big fellow, half naked, with herculean shoulders, was + hanging limply over a winch; another, sitting on the deck, his knees up + and his head drooping sideways in a girlish attitude, was plaiting his + pigtail with infinite languor depicted in his whole person and in the very + movement of his fingers. The smoke struggled with difficulty out of the + funnel, and instead of streaming away spread itself out like an infernal + sort of cloud, smelling of sulphur and raining soot all over the decks. + </p> + <p> + “What the devil are you doing there, Mr. Jukes?” asked Captain MacWhirr. + </p> + <p> + This unusual form of address, though mumbled rather than spoken, caused + the body of Mr. Jukes to start as though it had been prodded under the + fifth rib. He had had a low bench brought on the bridge, and sitting on + it, with a length of rope curled about his feet and a piece of canvas + stretched over his knees, was pushing a sail-needle vigorously. He looked + up, and his surprise gave to his eyes an expression of innocence and + candour. + </p> + <p> + “I am only roping some of that new set of bags we made last trip for + whipping up coals,” he remonstrated, gently. “We shall want them for the + next coaling, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “What became of the others?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, worn out of course, sir.” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr, after glaring down irresolutely at his chief mate, + disclosed the gloomy and cynical conviction that more than half of them + had been lost overboard, “if only the truth was known,” and retired to the + other end of the bridge. Jukes, exasperated by this unprovoked attack, + broke the needle at the second stitch, and dropping his work got up and + cursed the heat in a violent undertone. + </p> + <p> + The propeller thumped, the three Chinamen forward had given up squabbling + very suddenly, and the one who had been plaiting his tail clasped his legs + and stared dejectedly over his knees. The lurid sunshine cast faint and + sickly shadows. The swell ran higher and swifter every moment, and the + ship lurched heavily in the smooth, deep hollows of the sea. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder where that beastly swell comes from,” said Jukes aloud, + recovering himself after a stagger. + </p> + <p> + “North-east,” grunted the literal MacWhirr, from his side of the bridge. + “There's some dirty weather knocking about. Go and look at the glass.” + </p> + <p> + When Jukes came out of the chart-room, the cast of his countenance had + changed to thoughtfulness and concern. He caught hold of the bridge-rail + and stared ahead. + </p> + <p> + The temperature in the engine-room had gone up to a hundred and seventeen + degrees. Irritated voices were ascending through the skylight and through + the fiddle of the stokehold in a harsh and resonant uproar, mingled with + angry clangs and scrapes of metal, as if men with limbs of iron and + throats of bronze had been quarrelling down there. The second engineer was + falling foul of the stokers for letting the steam go down. He was a man + with arms like a blacksmith, and generally feared; but that afternoon the + stokers were answering him back recklessly, and slammed the furnace doors + with the fury of despair. Then the noise ceased suddenly, and the second + engineer appeared, emerging out of the stokehold streaked with grime and + soaking wet like a chimney-sweep coming out of a well. As soon as his head + was clear of the fiddle he began to scold Jukes for not trimming properly + the stokehold ventilators; and in answer Jukes made with his hands + deprecatory soothing signs meaning: “No wind—can't be helped—you + can see for yourself.” But the other wouldn't hear reason. His teeth + flashed angrily in his dirty face. He didn't mind, he said, the trouble of + punching their blanked heads down there, blank his soul, but did the + condemned sailors think you could keep steam up in the God-forsaken + boilers simply by knocking the blanked stokers about? No, by George! You + had to get some draught, too—may he be everlastingly blanked for a + swab-headed deck-hand if you didn't! And the chief, too, rampaging before + the steam-gauge and carrying on like a lunatic up and down the engine-room + ever since noon. What did Jukes think he was stuck up there for, if he + couldn't get one of his decayed, good-for-nothing deck-cripples to turn + the ventilators to the wind? + </p> + <p> + The relations of the “engine-room” and the “deck” of the Nan-Shan were, as + is known, of a brotherly nature; therefore Jukes leaned over and begged + the other in a restrained tone not to make a disgusting ass of himself; + the skipper was on the other side of the bridge. But the second declared + mutinously that he didn't care a rap who was on the other side of the + bridge, and Jukes, passing in a flash from lofty disapproval into a state + of exaltation, invited him in unflattering terms to come up and twist the + beastly things to please himself, and catch such wind as a donkey of his + sort could find. The second rushed up to the fray. He flung himself at the + port ventilator as though he meant to tear it out bodily and toss it + overboard. All he did was to move the cowl round a few inches, with an + enormous expenditure of force, and seemed spent in the effort. He leaned + against the back of the wheelhouse, and Jukes walked up to him. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Heavens!” ejaculated the engineer in a feeble voice. He lifted his + eyes to the sky, and then let his glassy stare descend to meet the horizon + that, tilting up to an angle of forty degrees, seemed to hang on a slant + for a while and settled down slowly. “Heavens! Phew! What's up, anyhow?” + </p> + <p> + Jukes, straddling his long legs like a pair of compasses, put on an air of + superiority. “We're going to catch it this time,” he said. “The barometer + is tumbling down like anything, Harry. And you trying to kick up that + silly row. . . .” + </p> + <p> + The word “barometer” seemed to revive the second engineer's mad animosity. + Collecting afresh all his energies, he directed Jukes in a low and brutal + tone to shove the unmentionable instrument down his gory throat. Who cared + for his crimson barometer? It was the steam—the steam—that was + going down; and what between the firemen going faint and the chief going + silly, it was worse than a dog's life for him; he didn't care a tinker's + curse how soon the whole show was blown out of the water. He seemed on the + point of having a cry, but after regaining his breath he muttered darkly, + “I'll faint them,” and dashed off. He stopped upon the fiddle long enough + to shake his fist at the unnatural daylight, and dropped into the dark + hole with a whoop. + </p> + <p> + When Jukes turned, his eyes fell upon the rounded back and the big red + ears of Captain MacWhirr, who had come across. He did not look at his + chief officer, but said at once, “That's a very violent man, that second + engineer.” + </p> + <p> + “Jolly good second, anyhow,” grunted Jukes. “They can't keep up steam,” he + added, rapidly, and made a grab at the rail against the coming lurch. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr, unprepared, took a run and brought himself up with a + jerk by an awning stanchion. + </p> + <p> + “A profane man,” he said, obstinately. “If this goes on, I'll have to get + rid of him the first chance.” + </p> + <p> + “It's the heat,” said Jukes. “The weather's awful. It would make a saint + swear. Even up here I feel exactly as if I had my head tied up in a + woollen blanket.” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr looked up. “D'ye mean to say, Mr. Jukes, you ever had + your head tied up in a blanket? What was that for?” + </p> + <p> + “It's a manner of speaking, sir,” said Jukes, stolidly. + </p> + <p> + “Some of you fellows do go on! What's that about saints swearing? I wish + you wouldn't talk so wild. What sort of saint would that be that would + swear? No more saint than yourself, I expect. And what's a blanket got to + do with it—or the weather either. . . . The heat does not make me + swear—does it? It's filthy bad temper. That's what it is. And what's + the good of your talking like this?” + </p> + <p> + Thus Captain MacWhirr expostulated against the use of images in speech, + and at the end electrified Jukes by a contemptuous snort, followed by + words of passion and resentment: “Damme! I'll fire him out of the ship if + he don't look out.” + </p> + <p> + And Jukes, incorrigible, thought: “Goodness me! Somebody's put a new + inside to my old man. Here's temper, if you like. Of course it's the + weather; what else? It would make an angel quarrelsome—let alone a + saint.” + </p> + <p> + All the Chinamen on deck appeared at their last gasp. + </p> + <p> + At its setting the sun had a diminished diameter and an expiring brown, + rayless glow, as if millions of centuries elapsing since the morning had + brought it near its end. A dense bank of cloud became visible to the + northward; it had a sinister dark olive tint, and lay low and motionless + upon the sea, resembling a solid obstacle in the path of the ship. She + went floundering towards it like an exhausted creature driven to its + death. The coppery twilight retired slowly, and the darkness brought out + overhead a swarm of unsteady, big stars, that, as if blown upon, flickered + exceedingly and seemed to hang very near the earth. At eight o'clock Jukes + went into the chart-room to write up the ship's log. + </p> + <p> + He copies neatly out of the rough-book the number of miles, the course of + the ship, and in the column for “wind” scrawled the word “calm” from top + to bottom of the eight hours since noon. He was exasperated by the + continuous, monotonous rolling of the ship. The heavy inkstand would slide + away in a manner that suggested perverse intelligence in dodging the pen. + Having written in the large space under the head of “Remarks” “Heat very + oppressive,” he stuck the end of the penholder in his teeth, pipe fashion, + and mopped his face carefully. + </p> + <p> + “Ship rolling heavily in a high cross swell,” he began again, and + commented to himself, “Heavily is no word for it.” Then he wrote: “Sunset + threatening, with a low bank of clouds to N. and E. Sky clear overhead.” + </p> + <p> + Sprawling over the table with arrested pen, he glanced out of the door, + and in that frame of his vision he saw all the stars flying upwards + between the teakwood jambs on a black sky. The whole lot took flight + together and disappeared, leaving only a blackness flecked with white + flashes, for the sea was as black as the sky and speckled with foam afar. + The stars that had flown to the roll came back on the return swing of the + ship, rushing downwards in their glittering multitude, not of fiery + points, but enlarged to tiny discs brilliant with a clear wet sheen. + </p> + <p> + Jukes watched the flying big stars for a moment, and then wrote: “8 P.M. + Swell increasing. Ship labouring and taking water on her decks. Battened + down the coolies for the night. Barometer still falling.” He paused, and + thought to himself, “Perhaps nothing whatever'll come of it.” And then he + closed resolutely his entries: “Every appearance of a typhoon coming on.” + </p> + <p> + On going out he had to stand aside, and Captain MacWhirr strode over the + doorstep without saying a word or making a sign. + </p> + <p> + “Shut the door, Mr. Jukes, will you?” he cried from within. + </p> + <p> + Jukes turned back to do so, muttering ironically: “Afraid to catch cold, I + suppose.” It was his watch below, but he yearned for communion with his + kind; and he remarked cheerily to the second mate: “Doesn't look so bad, + after all—does it?” + </p> + <p> + The second mate was marching to and fro on the bridge, tripping down with + small steps one moment, and the next climbing with difficulty the shifting + slope of the deck. At the sound of Jukes' voice he stood still, facing + forward, but made no reply. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo! That's a heavy one,” said Jukes, swaying to meet the long roll + till his lowered hand touched the planks. This time the second mate made + in his throat a noise of an unfriendly nature. + </p> + <p> + He was an oldish, shabby little fellow, with bad teeth and no hair on his + face. He had been shipped in a hurry in Shanghai, that trip when the + second officer brought from home had delayed the ship three hours in port + by contriving (in some manner Captain MacWhirr could never understand) to + fall overboard into an empty coal-lighter lying alongside, and had to be + sent ashore to the hospital with concussion of the brain and a broken limb + or two. + </p> + <p> + Jukes was not discouraged by the unsympathetic sound. “The Chinamen must + be having a lovely time of it down there,” he said. “It's lucky for them + the old girl has the easiest roll of any ship I've ever been in. There + now! This one wasn't so bad.” + </p> + <p> + “You wait,” snarled the second mate. + </p> + <p> + With his sharp nose, red at the tip, and his thin pinched lips, he always + looked as though he were raging inwardly; and he was concise in his speech + to the point of rudeness. All his time off duty he spent in his cabin with + the door shut, keeping so still in there that he was supposed to fall + asleep as soon as he had disappeared; but the man who came in to wake him + for his watch on deck would invariably find him with his eyes wide open, + flat on his back in the bunk, and glaring irritably from a soiled pillow. + He never wrote any letters, did not seem to hope for news from anywhere; + and though he had been heard once to mention West Hartlepool, it was with + extreme bitterness, and only in connection with the extortionate charges + of a boarding-house. He was one of those men who are picked up at need in + the ports of the world. They are competent enough, appear hopelessly hard + up, show no evidence of any sort of vice, and carry about them all the + signs of manifest failure. They come aboard on an emergency, care for no + ship afloat, live in their own atmosphere of casual connection amongst + their shipmates who know nothing of them, and make up their minds to leave + at inconvenient times. They clear out with no words of leavetaking in some + God-forsaken port other men would fear to be stranded in, and go ashore in + company of a shabby sea-chest, corded like a treasure-box, and with an air + of shaking the ship's dust off their feet. + </p> + <p> + “You wait,” he repeated, balanced in great swings with his back to Jukes, + motionless and implacable. + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to say we are going to catch it hot?” asked Jukes with boyish + interest. + </p> + <p> + “Say? . . . I say nothing. You don't catch me,” snapped the little second + mate, with a mixture of pride, scorn, and cunning, as if Jukes' question + had been a trap cleverly detected. “Oh, no! None of you here shall make a + fool of me if I know it,” he mumbled to himself. + </p> + <p> + Jukes reflected rapidly that this second mate was a mean little beast, and + in his heart he wished poor Jack Allen had never smashed himself up in the + coal-lighter. The far-off blackness ahead of the ship was like another + night seen through the starry night of the earth—the starless night + of the immensities beyond the created universe, revealed in its appalling + stillness through a low fissure in the glittering sphere of which the + earth is the kernel. + </p> + <p> + “Whatever there might be about,” said Jukes, “we are steaming straight + into it.” + </p> + <p> + “You've said it,” caught up the second mate, always with his back to + Jukes. “You've said it, mind—not I.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, go to Jericho!” said Jukes, frankly; and the other emitted a + triumphant little chuckle. + </p> + <p> + “You've said it,” he repeated. + </p> + <p> + “And what of that?” + </p> + <p> + “I've known some real good men get into trouble with their skippers for + saying a dam' sight less,” answered the second mate feverishly. “Oh, no! + You don't catch me.” + </p> + <p> + “You seem deucedly anxious not to give yourself away,” said Jukes, + completely soured by such absurdity. “I wouldn't be afraid to say what I + think.” + </p> + <p> + “Aye, to me! That's no great trick. I am nobody, and well I know it.” + </p> + <p> + The ship, after a pause of comparative steadiness, started upon a series + of rolls, one worse than the other, and for a time Jukes, preserving his + equilibrium, was too busy to open his mouth. As soon as the violent + swinging had quieted down somewhat, he said: “This is a bit too much of a + good thing. Whether anything is coming or not I think she ought to be put + head on to that swell. The old man is just gone in to lie down. Hang me if + I don't speak to him.” + </p> + <p> + But when he opened the door of the chart-room he saw his captain reading a + book. Captain MacWhirr was not lying down: he was standing up with one + hand grasping the edge of the bookshelf and the other holding open before + his face a thick volume. The lamp wriggled in the gimbals, the loosened + books toppled from side to side on the shelf, the long barometer swung in + jerky circles, the table altered its slant every moment. In the midst of + all this stir and movement Captain MacWhirr, holding on, showed his eyes + above the upper edge, and asked, “What's the matter?” + </p> + <p> + “Swell getting worse, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Noticed that in here,” muttered Captain MacWhirr. “Anything wrong?” + </p> + <p> + Jukes, inwardly disconcerted by the seriousness of the eyes looking at him + over the top of the book, produced an embarrassed grin. + </p> + <p> + “Rolling like old boots,” he said, sheepishly. + </p> + <p> + “Aye! Very heavy—very heavy. What do you want?” + </p> + <p> + At this Jukes lost his footing and began to flounder. “I was thinking of + our passengers,” he said, in the manner of a man clutching at a straw. + </p> + <p> + “Passengers?” wondered the Captain, gravely. “What passengers?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, the Chinamen, sir,” explained Jukes, very sick of this conversation. + </p> + <p> + “The Chinamen! Why don't you speak plainly? Couldn't tell what you meant. + Never heard a lot of coolies spoken of as passengers before. Passengers, + indeed! What's come to you?” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr, closing the book on his forefinger, lowered his arm and + looked completely mystified. “Why are you thinking of the Chinamen, Mr. + Jukes?” he inquired. + </p> + <p> + Jukes took a plunge, like a man driven to it. “She's rolling her decks + full of water, sir. Thought you might put her head on perhaps—for a + while. Till this goes down a bit—very soon, I dare say. Head to the + eastward. I never knew a ship roll like this.” + </p> + <p> + He held on in the doorway, and Captain MacWhirr, feeling his grip on the + shelf inadequate, made up his mind to let go in a hurry, and fell heavily + on the couch. + </p> + <p> + “Head to the eastward?” he said, struggling to sit up. “That's more than + four points off her course.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir. Fifty degrees. . . . Would just bring her head far enough round + to meet this. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr was now sitting up. He had not dropped the book, and he + had not lost his place. + </p> + <p> + “To the eastward?” he repeated, with dawning astonishment. “To the . . . + Where do you think we are bound to? You want me to haul a full-powered + steamship four points off her course to make the Chinamen comfortable! + Now, I've heard more than enough of mad things done in the world—but + this. . . . If I didn't know you, Jukes, I would think you were in liquor. + Steer four points off. . . . And what afterwards? Steer four points over + the other way, I suppose, to make the course good. What put it into your + head that I would start to tack a steamer as if she were a sailing-ship?” + </p> + <p> + “Jolly good thing she isn't,” threw in Jukes, with bitter readiness. “She + would have rolled every blessed stick out of her this afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + “Aye! And you just would have had to stand and see them go,” said Captain + MacWhirr, showing a certain animation. “It's a dead calm, isn't it?” + </p> + <p> + “It is, sir. But there's something out of the common coming, for sure.” + </p> + <p> + “Maybe. I suppose you have a notion I should be getting out of the way of + that dirt,” said Captain MacWhirr, speaking with the utmost simplicity of + manner and tone, and fixing the oilcloth on the floor with a heavy stare. + Thus he noticed neither Jukes' discomfiture nor the mixture of vexation + and astonished respect on his face. + </p> + <p> + “Now, here's this book,” he continued with deliberation, slapping his + thigh with the closed volume. “I've been reading the chapter on the storms + there.” + </p> + <p> + This was true. He had been reading the chapter on the storms. When he had + entered the chart-room, it was with no intention of taking the book down. + Some influence in the air—the same influence, probably, that caused + the steward to bring without orders the Captain's sea-boots and oilskin + coat up to the chart-room—had as it were guided his hand to the + shelf; and without taking the time to sit down he had waded with a + conscious effort into the terminology of the subject. He lost himself + amongst advancing semi-circles, left- and right-hand quadrants, the curves + of the tracks, the probable bearing of the centre, the shifts of wind and + the readings of barometer. He tried to bring all these things into a + definite relation to himself, and ended by becoming contemptuously angry + with such a lot of words, and with so much advice, all head-work and + supposition, without a glimmer of certitude. + </p> + <p> + “It's the damnedest thing, Jukes,” he said. “If a fellow was to believe + all that's in there, he would be running most of his time all over the sea + trying to get behind the weather.” + </p> + <p> + Again he slapped his leg with the book; and Jukes opened his mouth, but + said nothing. + </p> + <p> + “Running to get behind the weather! Do you understand that, Mr. Jukes? + It's the maddest thing!” ejaculated Captain MacWhirr, with pauses, gazing + at the floor profoundly. “You would think an old woman had been writing + this. It passes me. If that thing means anything useful, then it means + that I should at once alter the course away, away to the devil somewhere, + and come booming down on Fu-chau from the northward at the tail of this + dirty weather that's supposed to be knocking about in our way. From the + north! Do you understand, Mr. Jukes? Three hundred extra miles to the + distance, and a pretty coal bill to show. I couldn't bring myself to do + that if every word in there was gospel truth, Mr. Jukes. Don't you expect + me. . . .” + </p> + <p> + And Jukes, silent, marvelled at this display of feeling and loquacity. + </p> + <p> + “But the truth is that you don't know if the fellow is right, anyhow. How + can you tell what a gale is made of till you get it? He isn't aboard here, + is he? Very well. Here he says that the centre of them things bears eight + points off the wind; but we haven't got any wind, for all the barometer + falling. Where's his centre now?” + </p> + <p> + “We will get the wind presently,” mumbled Jukes. + </p> + <p> + “Let it come, then,” said Captain MacWhirr, with dignified indignation. + “It's only to let you see, Mr. Jukes, that you don't find everything in + books. All these rules for dodging breezes and circumventing the winds of + heaven, Mr. Jukes, seem to me the maddest thing, when you come to look at + it sensibly.” + </p> + <p> + He raised his eyes, saw Jukes gazing at him dubiously, and tried to + illustrate his meaning. + </p> + <p> + “About as queer as your extraordinary notion of dodging the ship head to + sea, for I don't know how long, to make the Chinamen comfortable; whereas + all we've got to do is to take them to Fu-chau, being timed to get there + before noon on Friday. If the weather delays me—very well. There's + your log-book to talk straight about the weather. But suppose I went + swinging off my course and came in two days late, and they asked me: + 'Where have you been all that time, Captain?' What could I say to that? + 'Went around to dodge the bad weather,' I would say. 'It must've been dam' + bad,' they would say. 'Don't know,' I would have to say; 'I've dodged + clear of it.' See that, Jukes? I have been thinking it all out this + afternoon.” + </p> + <p> + He looked up again in his unseeing, unimaginative way. No one had ever + heard him say so much at one time. Jukes, with his arms open in the + doorway, was like a man invited to behold a miracle. Unbounded wonder was + the intellectual meaning of his eye, while incredulity was seated in his + whole countenance. + </p> + <p> + “A gale is a gale, Mr. Jukes,” resumed the Captain, “and a full-powered + steam-ship has got to face it. There's just so much dirty weather knocking + about the world, and the proper thing is to go through it with none of + what old Captain Wilson of the Melita calls 'storm strategy.' The other + day ashore I heard him hold forth about it to a lot of shipmasters who + came in and sat at a table next to mine. It seemed to me the greatest + nonsense. He was telling them how he outmanoeuvred, I think he said, a + terrific gale, so that it never came nearer than fifty miles to him. A + neat piece of head-work he called it. How he knew there was a terrific + gale fifty miles off beats me altogether. It was like listening to a crazy + man. I would have thought Captain Wilson was old enough to know better.” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr ceased for a moment, then said, “It's your watch below, + Mr. Jukes?” + </p> + <p> + Jukes came to himself with a start. “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Leave orders to call me at the slightest change,” said the Captain. He + reached up to put the book away, and tucked his legs upon the couch. “Shut + the door so that it don't fly open, will you? I can't stand a door + banging. They've put a lot of rubbishy locks into this ship, I must say.” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr closed his eyes. + </p> + <p> + He did so to rest himself. He was tired, and he experienced that state of + mental vacuity which comes at the end of an exhaustive discussion that has + liberated some belief matured in the course of meditative years. He had + indeed been making his confession of faith, had he only known it; and its + effect was to make Jukes, on the other side of the door, stand scratching + his head for a good while. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr opened his eyes. + </p> + <p> + He thought he must have been asleep. What was that loud noise? Wind? Why + had he not been called? The lamp wriggled in its gimbals, the barometer + swung in circles, the table altered its slant every moment; a pair of limp + sea-boots with collapsed tops went sliding past the couch. He put out his + hand instantly, and captured one. + </p> + <p> + Jukes' face appeared in a crack of the door: only his face, very red, with + staring eyes. The flame of the lamp leaped, a piece of paper flew up, a + rush of air enveloped Captain MacWhirr. Beginning to draw on the boot, he + directed an expectant gaze at Jukes' swollen, excited features. + </p> + <p> + “Came on like this,” shouted Jukes, “five minutes ago . . . all of a + sudden.” + </p> + <p> + The head disappeared with a bang, and a heavy splash and patter of drops + swept past the closed door as if a pailful of melted lead had been flung + against the house. A whistling could be heard now upon the deep vibrating + noise outside. The stuffy chart-room seemed as full of draughts as a shed. + Captain MacWhirr collared the other sea-boot on its violent passage along + the floor. He was not flustered, but he could not find at once the opening + for inserting his foot. The shoes he had flung off were scurrying from end + to end of the cabin, gambolling playfully over each other like puppies. As + soon as he stood up he kicked at them viciously, but without effect. + </p> + <p> + He threw himself into the attitude of a lunging fencer, to reach after his + oilskin coat; and afterwards he staggered all over the confined space + while he jerked himself into it. Very grave, straddling his legs far + apart, and stretching his neck, he started to tie deliberately the strings + of his sou'-wester under his chin, with thick fingers that trembled + slightly. He went through all the movements of a woman putting on her + bonnet before a glass, with a strained, listening attention, as though he + had expected every moment to hear the shout of his name in the confused + clamour that had suddenly beset his ship. Its increase filled his ears + while he was getting ready to go out and confront whatever it might mean. + It was tumultuous and very loud—made up of the rush of the wind, the + crashes of the sea, with that prolonged deep vibration of the air, like + the roll of an immense and remote drum beating the charge of the gale. + </p> + <p> + He stood for a moment in the light of the lamp, thick, clumsy, shapeless + in his panoply of combat, vigilant and red-faced. + </p> + <p> + “There's a lot of weight in this,” he muttered. + </p> + <p> + As soon as he attempted to open the door the wind caught it. Clinging to + the handle, he was dragged out over the doorstep, and at once found + himself engaged with the wind in a sort of personal scuffle whose object + was the shutting of that door. At the last moment a tongue of air scurried + in and licked out the flame of the lamp. + </p> + <p> + Ahead of the ship he perceived a great darkness lying upon a multitude of + white flashes; on the starboard beam a few amazing stars drooped, dim and + fitful, above an immense waste of broken seas, as if seen through a mad + drift of smoke. + </p> + <p> + On the bridge a knot of men, indistinct and toiling, were making great + efforts in the light of the wheelhouse windows that shone mistily on their + heads and backs. Suddenly darkness closed upon one pane, then on another. + The voices of the lost group reached him after the manner of men's voices + in a gale, in shreds and fragments of forlorn shouting snatched past the + ear. All at once Jukes appeared at his side, yelling, with his head down. + </p> + <p> + “Watch—put in—wheelhouse shutters—glass—afraid—blow + in.” + </p> + <p> + Jukes heard his commander upbraiding. + </p> + <p> + “This—come—anything—warning—call me.” + </p> + <p> + He tried to explain, with the uproar pressing on his lips. + </p> + <p> + “Light air—remained—bridge—sudden—north-east—could + turn—thought—you—sure—hear.” + </p> + <p> + They had gained the shelter of the weather-cloth, and could converse with + raised voices, as people quarrel. + </p> + <p> + “I got the hands along to cover up all the ventilators. Good job I had + remained on deck. I didn't think you would be asleep, and so . . . What + did you say, sir? What?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing,” cried Captain MacWhirr. “I said—all right.” + </p> + <p> + “By all the powers! We've got it this time,” observed Jukes in a howl. + </p> + <p> + “You haven't altered her course?” inquired Captain MacWhirr, straining his + voice. + </p> + <p> + “No, sir. Certainly not. Wind came out right ahead. And here comes the + head sea.” + </p> + <p> + A plunge of the ship ended in a shock as if she had landed her forefoot + upon something solid. After a moment of stillness a lofty flight of sprays + drove hard with the wind upon their faces. + </p> + <p> + “Keep her at it as long as we can,” shouted Captain MacWhirr. + </p> + <p> + Before Jukes had squeezed the salt water out of his eyes all the stars had + disappeared. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> + <p> + Jukes was as ready a man as any half-dozen young mates that may be caught + by casting a net upon the waters; and though he had been somewhat taken + aback by the startling viciousness of the first squall, he had pulled + himself together on the instant, had called out the hands and had rushed + them along to secure such openings about the deck as had not been already + battened down earlier in the evening. Shouting in his fresh, stentorian + voice, “Jump, boys, and bear a hand!” he led in the work, telling himself + the while that he had “just expected this.” + </p> + <p> + But at the same time he was growing aware that this was rather more than + he had expected. From the first stir of the air felt on his cheek the gale + seemed to take upon itself the accumulated impetus of an avalanche. Heavy + sprays enveloped the Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and instantly in the + midst of her regular rolling she began to jerk and plunge as though she + had gone mad with fright. + </p> + <p> + Jukes thought, “This is no joke.” While he was exchanging explanatory + yells with his captain, a sudden lowering of the darkness came upon the + night, falling before their vision like something palpable. It was as if + the masked lights of the world had been turned down. Jukes was + uncritically glad to have his captain at hand. It relieved him as though + that man had, by simply coming on deck, taken most of the gale's weight + upon his shoulders. Such is the prestige, the privilege, and the burden of + command. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr could expect no relief of that sort from any one on + earth. Such is the loneliness of command. He was trying to see, with that + watchful manner of a seaman who stares into the wind's eye as if into the + eye of an adversary, to penetrate the hidden intention and guess the aim + and force of the thrust. The strong wind swept at him out of a vast + obscurity; he felt under his feet the uneasiness of his ship, and he could + not even discern the shadow of her shape. He wished it were not so; and + very still he waited, feeling stricken by a blind man's helplessness. + </p> + <p> + To be silent was natural to him, dark or shine. Jukes, at his elbow, made + himself heard yelling cheerily in the gusts, “We must have got the worst + of it at once, sir.” A faint burst of lightning quivered all round, as if + flashed into a cavern—into a black and secret chamber of the sea, + with a floor of foaming crests. + </p> + <p> + It unveiled for a sinister, fluttering moment a ragged mass of clouds + hanging low, the lurch of the long outlines of the ship, the black figures + of men caught on the bridge, heads forward, as if petrified in the act of + butting. The darkness palpitated down upon all this, and then the real + thing came at last. + </p> + <p> + It was something formidable and swift, like the sudden smashing of a vial + of wrath. It seemed to explode all round the ship with an overpowering + concussion and a rush of great waters, as if an immense dam had been blown + up to windward. In an instant the men lost touch of each other. This is + the disintegrating power of a great wind: it isolates one from one's kind. + An earthquake, a landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man incidentally, as + it were—without passion. A furious gale attacks him like a personal + enemy, tries to grasp his limbs, fastens upon his mind, seeks to rout his + very spirit out of him. + </p> + <p> + Jukes was driven away from his commander. He fancied himself whirled a + great distance through the air. Everything disappeared—even, for a + moment, his power of thinking; but his hand had found one of the + rail-stanchions. His distress was by no means alleviated by an inclination + to disbelieve the reality of this experience. Though young, he had seen + some bad weather, and had never doubted his ability to imagine the worst; + but this was so much beyond his powers of fancy that it appeared + incompatible with the existence of any ship whatever. He would have been + incredulous about himself in the same way, perhaps, had he not been so + harassed by the necessity of exerting a wrestling effort against a force + trying to tear him away from his hold. Moreover, the conviction of not + being utterly destroyed returned to him through the sensations of being + half-drowned, bestially shaken, and partly choked. + </p> + <p> + It seemed to him he remained there precariously alone with the stanchion + for a long, long time. The rain poured on him, flowed, drove in sheets. He + breathed in gasps; and sometimes the water he swallowed was fresh and + sometimes it was salt. For the most part he kept his eyes shut tight, as + if suspecting his sight might be destroyed in the immense flurry of the + elements. When he ventured to blink hastily, he derived some moral support + from the green gleam of the starboard light shining feebly upon the flight + of rain and sprays. He was actually looking at it when its ray fell upon + the uprearing sea which put it out. He saw the head of the wave topple + over, adding the mite of its crash to the tremendous uproar raging around + him, and almost at the same instant the stanchion was wrenched away from + his embracing arms. After a crushing thump on his back he found himself + suddenly afloat and borne upwards. His first irresistible notion was that + the whole China Sea had climbed on the bridge. Then, more sanely, he + concluded himself gone overboard. All the time he was being tossed, flung, + and rolled in great volumes of water, he kept on repeating mentally, with + the utmost precipitation, the words: “My God! My God! My God! My God!” + </p> + <p> + All at once, in a revolt of misery and despair, he formed the crazy + resolution to get out of that. And he began to thresh about with his arms + and legs. But as soon as he commenced his wretched struggles he discovered + that he had become somehow mixed up with a face, an oilskin coat, + somebody's boots. He clawed ferociously all these things in turn, lost + them, found them again, lost them once more, and finally was himself + caught in the firm clasp of a pair of stout arms. He returned the embrace + closely round a thick solid body. He had found his captain. + </p> + <p> + They tumbled over and over, tightening their hug. Suddenly the water let + them down with a brutal bang; and, stranded against the side of the + wheelhouse, out of breath and bruised, they were left to stagger up in the + wind and hold on where they could. + </p> + <p> + Jukes came out of it rather horrified, as though he had escaped some + unparalleled outrage directed at his feelings. It weakened his faith in + himself. He started shouting aimlessly to the man he could feel near him + in that fiendish blackness, “Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir?” till his + temples seemed ready to burst. And he heard in answer a voice, as if + crying far away, as if screaming to him fretfully from a very great + distance, the one word “Yes!” Other seas swept again over the bridge. He + received them defencelessly right over his bare head, with both his hands + engaged in holding. + </p> + <p> + The motion of the ship was extravagant. Her lurches had an appalling + helplessness: she pitched as if taking a header into a void, and seemed to + find a wall to hit every time. When she rolled she fell on her side + headlong, and she would be righted back by such a demolishing blow that + Jukes felt her reeling as a clubbed man reels before he collapses. The + gale howled and scuffled about gigantically in the darkness, as though the + entire world were one black gully. At certain moments the air streamed + against the ship as if sucked through a tunnel with a concentrated solid + force of impact that seemed to lift her clean out of the water and keep + her up for an instant with only a quiver running through her from end to + end. And then she would begin her tumbling again as if dropped back into a + boiling cauldron. Jukes tried hard to compose his mind and judge things + coolly. + </p> + <p> + The sea, flattened down in the heavier gusts, would uprise and overwhelm + both ends of the Nan-Shan in snowy rushes of foam, expanding wide, beyond + both rails, into the night. And on this dazzling sheet, spread under the + blackness of the clouds and emitting a bluish glow, Captain MacWhirr could + catch a desolate glimpse of a few tiny specks black as ebony, the tops of + the hatches, the battened companions, the heads of the covered winches, + the foot of a mast. This was all he could see of his ship. Her middle + structure, covered by the bridge which bore him, his mate, the closed + wheelhouse where a man was steering shut up with the fear of being swept + overboard together with the whole thing in one great crash—her + middle structure was like a half-tide rock awash upon a coast. It was like + an outlying rock with the water boiling up, streaming over, pouring off, + beating round—like a rock in the surf to which shipwrecked people + cling before they let go—only it rose, it sank, it rolled + continuously, without respite and rest, like a rock that should have + miraculously struck adrift from a coast and gone wallowing upon the sea. + </p> + <p> + The Nan-Shan was being looted by the storm with a senseless, destructive + fury: trysails torn out of the extra gaskets, double-lashed awnings blown + away, bridge swept clean, weather-cloths burst, rails twisted, + light-screens smashed—and two of the boats had gone already. They + had gone unheard and unseen, melting, as it were, in the shock and smother + of the wave. It was only later, when upon the white flash of another high + sea hurling itself amidships, Jukes had a vision of two pairs of davits + leaping black and empty out of the solid blackness, with one overhauled + fall flying and an iron-bound block capering in the air, that he became + aware of what had happened within about three yards of his back. + </p> + <p> + He poked his head forward, groping for the ear of his commander. His lips + touched it—big, fleshy, very wet. He cried in an agitated tone, “Our + boats are going now, sir.” + </p> + <p> + And again he heard that voice, forced and ringing feebly, but with a + penetrating effect of quietness in the enormous discord of noises, as if + sent out from some remote spot of peace beyond the black wastes of the + gale; again he heard a man's voice—the frail and indomitable sound + that can be made to carry an infinity of thought, resolution and purpose, + that shall be pronouncing confident words on the last day, when heavens + fall, and justice is done—again he heard it, and it was crying to + him, as if from very, very far—“All right.” + </p> + <p> + He thought he had not managed to make himself understood. “Our boats—I + say boats—the boats, sir! Two gone!” + </p> + <p> + The same voice, within a foot of him and yet so remote, yelled sensibly, + “Can't be helped.” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr had never turned his face, but Jukes caught some more + words on the wind. + </p> + <p> + “What can—expect—when hammering through—such—Bound + to leave—something behind—stands to reason.” + </p> + <p> + Watchfully Jukes listened for more. No more came. This was all Captain + MacWhirr had to say; and Jukes could picture to himself rather than see + the broad squat back before him. An impenetrable obscurity pressed down + upon the ghostly glimmers of the sea. A dull conviction seized upon Jukes + that there was nothing to be done. + </p> + <p> + If the steering-gear did not give way, if the immense volumes of water did + not burst the deck in or smash one of the hatches, if the engines did not + give up, if way could be kept on the ship against this terrific wind, and + she did not bury herself in one of these awful seas, of whose white crests + alone, topping high above her bows, he could now and then get a sickening + glimpse—then there was a chance of her coming out of it. Something + within him seemed to turn over, bringing uppermost the feeling that the + Nan-Shan was lost. + </p> + <p> + “She's done for,” he said to himself, with a surprising mental agitation, + as though he had discovered an unexpected meaning in this thought. One of + these things was bound to happen. Nothing could be prevented now, and + nothing could be remedied. The men on board did not count, and the ship + could not last. This weather was too impossible. + </p> + <p> + Jukes felt an arm thrown heavily over his shoulders; and to this overture + he responded with great intelligence by catching hold of his captain round + the waist. + </p> + <p> + They stood clasped thus in the blind night, bracing each other against the + wind, cheek to cheek and lip to ear, in the manner of two hulks lashed + stem to stern together. + </p> + <p> + And Jukes heard the voice of his commander hardly any louder than before, + but nearer, as though, starting to march athwart the prodigious rush of + the hurricane, it had approached him, bearing that strange effect of + quietness like the serene glow of a halo. + </p> + <p> + “D'ye know where the hands got to?” it asked, vigorous and evanescent at + the same time, overcoming the strength of the wind, and swept away from + Jukes instantly. + </p> + <p> + Jukes didn't know. They were all on the bridge when the real force of the + hurricane struck the ship. He had no idea where they had crawled to. Under + the circumstances they were nowhere, for all the use that could be made of + them. Somehow the Captain's wish to know distressed Jukes. + </p> + <p> + “Want the hands, sir?” he cried, apprehensively. + </p> + <p> + “Ought to know,” asserted Captain MacWhirr. “Hold hard.” + </p> + <p> + They held hard. An outburst of unchained fury, a vicious rush of the wind + absolutely steadied the ship; she rocked only, quick and light like a + child's cradle, for a terrific moment of suspense, while the whole + atmosphere, as it seemed, streamed furiously past her, roaring away from + the tenebrous earth. + </p> + <p> + It suffocated them, and with eyes shut they tightened their grasp. What + from the magnitude of the shock might have been a column of water running + upright in the dark, butted against the ship, broke short, and fell on her + bridge, crushingly, from on high, with a dead burying weight. + </p> + <p> + A flying fragment of that collapse, a mere splash, enveloped them in one + swirl from their feet over their heads, filling violently their ears, + mouths and nostrils with salt water. It knocked out their legs, wrenched + in haste at their arms, seethed away swiftly under their chins; and + opening their eyes, they saw the piled-up masses of foam dashing to and + fro amongst what looked like the fragments of a ship. She had given way as + if driven straight in. Their panting hearts yielded, too, before the + tremendous blow; and all at once she sprang up again to her desperate + plunging, as if trying to scramble out from under the ruins. + </p> + <p> + The seas in the dark seemed to rush from all sides to keep her back where + she might perish. There was hate in the way she was handled, and a + ferocity in the blows that fell. She was like a living creature thrown to + the rage of a mob: hustled terribly, struck at, borne up, flung down, + leaped upon. Captain MacWhirr and Jukes kept hold of each other, deafened + by the noise, gagged by the wind; and the great physical tumult beating + about their bodies, brought, like an unbridled display of passion, a + profound trouble to their souls. One of those wild and appalling shrieks + that are heard at times passing mysteriously overhead in the steady roar + of a hurricane, swooped, as if borne on wings, upon the ship, and Jukes + tried to outscream it. + </p> + <p> + “Will she live through this?” + </p> + <p> + The cry was wrenched out of his breast. It was as unintentional as the + birth of a thought in the head, and he heard nothing of it himself. It all + became extinct at once—thought, intention, effort—and of his + cry the inaudible vibration added to the tempest waves of the air. + </p> + <p> + He expected nothing from it. Nothing at all. For indeed what answer could + be made? But after a while he heard with amazement the frail and resisting + voice in his ear, the dwarf sound, unconquered in the giant tumult. + </p> + <p> + “She may!” + </p> + <p> + It was a dull yell, more difficult to seize than a whisper. And presently + the voice returned again, half submerged in the vast crashes, like a ship + battling against the waves of an ocean. + </p> + <p> + “Let's hope so!” it cried—small, lonely and unmoved, a stranger to + the visions of hope or fear; and it flickered into disconnected words: + “Ship. . . . . This. . . . Never—Anyhow . . . for the best.” Jukes + gave it up. + </p> + <p> + Then, as if it had come suddenly upon the one thing fit to withstand the + power of a storm, it seemed to gain force and firmness for the last broken + shouts: + </p> + <p> + “Keep on hammering . . . builders . . . good men. . . . . And chance it . + . . engines. . . . Rout . . . good man.” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr removed his arm from Jukes' shoulders, and thereby ceased + to exist for his mate, so dark it was; Jukes, after a tense stiffening of + every muscle, would let himself go limp all over. The gnawing of profound + discomfort existed side by side with an incredible disposition to + somnolence, as though he had been buffeted and worried into drowsiness. + The wind would get hold of his head and try to shake it off his shoulders; + his clothes, full of water, were as heavy as lead, cold and dripping like + an armour of melting ice: he shivered—it lasted a long time; and + with his hands closed hard on his hold, he was letting himself sink slowly + into the depths of bodily misery. His mind became concentrated upon + himself in an aimless, idle way, and when something pushed lightly at the + back of his knees he nearly, as the saying is, jumped out of his skin. + </p> + <p> + In the start forward he bumped the back of Captain MacWhirr, who didn't + move; and then a hand gripped his thigh. A lull had come, a menacing lull + of the wind, the holding of a stormy breath—and he felt himself + pawed all over. It was the boatswain. Jukes recognized these hands, so + thick and enormous that they seemed to belong to some new species of man. + </p> + <p> + The boatswain had arrived on the bridge, crawling on all fours against the + wind, and had found the chief mate's legs with the top of his head. + Immediately he crouched and began to explore Jukes' person upwards with + prudent, apologetic touches, as became an inferior. + </p> + <p> + He was an ill-favoured, undersized, gruff sailor of fifty, coarsely hairy, + short-legged, long-armed, resembling an elderly ape. His strength was + immense; and in his great lumpy paws, bulging like brown boxing-gloves on + the end of furry forearms, the heaviest objects were handled like + playthings. Apart from the grizzled pelt on his chest, the menacing + demeanour and the hoarse voice, he had none of the classical attributes of + his rating. His good nature almost amounted to imbecility: the men did + what they liked with him, and he had not an ounce of initiative in his + character, which was easy-going and talkative. For these reasons Jukes + disliked him; but Captain MacWhirr, to Jukes' scornful disgust, seemed to + regard him as a first-rate petty officer. + </p> + <p> + He pulled himself up by Jukes' coat, taking that liberty with the greatest + moderation, and only so far as it was forced upon him by the hurricane. + </p> + <p> + “What is it, boss'n, what is it?” yelled Jukes, impatiently. What could + that fraud of a boss'n want on the bridge? The typhoon had got on Jukes' + nerves. The husky bellowings of the other, though unintelligible, seemed + to suggest a state of lively satisfaction. + </p> + <p> + There could be no mistake. The old fool was pleased with something. + </p> + <p> + The boatswain's other hand had found some other body, for in a changed + tone he began to inquire: “Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir?” The wind + strangled his howls. + </p> + <p> + “Yes!” cried Captain MacWhirr. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + All that the boatswain, out of a superabundance of yells, could make clear + to Captain MacWhirr was the bizarre intelligence that “All them Chinamen + in the fore 'tween deck have fetched away, sir.” + </p> + <p> + Jukes to leeward could hear these two shouting within six inches of his + face, as you may hear on a still night half a mile away two men conversing + across a field. He heard Captain MacWhirr's exasperated “What? What?” and + the strained pitch of the other's hoarseness. “In a lump . . . seen them + myself. . . . Awful sight, sir . . . thought . . . tell you.” + </p> + <p> + Jukes remained indifferent, as if rendered irresponsible by the force of + the hurricane, which made the very thought of action utterly vain. + Besides, being very young, he had found the occupation of keeping his + heart completely steeled against the worst so engrossing that he had come + to feel an overpowering dislike towards any other form of activity + whatever. He was not scared; he knew this because, firmly believing he + would never see another sunrise, he remained calm in that belief. + </p> + <p> + These are the moments of do-nothing heroics to which even good men + surrender at times. Many officers of ships can no doubt recall a case in + their experience when just such a trance of confounded stoicism would come + all at once over a whole ship's company. Jukes, however, had no wide + experience of men or storms. He conceived himself to be calm—inexorably + calm; but as a matter of fact he was daunted; not abjectly, but only so + far as a decent man may, without becoming loathsome to himself. + </p> + <p> + It was rather like a forced-on numbness of spirit. The long, long stress + of a gale does it; the suspense of the interminably culminating + catastrophe; and there is a bodily fatigue in the mere holding on to + existence within the excessive tumult; a searching and insidious fatigue + that penetrates deep into a man's breast to cast down and sadden his + heart, which is incorrigible, and of all the gifts of the earth—even + before life itself—aspires to peace. + </p> + <p> + Jukes was benumbed much more than he supposed. He held on—very wet, + very cold, stiff in every limb; and in a momentary hallucination of swift + visions (it is said that a drowning man thus reviews all his life) he + beheld all sorts of memories altogether unconnected with his present + situation. He remembered his father, for instance: a worthy business man, + who at an unfortunate crisis in his affairs went quietly to bed and died + forthwith in a state of resignation. Jukes did not recall these + circumstances, of course, but remaining otherwise unconcerned he seemed to + see distinctly the poor man's face; a certain game of nap played when + quite a boy in Table Bay on board a ship, since lost with all hands; the + thick eyebrows of his first skipper; and without any emotion, as he might + years ago have walked listlessly into her room and found her sitting there + with a book, he remembered his mother—dead, too, now—the + resolute woman, left badly off, who had been very firm in his bringing up. + </p> + <p> + It could not have lasted more than a second, perhaps not so much. A heavy + arm had fallen about his shoulders; Captain MacWhirr's voice was speaking + his name into his ear. + </p> + <p> + “Jukes! Jukes!” + </p> + <p> + He detected the tone of deep concern. The wind had thrown its weight on + the ship, trying to pin her down amongst the seas. They made a clean + breach over her, as over a deep-swimming log; and the gathered weight of + crashes menaced monstrously from afar. The breakers flung out of the night + with a ghostly light on their crests—the light of sea-foam that in a + ferocious, boiling-up pale flash showed upon the slender body of the ship + the toppling rush, the downfall, and the seething mad scurry of each wave. + Never for a moment could she shake herself clear of the water; Jukes, + rigid, perceived in her motion the ominous sign of haphazard floundering. + She was no longer struggling intelligently. It was the beginning of the + end; and the note of busy concern in Captain MacWhirr's voice sickened him + like an exhibition of blind and pernicious folly. + </p> + <p> + The spell of the storm had fallen upon Jukes. He was penetrated by it, + absorbed by it; he was rooted in it with a rigour of dumb attention. + Captain MacWhirr persisted in his cries, but the wind got between them + like a solid wedge. He hung round Jukes' neck as heavy as a millstone, and + suddenly the sides of their heads knocked together. + </p> + <p> + “Jukes! Mr. Jukes, I say!” + </p> + <p> + He had to answer that voice that would not be silenced. He answered in the + customary manner: “. . . Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + And directly, his heart, corrupted by the storm that breeds a craving for + peace, rebelled against the tyranny of training and command. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr had his mate's head fixed firm in the crook of his elbow, + and pressed it to his yelling lips mysteriously. Sometimes Jukes would + break in, admonishing hastily: “Look out, sir!” or Captain MacWhirr would + bawl an earnest exhortation to “Hold hard, there!” and the whole black + universe seemed to reel together with the ship. They paused. She floated + yet. And Captain MacWhirr would resume, his shouts. “. . . . Says . . . + whole lot . . . fetched away. . . . Ought to see . . . what's the matter.” + </p> + <p> + Directly the full force of the hurricane had struck the ship, every part + of her deck became untenable; and the sailors, dazed and dismayed, took + shelter in the port alleyway under the bridge. It had a door aft, which + they shut; it was very black, cold, and dismal. At each heavy fling of the + ship they would groan all together in the dark, and tons of water could be + heard scuttling about as if trying to get at them from above. The + boatswain had been keeping up a gruff talk, but a more unreasonable lot of + men, he said afterwards, he had never been with. They were snug enough + there, out of harm's way, and not wanted to do anything, either; and yet + they did nothing but grumble and complain peevishly like so many sick + kids. Finally, one of them said that if there had been at least some light + to see each other's noses by, it wouldn't be so bad. It was making him + crazy, he declared, to lie there in the dark waiting for the blamed hooker + to sink. + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you step outside, then, and be done with it at once?” the + boatswain turned on him. + </p> + <p> + This called up a shout of execration. The boatswain found himself + overwhelmed with reproaches of all sorts. They seemed to take it ill that + a lamp was not instantly created for them out of nothing. They would whine + after a light to get drowned by—anyhow! And though the unreason of + their revilings was patent—since no one could hope to reach the + lamp-room, which was forward—he became greatly distressed. He did + not think it was decent of them to be nagging at him like this. He told + them so, and was met by general contumely. He sought refuge, therefore, in + an embittered silence. At the same time their grumbling and sighing and + muttering worried him greatly, but by-and-by it occurred to him that there + were six globe lamps hung in the 'tween-deck, and that there could be no + harm in depriving the coolies of one of them. + </p> + <p> + The Nan-Shan had an athwartship coal-bunker, which, being at times used as + cargo space, communicated by an iron door with the fore 'tween-deck. It + was empty then, and its manhole was the foremost one in the alleyway. The + boatswain could get in, therefore, without coming out on deck at all; but + to his great surprise he found he could induce no one to help him in + taking off the manhole cover. He groped for it all the same, but one of + the crew lying in his way refused to budge. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I only want to get you that blamed light you are crying for,” he + expostulated, almost pitifully. + </p> + <p> + Somebody told him to go and put his head in a bag. He regretted he could + not recognize the voice, and that it was too dark to see, otherwise, as he + said, he would have put a head on that son of a sea-cook, anyway, sink or + swim. Nevertheless, he had made up his mind to show them he could get a + light, if he were to die for it. + </p> + <p> + Through the violence of the ship's rolling, every movement was dangerous. + To be lying down seemed labour enough. He nearly broke his neck dropping + into the bunker. He fell on his back, and was sent shooting helplessly + from side to side in the dangerous company of a heavy iron bar—a + coal-trimmer's slice probably—left down there by somebody. This + thing made him as nervous as though it had been a wild beast. He could not + see it, the inside of the bunker coated with coal-dust being perfectly and + impenetrably black; but he heard it sliding and clattering, and striking + here and there, always in the neighbourhood of his head. It seemed to make + an extraordinary noise, too—to give heavy thumps as though it had + been as big as a bridge girder. This was remarkable enough for him to + notice while he was flung from port to starboard and back again, and + clawing desperately the smooth sides of the bunker in the endeavour to + stop himself. The door into the 'tween-deck not fitting quite true, he saw + a thread of dim light at the bottom. + </p> + <p> + Being a sailor, and a still active man, he did not want much of a chance + to regain his feet; and as luck would have it, in scrambling up he put his + hand on the iron slice, picking it up as he rose. Otherwise he would have + been afraid of the thing breaking his legs, or at least knocking him down + again. At first he stood still. He felt unsafe in this darkness that + seemed to make the ship's motion unfamiliar, unforeseen, and difficult to + counteract. He felt so much shaken for a moment that he dared not move for + fear of “taking charge again.” He had no mind to get battered to pieces in + that bunker. + </p> + <p> + He had struck his head twice; he was dazed a little. He seemed to hear yet + so plainly the clatter and bangs of the iron slice flying about his ears + that he tightened his grip to prove to himself he had it there safely in + his hand. He was vaguely amazed at the plainness with which down there he + could hear the gale raging. Its howls and shrieks seemed to take on, in + the emptiness of the bunker, something of the human character, of human + rage and pain—being not vast but infinitely poignant. And there + were, with every roll, thumps, too—profound, ponderous thumps, as if + a bulky object of five-ton weight or so had got play in the hold. But + there was no such thing in the cargo. Something on deck? Impossible. Or + alongside? Couldn't be. + </p> + <p> + He thought all this quickly, clearly, competently, like a seaman, and in + the end remained puzzled. This noise, though, came deadened from outside, + together with the washing and pouring of water on deck above his head. Was + it the wind? Must be. It made down there a row like the shouting of a big + lot of crazed men. And he discovered in himself a desire for a light, too—if + only to get drowned by—and a nervous anxiety to get out of that + bunker as quickly as possible. + </p> + <p> + He pulled back the bolt: the heavy iron plate turned on its hinges; and it + was as though he had opened the door to the sounds of the tempest. A gust + of hoarse yelling met him: the air was still; and the rushing of water + overhead was covered by a tumult of strangled, throaty shrieks that + produced an effect of desperate confusion. He straddled his legs the whole + width of the doorway and stretched his neck. And at first he perceived only + what he had come to seek: six small yellow flames swinging violently on + the great body of the dusk. + </p> + <p> + It was stayed like the gallery of a mine, with a row of stanchions in the + middle, and cross-beams overhead, penetrating into the gloom ahead—indefinitely. + And to port there loomed, like the caving in of one of the sides, a bulky + mass with a slanting outline. The whole place, with the shadows and the + shapes, moved all the time. The boatswain glared: the ship lurched to + starboard, and a great howl came from that mass that had the slant of + fallen earth. + </p> + <p> + Pieces of wood whizzed past. Planks, he thought, inexpressibly startled, + and flinging back his head. At his feet a man went sliding over, + open-eyed, on his back, straining with uplifted arms for nothing: and + another came bounding like a detached stone with his head between his legs + and his hands clenched. His pigtail whipped in the air; he made a grab at + the boatswain's legs, and from his opened hand a bright white disc rolled + against the boatswain's foot. He recognized a silver dollar, and yelled at + it with astonishment. With a precipitated sound of trampling and shuffling + of bare feet, and with guttural cries, the mound of writhing bodies piled + up to port detached itself from the ship's side and sliding, inert and + struggling, shifted to starboard, with a dull, brutal thump. The cries + ceased. The boatswain heard a long moan through the roar and whistling of + the wind; he saw an inextricable confusion of heads and shoulders, naked + soles kicking upwards, fists raised, tumbling backs, legs, pigtails, + faces. + </p> + <p> + “Good Lord!” he cried, horrified, and banged-to the iron door upon this + vision. + </p> + <p> + This was what he had come on the bridge to tell. He could not keep it to + himself; and on board ship there is only one man to whom it is worth while + to unburden yourself. On his passage back the hands in the alleyway swore + at him for a fool. Why didn't he bring that lamp? What the devil did the + coolies matter to anybody? And when he came out, the extremity of the ship + made what went on inside of her appear of little moment. + </p> + <p> + At first he thought he had left the alleyway in the very moment of her + sinking. The bridge ladders had been washed away, but an enormous sea + filling the after-deck floated him up. After that he had to lie on his + stomach for some time, holding to a ring-bolt, getting his breath now and + then, and swallowing salt water. He struggled farther on his hands and + knees, too frightened and distracted to turn back. In this way he reached + the after-part of the wheelhouse. In that comparatively sheltered spot he + found the second mate. + </p> + <p> + The boatswain was pleasantly surprised—his impression being that + everybody on deck must have been washed away a long time ago. He asked + eagerly where the Captain was. + </p> + <p> + The second mate was lying low, like a malignant little animal under a + hedge. + </p> + <p> + “Captain? Gone overboard, after getting us into this mess.” The mate, too, + for all he knew or cared. Another fool. Didn't matter. Everybody was going + by-and-by. + </p> + <p> + The boatswain crawled out again into the strength of the wind; not because + he much expected to find anybody, he said, but just to get away from “that + man.” He crawled out as outcasts go to face an inclement world. Hence his + great joy at finding Jukes and the Captain. But what was going on in the + 'tween-deck was to him a minor matter by that time. Besides, it was + difficult to make yourself heard. But he managed to convey the idea that + the Chinaman had broken adrift together with their boxes, and that he had + come up on purpose to report this. As to the hands, they were all right. + Then, appeased, he subsided on the deck in a sitting posture, hugging with + his arms and legs the stand of the engine-room telegraph—an iron + casting as thick as a post. When that went, why, he expected he would go, + too. He gave no more thought to the coolies. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr had made Jukes understand that he wanted him to go down + below—to see. + </p> + <p> + “What am I to do then, sir?” And the trembling of his whole wet body + caused Jukes' voice to sound like bleating. + </p> + <p> + “See first . . . Boss'n . . . says . . . adrift.” + </p> + <p> + “That boss'n is a confounded fool,” howled Jukes, shakily. + </p> + <p> + The absurdity of the demand made upon him revolted Jukes. He was as + unwilling to go as if the moment he had left the deck the ship were sure + to sink. + </p> + <p> + “I must know . . . can't leave. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “They'll settle, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Fight . . . boss'n says they fight. . . . Why? Can't have . . . fighting + . . . board ship. . . . Much rather keep you here . . . case . . . I + should . . . washed overboard myself. . . . Stop it . . . some way. You + see and tell me . . . through engine-room tube. Don't want you . . . come + up here . . . too often. Dangerous . . . moving about . . . deck.” + </p> + <p> + Jukes, held with his head in chancery, had to listen to what seemed + horrible suggestions. + </p> + <p> + “Don't want . . . you get lost . . . so long . . . ship isn't. . . . . + Rout . . . Good man . . . Ship . . . may . . . through this . . . all + right yet.” + </p> + <p> + All at once Jukes understood he would have to go. + </p> + <p> + “Do you think she may?” he screamed. + </p> + <p> + But the wind devoured the reply, out of which Jukes heard only the one + word, pronounced with great energy “. . . . Always. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr released Jukes, and bending over the boatswain, yelled, + “Get back with the mate.” Jukes only knew that the arm was gone off his + shoulders. He was dismissed with his orders—to do what? He was + exasperated into letting go his hold carelessly, and on the instant was + blown away. It seemed to him that nothing could stop him from being blown + right over the stern. He flung himself down hastily, and the boatswain, + who was following, fell on him. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you get up yet, sir,” cried the boatswain. “No hurry!” + </p> + <p> + A sea swept over. Jukes understood the boatswain to splutter that the + bridge ladders were gone. “I'll lower you down, sir, by your hands,” he + screamed. He shouted also something about the smoke-stack being as likely + to go overboard as not. Jukes thought it very possible, and imagined the + fires out, the ship helpless. . . . The boatswain by his side kept on + yelling. “What? What is it?” Jukes cried distressfully; and the other + repeated, “What would my old woman say if she saw me now?” + </p> + <p> + In the alleyway, where a lot of water had got in and splashed in the dark, + the men were still as death, till Jukes stumbled against one of them and + cursed him savagely for being in the way. Two or three voices then asked, + eager and weak, “Any chance for us, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “What's the matter with you fools?” he said brutally. He felt as though he + could throw himself down amongst them and never move any more. But they + seemed cheered; and in the midst of obsequious warnings, “Look out! Mind + that manhole lid, sir,” they lowered him into the bunker. The boatswain + tumbled down after him, and as soon as he had picked himself up he + remarked, “She would say, 'Serve you right, you old fool, for going to + sea.'” + </p> + <p> + The boatswain had some means, and made a point of alluding to them + frequently. His wife—a fat woman—and two grown-up daughters + kept a greengrocer's shop in the East-end of London. + </p> + <p> + In the dark, Jukes, unsteady on his legs, listened to a faint thunderous + patter. A deadened screaming went on steadily at his elbow, as it were; + and from above the louder tumult of the storm descended upon these near + sounds. His head swam. To him, too, in that bunker, the motion of the ship + seemed novel and menacing, sapping his resolution as though he had never + been afloat before. + </p> + <p> + He had half a mind to scramble out again; but the remembrance of Captain + MacWhirr's voice made this impossible. His orders were to go and see. What + was the good of it, he wanted to know. Enraged, he told himself he would + see—of course. But the boatswain, staggering clumsily, warned him to + be careful how he opened that door; there was a blamed fight going on. And + Jukes, as if in great bodily pain, desired irritably to know what the + devil they were fighting for. + </p> + <p> + “Dollars! Dollars, sir. All their rotten chests got burst open. Blamed + money skipping all over the place, and they are tumbling after it head + over heels—tearing and biting like anything. A regular little hell + in there.” + </p> + <p> + Jukes convulsively opened the door. The short boatswain peered under his + arm. + </p> + <p> + One of the lamps had gone out, broken perhaps. Rancorous, guttural cries + burst out loudly on their ears, and a strange panting sound, the working + of all these straining breasts. A hard blow hit the side of the ship: + water fell above with a stunning shock, and in the forefront of the gloom, + where the air was reddish and thick, Jukes saw a head bang the deck + violently, two thick calves waving on high, muscular arms twined round a + naked body, a yellow-face, open-mouthed and with a set wild stare, look up + and slide away. An empty chest clattered turning over; a man fell head + first with a jump, as if lifted by a kick; and farther off, indistinct, + others streamed like a mass of rolling stones down a bank, thumping the + deck with their feet and flourishing their arms wildly. The hatchway + ladder was loaded with coolies swarming on it like bees on a branch. They + hung on the steps in a crawling, stirring cluster, beating madly with + their fists the underside of the battened hatch, and the headlong rush of + the water above was heard in the intervals of their yelling. The ship + heeled over more, and they began to drop off: first one, then two, then + all the rest went away together, falling straight off with a great cry. + </p> + <p> + Jukes was confounded. The boatswain, with gruff anxiety, begged him, + “Don't you go in there, sir.” + </p> + <p> + The whole place seemed to twist upon itself, jumping incessantly the + while; and when the ship rose to a sea Jukes fancied that all these men + would be shot upon him in a body. He backed out, swung the door to, and + with trembling hands pushed at the bolt. . . . + </p> + <p> + As soon as his mate had gone Captain MacWhirr, left alone on the bridge, + sidled and staggered as far as the wheelhouse. Its door being hinged + forward, he had to fight the gale for admittance, and when at last he + managed to enter, it was with an instantaneous clatter and a bang, as + though he had been fired through the wood. He stood within, holding on to + the handle. + </p> + <p> + The steering-gear leaked steam, and in the confined space the glass of the + binnacle made a shiny oval of light in a thin white fog. The wind howled, + hummed, whistled, with sudden booming gusts that rattled the doors and + shutters in the vicious patter of sprays. Two coils of lead-line and a + small canvas bag hung on a long lanyard, swung wide off, and came back + clinging to the bulkheads. The gratings underfoot were nearly afloat; with + every sweeping blow of a sea, water squirted violently through the cracks + all round the door, and the man at the helm had flung down his cap, his + coat, and stood propped against the gear-casing in a striped cotton shirt + open on his breast. The little brass wheel in his hands had the appearance + of a bright and fragile toy. The cords of his neck stood hard and lean, a + dark patch lay in the hollow of his throat, and his face was still and + sunken as in death. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr wiped his eyes. The sea that had nearly taken him + overboard had, to his great annoyance, washed his sou'-wester hat off his + bald head. The fluffy, fair hair, soaked and darkened, resembled a mean + skein of cotton threads festooned round his bare skull. His face, + glistening with sea-water, had been made crimson with the wind, with the + sting of sprays. He looked as though he had come off sweating from before + a furnace. + </p> + <p> + “You here?” he muttered, heavily. + </p> + <p> + The second mate had found his way into the wheelhouse some time before. He + had fixed himself in a corner with his knees up, a fist pressed against + each temple; and this attitude suggested rage, sorrow, resignation, + surrender, with a sort of concentrated unforgiveness. He said mournfully + and defiantly, “Well, it's my watch below now: ain't it?” + </p> + <p> + The steam gear clattered, stopped, clattered again; and the helmsman's + eyeballs seemed to project out of a hungry face as if the compass card + behind the binnacle glass had been meat. God knows how long he had been + left there to steer, as if forgotten by all his shipmates. The bells had + not been struck; there had been no reliefs; the ship's routine had gone + down wind; but he was trying to keep her head north-north-east. The rudder + might have been gone for all he knew, the fires out, the engines broken + down, the ship ready to roll over like a corpse. He was anxious not to get + muddled and lose control of her head, because the compass-card swung far + both ways, wriggling on the pivot, and sometimes seemed to whirl right + round. He suffered from mental stress. He was horribly afraid, also, of + the wheelhouse going. Mountains of water kept on tumbling against it. When + the ship took one of her desperate dives the corners of his lips twitched. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr looked up at the wheelhouse clock. Screwed to the + bulk-head, it had a white face on which the black hands appeared to stand + quite still. It was half-past one in the morning. + </p> + <p> + “Another day,” he muttered to himself. + </p> + <p> + The second mate heard him, and lifting his head as one grieving amongst + ruins, “You won't see it break,” he exclaimed. His wrists and his knees + could be seen to shake violently. “No, by God! You won't. . . .” + </p> + <p> + He took his face again between his fists. + </p> + <p> + The body of the helmsman had moved slightly, but his head didn't budge on + his neck,—like a stone head fixed to look one way from a column. + During a roll that all but took his booted legs from under him, and in the + very stagger to save himself, Captain MacWhirr said austerely, “Don't you + pay any attention to what that man says.” And then, with an indefinable + change of tone, very grave, he added, “He isn't on duty.” + </p> + <p> + The sailor said nothing. + </p> + <p> + The hurricane boomed, shaking the little place, which seemed air-tight; + and the light of the binnacle flickered all the time. + </p> + <p> + “You haven't been relieved,” Captain MacWhirr went on, looking down. “I + want you to stick to the helm, though, as long as you can. You've got the + hang of her. Another man coming here might make a mess of it. Wouldn't do. + No child's play. And the hands are probably busy with a job down below. . + . . Think you can?” + </p> + <p> + The steering-gear leaped into an abrupt short clatter, stopped smouldering + like an ember; and the still man, with a motionless gaze, burst out, as if + all the passion in him had gone into his lips: “By Heavens, sir! I can + steer for ever if nobody talks to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! aye! All right. . . .” The Captain lifted his eyes for the first time + to the man, “. . . Hackett.” + </p> + <p> + And he seemed to dismiss this matter from his mind. He stooped to the + engine-room speaking-tube, blew in, and bent his head. Mr. Rout below + answered, and at once Captain MacWhirr put his lips to the mouthpiece. + </p> + <p> + With the uproar of the gale around him he applied alternately his lips and + his ear, and the engineer's voice mounted to him, harsh and as if out of + the heat of an engagement. One of the stokers was disabled, the others had + given in, the second engineer and the donkey-man were firing-up. The third + engineer was standing by the steam-valve. The engines were being tended by + hand. How was it above? + </p> + <p> + “Bad enough. It mostly rests with you,” said Captain MacWhirr. Was the + mate down there yet? No? Well, he would be presently. Would Mr. Rout let + him talk through the speaking-tube?—through the deck speaking-tube, + because he—the Captain—was going out again on the bridge + directly. There was some trouble amongst the Chinamen. They were fighting, + it seemed. Couldn't allow fighting anyhow. . . . + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rout had gone away, and Captain MacWhirr could feel against his ear + the pulsation of the engines, like the beat of the ship's heart. Mr. + Rout's voice down there shouted something distantly. The ship pitched + headlong, the pulsation leaped with a hissing tumult, and stopped dead. + Captain MacWhirr's face was impassive, and his eyes were fixed aimlessly + on the crouching shape of the second mate. Again Mr. Rout's voice cried + out in the depths, and the pulsating beats recommenced, with slow strokes—growing + swifter. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rout had returned to the tube. “It don't matter much what they do,” he + said, hastily; and then, with irritation, “She takes these dives as if she + never meant to come up again.” + </p> + <p> + “Awful sea,” said the Captain's voice from above. + </p> + <p> + “Don't let me drive her under,” barked Solomon Rout up the pipe. + </p> + <p> + “Dark and rain. Can't see what's coming,” uttered the voice. “Must—keep—her—moving—enough + to steer—and chance it,” it went on to state distinctly. + </p> + <p> + “I am doing as much as I dare.” + </p> + <p> + “We are—getting—smashed up—a good deal up here,” + proceeded the voice mildly. “Doing—fairly well—though. Of + course, if the wheelhouse should go. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rout, bending an attentive ear, muttered peevishly something under his + breath. + </p> + <p> + But the deliberate voice up there became animated to ask: “Jukes turned up + yet?” Then, after a short wait, “I wish he would bear a hand. I want him + to be done and come up here in case of anything. To look after the ship. I + am all alone. The second mate's lost. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “What?” shouted Mr. Rout into the engine-room, taking his head away. Then + up the tube he cried, “Gone overboard?” and clapped his ear to. + </p> + <p> + “Lost his nerve,” the voice from above continued in a matter-of-fact tone. + “Damned awkward circumstance.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rout, listening with bowed neck, opened his eyes wide at this. + However, he heard something like the sounds of a scuffle and broken + exclamations coming down to him. He strained his hearing; and all the time + Beale, the third engineer, with his arms uplifted, held between the palms + of his hands the rim of a little black wheel projecting at the side of a + big copper pipe. + </p> + <p> + He seemed to be poising it above his head, as though it were a correct + attitude in some sort of game. + </p> + <p> + To steady himself, he pressed his shoulder against the white bulkhead, one + knee bent, and a sweat-rag tucked in his belt hanging on his hip. His + smooth cheek was begrimed and flushed, and the coal dust on his eyelids, + like the black pencilling of a make-up, enhanced the liquid brilliance of + the whites, giving to his youthful face something of a feminine, exotic + and fascinating aspect. When the ship pitched he would with hasty + movements of his hands screw hard at the little wheel. + </p> + <p> + “Gone crazy,” began the Captain's voice suddenly in the tube. “Rushed at + me. . . . Just now. Had to knock him down. . . . This minute. You heard, + Mr. Rout?” + </p> + <p> + “The devil!” muttered Mr. Rout. “Look out, Beale!” + </p> + <p> + His shout rang out like the blast of a warning trumpet, between the iron + walls of the engine-room. Painted white, they rose high into the dusk of + the skylight, sloping like a roof; and the whole lofty space resembled the + interior of a monument, divided by floors of iron grating, with lights + flickering at different levels, and a mass of gloom lingering in the + middle, within the columnar stir of machinery under the motionless + swelling of the cylinders. A loud and wild resonance, made up of all the + noises of the hurricane, dwelt in the still warmth of the air. There was + in it the smell of hot metal, of oil, and a slight mist of steam. The + blows of the sea seemed to traverse it in an unringing, stunning shock, + from side to side. + </p> + <p> + Gleams, like pale long flames, trembled upon the polish of metal; from the + flooring below the enormous crank-heads emerged in their turns with a + flash of brass and steel—going over; while the connecting-rods, + big-jointed, like skeleton limbs, seemed to thrust them down and pull them + up again with an irresistible precision. And deep in the half-light other + rods dodged deliberately to and fro, crossheads nodded, discs of metal + rubbed smoothly against each other, slow and gentle, in a commingling of + shadows and gleams. + </p> + <p> + Sometimes all those powerful and unerring movements would slow down + simultaneously, as if they had been the functions of a living organism, + stricken suddenly by the blight of languor; and Mr. Rout's eyes would + blaze darker in his long sallow face. He was fighting this fight in a pair + of carpet slippers. A short shiny jacket barely covered his loins, and his + white wrists protruded far out of the tight sleeves, as though the + emergency had added to his stature, had lengthened his limbs, augmented + his pallor, hollowed his eyes. + </p> + <p> + He moved, climbing high up, disappearing low down, with a restless, + purposeful industry, and when he stood still, holding the guard-rail in + front of the starting-gear, he would keep glancing to the right at the + steam-gauge, at the water-gauge, fixed upon the white wall in the light of + a swaying lamp. The mouths of two speaking-tubes gaped stupidly at his + elbow, and the dial of the engine-room telegraph resembled a clock of + large diameter, bearing on its face curt words instead of figures. The + grouped letters stood out heavily black, around the pivot-head of the + indicator, emphatically symbolic of loud exclamations: AHEAD, ASTERN, + SLOW, Half, STAND BY; and the fat black hand pointed downwards to the word + FULL, which, thus singled out, captured the eye as a sharp cry secures + attention. + </p> + <p> + The wood-encased bulk of the low-pressure cylinder, frowning portly from + above, emitted a faint wheeze at every thrust, and except for that low + hiss the engines worked their steel limbs headlong or slow with a silent, + determined smoothness. And all this, the white walls, the moving steel, + the floor plates under Solomon Rout's feet, the floors of iron grating + above his head, the dusk and the gleams, uprose and sank continuously, + with one accord, upon the harsh wash of the waves against the ship's side. + The whole loftiness of the place, booming hollow to the great voice of the + wind, swayed at the top like a tree, would go over bodily, as if borne + down this way and that by the tremendous blasts. + </p> + <p> + “You've got to hurry up,” shouted Mr. Rout, as soon as he saw Jukes appear + in the stokehold doorway. + </p> + <p> + Jukes' glance was wandering and tipsy; his red face was puffy, as though + he had overslept himself. He had had an arduous road, and had travelled + over it with immense vivacity, the agitation of his mind corresponding to + the exertions of his body. He had rushed up out of the bunker, stumbling + in the dark alleyway amongst a lot of bewildered men who, trod upon, asked + “What's up, sir?” in awed mutters all round him;—down the stokehold + ladder, missing many iron rungs in his hurry, down into a place deep as a + well, black as Tophet, tipping over back and forth like a see-saw. The + water in the bilges thundered at each roll, and lumps of coal skipped to + and fro, from end to end, rattling like an avalanche of pebbles on a slope + of iron. + </p> + <p> + Somebody in there moaned with pain, and somebody else could be seen + crouching over what seemed the prone body of a dead man; a lusty voice + blasphemed; and the glow under each fire-door was like a pool of flaming + blood radiating quietly in a velvety blackness. + </p> + <p> + A gust of wind struck upon the nape of Jukes' neck and next moment he felt + it streaming about his wet ankles. The stokehold ventilators hummed: in + front of the six fire-doors two wild figures, stripped to the waist, + staggered and stooped, wrestling with two shovels. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo! Plenty of draught now,” yelled the second engineer at once, as + though he had been all the time looking out for Jukes. The donkeyman, a + dapper little chap with a dazzling fair skin and a tiny, gingery + moustache, worked in a sort of mute transport. They were keeping a full + head of steam, and a profound rumbling, as of an empty furniture van + trotting over a bridge, made a sustained bass to all the other noises of + the place. + </p> + <p> + “Blowing off all the time,” went on yelling the second. With a sound as of + a hundred scoured saucepans, the orifice of a ventilator spat upon his + shoulder a sudden gush of salt water, and he volleyed a stream of curses + upon all things on earth including his own soul, ripping and raving, and + all the time attending to his business. With a sharp clash of metal the + ardent pale glare of the fire opened upon his bullet head, showing his + spluttering lips, his insolent face, and with another clang closed like + the white-hot wink of an iron eye. + </p> + <p> + “Where's the blooming ship? Can you tell me? blast my eyes! Under water—or + what? It's coming down here in tons. Are the condemned cowls gone to + Hades? Hey? Don't you know anything—you jolly sailor-man you . . . + ?” + </p> + <p> + Jukes, after a bewildered moment, had been helped by a roll to dart + through; and as soon as his eyes took in the comparative vastness, peace + and brilliance of the engine-room, the ship, setting her stern heavily in + the water, sent him charging head down upon Mr. Rout. + </p> + <p> + The chief's arm, long like a tentacle, and straightening as if worked by a + spring, went out to meet him, and deflected his rush into a spin towards + the speaking-tubes. At the same time Mr. Rout repeated earnestly: + </p> + <p> + “You've got to hurry up, whatever it is.” + </p> + <p> + Jukes yelled “Are you there, sir?” and listened. Nothing. Suddenly the + roar of the wind fell straight into his ear, but presently a small voice + shoved aside the shouting hurricane quietly. + </p> + <p> + “You, Jukes?—Well?” + </p> + <p> + Jukes was ready to talk: it was only time that seemed to be wanting. It + was easy enough to account for everything. He could perfectly imagine the + coolies battened down in the reeking 'tween-deck, lying sick and scared + between the rows of chests. Then one of these chests—or perhaps + several at once—breaking loose in a roll, knocking out others, sides + splitting, lids flying open, and all these clumsy Chinamen rising up in a + body to save their property. Afterwards every fling of the ship would hurl + that tramping, yelling mob here and there, from side to side, in a whirl + of smashed wood, torn clothing, rolling dollars. A struggle once started, + they would be unable to stop themselves. Nothing could stop them now + except main force. It was a disaster. He had seen it, and that was all he + could say. Some of them must be dead, he believed. The rest would go on + fighting. . . . + </p> + <p> + He sent up his words, tripping over each other, crowding the narrow tube. + They mounted as if into a silence of an enlightened comprehension dwelling + alone up there with a storm. And Jukes wanted to be dismissed from the + face of that odious trouble intruding on the great need of the ship. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V + </h2> + <p> + He waited. Before his eyes the engines turned with slow labour, that in + the moment of going off into a mad fling would stop dead at Mr. Rout's + shout, “Look out, Beale!” They paused in an intelligent immobility, + stilled in mid-stroke, a heavy crank arrested on the cant, as if conscious + of danger and the passage of time. Then, with a “Now, then!” from the + chief, and the sound of a breath expelled through clenched teeth, they + would accomplish the interrupted revolution and begin another. + </p> + <p> + There was the prudent sagacity of wisdom and the deliberation of enormous + strength in their movements. This was their work—this patient + coaxing of a distracted ship over the fury of the waves and into the very + eye of the wind. At times Mr. Rout's chin would sink on his breast, and he + watched them with knitted eyebrows as if lost in thought. + </p> + <p> + The voice that kept the hurricane out of Jukes' ear began: “Take the hands + with you . . . ,” and left off unexpectedly. + </p> + <p> + “What could I do with them, sir?” + </p> + <p> + A harsh, abrupt, imperious clang exploded suddenly. The three pairs of + eyes flew up to the telegraph dial to see the hand jump from FULL to STOP, + as if snatched by a devil. And then these three men in the engineroom had + the intimate sensation of a check upon the ship, of a strange shrinking, + as if she had gathered herself for a desperate leap. + </p> + <p> + “Stop her!” bellowed Mr. Rout. + </p> + <p> + Nobody—not even Captain MacWhirr, who alone on deck had caught sight + of a white line of foam coming on at such a height that he couldn't + believe his eyes—nobody was to know the steepness of that sea and + the awful depth of the hollow the hurricane had scooped out behind the + running wall of water. + </p> + <p> + It raced to meet the ship, and, with a pause, as of girding the loins, the + Nan-Shan lifted her bows and leaped. The flames in all the lamps sank, + darkening the engine-room. One went out. With a tearing crash and a + swirling, raving tumult, tons of water fell upon the deck, as though the + ship had darted under the foot of a cataract. + </p> + <p> + Down there they looked at each other, stunned. + </p> + <p> + “Swept from end to end, by God!” bawled Jukes. + </p> + <p> + She dipped into the hollow straight down, as if going over the edge of the + world. The engine-room toppled forward menacingly, like the inside of a + tower nodding in an earthquake. An awful racket, of iron things falling, + came from the stokehold. She hung on this appalling slant long enough for + Beale to drop on his hands and knees and begin to crawl as if he meant to + fly on all fours out of the engine-room, and for Mr. Rout to turn his head + slowly, rigid, cavernous, with the lower jaw dropping. Jukes had shut his + eyes, and his face in a moment became hopelessly blank and gentle, like + the face of a blind man. + </p> + <p> + At last she rose slowly, staggering, as if she had to lift a mountain with + her bows. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Rout shut his mouth; Jukes blinked; and little Beale stood up hastily. + </p> + <p> + “Another one like this, and that's the last of her,” cried the chief. + </p> + <p> + He and Jukes looked at each other, and the same thought came into their + heads. The Captain! Everything must have been swept away. Steering-gear + gone—ship like a log. All over directly. + </p> + <p> + “Rush!” ejaculated Mr. Rout thickly, glaring with enlarged, doubtful eyes + at Jukes, who answered him by an irresolute glance. + </p> + <p> + The clang of the telegraph gong soothed them instantly. The black hand + dropped in a flash from STOP to FULL. + </p> + <p> + “Now then, Beale!” cried Mr. Rout. + </p> + <p> + The steam hissed low. The piston-rods slid in and out. Jukes put his ear + to the tube. The voice was ready for him. It said: “Pick up all the money. + Bear a hand now. I'll want you up here.” And that was all. + </p> + <p> + “Sir?” called up Jukes. There was no answer. + </p> + <p> + He staggered away like a defeated man from the field of battle. He had + got, in some way or other, a cut above his left eyebrow—a cut to the + bone. He was not aware of it in the least: quantities of the China Sea, + large enough to break his neck for him, had gone over his head, had + cleaned, washed, and salted that wound. It did not bleed, but only gaped + red; and this gash over the eye, his dishevelled hair, the disorder of his + clothes, gave him the aspect of a man worsted in a fight with fists. + </p> + <p> + “Got to pick up the dollars.” He appealed to Mr. Rout, smiling pitifully + at random. + </p> + <p> + “What's that?” asked Mr. Rout, wildly. “Pick up . . . ? I don't care. . . + .” Then, quivering in every muscle, but with an exaggeration of paternal + tone, “Go away now, for God's sake. You deck people'll drive me silly. + There's that second mate been going for the old man. Don't you know? You + fellows are going wrong for want of something to do. . . .” + </p> + <p> + At these words Jukes discovered in himself the beginnings of anger. Want + of something to do—indeed. . . . Full of hot scorn against the + chief, he turned to go the way he had come. In the stokehold the plump + donkeyman toiled with his shovel mutely, as if his tongue had been cut + out; but the second was carrying on like a noisy, undaunted maniac, who + had preserved his skill in the art of stoking under a marine boiler. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo, you wandering officer! Hey! Can't you get some of your + slush-slingers to wind up a few of them ashes? I am getting choked with + them here. Curse it! Hallo! Hey! Remember the articles: Sailors and + firemen to assist each other. Hey! D'ye hear?” + </p> + <p> + Jukes was climbing out frantically, and the other, lifting up his face + after him, howled, “Can't you speak? What are you poking about here for? + What's your game, anyhow?” + </p> + <p> + A frenzy possessed Jukes. By the time he was back amongst the men in the + darkness of the alleyway, he felt ready to wring all their necks at the + slightest sign of hanging back. The very thought of it exasperated him. He + couldn't hang back. They shouldn't. + </p> + <p> + The impetuosity with which he came amongst them carried them along. They + had already been excited and startled at all his comings and goings—by + the fierceness and rapidity of his movements; and more felt than seen in + his rushes, he appeared formidable—busied with matters of life and + death that brooked no delay. At his first word he heard them drop into the + bunker one after another obediently, with heavy thumps. + </p> + <p> + They were not clear as to what would have to be done. “What is it? What is + it?” they were asking each other. The boatswain tried to explain; the + sounds of a great scuffle surprised them: and the mighty shocks, + reverberating awfully in the black bunker, kept them in mind of their + danger. When the boatswain threw open the door it seemed that an eddy of + the hurricane, stealing through the iron sides of the ship, had set all + these bodies whirling like dust: there came to them a confused uproar, a + tempestuous tumult, a fierce mutter, gusts of screams dying away, and the + tramping of feet mingling with the blows of the sea. + </p> + <p> + For a moment they glared amazed, blocking the doorway. Jukes pushed + through them brutally. He said nothing, and simply darted in. Another lot + of coolies on the ladder, struggling suicidally to break through the + battened hatch to a swamped deck, fell off as before, and he disappeared + under them like a man overtaken by a landslide. + </p> + <p> + The boatswain yelled excitedly: “Come along. Get the mate out. He'll be + trampled to death. Come on.” + </p> + <p> + They charged in, stamping on breasts, on fingers, on faces, catching their + feet in heaps of clothing, kicking broken wood; but before they could get + hold of him Jukes emerged waist deep in a multitude of clawing hands. In + the instant he had been lost to view, all the buttons of his jacket had + gone, its back had got split up to the collar, his waistcoat had been torn + open. The central struggling mass of Chinamen went over to the roll, dark, + indistinct, helpless, with a wild gleam of many eyes in the dim light of + the lamps. + </p> + <p> + “Leave me alone—damn you. I am all right,” screeched Jukes. “Drive + them forward. Watch your chance when she pitches. Forward with 'em. Drive + them against the bulkhead. Jam 'em up.” + </p> + <p> + The rush of the sailors into the seething 'tween-deck was like a splash of + cold water into a boiling cauldron. The commotion sank for a moment. + </p> + <p> + The bulk of Chinamen were locked in such a compact scrimmage that, linking + their arms and aided by an appalling dive of the ship, the seamen sent it + forward in one great shove, like a solid block. Behind their backs small + clusters and loose bodies tumbled from side to side. + </p> + <p> + The boatswain performed prodigious feats of strength. With his long arms + open, and each great paw clutching at a stanchion, he stopped the rush of + seven entwined Chinamen rolling like a boulder. His joints cracked; he + said, “Ha!” and they flew apart. But the carpenter showed the greater + intelligence. Without saying a word to anybody he went back into the + alleyway, to fetch several coils of cargo gear he had seen there—chain + and rope. With these life-lines were rigged. + </p> + <p> + There was really no resistance. The struggle, however it began, had turned + into a scramble of blind panic. If the coolies had started up after their + scattered dollars they were by that time fighting only for their footing. + They took each other by the throat merely to save themselves from being + hurled about. Whoever got a hold anywhere would kick at the others who + caught at his legs and hung on, till a roll sent them flying together + across the deck. + </p> + <p> + The coming of the white devils was a terror. Had they come to kill? The + individuals torn out of the ruck became very limp in the seamen's hands: + some, dragged aside by the heels, were passive, like dead bodies, with + open, fixed eyes. Here and there a coolie would fall on his knees as if + begging for mercy; several, whom the excess of fear made unruly, were hit + with hard fists between the eyes, and cowered; while those who were hurt + submitted to rough handling, blinking rapidly without a plaint. Faces + streamed with blood; there were raw places on the shaven heads, scratches, + bruises, torn wounds, gashes. The broken porcelain out of the chests was + mostly responsible for the latter. Here and there a Chinaman, wild-eyed, + with his tail unplaited, nursed a bleeding sole. + </p> + <p> + They had been ranged closely, after having been shaken into submission, + cuffed a little to allay excitement, addressed in gruff words of + encouragement that sounded like promises of evil. They sat on the deck in + ghastly, drooping rows, and at the end the carpenter, with two hands to + help him, moved busily from place to place, setting taut and hitching the + life-lines. The boatswain, with one leg and one arm embracing a stanchion, + struggled with a lamp pressed to his breast, trying to get a light, and + growling all the time like an industrious gorilla. The figures of seamen + stooped repeatedly, with the movements of gleaners, and everything was + being flung into the bunker: clothing, smashed wood, broken china, and the + dollars, too, gathered up in men's jackets. Now and then a sailor would + stagger towards the doorway with his arms full of rubbish; and dolorous, + slanting eyes followed his movements. + </p> + <p> + With every roll of the ship the long rows of sitting Celestials would sway + forward brokenly, and her headlong dives knocked together the line of + shaven polls from end to end. When the wash of water rolling on the deck + died away for a moment, it seemed to Jukes, yet quivering from his + exertions, that in his mad struggle down there he had overcome the wind + somehow: that a silence had fallen upon the ship, a silence in which the + sea struck thunderously at her sides. + </p> + <p> + Everything had been cleared out of the 'tween-deck—all the wreckage, + as the men said. They stood erect and tottering above the level of heads + and drooping shoulders. Here and there a coolie sobbed for his breath. + Where the high light fell, Jukes could see the salient ribs of one, the + yellow, wistful face of another; bowed necks; or would meet a dull stare + directed at his face. He was amazed that there had been no corpses; but + the lot of them seemed at their last gasp, and they appeared to him more + pitiful than if they had been all dead. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly one of the coolies began to speak. The light came and went on his + lean, straining face; he threw his head up like a baying hound. From the + bunker came the sounds of knocking and the tinkle of some dollars rolling + loose; he stretched out his arm, his mouth yawned black, and the + incomprehensible guttural hooting sounds, that did not seem to belong to a + human language, penetrated Jukes with a strange emotion as if a brute had + tried to be eloquent. + </p> + <p> + Two more started mouthing what seemed to Jukes fierce denunciations; the + others stirred with grunts and growls. Jukes ordered the hands out of the + 'tweendecks hurriedly. He left last himself, backing through the door, + while the grunts rose to a loud murmur and hands were extended after him + as after a malefactor. The boatswain shot the bolt, and remarked uneasily, + “Seems as if the wind had dropped, sir.” + </p> + <p> + The seamen were glad to get back into the alleyway. Secretly each of them + thought that at the last moment he could rush out on deck—and that + was a comfort. There is something horribly repugnant in the idea of being + drowned under a deck. Now they had done with the Chinamen, they again + became conscious of the ship's position. + </p> + <p> + Jukes on coming out of the alleyway found himself up to the neck in the + noisy water. He gained the bridge, and discovered he could detect obscure + shapes as if his sight had become preternaturally acute. He saw faint + outlines. They recalled not the familiar aspect of the Nan-Shan, but + something remembered—an old dismantled steamer he had seen years ago + rotting on a mudbank. She recalled that wreck. + </p> + <p> + There was no wind, not a breath, except the faint currents created by the + lurches of the ship. The smoke tossed out of the funnel was settling down + upon her deck. He breathed it as he passed forward. He felt the deliberate + throb of the engines, and heard small sounds that seemed to have survived + the great uproar: the knocking of broken fittings, the rapid tumbling of + some piece of wreckage on the bridge. He perceived dimly the squat shape + of his captain holding on to a twisted bridge-rail, motionless and swaying + as if rooted to the planks. The unexpected stillness of the air oppressed + Jukes. + </p> + <p> + “We have done it, sir,” he gasped. + </p> + <p> + “Thought you would,” said Captain MacWhirr. + </p> + <p> + “Did you?” murmured Jukes to himself. + </p> + <p> + “Wind fell all at once,” went on the Captain. + </p> + <p> + Jukes burst out: “If you think it was an easy job—” + </p> + <p> + But his captain, clinging to the rail, paid no attention. “According to + the books the worst is not over yet.” + </p> + <p> + “If most of them hadn't been half dead with seasickness and fright, not + one of us would have come out of that 'tween-deck alive,” said Jukes. + </p> + <p> + “Had to do what's fair by them,” mumbled MacWhirr, stolidly. “You don't + find everything in books.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, I believe they would have risen on us if I hadn't ordered the hands + out of that pretty quick,” continued Jukes with warmth. + </p> + <p> + After the whisper of their shouts, their ordinary tones, so distinct, rang + out very loud to their ears in the amazing stillness of the air. It seemed + to them they were talking in a dark and echoing vault. + </p> + <p> + Through a jagged aperture in the dome of clouds the light of a few stars + fell upon the black sea, rising and falling confusedly. Sometimes the head + of a watery cone would topple on board and mingle with the rolling flurry + of foam on the swamped deck; and the Nan-Shan wallowed heavily at the + bottom of a circular cistern of clouds. This ring of dense vapours, + gyrating madly round the calm of the centre, encompassed the ship like a + motionless and unbroken wall of an aspect inconceivably sinister. Within, + the sea, as if agitated by an internal commotion, leaped in peaked mounds + that jostled each other, slapping heavily against her sides; and a low + moaning sound, the infinite plaint of the storm's fury, came from beyond + the limits of the menacing calm. Captain MacWhirr remained silent, and + Jukes' ready ear caught suddenly the faint, long-drawn roar of some + immense wave rushing unseen under that thick blackness, which made the + appalling boundary of his vision. + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” he started resentfully, “they thought we had caught at the + chance to plunder them. Of course! You said—pick up the money. + Easier said than done. They couldn't tell what was in our heads. We came + in, smash—right into the middle of them. Had to do it by a rush.” + </p> + <p> + “As long as it's done . . . ,” mumbled the Captain, without attempting to + look at Jukes. “Had to do what's fair.” + </p> + <p> + “We shall find yet there's the devil to pay when this is over,” said + Jukes, feeling very sore. “Let them only recover a bit, and you'll see. + They will fly at our throats, sir. Don't forget, sir, she isn't a British + ship now. These brutes know it well, too. The damned Siamese flag.” + </p> + <p> + “We are on board, all the same,” remarked Captain MacWhirr. + </p> + <p> + “The trouble's not over yet,” insisted Jukes, prophetically, reeling and + catching on. “She's a wreck,” he added, faintly. + </p> + <p> + “The trouble's not over yet,” assented Captain MacWhirr, half aloud . . . + . “Look out for her a minute.” + </p> + <p> + “Are you going off the deck, sir?” asked Jukes, hurriedly, as if the storm + were sure to pounce upon him as soon as he had been left alone with the + ship. + </p> + <p> + He watched her, battered and solitary, labouring heavily in a wild scene + of mountainous black waters lit by the gleams of distant worlds. She moved + slowly, breathing into the still core of the hurricane the excess of her + strength in a white cloud of steam—and the deep-toned vibration of + the escape was like the defiant trumpeting of a living creature of the sea + impatient for the renewal of the contest. It ceased suddenly. The still + air moaned. Above Jukes' head a few stars shone into a pit of black + vapours. The inky edge of the cloud-disc frowned upon the ship under the + patch of glittering sky. The stars, too, seemed to look at her intently, + as if for the last time, and the cluster of their splendour sat like a + diadem on a lowering brow. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr had gone into the chart-room. There was no light there; + but he could feel the disorder of that place where he used to live tidily. + His armchair was upset. The books had tumbled out on the floor: he + scrunched a piece of glass under his boot. He groped for the matches, and + found a box on a shelf with a deep ledge. He struck one, and puckering the + corners of his eyes, held out the little flame towards the barometer whose + glittering top of glass and metals nodded at him continuously. + </p> + <p> + It stood very low—incredibly low, so low that Captain MacWhirr + grunted. The match went out, and hurriedly he extracted another, with + thick, stiff fingers. + </p> + <p> + Again a little flame flared up before the nodding glass and metal of the + top. His eyes looked at it, narrowed with attention, as if expecting an + imperceptible sign. With his grave face he resembled a booted and + misshapen pagan burning incense before the oracle of a Joss. There was no + mistake. It was the lowest reading he had ever seen in his life. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr emitted a low whistle. He forgot himself till the flame + diminished to a blue spark, burnt his fingers and vanished. Perhaps + something had gone wrong with the thing! + </p> + <p> + There was an aneroid glass screwed above the couch. He turned that way, + struck another match, and discovered the white face of the other + instrument looking at him from the bulkhead, meaningly, not to be + gainsaid, as though the wisdom of men were made unerring by the + indifference of matter. There was no room for doubt now. Captain MacWhirr + pshawed at it, and threw the match down. + </p> + <p> + The worst was to come, then—and if the books were right this worst + would be very bad. The experience of the last six hours had enlarged his + conception of what heavy weather could be like. “It'll be terrific,” he + pronounced, mentally. He had not consciously looked at anything by the + light of the matches except at the barometer; and yet somehow he had seen + that his water-bottle and the two tumblers had been flung out of their + stand. It seemed to give him a more intimate knowledge of the tossing the + ship had gone through. “I wouldn't have believed it,” he thought. And his + table had been cleared, too; his rulers, his pencils, the inkstand—all + the things that had their safe appointed places—they were gone, as + if a mischievous hand had plucked them out one by one and flung them on + the wet floor. The hurricane had broken in upon the orderly arrangements + of his privacy. This had never happened before, and the feeling of dismay + reached the very seat of his composure. And the worst was to come yet! He + was glad the trouble in the 'tween-deck had been discovered in time. If + the ship had to go after all, then, at least, she wouldn't be going to the + bottom with a lot of people in her fighting teeth and claw. That would + have been odious. And in that feeling there was a humane intention and a + vague sense of the fitness of things. + </p> + <p> + These instantaneous thoughts were yet in their essence heavy and slow, + partaking of the nature of the man. He extended his hand to put back the + matchbox in its corner of the shelf. There were always matches there—by + his order. The steward had his instructions impressed upon him long + before. “A box . . . just there, see? Not so very full . . . where I can + put my hand on it, steward. Might want a light in a hurry. Can't tell on + board ship what you might want in a hurry. Mind, now.” + </p> + <p> + And of course on his side he would be careful to put it back in its place + scrupulously. He did so now, but before he removed his hand it occurred to + him that perhaps he would never have occasion to use that box any more. + The vividness of the thought checked him and for an infinitesimal fraction + of a second his fingers closed again on the small object as though it had + been the symbol of all these little habits that chain us to the weary + round of life. He released it at last, and letting himself fall on the + settee, listened for the first sounds of returning wind. + </p> + <p> + Not yet. He heard only the wash of water, the heavy splashes, the dull + shocks of the confused seas boarding his ship from all sides. She would + never have a chance to clear her decks. + </p> + <p> + But the quietude of the air was startlingly tense and unsafe, like a + slender hair holding a sword suspended over his head. By this awful pause + the storm penetrated the defences of the man and unsealed his lips. He + spoke out in the solitude and the pitch darkness of the cabin, as if + addressing another being awakened within his breast. + </p> + <p> + “I shouldn't like to lose her,” he said half aloud. + </p> + <p> + He sat unseen, apart from the sea, from his ship, isolated, as if + withdrawn from the very current of his own existence, where such freaks as + talking to himself surely had no place. His palms reposed on his knees, he + bowed his short neck and puffed heavily, surrendering to a strange + sensation of weariness he was not enlightened enough to recognize for the + fatigue of mental stress. + </p> + <p> + From where he sat he could reach the door of a washstand locker. There + should have been a towel there. There was. Good. . . . He took it out, + wiped his face, and afterwards went on rubbing his wet head. He towelled + himself with energy in the dark, and then remained motionless with the + towel on his knees. A moment passed, of a stillness so profound that no + one could have guessed there was a man sitting in that cabin. Then a + murmur arose. + </p> + <p> + “She may come out of it yet.” + </p> + <p> + When Captain MacWhirr came out on deck, which he did brusquely, as though + he had suddenly become conscious of having stayed away too long, the calm + had lasted already more than fifteen minutes—long enough to make + itself intolerable even to his imagination. Jukes, motionless on the + forepart of the bridge, began to speak at once. His voice, blank and + forced as though he were talking through hard-set teeth, seemed to flow + away on all sides into the darkness, deepening again upon the sea. + </p> + <p> + “I had the wheel relieved. Hackett began to sing out that he was done. + He's lying in there alongside the steering-gear with a face like death. At + first I couldn't get anybody to crawl out and relieve the poor devil. That + boss'n's worse than no good, I always said. Thought I would have had to go + myself and haul out one of them by the neck.” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, well,” muttered the Captain. He stood watchful by Jukes' side. + </p> + <p> + “The second mate's in there, too, holding his head. Is he hurt, sir?” + </p> + <p> + “No—crazy,” said Captain MacWhirr, curtly. + </p> + <p> + “Looks as if he had a tumble, though.” + </p> + <p> + “I had to give him a push,” explained the Captain. + </p> + <p> + Jukes gave an impatient sigh. + </p> + <p> + “It will come very sudden,” said Captain MacWhirr, “and from over there, I + fancy. God only knows though. These books are only good to muddle your + head and make you jumpy. It will be bad, and there's an end. If we only + can steam her round in time to meet it. . . .” + </p> + <p> + A minute passed. Some of the stars winked rapidly and vanished. + </p> + <p> + “You left them pretty safe?” began the Captain abruptly, as though the + silence were unbearable. + </p> + <p> + “Are you thinking of the coolies, sir? I rigged lifelines all ways across + that 'tween-deck.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you? Good idea, Mr. Jukes.” + </p> + <p> + “I didn't . . . think you cared to . . . know,” said Jukes—the + lurching of the ship cut his speech as though somebody had been jerking + him around while he talked—“how I got on with . . . that infernal + job. We did it. And it may not matter in the end.” + </p> + <p> + “Had to do what's fair, for all—they are only Chinamen. Give them + the same chance with ourselves—hang it all. She isn't lost yet. Bad + enough to be shut up below in a gale—” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I thought when you gave me the job, sir,” interjected Jukes, + moodily. + </p> + <p> + “—without being battered to pieces,” pursued Captain MacWhirr with + rising vehemence. “Couldn't let that go on in my ship, if I knew she + hadn't five minutes to live. Couldn't bear it, Mr. Jukes.” + </p> + <p> + A hollow echoing noise, like that of a shout rolling in a rocky chasm, + approached the ship and went away again. The last star, blurred, enlarged, + as if returning to the fiery mist of its beginning, struggled with the + colossal depth of blackness hanging over the ship—and went out. + </p> + <p> + “Now for it!” muttered Captain MacWhirr. “Mr. Jukes.” + </p> + <p> + “Here, sir.” + </p> + <p> + The two men were growing indistinct to each other. + </p> + <p> + “We must trust her to go through it and come out on the other side. That's + plain and straight. There's no room for Captain Wilson's storm-strategy + here.” + </p> + <p> + “No, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “She will be smothered and swept again for hours,” mumbled the Captain. + “There's not much left by this time above deck for the sea to take away—unless + you or me.” + </p> + <p> + “Both, sir,” whispered Jukes, breathlessly. + </p> + <p> + “You are always meeting trouble half way, Jukes,” Captain MacWhirr + remonstrated quaintly. “Though it's a fact that the second mate is no + good. D'ye hear, Mr. Jukes? You would be left alone if. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr interrupted himself, and Jukes, glancing on all sides, + remained silent. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you be put out by anything,” the Captain continued, mumbling rather + fast. “Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the heaviest + seas run with the wind. Facing it—always facing it—that's the + way to get through. You are a young sailor. Face it. That's enough for any + man. Keep a cool head.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir,” said Jukes, with a flutter of the heart. + </p> + <p> + In the next few seconds the Captain spoke to the engine-room and got an + answer. + </p> + <p> + For some reason Jukes experienced an access of confidence, a sensation + that came from outside like a warm breath, and made him feel equal to + every demand. The distant muttering of the darkness stole into his ears. + He noted it unmoved, out of that sudden belief in himself, as a man safe + in a shirt of mail would watch a point. + </p> + <p> + The ship laboured without intermission amongst the black hills of water, + paying with this hard tumbling the price of her life. She rumbled in her + depths, shaking a white plummet of steam into the night, and Jukes' + thought skimmed like a bird through the engine-room, where Mr. Rout—good + man—was ready. When the rumbling ceased it seemed to him that there + was a pause of every sound, a dead pause in which Captain MacWhirr's voice + rang out startlingly. + </p> + <p> + “What's that? A puff of wind?”—it spoke much louder than Jukes had + ever heard it before—“On the bow. That's right. She may come out of + it yet.” + </p> + <p> + The mutter of the winds drew near apace. In the forefront could be + distinguished a drowsy waking plaint passing on, and far off the growth of + a multiple clamour, marching and expanding. There was the throb as of many + drums in it, a vicious rushing note, and like the chant of a tramping + multitude. + </p> + <p> + Jukes could no longer see his captain distinctly. The darkness was + absolutely piling itself upon the ship. At most he made out movements, a + hint of elbows spread out, of a head thrown up. + </p> + <p> + Captain MacWhirr was trying to do up the top button of his oilskin coat + with unwonted haste. The hurricane, with its power to madden the seas, to + sink ships, to uproot trees, to overturn strong walls and dash the very + birds of the air to the ground, had found this taciturn man in its path, + and, doing its utmost, had managed to wring out a few words. Before the + renewed wrath of winds swooped on his ship, Captain MacWhirr was moved to + declare, in a tone of vexation, as it were: “I wouldn't like to lose her.” + </p> + <p> + He was spared that annoyance. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI + </h2> + <p> + On A bright sunshiny day, with the breeze chasing her smoke far ahead, the + Nan-Shan came into Fu-chau. Her arrival was at once noticed on shore, and + the seamen in harbour said: “Look! Look at that steamer. What's that? + Siamese—isn't she? Just look at her!” + </p> + <p> + She seemed, indeed, to have been used as a running target for the + secondary batteries of a cruiser. A hail of minor shells could not have + given her upper works a more broken, torn, and devastated aspect: and she + had about her the worn, weary air of ships coming from the far ends of the + world—and indeed with truth, for in her short passage she had been + very far; sighting, verily, even the coast of the Great Beyond, whence no + ship ever returns to give up her crew to the dust of the earth. She was + incrusted and gray with salt to the trucks of her masts and to the top of + her funnel; as though (as some facetious seaman said) “the crowd on board + had fished her out somewhere from the bottom of the sea and brought her in + here for salvage.” And further, excited by the felicity of his own wit, he + offered to give five pounds for her—“as she stands.” + </p> + <p> + Before she had been quite an hour at rest, a meagre little man, with a + red-tipped nose and a face cast in an angry mould, landed from a sampan on + the quay of the Foreign Concession, and incontinently turned to shake his + fist at her. + </p> + <p> + A tall individual, with legs much too thin for a rotund stomach, and with + watery eyes, strolled up and remarked, “Just left her—eh? Quick + work.” + </p> + <p> + He wore a soiled suit of blue flannel with a pair of dirty cricketing + shoes; a dingy gray moustache drooped from his lip, and daylight could be + seen in two places between the rim and the crown of his hat. + </p> + <p> + “Hallo! what are you doing here?” asked the ex-second-mate of the + Nan-Shan, shaking hands hurriedly. + </p> + <p> + “Standing by for a job—chance worth taking—got a quiet hint,” + explained the man with the broken hat, in jerky, apathetic wheezes. + </p> + <p> + The second shook his fist again at the Nan-Shan. “There's a fellow there + that ain't fit to have the command of a scow,” he declared, quivering with + passion, while the other looked about listlessly. + </p> + <p> + “Is there?” + </p> + <p> + But he caught sight on the quay of a heavy seaman's chest, painted brown + under a fringed sailcloth cover, and lashed with new manila line. He eyed + it with awakened interest. + </p> + <p> + “I would talk and raise trouble if it wasn't for that damned Siamese flag. + Nobody to go to—or I would make it hot for him. The fraud! Told his + chief engineer—that's another fraud for you—I had lost my + nerve. The greatest lot of ignorant fools that ever sailed the seas. No! + You can't think . . .” + </p> + <p> + “Got your money all right?” inquired his seedy acquaintance suddenly. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Paid me off on board,” raged the second mate. “'Get your breakfast + on shore,' says he.” + </p> + <p> + “Mean skunk!” commented the tall man, vaguely, and passed his tongue on + his lips. “What about having a drink of some sort?” + </p> + <p> + “He struck me,” hissed the second mate. + </p> + <p> + “No! Struck! You don't say?” The man in blue began to bustle about + sympathetically. “Can't possibly talk here. I want to know all about it. + Struck—eh? Let's get a fellow to carry your chest. I know a quiet + place where they have some bottled beer. . . .” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Jukes, who had been scanning the shore through a pair of glasses, + informed the chief engineer afterwards that “our late second mate hasn't + been long in finding a friend. A chap looking uncommonly like a bummer. I + saw them walk away together from the quay.” + </p> + <p> + The hammering and banging of the needful repairs did not disturb Captain + MacWhirr. The steward found in the letter he wrote, in a tidy chart-room, + passages of such absorbing interest that twice he was nearly caught in the + act. But Mrs. MacWhirr, in the drawing-room of the forty-pound house, + stifled a yawn—perhaps out of self-respect—for she was alone. + </p> + <p> + She reclined in a plush-bottomed and gilt hammock-chair near a tiled + fireplace, with Japanese fans on the mantel and a glow of coals in the + grate. Lifting her hands, she glanced wearily here and there into the many + pages. It was not her fault they were so prosy, so completely + uninteresting—from “My darling wife” at the beginning, to “Your + loving husband” at the end. She couldn't be really expected to understand + all these ship affairs. She was glad, of course, to hear from him, but she + had never asked herself why, precisely. + </p> + <p> + “. . . They are called typhoons . . . The mate did not seem to like it . . + . Not in books . . . Couldn't think of letting it go on. . . .” + </p> + <p> + The paper rustled sharply. “. . . . A calm that lasted more than twenty + minutes,” she read perfunctorily; and the next words her thoughtless eyes + caught, on the top of another page, were: “see you and the children again. + . . .” She had a movement of impatience. He was always thinking of coming + home. He had never had such a good salary before. What was the matter now? + </p> + <p> + It did not occur to her to turn back overleaf to look. She would have + found it recorded there that between 4 and 6 A. M. on December 25th, + Captain MacWhirr did actually think that his ship could not possibly live + another hour in such a sea, and that he would never see his wife and + children again. Nobody was to know this (his letters got mislaid so + quickly)—nobody whatever but the steward, who had been greatly + impressed by that disclosure. So much so, that he tried to give the cook + some idea of the “narrow squeak we all had” by saying solemnly, “The old + man himself had a dam' poor opinion of our chance.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you know?” asked, contemptuously, the cook, an old soldier. “He + hasn't told you, maybe?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, he did give me a hint to that effect,” the steward brazened it out. + </p> + <p> + “Get along with you! He will be coming to tell me next,” jeered the old + cook, over his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. MacWhirr glanced farther, on the alert. “. . . Do what's fair. . . + Miserable objects . . . . Only three, with a broken leg each, and one . . + . Thought had better keep the matter quiet . . . hope to have done the + fair thing. . . .” + </p> + <p> + She let fall her hands. No: there was nothing more about coming home. Must + have been merely expressing a pious wish. Mrs. MacWhirr's mind was set at + ease, and a black marble clock, priced by the local jeweller at 3L. 18s. + 6d., had a discreet stealthy tick. + </p> + <p> + The door flew open, and a girl in the long-legged, short-frocked period of + existence, flung into the room. + </p> + <p> + A lot of colourless, rather lanky hair was scattered over her shoulders. + Seeing her mother, she stood still, and directed her pale prying eyes upon + the letter. + </p> + <p> + “From father,” murmured Mrs. MacWhirr. “What have you done with your + ribbon?” + </p> + <p> + The girl put her hands up to her head and pouted. + </p> + <p> + “He's well,” continued Mrs. MacWhirr languidly. “At least I think so. He + never says.” She had a little laugh. The girl's face expressed a wandering + indifference, and Mrs. MacWhirr surveyed her with fond pride. + </p> + <p> + “Go and get your hat,” she said after a while. “I am going out to do some + shopping. There is a sale at Linom's.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, how jolly!” uttered the child, impressively, in unexpectedly grave + vibrating tones, and bounded out of the room. + </p> + <p> + It was a fine afternoon, with a gray sky and dry sidewalks. Outside the + draper's Mrs. MacWhirr smiled upon a woman in a black mantle of generous + proportions armoured in jet and crowned with flowers blooming falsely + above a bilious matronly countenance. They broke into a swift little + babble of greetings and exclamations both together, very hurried, as if + the street were ready to yawn open and swallow all that pleasure before it + could be expressed. + </p> + <p> + Behind them the high glass doors were kept on the swing. People couldn't + pass, men stood aside waiting patiently, and Lydia was absorbed in poking + the end of her parasol between the stone flags. Mrs. MacWhirr talked + rapidly. + </p> + <p> + “Thank you very much. He's not coming home yet. Of course it's very sad to + have him away, but it's such a comfort to know he keeps so well.” Mrs. + MacWhirr drew breath. “The climate there agrees with him,” she added, + beamingly, as if poor MacWhirr had been away touring in China for the sake + of his health. + </p> + <p> + Neither was the chief engineer coming home yet. Mr. Rout knew too well the + value of a good billet. + </p> + <p> + “Solomon says wonders will never cease,” cried Mrs. Rout joyously at the + old lady in her armchair by the fire. Mr. Rout's mother moved slightly, + her withered hands lying in black half-mittens on her lap. + </p> + <p> + The eyes of the engineer's wife fairly danced on the paper. “That captain + of the ship he is in—a rather simple man, you remember, mother?—has + done something rather clever, Solomon says.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, my dear,” said the old woman meekly, sitting with bowed silvery + head, and that air of inward stillness characteristic of very old people + who seem lost in watching the last flickers of life. “I think I remember.” + </p> + <p> + Solomon Rout, Old Sol, Father Sol, the Chief, “Rout, good man”—Mr. + Rout, the condescending and paternal friend of youth, had been the baby of + her many children—all dead by this time. And she remembered him best + as a boy of ten—long before he went away to serve his apprenticeship + in some great engineering works in the North. She had seen so little of + him since, she had gone through so many years, that she had now to retrace + her steps very far back to recognize him plainly in the mist of time. + Sometimes it seemed that her daughter-in-law was talking of some strange + man. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Rout junior was disappointed. “H'm. H'm.” She turned the page. “How + provoking! He doesn't say what it is. Says I couldn't understand how much + there was in it. Fancy! What could it be so very clever? What a wretched + man not to tell us!” + </p> + <p> + She read on without further remark soberly, and at last sat looking into + the fire. The chief wrote just a word or two of the typhoon; but something + had moved him to express an increased longing for the companionship of the + jolly woman. “If it hadn't been that mother must be looked after, I would + send you your passage-money to-day. You could set up a small house out + here. I would have a chance to see you sometimes then. We are not growing + younger. . . .” + </p> + <p> + “He's well, mother,” sighed Mrs. Rout, rousing herself. + </p> + <p> + “He always was a strong healthy boy,” said the old woman, placidly. + </p> + <p> + But Mr. Jukes' account was really animated and very full. His friend in + the Western Ocean trade imparted it freely to the other officers of his + liner. “A chap I know writes to me about an extraordinary affair that + happened on board his ship in that typhoon—you know—that we + read of in the papers two months ago. It's the funniest thing! Just see + for yourself what he says. I'll show you his letter.” + </p> + <p> + There were phrases in it calculated to give the impression of + light-hearted, indomitable resolution. Jukes had written them in good + faith, for he felt thus when he wrote. He described with lurid effect the + scenes in the 'tween-deck. “. . . It struck me in a flash that those + confounded Chinamen couldn't tell we weren't a desperate kind of robbers. + 'Tisn't good to part the Chinaman from his money if he is the stronger + party. We need have been desperate indeed to go thieving in such weather, + but what could these beggars know of us? So, without thinking of it twice, + I got the hands away in a jiffy. Our work was done—that the old man + had set his heart on. We cleared out without staying to inquire how they + felt. I am convinced that if they had not been so unmercifully shaken, and + afraid—each individual one of them —to stand up, we would have + been torn to pieces. Oh! It was pretty complete, I can tell you; and you + may run to and fro across the Pond to the end of time before you find + yourself with such a job on your hands.” + </p> + <p> + After this he alluded professionally to the damage done to the ship, and + went on thus: + </p> + <p> + “It was when the weather quieted down that the situation became + confoundedly delicate. It wasn't made any better by us having been lately + transferred to the Siamese flag; though the skipper can't see that it + makes any difference—'as long as we are on board'—he says. + There are feelings that this man simply hasn't got—and there's an + end of it. You might just as well try to make a bedpost understand. But + apart from this it is an infernally lonely state for a ship to be going + about the China seas with no proper consuls, not even a gunboat of her own + anywhere, nor a body to go to in case of some trouble. + </p> + <p> + “My notion was to keep these Johnnies under hatches for another fifteen + hours or so; as we weren't much farther than that from Fu-chau. We would + find there, most likely, some sort of a man-of-war, and once under her + guns we were safe enough; for surely any skipper of a man-of-war—English, + French or Dutch—would see white men through as far as row on board + goes. We could get rid of them and their money afterwards by delivering + them to their Mandarin or Taotai, or whatever they call these chaps in + goggles you see being carried about in sedan-chairs through their stinking + streets. + </p> + <p> + “The old man wouldn't see it somehow. He wanted to keep the matter quiet. + He got that notion into his head, and a steam windlass couldn't drag it + out of him. He wanted as little fuss made as possible, for the sake of the + ship's name and for the sake of the owners—'for the sake of all + concerned,' says he, looking at me very hard. + </p> + <p> + “It made me angry hot. Of course you couldn't keep a thing like that + quiet; but the chests had been secured in the usual manner and were safe + enough for any earthly gale, while this had been an altogether fiendish + business I couldn't give you even an idea of. + </p> + <p> + “Meantime, I could hardly keep on my feet. None of us had a spell of any + sort for nearly thirty hours, and there the old man sat rubbing his chin, + rubbing the top of his head, and so bothered he didn't even think of + pulling his long boots off. + </p> + <p> + “'I hope, sir,' says I, 'you won't be letting them out on deck before we + make ready for them in some shape or other.' Not, mind you, that I felt + very sanguine about controlling these beggars if they meant to take + charge. A trouble with a cargo of Chinamen is no child's play. I was dam' + tired, too. 'I wish,' said I, 'you would let us throw the whole lot of + these dollars down to them and leave them to fight it out amongst + themselves, while we get a rest.' + </p> + <p> + “'Now you talk wild, Jukes,' says he, looking up in his slow way that + makes you ache all over, somehow. 'We must plan out something that would + be fair to all parties.' + </p> + <p> + “I had no end of work on hand, as you may imagine, so I set the hands + going, and then I thought I would turn in a bit. I hadn't been asleep in + my bunk ten minutes when in rushes the steward and begins to pull at my + leg. + </p> + <p> + “'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes, come out! Come on deck quick, sir. Oh, do + come out!' + </p> + <p> + “The fellow scared all the sense out of me. I didn't know what had + happened: another hurricane—or what. Could hear no wind. + </p> + <p> + “'The Captain's letting them out. Oh, he is letting them out! Jump on + deck, sir, and save us. The chief engineer has just run below for his + revolver.' + </p> + <p> + “That's what I understood the fool to say. However, Father Rout swears he + went in there only to get a clean pocket-handkerchief. Anyhow, I made one + jump into my trousers and flew on deck aft. There was certainly a good + deal of noise going on forward of the bridge. Four of the hands with the + boss'n were at work abaft. I passed up to them some of the rifles all the + ships on the China coast carry in the cabin, and led them on the bridge. + On the way I ran against Old Sol, looking startled and sucking at an + unlighted cigar. + </p> + <p> + “'Come along,' I shouted to him. + </p> + <p> + “We charged, the seven of us, up to the chart-room. All was over. There + stood the old man with his sea-boots still drawn up to the hips and in + shirt-sleeves—got warm thinking it out, I suppose. Bun Hin's dandy + clerk at his elbow, as dirty as a sweep, was still green in the face. I + could see directly I was in for something. + </p> + <p> + “'What the devil are these monkey tricks, Mr. Jukes?' asks the old man, as + angry as ever he could be. I tell you frankly it made me lose my tongue. + 'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes,' says he, 'do take away these rifles from the + men. Somebody's sure to get hurt before long if you don't. Damme, if this + ship isn't worse than Bedlam! Look sharp now. I want you up here to help + me and Bun Hin's Chinaman to count that money. You wouldn't mind lending a + hand, too, Mr. Rout, now you are here. The more of us the better.' + </p> + <p> + “He had settled it all in his mind while I was having a snooze. Had we + been an English ship, or only going to land our cargo of coolies in an + English port, like Hong-Kong, for instance, there would have been no end + of inquiries and bother, claims for damages and so on. But these Chinamen + know their officials better than we do. + </p> + <p> + “The hatches had been taken off already, and they were all on deck after a + night and a day down below. It made you feel queer to see so many gaunt, + wild faces together. The beggars stared about at the sky, at the sea, at + the ship, as though they had expected the whole thing to have been blown + to pieces. And no wonder! They had had a doing that would have shaken the + soul out of a white man. But then they say a Chinaman has no soul. He has, + though, something about him that is deuced tough. There was a fellow + (amongst others of the badly hurt) who had had his eye all but knocked + out. It stood out of his head the size of half a hen's egg. This would + have laid out a white man on his back for a month: and yet there was that + chap elbowing here and there in the crowd and talking to the others as if + nothing had been the matter. They made a great hubbub amongst themselves, + and whenever the old man showed his bald head on the foreside of the + bridge, they would all leave off jawing and look at him from below. + </p> + <p> + “It seems that after he had done his thinking he made that Bun Hin's + fellow go down and explain to them the only way they could get their money + back. He told me afterwards that, all the coolies having worked in the + same place and for the same length of time, he reckoned he would be doing + the fair thing by them as near as possible if he shared all the cash we + had picked up equally among the lot. You couldn't tell one man's dollars + from another's, he said, and if you asked each man how much money he + brought on board he was afraid they would lie, and he would find himself a + long way short. I think he was right there. As to giving up the money to + any Chinese official he could scare up in Fu-chau, he said he might just + as well put the lot in his own pocket at once for all the good it would be + to them. I suppose they thought so, too. + </p> + <p> + “We finished the distribution before dark. It was rather a sight: the sea + running high, the ship a wreck to look at, these Chinamen staggering up on + the bridge one by one for their share, and the old man still booted, and + in his shirt-sleeves, busy paying out at the chartroom door, perspiring + like anything, and now and then coming down sharp on myself or Father Rout + about one thing or another not quite to his mind. He took the share of + those who were disabled himself to them on the No. 2 hatch. There were + three dollars left over, and these went to the three most damaged coolies, + one to each. We turned-to afterwards, and shovelled out on deck heaps of + wet rags, all sorts of fragments of things without shape, and that you + couldn't give a name to, and let them settle the ownership themselves. + </p> + <p> + “This certainly is coming as near as can be to keeping the thing quiet for + the benefit of all concerned. What's your opinion, you pampered mail-boat + swell? The old chief says that this was plainly the only thing that could + be done. The skipper remarked to me the other day, 'There are things you + find nothing about in books.' I think that he got out of it very well for + such a stupid man.” + </p> + <p> + [The other stories included in this volume (“Amy Foster,” “Falk: A + Reminiscence,” and “To-morrow”) being already available in another volume, + have not entered them here.] + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + +***** This file should be named 1142-h.htm or 1142-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/4/1142/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Typhoon + +Author: Joseph Conrad + +Release Date: January 9, 2006 [EBook #1142] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + + + + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + + + + + +[The other stories included in this volume ("Amy Foster," "Falk: A +Reminiscence," and "To-morrow") being already available in another +volume, have not been entered here.] + + + +TYPHOON + +BY JOSEPH CONRAD + + + +Far as the mariner on highest mast Can see all around upon the calmed +vast, So wide was Neptune's hall . . . -- KEATS + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +The main characteristic of this volume consists in this, that all the +stories composing it belong not only to the same period but have been +written one after another in the order in which they appear in the book. + +The period is that which follows on my connection with Blackwood's +Magazine. I had just finished writing "The End of the Tether" and was +casting about for some subject which could be developed in a shorter +form than the tales in the volume of "Youth" when the instance of a +steamship full of returning coolies from Singapore to some port in +northern China occurred to my recollection. Years before I had heard +it being talked about in the East as a recent occurrence. It was for us +merely one subject of conversation amongst many others of the kind. Men +earning their bread in any very specialized occupation will talk shop, +not only because it is the most vital interest of their lives but also +because they have not much knowledge of other subjects. They have never +had the time to get acquainted with them. Life, for most of us, is not +so much a hard as an exacting taskmaster. + +I never met anybody personally concerned in this affair, the interest of +which for us was, of course, not the bad weather but the extraordinary +complication brought into the ship's life at a moment of exceptional +stress by the human element below her deck. Neither was the story itself +ever enlarged upon in my hearing. In that company each of us could +imagine easily what the whole thing was like. The financial difficulty +of it, presenting also a human problem, was solved by a mind much too +simple to be perplexed by anything in the world except men's idle talk +for which it was not adapted. + +From the first the mere anecdote, the mere statement I might say, that +such a thing had happened on the high seas, appeared to me a sufficient +subject for meditation. Yet it was but a bit of a sea yarn after all. I +felt that to bring out its deeper significance which was quite apparent +to me, something other, something more was required; a leading motive +that would harmonize all these violent noises, and a point of view that +would put all that elemental fury into its proper place. + +What was needed of course was Captain MacWhirr. Directly I perceived him +I could see that he was the man for the situation. I don't mean to +say that I ever saw Captain MacWhirr in the flesh, or had ever come in +contact with his literal mind and his dauntless temperament. MacWhirr is +not an acquaintance of a few hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. He +is the product of twenty years of life. My own life. Conscious invention +had little to do with him. If it is true that Captain MacWhirr never +walked and breathed on this earth (which I find for my part extremely +difficult to believe) I can also assure my readers that he is perfectly +authentic. I may venture to assert the same of every aspect of the +story, while I confess that the particular typhoon of the tale was not a +typhoon of my actual experience. + +At its first appearance "Typhoon," the story, was classed by some +critics as a deliberately intended storm-piece. Others picked out +MacWhirr, in whom they perceived a definite symbolic intention. Neither +was exclusively my intention. Both the typhoon and Captain MacWhirr +presented themselves to me as the necessities of the deep conviction +with which I approached the subject of the story. It was their +opportunity. It was also my opportunity; and it would be vain to +discourse about what I made of it in a handful of pages, since the pages +themselves are here, between the covers of this volume, to speak for +themselves. + +This is a belated reflection. If it had occurred to me before it would +have perhaps done away with the existence of this Author's Note; for, +indeed, the same remark applies to every story in this volume. None +of them are stories of experience in the absolute sense of the word. +Experience in them is but the canvas of the attempted picture. Each of +them has its more than one intention. With each the question is what the +writer has done with his opportunity; and each answers the question for +itself in words which, if I may say so without undue solemnity, were +written with a conscientious regard for the truth of my own sensations. +And each of those stories, to mean something, must justify itself in its +own way to the conscience of each successive reader. + +"Falk"--the second story in the volume--offended the delicacy of one +critic at least by certain peculiarities of its subject. But what is the +subject of "Falk"? I personally do not feel so very certain about it. He +who reads must find out for himself. My intention in writing "Falk" +was not to shock anybody. As in most of my writings I insist not on +the events but on their effect upon the persons in the tale. But in +everything I have written there is always one invariable intention, and +that is to capture the reader's attention, by securing his interest and +enlisting his sympathies for the matter in hand, whatever it may be, +within the limits of the visible world and within the boundaries of +human emotions. + +I may safely say that Falk is absolutely true to my experience of +certain straightforward characters combining a perfectly natural +ruthlessness with a certain amount of moral delicacy. Falk obeys the law +of self-preservation without the slightest misgivings as to his right, +but at a crucial turn of that ruthlessly preserved life he will not +condescend to dodge the truth. As he is presented as sensitive enough to +be affected permanently by a certain unusual experience, that experience +had to be set by me before the reader vividly; but it is not the subject +of the tale. If we go by mere facts then the subject is Falk's attempt +to get married; in which the narrator of the tale finds himself +unexpectedly involved both on its ruthless and its delicate side. + +"Falk" shares with one other of my stories ("The Return" in the "Tales +of Unrest" volume) the distinction of never having been serialized. I +think the copy was shown to the editor of some magazine who rejected it +indignantly on the sole ground that "the girl never says anything." This +is perfectly true. From first to last Hermann's niece utters no word in +the tale--and it is not because she is dumb, but for the simple reason +that whenever she happens to come under the observation of the narrator +she has either no occasion or is too profoundly moved to speak. The +editor, who obviously had read the story, might have perceived that for +himself. Apparently he did not, and I refrained from pointing out the +impossibility to him because, since he did not venture to say that "the +girl" did not live, I felt no concern at his indignation. + +All the other stories were serialized. The "Typhoon" appeared in the +early numbers of the Pall Mall Magazine, then under the direction of the +late Mr. Halkett. It was on that occasion, too, that I saw for the first +time my conceptions rendered by an artist in another medium. Mr. Maurice +Grieffenhagen knew how to combine in his illustrations the effect of his +own most distinguished personal vision with an absolute fidelity to the +inspiration of the writer. "Amy Foster" was published in The Illustrated +London News with a fine drawing of Amy on her day out giving tea to the +children at her home, in a hat with a big feather. "To-morrow" appeared +first in the Pall Mall Magazine. Of that story I will only say that +it struck many people by its adaptability to the stage and that I was +induced to dramatize it under the title of "One Day More"; up to the +present my only effort in that direction. I may also add that each of +the four stories on their appearance in book form was picked out on +various grounds as the "best of the lot" by different critics, who +reviewed the volume with a warmth of appreciation and understanding, a +sympathetic insight and a friendliness of expression for which I cannot +be sufficiently grateful. + + +1919. J. C. + + + +TYPHOON + +I + +Captain MacWhirr, of the steamer Nan-Shan, had a physiognomy that, in +the order of material appearances, was the exact counterpart of his +mind: it presented no marked characteristics of firmness or stupidity; +it had no pronounced characteristics whatever; it was simply ordinary, +irresponsive, and unruffled. + +The only thing his aspect might have been said to suggest, at times, was +bashfulness; because he would sit, in business offices ashore, sunburnt +and smiling faintly, with downcast eyes. When he raised them, they were +perceived to be direct in their glance and of blue colour. His hair was +fair and extremely fine, clasping from temple to temple the bald dome +of his skull in a clamp as of fluffy silk. The hair of his face, on the +contrary, carroty and flaming, resembled a growth of copper wire clipped +short to the line of the lip; while, no matter how close he shaved, +fiery metallic gleams passed, when he moved his head, over the +surface of his cheeks. He was rather below the medium height, a bit +round-shouldered, and so sturdy of limb that his clothes always looked a +shade too tight for his arms and legs. As if unable to grasp what is due +to the difference of latitudes, he wore a brown bowler hat, a complete +suit of a brownish hue, and clumsy black boots. These harbour togs gave +to his thick figure an air of stiff and uncouth smartness. A thin silver +watch chain looped his waistcoat, and he never left his ship for the +shore without clutching in his powerful, hairy fist an elegant umbrella +of the very best quality, but generally unrolled. Young Jukes, the chief +mate, attending his commander to the gangway, would sometimes venture +to say, with the greatest gentleness, "Allow me, sir"--and possessing +himself of the umbrella deferentially, would elevate the ferule, shake +the folds, twirl a neat furl in a jiffy, and hand it back; going through +the performance with a face of such portentous gravity, that Mr. Solomon +Rout, the chief engineer, smoking his morning cigar over the skylight, +would turn away his head in order to hide a smile. "Oh! aye! The blessed +gamp. . . . Thank 'ee, Jukes, thank 'ee," would mutter Captain MacWhirr, +heartily, without looking up. + +Having just enough imagination to carry him through each successive day, +and no more, he was tranquilly sure of himself; and from the very same +cause he was not in the least conceited. It is your imaginative superior +who is touchy, overbearing, and difficult to please; but every ship +Captain MacWhirr commanded was the floating abode of harmony and peace. +It was, in truth, as impossible for him to take a flight of fancy as +it would be for a watchmaker to put together a chronometer with nothing +except a two-pound hammer and a whip-saw in the way of tools. Yet the +uninteresting lives of men so entirely given to the actuality of the +bare existence have their mysterious side. It was impossible in Captain +MacWhirr's case, for instance, to understand what under heaven could +have induced that perfectly satisfactory son of a petty grocer in +Belfast to run away to sea. And yet he had done that very thing at the +age of fifteen. It was enough, when you thought it over, to give you the +idea of an immense, potent, and invisible hand thrust into the ant-heap +of the earth, laying hold of shoulders, knocking heads together, and +setting the unconscious faces of the multitude towards inconceivable +goals and in undreamt-of directions. + +His father never really forgave him for this undutiful stupidity. "We +could have got on without him," he used to say later on, "but there's +the business. And he an only son, too!" His mother wept very much after +his disappearance. As it had never occurred to him to leave word behind, +he was mourned over for dead till, after eight months, his first letter +arrived from Talcahuano. It was short, and contained the statement: +"We had very fine weather on our passage out." But evidently, in the +writer's mind, the only important intelligence was to the effect that +his captain had, on the very day of writing, entered him regularly on +the ship's articles as Ordinary Seaman. "Because I can do the work," he +explained. The mother again wept copiously, while the remark, "Tom's an +ass," expressed the emotions of the father. He was a corpulent man, with +a gift for sly chaffing, which to the end of his life he exercised +in his intercourse with his son, a little pityingly, as if upon a +half-witted person. + +MacWhirr's visits to his home were necessarily rare, and in the course +of years he despatched other letters to his parents, informing them of +his successive promotions and of his movements upon the vast earth. In +these missives could be found sentences like this: "The heat here is +very great." Or: "On Christmas day at 4 P. M. we fell in with some +icebergs." The old people ultimately became acquainted with a good +many names of ships, and with the names of the skippers who commanded +them--with the names of Scots and English shipowners--with the names +of seas, oceans, straits, promontories--with outlandish names of +lumber-ports, of rice-ports, of cotton-ports--with the names of +islands--with the name of their son's young woman. She was called Lucy. +It did not suggest itself to him to mention whether he thought the name +pretty. And then they died. + +The great day of MacWhirr's marriage came in due course, following +shortly upon the great day when he got his first command. + +All these events had taken place many years before the morning when, in +the chart-room of the steamer Nan-Shan, he stood confronted by the +fall of a barometer he had no reason to distrust. The fall--taking into +account the excellence of the instrument, the time of the year, and +the ship's position on the terrestrial globe--was of a nature ominously +prophetic; but the red face of the man betrayed no sort of inward +disturbance. Omens were as nothing to him, and he was unable to discover +the message of a prophecy till the fulfilment had brought it home to his +very door. "That's a fall, and no mistake," he thought. "There must be +some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about." + +The Nan-Shan was on her way from the southward to the treaty port of +Fu-chau, with some cargo in her lower holds, and two hundred Chinese +coolies returning to their village homes in the province of Fo-kien, +after a few years of work in various tropical colonies. The morning was +fine, the oily sea heaved without a sparkle, and there was a queer white +misty patch in the sky like a halo of the sun. The fore-deck, packed +with Chinamen, was full of sombre clothing, yellow faces, and pigtails, +sprinkled over with a good many naked shoulders, for there was no wind, +and the heat was close. The coolies lounged, talked, smoked, or stared +over the rail; some, drawing water over the side, sluiced each other; +a few slept on hatches, while several small parties of six sat on their +heels surrounding iron trays with plates of rice and tiny teacups; and +every single Celestial of them was carrying with him all he had in the +world--a wooden chest with a ringing lock and brass on the corners, +containing the savings of his labours: some clothes of ceremony, +sticks of incense, a little opium maybe, bits of nameless rubbish of +conventional value, and a small hoard of silver dollars, toiled for in +coal lighters, won in gambling-houses or in petty trading, grubbed out +of earth, sweated out in mines, on railway lines, in deadly jungle, +under heavy burdens--amassed patiently, guarded with care, cherished +fiercely. + +A cross swell had set in from the direction of Formosa Channel about ten +o'clock, without disturbing these passengers much, because the Nan-Shan, +with her flat bottom, rolling chocks on bilges, and great breadth of +beam, had the reputation of an exceptionally steady ship in a sea-way. +Mr. Jukes, in moments of expansion on shore, would proclaim loudly +that the "old girl was as good as she was pretty." It would never have +occurred to Captain MacWhirr to express his favourable opinion so loud +or in terms so fanciful. + +She was a good ship, undoubtedly, and not old either. She had been built +in Dumbarton less than three years before, to the order of a firm of +merchants in Siam--Messrs. Sigg and Son. When she lay afloat, finished +in every detail and ready to take up the work of her life, the builders +contemplated her with pride. + +"Sigg has asked us for a reliable skipper to take her out," remarked one +of the partners; and the other, after reflecting for a while, said: +"I think MacWhirr is ashore just at present." "Is he? Then wire him +at once. He's the very man," declared the senior, without a moment's +hesitation. + +Next morning MacWhirr stood before them unperturbed, having travelled +from London by the midnight express after a sudden but undemonstrative +parting with his wife. She was the daughter of a superior couple who had +seen better days. + +"We had better be going together over the ship, Captain," said the +senior partner; and the three men started to view the perfections of the +Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and from her keelson to the trucks of her +two stumpy pole-masts. + +Captain MacWhirr had begun by taking off his coat, which he hung on the +end of a steam windless embodying all the latest improvements. + +"My uncle wrote of you favourably by yesterday's mail to our good +friends--Messrs. Sigg, you know--and doubtless they'll continue you out +there in command," said the junior partner. "You'll be able to boast of +being in charge of the handiest boat of her size on the coast of China, +Captain," he added. + +"Have you? Thank 'ee," mumbled vaguely MacWhirr, to whom the view of +a distant eventuality could appeal no more than the beauty of a wide +landscape to a purblind tourist; and his eyes happening at the moment to +be at rest upon the lock of the cabin door, he walked up to it, full of +purpose, and began to rattle the handle vigorously, while he observed, +in his low, earnest voice, "You can't trust the workmen nowadays. A +brand-new lock, and it won't act at all. Stuck fast. See? See?" + +As soon as they found themselves alone in their office across the yard: +"You praised that fellow up to Sigg. What is it you see in him?" asked +the nephew, with faint contempt. + +"I admit he has nothing of your fancy skipper about him, if that's what +you mean," said the elder man, curtly. "Is the foreman of the joiners +on the Nan-Shan outside? . . . Come in, Bates. How is it that you let +Tait's people put us off with a defective lock on the cabin door? The +Captain could see directly he set eye on it. Have it replaced at once. +The little straws, Bates . . . the little straws. . . ." + +The lock was replaced accordingly, and a few days afterwards the +Nan-Shan steamed out to the East, without MacWhirr having offered any +further remark as to her fittings, or having been heard to utter a +single word hinting at pride in his ship, gratitude for his appointment, +or satisfaction at his prospects. + +With a temperament neither loquacious nor taciturn he found very little +occasion to talk. There were matters of duty, of course--directions, +orders, and so on; but the past being to his mind done with, and the +future not there yet, the more general actualities of the day required +no comment--because facts can speak for themselves with overwhelming +precision. + +Old Mr. Sigg liked a man of few words, and one that "you could be sure +would not try to improve upon his instructions." MacWhirr satisfying +these requirements, was continued in command of the Nan-Shan, and +applied himself to the careful navigation of his ship in the China seas. +She had come out on a British register, but after some time Messrs. Sigg +judged it expedient to transfer her to the Siamese flag. + +At the news of the contemplated transfer Jukes grew restless, as if +under a sense of personal affront. He went about grumbling to himself, +and uttering short scornful laughs. "Fancy having a ridiculous +Noah's Ark elephant in the ensign of one's ship," he said once at the +engine-room door. "Dash me if I can stand it: I'll throw up the billet. +Don't it make you sick, Mr. Rout?" The chief engineer only cleared his +throat with the air of a man who knows the value of a good billet. + +The first morning the new flag floated over the stern of the Nan-Shan +Jukes stood looking at it bitterly from the bridge. He struggled with +his feelings for a while, and then remarked, "Queer flag for a man to +sail under, sir." + +"What's the matter with the flag?" inquired Captain MacWhirr. "Seems all +right to me." And he walked across to the end of the bridge to have a +good look. + +"Well, it looks queer to me," burst out Jukes, greatly exasperated, and +flung off the bridge. + +Captain MacWhirr was amazed at these manners. After a while he stepped +quietly into the chart-room, and opened his International Signal +Code-book at the plate where the flags of all the nations are correctly +figured in gaudy rows. He ran his finger over them, and when he came to +Siam he contemplated with great attention the red field and the white +elephant. Nothing could be more simple; but to make sure he brought the +book out on the bridge for the purpose of comparing the coloured drawing +with the real thing at the flagstaff astern. When next Jukes, who was +carrying on the duty that day with a sort of suppressed fierceness, +happened on the bridge, his commander observed: + +"There's nothing amiss with that flag." + +"Isn't there?" mumbled Jukes, falling on his knees before a deck-locker +and jerking therefrom viciously a spare lead-line. + +"No. I looked up the book. Length twice the breadth and the elephant +exactly in the middle. I thought the people ashore would know how to +make the local flag. Stands to reason. You were wrong, Jukes. . . ." + +"Well, sir," began Jukes, getting up excitedly, "all I can say--" He +fumbled for the end of the coil of line with trembling hands. + +"That's all right." Captain MacWhirr soothed him, sitting heavily on a +little canvas folding-stool he greatly affected. "All you have to do is +to take care they don't hoist the elephant upside-down before they get +quite used to it." + +Jukes flung the new lead-line over on the fore-deck with a loud "Here +you are, bo'ss'en--don't forget to wet it thoroughly," and turned with +immense resolution towards his commander; but Captain MacWhirr spread +his elbows on the bridge-rail comfortably. + +"Because it would be, I suppose, understood as a signal of distress," he +went on. "What do you think? That elephant there, I take it, stands for +something in the nature of the Union Jack in the flag. . . ." + +"Does it!" yelled Jukes, so that every head on the Nan-Shan's decks +looked towards the bridge. Then he sighed, and with sudden resignation: +"It would certainly be a dam' distressful sight," he said, meekly. + +Later in the day he accosted the chief engineer with a confidential, +"Here, let me tell you the old man's latest." + +Mr. Solomon Rout (frequently alluded to as Long Sol, Old Sol, or Father +Rout), from finding himself almost invariably the tallest man on board +every ship he joined, had acquired the habit of a stooping, leisurely +condescension. His hair was scant and sandy, his flat cheeks were pale, +his bony wrists and long scholarly hands were pale, too, as though he +had lived all his life in the shade. + +He smiled from on high at Jukes, and went on smoking and glancing about +quietly, in the manner of a kind uncle lending an ear to the tale of an +excited schoolboy. Then, greatly amused but impassive, he asked: + +"And did you throw up the billet?" + +"No," cried Jukes, raising a weary, discouraged voice above the harsh +buzz of the Nan-Shan's friction winches. All of them were hard at work, +snatching slings of cargo, high up, to the end of long derricks, only, +as it seemed, to let them rip down recklessly by the run. The cargo +chains groaned in the gins, clinked on coamings, rattled over the +side; and the whole ship quivered, with her long gray flanks smoking in +wreaths of steam. "No," cried Jukes, "I didn't. What's the good? I might +just as well fling my resignation at this bulkhead. I don't believe you +can make a man like that understand anything. He simply knocks me over." + +At that moment Captain MacWhirr, back from the shore, crossed the deck, +umbrella in hand, escorted by a mournful, self-possessed Chinaman, +walking behind in paper-soled silk shoes, and who also carried an +umbrella. + +The master of the Nan-Shan, speaking just audibly and gazing at his +boots as his manner was, remarked that it would be necessary to call +at Fu-chau this trip, and desired Mr. Rout to have steam up to-morrow +afternoon at one o'clock sharp. He pushed back his hat to wipe his +forehead, observing at the same time that he hated going ashore +anyhow; while overtopping him Mr. Rout, without deigning a word, smoked +austerely, nursing his right elbow in the palm of his left hand. +Then Jukes was directed in the same subdued voice to keep the forward +'tween-deck clear of cargo. Two hundred coolies were going to be put +down there. The Bun Hin Company were sending that lot home. Twenty-five +bags of rice would be coming off in a sampan directly, for stores. All +seven-years'-men they were, said Captain MacWhirr, with a camphor-wood +chest to every man. The carpenter should be set to work nailing +three-inch battens along the deck below, fore and aft, to keep these +boxes from shifting in a sea-way. Jukes had better look to it at once. +"D'ye hear, Jukes?" This chinaman here was coming with the ship as far +as Fu-chau--a sort of interpreter he would be. Bun Hin's clerk he +was, and wanted to have a look at the space. Jukes had better take him +forward. "D'ye hear, Jukes?" + +Jukes took care to punctuate these instructions in proper places with +the obligatory "Yes, sir," ejaculated without enthusiasm. His brusque +"Come along, John; make look see" set the Chinaman in motion at his +heels. + +"Wanchee look see, all same look see can do," said Jukes, who having no +talent for foreign languages mangled the very pidgin-English cruelly. He +pointed at the open hatch. "Catchee number one piecie place to sleep in. +Eh?" + +He was gruff, as became his racial superiority, but not unfriendly. The +Chinaman, gazing sad and speechless into the darkness of the hatchway, +seemed to stand at the head of a yawning grave. + +"No catchee rain down there--savee?" pointed out Jukes. "Suppose all'ee +same fine weather, one piecie coolie-man come topside," he pursued, +warming up imaginatively. "Make so--Phooooo!" He expanded his chest and +blew out his cheeks. "Savee, John? Breathe--fresh air. Good. Eh? Washee +him piecie pants, chow-chow top-side--see, John?" + +With his mouth and hands he made exuberant motions of eating rice and +washing clothes; and the Chinaman, who concealed his distrust of this +pantomime under a collected demeanour tinged by a gentle and refined +melancholy, glanced out of his almond eyes from Jukes to the hatch and +back again. "Velly good," he murmured, in a disconsolate undertone, and +hastened smoothly along the decks, dodging obstacles in his course. He +disappeared, ducking low under a sling of ten dirty gunny-bags full of +some costly merchandise and exhaling a repulsive smell. + +Captain MacWhirr meantime had gone on the bridge, and into the +chart-room, where a letter, commenced two days before, awaited +termination. These long letters began with the words, "My darling wife," +and the steward, between the scrubbing of the floors and the dusting +of chronometer-boxes, snatched at every opportunity to read them. They +interested him much more than they possibly could the woman for whose +eye they were intended; and this for the reason that they related in +minute detail each successive trip of the Nan-Shan. + +Her master, faithful to facts, which alone his consciousness reflected, +would set them down with painstaking care upon many pages. The house +in a northern suburb to which these pages were addressed had a bit of +garden before the bow-windows, a deep porch of good appearance, +coloured glass with imitation lead frame in the front door. He paid +five-and-forty pounds a year for it, and did not think the rent too +high, because Mrs. MacWhirr (a pretentious person with a scraggy +neck and a disdainful manner) was admittedly ladylike, and in the +neighbourhood considered as "quite superior." The only secret of her +life was her abject terror of the time when her husband would come home +to stay for good. Under the same roof there dwelt also a daughter called +Lydia and a son, Tom. These two were but slightly acquainted with their +father. Mainly, they knew him as a rare but privileged visitor, who of +an evening smoked his pipe in the dining-room and slept in the house. +The lanky girl, upon the whole, was rather ashamed of him; the boy +was frankly and utterly indifferent in a straightforward, delightful, +unaffected way manly boys have. + +And Captain MacWhirr wrote home from the coast of China twelve times +every year, desiring quaintly to be "remembered to the children," and +subscribing himself "your loving husband," as calmly as if the words so +long used by so many men were, apart from their shape, worn-out things, +and of a faded meaning. + +The China seas north and south are narrow seas. They are seas full of +every-day, eloquent facts, such as islands, sand-banks, reefs, swift and +changeable currents--tangled facts that nevertheless speak to a seaman +in clear and definite language. Their speech appealed to Captain +MacWhirr's sense of realities so forcibly that he had given up his +state-room below and practically lived all his days on the bridge of +his ship, often having his meals sent up, and sleeping at night in the +chart-room. And he indited there his home letters. Each of them, without +exception, contained the phrase, "The weather has been very fine this +trip," or some other form of a statement to that effect. And this +statement, too, in its wonderful persistence, was of the same perfect +accuracy as all the others they contained. + +Mr. Rout likewise wrote letters; only no one on board knew how chatty he +could be pen in hand, because the chief engineer had enough imagination +to keep his desk locked. His wife relished his style greatly. They were +a childless couple, and Mrs. Rout, a big, high-bosomed, jolly woman of +forty, shared with Mr. Rout's toothless and venerable mother a little +cottage near Teddington. She would run over her correspondence, at +breakfast, with lively eyes, and scream out interesting passages in a +joyous voice at the deaf old lady, prefacing each extract by the +warning shout, "Solomon says!" She had the trick of firing off +Solomon's utterances also upon strangers, astonishing them easily by the +unfamiliar text and the unexpectedly jocular vein of these quotations. +On the day the new curate called for the first time at the cottage, she +found occasion to remark, "As Solomon says: 'the engineers that go down +to the sea in ships behold the wonders of sailor nature';" when a change +in the visitor's countenance made her stop and stare. + +"Solomon. . . . Oh! . . . Mrs. Rout," stuttered the young man, very red +in the face, "I must say . . . I don't. . . ." + +"He's my husband," she announced in a great shout, throwing herself +back in the chair. Perceiving the joke, she laughed immoderately with a +handkerchief to her eyes, while he sat wearing a forced smile, and, +from his inexperience of jolly women, fully persuaded that she must +be deplorably insane. They were excellent friends afterwards; for, +absolving her from irreverent intention, he came to think she was a +very worthy person indeed; and he learned in time to receive without +flinching other scraps of Solomon's wisdom. + +"For my part," Solomon was reported by his wife to have said once, "give +me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. There is a way to +take a fool; but a rogue is smart and slippery." This was an airy +generalization drawn from the particular case of Captain MacWhirr's +honesty, which, in itself, had the heavy obviousness of a lump of clay. +On the other hand, Mr. Jukes, unable to generalize, unmarried, and +unengaged, was in the habit of opening his heart after another fashion +to an old chum and former shipmate, actually serving as second officer +on board an Atlantic liner. + +First of all he would insist upon the advantages of the Eastern trade, +hinting at its superiority to the Western ocean service. He extolled +the sky, the seas, the ships, and the easy life of the Far East. The +Nan-Shan, he affirmed, was second to none as a sea-boat. + +"We have no brass-bound uniforms, but then we are like brothers here," +he wrote. "We all mess together and live like fighting-cocks. . . . All +the chaps of the black-squad are as decent as they make that kind, and +old Sol, the Chief, is a dry stick. We are good friends. As to our old +man, you could not find a quieter skipper. Sometimes you would think he +hadn't sense enough to see anything wrong. And yet it isn't that. Can't +be. He has been in command for a good few years now. He doesn't do +anything actually foolish, and gets his ship along all right without +worrying anybody. I believe he hasn't brains enough to enjoy kicking +up a row. I don't take advantage of him. I would scorn it. Outside the +routine of duty he doesn't seem to understand more than half of what you +tell him. We get a laugh out of this at times; but it is dull, too, to +be with a man like this--in the long-run. Old Sol says he hasn't much +conversation. Conversation! O Lord! He never talks. The other day I had +been yarning under the bridge with one of the engineers, and he must +have heard us. When I came up to take my watch, he steps out of the +chart-room and has a good look all round, peeps over at the sidelights, +glances at the compass, squints upward at the stars. That's his regular +performance. By-and-by he says: 'Was that you talking just now in the +port alleyway?' 'Yes, sir.' 'With the third engineer?' 'Yes, sir.' He +walks off to starboard, and sits under the dodger on a little campstool +of his, and for half an hour perhaps he makes no sound, except that I +heard him sneeze once. Then after a while I hear him getting up over +there, and he strolls across to port, where I was. 'I can't understand +what you can find to talk about,' says he. 'Two solid hours. I am not +blaming you. I see people ashore at it all day long, and then in the +evening they sit down and keep at it over the drinks. Must be saying the +same things over and over again. I can't understand.' + +"Did you ever hear anything like that? And he was so patient about it. +It made me quite sorry for him. But he is exasperating, too, sometimes. +Of course one would not do anything to vex him even if it were worth +while. But it isn't. He's so jolly innocent that if you were to put your +thumb to your nose and wave your fingers at him he would only wonder +gravely to himself what got into you. He told me once quite simply that +he found it very difficult to make out what made people always act so +queerly. He's too dense to trouble about, and that's the truth." + +Thus wrote Mr. Jukes to his chum in the Western ocean trade, out of the +fulness of his heart and the liveliness of his fancy. + +He had expressed his honest opinion. It was not worthwhile trying to +impress a man of that sort. If the world had been full of such men, life +would have probably appeared to Jukes an unentertaining and unprofitable +business. He was not alone in his opinion. The sea itself, as if sharing +Mr. Jukes' good-natured forbearance, had never put itself out to startle +the silent man, who seldom looked up, and wandered innocently over +the waters with the only visible purpose of getting food, raiment, +and house-room for three people ashore. Dirty weather he had known, of +course. He had been made wet, uncomfortable, tired in the usual way, +felt at the time and presently forgotten. So that upon the whole he had +been justified in reporting fine weather at home. But he had never been +given a glimpse of immeasurable strength and of immoderate wrath, the +wrath that passes exhausted but never appeased--the wrath and fury +of the passionate sea. He knew it existed, as we know that crime and +abominations exist; he had heard of it as a peaceable citizen in a town +hears of battles, famines, and floods, and yet knows nothing of what +these things mean--though, indeed, he may have been mixed up in a street +row, have gone without his dinner once, or been soaked to the skin in +a shower. Captain MacWhirr had sailed over the surface of the oceans as +some men go skimming over the years of existence to sink gently into +a placid grave, ignorant of life to the last, without ever having been +made to see all it may contain of perfidy, of violence, and of terror. +There are on sea and land such men thus fortunate--or thus disdained by +destiny or by the sea. + + + +II + +Observing the steady fall of the barometer, Captain MacWhirr thought, +"There's some dirty weather knocking about." This is precisely what he +thought. He had had an experience of moderately dirty weather--the term +dirty as applied to the weather implying only moderate discomfort to the +seaman. Had he been informed by an indisputable authority that the +end of the world was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic +disturbance of the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information +under the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had +no experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply +comprehension. The wisdom of his county had pronounced by means of an +Act of Parliament that before he could be considered as fit to take +charge of a ship he should be able to answer certain simple questions on +the subject of circular storms such as hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons; +and apparently he had answered them, since he was now in command of the +Nan-Shan in the China seas during the season of typhoons. But if he +had answered he remembered nothing of it. He was, however, conscious of +being made uncomfortable by the clammy heat. He came out on the bridge, +and found no relief to this oppression. The air seemed thick. He gasped +like a fish, and began to believe himself greatly out of sorts. + +The Nan-Shan was ploughing a vanishing furrow upon the circle of the +sea that had the surface and the shimmer of an undulating piece of +gray silk. The sun, pale and without rays, poured down leaden heat in a +strangely indecisive light, and the Chinamen were lying prostrate about +the decks. Their bloodless, pinched, yellow faces were like the faces +of bilious invalids. Captain MacWhirr noticed two of them especially, +stretched out on their backs below the bridge. As soon as they had +closed their eyes they seemed dead. Three others, however, were +quarrelling barbarously away forward; and one big fellow, half naked, +with herculean shoulders, was hanging limply over a winch; another, +sitting on the deck, his knees up and his head drooping sideways in +a girlish attitude, was plaiting his pigtail with infinite languor +depicted in his whole person and in the very movement of his fingers. +The smoke struggled with difficulty out of the funnel, and instead +of streaming away spread itself out like an infernal sort of cloud, +smelling of sulphur and raining soot all over the decks. + +"What the devil are you doing there, Mr. Jukes?" asked Captain MacWhirr. + +This unusual form of address, though mumbled rather than spoken, caused +the body of Mr. Jukes to start as though it had been prodded under the +fifth rib. He had had a low bench brought on the bridge, and sitting on +it, with a length of rope curled about his feet and a piece of canvas +stretched over his knees, was pushing a sail-needle vigorously. He +looked up, and his surprise gave to his eyes an expression of innocence +and candour. + +"I am only roping some of that new set of bags we made last trip for +whipping up coals," he remonstrated, gently. "We shall want them for the +next coaling, sir." + +"What became of the others?" + +"Why, worn out of course, sir." + +Captain MacWhirr, after glaring down irresolutely at his chief mate, +disclosed the gloomy and cynical conviction that more than half of them +had been lost overboard, "if only the truth was known," and retired +to the other end of the bridge. Jukes, exasperated by this unprovoked +attack, broke the needle at the second stitch, and dropping his work got +up and cursed the heat in a violent undertone. + +The propeller thumped, the three Chinamen forward had given up +squabbling very suddenly, and the one who had been plaiting his tail +clasped his legs and stared dejectedly over his knees. The lurid +sunshine cast faint and sickly shadows. The swell ran higher and swifter +every moment, and the ship lurched heavily in the smooth, deep hollows +of the sea. + +"I wonder where that beastly swell comes from," said Jukes aloud, +recovering himself after a stagger. + +"North-east," grunted the literal MacWhirr, from his side of the bridge. +"There's some dirty weather knocking about. Go and look at the glass." + +When Jukes came out of the chart-room, the cast of his countenance had +changed to thoughtfulness and concern. He caught hold of the bridge-rail +and stared ahead. + +The temperature in the engine-room had gone up to a hundred and +seventeen degrees. Irritated voices were ascending through the skylight +and through the fiddle of the stokehold in a harsh and resonant uproar, +mingled with angry clangs and scrapes of metal, as if men with limbs of +iron and throats of bronze had been quarrelling down there. The second +engineer was falling foul of the stokers for letting the steam go down. +He was a man with arms like a blacksmith, and generally feared; but that +afternoon the stokers were answering him back recklessly, and slammed +the furnace doors with the fury of despair. Then the noise ceased +suddenly, and the second engineer appeared, emerging out of the +stokehold streaked with grime and soaking wet like a chimney-sweep +coming out of a well. As soon as his head was clear of the fiddle he +began to scold Jukes for not trimming properly the stokehold +ventilators; and in answer Jukes made with his hands deprecatory +soothing signs meaning: "No wind--can't be helped--you can see for +yourself." But the other wouldn't hear reason. His teeth flashed angrily +in his dirty face. He didn't mind, he said, the trouble of punching +their blanked heads down there, blank his soul, but did the condemned +sailors think you could keep steam up in the God-forsaken boilers simply +by knocking the blanked stokers about? No, by George! You had to get +some draught, too--may he be everlastingly blanked for a swab-headed +deck-hand if you didn't! And the chief, too, rampaging before the +steam-gauge and carrying on like a lunatic up and down the engine-room +ever since noon. What did Jukes think he was stuck up there for, if he +couldn't get one of his decayed, good-for-nothing deck-cripples to turn +the ventilators to the wind? + +The relations of the "engine-room" and the "deck" of the Nan-Shan were, +as is known, of a brotherly nature; therefore Jukes leaned over and +begged the other in a restrained tone not to make a disgusting ass of +himself; the skipper was on the other side of the bridge. But the second +declared mutinously that he didn't care a rap who was on the other side +of the bridge, and Jukes, passing in a flash from lofty disapproval into +a state of exaltation, invited him in unflattering terms to come up and +twist the beastly things to please himself, and catch such wind as a +donkey of his sort could find. The second rushed up to the fray. He +flung himself at the port ventilator as though he meant to tear it out +bodily and toss it overboard. All he did was to move the cowl round a +few inches, with an enormous expenditure of force, and seemed spent +in the effort. He leaned against the back of the wheelhouse, and Jukes +walked up to him. + +"Oh, Heavens!" ejaculated the engineer in a feeble voice. He lifted +his eyes to the sky, and then let his glassy stare descend to meet the +horizon that, tilting up to an angle of forty degrees, seemed to hang on +a slant for a while and settled down slowly. "Heavens! Phew! What's up, +anyhow?" + +Jukes, straddling his long legs like a pair of compasses, put on an +air of superiority. "We're going to catch it this time," he said. "The +barometer is tumbling down like anything, Harry. And you trying to kick +up that silly row. . . ." + +The word "barometer" seemed to revive the second engineer's mad +animosity. Collecting afresh all his energies, he directed Jukes in a +low and brutal tone to shove the unmentionable instrument down his +gory throat. Who cared for his crimson barometer? It was the steam--the +steam--that was going down; and what between the firemen going faint and +the chief going silly, it was worse than a dog's life for him; he didn't +care a tinker's curse how soon the whole show was blown out of the +water. He seemed on the point of having a cry, but after regaining his +breath he muttered darkly, "I'll faint them," and dashed off. He stopped +upon the fiddle long enough to shake his fist at the unnatural daylight, +and dropped into the dark hole with a whoop. + +When Jukes turned, his eyes fell upon the rounded back and the big red +ears of Captain MacWhirr, who had come across. He did not look at his +chief officer, but said at once, "That's a very violent man, that second +engineer." + +"Jolly good second, anyhow," grunted Jukes. "They can't keep up steam," +he added, rapidly, and made a grab at the rail against the coming lurch. + +Captain MacWhirr, unprepared, took a run and brought himself up with a +jerk by an awning stanchion. + +"A profane man," he said, obstinately. "If this goes on, I'll have to +get rid of him the first chance." + +"It's the heat," said Jukes. "The weather's awful. It would make a saint +swear. Even up here I feel exactly as if I had my head tied up in a +woollen blanket." + +Captain MacWhirr looked up. "D'ye mean to say, Mr. Jukes, you ever had +your head tied up in a blanket? What was that for?" + +"It's a manner of speaking, sir," said Jukes, stolidly. + +"Some of you fellows do go on! What's that about saints swearing? I wish +you wouldn't talk so wild. What sort of saint would that be that would +swear? No more saint than yourself, I expect. And what's a blanket got +to do with it--or the weather either. . . . The heat does not make me +swear--does it? It's filthy bad temper. That's what it is. And what's +the good of your talking like this?" + +Thus Captain MacWhirr expostulated against the use of images in speech, +and at the end electrified Jukes by a contemptuous snort, followed by +words of passion and resentment: "Damme! I'll fire him out of the ship +if he don't look out." + +And Jukes, incorrigible, thought: "Goodness me! Somebody's put a new +inside to my old man. Here's temper, if you like. Of course it's the +weather; what else? It would make an angel quarrelsome--let alone a +saint." + +All the Chinamen on deck appeared at their last gasp. + +At its setting the sun had a diminished diameter and an expiring brown, +rayless glow, as if millions of centuries elapsing since the morning +had brought it near its end. A dense bank of cloud became visible to the +northward; it had a sinister dark olive tint, and lay low and motionless +upon the sea, resembling a solid obstacle in the path of the ship. She +went floundering towards it like an exhausted creature driven to its +death. The coppery twilight retired slowly, and the darkness brought +out overhead a swarm of unsteady, big stars, that, as if blown upon, +flickered exceedingly and seemed to hang very near the earth. At eight +o'clock Jukes went into the chart-room to write up the ship's log. + +He copies neatly out of the rough-book the number of miles, the course +of the ship, and in the column for "wind" scrawled the word "calm" from +top to bottom of the eight hours since noon. He was exasperated by the +continuous, monotonous rolling of the ship. The heavy inkstand would +slide away in a manner that suggested perverse intelligence in dodging +the pen. Having written in the large space under the head of "Remarks" +"Heat very oppressive," he stuck the end of the penholder in his teeth, +pipe fashion, and mopped his face carefully. + +"Ship rolling heavily in a high cross swell," he began again, and +commented to himself, "Heavily is no word for it." Then he wrote: +"Sunset threatening, with a low bank of clouds to N. and E. Sky clear +overhead." + +Sprawling over the table with arrested pen, he glanced out of the door, +and in that frame of his vision he saw all the stars flying upwards +between the teakwood jambs on a black sky. The whole lot took flight +together and disappeared, leaving only a blackness flecked with white +flashes, for the sea was as black as the sky and speckled with foam +afar. The stars that had flown to the roll came back on the return swing +of the ship, rushing downwards in their glittering multitude, not of +fiery points, but enlarged to tiny discs brilliant with a clear wet +sheen. + +Jukes watched the flying big stars for a moment, and then wrote: "8 P.M. +Swell increasing. Ship labouring and taking water on her decks. Battened +down the coolies for the night. Barometer still falling." He paused, and +thought to himself, "Perhaps nothing whatever'll come of it." And then +he closed resolutely his entries: "Every appearance of a typhoon coming +on." + +On going out he had to stand aside, and Captain MacWhirr strode over the +doorstep without saying a word or making a sign. + +"Shut the door, Mr. Jukes, will you?" he cried from within. + +Jukes turned back to do so, muttering ironically: "Afraid to catch cold, +I suppose." It was his watch below, but he yearned for communion with +his kind; and he remarked cheerily to the second mate: "Doesn't look so +bad, after all--does it?" + +The second mate was marching to and fro on the bridge, tripping down +with small steps one moment, and the next climbing with difficulty the +shifting slope of the deck. At the sound of Jukes' voice he stood still, +facing forward, but made no reply. + +"Hallo! That's a heavy one," said Jukes, swaying to meet the long roll +till his lowered hand touched the planks. This time the second mate made +in his throat a noise of an unfriendly nature. + +He was an oldish, shabby little fellow, with bad teeth and no hair on +his face. He had been shipped in a hurry in Shanghai, that trip when +the second officer brought from home had delayed the ship three hours +in port by contriving (in some manner Captain MacWhirr could never +understand) to fall overboard into an empty coal-lighter lying +alongside, and had to be sent ashore to the hospital with concussion of +the brain and a broken limb or two. + +Jukes was not discouraged by the unsympathetic sound. "The Chinamen must +be having a lovely time of it down there," he said. "It's lucky for them +the old girl has the easiest roll of any ship I've ever been in. There +now! This one wasn't so bad." + +"You wait," snarled the second mate. + +With his sharp nose, red at the tip, and his thin pinched lips, he +always looked as though he were raging inwardly; and he was concise in +his speech to the point of rudeness. All his time off duty he spent +in his cabin with the door shut, keeping so still in there that he was +supposed to fall asleep as soon as he had disappeared; but the man who +came in to wake him for his watch on deck would invariably find him with +his eyes wide open, flat on his back in the bunk, and glaring irritably +from a soiled pillow. He never wrote any letters, did not seem to hope +for news from anywhere; and though he had been heard once to mention +West Hartlepool, it was with extreme bitterness, and only in connection +with the extortionate charges of a boarding-house. He was one of those +men who are picked up at need in the ports of the world. They are +competent enough, appear hopelessly hard up, show no evidence of any +sort of vice, and carry about them all the signs of manifest failure. +They come aboard on an emergency, care for no ship afloat, live in their +own atmosphere of casual connection amongst their shipmates who know +nothing of them, and make up their minds to leave at inconvenient times. +They clear out with no words of leavetaking in some God-forsaken port +other men would fear to be stranded in, and go ashore in company of a +shabby sea-chest, corded like a treasure-box, and with an air of shaking +the ship's dust off their feet. + +"You wait," he repeated, balanced in great swings with his back to +Jukes, motionless and implacable. + +"Do you mean to say we are going to catch it hot?" asked Jukes with +boyish interest. + +"Say? . . . I say nothing. You don't catch me," snapped the little +second mate, with a mixture of pride, scorn, and cunning, as if Jukes' +question had been a trap cleverly detected. "Oh, no! None of you here +shall make a fool of me if I know it," he mumbled to himself. + +Jukes reflected rapidly that this second mate was a mean little beast, +and in his heart he wished poor Jack Allen had never smashed himself up +in the coal-lighter. The far-off blackness ahead of the ship was like +another night seen through the starry night of the earth--the starless +night of the immensities beyond the created universe, revealed in its +appalling stillness through a low fissure in the glittering sphere of +which the earth is the kernel. + +"Whatever there might be about," said Jukes, "we are steaming straight +into it." + +"You've said it," caught up the second mate, always with his back to +Jukes. "You've said it, mind--not I." + +"Oh, go to Jericho!" said Jukes, frankly; and the other emitted a +triumphant little chuckle. + +"You've said it," he repeated. + +"And what of that?" + +"I've known some real good men get into trouble with their skippers for +saying a dam' sight less," answered the second mate feverishly. "Oh, no! +You don't catch me." + +"You seem deucedly anxious not to give yourself away," said Jukes, +completely soured by such absurdity. "I wouldn't be afraid to say what I +think." + +"Aye, to me! That's no great trick. I am nobody, and well I know it." + +The ship, after a pause of comparative steadiness, started upon a series +of rolls, one worse than the other, and for a time Jukes, preserving +his equilibrium, was too busy to open his mouth. As soon as the violent +swinging had quieted down somewhat, he said: "This is a bit too much of +a good thing. Whether anything is coming or not I think she ought to be +put head on to that swell. The old man is just gone in to lie down. Hang +me if I don't speak to him." + +But when he opened the door of the chart-room he saw his captain reading +a book. Captain MacWhirr was not lying down: he was standing up with +one hand grasping the edge of the bookshelf and the other holding open +before his face a thick volume. The lamp wriggled in the gimbals, +the loosened books toppled from side to side on the shelf, the long +barometer swung in jerky circles, the table altered its slant every +moment. In the midst of all this stir and movement Captain MacWhirr, +holding on, showed his eyes above the upper edge, and asked, "What's the +matter?" + +"Swell getting worse, sir." + +"Noticed that in here," muttered Captain MacWhirr. "Anything wrong?" + +Jukes, inwardly disconcerted by the seriousness of the eyes looking at +him over the top of the book, produced an embarrassed grin. + +"Rolling like old boots," he said, sheepishly. + +"Aye! Very heavy--very heavy. What do you want?" + +At this Jukes lost his footing and began to flounder. "I was thinking of +our passengers," he said, in the manner of a man clutching at a straw. + +"Passengers?" wondered the Captain, gravely. "What passengers?" + +"Why, the Chinamen, sir," explained Jukes, very sick of this +conversation. + +"The Chinamen! Why don't you speak plainly? Couldn't tell what you +meant. Never heard a lot of coolies spoken of as passengers before. +Passengers, indeed! What's come to you?" + +Captain MacWhirr, closing the book on his forefinger, lowered his arm +and looked completely mystified. "Why are you thinking of the Chinamen, +Mr. Jukes?" he inquired. + +Jukes took a plunge, like a man driven to it. "She's rolling her decks +full of water, sir. Thought you might put her head on perhaps--for a +while. Till this goes down a bit--very soon, I dare say. Head to the +eastward. I never knew a ship roll like this." + +He held on in the doorway, and Captain MacWhirr, feeling his grip on +the shelf inadequate, made up his mind to let go in a hurry, and fell +heavily on the couch. + +"Head to the eastward?" he said, struggling to sit up. "That's more than +four points off her course." + +"Yes, sir. Fifty degrees. . . . Would just bring her head far enough +round to meet this. . . ." + +Captain MacWhirr was now sitting up. He had not dropped the book, and he +had not lost his place. + +"To the eastward?" he repeated, with dawning astonishment. "To the . . . +Where do you think we are bound to? You want me to haul a full-powered +steamship four points off her course to make the Chinamen comfortable! +Now, I've heard more than enough of mad things done in the world--but +this. . . . If I didn't know you, Jukes, I would think you were in +liquor. Steer four points off. . . . And what afterwards? Steer four +points over the other way, I suppose, to make the course good. What put +it into your head that I would start to tack a steamer as if she were a +sailing-ship?" + +"Jolly good thing she isn't," threw in Jukes, with bitter readiness. +"She would have rolled every blessed stick out of her this afternoon." + +"Aye! And you just would have had to stand and see them go," said +Captain MacWhirr, showing a certain animation. "It's a dead calm, isn't +it?" + +"It is, sir. But there's something out of the common coming, for sure." + +"Maybe. I suppose you have a notion I should be getting out of the +way of that dirt," said Captain MacWhirr, speaking with the utmost +simplicity of manner and tone, and fixing the oilcloth on the floor +with a heavy stare. Thus he noticed neither Jukes' discomfiture nor the +mixture of vexation and astonished respect on his face. + +"Now, here's this book," he continued with deliberation, slapping his +thigh with the closed volume. "I've been reading the chapter on the +storms there." + +This was true. He had been reading the chapter on the storms. When he +had entered the chart-room, it was with no intention of taking the book +down. Some influence in the air--the same influence, probably, that +caused the steward to bring without orders the Captain's sea-boots and +oilskin coat up to the chart-room--had as it were guided his hand to +the shelf; and without taking the time to sit down he had waded with a +conscious effort into the terminology of the subject. He lost himself +amongst advancing semi-circles, left- and right-hand quadrants, the +curves of the tracks, the probable bearing of the centre, the shifts of +wind and the readings of barometer. He tried to bring all these +things into a definite relation to himself, and ended by becoming +contemptuously angry with such a lot of words, and with so much advice, +all head-work and supposition, without a glimmer of certitude. + +"It's the damnedest thing, Jukes," he said. "If a fellow was to believe +all that's in there, he would be running most of his time all over the +sea trying to get behind the weather." + +Again he slapped his leg with the book; and Jukes opened his mouth, but +said nothing. + +"Running to get behind the weather! Do you understand that, Mr. Jukes? +It's the maddest thing!" ejaculated Captain MacWhirr, with pauses, +gazing at the floor profoundly. "You would think an old woman had been +writing this. It passes me. If that thing means anything useful, then +it means that I should at once alter the course away, away to the devil +somewhere, and come booming down on Fu-chau from the northward at the +tail of this dirty weather that's supposed to be knocking about in our +way. From the north! Do you understand, Mr. Jukes? Three hundred extra +miles to the distance, and a pretty coal bill to show. I couldn't bring +myself to do that if every word in there was gospel truth, Mr. Jukes. +Don't you expect me. . . ." + +And Jukes, silent, marvelled at this display of feeling and loquacity. + +"But the truth is that you don't know if the fellow is right, anyhow. +How can you tell what a gale is made of till you get it? He isn't aboard +here, is he? Very well. Here he says that the centre of them things +bears eight points off the wind; but we haven't got any wind, for all +the barometer falling. Where's his centre now?" + +"We will get the wind presently," mumbled Jukes. + +"Let it come, then," said Captain MacWhirr, with dignified indignation. +"It's only to let you see, Mr. Jukes, that you don't find everything in +books. All these rules for dodging breezes and circumventing the winds +of heaven, Mr. Jukes, seem to me the maddest thing, when you come to +look at it sensibly." + +He raised his eyes, saw Jukes gazing at him dubiously, and tried to +illustrate his meaning. + +"About as queer as your extraordinary notion of dodging the ship head +to sea, for I don't know how long, to make the Chinamen comfortable; +whereas all we've got to do is to take them to Fu-chau, being timed to +get there before noon on Friday. If the weather delays me--very well. +There's your log-book to talk straight about the weather. But suppose +I went swinging off my course and came in two days late, and they asked +me: 'Where have you been all that time, Captain?' What could I say to +that? 'Went around to dodge the bad weather,' I would say. 'It must've +been dam' bad,' they would say. 'Don't know,' I would have to say; 'I've +dodged clear of it.' See that, Jukes? I have been thinking it all out +this afternoon." + +He looked up again in his unseeing, unimaginative way. No one had ever +heard him say so much at one time. Jukes, with his arms open in the +doorway, was like a man invited to behold a miracle. Unbounded wonder +was the intellectual meaning of his eye, while incredulity was seated in +his whole countenance. + +"A gale is a gale, Mr. Jukes," resumed the Captain, "and a full-powered +steam-ship has got to face it. There's just so much dirty weather +knocking about the world, and the proper thing is to go through it with +none of what old Captain Wilson of the Melita calls 'storm strategy.' +The other day ashore I heard him hold forth about it to a lot of +shipmasters who came in and sat at a table next to mine. It seemed to me +the greatest nonsense. He was telling them how he outmanoeuvred, I +think he said, a terrific gale, so that it never came nearer than fifty +miles to him. A neat piece of head-work he called it. How he knew there +was a terrific gale fifty miles off beats me altogether. It was like +listening to a crazy man. I would have thought Captain Wilson was old +enough to know better." + +Captain MacWhirr ceased for a moment, then said, "It's your watch below, +Mr. Jukes?" + +Jukes came to himself with a start. "Yes, sir." + +"Leave orders to call me at the slightest change," said the Captain. +He reached up to put the book away, and tucked his legs upon the couch. +"Shut the door so that it don't fly open, will you? I can't stand a +door banging. They've put a lot of rubbishy locks into this ship, I must +say." + +Captain MacWhirr closed his eyes. + +He did so to rest himself. He was tired, and he experienced that state +of mental vacuity which comes at the end of an exhaustive discussion +that has liberated some belief matured in the course of meditative +years. He had indeed been making his confession of faith, had he only +known it; and its effect was to make Jukes, on the other side of the +door, stand scratching his head for a good while. + +Captain MacWhirr opened his eyes. + +He thought he must have been asleep. What was that loud noise? Wind? Why +had he not been called? The lamp wriggled in its gimbals, the barometer +swung in circles, the table altered its slant every moment; a pair of +limp sea-boots with collapsed tops went sliding past the couch. He put +out his hand instantly, and captured one. + +Jukes' face appeared in a crack of the door: only his face, very red, +with staring eyes. The flame of the lamp leaped, a piece of paper flew +up, a rush of air enveloped Captain MacWhirr. Beginning to draw on the +boot, he directed an expectant gaze at Jukes' swollen, excited features. + +"Came on like this," shouted Jukes, "five minutes ago . . . all of a +sudden." + +The head disappeared with a bang, and a heavy splash and patter of drops +swept past the closed door as if a pailful of melted lead had been +flung against the house. A whistling could be heard now upon the +deep vibrating noise outside. The stuffy chart-room seemed as full of +draughts as a shed. Captain MacWhirr collared the other sea-boot on its +violent passage along the floor. He was not flustered, but he could not +find at once the opening for inserting his foot. The shoes he had flung +off were scurrying from end to end of the cabin, gambolling playfully +over each other like puppies. As soon as he stood up he kicked at them +viciously, but without effect. + +He threw himself into the attitude of a lunging fencer, to reach after +his oilskin coat; and afterwards he staggered all over the confined +space while he jerked himself into it. Very grave, straddling his legs +far apart, and stretching his neck, he started to tie deliberately +the strings of his sou'-wester under his chin, with thick fingers that +trembled slightly. He went through all the movements of a woman putting +on her bonnet before a glass, with a strained, listening attention, as +though he had expected every moment to hear the shout of his name in the +confused clamour that had suddenly beset his ship. Its increase filled +his ears while he was getting ready to go out and confront whatever it +might mean. It was tumultuous and very loud--made up of the rush of the +wind, the crashes of the sea, with that prolonged deep vibration of the +air, like the roll of an immense and remote drum beating the charge of +the gale. + +He stood for a moment in the light of the lamp, thick, clumsy, shapeless +in his panoply of combat, vigilant and red-faced. + +"There's a lot of weight in this," he muttered. + +As soon as he attempted to open the door the wind caught it. Clinging +to the handle, he was dragged out over the doorstep, and at once found +himself engaged with the wind in a sort of personal scuffle whose +object was the shutting of that door. At the last moment a tongue of air +scurried in and licked out the flame of the lamp. + +Ahead of the ship he perceived a great darkness lying upon a multitude +of white flashes; on the starboard beam a few amazing stars drooped, dim +and fitful, above an immense waste of broken seas, as if seen through a +mad drift of smoke. + +On the bridge a knot of men, indistinct and toiling, were making great +efforts in the light of the wheelhouse windows that shone mistily on +their heads and backs. Suddenly darkness closed upon one pane, then on +another. The voices of the lost group reached him after the manner of +men's voices in a gale, in shreds and fragments of forlorn shouting +snatched past the ear. All at once Jukes appeared at his side, yelling, +with his head down. + +"Watch--put in--wheelhouse shutters--glass--afraid--blow in." + +Jukes heard his commander upbraiding. + +"This--come--anything--warning--call me." + +He tried to explain, with the uproar pressing on his lips. + +"Light air--remained--bridge--sudden--north-east--could +turn--thought--you--sure--hear." + +They had gained the shelter of the weather-cloth, and could converse +with raised voices, as people quarrel. + +"I got the hands along to cover up all the ventilators. Good job I had +remained on deck. I didn't think you would be asleep, and so . . . What +did you say, sir? What?" + +"Nothing," cried Captain MacWhirr. "I said--all right." + +"By all the powers! We've got it this time," observed Jukes in a howl. + +"You haven't altered her course?" inquired Captain MacWhirr, straining +his voice. + +"No, sir. Certainly not. Wind came out right ahead. And here comes the +head sea." + +A plunge of the ship ended in a shock as if she had landed her forefoot +upon something solid. After a moment of stillness a lofty flight of +sprays drove hard with the wind upon their faces. + +"Keep her at it as long as we can," shouted Captain MacWhirr. + +Before Jukes had squeezed the salt water out of his eyes all the stars +had disappeared. + + + +III + +Jukes was as ready a man as any half-dozen young mates that may be +caught by casting a net upon the waters; and though he had been somewhat +taken aback by the startling viciousness of the first squall, he had +pulled himself together on the instant, had called out the hands and had +rushed them along to secure such openings about the deck as had not been +already battened down earlier in the evening. Shouting in his fresh, +stentorian voice, "Jump, boys, and bear a hand!" he led in the work, +telling himself the while that he had "just expected this." + +But at the same time he was growing aware that this was rather more than +he had expected. From the first stir of the air felt on his cheek the +gale seemed to take upon itself the accumulated impetus of an avalanche. +Heavy sprays enveloped the Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and instantly in +the midst of her regular rolling she began to jerk and plunge as though +she had gone mad with fright. + +Jukes thought, "This is no joke." While he was exchanging explanatory +yells with his captain, a sudden lowering of the darkness came upon the +night, falling before their vision like something palpable. It was as +if the masked lights of the world had been turned down. Jukes was +uncritically glad to have his captain at hand. It relieved him as though +that man had, by simply coming on deck, taken most of the gale's weight +upon his shoulders. Such is the prestige, the privilege, and the burden +of command. + +Captain MacWhirr could expect no relief of that sort from any one on +earth. Such is the loneliness of command. He was trying to see, with +that watchful manner of a seaman who stares into the wind's eye as if +into the eye of an adversary, to penetrate the hidden intention and +guess the aim and force of the thrust. The strong wind swept at him out +of a vast obscurity; he felt under his feet the uneasiness of his ship, +and he could not even discern the shadow of her shape. He wished it +were not so; and very still he waited, feeling stricken by a blind man's +helplessness. + +To be silent was natural to him, dark or shine. Jukes, at his elbow, +made himself heard yelling cheerily in the gusts, "We must have got +the worst of it at once, sir." A faint burst of lightning quivered all +round, as if flashed into a cavern--into a black and secret chamber of +the sea, with a floor of foaming crests. + +It unveiled for a sinister, fluttering moment a ragged mass of clouds +hanging low, the lurch of the long outlines of the ship, the black +figures of men caught on the bridge, heads forward, as if petrified in +the act of butting. The darkness palpitated down upon all this, and then +the real thing came at last. + +It was something formidable and swift, like the sudden smashing of +a vial of wrath. It seemed to explode all round the ship with an +overpowering concussion and a rush of great waters, as if an immense dam +had been blown up to windward. In an instant the men lost touch of each +other. This is the disintegrating power of a great wind: it isolates one +from one's kind. An earthquake, a landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man +incidentally, as it were--without passion. A furious gale attacks him +like a personal enemy, tries to grasp his limbs, fastens upon his mind, +seeks to rout his very spirit out of him. + +Jukes was driven away from his commander. He fancied himself whirled a +great distance through the air. Everything disappeared--even, for +a moment, his power of thinking; but his hand had found one of +the rail-stanchions. His distress was by no means alleviated by an +inclination to disbelieve the reality of this experience. Though young, +he had seen some bad weather, and had never doubted his ability to +imagine the worst; but this was so much beyond his powers of fancy that +it appeared incompatible with the existence of any ship whatever. He +would have been incredulous about himself in the same way, perhaps, had +he not been so harassed by the necessity of exerting a wrestling effort +against a force trying to tear him away from his hold. Moreover, the +conviction of not being utterly destroyed returned to him through the +sensations of being half-drowned, bestially shaken, and partly choked. + +It seemed to him he remained there precariously alone with the stanchion +for a long, long time. The rain poured on him, flowed, drove in sheets. +He breathed in gasps; and sometimes the water he swallowed was fresh and +sometimes it was salt. For the most part he kept his eyes shut tight, as +if suspecting his sight might be destroyed in the immense flurry of +the elements. When he ventured to blink hastily, he derived some moral +support from the green gleam of the starboard light shining feebly upon +the flight of rain and sprays. He was actually looking at it when its +ray fell upon the uprearing sea which put it out. He saw the head of the +wave topple over, adding the mite of its crash to the tremendous uproar +raging around him, and almost at the same instant the stanchion was +wrenched away from his embracing arms. After a crushing thump on his +back he found himself suddenly afloat and borne upwards. His first +irresistible notion was that the whole China Sea had climbed on the +bridge. Then, more sanely, he concluded himself gone overboard. All the +time he was being tossed, flung, and rolled in great volumes of water, +he kept on repeating mentally, with the utmost precipitation, the words: +"My God! My God! My God! My God!" + +All at once, in a revolt of misery and despair, he formed the crazy +resolution to get out of that. And he began to thresh about with his +arms and legs. But as soon as he commenced his wretched struggles he +discovered that he had become somehow mixed up with a face, an oilskin +coat, somebody's boots. He clawed ferociously all these things in +turn, lost them, found them again, lost them once more, and finally was +himself caught in the firm clasp of a pair of stout arms. He returned +the embrace closely round a thick solid body. He had found his captain. + +They tumbled over and over, tightening their hug. Suddenly the water +let them down with a brutal bang; and, stranded against the side of the +wheelhouse, out of breath and bruised, they were left to stagger up in +the wind and hold on where they could. + +Jukes came out of it rather horrified, as though he had escaped some +unparalleled outrage directed at his feelings. It weakened his faith in +himself. He started shouting aimlessly to the man he could feel near him +in that fiendish blackness, "Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir?" till his +temples seemed ready to burst. And he heard in answer a voice, as if +crying far away, as if screaming to him fretfully from a very great +distance, the one word "Yes!" Other seas swept again over the bridge. +He received them defencelessly right over his bare head, with both his +hands engaged in holding. + +The motion of the ship was extravagant. Her lurches had an appalling +helplessness: she pitched as if taking a header into a void, and seemed +to find a wall to hit every time. When she rolled she fell on her side +headlong, and she would be righted back by such a demolishing blow that +Jukes felt her reeling as a clubbed man reels before he collapses. The +gale howled and scuffled about gigantically in the darkness, as though +the entire world were one black gully. At certain moments the air +streamed against the ship as if sucked through a tunnel with a +concentrated solid force of impact that seemed to lift her clean out +of the water and keep her up for an instant with only a quiver running +through her from end to end. And then she would begin her tumbling again +as if dropped back into a boiling cauldron. Jukes tried hard to compose +his mind and judge things coolly. + +The sea, flattened down in the heavier gusts, would uprise and overwhelm +both ends of the Nan-Shan in snowy rushes of foam, expanding wide, +beyond both rails, into the night. And on this dazzling sheet, spread +under the blackness of the clouds and emitting a bluish glow, Captain +MacWhirr could catch a desolate glimpse of a few tiny specks black as +ebony, the tops of the hatches, the battened companions, the heads of +the covered winches, the foot of a mast. This was all he could see of +his ship. Her middle structure, covered by the bridge which bore him, +his mate, the closed wheelhouse where a man was steering shut up with +the fear of being swept overboard together with the whole thing in one +great crash--her middle structure was like a half-tide rock awash upon a +coast. It was like an outlying rock with the water boiling up, streaming +over, pouring off, beating round--like a rock in the surf to which +shipwrecked people cling before they let go--only it rose, it sank, it +rolled continuously, without respite and rest, like a rock that should +have miraculously struck adrift from a coast and gone wallowing upon the +sea. + +The Nan-Shan was being looted by the storm with a senseless, destructive +fury: trysails torn out of the extra gaskets, double-lashed awnings +blown away, bridge swept clean, weather-cloths burst, rails twisted, +light-screens smashed--and two of the boats had gone already. They had +gone unheard and unseen, melting, as it were, in the shock and smother +of the wave. It was only later, when upon the white flash of another +high sea hurling itself amidships, Jukes had a vision of two pairs of +davits leaping black and empty out of the solid blackness, with one +overhauled fall flying and an iron-bound block capering in the air, that +he became aware of what had happened within about three yards of his +back. + +He poked his head forward, groping for the ear of his commander. His +lips touched it--big, fleshy, very wet. He cried in an agitated tone, +"Our boats are going now, sir." + +And again he heard that voice, forced and ringing feebly, but with a +penetrating effect of quietness in the enormous discord of noises, as if +sent out from some remote spot of peace beyond the black wastes of the +gale; again he heard a man's voice--the frail and indomitable sound that +can be made to carry an infinity of thought, resolution and purpose, +that shall be pronouncing confident words on the last day, when heavens +fall, and justice is done--again he heard it, and it was crying to him, +as if from very, very far--"All right." + +He thought he had not managed to make himself understood. "Our boats--I +say boats--the boats, sir! Two gone!" + +The same voice, within a foot of him and yet so remote, yelled sensibly, +"Can't be helped." + +Captain MacWhirr had never turned his face, but Jukes caught some more +words on the wind. + +"What can--expect--when hammering through--such--Bound to +leave--something behind--stands to reason." + +Watchfully Jukes listened for more. No more came. This was all Captain +MacWhirr had to say; and Jukes could picture to himself rather than see +the broad squat back before him. An impenetrable obscurity pressed down +upon the ghostly glimmers of the sea. A dull conviction seized upon +Jukes that there was nothing to be done. + +If the steering-gear did not give way, if the immense volumes of water +did not burst the deck in or smash one of the hatches, if the engines +did not give up, if way could be kept on the ship against this terrific +wind, and she did not bury herself in one of these awful seas, of whose +white crests alone, topping high above her bows, he could now and then +get a sickening glimpse--then there was a chance of her coming out of +it. Something within him seemed to turn over, bringing uppermost the +feeling that the Nan-Shan was lost. + +"She's done for," he said to himself, with a surprising mental +agitation, as though he had discovered an unexpected meaning in this +thought. One of these things was bound to happen. Nothing could be +prevented now, and nothing could be remedied. The men on board did not +count, and the ship could not last. This weather was too impossible. + +Jukes felt an arm thrown heavily over his shoulders; and to this +overture he responded with great intelligence by catching hold of his +captain round the waist. + +They stood clasped thus in the blind night, bracing each other against +the wind, cheek to cheek and lip to ear, in the manner of two hulks +lashed stem to stern together. + +And Jukes heard the voice of his commander hardly any louder than +before, but nearer, as though, starting to march athwart the prodigious +rush of the hurricane, it had approached him, bearing that strange +effect of quietness like the serene glow of a halo. + +"D'ye know where the hands got to?" it asked, vigorous and evanescent at +the same time, overcoming the strength of the wind, and swept away from +Jukes instantly. + +Jukes didn't know. They were all on the bridge when the real force of +the hurricane struck the ship. He had no idea where they had crawled to. +Under the circumstances they were nowhere, for all the use that could be +made of them. Somehow the Captain's wish to know distressed Jukes. + +"Want the hands, sir?" he cried, apprehensively. + +"Ought to know," asserted Captain MacWhirr. "Hold hard." + +They held hard. An outburst of unchained fury, a vicious rush of the +wind absolutely steadied the ship; she rocked only, quick and light like +a child's cradle, for a terrific moment of suspense, while the whole +atmosphere, as it seemed, streamed furiously past her, roaring away from +the tenebrous earth. + +It suffocated them, and with eyes shut they tightened their grasp. +What from the magnitude of the shock might have been a column of water +running upright in the dark, butted against the ship, broke short, +and fell on her bridge, crushingly, from on high, with a dead burying +weight. + +A flying fragment of that collapse, a mere splash, enveloped them in one +swirl from their feet over their heads, filling violently their ears, +mouths and nostrils with salt water. It knocked out their legs, wrenched +in haste at their arms, seethed away swiftly under their chins; and +opening their eyes, they saw the piled-up masses of foam dashing to and +fro amongst what looked like the fragments of a ship. She had given way +as if driven straight in. Their panting hearts yielded, too, before the +tremendous blow; and all at once she sprang up again to her desperate +plunging, as if trying to scramble out from under the ruins. + +The seas in the dark seemed to rush from all sides to keep her back +where she might perish. There was hate in the way she was handled, and +a ferocity in the blows that fell. She was like a living creature thrown +to the rage of a mob: hustled terribly, struck at, borne up, flung +down, leaped upon. Captain MacWhirr and Jukes kept hold of each other, +deafened by the noise, gagged by the wind; and the great physical +tumult beating about their bodies, brought, like an unbridled display +of passion, a profound trouble to their souls. One of those wild and +appalling shrieks that are heard at times passing mysteriously overhead +in the steady roar of a hurricane, swooped, as if borne on wings, upon +the ship, and Jukes tried to outscream it. + +"Will she live through this?" + +The cry was wrenched out of his breast. It was as unintentional as the +birth of a thought in the head, and he heard nothing of it himself. It +all became extinct at once--thought, intention, effort--and of his cry +the inaudible vibration added to the tempest waves of the air. + +He expected nothing from it. Nothing at all. For indeed what answer +could be made? But after a while he heard with amazement the frail and +resisting voice in his ear, the dwarf sound, unconquered in the giant +tumult. + +"She may!" + +It was a dull yell, more difficult to seize than a whisper. And +presently the voice returned again, half submerged in the vast crashes, +like a ship battling against the waves of an ocean. + +"Let's hope so!" it cried--small, lonely and unmoved, a stranger to +the visions of hope or fear; and it flickered into disconnected words: +"Ship. . . . . This. . . . Never--Anyhow . . . for the best." Jukes gave +it up. + +Then, as if it had come suddenly upon the one thing fit to withstand +the power of a storm, it seemed to gain force and firmness for the last +broken shouts: + +"Keep on hammering . . . builders . . . good men. . . . . And chance it +. . . engines. . . . Rout . . . good man." + +Captain MacWhirr removed his arm from Jukes' shoulders, and thereby +ceased to exist for his mate, so dark it was; Jukes, after a tense +stiffening of every muscle, would let himself go limp all over. The +gnawing of profound discomfort existed side by side with an incredible +disposition to somnolence, as though he had been buffeted and worried +into drowsiness. The wind would get hold of his head and try to shake +it off his shoulders; his clothes, full of water, were as heavy as lead, +cold and dripping like an armour of melting ice: he shivered--it lasted +a long time; and with his hands closed hard on his hold, he was letting +himself sink slowly into the depths of bodily misery. His mind became +concentrated upon himself in an aimless, idle way, and when something +pushed lightly at the back of his knees he nearly, as the saying is, +jumped out of his skin. + +In the start forward he bumped the back of Captain MacWhirr, who didn't +move; and then a hand gripped his thigh. A lull had come, a menacing +lull of the wind, the holding of a stormy breath--and he felt himself +pawed all over. It was the boatswain. Jukes recognized these hands, so +thick and enormous that they seemed to belong to some new species of +man. + +The boatswain had arrived on the bridge, crawling on all fours against +the wind, and had found the chief mate's legs with the top of his head. +Immediately he crouched and began to explore Jukes' person upwards with +prudent, apologetic touches, as became an inferior. + +He was an ill-favoured, undersized, gruff sailor of fifty, coarsely +hairy, short-legged, long-armed, resembling an elderly ape. His +strength was immense; and in his great lumpy paws, bulging like brown +boxing-gloves on the end of furry forearms, the heaviest objects were +handled like playthings. Apart from the grizzled pelt on his chest, the +menacing demeanour and the hoarse voice, he had none of the classical +attributes of his rating. His good nature almost amounted to imbecility: +the men did what they liked with him, and he had not an ounce of +initiative in his character, which was easy-going and talkative. For +these reasons Jukes disliked him; but Captain MacWhirr, to Jukes' +scornful disgust, seemed to regard him as a first-rate petty officer. + +He pulled himself up by Jukes' coat, taking that liberty with the +greatest moderation, and only so far as it was forced upon him by the +hurricane. + +"What is it, boss'n, what is it?" yelled Jukes, impatiently. What could +that fraud of a boss'n want on the bridge? The typhoon had got on Jukes' +nerves. The husky bellowings of the other, though unintelligible, seemed +to suggest a state of lively satisfaction. + +There could be no mistake. The old fool was pleased with something. + +The boatswain's other hand had found some other body, for in a changed +tone he began to inquire: "Is it you, sir? Is it you, sir?" The wind +strangled his howls. + +"Yes!" cried Captain MacWhirr. + + + +IV + +All that the boatswain, out of a superabundance of yells, could make +clear to Captain MacWhirr was the bizarre intelligence that "All them +Chinamen in the fore 'tween deck have fetched away, sir." + +Jukes to leeward could hear these two shouting within six inches of +his face, as you may hear on a still night half a mile away two men +conversing across a field. He heard Captain MacWhirr's exasperated +"What? What?" and the strained pitch of the other's hoarseness. "In a +lump . . . seen them myself. . . . Awful sight, sir . . . thought . . . +tell you." + +Jukes remained indifferent, as if rendered irresponsible by the force +of the hurricane, which made the very thought of action utterly vain. +Besides, being very young, he had found the occupation of keeping his +heart completely steeled against the worst so engrossing that he had +come to feel an overpowering dislike towards any other form of activity +whatever. He was not scared; he knew this because, firmly believing he +would never see another sunrise, he remained calm in that belief. + +These are the moments of do-nothing heroics to which even good men +surrender at times. Many officers of ships can no doubt recall a case +in their experience when just such a trance of confounded stoicism would +come all at once over a whole ship's company. Jukes, however, had +no wide experience of men or storms. He conceived himself to be +calm--inexorably calm; but as a matter of fact he was daunted; not +abjectly, but only so far as a decent man may, without becoming +loathsome to himself. + +It was rather like a forced-on numbness of spirit. The long, long +stress of a gale does it; the suspense of the interminably culminating +catastrophe; and there is a bodily fatigue in the mere holding on to +existence within the excessive tumult; a searching and insidious fatigue +that penetrates deep into a man's breast to cast down and sadden his +heart, which is incorrigible, and of all the gifts of the earth--even +before life itself--aspires to peace. + +Jukes was benumbed much more than he supposed. He held on--very wet, +very cold, stiff in every limb; and in a momentary hallucination of +swift visions (it is said that a drowning man thus reviews all his life) +he beheld all sorts of memories altogether unconnected with his present +situation. He remembered his father, for instance: a worthy business +man, who at an unfortunate crisis in his affairs went quietly to bed +and died forthwith in a state of resignation. Jukes did not recall these +circumstances, of course, but remaining otherwise unconcerned he seemed +to see distinctly the poor man's face; a certain game of nap played when +quite a boy in Table Bay on board a ship, since lost with all hands; +the thick eyebrows of his first skipper; and without any emotion, as +he might years ago have walked listlessly into her room and found her +sitting there with a book, he remembered his mother--dead, too, now--the +resolute woman, left badly off, who had been very firm in his bringing +up. + +It could not have lasted more than a second, perhaps not so much. A +heavy arm had fallen about his shoulders; Captain MacWhirr's voice was +speaking his name into his ear. + +"Jukes! Jukes!" + +He detected the tone of deep concern. The wind had thrown its weight +on the ship, trying to pin her down amongst the seas. They made a clean +breach over her, as over a deep-swimming log; and the gathered weight +of crashes menaced monstrously from afar. The breakers flung out of the +night with a ghostly light on their crests--the light of sea-foam that +in a ferocious, boiling-up pale flash showed upon the slender body of +the ship the toppling rush, the downfall, and the seething mad scurry +of each wave. Never for a moment could she shake herself clear of +the water; Jukes, rigid, perceived in her motion the ominous sign of +haphazard floundering. She was no longer struggling intelligently. It +was the beginning of the end; and the note of busy concern in Captain +MacWhirr's voice sickened him like an exhibition of blind and pernicious +folly. + +The spell of the storm had fallen upon Jukes. He was penetrated by it, +absorbed by it; he was rooted in it with a rigour of dumb attention. +Captain MacWhirr persisted in his cries, but the wind got between them +like a solid wedge. He hung round Jukes' neck as heavy as a millstone, +and suddenly the sides of their heads knocked together. + +"Jukes! Mr. Jukes, I say!" + +He had to answer that voice that would not be silenced. He answered in +the customary manner: ". . . Yes, sir." + +And directly, his heart, corrupted by the storm that breeds a craving +for peace, rebelled against the tyranny of training and command. + +Captain MacWhirr had his mate's head fixed firm in the crook of his +elbow, and pressed it to his yelling lips mysteriously. Sometimes +Jukes would break in, admonishing hastily: "Look out, sir!" or Captain +MacWhirr would bawl an earnest exhortation to "Hold hard, there!" and +the whole black universe seemed to reel together with the ship. They +paused. She floated yet. And Captain MacWhirr would resume, his shouts. +". . . . Says . . . whole lot . . . fetched away. . . . Ought to see +. . . what's the matter." + +Directly the full force of the hurricane had struck the ship, every part +of her deck became untenable; and the sailors, dazed and dismayed, took +shelter in the port alleyway under the bridge. It had a door aft, which +they shut; it was very black, cold, and dismal. At each heavy fling of +the ship they would groan all together in the dark, and tons of water +could be heard scuttling about as if trying to get at them from above. +The boatswain had been keeping up a gruff talk, but a more unreasonable +lot of men, he said afterwards, he had never been with. They were snug +enough there, out of harm's way, and not wanted to do anything, either; +and yet they did nothing but grumble and complain peevishly like so many +sick kids. Finally, one of them said that if there had been at least +some light to see each other's noses by, it wouldn't be so bad. It was +making him crazy, he declared, to lie there in the dark waiting for the +blamed hooker to sink. + +"Why don't you step outside, then, and be done with it at once?" the +boatswain turned on him. + +This called up a shout of execration. The boatswain found himself +overwhelmed with reproaches of all sorts. They seemed to take it ill +that a lamp was not instantly created for them out of nothing. They +would whine after a light to get drowned by--anyhow! And though the +unreason of their revilings was patent--since no one could hope to reach +the lamp-room, which was forward--he became greatly distressed. He did +not think it was decent of them to be nagging at him like this. He told +them so, and was met by general contumely. He sought refuge, therefore, +in an embittered silence. At the same time their grumbling and sighing +and muttering worried him greatly, but by-and-by it occurred to him that +there were six globe lamps hung in the 'tween-deck, and that there could +be no harm in depriving the coolies of one of them. + +The Nan-Shan had an athwartship coal-bunker, which, being at times used +as cargo space, communicated by an iron door with the fore 'tween-deck. +It was empty then, and its manhole was the foremost one in the alleyway. +The boatswain could get in, therefore, without coming out on deck at +all; but to his great surprise he found he could induce no one to help +him in taking off the manhole cover. He groped for it all the same, but +one of the crew lying in his way refused to budge. + +"Why, I only want to get you that blamed light you are crying for," he +expostulated, almost pitifully. + +Somebody told him to go and put his head in a bag. He regretted he could +not recognize the voice, and that it was too dark to see, otherwise, +as he said, he would have put a head on that son of a sea-cook, anyway, +sink or swim. Nevertheless, he had made up his mind to show them he +could get a light, if he were to die for it. + +Through the violence of the ship's rolling, every movement was +dangerous. To be lying down seemed labour enough. He nearly broke +his neck dropping into the bunker. He fell on his back, and was sent +shooting helplessly from side to side in the dangerous company of a +heavy iron bar--a coal-trimmer's slice probably--left down there by +somebody. This thing made him as nervous as though it had been a +wild beast. He could not see it, the inside of the bunker coated with +coal-dust being perfectly and impenetrably black; but he heard it +sliding and clattering, and striking here and there, always in the +neighbourhood of his head. It seemed to make an extraordinary noise, +too--to give heavy thumps as though it had been as big as a bridge +girder. This was remarkable enough for him to notice while he was flung +from port to starboard and back again, and clawing desperately the +smooth sides of the bunker in the endeavour to stop himself. The door +into the 'tween-deck not fitting quite true, he saw a thread of dim +light at the bottom. + +Being a sailor, and a still active man, he did not want much of a chance +to regain his feet; and as luck would have it, in scrambling up he put +his hand on the iron slice, picking it up as he rose. Otherwise he would +have been afraid of the thing breaking his legs, or at least knocking +him down again. At first he stood still. He felt unsafe in this darkness +that seemed to make the ship's motion unfamiliar, unforeseen, and +difficult to counteract. He felt so much shaken for a moment that he +dared not move for fear of "taking charge again." He had no mind to get +battered to pieces in that bunker. + +He had struck his head twice; he was dazed a little. He seemed to hear +yet so plainly the clatter and bangs of the iron slice flying about +his ears that he tightened his grip to prove to himself he had it there +safely in his hand. He was vaguely amazed at the plainness with which +down there he could hear the gale raging. Its howls and shrieks seemed +to take on, in the emptiness of the bunker, something of the human +character, of human rage and pain--being not vast but infinitely +poignant. And there were, with every roll, thumps, too--profound, +ponderous thumps, as if a bulky object of five-ton weight or so had got +play in the hold. But there was no such thing in the cargo. Something on +deck? Impossible. Or alongside? Couldn't be. + +He thought all this quickly, clearly, competently, like a seaman, and +in the end remained puzzled. This noise, though, came deadened from +outside, together with the washing and pouring of water on deck above +his head. Was it the wind? Must be. It made down there a row like the +shouting of a big lot of crazed men. And he discovered in himself +a desire for a light, too--if only to get drowned by--and a nervous +anxiety to get out of that bunker as quickly as possible. + +He pulled back the bolt: the heavy iron plate turned on its hinges; and +it was as though he had opened the door to the sounds of the tempest. +A gust of hoarse yelling met him: the air was still; and the rushing +of water overhead was covered by a tumult of strangled, throaty shrieks +that produced an effect of desperate confusion. He straddled his legs +the whole width of the doorway and stretched his neck. And at first +he perceived only what he had come to seek: six small yellow flames +swinging violently on the great body of the dusk. + +It was stayed like the gallery of a mine, with a row of stanchions +in the middle, and cross-beams overhead, penetrating into the gloom +ahead--indefinitely. And to port there loomed, like the caving in of +one of the sides, a bulky mass with a slanting outline. The whole place, +with the shadows and the shapes, moved all the time. The boatswain +glared: the ship lurched to starboard, and a great howl came from that +mass that had the slant of fallen earth. + +Pieces of wood whizzed past. Planks, he thought, inexpressibly startled, +and flinging back his head. At his feet a man went sliding over, +open-eyed, on his back, straining with uplifted arms for nothing: and +another came bounding like a detached stone with his head between his +legs and his hands clenched. His pigtail whipped in the air; he made a +grab at the boatswain's legs, and from his opened hand a bright white +disc rolled against the boatswain's foot. He recognized a silver dollar, +and yelled at it with astonishment. With a precipitated sound of +trampling and shuffling of bare feet, and with guttural cries, the mound +of writhing bodies piled up to port detached itself from the ship's side +and sliding, inert and struggling, shifted to starboard, with a dull, +brutal thump. The cries ceased. The boatswain heard a long moan through +the roar and whistling of the wind; he saw an inextricable confusion of +heads and shoulders, naked soles kicking upwards, fists raised, tumbling +backs, legs, pigtails, faces. + +"Good Lord!" he cried, horrified, and banged-to the iron door upon this +vision. + +This was what he had come on the bridge to tell. He could not keep it +to himself; and on board ship there is only one man to whom it is +worth while to unburden yourself. On his passage back the hands in the +alleyway swore at him for a fool. Why didn't he bring that lamp? What +the devil did the coolies matter to anybody? And when he came out, the +extremity of the ship made what went on inside of her appear of little +moment. + +At first he thought he had left the alleyway in the very moment of her +sinking. The bridge ladders had been washed away, but an enormous sea +filling the after-deck floated him up. After that he had to lie on his +stomach for some time, holding to a ring-bolt, getting his breath now +and then, and swallowing salt water. He struggled farther on his hands +and knees, too frightened and distracted to turn back. In this way +he reached the after-part of the wheelhouse. In that comparatively +sheltered spot he found the second mate. + +The boatswain was pleasantly surprised--his impression being that +everybody on deck must have been washed away a long time ago. He asked +eagerly where the Captain was. + +The second mate was lying low, like a malignant little animal under a +hedge. + +"Captain? Gone overboard, after getting us into this mess." The mate, +too, for all he knew or cared. Another fool. Didn't matter. Everybody +was going by-and-by. + +The boatswain crawled out again into the strength of the wind; not +because he much expected to find anybody, he said, but just to get away +from "that man." He crawled out as outcasts go to face an inclement +world. Hence his great joy at finding Jukes and the Captain. But what +was going on in the 'tween-deck was to him a minor matter by that time. +Besides, it was difficult to make yourself heard. But he managed to +convey the idea that the Chinaman had broken adrift together with their +boxes, and that he had come up on purpose to report this. As to the +hands, they were all right. Then, appeased, he subsided on the deck in +a sitting posture, hugging with his arms and legs the stand of the +engine-room telegraph--an iron casting as thick as a post. When that +went, why, he expected he would go, too. He gave no more thought to the +coolies. + + +Captain MacWhirr had made Jukes understand that he wanted him to go down +below--to see. + +"What am I to do then, sir?" And the trembling of his whole wet body +caused Jukes' voice to sound like bleating. + +"See first . . . Boss'n . . . says . . . adrift." + +"That boss'n is a confounded fool," howled Jukes, shakily. + +The absurdity of the demand made upon him revolted Jukes. He was as +unwilling to go as if the moment he had left the deck the ship were sure +to sink. + +"I must know . . . can't leave. . . ." + +"They'll settle, sir." + +"Fight . . . boss'n says they fight. . . . Why? Can't have . . . +fighting . . . board ship. . . . Much rather keep you here . . . case +. . . I should . . . washed overboard myself. . . . Stop it . . . some +way. You see and tell me . . . through engine-room tube. Don't want you +. . . come up here . . . too often. Dangerous . . . moving about . . . +deck." + +Jukes, held with his head in chancery, had to listen to what seemed +horrible suggestions. + +"Don't want . . . you get lost . . . so long . . . ship isn't. . . . . +Rout . . . Good man . . . Ship . . . may . . . through this . . . all +right yet." + +All at once Jukes understood he would have to go. + +"Do you think she may?" he screamed. + +But the wind devoured the reply, out of which Jukes heard only the one +word, pronounced with great energy ". . . . Always. . . ." + +Captain MacWhirr released Jukes, and bending over the boatswain, yelled, +"Get back with the mate." Jukes only knew that the arm was gone off +his shoulders. He was dismissed with his orders--to do what? He was +exasperated into letting go his hold carelessly, and on the instant +was blown away. It seemed to him that nothing could stop him from being +blown right over the stern. He flung himself down hastily, and the +boatswain, who was following, fell on him. + +"Don't you get up yet, sir," cried the boatswain. "No hurry!" + +A sea swept over. Jukes understood the boatswain to splutter that the +bridge ladders were gone. "I'll lower you down, sir, by your hands," +he screamed. He shouted also something about the smoke-stack being +as likely to go overboard as not. Jukes thought it very possible, and +imagined the fires out, the ship helpless. . . . The boatswain by his +side kept on yelling. "What? What is it?" Jukes cried distressfully; and +the other repeated, "What would my old woman say if she saw me now?" + +In the alleyway, where a lot of water had got in and splashed in the +dark, the men were still as death, till Jukes stumbled against one of +them and cursed him savagely for being in the way. Two or three voices +then asked, eager and weak, "Any chance for us, sir?" + +"What's the matter with you fools?" he said brutally. He felt as though +he could throw himself down amongst them and never move any more. But +they seemed cheered; and in the midst of obsequious warnings, "Look +out! Mind that manhole lid, sir," they lowered him into the bunker. The +boatswain tumbled down after him, and as soon as he had picked himself +up he remarked, "She would say, 'Serve you right, you old fool, for +going to sea.'" + +The boatswain had some means, and made a point of alluding to them +frequently. His wife--a fat woman--and two grown-up daughters kept a +greengrocer's shop in the East-end of London. + +In the dark, Jukes, unsteady on his legs, listened to a faint thunderous +patter. A deadened screaming went on steadily at his elbow, as it were; +and from above the louder tumult of the storm descended upon these near +sounds. His head swam. To him, too, in that bunker, the motion of the +ship seemed novel and menacing, sapping his resolution as though he had +never been afloat before. + +He had half a mind to scramble out again; but the remembrance of Captain +MacWhirr's voice made this impossible. His orders were to go and see. +What was the good of it, he wanted to know. Enraged, he told himself he +would see--of course. But the boatswain, staggering clumsily, warned him +to be careful how he opened that door; there was a blamed fight going +on. And Jukes, as if in great bodily pain, desired irritably to know +what the devil they were fighting for. + +"Dollars! Dollars, sir. All their rotten chests got burst open. Blamed +money skipping all over the place, and they are tumbling after it head +over heels--tearing and biting like anything. A regular little hell in +there." + +Jukes convulsively opened the door. The short boatswain peered under his +arm. + +One of the lamps had gone out, broken perhaps. Rancorous, guttural cries +burst out loudly on their ears, and a strange panting sound, the working +of all these straining breasts. A hard blow hit the side of the ship: +water fell above with a stunning shock, and in the forefront of the +gloom, where the air was reddish and thick, Jukes saw a head bang the +deck violently, two thick calves waving on high, muscular arms twined +round a naked body, a yellow-face, open-mouthed and with a set wild +stare, look up and slide away. An empty chest clattered turning over; +a man fell head first with a jump, as if lifted by a kick; and farther +off, indistinct, others streamed like a mass of rolling stones down +a bank, thumping the deck with their feet and flourishing their arms +wildly. The hatchway ladder was loaded with coolies swarming on it +like bees on a branch. They hung on the steps in a crawling, stirring +cluster, beating madly with their fists the underside of the battened +hatch, and the headlong rush of the water above was heard in the +intervals of their yelling. The ship heeled over more, and they began +to drop off: first one, then two, then all the rest went away together, +falling straight off with a great cry. + +Jukes was confounded. The boatswain, with gruff anxiety, begged him, +"Don't you go in there, sir." + +The whole place seemed to twist upon itself, jumping incessantly the +while; and when the ship rose to a sea Jukes fancied that all these men +would be shot upon him in a body. He backed out, swung the door to, and +with trembling hands pushed at the bolt. . . . + +As soon as his mate had gone Captain MacWhirr, left alone on the bridge, +sidled and staggered as far as the wheelhouse. Its door being hinged +forward, he had to fight the gale for admittance, and when at last he +managed to enter, it was with an instantaneous clatter and a bang, as +though he had been fired through the wood. He stood within, holding on +to the handle. + +The steering-gear leaked steam, and in the confined space the glass of +the binnacle made a shiny oval of light in a thin white fog. The wind +howled, hummed, whistled, with sudden booming gusts that rattled +the doors and shutters in the vicious patter of sprays. Two coils of +lead-line and a small canvas bag hung on a long lanyard, swung wide off, +and came back clinging to the bulkheads. The gratings underfoot were +nearly afloat; with every sweeping blow of a sea, water squirted +violently through the cracks all round the door, and the man at the +helm had flung down his cap, his coat, and stood propped against the +gear-casing in a striped cotton shirt open on his breast. The little +brass wheel in his hands had the appearance of a bright and fragile +toy. The cords of his neck stood hard and lean, a dark patch lay in the +hollow of his throat, and his face was still and sunken as in death. + +Captain MacWhirr wiped his eyes. The sea that had nearly taken him +overboard had, to his great annoyance, washed his sou'-wester hat off +his bald head. The fluffy, fair hair, soaked and darkened, resembled a +mean skein of cotton threads festooned round his bare skull. His face, +glistening with sea-water, had been made crimson with the wind, with +the sting of sprays. He looked as though he had come off sweating from +before a furnace. + +"You here?" he muttered, heavily. + +The second mate had found his way into the wheelhouse some time before. +He had fixed himself in a corner with his knees up, a fist pressed +against each temple; and this attitude suggested rage, sorrow, +resignation, surrender, with a sort of concentrated unforgiveness. He +said mournfully and defiantly, "Well, it's my watch below now: ain't +it?" + +The steam gear clattered, stopped, clattered again; and the helmsman's +eyeballs seemed to project out of a hungry face as if the compass card +behind the binnacle glass had been meat. God knows how long he had been +left there to steer, as if forgotten by all his shipmates. The bells had +not been struck; there had been no reliefs; the ship's routine had gone +down wind; but he was trying to keep her head north-north-east. The +rudder might have been gone for all he knew, the fires out, the engines +broken down, the ship ready to roll over like a corpse. He was +anxious not to get muddled and lose control of her head, because the +compass-card swung far both ways, wriggling on the pivot, and sometimes +seemed to whirl right round. He suffered from mental stress. He was +horribly afraid, also, of the wheelhouse going. Mountains of water kept +on tumbling against it. When the ship took one of her desperate dives +the corners of his lips twitched. + +Captain MacWhirr looked up at the wheelhouse clock. Screwed to the +bulk-head, it had a white face on which the black hands appeared to +stand quite still. It was half-past one in the morning. + +"Another day," he muttered to himself. + +The second mate heard him, and lifting his head as one grieving amongst +ruins, "You won't see it break," he exclaimed. His wrists and his knees +could be seen to shake violently. "No, by God! You won't. . . ." + +He took his face again between his fists. + +The body of the helmsman had moved slightly, but his head didn't budge +on his neck,--like a stone head fixed to look one way from a column. +During a roll that all but took his booted legs from under him, and +in the very stagger to save himself, Captain MacWhirr said austerely, +"Don't you pay any attention to what that man says." And then, with an +indefinable change of tone, very grave, he added, "He isn't on duty." + +The sailor said nothing. + +The hurricane boomed, shaking the little place, which seemed air-tight; +and the light of the binnacle flickered all the time. + +"You haven't been relieved," Captain MacWhirr went on, looking down. "I +want you to stick to the helm, though, as long as you can. You've +got the hang of her. Another man coming here might make a mess of it. +Wouldn't do. No child's play. And the hands are probably busy with a job +down below. . . . Think you can?" + +The steering-gear leaped into an abrupt short clatter, stopped +smouldering like an ember; and the still man, with a motionless gaze, +burst out, as if all the passion in him had gone into his lips: "By +Heavens, sir! I can steer for ever if nobody talks to me." + +"Oh! aye! All right. . . ." The Captain lifted his eyes for the first +time to the man, ". . . Hackett." + +And he seemed to dismiss this matter from his mind. He stooped to the +engine-room speaking-tube, blew in, and bent his head. Mr. Rout below +answered, and at once Captain MacWhirr put his lips to the mouthpiece. + +With the uproar of the gale around him he applied alternately his lips +and his ear, and the engineer's voice mounted to him, harsh and as if +out of the heat of an engagement. One of the stokers was disabled, +the others had given in, the second engineer and the donkey-man were +firing-up. The third engineer was standing by the steam-valve. The +engines were being tended by hand. How was it above? + +"Bad enough. It mostly rests with you," said Captain MacWhirr. Was the +mate down there yet? No? Well, he would be presently. Would Mr. Rout +let him talk through the speaking-tube?--through the deck speaking-tube, +because he--the Captain--was going out again on the bridge directly. +There was some trouble amongst the Chinamen. They were fighting, it +seemed. Couldn't allow fighting anyhow. . . . + +Mr. Rout had gone away, and Captain MacWhirr could feel against his ear +the pulsation of the engines, like the beat of the ship's heart. Mr. +Rout's voice down there shouted something distantly. The ship pitched +headlong, the pulsation leaped with a hissing tumult, and stopped dead. +Captain MacWhirr's face was impassive, and his eyes were fixed aimlessly +on the crouching shape of the second mate. Again Mr. Rout's voice +cried out in the depths, and the pulsating beats recommenced, with slow +strokes--growing swifter. + +Mr. Rout had returned to the tube. "It don't matter much what they do," +he said, hastily; and then, with irritation, "She takes these dives as +if she never meant to come up again." + +"Awful sea," said the Captain's voice from above. + +"Don't let me drive her under," barked Solomon Rout up the pipe. + +"Dark and rain. Can't see what's coming," uttered the voice. +"Must--keep--her--moving--enough to steer--and chance it," it went on to +state distinctly. + +"I am doing as much as I dare." + +"We are--getting--smashed up--a good deal up here," proceeded the voice +mildly. "Doing--fairly well--though. Of course, if the wheelhouse should +go. . . ." + +Mr. Rout, bending an attentive ear, muttered peevishly something under +his breath. + +But the deliberate voice up there became animated to ask: "Jukes turned +up yet?" Then, after a short wait, "I wish he would bear a hand. I want +him to be done and come up here in case of anything. To look after the +ship. I am all alone. The second mate's lost. . . ." + +"What?" shouted Mr. Rout into the engine-room, taking his head away. +Then up the tube he cried, "Gone overboard?" and clapped his ear to. + +"Lost his nerve," the voice from above continued in a matter-of-fact +tone. "Damned awkward circumstance." + +Mr. Rout, listening with bowed neck, opened his eyes wide at this. +However, he heard something like the sounds of a scuffle and broken +exclamations coming down to him. He strained his hearing; and all the +time Beale, the third engineer, with his arms uplifted, held between +the palms of his hands the rim of a little black wheel projecting at the +side of a big copper pipe. + +He seemed to be poising it above his head, as though it were a correct +attitude in some sort of game. + +To steady himself, he pressed his shoulder against the white bulkhead, +one knee bent, and a sweat-rag tucked in his belt hanging on his hip. +His smooth cheek was begrimed and flushed, and the coal dust on his +eyelids, like the black pencilling of a make-up, enhanced the liquid +brilliance of the whites, giving to his youthful face something of a +feminine, exotic and fascinating aspect. When the ship pitched he would +with hasty movements of his hands screw hard at the little wheel. + +"Gone crazy," began the Captain's voice suddenly in the tube. "Rushed at +me. . . . Just now. Had to knock him down. . . . This minute. You heard, +Mr. Rout?" + +"The devil!" muttered Mr. Rout. "Look out, Beale!" + +His shout rang out like the blast of a warning trumpet, between the iron +walls of the engine-room. Painted white, they rose high into the dusk of +the skylight, sloping like a roof; and the whole lofty space resembled +the interior of a monument, divided by floors of iron grating, with +lights flickering at different levels, and a mass of gloom lingering in +the middle, within the columnar stir of machinery under the motionless +swelling of the cylinders. A loud and wild resonance, made up of all the +noises of the hurricane, dwelt in the still warmth of the air. There was +in it the smell of hot metal, of oil, and a slight mist of steam. The +blows of the sea seemed to traverse it in an unringing, stunning shock, +from side to side. + +Gleams, like pale long flames, trembled upon the polish of metal; from +the flooring below the enormous crank-heads emerged in their turns +with a flash of brass and steel--going over; while the connecting-rods, +big-jointed, like skeleton limbs, seemed to thrust them down and pull +them up again with an irresistible precision. And deep in the half-light +other rods dodged deliberately to and fro, crossheads nodded, discs +of metal rubbed smoothly against each other, slow and gentle, in a +commingling of shadows and gleams. + +Sometimes all those powerful and unerring movements would slow down +simultaneously, as if they had been the functions of a living organism, +stricken suddenly by the blight of languor; and Mr. Rout's eyes would +blaze darker in his long sallow face. He was fighting this fight in a +pair of carpet slippers. A short shiny jacket barely covered his loins, +and his white wrists protruded far out of the tight sleeves, as though +the emergency had added to his stature, had lengthened his limbs, +augmented his pallor, hollowed his eyes. + +He moved, climbing high up, disappearing low down, with a restless, +purposeful industry, and when he stood still, holding the guard-rail in +front of the starting-gear, he would keep glancing to the right at the +steam-gauge, at the water-gauge, fixed upon the white wall in the light +of a swaying lamp. The mouths of two speaking-tubes gaped stupidly at his +elbow, and the dial of the engine-room telegraph resembled a clock of +large diameter, bearing on its face curt words instead of figures. The +grouped letters stood out heavily black, around the pivot-head of the +indicator, emphatically symbolic of loud exclamations: AHEAD, ASTERN, +SLOW, Half, STAND BY; and the fat black hand pointed downwards to the +word FULL, which, thus singled out, captured the eye as a sharp cry +secures attention. + +The wood-encased bulk of the low-pressure cylinder, frowning portly from +above, emitted a faint wheeze at every thrust, and except for that +low hiss the engines worked their steel limbs headlong or slow with a +silent, determined smoothness. And all this, the white walls, the moving +steel, the floor plates under Solomon Rout's feet, the floors of +iron grating above his head, the dusk and the gleams, uprose and sank +continuously, with one accord, upon the harsh wash of the waves against +the ship's side. The whole loftiness of the place, booming hollow to the +great voice of the wind, swayed at the top like a tree, would go over +bodily, as if borne down this way and that by the tremendous blasts. + +"You've got to hurry up," shouted Mr. Rout, as soon as he saw Jukes +appear in the stokehold doorway. + +Jukes' glance was wandering and tipsy; his red face was puffy, as though +he had overslept himself. He had had an arduous road, and had travelled +over it with immense vivacity, the agitation of his mind corresponding +to the exertions of his body. He had rushed up out of the bunker, +stumbling in the dark alleyway amongst a lot of bewildered men who, trod +upon, asked "What's up, sir?" in awed mutters all round him;--down the +stokehold ladder, missing many iron rungs in his hurry, down into a +place deep as a well, black as Tophet, tipping over back and forth like +a see-saw. The water in the bilges thundered at each roll, and lumps of +coal skipped to and fro, from end to end, rattling like an avalanche of +pebbles on a slope of iron. + +Somebody in there moaned with pain, and somebody else could be seen +crouching over what seemed the prone body of a dead man; a lusty voice +blasphemed; and the glow under each fire-door was like a pool of flaming +blood radiating quietly in a velvety blackness. + +A gust of wind struck upon the nape of Jukes' neck and next moment +he felt it streaming about his wet ankles. The stokehold ventilators +hummed: in front of the six fire-doors two wild figures, stripped to the +waist, staggered and stooped, wrestling with two shovels. + +"Hallo! Plenty of draught now," yelled the second engineer at once, as +though he had been all the time looking out for Jukes. The donkeyman, +a dapper little chap with a dazzling fair skin and a tiny, gingery +moustache, worked in a sort of mute transport. They were keeping a full +head of steam, and a profound rumbling, as of an empty furniture van +trotting over a bridge, made a sustained bass to all the other noises of +the place. + +"Blowing off all the time," went on yelling the second. With a sound as +of a hundred scoured saucepans, the orifice of a ventilator spat upon +his shoulder a sudden gush of salt water, and he volleyed a stream of +curses upon all things on earth including his own soul, ripping and +raving, and all the time attending to his business. With a sharp clash +of metal the ardent pale glare of the fire opened upon his bullet head, +showing his spluttering lips, his insolent face, and with another clang +closed like the white-hot wink of an iron eye. + +"Where's the blooming ship? Can you tell me? blast my eyes! Under +water--or what? It's coming down here in tons. Are the condemned cowls +gone to Hades? Hey? Don't you know anything--you jolly sailor-man you +. . . ?" + +Jukes, after a bewildered moment, had been helped by a roll to dart +through; and as soon as his eyes took in the comparative vastness, peace +and brilliance of the engine-room, the ship, setting her stern heavily +in the water, sent him charging head down upon Mr. Rout. + +The chief's arm, long like a tentacle, and straightening as if worked +by a spring, went out to meet him, and deflected his rush into a +spin towards the speaking-tubes. At the same time Mr. Rout repeated +earnestly: + +"You've got to hurry up, whatever it is." + +Jukes yelled "Are you there, sir?" and listened. Nothing. Suddenly the +roar of the wind fell straight into his ear, but presently a small voice +shoved aside the shouting hurricane quietly. + +"You, Jukes?--Well?" + +Jukes was ready to talk: it was only time that seemed to be wanting. It +was easy enough to account for everything. He could perfectly imagine +the coolies battened down in the reeking 'tween-deck, lying sick and +scared between the rows of chests. Then one of these chests--or perhaps +several at once--breaking loose in a roll, knocking out others, sides +splitting, lids flying open, and all these clumsy Chinamen rising up in +a body to save their property. Afterwards every fling of the ship would +hurl that tramping, yelling mob here and there, from side to side, in a +whirl of smashed wood, torn clothing, rolling dollars. A struggle once +started, they would be unable to stop themselves. Nothing could stop +them now except main force. It was a disaster. He had seen it, and that +was all he could say. Some of them must be dead, he believed. The rest +would go on fighting. . . . + +He sent up his words, tripping over each other, crowding the narrow +tube. They mounted as if into a silence of an enlightened comprehension +dwelling alone up there with a storm. And Jukes wanted to be dismissed +from the face of that odious trouble intruding on the great need of the +ship. + + + +V + +He waited. Before his eyes the engines turned with slow labour, that in +the moment of going off into a mad fling would stop dead at Mr. Rout's +shout, "Look out, Beale!" They paused in an intelligent immobility, +stilled in mid-stroke, a heavy crank arrested on the cant, as if +conscious of danger and the passage of time. Then, with a "Now, then!" +from the chief, and the sound of a breath expelled through clenched +teeth, they would accomplish the interrupted revolution and begin +another. + +There was the prudent sagacity of wisdom and the deliberation of +enormous strength in their movements. This was their work--this patient +coaxing of a distracted ship over the fury of the waves and into the +very eye of the wind. At times Mr. Rout's chin would sink on his breast, +and he watched them with knitted eyebrows as if lost in thought. + +The voice that kept the hurricane out of Jukes' ear began: "Take the +hands with you . . . ," and left off unexpectedly. + +"What could I do with them, sir?" + +A harsh, abrupt, imperious clang exploded suddenly. The three pairs of +eyes flew up to the telegraph dial to see the hand jump from FULL +to STOP, as if snatched by a devil. And then these three men in the +engineroom had the intimate sensation of a check upon the ship, of a +strange shrinking, as if she had gathered herself for a desperate leap. + +"Stop her!" bellowed Mr. Rout. + +Nobody--not even Captain MacWhirr, who alone on deck had caught sight of +a white line of foam coming on at such a height that he couldn't believe +his eyes--nobody was to know the steepness of that sea and the awful +depth of the hollow the hurricane had scooped out behind the running +wall of water. + +It raced to meet the ship, and, with a pause, as of girding the loins, +the Nan-Shan lifted her bows and leaped. The flames in all the lamps +sank, darkening the engine-room. One went out. With a tearing crash and +a swirling, raving tumult, tons of water fell upon the deck, as though +the ship had darted under the foot of a cataract. + +Down there they looked at each other, stunned. + +"Swept from end to end, by God!" bawled Jukes. + +She dipped into the hollow straight down, as if going over the edge of +the world. The engine-room toppled forward menacingly, like the inside +of a tower nodding in an earthquake. An awful racket, of iron things +falling, came from the stokehold. She hung on this appalling slant long +enough for Beale to drop on his hands and knees and begin to crawl as if +he meant to fly on all fours out of the engine-room, and for Mr. Rout +to turn his head slowly, rigid, cavernous, with the lower jaw dropping. +Jukes had shut his eyes, and his face in a moment became hopelessly +blank and gentle, like the face of a blind man. + +At last she rose slowly, staggering, as if she had to lift a mountain +with her bows. + +Mr. Rout shut his mouth; Jukes blinked; and little Beale stood up +hastily. + +"Another one like this, and that's the last of her," cried the chief. + +He and Jukes looked at each other, and the same thought came into their +heads. The Captain! Everything must have been swept away. Steering-gear +gone--ship like a log. All over directly. + +"Rush!" ejaculated Mr. Rout thickly, glaring with enlarged, doubtful +eyes at Jukes, who answered him by an irresolute glance. + +The clang of the telegraph gong soothed them instantly. The black hand +dropped in a flash from STOP to FULL. + +"Now then, Beale!" cried Mr. Rout. + +The steam hissed low. The piston-rods slid in and out. Jukes put his +ear to the tube. The voice was ready for him. It said: "Pick up all the +money. Bear a hand now. I'll want you up here." And that was all. + +"Sir?" called up Jukes. There was no answer. + +He staggered away like a defeated man from the field of battle. He had +got, in some way or other, a cut above his left eyebrow--a cut to the +bone. He was not aware of it in the least: quantities of the China Sea, +large enough to break his neck for him, had gone over his head, had +cleaned, washed, and salted that wound. It did not bleed, but only gaped +red; and this gash over the eye, his dishevelled hair, the disorder of +his clothes, gave him the aspect of a man worsted in a fight with fists. + +"Got to pick up the dollars." He appealed to Mr. Rout, smiling pitifully +at random. + +"What's that?" asked Mr. Rout, wildly. "Pick up . . . ? I don't care. +. . ." Then, quivering in every muscle, but with an exaggeration of +paternal tone, "Go away now, for God's sake. You deck people'll drive +me silly. There's that second mate been going for the old man. Don't you +know? You fellows are going wrong for want of something to do. . . ." + +At these words Jukes discovered in himself the beginnings of anger. Want +of something to do--indeed. . . . Full of hot scorn against the +chief, he turned to go the way he had come. In the stokehold the plump +donkeyman toiled with his shovel mutely, as if his tongue had been cut +out; but the second was carrying on like a noisy, undaunted maniac, who +had preserved his skill in the art of stoking under a marine boiler. + +"Hallo, you wandering officer! Hey! Can't you get some of your +slush-slingers to wind up a few of them ashes? I am getting choked with +them here. Curse it! Hallo! Hey! Remember the articles: Sailors and +firemen to assist each other. Hey! D'ye hear?" + +Jukes was climbing out frantically, and the other, lifting up his face +after him, howled, "Can't you speak? What are you poking about here for? +What's your game, anyhow?" + +A frenzy possessed Jukes. By the time he was back amongst the men in the +darkness of the alleyway, he felt ready to wring all their necks at the +slightest sign of hanging back. The very thought of it exasperated him. +He couldn't hang back. They shouldn't. + +The impetuosity with which he came amongst them carried them along. They +had already been excited and startled at all his comings and goings--by +the fierceness and rapidity of his movements; and more felt than seen +in his rushes, he appeared formidable--busied with matters of life and +death that brooked no delay. At his first word he heard them drop into +the bunker one after another obediently, with heavy thumps. + +They were not clear as to what would have to be done. "What is it? What +is it?" they were asking each other. The boatswain tried to explain; +the sounds of a great scuffle surprised them: and the mighty shocks, +reverberating awfully in the black bunker, kept them in mind of their +danger. When the boatswain threw open the door it seemed that an eddy of +the hurricane, stealing through the iron sides of the ship, had set all +these bodies whirling like dust: there came to them a confused uproar, +a tempestuous tumult, a fierce mutter, gusts of screams dying away, and +the tramping of feet mingling with the blows of the sea. + +For a moment they glared amazed, blocking the doorway. Jukes pushed +through them brutally. He said nothing, and simply darted in. Another +lot of coolies on the ladder, struggling suicidally to break through the +battened hatch to a swamped deck, fell off as before, and he disappeared +under them like a man overtaken by a landslide. + +The boatswain yelled excitedly: "Come along. Get the mate out. He'll be +trampled to death. Come on." + +They charged in, stamping on breasts, on fingers, on faces, catching +their feet in heaps of clothing, kicking broken wood; but before they +could get hold of him Jukes emerged waist deep in a multitude of clawing +hands. In the instant he had been lost to view, all the buttons of his +jacket had gone, its back had got split up to the collar, his waistcoat +had been torn open. The central struggling mass of Chinamen went over to +the roll, dark, indistinct, helpless, with a wild gleam of many eyes in +the dim light of the lamps. + +"Leave me alone--damn you. I am all right," screeched Jukes. "Drive them +forward. Watch your chance when she pitches. Forward with 'em. Drive +them against the bulkhead. Jam 'em up." + +The rush of the sailors into the seething 'tween-deck was like a splash +of cold water into a boiling cauldron. The commotion sank for a moment. + +The bulk of Chinamen were locked in such a compact scrimmage that, +linking their arms and aided by an appalling dive of the ship, the +seamen sent it forward in one great shove, like a solid block. Behind +their backs small clusters and loose bodies tumbled from side to side. + +The boatswain performed prodigious feats of strength. With his long arms +open, and each great paw clutching at a stanchion, he stopped the rush +of seven entwined Chinamen rolling like a boulder. His joints cracked; +he said, "Ha!" and they flew apart. But the carpenter showed the greater +intelligence. Without saying a word to anybody he went back into the +alleyway, to fetch several coils of cargo gear he had seen there--chain +and rope. With these life-lines were rigged. + +There was really no resistance. The struggle, however it began, had +turned into a scramble of blind panic. If the coolies had started up +after their scattered dollars they were by that time fighting only +for their footing. They took each other by the throat merely to save +themselves from being hurled about. Whoever got a hold anywhere would +kick at the others who caught at his legs and hung on, till a roll sent +them flying together across the deck. + +The coming of the white devils was a terror. Had they come to kill? The +individuals torn out of the ruck became very limp in the seamen's hands: +some, dragged aside by the heels, were passive, like dead bodies, with +open, fixed eyes. Here and there a coolie would fall on his knees as if +begging for mercy; several, whom the excess of fear made unruly, were +hit with hard fists between the eyes, and cowered; while those who were +hurt submitted to rough handling, blinking rapidly without a plaint. +Faces streamed with blood; there were raw places on the shaven heads, +scratches, bruises, torn wounds, gashes. The broken porcelain out of the +chests was mostly responsible for the latter. Here and there a Chinaman, +wild-eyed, with his tail unplaited, nursed a bleeding sole. + +They had been ranged closely, after having been shaken into submission, +cuffed a little to allay excitement, addressed in gruff words of +encouragement that sounded like promises of evil. They sat on the deck +in ghastly, drooping rows, and at the end the carpenter, with two hands +to help him, moved busily from place to place, setting taut and hitching +the life-lines. The boatswain, with one leg and one arm embracing a +stanchion, struggled with a lamp pressed to his breast, trying to get +a light, and growling all the time like an industrious gorilla. The +figures of seamen stooped repeatedly, with the movements of gleaners, +and everything was being flung into the bunker: clothing, smashed wood, +broken china, and the dollars, too, gathered up in men's jackets. Now +and then a sailor would stagger towards the doorway with his arms full +of rubbish; and dolorous, slanting eyes followed his movements. + +With every roll of the ship the long rows of sitting Celestials would +sway forward brokenly, and her headlong dives knocked together the line +of shaven polls from end to end. When the wash of water rolling on the +deck died away for a moment, it seemed to Jukes, yet quivering from his +exertions, that in his mad struggle down there he had overcome the wind +somehow: that a silence had fallen upon the ship, a silence in which the +sea struck thunderously at her sides. + +Everything had been cleared out of the 'tween-deck--all the wreckage, +as the men said. They stood erect and tottering above the level of heads +and drooping shoulders. Here and there a coolie sobbed for his breath. +Where the high light fell, Jukes could see the salient ribs of one, the +yellow, wistful face of another; bowed necks; or would meet a dull stare +directed at his face. He was amazed that there had been no corpses; but +the lot of them seemed at their last gasp, and they appeared to him more +pitiful than if they had been all dead. + +Suddenly one of the coolies began to speak. The light came and went on +his lean, straining face; he threw his head up like a baying hound. From +the bunker came the sounds of knocking and the tinkle of some dollars +rolling loose; he stretched out his arm, his mouth yawned black, and the +incomprehensible guttural hooting sounds, that did not seem to belong to +a human language, penetrated Jukes with a strange emotion as if a brute +had tried to be eloquent. + +Two more started mouthing what seemed to Jukes fierce denunciations; the +others stirred with grunts and growls. Jukes ordered the hands out of +the 'tweendecks hurriedly. He left last himself, backing through the +door, while the grunts rose to a loud murmur and hands were extended +after him as after a malefactor. The boatswain shot the bolt, and +remarked uneasily, "Seems as if the wind had dropped, sir." + +The seamen were glad to get back into the alleyway. Secretly each of +them thought that at the last moment he could rush out on deck--and +that was a comfort. There is something horribly repugnant in the idea +of being drowned under a deck. Now they had done with the Chinamen, they +again became conscious of the ship's position. + +Jukes on coming out of the alleyway found himself up to the neck in +the noisy water. He gained the bridge, and discovered he could detect +obscure shapes as if his sight had become preternaturally acute. He saw +faint outlines. They recalled not the familiar aspect of the Nan-Shan, +but something remembered--an old dismantled steamer he had seen years +ago rotting on a mudbank. She recalled that wreck. + +There was no wind, not a breath, except the faint currents created by +the lurches of the ship. The smoke tossed out of the funnel was settling +down upon her deck. He breathed it as he passed forward. He felt the +deliberate throb of the engines, and heard small sounds that seemed to +have survived the great uproar: the knocking of broken fittings, the +rapid tumbling of some piece of wreckage on the bridge. He perceived +dimly the squat shape of his captain holding on to a twisted +bridge-rail, motionless and swaying as if rooted to the planks. The +unexpected stillness of the air oppressed Jukes. + +"We have done it, sir," he gasped. + +"Thought you would," said Captain MacWhirr. + +"Did you?" murmured Jukes to himself. + +"Wind fell all at once," went on the Captain. + +Jukes burst out: "If you think it was an easy job--" + +But his captain, clinging to the rail, paid no attention. "According to +the books the worst is not over yet." + +"If most of them hadn't been half dead with seasickness and fright, not +one of us would have come out of that 'tween-deck alive," said Jukes. + +"Had to do what's fair by them," mumbled MacWhirr, stolidly. "You don't +find everything in books." + +"Why, I believe they would have risen on us if I hadn't ordered the +hands out of that pretty quick," continued Jukes with warmth. + +After the whisper of their shouts, their ordinary tones, so distinct, +rang out very loud to their ears in the amazing stillness of the air. It +seemed to them they were talking in a dark and echoing vault. + +Through a jagged aperture in the dome of clouds the light of a few stars +fell upon the black sea, rising and falling confusedly. Sometimes the +head of a watery cone would topple on board and mingle with the rolling +flurry of foam on the swamped deck; and the Nan-Shan wallowed heavily at +the bottom of a circular cistern of clouds. This ring of dense vapours, +gyrating madly round the calm of the centre, encompassed the ship like +a motionless and unbroken wall of an aspect inconceivably sinister. +Within, the sea, as if agitated by an internal commotion, leaped in +peaked mounds that jostled each other, slapping heavily against her +sides; and a low moaning sound, the infinite plaint of the storm's +fury, came from beyond the limits of the menacing calm. Captain MacWhirr +remained silent, and Jukes' ready ear caught suddenly the faint, +long-drawn roar of some immense wave rushing unseen under that thick +blackness, which made the appalling boundary of his vision. + +"Of course," he started resentfully, "they thought we had caught at the +chance to plunder them. Of course! You said--pick up the money. Easier +said than done. They couldn't tell what was in our heads. We came in, +smash--right into the middle of them. Had to do it by a rush." + +"As long as it's done . . . ," mumbled the Captain, without attempting +to look at Jukes. "Had to do what's fair." + +"We shall find yet there's the devil to pay when this is over," said +Jukes, feeling very sore. "Let them only recover a bit, and you'll +see. They will fly at our throats, sir. Don't forget, sir, she isn't +a British ship now. These brutes know it well, too. The damned Siamese +flag." + +"We are on board, all the same," remarked Captain MacWhirr. + +"The trouble's not over yet," insisted Jukes, prophetically, reeling and +catching on. "She's a wreck," he added, faintly. + +"The trouble's not over yet," assented Captain MacWhirr, half aloud +. . . . "Look out for her a minute." + +"Are you going off the deck, sir?" asked Jukes, hurriedly, as if the +storm were sure to pounce upon him as soon as he had been left alone +with the ship. + +He watched her, battered and solitary, labouring heavily in a wild scene +of mountainous black waters lit by the gleams of distant worlds. She +moved slowly, breathing into the still core of the hurricane the excess +of her strength in a white cloud of steam--and the deep-toned vibration +of the escape was like the defiant trumpeting of a living creature of +the sea impatient for the renewal of the contest. It ceased suddenly. +The still air moaned. Above Jukes' head a few stars shone into a pit +of black vapours. The inky edge of the cloud-disc frowned upon the ship +under the patch of glittering sky. The stars, too, seemed to look at her +intently, as if for the last time, and the cluster of their splendour +sat like a diadem on a lowering brow. + +Captain MacWhirr had gone into the chart-room. There was no light there; +but he could feel the disorder of that place where he used to live +tidily. His armchair was upset. The books had tumbled out on the floor: +he scrunched a piece of glass under his boot. He groped for the matches, +and found a box on a shelf with a deep ledge. He struck one, and +puckering the corners of his eyes, held out the little flame towards +the barometer whose glittering top of glass and metals nodded at him +continuously. + +It stood very low--incredibly low, so low that Captain MacWhirr grunted. +The match went out, and hurriedly he extracted another, with thick, +stiff fingers. + +Again a little flame flared up before the nodding glass and metal of the +top. His eyes looked at it, narrowed with attention, as if expecting +an imperceptible sign. With his grave face he resembled a booted and +misshapen pagan burning incense before the oracle of a Joss. There was +no mistake. It was the lowest reading he had ever seen in his life. + +Captain MacWhirr emitted a low whistle. He forgot himself till the flame +diminished to a blue spark, burnt his fingers and vanished. Perhaps +something had gone wrong with the thing! + +There was an aneroid glass screwed above the couch. He turned that +way, struck another match, and discovered the white face of the other +instrument looking at him from the bulkhead, meaningly, not to be +gainsaid, as though the wisdom of men were made unerring by the +indifference of matter. There was no room for doubt now. Captain +MacWhirr pshawed at it, and threw the match down. + +The worst was to come, then--and if the books were right this worst +would be very bad. The experience of the last six hours had enlarged his +conception of what heavy weather could be like. "It'll be terrific," he +pronounced, mentally. He had not consciously looked at anything by the +light of the matches except at the barometer; and yet somehow he had +seen that his water-bottle and the two tumblers had been flung out of +their stand. It seemed to give him a more intimate knowledge of the +tossing the ship had gone through. "I wouldn't have believed it," he +thought. And his table had been cleared, too; his rulers, his pencils, +the inkstand--all the things that had their safe appointed places--they +were gone, as if a mischievous hand had plucked them out one by one +and flung them on the wet floor. The hurricane had broken in upon the +orderly arrangements of his privacy. This had never happened before, and +the feeling of dismay reached the very seat of his composure. And the +worst was to come yet! He was glad the trouble in the 'tween-deck had +been discovered in time. If the ship had to go after all, then, at +least, she wouldn't be going to the bottom with a lot of people in +her fighting teeth and claw. That would have been odious. And in that +feeling there was a humane intention and a vague sense of the fitness of +things. + +These instantaneous thoughts were yet in their essence heavy and slow, +partaking of the nature of the man. He extended his hand to put back the +matchbox in its corner of the shelf. There were always matches there--by +his order. The steward had his instructions impressed upon him long +before. "A box . . . just there, see? Not so very full . . . where I can +put my hand on it, steward. Might want a light in a hurry. Can't tell on +board ship what you might want in a hurry. Mind, now." + +And of course on his side he would be careful to put it back in its +place scrupulously. He did so now, but before he removed his hand it +occurred to him that perhaps he would never have occasion to use that +box any more. The vividness of the thought checked him and for an +infinitesimal fraction of a second his fingers closed again on the small +object as though it had been the symbol of all these little habits that +chain us to the weary round of life. He released it at last, and letting +himself fall on the settee, listened for the first sounds of returning +wind. + +Not yet. He heard only the wash of water, the heavy splashes, the dull +shocks of the confused seas boarding his ship from all sides. She would +never have a chance to clear her decks. + +But the quietude of the air was startlingly tense and unsafe, like a +slender hair holding a sword suspended over his head. By this awful +pause the storm penetrated the defences of the man and unsealed his +lips. He spoke out in the solitude and the pitch darkness of the cabin, +as if addressing another being awakened within his breast. + +"I shouldn't like to lose her," he said half aloud. + +He sat unseen, apart from the sea, from his ship, isolated, as if +withdrawn from the very current of his own existence, where such freaks +as talking to himself surely had no place. His palms reposed on his +knees, he bowed his short neck and puffed heavily, surrendering to +a strange sensation of weariness he was not enlightened enough to +recognize for the fatigue of mental stress. + +From where he sat he could reach the door of a washstand locker. There +should have been a towel there. There was. Good. . . . He took it out, +wiped his face, and afterwards went on rubbing his wet head. He towelled +himself with energy in the dark, and then remained motionless with the +towel on his knees. A moment passed, of a stillness so profound that +no one could have guessed there was a man sitting in that cabin. Then a +murmur arose. + +"She may come out of it yet." + +When Captain MacWhirr came out on deck, which he did brusquely, as +though he had suddenly become conscious of having stayed away too long, +the calm had lasted already more than fifteen minutes--long enough to +make itself intolerable even to his imagination. Jukes, motionless on +the forepart of the bridge, began to speak at once. His voice, blank and +forced as though he were talking through hard-set teeth, seemed to flow +away on all sides into the darkness, deepening again upon the sea. + +"I had the wheel relieved. Hackett began to sing out that he was done. +He's lying in there alongside the steering-gear with a face like death. +At first I couldn't get anybody to crawl out and relieve the poor devil. +That boss'n's worse than no good, I always said. Thought I would have +had to go myself and haul out one of them by the neck." + +"Ah, well," muttered the Captain. He stood watchful by Jukes' side. + +"The second mate's in there, too, holding his head. Is he hurt, sir?" + +"No--crazy," said Captain MacWhirr, curtly. + +"Looks as if he had a tumble, though." + +"I had to give him a push," explained the Captain. + +Jukes gave an impatient sigh. + +"It will come very sudden," said Captain MacWhirr, "and from over there, +I fancy. God only knows though. These books are only good to muddle your +head and make you jumpy. It will be bad, and there's an end. If we only +can steam her round in time to meet it. . . ." + +A minute passed. Some of the stars winked rapidly and vanished. + +"You left them pretty safe?" began the Captain abruptly, as though the +silence were unbearable. + +"Are you thinking of the coolies, sir? I rigged lifelines all ways +across that 'tween-deck." + +"Did you? Good idea, Mr. Jukes." + +"I didn't . . . think you cared to . . . know," said Jukes--the lurching +of the ship cut his speech as though somebody had been jerking him +around while he talked--"how I got on with . . . that infernal job. We +did it. And it may not matter in the end." + +"Had to do what's fair, for all--they are only Chinamen. Give them the +same chance with ourselves--hang it all. She isn't lost yet. Bad enough +to be shut up below in a gale--" + +"That's what I thought when you gave me the job, sir," interjected +Jukes, moodily. + +"--without being battered to pieces," pursued Captain MacWhirr with +rising vehemence. "Couldn't let that go on in my ship, if I knew she +hadn't five minutes to live. Couldn't bear it, Mr. Jukes." + +A hollow echoing noise, like that of a shout rolling in a rocky chasm, +approached the ship and went away again. The last star, blurred, +enlarged, as if returning to the fiery mist of its beginning, struggled +with the colossal depth of blackness hanging over the ship--and went +out. + +"Now for it!" muttered Captain MacWhirr. "Mr. Jukes." + +"Here, sir." + +The two men were growing indistinct to each other. + +"We must trust her to go through it and come out on the other side. +That's plain and straight. There's no room for Captain Wilson's +storm-strategy here." + +"No, sir." + +"She will be smothered and swept again for hours," mumbled the Captain. +"There's not much left by this time above deck for the sea to take +away--unless you or me." + +"Both, sir," whispered Jukes, breathlessly. + +"You are always meeting trouble half way, Jukes," Captain MacWhirr +remonstrated quaintly. "Though it's a fact that the second mate is no +good. D'ye hear, Mr. Jukes? You would be left alone if. . . ." + +Captain MacWhirr interrupted himself, and Jukes, glancing on all sides, +remained silent. + +"Don't you be put out by anything," the Captain continued, mumbling +rather fast. "Keep her facing it. They may say what they like, but the +heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it--always facing it--that's the +way to get through. You are a young sailor. Face it. That's enough for +any man. Keep a cool head." + +"Yes, sir," said Jukes, with a flutter of the heart. + +In the next few seconds the Captain spoke to the engine-room and got an +answer. + +For some reason Jukes experienced an access of confidence, a sensation +that came from outside like a warm breath, and made him feel equal to +every demand. The distant muttering of the darkness stole into his ears. +He noted it unmoved, out of that sudden belief in himself, as a man safe +in a shirt of mail would watch a point. + +The ship laboured without intermission amongst the black hills of water, +paying with this hard tumbling the price of her life. She rumbled in +her depths, shaking a white plummet of steam into the night, and +Jukes' thought skimmed like a bird through the engine-room, where Mr. +Rout--good man--was ready. When the rumbling ceased it seemed to him +that there was a pause of every sound, a dead pause in which Captain +MacWhirr's voice rang out startlingly. + +"What's that? A puff of wind?"--it spoke much louder than Jukes had ever +heard it before--"On the bow. That's right. She may come out of it yet." + +The mutter of the winds drew near apace. In the forefront could be +distinguished a drowsy waking plaint passing on, and far off the growth +of a multiple clamour, marching and expanding. There was the throb as +of many drums in it, a vicious rushing note, and like the chant of a +tramping multitude. + +Jukes could no longer see his captain distinctly. The darkness was +absolutely piling itself upon the ship. At most he made out movements, a +hint of elbows spread out, of a head thrown up. + +Captain MacWhirr was trying to do up the top button of his oilskin coat +with unwonted haste. The hurricane, with its power to madden the seas, +to sink ships, to uproot trees, to overturn strong walls and dash the +very birds of the air to the ground, had found this taciturn man in +its path, and, doing its utmost, had managed to wring out a few words. +Before the renewed wrath of winds swooped on his ship, Captain MacWhirr +was moved to declare, in a tone of vexation, as it were: "I wouldn't +like to lose her." + +He was spared that annoyance. + + + +VI + +On A bright sunshiny day, with the breeze chasing her smoke far ahead, +the Nan-Shan came into Fu-chau. Her arrival was at once noticed on +shore, and the seamen in harbour said: "Look! Look at that steamer. +What's that? Siamese--isn't she? Just look at her!" + +She seemed, indeed, to have been used as a running target for the +secondary batteries of a cruiser. A hail of minor shells could not have +given her upper works a more broken, torn, and devastated aspect: and +she had about her the worn, weary air of ships coming from the far ends +of the world--and indeed with truth, for in her short passage she had +been very far; sighting, verily, even the coast of the Great Beyond, +whence no ship ever returns to give up her crew to the dust of the +earth. She was incrusted and gray with salt to the trucks of her masts +and to the top of her funnel; as though (as some facetious seaman said) +"the crowd on board had fished her out somewhere from the bottom of the +sea and brought her in here for salvage." And further, excited by the +felicity of his own wit, he offered to give five pounds for her--"as she +stands." + +Before she had been quite an hour at rest, a meagre little man, with a +red-tipped nose and a face cast in an angry mould, landed from a sampan +on the quay of the Foreign Concession, and incontinently turned to shake +his fist at her. + +A tall individual, with legs much too thin for a rotund stomach, and +with watery eyes, strolled up and remarked, "Just left her--eh? Quick +work." + +He wore a soiled suit of blue flannel with a pair of dirty cricketing +shoes; a dingy gray moustache drooped from his lip, and daylight could +be seen in two places between the rim and the crown of his hat. + +"Hallo! what are you doing here?" asked the ex-second-mate of the +Nan-Shan, shaking hands hurriedly. + +"Standing by for a job--chance worth taking--got a quiet hint," +explained the man with the broken hat, in jerky, apathetic wheezes. + +The second shook his fist again at the Nan-Shan. "There's a fellow there +that ain't fit to have the command of a scow," he declared, quivering +with passion, while the other looked about listlessly. + +"Is there?" + +But he caught sight on the quay of a heavy seaman's chest, painted brown +under a fringed sailcloth cover, and lashed with new manila line. He +eyed it with awakened interest. + +"I would talk and raise trouble if it wasn't for that damned Siamese +flag. Nobody to go to--or I would make it hot for him. The fraud! Told +his chief engineer--that's another fraud for you--I had lost my nerve. +The greatest lot of ignorant fools that ever sailed the seas. No! You +can't think . . ." + +"Got your money all right?" inquired his seedy acquaintance suddenly. + +"Yes. Paid me off on board," raged the second mate. "'Get your breakfast +on shore,' says he." + +"Mean skunk!" commented the tall man, vaguely, and passed his tongue on +his lips. "What about having a drink of some sort?" + +"He struck me," hissed the second mate. + +"No! Struck! You don't say?" The man in blue began to bustle about +sympathetically. "Can't possibly talk here. I want to know all about it. +Struck--eh? Let's get a fellow to carry your chest. I know a quiet place +where they have some bottled beer. . . ." + +Mr. Jukes, who had been scanning the shore through a pair of glasses, +informed the chief engineer afterwards that "our late second mate hasn't +been long in finding a friend. A chap looking uncommonly like a bummer. +I saw them walk away together from the quay." + +The hammering and banging of the needful repairs did not disturb +Captain MacWhirr. The steward found in the letter he wrote, in a tidy +chart-room, passages of such absorbing interest that twice he was +nearly caught in the act. But Mrs. MacWhirr, in the drawing-room of the +forty-pound house, stifled a yawn--perhaps out of self-respect--for she +was alone. + +She reclined in a plush-bottomed and gilt hammock-chair near a tiled +fireplace, with Japanese fans on the mantel and a glow of coals in the +grate. Lifting her hands, she glanced wearily here and there into the +many pages. It was not her fault they were so prosy, so completely +uninteresting--from "My darling wife" at the beginning, to "Your loving +husband" at the end. She couldn't be really expected to understand all +these ship affairs. She was glad, of course, to hear from him, but she +had never asked herself why, precisely. + +". . . They are called typhoons . . . The mate did not seem to like it +. . . Not in books . . . Couldn't think of letting it go on. . . ." + +The paper rustled sharply. ". . . . A calm that lasted more than twenty +minutes," she read perfunctorily; and the next words her thoughtless +eyes caught, on the top of another page, were: "see you and the children +again. . . ." She had a movement of impatience. He was always thinking +of coming home. He had never had such a good salary before. What was the +matter now? + +It did not occur to her to turn back overleaf to look. She would have +found it recorded there that between 4 and 6 A. M. on December 25th, +Captain MacWhirr did actually think that his ship could not possibly +live another hour in such a sea, and that he would never see his wife +and children again. Nobody was to know this (his letters got mislaid +so quickly)--nobody whatever but the steward, who had been greatly +impressed by that disclosure. So much so, that he tried to give the cook +some idea of the "narrow squeak we all had" by saying solemnly, "The old +man himself had a dam' poor opinion of our chance." + +"How do you know?" asked, contemptuously, the cook, an old soldier. "He +hasn't told you, maybe?" + +"Well, he did give me a hint to that effect," the steward brazened it +out. + +"Get along with you! He will be coming to tell me next," jeered the old +cook, over his shoulder. + +Mrs. MacWhirr glanced farther, on the alert. ". . . Do what's fair. . . +Miserable objects . . . . Only three, with a broken leg each, and one +. . . Thought had better keep the matter quiet . . . hope to have done +the fair thing. . . ." + +She let fall her hands. No: there was nothing more about coming home. +Must have been merely expressing a pious wish. Mrs. MacWhirr's mind was +set at ease, and a black marble clock, priced by the local jeweller at +3L. 18s. 6d., had a discreet stealthy tick. + +The door flew open, and a girl in the long-legged, short-frocked period +of existence, flung into the room. + +A lot of colourless, rather lanky hair was scattered over her shoulders. +Seeing her mother, she stood still, and directed her pale prying eyes +upon the letter. + +"From father," murmured Mrs. MacWhirr. "What have you done with your +ribbon?" + +The girl put her hands up to her head and pouted. + +"He's well," continued Mrs. MacWhirr languidly. "At least I think so. +He never says." She had a little laugh. The girl's face expressed a +wandering indifference, and Mrs. MacWhirr surveyed her with fond pride. + +"Go and get your hat," she said after a while. "I am going out to do +some shopping. There is a sale at Linom's." + +"Oh, how jolly!" uttered the child, impressively, in unexpectedly grave +vibrating tones, and bounded out of the room. + +It was a fine afternoon, with a gray sky and dry sidewalks. Outside the +draper's Mrs. MacWhirr smiled upon a woman in a black mantle of generous +proportions armoured in jet and crowned with flowers blooming falsely +above a bilious matronly countenance. They broke into a swift little +babble of greetings and exclamations both together, very hurried, as if +the street were ready to yawn open and swallow all that pleasure before +it could be expressed. + +Behind them the high glass doors were kept on the swing. People couldn't +pass, men stood aside waiting patiently, and Lydia was absorbed in +poking the end of her parasol between the stone flags. Mrs. MacWhirr +talked rapidly. + +"Thank you very much. He's not coming home yet. Of course it's very sad +to have him away, but it's such a comfort to know he keeps so well." +Mrs. MacWhirr drew breath. "The climate there agrees with him," she +added, beamingly, as if poor MacWhirr had been away touring in China for +the sake of his health. + +Neither was the chief engineer coming home yet. Mr. Rout knew too well +the value of a good billet. + +"Solomon says wonders will never cease," cried Mrs. Rout joyously at the +old lady in her armchair by the fire. Mr. Rout's mother moved slightly, +her withered hands lying in black half-mittens on her lap. + +The eyes of the engineer's wife fairly danced on the paper. "That +captain of the ship he is in--a rather simple man, you remember, +mother?--has done something rather clever, Solomon says." + +"Yes, my dear," said the old woman meekly, sitting with bowed silvery +head, and that air of inward stillness characteristic of very old +people who seem lost in watching the last flickers of life. "I think I +remember." + +Solomon Rout, Old Sol, Father Sol, the Chief, "Rout, good man"--Mr. +Rout, the condescending and paternal friend of youth, had been the baby +of her many children--all dead by this time. And she remembered him best +as a boy of ten--long before he went away to serve his apprenticeship in +some great engineering works in the North. She had seen so little of him +since, she had gone through so many years, that she had now to retrace +her steps very far back to recognize him plainly in the mist of time. +Sometimes it seemed that her daughter-in-law was talking of some strange +man. + +Mrs. Rout junior was disappointed. "H'm. H'm." She turned the page. "How +provoking! He doesn't say what it is. Says I couldn't understand how +much there was in it. Fancy! What could it be so very clever? What a +wretched man not to tell us!" + +She read on without further remark soberly, and at last sat looking +into the fire. The chief wrote just a word or two of the typhoon; +but something had moved him to express an increased longing for the +companionship of the jolly woman. "If it hadn't been that mother must be +looked after, I would send you your passage-money to-day. You could set +up a small house out here. I would have a chance to see you sometimes +then. We are not growing younger. . . ." + +"He's well, mother," sighed Mrs. Rout, rousing herself. + +"He always was a strong healthy boy," said the old woman, placidly. + +But Mr. Jukes' account was really animated and very full. His friend in +the Western Ocean trade imparted it freely to the other officers of his +liner. "A chap I know writes to me about an extraordinary affair that +happened on board his ship in that typhoon--you know--that we read of +in the papers two months ago. It's the funniest thing! Just see for +yourself what he says. I'll show you his letter." + +There were phrases in it calculated to give the impression of +light-hearted, indomitable resolution. Jukes had written them in good +faith, for he felt thus when he wrote. He described with lurid effect +the scenes in the 'tween-deck. ". . . It struck me in a flash that +those confounded Chinamen couldn't tell we weren't a desperate kind of +robbers. 'Tisn't good to part the Chinaman from his money if he is the +stronger party. We need have been desperate indeed to go thieving in +such weather, but what could these beggars know of us? So, without +thinking of it twice, I got the hands away in a jiffy. Our work was +done--that the old man had set his heart on. We cleared out without +staying to inquire how they felt. I am convinced that if they had not +been so unmercifully shaken, and afraid--each individual one of them +--to stand up, we would have been torn to pieces. Oh! It was pretty +complete, I can tell you; and you may run to and fro across the Pond to +the end of time before you find yourself with such a job on your hands." + +After this he alluded professionally to the damage done to the ship, and +went on thus: + +"It was when the weather quieted down that the situation became +confoundedly delicate. It wasn't made any better by us having been +lately transferred to the Siamese flag; though the skipper can't see +that it makes any difference--'as long as we are on board'--he says. +There are feelings that this man simply hasn't got--and there's an end +of it. You might just as well try to make a bedpost understand. But +apart from this it is an infernally lonely state for a ship to be going +about the China seas with no proper consuls, not even a gunboat of her +own anywhere, nor a body to go to in case of some trouble. + +"My notion was to keep these Johnnies under hatches for another fifteen +hours or so; as we weren't much farther than that from Fu-chau. We would +find there, most likely, some sort of a man-of-war, and once under +her guns we were safe enough; for surely any skipper of a +man-of-war--English, French or Dutch--would see white men through as +far as row on board goes. We could get rid of them and their money +afterwards by delivering them to their Mandarin or Taotai, or whatever +they call these chaps in goggles you see being carried about in +sedan-chairs through their stinking streets. + +"The old man wouldn't see it somehow. He wanted to keep the matter +quiet. He got that notion into his head, and a steam windlass couldn't +drag it out of him. He wanted as little fuss made as possible, for the +sake of the ship's name and for the sake of the owners--'for the sake of +all concerned,' says he, looking at me very hard. + +"It made me angry hot. Of course you couldn't keep a thing like that +quiet; but the chests had been secured in the usual manner and were safe +enough for any earthly gale, while this had been an altogether fiendish +business I couldn't give you even an idea of. + +"Meantime, I could hardly keep on my feet. None of us had a spell of +any sort for nearly thirty hours, and there the old man sat rubbing his +chin, rubbing the top of his head, and so bothered he didn't even think +of pulling his long boots off. + +"'I hope, sir,' says I, 'you won't be letting them out on deck before we +make ready for them in some shape or other.' Not, mind you, that I felt +very sanguine about controlling these beggars if they meant to take +charge. A trouble with a cargo of Chinamen is no child's play. I was +dam' tired, too. 'I wish,' said I, 'you would let us throw the whole +lot of these dollars down to them and leave them to fight it out amongst +themselves, while we get a rest.' + +"'Now you talk wild, Jukes,' says he, looking up in his slow way that +makes you ache all over, somehow. 'We must plan out something that would +be fair to all parties.' + +"I had no end of work on hand, as you may imagine, so I set the hands +going, and then I thought I would turn in a bit. I hadn't been asleep in +my bunk ten minutes when in rushes the steward and begins to pull at my +leg. + +"'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes, come out! Come on deck quick, sir. Oh, do +come out!' + +"The fellow scared all the sense out of me. I didn't know what had +happened: another hurricane--or what. Could hear no wind. + +"'The Captain's letting them out. Oh, he is letting them out! Jump on +deck, sir, and save us. The chief engineer has just run below for his +revolver.' + +"That's what I understood the fool to say. However, Father Rout swears +he went in there only to get a clean pocket-handkerchief. Anyhow, I made +one jump into my trousers and flew on deck aft. There was certainly a +good deal of noise going on forward of the bridge. Four of the hands +with the boss'n were at work abaft. I passed up to them some of the +rifles all the ships on the China coast carry in the cabin, and led them +on the bridge. On the way I ran against Old Sol, looking startled and +sucking at an unlighted cigar. + +"'Come along,' I shouted to him. + +"We charged, the seven of us, up to the chart-room. All was over. There +stood the old man with his sea-boots still drawn up to the hips and +in shirt-sleeves--got warm thinking it out, I suppose. Bun Hin's dandy +clerk at his elbow, as dirty as a sweep, was still green in the face. I +could see directly I was in for something. + +"'What the devil are these monkey tricks, Mr. Jukes?' asks the old man, +as angry as ever he could be. I tell you frankly it made me lose my +tongue. 'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes,' says he, 'do take away these rifles +from the men. Somebody's sure to get hurt before long if you don't. +Damme, if this ship isn't worse than Bedlam! Look sharp now. I want +you up here to help me and Bun Hin's Chinaman to count that money. You +wouldn't mind lending a hand, too, Mr. Rout, now you are here. The more +of us the better.' + +"He had settled it all in his mind while I was having a snooze. Had we +been an English ship, or only going to land our cargo of coolies in an +English port, like Hong-Kong, for instance, there would have been no +end of inquiries and bother, claims for damages and so on. But these +Chinamen know their officials better than we do. + +"The hatches had been taken off already, and they were all on deck after +a night and a day down below. It made you feel queer to see so many +gaunt, wild faces together. The beggars stared about at the sky, at the +sea, at the ship, as though they had expected the whole thing to have +been blown to pieces. And no wonder! They had had a doing that would +have shaken the soul out of a white man. But then they say a Chinaman +has no soul. He has, though, something about him that is deuced tough. +There was a fellow (amongst others of the badly hurt) who had had his +eye all but knocked out. It stood out of his head the size of half a +hen's egg. This would have laid out a white man on his back for a month: +and yet there was that chap elbowing here and there in the crowd and +talking to the others as if nothing had been the matter. They made a +great hubbub amongst themselves, and whenever the old man showed his +bald head on the foreside of the bridge, they would all leave off jawing +and look at him from below. + +"It seems that after he had done his thinking he made that Bun Hin's +fellow go down and explain to them the only way they could get their +money back. He told me afterwards that, all the coolies having worked in +the same place and for the same length of time, he reckoned he would be +doing the fair thing by them as near as possible if he shared all the +cash we had picked up equally among the lot. You couldn't tell one man's +dollars from another's, he said, and if you asked each man how much +money he brought on board he was afraid they would lie, and he would +find himself a long way short. I think he was right there. As to giving +up the money to any Chinese official he could scare up in Fu-chau, he +said he might just as well put the lot in his own pocket at once for all +the good it would be to them. I suppose they thought so, too. + +"We finished the distribution before dark. It was rather a sight: the +sea running high, the ship a wreck to look at, these Chinamen staggering +up on the bridge one by one for their share, and the old man still +booted, and in his shirt-sleeves, busy paying out at the chartroom door, +perspiring like anything, and now and then coming down sharp on myself +or Father Rout about one thing or another not quite to his mind. He took +the share of those who were disabled himself to them on the No. 2 hatch. +There were three dollars left over, and these went to the three most +damaged coolies, one to each. We turned-to afterwards, and shovelled +out on deck heaps of wet rags, all sorts of fragments of things without +shape, and that you couldn't give a name to, and let them settle the +ownership themselves. + +"This certainly is coming as near as can be to keeping the thing quiet +for the benefit of all concerned. What's your opinion, you pampered +mail-boat swell? The old chief says that this was plainly the only thing +that could be done. The skipper remarked to me the other day, 'There are +things you find nothing about in books.' I think that he got out of it +very well for such a stupid man." + + + + +[The other stories included in this volume ("Amy Foster," "Falk: A +Reminiscence," and "To-morrow") being already available in another +volume, have not been entered here.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TYPHOON *** + +***** This file should be named 1142.txt or 1142.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/4/1142/ + +Produced by Judy Boss and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This Etext was produced by Judy Boss, of Omaha, Nebraska + + + + + +TYPHOON + +BY +JOSEPH CONRAD + + + + Far as the mariner on highest mast +Can see all around upon the calmed vast, +So wide was Neptune's hall . . . + -- KEATS + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +THE main characteristic of this volume consists in +this, that all the stories composing it belong not only to the +same period but have been written one after another in the order +in which they appear in the book. + +The period is that which follows on my connection with +Blackwood's Magazine. I had just finished writing "The End of +the Tether" and was casting about for some subject which could be +developed in a shorter form than the tales in the volume of +"Youth" when the instance of a steamship full of returning +coolies from Singapore to some port in northern China occurred to +my recollection. Years before I had heard it being talked about +in the East as a recent occurrence. It was for us merely one +subject of conversation amongst many others of the kind. Men +earning their bread in any very specialized occupation will talk +shop, not only because it is the most vital interest of their +lives but also because they have not much knowledge of other +subjects. They have never had the time to get acquainted with +them. Life, for most of us, is not so much a hard as an exacting +taskmaster. + +I never met anybody personally concerned in this affair, the +interest of which for us was, of course, not the bad weather but +the extraordinary complication brought into the ship's life at a +moment of exceptional stress by the human element below her deck. +Neither was the story itself ever enlarged upon in my hearing. In +that company each of us could imagine easily what the whole thing +was like. The financial difficulty of it, presenting also a +human problem, was solved by a mind much too simple to be +perplexed by anything in the world except men's idle talk for +which it was not adapted. + +From the first the mere anecdote, the mere statement I might say, +that such a thing had happened on the high seas, appeared to me a +sufficient subject for meditation. Yet it was but a bit of a sea +yarn after all. I felt that to bring out its deeper significance +which was quite apparent to me, something other, something more +was required; a leading motive that would harmonize all these +violent noises, and a point of view that would put all that +elemental fury into its proper place. + +What was needed of course was Captain MacWhirr. Directly I +perceived him I could see that he was the man for the situation. +I don't mean to say that I ever saw Captain MacWhirr in the +flesh, or had ever come in contact with his literal mind and his +dauntless temperament. MacWhirr is not an acquaintance of a few +hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. He is the product of +twenty years of life. My own life. Conscious invention had +little to do with him. If it is true that Captain MacWhirr never +walked and breathed on this earth (which I find for my part +extremely difficult to believe) I can also assure my readers that +he is perfectly authentic. I may venture to assert the same of +every aspect of the story, while I confess that the particular +typhoon of the tale was not a typhoon of my actual experience. + +At its first appearance "Typhoon," the story, was classed by some +critics as a deliberately intended storm-piece. Others picked +out MacWhirr, in whom they perceived a definite symbolic +intention. Neither was exclusively my intention. Both the +typhoon and Captain MacWhirr presented themselves to me as the +necessities of the deep conviction with which I approached the +subject of the story. It was their opportunity. It was also my +opportunity; and it would be vain to discourse about what I made +of it in a handful of pages, since the pages themselves are here, +between the covers of this volume, to speak for themselves. + +This is a belated reflection. If it had occurred to me before it +would have perhaps done away with the existence of this Author's +Note; for, indeed, the same remark applies to every story in this +volume. None of them are stories of experience in the absolute +sense of the word. Experience in them is but the canvas of the +attempted picture. Each of them has its more than one intention. +With each the question is what the writer has done with his +opportunity; and each answers the question for itself in words +which, if I may say so without undue solemnity, were written with +a conscientious regard for the truth of my own sensations. And +each of those stories, to mean something, must justify itself in +its own way to the conscience of each successive reader. + +"Falk" -- the second story in the volume -- offended the delicacy +of one critic at least by certain peculiarities of its subject. +But what is the subject of "Falk"? I personally do not feel so +very certain about it. He who reads must find out for himself. +My intention in writing "Falk" was not to shock anybody. As in +most of my writings I insist not on the events but on their +effect upon the persons in the tale. But in everything I have +written there is always one invariable intention, and that is to +capture the reader's attention, by securing his interest and +enlisting his sympathies for the matter in hand, whatever it may +be, within the limits of the visible world and within the +boundaries of human emotions. + +I may safely say that Falk is absolutely true to my experience of +certain straightforward characters combining a perfectly natural +ruthlessness with a certain amount of moral delicacy. Falk obeys +the law of self-preservation without the slightest misgivings as +to his right, but at a crucial turn of that ruthlessly preserved +life he will not condescend to dodge the truth. As he is +presented as sensitive enough to be affected permanently by a +certain unusual experience, that experience had to be set by me +before the reader vividly; but it is not the subject of the tale. +If we go by mere facts then the subject is Falk's attempt to get +married; in which the narrator of the tale finds himself +unexpectedly involved both on its ruthless and its delicate side. + +"Falk" shares with one other of my stories ("The Return" in the +"Tales of Unrest" volume) the distinction of never having been +serialized. I think the copy was shown to the editor of some +magazine who rejected it indignantly on the sole ground that "the +girl never says anything." This is perfectly true. From first +to last Hermann's niece utters no word in the tale -- and it is +not because she is dumb, but for the simple reason that whenever +she happens to come under the observation of the narrator she has +either no occasion or is too profoundly moved to speak. The +editor, who obviously had read the story, might have perceived +that for himself. Apparently he did not, and I refrained from +pointing out the impossibility to him because, since he did not +venture to say that "the girl" did not live, I felt no concern at +his indignation. + +All the other stories were serialized. The "Typhoon" appeared in +the early numbers of the Pall Mall Magazine, then under the +direction of the late Mr. Halkett. It was on that occasion, too, +that I saw for the first time my conceptions rendered by an +artist in another medium. Mr. Maurice Grieffenhagen knew how to +combine in his illustrations the effect of his own most +distinguished personal vision with an absolute fidelity to the +inspiration of the writer. "Amy Foster" was published in The +Illustrated London News with a fine drawing of Amy on her day out +giving tea to the children at her home, in a hat with a big +feather. "To-morrow" appeared first in the Pall Mall Magazine. +Of that story I will only say that it struck many people by its +adaptability to the stage and that I was induced to dramatize it +under the title of "One Day More"; up to the present my only +effort in that direction. I may also add that each of the four +stories on their appearance in book form was picked out on +various grounds as the "best of the lot" by different critics, +who reviewed the volume with a warmth of appreciation and +understanding, a sympathetic insight and a friendliness of +expression for which I cannot be sufficiently grateful. + + +1919. J. C. + + + +TYPHOON + +I + +CAPTAIN MACWHIRR, of the steamer Nan-Shan, had a physiognomy +that, in the order of material appearances, was the exact +counterpart of his mind: it presented no marked characteristics +of firmness or stupidity; it had no pronounced characteristics +whatever; it was simply ordinary, irresponsive, and unruffled. + +The only thing his aspect might have been said to suggest, at +times, was bashfulness; because he would sit, in business offices +ashore, sunburnt and smiling faintly, with downcast eyes. When +he raised them, they were perceived to be direct in their glance +and of blue colour. His hair was fair and extremely fine, +clasping from temple to temple the bald dome of his skull in a +clamp as of fluffy silk. The hair of his face, on the contrary, +carroty and flaming, resembled a growth of copper wire clipped +short to the line of the lip; while, no matter how close he +shaved, fiery metallic gleams passed, when he moved his head, +over the surface of his cheeks. He was rather below the medium +height, a bit round-shouldered, and so sturdy of limb that his +clothes always looked a shade too tight for his arms and legs. +As if unable to grasp what is due to the difference of latitudes, +he wore a brown bowler hat, a complete suit of a brownish hue, +and clumsy black boots. These harbour togs gave to his thick +figure an air of stiff and uncouth smartness. A thin silver +watch chain looped his waistcoat, and he never left his ship for +the shore without clutching in his powerful, hairy fist an +elegant umbrella of the very best quality, but generally +unrolled. Young Jukes, the chief mate, attending his commander +to the gangway, would sometimes venture to say, with the greatest +gentleness, "Allow me, sir" -- and possessing himself of the +umbrella deferentially, would elevate the ferule, shake the +folds, twirl a neat furl in a jiffy, and hand it back; going +through the performance with a face of such portentous gravity, +that Mr. Solomon Rout, the chief engineer, smoking his morning +cigar over the skylight, would turn away his head in order to +hide a smile. "Oh! aye! The blessed gamp. . . . Thank 'ee, +Jukes, thank 'ee," would mutter Captain MacWhirr, heartily, +without looking up. + +Having just enough imagination to carry him through each +successive day, and no more, he was tranquilly sure of himself; +and from the very same cause he was not in the least conceited. +It is your imaginative superior who is touchy, overbearing, and +difficult to please; but every ship Captain MacWhirr commanded +was the floating abode of harmony and peace. It was, in truth, +as impossible for him to take a flight of fancy as it would be +for a watchmaker to put together a chronometer with nothing +except a two-pound hammer and a whip-saw in the way of tools. +Yet the uninteresting lives of men so entirely given to the +actuality of the bare existence have their mysterious side. It +was impossible in Captain MacWhirr's case, for instance, to +understand what under heaven could have induced that perfectly +satisfactory son of a petty grocer in Belfast to run away to sea. +And yet he had done that very thing at the age of fifteen. It +was enough, when you thought it over, to give you the idea of an +immense, potent, and invisible hand thrust into the ant-heap of +the earth, laying hold of shoulders, knocking heads together, and +setting the unconscious faces of the multitude towards +inconceivable goals and in undreamt-of directions. + +His father never really forgave him for this undutiful stupidity. +"We could have got on without him," he used to say later on, "but +there's the business. And he an only son, too!" His mother wept +very much after his disappearance. As it had never occurred to +him to leave word behind, he was mourned over for dead till, +after eight months, his first letter arrived from Talcahuano. It +was short, and contained the statement: "We had very fine weather +on our passage out." But evidently, in the writer's mind, the +only important intelligence was to the effect that his captain +had, on the very day of writing, entered him regularly on the +ship's articles as Ordinary Seaman. "Because I can do the work," +he explained. The mother again wept copiously, while the remark, +"Tom's an ass," expressed the emotions of the father. He was a +corpulent man, with a gift for sly chaffing, which to the end of +his life he exercised in his intercourse with his son, a little +pityingly, as if upon a half-witted person. + +MacWhirr's visits to his home were necessarily rare, and in the +course of years he despatched other letters to his parents, +informing them of his successive promotions and of his movements +upon the vast earth. In these missives could be found sentences +like this: "The heat here is very great." Or: "On Christmas day +at 4 P. M. we fell in with some icebergs." The old people +ultimately became acquainted with a good many names of ships, and +with the names of the skippers who commanded them -- with the +names of Scots and English shipowners -- with the names of seas, +oceans, straits, promontories -- with outlandish names of +lumber-ports, of rice-ports, of cotton-ports -- with the names of +islands -- with the name of their son's young woman. She was +called Lucy. It did not suggest itself to him to mention whether +he thought the name pretty. And then they died. + +The great day of MacWhirr's marriage came in due course, +following shortly upon the great day when he got his first +command. + +All these events had taken place many years before the morning +when, in the chart-room of the steamer Nan-Shan, he stood +confronted by the fall of a barometer he had no reason to +distrust. The fall -- taking into account the excellence of the +instrument, the time of the year, and the ship's position on the +terrestrial globe -- was of a nature ominously prophetic; but the +red face of the man betrayed no sort of inward disturbance. +Omens were as nothing to him, and he was unable to discover the +message of a prophecy till the fulfilment had brought it home to +his very door. "That's a fall, and no mistake," he thought. +"There must be some uncommonly dirty weather knocking about." + +The Nan-Shan was on her way from the southward to the treaty port +of Fu-chau, with some cargo in her lower holds, and two hundred +Chinese coolies returning to their village homes in the province +of Fo-kien, after a few years of work in various tropical +colonies. The morning was fine, the oily sea heaved without a +sparkle, and there was a queer white misty patch in the sky like +a halo of the sun. The fore-deck, packed with Chinamen, was full +of sombre clothing, yellow faces, and pigtails, sprinkled over +with a good many naked shoulders, for there was no wind, and the +heat was close. The coolies lounged, talked, smoked, or stared +over the rail; some, drawing water over the side, sluiced each +other; a few slept on hatches, while several small parties of six +sat on their heels surrounding iron trays with plates of rice and +tiny teacups; and every single Celestial of them was carrying +with him all he had in the world -- a wooden chest with a ringing +lock and brass on the corners, containing the savings of his +labours: some clothes of ceremony, sticks of incense, a little +opium maybe, bits of nameless rubbish of conventional value, and +a small hoard of silver dollars, toiled for in coal lighters, won +in gambling-houses or in petty trading, grubbed out of earth, +sweated out in mines, on railway lines, in deadly jungle, under +heavy burdens -- amassed patiently, guarded with care, cherished +fiercely. + +A cross swell had set in from the direction of Formosa Channel +about ten o'clock, without disturbing these passengers much, +because the Nan-Shan, with her flat bottom, rolling chocks on +bilges, and great breadth of beam, had the reputation of an +exceptionally steady ship in a sea-way. Mr. Jukes, in moments of +expansion on shore, would proclaim loudly that the "old girl was +as good as she was pretty." It would never have occurred to +Captain MacWhirr to express his favourable opinion so loud or in +terms so fanciful. + +She was a good ship, undoubtedly, and not old either. She had +been built in Dumbarton less than three years before, to the +order of a firm of merchants in Siam -Messrs. Sigg and Son. When +she lay afloat, finished in every detail and ready to take up the +work of her life, the builders contemplated her with pride. + +"Sigg has asked us for a reliable skipper to take her out," +remarked one of the partners; and the other, after reflecting for +a while, said: "I think MacWhirr is ashore just at present." "Is +he? Then wire him at once. He's the very man," declared the +senior, without a moment's hesitation. + +Next morning MacWhirr stood before them unperturbed, having +travelled from London by the midnight express after a sudden but +undemonstrative parting with his wife. She was the daughter of a +superior couple who had seen better days. + +"We had better be going together over the ship, Captain," said +the senior partner; and the three men started to view the +perfections of the Nan-Shan from stem to stern, and from her +keelson to the trucks of her two stumpy pole-masts. + +Captain MacWhirr had begun by taking off his coat, which he hung +on the end of a steam windless embodying all the latest +improvements. + +"My uncle wrote of you favourably by yesterday's mail to our good +friends -- Messrs. Sigg, you know -and doubtless they'll continue +you out there in command," said the junior partner. "You'll be +able to boast of being in charge of the handiest boat of her size +on the coast of China, Captain," he added. + +"Have you? Thank 'ee," mumbled vaguely MacWhirr, to whom the +view of a distant eventuality could appeal no more than the +beauty of a wide landscape to a purblind tourist; and his eyes +happening at the moment to be at rest upon the lock of the cabin +door, he walked up to it, full of purpose, and began to rattle +the handle vigorously, while he observed, in his low, earnest +voice, "You can't trust the workmen nowadays. A brand-new lock, +and it won't act at all. Stuck fast. See? See?" + +As soon as they found themselves alone in their office across the +yard: "You praised that fellow up to Sigg. What is it you see in +him?" asked the nephew, with faint contempt. + +"I admit he has nothing of your fancy skipper about him, if +that's what you mean," said the elder man, curtly. "Is the +foreman of the joiners on the Nan-Shan outside? . . . Come in, +Bates. How is it that you let Tait's people put us off with a +defective lock on the cabin door? The Captain could see directly +he set eye on it. Have it replaced at once. The little straws, +Bates . . . the little straws. . . ." + +The lock was replaced accordingly, and a few days afterwards the +Nan-Shan steamed out to the East, without MacWhirr having offered +any further remark as to her fittings, or having been heard to +utter a single word hinting at pride in his ship, gratitude for +his appointment, or satisfaction at his prospects. + +With a temperament neither loquacious nor taciturn he found very +little occasion to talk. There were matters of duty, of course +-- directions, orders, and so on; but the past being to his mind +done with, and the future not there yet, the more general +actualities of the day required no comment -- because facts can +speak for themselves with overwhelming precision. + +Old Mr. Sigg liked a man of few words, and one that "you could be +sure would not try to improve upon his instructions." MacWhirr +satisfying these requirements, was continued in command of the +Nan-Shan, and applied himself to the careful navigation of his +ship in the China seas. She had come out on a British register, +but after some time Messrs. Sigg judged it expedient to transfer +her to the Siamese flag. + +At the news of the contemplated transfer Jukes grew restless, as +if under a sense of personal affront. He went about grumbling to +himself, and uttering short scornful laughs. "Fancy having a +ridiculous Noah's Ark elephant in the ensign of one's ship," he +said once at the engine-room door. "Dash me if I can stand it: +I'll throw up the billet. Don't it make you sick, Mr. Rout?" +The chief engineer only cleared his throat with the air of a man +who knows the value of a good billet. + +The first morning the new flag floated over the stern of the +Nan-Shan Jukes stood looking at it bitterly from the bridge. He +struggled with his feelings for a while, and then remarked, +"Queer flag for a man to sail under, sir." + +"What's the matter with the flag?" inquired Captain MacWhirr. +"Seems all right to me." And he walked across to the end of the +bridge to have a good look. + +"Well, it looks queer to me," burst out Jukes, greatly +exasperated, and flung off the bridge. + +Captain MacWhirr was amazed at these manners. After a while he +stepped quietly into the chart-room, and opened his International +Signal Code-book at the plate where the flags of all the nations +are correctly figured in gaudy rows. He ran his finger over +them, and when he came to Siam he contemplated with great +attention the red field and the white elephant. Nothing could be +more simple; but to make sure he brought the book out on the +bridge for the purpose of comparing the coloured drawing with the +real thing at the flagstaff astern. When next Jukes, who was +carrying on the duty that day with a sort of suppressed +fierceness, happened on the bridge, his commander observed: + +"There's nothing amiss with that flag." + +"Isn't there?" mumbled Jukes, falling on his knees before a +deck-locker and jerking therefrom viciously a spare lead-line. + +"No. I looked up the book. Length twice the breadth and the +elephant exactly in the middle. I thought the people ashore +would know how to make the local flag. Stands to reason. You +were wrong, Jukes. . . ." + +"Well, sir," began Jukes, getting up excitedly, "all I can say +--" He fumbled for the end of the coil of line with trembling +hands. + +"That's all right." Captain MacWhirr soothed him, sitting +heavily on a little canvas folding-stool he greatly affected. +"All you have to do is to take care they don't hoist the elephant +upside-down before they get quite used to it." + +Jukes flung the new lead-line over on the fore-deck with a loud +"Here you are, bo'ss'en -- don't forget to wet it thoroughly," +and turned with immense resolution towards his commander; but +Captain MacWhirr spread his elbows on the bridge-rail +comfortably. + +"Because it would be, I suppose, understood as a signal of +distress," he went on. "What do you think? That elephant there, +I take it, stands for something in the nature of the Union Jack +in the flag. . . ." + +"Does it!" yelled Jukes, so that every head on the Nan-Shan's +decks looked towards the bridge. Then he sighed, and with sudden +resignation: "It would certainly be a dam' distressful sight," he +said, meekly. + +Later in the day he accosted the chief engineer with a +confidential, "Here, let me tell you the old man's latest." + +Mr. Solomon Rout (frequently alluded to as Long Sol, Old Sol, or +Father Rout), from finding himself almost invariably the tallest +man on board every ship he joined, had acquired the habit of a +stooping, leisurely condescension. His hair was scant and sandy, +his flat cheeks were pale, his bony wrists and long scholarly +hands were pale, too, as though he had lived all his life in the +shade. + +He smiled from on high at Jukes, and went on smoking and glancing +about quietly, in the manner of a kind uncle lending an ear to +the tale of an excited schoolboy. Then, greatly amused but +impassive, he asked: + +"And did you throw up the billet?" + +"No," cried Jukes, raising a weary, discouraged voice above the +harsh buzz of the Nan-Shan's friction winches. All of them were +hard at work, snatching slings of cargo, high up, to the end of +long derricks, only, as it seemed, to let them rip down +recklessly by the run. The cargo chains groaned in the gins, +clinked on coamings, rattled over the side; and the whole ship +quivered, with her long gray flanks smoking in wreaths of steam. +"No," cried Jukes, "I didn't. What's the good? I might just as +well fling my resignation at this bulkhead. I don't believe you +can make a man like that understand anything. He simply knocks +me over." + +At that moment Captain MacWhirr, back from the shore, crossed the +deck, umbrella in hand, escorted by a mournful, self-possessed +Chinaman, walking behind in paper-soled silk shoes, and who also +carried an umbrella. + +The master of the Nan-Shan, speaking just audibly and gazing at +his boots as his manner was, remarked that it would be necessary +to call at Fu-chau this trip, and desired Mr. Rout to have steam +up to-morrow afternoon at one o'clock sharp. He pushed back his +hat to wipe his forehead, observing at the same time that he +hated going ashore anyhow; while overtopping him Mr. Rout, +without deigning a word, smoked austerely, nursing his right +elbow in the palm of his left hand. Then Jukes was directed in +the same subdued voice to keep the forward 'tween-deck clear of +cargo. Two hundred coolies were going to be put down there. The +Bun Hin Company were sending that lot home. Twenty-five bags of +rice would be coming off in a sampan directly, for stores. All +seven-years'-men they were, said Captain MacWhirr, with a +camphor-wood chest to every man. The carpenter should be set to +work nailing three-inch battens along the deck below, fore and +aft, to keep these boxes from shifting in a sea-way. Jukes had +better look to it at once. "D'ye hear, Jukes?" This chinaman +here was coming with the ship as far as Fu-chau -- a sort of +interpreter he would be. Bun Hin's clerk he was, and wanted to +have a look at the space. Jukes had better take him forward. +"D'ye hear, Jukes?" + +Jukes took care to punctuate these instructions in proper places +with the obligatory "Yes, sir," ejaculated without enthusiasm. +His brusque "Come along, John; make look see" set the Chinaman in +motion at his heels. + +"Wanchee look see, all same look see can do," said Jukes, who +having no talent for foreign languages mangled the very +pidgin-English cruelly. He pointed at the open hatch. "Catchee +number one piecie place to sleep in. Eh?" + +He was gruff, as became his racial superiority, but not +unfriendly. The Chinaman, gazing sad and speechless into the +darkness of the hatchway, seemed to stand at the head of a +yawning grave. + +"No catchee rain down there -- savee?" pointed out Jukes. +"Suppose all'ee same fine weather, one piecie coolie-man come +topside," he pursued, warming up imaginatively. "Make so -- +Phooooo!" He expanded his chest and blew out his cheeks. +"Savee, John? Breathe -- fresh air. Good. Eh? Washee him +piecie pants, chow-chow top-side -- see, John?" + +With his mouth and hands he made exuberant motions of eating rice +and washing clothes; and the Chinaman, who concealed his distrust +of this pantomime under a collected demeanour tinged by a gentle +and refined melancholy, glanced out of his almond eyes from Jukes +to the hatch and back again. "Velly good," he murmured, in a +disconsolate undertone, and hastened smoothly along the decks, +dodging obstacles in his course. He disappeared, ducking low +under a sling of ten dirty gunny-bags full of some costly +merchandise and exhaling a repulsive smell. + +Captain MacWhirr meantime had gone on the bridge, and into the +chart-room, where a letter, commenced two days before, awaited +termination. These long letters began with the words, "My +darling wife," and the steward, between the scrubbing of the +floors and the dusting of chronometer-boxes, snatched at every +opportunity to read them. They interested him much more than +they possibly could the woman for whose eye they were intended; +and this for the reason that they related in minute detail each +successive trip of the Nan-Shan. + +Her master, faithful to facts, which alone his consciousness +reflected, would set them down with painstaking care upon many +pages. The house in a northern suburb to which these pages were +addressed had a bit of garden before the bow-windows, a deep +porch of good appearance, coloured glass with imitation lead +frame in the front door. He paid five-and-forty pounds a year +for it, and did not think the rent too high, because Mrs. +MacWhirr (a pretentious person with a scraggy neck and a +disdainful manner) was admittedly ladylike, and in the +neighbourhood considered as "quite superior." The only secret of +her life was her abject terror of the time when her husband would +come home to stay for good. Under the same roof there dwelt also +a daughter called Lydia and a son, Tom. These two were but +slightly acquainted with their father. Mainly, they knew him as a +rare but privileged visitor, who of an evening smoked his pipe in +the dining-room and slept in the house. The lanky girl, upon the +whole, was rather ashamed of him; the boy was frankly and utterly +indifferent in a straightforward, delightful, unaffected way +manly boys have. + +And Captain MacWhirr wrote home from the coast of China twelve +times every year, desiring quaintly to be "remembered to the +children," and subscribing himself "your loving husband," as +calmly as if the words so long used by so many men were, apart +from their shape, worn-out things, and of a faded meaning. + +The China seas north and south are narrow seas. They are seas +full of every-day, eloquent facts, such as islands, sand-banks, +reefs, swift and changeable currents -- tangled facts that +nevertheless speak to a seaman in clear and definite language. +Their speech appealed to Captain MacWhirr's sense of realities so +forcibly that he had given up his state-room below and +practically lived all his days on the bridge of his ship, often +having his meals sent up, and sleeping at night in the +chart-room. And he indited there his home letters. Each of +them, without exception, contained the phrase, "The weather has +been very fine this trip," or some other form of a statement to +that effect. And this statement, too, in its wonderful +persistence, was of the same perfect accuracy as all the others +they contained. + +Mr. Rout likewise wrote letters; only no one on board knew how +chatty he could be pen in hand, because the chief engineer had +enough imagination to keep his desk locked. His wife relished +his style greatly. They were a childless couple, and Mrs. Rout, +a big, high-bosomed, jolly woman of forty, shared with Mr. Rout's +toothless and venerable mother a little cottage near Teddington. +She would run over her correspondence, at breakfast, with lively +eyes, and scream out interesting passages in a joyous voice at +the deaf old lady, prefacing each extract by the warning shout, +"Solomon says!" She had the trick of firing off Solomon's +utterances also upon strangers, astonishing them easily by the +unfamiliar text and the unexpectedly jocular vein of these +quotations. On the day the new curate called for the first time +at the cottage, she found occasion to remark, "As Solomon says: +'the engineers that go down to the sea in ships behold the +wonders of sailor nature';" when a change in the visitor's +countenance made her stop and stare. + +"Solomon. . . . Oh! . . . Mrs. Rout," stuttered the young man, +very red in the face, "I must say . . . I don't. . . ." + +"He's my husband," she announced in a great shout, throwing +herself back in the chair. Perceiving the joke, she laughed +immoderately with a handkerchief to her eyes, while he sat +wearing a forced smile, and, from his inexperience of jolly +women, fully persuaded that she must be deplorably insane. They +were excellent friends afterwards; for, absolving her from +irreverent intention, he came to think she was a very worthy +person indeed; and he learned in time to receive without +flinching other scraps of Solomon's wisdom. + +"For my part," Solomon was reported by his wife to have said +once, "give me the dullest ass for a skipper before a rogue. +There is a way to take a fool; but a rogue is smart and +slippery." This was an airy generalization drawn from the +particular case of Captain MacWhirr's honesty, which, in itself, +had the heavy obviousness of a lump of clay. On the other hand, +Mr. Jukes, unable to generalize, unmarried, and unengaged, was in +the habit of opening his heart after another fashion to an old +chum and former shipmate, actually serving as second officer on +board an Atlantic liner. + +First of all he would insist upon the advantages of the Eastern +trade, hinting at its superiority to the Western ocean service. +He extolled the sky, the seas, the ships, and the easy life of +the Far East. The NanShan, he affirmed, was second to none as a +sea-boat. + +"We have no brass-bound uniforms, but then we are like brothers +here," he wrote. "We all mess together and live like +fighting-cocks. . . . All the chaps of the black-squad are as +decent as they make that kind, and old Sol, the Chief, is a dry +stick. We are good friends. As to our old man, you could not +find a quieter skipper. Sometimes you would think he hadn't +sense enough to see anything wrong. And yet it isn't that. Can't +be. He has been in command for a good few years now. He doesn't +do anything actually foolish, and gets his ship along all right +without worrying anybody. I believe he hasn't brains enough to +enjoy kicking up a row. I don't take advantage of him. I would +scorn it. Outside the routine of duty he doesn't seem to +understand more than half of what you tell him. We get a laugh +out of this at times; but it is dull, too, to be with a man like +this -- in the long-run. Old Sol says he hasn't much +conversation. Conversation! O Lord! He never talks. The other +day I had been yarning under the bridge with one of the +engineers, and he must have heard us. When I came up to take my +watch, he steps out of the chart-room and has a good look all +round, peeps over at the sidelights, glances at the compass, +squints upward at the stars. That's his regular performance. +By-and-by he says: 'Was that you talking just now in the port +alleyway?' 'Yes, sir.' 'With the third engineer?' 'Yes, sir.' +He walks off to starboard, and sits under the dodger on a little +campstool of his, and for half an hour perhaps he makes no sound, +except that I heard him sneeze once. Then after a while I hear +him getting up over there, and he strolls across to port, where I +was. 'I can't understand what you can find to talk about,' says +he. 'Two solid hours. I am not blaming you. I see people ashore +at it all day long, and then in the evening they sit down and +keep at it over the drinks. Must be saying the same things over +and over again. I can't understand.' + +"Did you ever hear anything like that? And he was so patient +about it. It made me quite sorry for him. But he is +exasperating, too, sometimes. Of course one would not do +anything to vex him even if it were worth while. But it isn't. +He's so jolly innocent that if you were to put your thumb to your +nose and wave your fingers at him he would only wonder gravely to +himself what got into you. He told me once quite simply that he +found it very difficult to make out what made people always act +so queerly. He's too dense to trouble about, and that's the +truth." + +Thus wrote Mr. Jukes to his chum in the Western ocean trade, out +of the fulness of his heart and the liveliness of his fancy. + +He had expressed his honest opinion. It was not worthwhile +trying to impress a man of that sort. If the world had been full +of such men, life would have probably appeared to Jukes an +unentertaining and unprofitable business. He was not alone in +his opinion. The sea itself, as if sharing Mr. Jukes' +good-natured forbearance, had never put itself out to startle the +silent man, who seldom looked up, and wandered innocently over +the waters with the only visible purpose of getting food, +raiment, and house-room for three people ashore. Dirty weather he +had known, of course. He had been made wet, uncomfortable, tired +in the usual way, felt at the time and presently forgotten. So +that upon the whole he had been justified in reporting fine +weather at home. But he had never been given a glimpse of +immeasurable strength and of immoderate wrath, the wrath that +passes exhausted but never appeased -- the wrath and fury of the +passionate sea. He knew it existed, as we know that crime and +abominations exist; he had heard of it as a peaceable citizen in +a town hears of battles, famines, and floods, and yet knows +nothing of what these things mean -- though, indeed, he may have +been mixed up in a street row, have gone without his dinner once, +or been soaked to the skin in a shower. Captain MacWhirr had +sailed over the surface of the oceans as some men go skimming +over the years of existence to sink gently into a placid grave, +ignorant of life to the last, without ever having been made to +see all it may contain of perfidy, of violence, and of terror. +There are on sea and land such men thus fortunate -- or thus +disdained by destiny or by the sea. + + + +II + +OBSERVING the steady fall of the barometer, Captain MacWhirr +thought, "There's some dirty weather knocking about." This is +precisely what he thought. He had had an experience of moderately +dirty weather -- the term dirty as applied to the weather +implying only moderate discomfort to the seaman. Had he been +informed by an indisputable authority that the end of the world +was to be finally accomplished by a catastrophic disturbance of +the atmosphere, he would have assimilated the information under +the simple idea of dirty weather, and no other, because he had no +experience of cataclysms, and belief does not necessarily imply +comprehension. The wisdom of his county had pronounced by means +of an Act of Parliament that before he could be considered as fit +to take charge of a ship he should be able to answer certain +simple questions on the subject of circular storms such as +hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons; and apparently he had answered +them, since he was now in command of the Nan-Shan in the China +seas during the season of typhoons. But if he had answered he +remembered nothing of it. He was, however, conscious of being +made uncomfortable by the clammy heat. He came out on the +bridge, and found no relief to this oppression. The air seemed +thick. He gasped like a fish, and began to believe himself +greatly out of sorts. + +The Nan-Shan was ploughing a vanishing furrow upon the circle of +the sea that had the surface and the shimmer of an undulating +piece of gray silk. The sun, pale and without rays, poured down +leaden heat in a strangely indecisive light, and the Chinamen +were lying prostrate about the decks. Their bloodless, pinched, +yellow faces were like the faces of bilious invalids. Captain +MacWhirr noticed two of them especially, stretched out on their +backs below the bridge. As soon as they had closed their eyes +they seemed dead. Three others, however, were quarrelling +barbarously away forward; and one big fellow, half naked, with +herculean shoulders, was hanging limply over a winch; another, +sitting on the deck, his knees up and his head drooping sideways +in a girlish attitude, was plaiting his pigtail with infinite +languor depicted in his whole person and in the very movement of +his fingers. The smoke struggled with difficulty out of the +funnel, and instead of streaming away spread itself out like an +infernal sort of cloud, smelling of sulphur and raining soot all +over the decks. + +"What the devil are you doing there, Mr. Jukes?" asked Captain +MacWhirr. + +This unusual form of address, though mumbled rather than spoken, +caused the body of Mr. Jukes to start as though it had been +prodded under the fifth rib. He had had a low bench brought on +the bridge, and sitting on it, with a length of rope curled about +his feet and a piece of canvas stretched over his knees, was +pushing a sail-needle vigorously. He looked up, and his surprise +gave to his eyes an expression of innocence and candour. + +"I am only roping some of that new set of bags we made last trip +for whipping up coals," he remonstrated, gently. "We shall want +them for the next coaling, sir." + +"What became of the others?" + +"Why, worn out of course, sir." + +Captain MacWhirr, after glaring down irresolutely at his chief +mate, disclosed the gloomy and cynical conviction that more than +half of them had been lost overboard, "if only the truth was +known," and retired to the other end of the bridge. Jukes, +exasperated by this unprovoked attack, broke the needle at the +second stitch, and dropping his work got up and cursed the heat +in a violent undertone. + +The propeller thumped, the three Chinamen forward had given up +squabbling very suddenly, and the one who had been plaiting his +tail clasped his legs and stared dejectedly over his knees. The +lurid sunshine cast faint and sickly shadows. The swell ran +higher and swifter every moment, and the ship lurched heavily in +the smooth, deep hollows of the sea. + +"I wonder where that beastly swell comes from," said Jukes aloud, +recovering himself after a stagger. + +"North-east," grunted the literal MacWhirr, from his side of the +bridge. "There's some dirty weather knocking about. Go and look +at the glass." + +When Jukes came out of the chart-room, the cast of his +countenance had changed to thoughtfulness and concern. He caught +hold of the bridge-rail and stared ahead. + +The temperature in the engine-room had gone up to a hundred and +seventeen degrees. Irritated voices were ascending through the +skylight and through the fiddle of the stokehold in a harsh and +resonant uproar, mingled with angry clangs and scrapes of metal, +as if men with limbs of iron and throats of bronze had been +quarrelling down there. The second engineer was falling foul of +the stokers for letting the steam go down. He was a man with arms +like a blacksmith, and generally feared; but that afternoon the +stokers were answering him back recklessly, and slammed the +furnace + + +23 + +doors with the fury of despair. Then the noise ceased suddenly, +and the second engineer appeared, emerging out of the stokehold +streaked with grime and soaking wet like a chimney-sweep coming +out of a well. As soon as his head was clear of the fiddle he +began to scold Jukes for not trimming properly the stokehold +ventilators; and in answer Jukes made with his hands deprecatory +soothing signs meaning: "No wind -- can't be helped -- you can +see for yourself." But the other wouldn't hear reason. His +teeth flashed angrily in his dirty face. He didn't mind, he +said, the trouble of punching their blanked heads down there, +blank his soul, but did the condemned sailors think you could +keep steam up in the God-forsaken boilers simply by knocking the +blanked stokers about? No, by George! You had to get some +draught, too -- may he be everlastingly blanked for a swab-headed +deck-hand if you didn't! And the chief, too, rampaging before +the steam-gauge and carrying on like a lunatic up and down the +engine-room ever since noon. What did Jukes think he was stuck +up there for, if he couldn't get one of his decayed, +good-for-nothing deck-cripples to turn the ventilators to the +wind? + +The relations of the "engine-room" and the "deck" of the Nan-Shan +were, as is known, of a brotherly nature; therefore Jukes leaned +over and begged the other in a restrained tone not to make a +disgusting ass of himself; the skipper was on the other side of +the bridge. But the second declared mutinously that he didn't +care a rap who was on the other side of the bridge, and Jukes, +passing in a flash from lofty disapproval into a state of +exaltation, invited him in unflattering terms to come up and +twist the beastly things to please himself, and catch such wind +as a donkey of his sort could find. The second rushed up to the +fray. He flung himself at the port ventilator as though he meant +to tear it out bodily and toss it overboard. All he did was to +move the cowl round a few inches, with an enormous expenditure of +force, and seemed spent in the effort. He leaned against the +back of the wheelhouse, and Jukes walked up to him. + +"Oh, Heavens!" ejaculated the engineer in a feeble voice. He +lifted his eyes to the sky, and then let his glassy stare descend +to meet the horizon that, tilting up to an angle of forty +degrees, seemed to hang on a slant for a while and settled down +slowly. "Heavens! Phew! What's up, anyhow?" + +Jukes, straddling his long legs like a pair of compasses, put on +an air of superiority. "We're going to catch it this time," he +said. "The barometer is tumbling down like anything, Harry. And +you trying to kick up that silly row. . . ." + +The word "barometer" seemed to revive the second engineer's mad +animosity. Collecting afresh all his energies, he directed Jukes +in a low and brutal tone to shove the unmentionable instrument +down his gory throat. Who cared for his crimson barometer? It +was the steam -- the steam -- that was going down; and what +between the firemen going faint and the chief going silly, it was +worse than a dog's life for him; he didn't care a tinker's curse +how soon the whole show was blown out of the water. He seemed on +the point of having a cry, but after regaining his breath he +muttered darkly, "I'll faint them," and dashed off. He stopped +upon the fiddle long enough to shake his fist at the unnatural +daylight, and dropped into the dark hole with a whoop. + +When Jukes turned, his eyes fell upon the rounded back and the +big red ears of Captain MacWhirr, who had come across. He did +not look at his chief officer, but said at once, "That's a very +violent man, that second engineer." + +"Jolly good second, anyhow," grunted Jukes. "They can't keep up +steam," he added, rapidly, and made a grab at the rail against +the coming lurch. + +Captain MacWhirr, unprepared, took a run and brought himself up +with a jerk by an awning stanchion. + +"A profane man," he said, obstinately. "If this goes on, I'll +have to get rid of him the first chance." + +"It's the heat," said Jukes. "The weather's awful. It would make +a saint swear. Even up here I feel exactly as if I had my head +tied up in a woollen blanket." + +Captain MacWhirr looked up. "D'ye mean to say, Mr. Jukes, you +ever had your head tied up in a blanket? What was that for?" + +"It's a manner of speaking, sir," said Jukes, stolidly. + +"Some of you fellows do go on! What's that about saints +swearing? I wish you wouldn't talk so wild. What sort of saint +would that be that would swear? No more saint than yourself, I +expect. And what's a blanket got to do with it -- or the weather +either. . . . The heat does not make me swear -- does it? It's +filthy bad temper. That's what it is. And what's the good of +your talking like this?" + +Thus Captain MacWhirr expostulated against the use of images in +speech, and at the end electrified Jukes by a contemptuous snort, +followed by words of passion and resentment: "Damme! I'll fire +him out of the ship if he don't look out." + +And Jukes, incorrigible, thought: "Goodness me! Somebody's put a +new inside to my old man. Here's temper, if you like. Of course +it's the weather; what else? It would make an angel quarrelsome +-- let alone a saint." + +All the Chinamen on deck appeared at their last gasp. + +At its setting the sun had a diminished diameter and an expiring +brown, rayless glow, as if millions of centuries elapsing since +the morning had brought it near its end. A dense bank of cloud +became visible to the northward; it had a sinister dark olive +tint, and lay low and motionless upon the sea, resembling a solid +obstacle in the path of the ship. She went floundering towards +it like an exhausted creature driven to its death. The coppery +twilight retired slowly, and the darkness brought out overhead a +swarm of unsteady, big stars, that, as if blown upon, flickered +exceedingly and seemed to hang very near the earth. At eight +o'clock Jukes went into the chart-room to write up the ship's +log. + +He copies neatly out of the rough-book the number of miles, the +course of the ship, and in the column for "wind" scrawled the +word "calm" from top to bottom of the eight hours since noon. He +was exasperated by the continuous, monotonous rolling of the +ship. The heavy inkstand would slide away in a manner that +suggested perverse intelligence in dodging the pen. Having +written in the large space under the head of "Remarks" "Heat very +oppressive," he stuck the end of the penholder in his teeth, pipe +fashion, and mopped his face carefully. + +"Ship rolling heavily in a high cross swell," he began again, and +commented to himself, "Heavily is no word for it." Then he +wrote: "Sunset threatening, with a low bank of clouds to N. and +E. Sky clear overhead." + +Sprawling over the table with arrested pen, he glanced out of the +door, and in that frame of his vision he saw all the stars flying +upwards between the teakwood jambs on a black sky. The whole lot +took flight together and disappeared, leaving only a blackness +flecked with white flashes, for the sea was as black as the sky +and speckled with foam afar. The stars that had flown to the +roll came back on the return swing of the ship, rushing downwards +in their glittering multitude, not of fiery points, but enlarged +to tiny discs brilliant with a clear wet sheen. + +Jukes watched the flying big stars for a moment, and then wrote: +"8 P.M. Swell increasing. Ship labouring and taking water on +her decks. Battened down the coolies for the night. Barometer +still falling." He paused, and thought to himself, "Perhaps +nothing whatever'll come of it." And then he closed resolutely +his entries: "Every appearance of a typhoon coming on." + +On going out he had to stand aside, and Captain MacWhirr strode +over the doorstep without saying a word or making a sign. + +"Shut the door, Mr. Jukes, will you?" he cried from within. + +Jukes turned back to do so, muttering ironically: "Afraid to +catch cold, I suppose." It was his watch below, but he yearned +for communion with his kind; and he remarked cheerily to the +second mate: "Doesn't look so bad, after all -- does it?" + +The second mate was marching to and fro on the bridge, tripping +down with small steps one moment, and the next climbing with +difficulty the shifting slope of the deck. At the sound of +Jukes' voice he stood still, facing forward, but made no reply. + +"Hallo! That's a heavy one," said Jukes, swaying to meet the +long roll till his lowered hand touched the planks. This time +the second mate made in his throat a noise of an unfriendly +nature. + +He was an oldish, shabby little fellow, with bad teeth and no +hair on his face. He had been shipped in a hurry in Shanghai, +that trip when the second officer brought from home had delayed +the ship three hours in port by contriving (in some manner +Captain MacWhirr could never understand) to fall overboard into +an empty coal-lighter lying alongside, and had to be sent ashore +to the hospital with concussion of the brain and a broken limb or +two. + +Jukes was not discouraged by the unsympathetic sound. "The +Chinamen must be having a lovely time of it down there," he said. +"It's lucky for them the old girl has the easiest roll of any +ship I've ever been in. There now! This one wasn't so bad." + +"You wait," snarled the second mate. + +With his sharp nose, red at the tip, and his thin pinched lips, +he always looked as though he were raging inwardly; and he was +concise in his speech to the point of rudeness. All his time off +duty he spent in his cabin with the door shut, keeping so still +in there that he was supposed to fall asleep as soon as he had +disappeared; but the man who came in to wake him for his watch on +deck would invariably find him with his eyes wide open, flat on +his back in the bunk, and glaring irritably from a soiled pillow. +He never wrote any letters, did not seem to hope for news from +anywhere; and though he had been heard once to mention West +Hartlepool, it was with extreme bitterness, and only in +connection with the extortionate charges of a boarding-house. He +was one of those men who are picked up at need in the ports of +the world. They are competent enough, appear hopelessly hard up, +show no evidence of any sort of vice, and carry about them all +the signs of manifest failure. They come aboard on an emergency, +care for no ship afloat, live in their own atmosphere of casual +connection amongst their shipmates who know nothing of them, and +make up their minds to leave at inconvenient times. They clear +out with no words of leavetaking in some God-forsaken port other +men would fear to be stranded in, and go ashore in company of a +shabby sea-chest, corded like a treasure-box, and with an air of +shaking the ship's dust off their feet. + +"You wait," he repeated, balanced in great swings with his back +to Jukes, motionless and implacable. + +"Do you mean to say we are going to catch it hot?" asked Jukes +with boyish interest. + +"Say? . . . I say nothing. You don't catch me," snapped the +little second mate, with a mixture of pride, scorn, and cunning, +as if Jukes' question had been a trap cleverly detected. "Oh, +no! None of you here shall make a fool of me if I know it," he +mumbled to himself. + +Jukes reflected rapidly that this second mate was a mean little +beast, and in his heart he wished poor Jack Allen had never +smashed himself up in the coal-lighter. The far-off blackness +ahead of the ship was like another night seen through the starry +night of the earth -- the starless night of the immensities +beyond the created universe, revealed in its appalling stillness +through a low fissure in the glittering sphere of which the earth +is the kernel. + +"Whatever there might be about," said Jukes, "we are steaming +straight into it." + +"You've said it," caught up the second mate, always with his back +to Jukes. "You've said it, mind -- not I." + +"Oh, go to Jericho!" said Jukes, frankly; and the other emitted a +triumphant little chuckle. + +"You've said it," he repeated. + +"And what of that?" + +"I've known some real good men get into trouble with their +skippers for saying a dam' sight less," answered the second mate +feverishly. "Oh, no! You don't catch me." + +"You seem deucedly anxious not to give yourself away," said +Jukes, completely soured by such absurdity. "I wouldn't be afraid +to say what I think." + +"Aye, to me! That's no great trick. I am nobody, and well I +know it." + +The ship, after a pause of comparative steadiness, started upon a +series of rolls, one worse than the other, and for a time Jukes, +preserving his equilibrium, was too busy to open his mouth. As +soon as the violent swinging had quieted down somewhat, he said: +"This is a bit too much of a good thing. Whether anything is +coming or not I think she ought to be put head on to that swell. +The old man is just gone in to lie down. Hang me if I don't speak +to him." + +But when he opened the door of the chart-room he saw his captain +reading a book. Captain MacWhirr was not lying down: he was +standing up with one hand grasping the edge of the bookshelf and +the other holding open before his face a thick volume. The lamp +wriggled in the gimbals, the loosened books toppled from side to +side on the shelf, the long barometer swung in jerky circles, the +table altered its slant every moment. In the midst of all this +stir and movement Captain MacWhirr, holding on, showed his eyes +above the upper edge, and asked, "What's the matter?" + +"Swell getting worse, sir." + +"Noticed that in here," muttered Captain MacWhirr. "Anything +wrong?" + +Jukes, inwardly disconcerted by the seriousness of the eyes +looking at him over the top of the book, produced an embarrassed +grin. + +"Rolling like old boots," he said, sheepishly. + +"Aye! Very heavy -- very heavy. What do you want?" + +At this Jukes lost his footing and began to flounder. "I was +thinking of our passengers," he said, in the manner of a man +clutching at a straw. + +"Passengers?" wondered the Captain, gravely. "What passengers?" + +"Why, the Chinamen, sir," explained Jukes, very sick of this +conversation. + +"The Chinamen! Why don't you speak plainly? Couldn't tell what +you meant. Never heard a lot of coolies spoken of as passengers +before. Passengers, indeed! What's come to you?" + +Captain MacWhirr, closing the book on his forefinger, lowered his +arm and looked completely mystified. "Why are you thinking of the +Chinamen, Mr. Jukes?" he inquired. + +Jukes took a plunge, like a man driven to it. "She's rolling her +decks full of water, sir. Thought you might put her head on +perhaps -- for a while. Till this goes down a bit -- very soon, +I dare say. Head to the eastward. I never knew a ship roll like +this." + +He held on in the doorway, and Captain MacWhirr, feeling his grip +on the shelf inadequate, made up his mind to let go in a hurry, +and fell heavily on the couch. + +"Head to the eastward?" he said, struggling to sit up. "That's +more than four points off her course." + +"Yes, sir. Fifty degrees. . . . Would just bring her head far +enough round to meet this. . . ." + +Captain MacWhirr was now sitting up. He had not dropped the +book, and he had not lost his place. + +"To the eastward?" he repeated, with dawning astonishment. "To +the . . . Where do you think we are bound to? You want me to +haul a full-powered steamship four points off her course to make +the Chinamen comfortable! Now, I've heard more than enough of +mad things done in the world -- but this. . . . If I didn't know +you, Jukes, I would think you were in liquor. Steer four points +off. . . . And what afterwards? Steer four points over the +other way, I suppose, to make the course good. What put it into +your head that I would start to tack a steamer as if she were a +sailing-ship?" + +"Jolly good thing she isn't," threw in Jukes, with bitter +readiness. "She would have rolled every blessed stick out of her +this afternoon." + +"Aye! And you just would have had to stand and see them go," +said Captain MacWhirr, showing a certain animation. "It's a dead +calm, isn't it?" + +"It is, sir. But there's something out of the common coming, for +sure." + +"Maybe. I suppose you have a notion I should be getting out of +the way of that dirt," said Captain MacWhirr, speaking with the +utmost simplicity of manner and tone, and fixing the oilcloth on +the floor with a heavy stare. Thus he noticed neither Jukes' +discomfiture nor the mixture of vexation and astonished respect +on his face. + +"Now, here's this book," he continued with deliberation, slapping +his thigh with the closed volume. "I've been reading the chapter +on the storms there." + +This was true. He had been reading the chapter on the storms. +When he had entered the chart-room, it was with no intention of +taking the book down. Some influence in the air -- the same +influence, probably, that caused the steward to bring without +orders the Captain's sea-boots and oilskin coat up to the +chart-room -had as it were guided his hand to the shelf; and +without taking the time to sit down he had waded with a conscious +effort into the terminology of the subject. He lost himself +amongst advancing semi-circles, left- and right-hand quadrants, +the curves of the tracks, the probable bearing of the centre, the +shifts of wind and the readings of barometer. He tried to bring +all these things into a definite relation to himself, and ended +by becoming contemptuously angry with such a lot of words, and +with so much advice, all head-work and supposition, without a +glimmer of certitude. + +"It's the damnedest thing, Jukes," he said. "If a fellow was to +believe all that's in there, he would be running most of his time +all over the sea trying to get behind the weather." + +Again he slapped his leg with the book; and Jukes opened his +mouth, but said nothing. + +"Running to get behind the weather! Do you understand that, Mr. +Jukes? It's the maddest thing!" ejaculated Captain MacWhirr, +with pauses, gazing at the floor profoundly. "You would think an +old woman had been writing this. It passes me. If that thing +means anything useful, then it means that I should at once alter +the course away, away to the devil somewhere, and come booming +down on Fu-chau from the northward at the tail of this dirty +weather that's supposed to be knocking about in our way. From +the north! Do you understand, Mr. Jukes? Three hundred extra +miles to the distance, and a pretty coal bill to show. I +couldn't bring myself to do that if every word in there was +gospel truth, Mr. Jukes. Don't you expect me. . . ." + +And Jukes, silent, marvelled at this display of feeling and +loquacity. + +"But the truth is that you don't know if the fellow is right, +anyhow. How can you tell what a gale is made of till you get it? +He isn't aboard here, is he? Very well. Here he says that the +centre of them things bears eight points off the wind; but we +haven't got any wind, for all the barometer falling. Where's his +centre now?" + +"We will get the wind presently," mumbled Jukes. + +"Let it come, then," said Captain MacWhirr, with dignified +indignation. "It's only to let you see, Mr. Jukes, that you +don't find everything in books. All these rules for dodging +breezes and circumventing the winds of heaven, Mr. Jukes, seem to +me the maddest thing, when you come to look at it sensibly." + +He raised his eyes, saw Jukes gazing at him dubiously, and tried +to illustrate his meaning. + +"About as queer as your extraordinary notion of dodging the ship +head to sea, for I don't know how long, to make the Chinamen +comfortable; whereas all we've got to do is to take them to +Fu-chau, being timed to get there before noon on Friday. If the +weather delays me -- very well. There's your log-book to talk +straight about the weather. But suppose I went swinging off my +course and came in two days late, and they asked me: 'Where have +you been all that time, Captain?' What could I say to that? +'Went around to dodge the bad weather,' I would say. 'It must've +been dam' bad,' they would say. 'Don't know,' I would have to +say; 'I've dodged clear of it.' See that, Jukes? I have been +thinking it all out this afternoon." + +He looked up again in his unseeing, unimaginative way. No one +had ever heard him say so much at one time. Jukes, with his arms +open in the doorway, was like a man invited to behold a miracle. +Unbounded wonder was the intellectual meaning of his eye, while +incredulity was seated in his whole countenance. + +"A gale is a gale, Mr. Jukes," resumed the Captain, "and a +full-powered steam-ship has got to face it. There's just so much +dirty weather knocking about the world, and the proper thing is +to go through it with none of what old Captain Wilson of the +Melita calls 'storm strategy.' The other day ashore I heard him +hold forth about it to a lot of shipmasters who came in and sat +at a table next to mine. It seemed to me the greatest nonsense. +He was telling them how he outmanœuvred, I think he said, a +terrific gale, so that it never came nearer than fifty miles to +him. A neat piece of head-work he called it. How he knew there +was a terrific gale fifty miles off beats me altogether. It was +like listening to a crazy man. I would have thought Captain +Wilson was old enough to know better." + +Captain MacWhirr ceased for a moment, then said, "It's your watch +below, Mr. Jukes?" + +Jukes came to himself with a start. "Yes, sir." + +"Leave orders to call me at the slightest change," said the +Captain. He reached up to put the book away, and tucked his legs +upon the couch. "Shut the door so that it don't fly open, will +you? I can't stand a door banging. They've put a lot of +rubbishy locks into this ship, I must say." + +Captain MacWhirr closed his eyes. + +He did so to rest himself. He was tired, and he experienced that +state of mental vacuity which comes at the end of an exhaustive +discussion that has liberated some belief matured in the course +of meditative years. He had indeed been making his confession of +faith, had he only known it; and its effect was to make Jukes, on +the other side of the door, stand scratching his head for a good +while. + +Captain MacWhirr opened his eyes. + +He thought he must have been asleep. What was that loud noise? +Wind? Why had he not been called? The lamp wriggled in its +gimbals, the barometer swung in circles, the table altered its +slant every moment; a pair of limp sea-boots with collapsed tops +went sliding past the couch. He put out his hand instantly, and +captured one. + +Jukes' face appeared in a crack of the door: only his face, very +red, with staring eyes. The flame of the lamp leaped, a piece of +paper flew up, a rush of air enveloped Captain MacWhirr. +Beginning to draw on the boot, he directed an expectant gaze at +Jukes' swollen, excited features. + +"Came on like this," shouted Jukes, "five minutes ago . . . all +of a sudden." + +The head disappeared with a bang, and a heavy splash and patter +of drops swept past the closed door as if a pailful of melted +lead had been flung against the house. A whistling could be +heard now upon the deep vibrating noise outside. The stuffy +chart-room seemed as full of draughts as a shed. Captain +MacWhirr collared the other sea-boot on its violent passage along +the floor. He was not flustered, but he could not find at once +the opening for inserting his foot. The shoes he had flung off +were scurrying from end to end of the cabin, gambolling playfully +over each other like puppies. As soon as he stood up he kicked +at them viciously, but without effect. + +He threw himself into the attitude of a lunging fencer, to reach +after his oilskin coat; and afterwards he staggered all over the +confined space while he jerked himself into it. Very grave, +straddling his legs far apart, and stretching his neck, he +started to tie deliberately the strings of his sou'-wester under +his chin, with thick fingers that trembled slightly. He went +through all the movements of a woman putting on her bonnet before +a glass, with a strained, listening attention, as though he had +expected every moment to hear the shout of his name in the +confused clamour that had suddenly beset his ship. Its increase +filled his ears while he was getting ready to go out and confront +whatever it might mean. It was tumultuous and very loud -- made +up of the rush of the wind, the crashes of the sea, with that +prolonged deep vibration of the air, like the roll of an immense +and remote drum beating the charge of the gale. + +He stood for a moment in the light of the lamp, thick, clumsy, +shapeless in his panoply of combat, vigilant and red-faced. + +"There's a lot of weight in this," he muttered. + +As soon as he attempted to open the door the wind caught it. +Clinging to the handle, he was dragged out over the doorstep, and +at once found himself engaged with the wind in a sort of personal +scuffle whose object was the shutting of that door. At the last +moment a tongue of air scurried in and licked out the flame of +the lamp. + +Ahead of the ship he perceived a great darkness lying upon a +multitude of white flashes; on the starboard beam a few amazing +stars drooped, dim and fitful, above an immense waste of broken +seas, as if seen through a mad drift of smoke. + +On the bridge a knot of men, indistinct and toiling, were making +great efforts in the light of the wheelhouse windows that shone +mistily on their heads and backs. Suddenly darkness closed upon +one pane, then on another. The voices of the lost group reached +him after the manner of men's voices in a gale, in shreds and +fragments of forlorn shouting snatched past the ear. All at once +Jukes appeared at his side, yelling, with his head down. + +"Watch -- put in -- wheelhouse shutters -- glass -afraid -- blow +in." + +Jukes heard his commander upbraiding. + +"This -- come -- anything -- warning -- call me." + +He tried to explain, with the uproar pressing on his lips. + +"Light air -- remained -- bridge -- sudden -- north-east -- could +turn -- thought -- you -- sure -- hear." + +They had gained the shelter of the weather-cloth, and could +converse with raised voices, as people quarrel. + +"I got the hands along to cover up all the ventilators. Good job +I had remained on deck. I didn't think you would be asleep, and +so . . . What did you say, sir? What?" + +"Nothing," cried Captain MacWhirr. "I said -- all right." + +"By all the powers! We've got it this time," observed Jukes in a +howl. + +"You haven't altered her course?" inquired Captain MacWhirr, +straining his voice. + +"No, sir. Certainly not. Wind came out right ahead. And here +comes the head sea." + +A plunge of the ship ended in a shock as if she had landed her +forefoot upon something solid. After a moment of stillness a +lofty flight of sprays drove hard with the wind upon their faces. + +"Keep her at it as long as we can," shouted Captain MacWhirr. + +Before Jukes had squeezed the salt water out of his eyes all the +stars had disappeared. + + + +III + +JUKES was as ready a man as any half-dozen young mates that may +be caught by casting a net upon the waters; and though he had +been somewhat taken aback by the startling viciousness of the +first squall, he had pulled himself together on the instant, had +called out the hands and had rushed them along to secure such +openings about the deck as had not been already battened down +earlier in the evening. Shouting in his fresh, stentorian voice, +"Jump, boys, and bear a hand!" he led in the work, telling +himself the while that he had "just expected this." + +But at the same time he was growing aware that this was rather +more than he had expected. From the first stir of the air felt +on his cheek the gale seemed to take upon itself the accumulated +impetus of an avalanche. Heavy sprays enveloped the Nan-Shan +from stem to stern, and instantly in the midst of her regular +rolling she began to jerk and plunge as though she had gone mad +with fright. + +Jukes thought, "This is no joke." While he was exchanging +explanatory yells with his captain, a sudden lowering of the +darkness came upon the night, falling before their vision like +something palpable. It was as if the masked lights of the world +had been turned down. Jukes was uncritically glad to have his +captain at hand. It relieved him as though that man had, by +simply coming on deck, taken most of the gale's weight upon his +shoulders. Such is the prestige, the privilege, and the burden +of command. + +Captain MacWhirr could expect no relief of that sort from any one +on earth. Such is the loneliness of command. He was trying to +see, with that watchful manner of a seaman who stares into the +wind's eye as if into the eye of an adversary, to penetrate the +hidden intention and guess the aim and force of the thrust. The +strong wind swept at him out of a vast obscurity; he felt under +his feet the uneasiness of his ship, and he could not even +discern the shadow of her shape. He wished it were not so; and +very still he waited, feeling stricken by a blind man's +helplessness. + +To be silent was natural to him, dark or shine. Jukes, at his +elbow, made himself heard yelling cheerily in the gusts, "We must +have got the worst of it at once, sir." A faint burst of +lightning quivered all round, as if flashed into a cavern -- into +a black and secret chamber of the sea, with a floor of foaming +crests. + +It unveiled for a sinister, fluttering moment a ragged mass of +clouds hanging low, the lurch of the long outlines of the ship, +the black figures of men caught on the bridge, heads forward, as +if petrified in the act of butting. The darkness palpitated down +upon all this, and then the real thing came at last. + +It was something formidable and swift, like the sudden smashing +of a vial of wrath. It seemed to explode all round the ship with +an overpowering concussion and a rush of great waters, as if an +immense dam had been blown up to windward. In an instant the men +lost touch of each other. This is the disintegrating power of a +great wind: it isolates one from one's kind. An earthquake, a +landslip, an avalanche, overtake a man incidentally, as it were +-- without passion. A furious gale attacks him like a personal +enemy, tries to grasp his limbs, fastens upon his mind, seeks to +rout his very spirit out of him. + +Jukes was driven away from his commander. He fancied himself +whirled a great distance through the air. Everything disappeared +-- even, for a moment, his power of thinking; but his hand had +found one of the rail-stanchions. His distress was by no means +alleviated by an inclination to disbelieve the reality of this +experience. Though young, he had seen some bad weather, and had +never doubted his ability to imagine the worst; but this was so +much beyond his powers of fancy that it appeared incompatible +with the existence of any ship whatever. He would have been +incredulous about himself in the same way, perhaps, had he not +been so harassed by the necessity of exerting a wrestling effort +against a force trying to tear him away from his hold. Moreover, +the conviction of not being utterly destroyed returned to him +through the sensations of being half-drowned, bestially shaken, +and partly choked. + +It seemed to him he remained there precariously alone with the +stanchion for a long, long time. The rain poured on him, flowed, +drove in sheets. He breathed in gasps; and sometimes the water +he swallowed was fresh and sometimes it was salt. For the most +part he kept his eyes shut tight, as if suspecting his sight +might be destroyed in the immense flurry of the elements. When +he ventured to blink hastily, he derived some moral support from +the green gleam of the starboard light shining feebly upon the +flight of rain and sprays. He was actually looking at it when +its ray fell upon the uprearing sea which put it out. He saw the +head of the wave topple over, adding the mite of its crash to the +tremendous uproar raging around him, and almost at the same +instant the stanchion was wrenched away from his embracing arms. +After a crushing thump on his back he found himself suddenly +afloat and borne upwards. His first irresistible notion was that +the whole China Sea had climbed on the bridge. Then, more +sanely, he concluded himself gone overboard. All the time he was +being tossed, flung, and rolled in great volumes of water, he +kept on repeating mentally, with the utmost precipitation, the +words: "My God! My God! My God! My God!" + +All at once, in a revolt of misery and despair, he formed the +crazy resolution to get out of that. And he began to thresh +about with his arms and legs. But as soon as he commenced his +wretched struggles he discovered that he had become somehow mixed +up with a face, an oilskin coat, somebody's boots. He clawed +ferociously all these things in turn, lost them, found them +again, lost them once more, and finally was himself caught in the +firm clasp of a pair of stout arms. He returned the embrace +closely round a thick solid body. He had found his captain. + +They tumbled over and over, tightening their hug. Suddenly the +water let them down with a brutal bang; and, stranded against the +side of the wheelhouse, out of breath and bruised, they were left +to stagger up in the wind and hold on where they could. + +Jukes came out of it rather horrified, as though he had escaped +some unparalleled outrage directed at his feelings. It weakened +his faith in himself. He started shouting aimlessly to the man +he could feel near him in that fiendish blackness, "Is it you, +sir? Is it you, sir?" till his temples seemed ready to burst. +And he heard in answer a voice, as if crying far away, as if +screaming to him fretfully from a very great distance, the one +word "Yes!" Other seas swept again over the bridge. He received +them defencelessly right over his bare head, with both his hands +engaged in holding. + +The motion of the ship was extravagant. Her lurches had an +appalling helplessness: she pitched as if taking a header into a +void, and seemed to find a wall to hit every time. When she +rolled she fell on her side headlong, and she would be righted +back by such a demolishing blow that Jukes felt her reeling as a +clubbed man reels before he collapses. The gale howled and +scuffled about gigantically in the darkness, as though the entire +world were one black gully. At certain moments the air streamed +against the ship as if sucked through a tunnel with a +concentrated solid force of impact that seemed to lift her clean +out of the water and keep her up for an instant with only a +quiver running through her from end to end. And then she would +begin her tumbling again as if dropped back into a boiling +cauldron. Jukes tried hard to compose his mind and judge things +coolly. + +The sea, flattened down in the heavier gusts, would uprise and +overwhelm both ends of the Nan-Shan in snowy rushes of foam, +expanding wide, beyond both rails, into the night. And on this +dazzling sheet, spread under the blackness of the clouds and +emitting a bluish glow, Captain MacWhirr could catch a desolate +glimpse of a few tiny specks black as ebony, the tops of the +hatches, the battened companions, the heads of the covered +winches, the foot of a mast. This was all he could see of his +ship. Her middle structure, covered by the bridge which bore +him, his mate, the closed wheelhouse where a man was steering +shut up with the fear of being swept overboard together with the +whole thing in one great crash -- her middle structure was like a +half-tide rock awash upon a coast. It was like an outlying rock +with the water boiling up, streaming over, pouring off, beating +round -- like a rock in the surf to which shipwrecked people +cling before they let go--only it rose, it sank, it rolled +continuously, without respite and rest, like a rock that should +have miraculously struck adrift from a coast and gone wallowing +upon the sea. + +The Nan-Shan was being looted by the storm with a senseless, +destructive fury: trysails torn out of the extra gaskets, +double-lashed awnings blown away, bridge swept clean, +weather-cloths burst, rails twisted, light-screens smashed -- and +two of the boats had gone already. They had gone unheard and +unseen, melting, as it were, in the shock and smother of the +wave. It was only later, when upon the white flash of another +high sea hurling itself amidships, Jukes had a vision of two +pairs of davits leaping black and empty out of the solid +blackness, with one overhauled fall flying and an iron-bound +block capering in the air, that he became aware of what had +happened within about three yards of his back. + +He poked his head forward, groping for the ear of his commander. +His lips touched it -- big, fleshy, very wet. He cried in an +agitated tone, "Our boats are going now, sir." + +And again he heard that voice, forced and ringing feebly, but +with a penetrating effect of quietness in the enormous discord of +noises, as if sent out from some remote spot of peace beyond the +black wastes of the gale; again he heard a man's voice -- the +frail and indomitable sound that can be made to carry an infinity +of thought, resolution and purpose, that shall be pronouncing +confident words on the last day, when heavens fall, and justice +is done -- again he heard it, and it was crying to him, as if +from very, very far -- "All right." + +He thought he had not managed to make himself understood. "Our +boats -- I say boats -- the boats, sir! Two gone!" + +The same voice, within a foot of him and yet so remote, yelled +sensibly, "Can't be helped." + +Captain MacWhirr had never turned his face, but Jukes caught some +more words on the wind. + +"What can -- expect -- when hammering through -such -- Bound to +leave -- something behind -- stands to reason." + +Watchfully Jukes listened for more. No more came. This was all +Captain MacWhirr had to say; and Jukes could picture to himself +rather than see the broad squat back before him. An impenetrable +obscurity pressed down upon the ghostly glimmers of the sea. A +dull conviction seized upon Jukes that there was nothing to be +done. + +If the steering-gear did not give way, if the immense volumes of +water did not burst the deck in or smash one of the hatches, if +the engines did not give up, if way could be kept on the ship +against this terrific wind, and she did not bury herself in one +of these awful seas, of whose white crests alone, topping high +above her bows, he could now and then get a sickening glimpse -- +then there was a chance of her coming out of it. Something +within him seemed to turn over, bringing uppermost the feeling +that the Nan-Shan was lost. + +"She's done for," he said to himself, with a surprising mental +agitation, as though he had discovered an unexpected meaning in +this thought. One of these things was bound to happen. Nothing +could be prevented now, and nothing could be remedied. The men +on board did not count, and the ship could not last. This +weather was too impossible. + +Jukes felt an arm thrown heavily over his shoulders; and to this +overture he responded with great intelligence by catching hold of +his captain round the waist. + +They stood clasped thus in the blind night, bracing each other +against the wind, cheek to cheek and lip to ear, in the manner of +two hulks lashed stem to stern together. + +And Jukes heard the voice of his commander hardly any louder than +before, but nearer, as though, starting to march athwart the +prodigious rush of the hurricane, it had approached him, bearing +that strange effect of quietness like the serene glow of a halo. + +"D'ye know where the hands got to?" it asked, vigorous and +evanescent at the same time, overcoming the strength of the wind, +and swept away from Jukes instantly. + +Jukes didn't know. They were all on the bridge when the real +force of the hurricane struck the ship. He had no idea where they +had crawled to. Under the circumstances they were nowhere, for +all the use that could be made of them. Somehow the Captain's +wish to know distressed Jukes. + +"Want the hands, sir?" he cried, apprehensively. + +"Ought to know," asserted Captain MacWhirr. "Hold hard." + +They held hard. An outburst of unchained fury, a vicious rush of +the wind absolutely steadied the ship; she rocked only, quick and +light like a child's cradle, for a terrific moment of suspense, +while the whole atmosphere, as it seemed, streamed furiously past +her, roaring away from the tenebrous earth. + +It suffocated them, and with eyes shut they tightened their +grasp. What from the magnitude of the shock might have been a +column of water running upright in the dark, butted against the +ship, broke short, and fell on her bridge, crushingly, from on +high, with a dead burying weight. + +A flying fragment of that collapse, a mere splash, enveloped them +in one swirl from their feet over their heads, filling violently +their ears, mouths and nostrils with salt water. It knocked out +their legs, wrenched in haste at their arms, seethed away swiftly +under their chins; and opening their eyes, they saw the piled-up +masses of foam dashing to and fro amongst what looked like the +fragments of a ship. She had given way as if driven straight in. +Their panting hearts yielded, too, before the tremendous blow; +and all at once she sprang up again to her desperate plunging, as +if trying to scramble out from under the ruins. + +The seas in the dark seemed to rush from all sides to keep her +back where she might perish. There was hate in the way she was +handled, and a ferocity in the blows that fell. She was like a +living creature thrown to the rage of a mob: hustled terribly, +struck at, borne up, flung down, leaped upon. Captain MacWhirr +and Jukes kept hold of each other, deafened by the noise, gagged +by the wind; and the great physical tumult beating about their +bodies, brought, like an unbridled display of passion, a profound +trouble to their souls. One of those wild and appalling shrieks +that are heard at times passing mysteriously overhead in the +steady roar of a hurricane, swooped, as if borne on wings, upon +the ship, and Jukes tried to outscream it. + +"Will she live through this?" + +The cry was wrenched out of his breast. It was as unintentional +as the birth of a thought in the head, and he heard nothing of it +himself. It all became extinct at once -- thought, intention, +effort -- and of his cry the inaudible vibration added to the +tempest waves of the air. + +He expected nothing from it. Nothing at all. For indeed what +answer could be made? But after a while he heard with amazement +the frail and resisting voice in his ear, the dwarf sound, +unconquered in the giant tumult. + +"She may!" + +It was a dull yell, more difficult to seize than a whisper. And +presently the voice returned again, half submerged in the vast +crashes, like a ship battling against the waves of an ocean. + +"Let's hope so!" it cried -- small, lonely and unmoved, a +stranger to the visions of hope or fear; and it flickered into +disconnected words: "Ship. . . . . This. . . . Never -- Anyhow . +. . for the best." Jukes gave it up. + +Then, as if it had come suddenly upon the one thing fit to +withstand the power of a storm, it seemed to gain force and +firmness for the last broken shouts: + +"Keep on hammering . . . builders . . . good men. . . . . And +chance it . . . engines. . . . Rout . . . good man." + +Captain MacWhirr removed his arm from Jukes' shoulders, and +thereby ceased to exist for his mate, so dark it was; Jukes, +after a tense stiffening of every muscle, would let himself go +limp all over. The gnawing of profound discomfort existed side +by side with an incredible disposition to somnolence, as though +he had been buffeted and worried into drowsiness. The wind would +get hold of his head and try to shake it off his shoulders; his +clothes, full of water, were as heavy as lead, cold and dripping +like an armour of melting ice: he shivered -- it lasted a long +time; and with his hands closed hard on his hold, he was letting +himself sink slowly into the depths of bodily misery. His mind +became concentrated upon himself in an aimless, idle way, and +when something pushed lightly at the back of his knees he nearly, +as the saying is, jumped out of his skin. + +In the start forward he bumped the back of Captain MacWhirr, who +didn't move; and then a hand gripped his thigh. A lull had come, +a menacing lull of the wind, the holding of a stormy breath -- +and he felt himself pawed all over. It was the boatswain. Jukes +recognized these hands, so thick and enormous that they seemed to +belong to some new species of man. + +The boatswain had arrived on the bridge, crawling on all fours +against the wind, and had found the chief mate's legs with the +top of his head. Immediately he crouched and began to explore +Jukes' person upwards with prudent, apologetic touches, as became +an inferior. + +He was an ill-favoured, undersized, gruff sailor of fifty, +coarsely hairy, short-legged, long-armed, resembling an elderly +ape. His strength was immense; and in his great lumpy paws, +bulging like brown boxinggloves on the end of furry forearms, the +heaviest objects were handled like playthings. Apart from the +grizzled pelt on his chest, the menacing demeanour and the hoarse +voice, he had none of the classical attributes of his rating. +His good nature almost amounted to imbecility: the men did what +they liked with him, and he had not an ounce of initiative in his +character, which was easy-going and talkative. For these reasons +Jukes disliked him; but Captain MacWhirr, to Jukes' scornful +disgust, seemed to regard him as a first-rate petty officer. + +He pulled himself up by Jukes' coat, taking that liberty with the +greatest moderation, and only so far as it was forced upon him by +the hurricane. + +"What is it, boss'n, what is it?" yelled Jukes, impatiently. +What could that fraud of a boss'n want on the bridge? The +typhoon had got on Jukes' nerves. The husky bellowings of the +other, though unintelligible, seemed to suggest a state of lively +satisfaction. + +There could be no mistake. The old fool was pleased with +something. + +The boatswain's other hand had found some other body, for in a +changed tone he began to inquire: "Is it you, sir? Is it you, +sir?" The wind strangled his howls. + +"Yes!" cried Captain MacWhirr. + + + +IV + +ALL that the boatswain, out of a superabundance of yells, could +make clear to Captain MacWhirr was the bizarre intelligence that +"All them Chinamen in the fore 'tween deck have fetched away, +sir." + +Jukes to leeward could hear these two shouting within six inches +of his face, as you may hear on a still night half a mile away +two men conversing across a field. He heard Captain MacWhirr's +exasperated "What? What?" and the strained pitch of the other's +hoarseness. "In a lump . . . seen them myself. . . . Awful +sight, sir . . . thought . . . tell you." + +Jukes remained indifferent, as if rendered irresponsible by the +force of the hurricane, which made the very thought of action +utterly vain. Besides, being very young, he had found the +occupation of keeping his heart completely steeled against the +worst so engrossing that he had come to feel an overpowering +dislike towards any other form of activity whatever. He was not +scared; he knew this because, firmly believing he would never see +another sunrise, he remained calm in that belief. + +These are the moments of do-nothing heroics to which even good +men surrender at times. Many officers of ships can no doubt +recall a case in their experience when just such a trance of +confounded stoicism would come all at once over a whole ship's +company. Jukes, however, had no wide experience of men or storms. +He conceived himself to be calm -- inexorably calm; but as a +matter of fact he was daunted; not abjectly, but only so far as a +decent man may, without becoming loathsome to himself. + +It was rather like a forced-on numbness of spirit. The long, long +stress of a gale does it; the suspense of the interminably +culminating catastrophe; and there is a bodily fatigue in the +mere holding on to existence within the excessive tumult; a +searching and insidious fatigue that penetrates deep into a man's +breast to cast down and sadden his heart, which is incorrigible, +and of all the gifts of the earth -- even before life itself +-aspires to peace. + +Jukes was benumbed much more than he supposed. He held on -- very +wet, very cold, stiff in every limb; and in a momentary +hallucination of swift visions (it is said that a drowning man +thus reviews all his life) he beheld all sorts of memories +altogether unconnected with his present situation. He remembered +his father, for instance: a worthy business man, who at an +unfortunate crisis in his affairs went quietly to bed and died +forthwith in a state of resignation. Jukes did not recall these +circumstances, of course, but remaining otherwise unconcerned he +seemed to see distinctly the poor man's face; a certain game of +nap played when quite a boy in Table Bay on board a ship, since +lost with all hands; the thick eyebrows of his first skipper; and +without any emotion, as he might years ago have walked listlessly +into her room and found her sitting there with a book, he +remembered his mother -- dead, too, now -- the resolute woman, +left badly off, who had been very firm in his bringing up. + +It could not have lasted more than a second, perhaps not so much. +A heavy arm had fallen about his shoulders; Captain MacWhirr's +voice was speaking his name into his ear. + +"Jukes! Jukes!" + +He detected the tone of deep concern. The wind had thrown its +weight on the ship, trying to pin her down amongst the seas. +They made a clean breach over her, as over a deep-swimming log; +and the gathered weight of crashes menaced monstrously from afar. +The breakers flung out of the night with a ghostly light on their +crests -- the light of sea-foam that in a ferocious, boiling-up +pale flash showed upon the slender body of the ship the toppling +rush, the downfall, and the seething mad scurry of each wave. +Never for a moment could she shake herself clear of the water; +Jukes, rigid, perceived in her motion the ominous sign of +haphazard floundering. She was no longer struggling +intelligently. It was the beginning of the end; and the note of +busy concern in Captain MacWhirr's voice sickened him like an +exhibition of blind and pernicious folly. + +The spell of the storm had fallen upon Jukes. He was penetrated +by it, absorbed by it; he was rooted in it with a rigour of dumb +attention. Captain MacWhirr persisted in his cries, but the wind +got between them like a solid wedge. He hung round Jukes' neck +as heavy as a millstone, and suddenly the sides of their heads +knocked together. + +"Jukes! Mr. Jukes, I say!" + +He had to answer that voice that would not be silenced. He +answered in the customary manner: ". . . Yes, sir." + +And directly, his heart, corrupted by the storm that breeds a +craving for peace, rebelled against the tyranny of training and +command. + +Captain MacWhirr had his mate's head fixed firm in the crook of +his elbow, and pressed it to his yelling lips mysteriously. +Sometimes Jukes would break in, admonishing hastily: "Look out, +sir!" or Captain MacWhirr would bawl an earnest exhortation to +"Hold hard, there!" and the whole black universe seemed to reel +together with the ship. They paused. She floated yet. And +Captain MacWhirr would rsum his shouts. ". . . . Says . . . +whole lot . . . fetched away. . . . Ought to see . . . what's +the matter." + +Directly the full force of the hurricane had struck the ship, +every part of her deck became untenable; and the sailors, dazed +and dismayed, took shelter in the port alleyway under the bridge. +It had a door aft, which they shut; it was very black, cold, and +dismal. At each heavy fling of the ship they would groan all +together in the dark, and tons of water could be heard scuttling +about as if trying to get at them from above. The boatswain had +been keeping up a gruff talk, but a more unreasonable lot of men, +he said afterwards, he had never been with. They were snug +enough there, out of harm's way, and not wanted to do anything, +either; and yet they did nothing but grumble and complain +peevishly like so many sick kids. Finally, one of them said that +if there had been at least some light to see each other's noses +by, it wouldn't be so bad. It was making him crazy, he declared, +to lie there in the dark waiting for the blamed hooker to sink. + +"Why don't you step outside, then, and be done with it at once?" +the boatswain turned on him. + +This called up a shout of execration. The boatswain found +himself overwhelmed with reproaches of all sorts. They seemed to +take it ill that a lamp was not instantly created for them out of +nothing. They would whine after a light to get drowned by -- +anyhow! And though the unreason of their revilings was patent -- +since no one could hope to reach the lamp-room, which was forward +-- he became greatly distressed. He did not think it was decent +of them to be nagging at him like this. He told them so, and was +met by general contumely. He sought refuge, therefore, in an +embittered silence. At the same time their grumbling and sighing +and muttering worried him greatly, but by-and-by it occurred to +him that there were six globe lamps hung in the 'tween-deck, and +that there could be no harm in depriving the coolies of one of +them. + +The Nan-Shan had an athwartship coal-bunker, which, being at +times used as cargo space, communicated by an iron door with the +fore 'tween-deck. It was empty then, and its manhole was the +foremost one in the alleyway. The boatswain could get in, +therefore, without coming out on deck at all; but to his great +surprise he found he could induce no one to help him in taking +off the manhole cover. He groped for it all the same, but one of +the crew lying in his way refused to budge. + +"Why, I only want to get you that blamed light you are crying +for," he expostulated, almost pitifully. + +Somebody told him to go and put his head in a bag. He regretted +he could not recognize the voice, and that it was too dark to +see, otherwise, as he said, he would have put a head on that son +of a sea-cook, anyway, sink or swim. Nevertheless, he had made +up his mind to show them he could get a light, if he were to die +for it. + +Through the violence of the ship's rolling, every movement was +dangerous. To be lying down seemed labour enough. He nearly +broke his neck dropping into the bunker. He fell on his back, +and was sent shooting helplessly from side to side in the +dangerous company of a heavy iron bar -- a coal-trimmer's slice +probably -- left down there by somebody. This thing made him as +nervous as though it had been a wild beast. He could not see it, +the inside of the bunker coated with coal-dust being perfectly +and impenetrably black; but he heard it sliding and clattering, +and striking here and there, always in the neighbourhood of his +head. It seemed to make an extraordinary noise, too -- to give +heavy thumps as though it had been as big as a bridge girder. +This was remarkable enough for him to notice while he was flung +from port to starboard and back again, and clawing desperately +the smooth sides of the bunker in the endeavour to stop himself. +The door into the 'tween-deck not fitting quite true, he saw a +thread of dim light at the bottom. + +Being a sailor, and a still active man, he did not want much of a +chance to regain his feet; and as luck would have it, in +scrambling up he put his hand on the iron slice, picking it up as +he rose. Otherwise he would have been afraid of the thing +breaking his legs, or at least knocking him down again. At first +he stood still. He felt unsafe in this darkness that seemed to +make the ship's motion unfamiliar, unforeseen, and difficult to +counteract. He felt so much shaken for a moment that he dared +not move for fear of "taking charge again." He had no mind to get +battered to pieces in that bunker. + +He had struck his head twice; he was dazed a little. He seemed to +hear yet so plainly the clatter and bangs of the iron slice +flying about his ears that he tightened his grip to prove to +himself he had it there safely in his hand. He was vaguely +amazed at the plainness with which down there he could hear the +gale raging. Its howls and shrieks seemed to take on, in the +emptiness of the bunker, something of the human character, of +human rage and pain -- being not vast but infinitely poignant. +And there were, with every roll, thumps, too -- profound, +ponderous thumps, as if a bulky object of five-ton weight or so +had got play in the hold. But there was no such thing in the +cargo. Something on deck? Impossible. Or alongside? Couldn't +be. + +He thought all this quickly, clearly, competently, like a seaman, +and in the end remained puzzled. This noise, though, came +deadened from outside, together with the washing and pouring of +water on deck above his head. Was it the wind? Must be. It +made down there a row like the shouting of a big lot of crazed +men. And he discovered in himself a desire for a light, too -if +only to get drowned by -- and a nervous anxiety to get out of +that bunker as quickly as possible. + +He pulled back the bolt: the heavy iron plate turned on its +hinges; and it was as though he had opened the door to the sounds +of the tempest. A gust of hoarse yelling met him: the air was +still; and the rushing of water overhead was covered by a tumult +of strangled, throaty shrieks that produced an effect of +desperate confusion. He straddled his legs the whole width of +the doorway and stretched his neck. And at first he perceived +only what he had come to seek: six small yellow flames swinging +violently on the great body of the dusk. + +It was stayed like the gallery of a mine, with a row of +stanchions in the middle, and cross-beams overhead, penetrating +into the gloom ahead -- indefinitely. And to port there loomed, +like the caving in of one of the sides, a bulky mass with a +slanting outline. The whole place, with the shadows and the +shapes, moved all the time. The boatswain glared: the ship +lurched to starboard, and a great howl came from that mass that +had the slant of fallen earth. + +Pieces of wood whizzed past. Planks, he thought, inexpressibly +startled, and flinging back his head. At his feet a man went +sliding over, open-eyed, on his back, straining with uplifted +arms for nothing: and another came bounding like a detached stone +with his head between his legs and his hands clenched. His + + +58 + +pigtail whipped in the air; he made a grab at the boatswain's +legs, and from his opened hand a bright white disc rolled against +the boatswain's foot. He recognized a silver dollar, and yelled +at it with astonishment. With a precipitated sound of trampling +and shuffling of bare feet, and with guttural cries, the mound of +writhing bodies piled up to port detached itself from the ship's +side and sliding, inert and struggling, shifted to starboard, +with a dull, brutal thump. The cries ceased. The boatswain heard +a long moan through the roar and whistling of the wind; he saw an +inextricable confusion of heads and shoulders, naked soles +kicking upwards, fists raised, tumbling backs, legs, pigtails, +faces. + +"Good Lord!" he cried, horrified, and banged-to the iron door +upon this vision. + +This was what he had come on the bridge to tell. He could not +keep it to himself; and on board ship there is only one man to +whom it is worth while to unburden yourself. On his passage back +the hands in the alleyway swore at him for a fool. Why didn't he +bring that lamp? What the devil did the coolies matter to +anybody? And when he came out, the extremity of the ship made +what went on inside of her appear of little moment. + +At first he thought he had left the alleyway in the very moment +of her sinking. The bridge ladders had been washed away, but an +enormous sea filling the after-deck floated him up. After that +he had to lie on his stomach for some time, holding to a +ring-bolt, getting his breath now and then, and swallowing salt +water. He struggled farther on his hands and knees, too +frightened and distracted to turn back. In this way he reached +the after-part of the wheelhouse. In that comparatively +sheltered spot he found the second mate. + +The boatswain was pleasantly surprised -- his impression being +that everybody on deck must have been washed away a long time +ago. He asked eagerly where the Captain was. + +The second mate was lying low, like a malignant little animal +under a hedge. + +"Captain? Gone overboard, after getting us into this mess." The +mate, too, for all he knew or cared. Another fool. Didn't +matter. Everybody was going by-and-by. + +The boatswain crawled out again into the strength of the wind; +not because he much expected to find anybody, he said, but just +to get away from "that man." He crawled out as outcasts go to +face an inclement world. Hence his great joy at finding Jukes +and the Captain. But what was going on in the 'tween-deck was to +him a minor matter by that time. Besides, it was difficult to +make yourself heard. But he managed to convey the idea that the +Chinaman had broken adrift together with their boxes, and that he +had come up on purpose to report this. As to the hands, they +were all right. Then, appeased, he subsided on the deck in a +sitting posture, hugging with his arms and legs the stand of the +engine-room telegraph -- an iron casting as thick as a post. +When that went, why, he expected he would go, too. He gave no +more thought to the coolies. + + +Captain MacWhirr had made Jukes understand that he wanted him to +go down below -- to see. + +"What am I to do then, sir?" And the trembling of his whole wet +body caused Jukes' voice to sound like bleating. + +"See first . . . Boss'n . . . says . . . adrift." + +"That boss'n is a confounded fool," howled Jukes, shakily. + +The absurdity of the demand made upon him revolted Jukes. He was +as unwilling to go as if the moment he had left the deck the ship +were sure to sink. + +"I must know . . . can't leave. . . ." + +"They'll settle, sir." + +"Fight . . . boss'n says they fight. . . . Why? Can't have . . . +fighting . . . board ship. . . . Much rather keep you here . . . +case . . . . I should . . . washed overboard myself. . . . Stop +it . . . some way. You see and tell me . . . through engine-room +tube. Don't want you . . . come up here . . . too often. +Dangerous . . . moving about . . . deck." + +Jukes, held with his head in chancery, had to listen to what +seemed horrible suggestions. + +"Don't want . . . you get lost . . . so long . . . ship isn't. . +. . . Rout . . . Good man . . . Ship . . . may . . . through +this . . . all right yet." + +All at once Jukes understood he would have to go. + +"Do you think she may?" he screamed. + +But the wind devoured the reply, out of which Jukes heard only +the one word, pronounced with great energy ". . . . Always. . . +." + +Captain MacWhirr released Jukes, and bending over the boatswain, +yelled, "Get back with the mate." Jukes only knew that the arm +was gone off his shoulders. He was dismissed with his orders -- +to do what? He was exasperated into letting go his hold +carelessly, and on the instant was blown away. It seemed to him +that nothing could stop him from being blown right over the +stern. He flung himself down hastily, and the boatswain, who was +following, fell on him. + +"Don't you get up yet, sir," cried the boatswain. "No hurry!" + +A sea swept over. Jukes understood the boatswain to splutter +that the bridge ladders were gone. "I'll lower you down, sir, by +your hands," he screamed. He shouted also something about the +smoke-stack being as likely to go overboard as not. Jukes +thought it very possible, and imagined the fires out, the ship +helpless. . . . The boatswain by his side kept on yelling. +"What? What is it?" Jukes cried distressfully; and the other +repeated, "What would my old woman say if she saw me now?" + +In the alleyway, where a lot of water had got in and splashed in +the dark, the men were still as death, till Jukes stumbled +against one of them and cursed him savagely for being in the way. +Two or three voices then asked, eager and weak, "Any chance for +us, sir?" + +"What's the matter with you fools?" he said brutally. He felt as +though he could throw himself down amongst them and never move +any more. But they seemed cheered; and in the midst of +obsequious warnings, "Look out! Mind that manhole lid, sir," +they lowered him into the bunker. The boatswain tumbled down +after him, and as soon as he had picked himself up he remarked, +"She would say, 'Serve you right, you old fool, for going to +sea.'" + +The boatswain had some means, and made a point of alluding to +them frequently. His wife -- a fat woman -- and two grown-up +daughters kept a greengrocer's shop in the East-end of London. + +In the dark, Jukes, unsteady on his legs, listened to a faint +thunderous patter. A deadened screaming went on steadily at his +elbow, as it were; and from above the louder tumult of the storm +descended upon these near sounds. His head swam. To him, too, +in that bunker, the motion of the ship seemed novel and menacing, +sapping his resolution as though he had never been afloat before. + +He had half a mind to scramble out again; but the remembrance of +Captain MacWhirr's voice made this impossible. His orders were +to go and see. What was the good of it, he wanted to know. +Enraged, he told himself he would see -- of course. But the +boatswain, staggering clumsily, warned him to be careful how he +opened that door; there was a blamed fight going on. And Jukes, +as if in great bodily pain, desired irritably to know what the +devil they were fighting for. + +"Dollars! Dollars, sir. All their rotten chests got burst open. +Blamed money skipping all over the place, and they are tumbling +after it head over heels -- tearing and biting like anything. A +regular little hell in there." + +Jukes convulsively opened the door. The short boatswain peered +under his arm. + +One of the lamps had gone out, broken perhaps. Rancorous, +guttural cries burst out loudly on their ears, and a strange +panting sound, the working of all these straining breasts. A +hard blow hit the side of the ship: water fell above with a +stunning shock, and in the forefront of the gloom, where the air +was reddish and thick, Jukes saw a head bang the deck violently, +two thick calves waving on high, muscular arms twined round a +naked body, a yellow-face, open-mouthed and with a set wild +stare, look up and slide away. An empty chest clattered turning +over; a man fell head first with a jump, as if lifted by a kick; +and farther off, indistinct, others streamed like a mass of +rolling stones down a bank, thumping the deck with their feet and +flourishing their arms wildly. The hatchway ladder was loaded +with coolies swarming on it like bees on a branch. They hung on +the steps in a crawling, stirring cluster, beating madly with +their fists the underside of the battened hatch, and the headlong +rush of the water above was heard in the intervals of their +yelling. The ship heeled over more, and they began to drop off: +first one, then two, then all the rest went away together, +falling straight off with a great cry. + +Jukes was confounded. The boatswain, with gruff anxiety, begged +him, "Don't you go in there, sir." + +The whole place seemed to twist upon itself, jumping incessantly +the while; and when the ship rose to a sea Jukes fancied that all +these men would be shot upon him in a body. He backed out, swung +the door to, and with trembling hands pushed at the bolt. . . . + +As soon as his mate had gone Captain MacWhirr, left alone on the +bridge, sidled and staggered as far as the wheelhouse. Its door +being hinged forward, he had to fight the gale for admittance, +and when at last he managed to enter, it was with an +instantaneous clatter and a bang, as though he had been fired +through the wood. He stood within, holding on to the handle. + +The steering-gear leaked steam, and in the confined space the +glass of the binnacle made a shiny oval of light in a thin white +fog. The wind howled, hummed, whistled, with sudden booming +gusts that rattled the doors and shutters in the vicious patter +of sprays. Two coils of lead-line and a small canvas bag hung on +a long lanyard, swung wide off, and came back clinging to the +bulkheads. The gratings underfoot were nearly afloat; with every +sweeping blow of a sea, water squirted violently through the +cracks all round the door, and the man at the helm had flung down +his cap, his coat, and stood propped against the gear-casing in a +striped cotton shirt open on his breast. The little brass wheel +in his hands had the appearance of a bright and fragile toy. The +cords of his neck stood hard and lean, a dark patch lay in the +hollow of his throat, and his face was still and sunken as in +death. + +Captain MacWhirr wiped his eyes. The sea that had nearly taken +him overboard had, to his great annoyance, washed his sou'-wester +hat off his bald head. The fluffy, fair hair, soaked and +darkened, resembled a mean skein of cotton threads festooned +round his bare skull. His face, glistening with sea-water, had +been made crimson with the wind, with the sting of sprays. He +looked as though he had come off sweating from before a furnace. + +"You here?" he muttered, heavily. + +The second mate had found his way into the wheelhouse some time +before. He had fixed himself in a corner with his knees up, a +fist pressed against each temple; and this attitude suggested +rage, sorrow, resignation, surrender, with a sort of concentrated +unforgiveness. He said mournfully and defiantly, "Well, it's my +watch below now: ain't it?" + +The steam gear clattered, stopped, clattered again; and the +helmsman's eyeballs seemed to project out of a hungry face as if +the compass card behind the binnacle glass had been meat. God +knows how long he had been left there to steer, as if forgotten +by all his shipmates. The bells had not been struck; there had +been no reliefs; the ship's routine had gone down wind; but he +was trying to keep her head north-north-east. The rudder might +have been gone for all he knew, the fires out, the engines broken +down, the ship ready to roll over like a corpse. He was anxious +not to get muddled and lose control of her head, because the +compass-card swung far both ways, wriggling on the pivot, and +sometimes seemed to whirl right round. He suffered from mental +stress. He was horribly afraid, also, of the wheelhouse going. +Mountains of water kept on tumbling against it. When the ship +took one of her desperate dives the corners of his lips twitched. + +Captain MacWhirr looked up at the wheelhouse clock. Screwed to +the bulk-head, it had a white face on which the black hands +appeared to stand quite still. It was half-past one in the +morning. + +"Another day," he muttered to himself. + +The second mate heard him, and lifting his head as one grieving +amongst ruins, "You won't see it break," he exclaimed. His +wrists and his knees could be seen to shake violently. "No, by +God! You won't. . . ." + +He took his face again between his fists. + +The body of the helmsman had moved slightly, but his head didn't +budge on his neck, -- like a stone head fixed to look one way +from a column. During a roll that all but took his booted legs +from under him, and in the very stagger to save himself, Captain +MacWhirr said austerely, "Don't you pay any attention to what +that man says." And then, with an indefinable change of tone, +very grave, he added, "He isn't on duty." + +The sailor said nothing. + +The hurricane boomed, shaking the little place, which seemed +air-tight; and the light of the binnacle flickered all the time. + +"You haven't been relieved," Captain MacWhirr went on, looking +down. "I want you to stick to the helm, though, as long as you +can. You've got the hang of her. Another man coming here might +make a mess of it. Wouldn't do. No child's play. And the hands +are probably busy with a job down below. . . . Think you can?" + +The steering-gear leaped into an abrupt short clatter, stopped +smouldering like an ember; and the still man, with a motionless +gaze, burst out, as if all the passion in him had gone into his +lips: "By Heavens, sir! I can steer for ever if nobody talks to +me." + +"Oh! aye! All right. . . ." The Captain lifted his eyes for the +first time to the man, ". . . Hackett." + +And he seemed to dismiss this matter from his mind. He stooped to +the engine-room speaking-tube, blew in, and bent his head. Mr. +Rout below answered, and at once Captain MacWhirr put his lips to +the mouthpiece. + +With the uproar of the gale around him he applied alternately his +lips and his ear, and the engineer's voice mounted to him, harsh +and as if out of the heat of an engagement. One of the stokers +was disabled, the others had given in, the second engineer and +the donkey-man were firing-up. The third engineer was standing +by the steam-valve. The engines were being tended by hand. How +was it above? + +"Bad enough. It mostly rests with you," said Captain MacWhirr. +Was the mate down there yet? No? Well, he would be presently. +Would Mr. Rout let him talk through the speaking-tube? -- through +the deck speaking-tube, because he -- the Captain -- was going +out again on the bridge directly. There was some trouble amongst +the Chinamen. They were fighting, it seemed. Couldn't allow +fighting anyhow. . . . + +Mr. Rout had gone away, and Captain MacWhirr could feel against +his ear the pulsation of the engines, like the beat of the ship's +heart. Mr. Rout's voice down there shouted something distantly. +The ship pitched headlong, the pulsation leaped with a hissing +tumult, and stopped dead. Captain MacWhirr's face was impassive, +and his eyes were fixed aimlessly on the crouching shape of the +second mate. Again Mr. Rout's voice cried out in the depths, and +the pulsating beats recommenced, with slow strokes -- growing +swifter. + +Mr. Rout had returned to the tube. "It don't matter much what +they do," he said, hastily; and then, with irritation, "She takes +these dives as if she never meant to come up again." + +"Awful sea," said the Captain's voice from above. + +"Don't let me drive her under," barked Solomon Rout up the pipe. + +"Dark and rain. Can't see what's coming," uttered the voice. +"Must -- keep -- her -- moving -- enough to steer -- and chance +it," it went on to state distinctly. + +"I am doing as much as I dare." + +"We are -- getting -- smashed up -- a good deal up here," +proceeded the voice mildly. "Doing -- fairly well -- though. Of +course, if the wheelhouse should go. . . ." + +Mr. Rout, bending an attentive ear, muttered peevishly something +under his breath. + +But the deliberate voice up there became animated to ask: "Jukes +turned up yet?" Then, after a short wait, "I wish he would bear +a hand. I want him to be done and come up here in case of +anything. To look after the ship. I am all alone. The second +mate's lost. . . ." + +"What?" shouted Mr. Rout into the engine-room, taking his head +away. Then up the tube he cried, "Gone overboard?" and clapped +his ear to. + +"Lost his nerve," the voice from above continued in a +matter-of-fact tone. "Damned awkward circumstance." + +Mr. Rout, listening with bowed neck, opened his eyes wide at +this. However, he heard something like the sounds of a scuffle +and broken exclamations coming down to him. He strained his +hearing; and all the time Beale, the third engineer, with his +arms uplifted, held between the palms of his hands the rim of a +little black wheel projecting at the side of a big copper pipe. + +He seemed to be poising it above his head, as though it were a +correct attitude in some sort of game. + +To steady himself, he pressed his shoulder against the white +bulkhead, one knee bent, and a sweat-rag tucked in his belt +hanging on his hip. His smooth cheek was begrimed and flushed, +and the coal dust on his eyelids, like the black pencilling of a +make-up, enhanced the liquid brilliance of the whites, giving to +his youthful face something of a feminine, exotic and fascinating +aspect. When the ship pitched he would with hasty movements of +his hands screw hard at the little wheel. + +"Gone crazy," began the Captain's voice suddenly in the tube. +"Rushed at me. . . . Just now. Had to knock him down. . . . +This minute. You heard, Mr. Rout?" + +"The devil!" muttered Mr. Rout. "Look out, Beale!" + +His shout rang out like the blast of a warning trumpet, between +the iron walls of the engine-room. Painted white, they rose high +into the dusk of the skylight, sloping like a roof; and the whole +lofty space resembled the interior of a monument, divided by +floors of iron grating, with lights flickering at different +levels, and a mass of gloom lingering in the middle, within the +columnar stir of machinery under the motionless swelling of the +cylinders. A loud and wild resonance, made up of all the noises +of the hurricane, dwelt in the still warmth of the air. There +was in it the smell of hot metal, of oil, and a slight mist of +steam. The blows of the sea seemed to traverse it in an +unringing, stunning shock, from side to side. + +Gleams, like pale long flames, trembled upon the polish of metal; +from the flooring below the enormous crank-heads emerged in their +turns with a flash of brass and steel -- going over; while the +connecting-rods, big-jointed, like skeleton limbs, seemed to +thrust them down and pull them up again with an irresistible +precision. And deep in the half-light other rods dodged +deliberately to and fro, crossheads nodded, discs of metal rubbed +smoothly against each other, slow and gentle, in a commingling of +shadows and gleams. + +Sometimes all those powerful and unerring movements would slow +down simultaneously, as if they had been the functions of a +living organism, stricken suddenly by the blight of languor; and +Mr. Rout's eyes would blaze darker in his long sallow face. He +was fighting this fight in a pair of carpet slippers. A short +shiny jacket barely covered his loins, and his white wrists +protruded far out of the tight sleeves, as though the emergency +had added to his stature, had lengthened his limbs, augmented his +pallor, hollowed his eyes. + +He moved, climbing high up, disappearing low down, with a +restless, purposeful industry, and when he stood still, holding +the guard-rail in front of the starting-gear, he would keep +glancing to the right at the steam-gauge, at the water-gauge, +fixed upon the white wall in the light of a swaying lamp. The +mouths of two speakingtubes gaped stupidly at his elbow, and the +dial of the engine-room telegraph resembled a clock of large +diameter, bearing on its face curt words instead of figures. The +grouped letters stood out heavily black, around the pivot-head of +the indicator, emphatically symbolic of loud exclamations: AHEAD, +ASTERN, SLOW, Half, STAND BY; and the fat black hand pointed +downwards to the word FULL, which, thus singled out, captured the +eye as a sharp cry secures attention. + +The wood-encased bulk of the low-pressure cylinder, frowning +portly from above, emitted a faint wheeze at every thrust, and +except for that low hiss the engines worked their steel limbs +headlong or slow with a silent, determined smoothness. And all +this, the white walls, the moving steel, the floor plates under +Solomon Rout's feet, the floors of iron grating above his head, +the dusk and the gleams, uprose and sank continuously, with one +accord, upon the harsh wash of the waves against the ship's side. +The whole loftiness of the place, booming hollow to the great +voice of the wind, swayed at the top like a tree, would go over +bodily, as if borne down this way and that by the tremendous +blasts. + +"You've got to hurry up," shouted Mr. Rout, as soon as he saw +Jukes appear in the stokehold doorway. + +Jukes' glance was wandering and tipsy; his red face was puffy, as +though he had overslept himself. He had had an arduous road, and +had travelled over it with immense vivacity, the agitation of his +mind corresponding to the exertions of his body. He had rushed +up out of the bunker, stumbling in the dark alleyway amongst a +lot of bewildered men who, trod upon, asked "What's up, sir?" in +awed mutters all round him; -- down the stokehold ladder, missing +many iron rungs in his hurry, down into a place deep as a well, +black as Tophet, tipping over back and forth like a see-saw. The +water in the bilges thundered at each roll, and lumps of coal +skipped to and fro, from end to end, rattling like an avalanche +of pebbles on a slope of iron. + +Somebody in there moaned with pain, and somebody else could be +seen crouching over what seemed the prone body of a dead man; a +lusty voice blasphemed; and the glow under each fire-door was +like a pool of flaming blood radiating quietly in a velvety +blackness. + +A gust of wind struck upon the nape of Jukes' neck and next +moment he felt it streaming about his wet ankles. The stokehold +ventilators hummed: in front of the six fire-doors two wild +figures, stripped to the waist, staggered and stooped, wrestling +with two shovels. + +"Hallo! Plenty of draught now," yelled the second engineer at +once, as though he had been all the time looking out for Jukes. +The donkeyman, a dapper little chap with a dazzling fair skin and +a tiny, gingery moustache, worked in a sort of mute transport. +They were keeping a full head of steam, and a profound rumbling, +as of an empty furniture van trotting over a bridge, made a +sustained bass to all the other noises of the place. + +"Blowing off all the time," went on yelling the second. With a +sound as of a hundred scoured saucepans, the orifice of a +ventilator spat upon his shoulder a sudden gush of salt water, +and he volleyed a stream of curses upon all things on earth +including his own soul, ripping and raving, and all the time +attending to his business. With a sharp clash of metal the +ardent pale glare of the fire opened upon his bullet head, +showing his spluttering lips, his insolent face, and with another +clang closed like the white-hot wink of an iron eye. + +"Where's the blooming ship? Can you tell me? blast my eyes! +Under water -- or what? It's coming down here in tons. Are the +condemned cowls gone to Hades? Hey? Don't you know anything -- +you jolly sailor-man you . . . ?" + +Jukes, after a bewildered moment, had been helped by a roll to +dart through; and as soon as his eyes took in the comparative +vastness, peace and brilliance of the engine-room, the ship, +setting her stern heavily in the water, sent him charging head +down upon Mr. Rout. + +The chief's arm, long like a tentacle, and straightening as if +worked by a spring, went out to meet him, and deflected his rush +into a spin towards the speaking-tubes. At the same time Mr. +Rout repeated earnestly: + +"You've got to hurry up, whatever it is." + +Jukes yelled "Are you there, sir?" and listened. Nothing. +Suddenly the roar of the wind fell straight into his ear, but +presently a small voice shoved aside the shouting hurricane +quietly. + +"You, Jukes? -- Well?" + +Jukes was ready to talk: it was only time that seemed to be +wanting. It was easy enough to account for everything. He could +perfectly imagine the coolies battened down in the reeking +'tween-deck, lying sick and scared between the rows of chests. +Then one of these chests -- or perhaps several at once -- +breaking loose in a roll, knocking out others, sides splitting, +lids flying open, and all these clumsy Chinamen rising up in a +body to save their property. Afterwards every fling of the ship +would hurl that tramping, yelling mob here and there, from side +to side, in a whirl of smashed wood, torn clothing, rolling +dollars. A struggle once started, they would be unable to stop +themselves. Nothing could stop them now except main force. It +was a disaster. He had seen it, and that was all he could say. +Some of them must be dead, he believed. The rest would go on +fighting. . . . + +He sent up his words, tripping over each other, crowding the +narrow tube. They mounted as if into a silence of an enlightened +comprehension dwelling alone up there with a storm. And Jukes +wanted to be dismissed from the face of that odious trouble +intruding on the great need of the ship. + + + +V + +HE WAITED. Before his eyes the engines turned with slow labour, +that in the moment of going off into a mad fling would stop dead +at Mr. Rout's shout, "Look out, Beale!" They paused in an +intelligent immobility, stilled in mid-stroke, a heavy crank +arrested on the cant, as if conscious of danger and the passage +of time. Then, with a "Now, then!" from the chief, and the sound +of a breath expelled through clenched teeth, they would +accomplish the interrupted revolution and begin another. + +There was the prudent sagacity of wisdom and the deliberation of +enormous strength in their movements. This was their work -- this +patient coaxing of a distracted ship over the fury of the waves +and into the very eye of the wind. At times Mr. Rout's chin +would sink on his breast, and he watched them with knitted +eyebrows as if lost in thought. + +The voice that kept the hurricane out of Jukes' ear began: "Take +the hands with you . . . ," and left off unexpectedly. + +"What could I do with them, sir?" + +A harsh, abrupt, imperious clang exploded suddenly. The three +pairs of eyes flew up to the telegraph dial to see the hand jump +from FULL to STOP, as if snatched by a devil. And then these +three men in the engineroom had the intimate sensation of a check +upon the ship, of a strange shrinking, as if she had gathered +herself for a desperate leap. + +"Stop her!" bellowed Mr. Rout. + +Nobody -- not even Captain MacWhirr, who alone on deck had caught +sight of a white line of foam coming on at such a height that he +couldn't believe his eyes -nobody was to know the steepness of +that sea and the awful depth of the hollow the hurricane had +scooped out behind the running wall of water. + +It raced to meet the ship, and, with a pause, as of girding the +loins, the Nan-Shan lifted her bows and leaped. The flames in +all the lamps sank, darkening the engine-room. One went out. +With a tearing crash and a swirling, raving tumult, tons of water +fell upon the deck, as though the ship had darted under the foot +of a cataract. + +Down there they looked at each other, stunned. + +"Swept from end to end, by God!" bawled Jukes. + +She dipped into the hollow straight down, as if going over the +edge of the world. The engine-room toppled forward menacingly, +like the inside of a tower nodding in an earthquake. An awful +racket, of iron things falling, came from the stokehold. She +hung on this appalling slant long enough for Beale to drop on his +hands and knees and begin to crawl as if he meant to fly on all +fours out of the engine-room, and for Mr. Rout to turn his head +slowly, rigid, cavernous, with the lower jaw dropping. Jukes had +shut his eyes, and his face in a moment became hopelessly blank +and gentle, like the face of a blind man. + +At last she rose slowly, staggering, as if she had to lift a +mountain with her bows. + +Mr. Rout shut his mouth; Jukes blinked; and little Beale stood up +hastily. + +"Another one like this, and that's the last of her," cried the +chief. + +He and Jukes looked at each other, and the same thought came into +their heads. The Captain! Everything must have been swept away. +Steering-gear gone -- ship like a log. All over directly. + +"Rush!" ejaculated Mr. Rout thickly, glaring with enlarged, +doubtful eyes at Jukes, who answered him by an irresolute glance. + +The clang of the telegraph gong soothed them instantly. The +black hand dropped in a flash from STOP to FULL. + +"Now then, Beale!" cried Mr. Rout. + +The steam hissed low. The piston-rods slid in and out. Jukes +put his ear to the tube. The voice was ready for him. It said: +"Pick up all the money. Bear a hand now. I'll want you up here." +And that was all. + +"Sir?" called up Jukes. There was no answer. + +He staggered away like a defeated man from the field of battle. +He had got, in some way or other, a cut above his left eyebrow -- +a cut to the bone. He was not aware of it in the least: +quantities of the China Sea, large enough to break his neck for +him, had gone over his head, had cleaned, washed, and salted that +wound. It did not bleed, but only gaped red; and this gash over +the eye, his dishevelled hair, the disorder of his clothes, gave +him the aspect of a man worsted in a fight with fists. + +"Got to pick up the dollars." He appealed to Mr. Rout, smiling +pitifully at random. + +"What's that?" asked Mr. Rout, wildly. "Pick up . . . ? I don't +care. . . ." Then, quivering in every muscle, but with an +exaggeration of paternal tone, "Go away now, for God's sake. You +deck people'll drive me silly. There's that second mate been +going for the old man. Don't you know? You fellows are going +wrong for want of something to do. . . ." + +At these words Jukes discovered in himself the beginnings of +anger. Want of something to do -- indeed. . . . Full of hot +scorn against the chief, he turned to go the way he had come. In +the stokehold the plump donkeyman toiled with his shovel mutely, +as if his tongue had been cut out; but the second was carrying on +like a noisy, undaunted maniac, who had preserved his skill in +the art of stoking under a marine boiler. + +"Hallo, you wandering officer! Hey! Can't you get some of your +slush-slingers to wind up a few of them ashes? I am getting +choked with them here. Curse it! Hallo! Hey! Remember the +articles: Sailors and firemen to assist each other. Hey! D'ye +hear?" + +Jukes was climbing out frantically, and the other, lifting up his +face after him, howled, "Can't you speak? What are you poking +about here for? What's your game, anyhow?" + +A frenzy possessed Jukes. By the time he was back amongst the +men in the darkness of the alleyway, he felt ready to wring all +their necks at the slightest sign of hanging back. The very +thought of it exasperated him. He couldn't hang back. They +shouldn't. + +The impetuosity with which he came amongst them carried them +along. They had already been excited and startled at all his +comings and goings -- by the fierceness and rapidity of his +movements; and more felt than seen in his rushes, he appeared +formidable -busied with matters of life and death that brooked no +delay. At his first word he heard them drop into the bunker one +after another obediently, with heavy thumps. + +They were not clear as to what would have to be done. "What is +it? What is it?" they were asking each other. The boatswain +tried to explain; the sounds of a great scuffle surprised them: +and the mighty shocks, reverberating awfully in the black bunker, +kept them in mind of their danger. When the boatswain threw open +the door it seemed that an eddy of the hurricane, stealing +through the iron sides of the ship, had set all these bodies +whirling like dust: there came to them a confused uproar, a +tempestuous tumult, a fierce mutter, gusts of screams dying away, +and the tramping of feet mingling with the blows of the sea. + +For a moment they glared amazed, blocking the doorway. Jukes +pushed through them brutally. He said nothing, and simply darted +in. Another lot of coolies on the ladder, struggling suicidally +to break through the battened hatch to a swamped deck, fell off +as before, and he disappeared under them like a man overtaken by +a landslide. + +The boatswain yelled excitedly: "Come along. Get the mate out. +He'll be trampled to death. Come on." + +They charged in, stamping on breasts, on fingers, on faces, +catching their feet in heaps of clothing, kicking broken wood; +but before they could get hold of him Jukes emerged waist deep in +a multitude of clawing hands. In the instant he had been lost to +view, all the buttons of his jacket had gone, its back had got +split up to the collar, his waistcoat had been torn open. The +central struggling mass of Chinamen went over to the roll, dark, +indistinct, helpless, with a wild gleam of many eyes in the dim +light of the lamps. + +"Leave me alone -- damn you. I am all right," screeched Jukes. +"Drive them forward. Watch your chance when she pitches. +Forward with 'em. Drive them against the bulkhead. Jam 'em up." + +The rush of the sailors into the seething 'tween-deck was like a +splash of cold water into a boiling cauldron. The commotion sank +for a moment. + +The bulk of Chinamen were locked in such a compact scrimmage +that, linking their arms and aided by an appalling dive of the +ship, the seamen sent it forward in one great shove, like a solid +block. Behind their backs small clusters and loose bodies +tumbled from side to side. + +The boatswain performed prodigious feats of strength. With his +long arms open, and each great paw clutching at a stanchion, he +stopped the rush of seven entwined Chinamen rolling like a +boulder. His joints cracked; he said, "Ha!" and they flew apart. +But the carpenter showed the greater intelligence. Without +saying a word to anybody he went back into the alleyway, to fetch +several coils of cargo gear he had seen there -- chain and rope. +With these life-lines were rigged. + +There was really no resistance. The struggle, however it began, +had turned into a scramble of blind panic. If the coolies had +started up after their scattered dollars they were by that time +fighting only for their footing. They took each other by the +throat merely to save themselves from being hurled about. +Whoever got a hold anywhere would kick at the others who caught +at his legs and hung on, till a roll sent them flying together +across the deck. + +The coming of the white devils was a terror. Had they come to +kill? The individuals torn out of the ruck became very limp in +the seamen's hands: some, dragged aside by the heels, were +passive, like dead bodies, with open, fixed eyes. Here and there +a coolie would fall on his knees as if begging for mercy; +several, whom the excess of fear made unruly, were hit with hard +fists between the eyes, and cowered; while those who were hurt +submitted to rough handling, blinking rapidly without a plaint. +Faces streamed with blood; there were raw places on the shaven +heads, scratches, bruises, torn wounds, gashes. The broken +porcelain out of the chests was mostly responsible for the +latter. Here and there a Chinaman, wild-eyed, with his tail +unplaited, nursed a bleeding sole. + +They had been ranged closely, after having been shaken into +submission, cuffed a little to allay excitement, addressed in +gruff words of encouragement that sounded like promises of evil. +They sat on the deck in ghastly, drooping rows, and at the end +the carpenter, with two hands to help him, moved busily from +place to place, setting taut and hitching the life-lines. The +boatswain, with one leg and one arm embracing a stanchion, +struggled with a lamp pressed to his breast, trying to get a +light, and growling all the time like an industrious gorilla. +The figures of seamen stooped repeatedly, with the movements of +gleaners, and everything was being flung into the bunker: +clothing, smashed wood, broken china, and the dollars, too, +gathered up in men's jackets. Now and then a sailor would +stagger towards the doorway with his arms full of rubbish; and +dolorous, slanting eyes followed his movements. + +With every roll of the ship the long rows of sitting Celestials +would sway forward brokenly, and her headlong dives knocked +together the line of shaven polls from end to end. When the wash +of water rolling on the deck died away for a moment, it seemed to +Jukes, yet quivering from his exertions, that in his mad struggle +down there he had overcome the wind somehow: that a silence had +fallen upon the ship, a silence in which the sea struck +thunderously at her sides. + +Everything had been cleared out of the 'tween-deck -- all the +wreckage, as the men said. They stood erect and tottering above +the level of heads and drooping shoulders. Here and there a +coolie sobbed for his breath. Where the high light fell, Jukes +could see the salient ribs of one, the yellow, wistful face of +another; bowed necks; or would meet a dull stare directed at his +face. He was amazed that there had been no corpses; but the lot +of them seemed at their last gasp, and they appeared to him more +pitiful than if they had been all dead. + +Suddenly one of the coolies began to speak. The light came and +went on his lean, straining face; he threw his head up like a +baying hound. From the bunker came the sounds of knocking and +the tinkle of some dollars rolling loose; he stretched out his +arm, his mouth yawned black, and the incomprehensible guttural +hooting sounds, that did not seem to belong to a human language, +penetrated Jukes with a strange emotion as if a brute had tried +to be eloquent. + +Two more started mouthing what seemed to Jukes fierce +denunciations; the others stirred with grunts and growls. Jukes +ordered the hands out of the 'tweendecks hurriedly. He left last +himself, backing through the door, while the grunts rose to a +loud murmur and hands were extended after him as after a +malefactor. The boatswain shot the bolt, and remarked uneasily, +"Seems as if the wind had dropped, sir." + +The seamen were glad to get back into the alleyway. Secretly each +of them thought that at the last moment he could rush out on deck +-- and that was a comfort. There is something horribly repugnant +in the idea of being drowned under a deck. Now they had done +with the Chinamen, they again became conscious of the ship's +position. + +Jukes on coming out of the alleyway found himself up to the neck +in the noisy water. He gained the bridge, and discovered he +could detect obscure shapes as if his sight had become +preternaturally acute. He saw faint outlines. They recalled not +the familiar aspect of the Nan-Shan, but something remembered -an +old dismantled steamer he had seen years ago rotting on a +mudbank. She recalled that wreck. + +There was no wind, not a breath, except the faint currents +created by the lurches of the ship. The smoke tossed out of the +funnel was settling down upon her deck. He breathed it as he +passed forward. He felt the deliberate throb of the engines, and +heard small sounds that seemed to have survived the great uproar: +the knocking of broken fittings, the rapid tumbling of some piece +of wreckage on the bridge. He perceived dimly the squat shape of +his captain holding on to a twisted bridge-rail, motionless and +swaying as if rooted to the planks. The unexpected stillness of +the air oppressed Jukes. + +"We have done it, sir," he gasped. + +"Thought you would," said Captain MacWhirr. + +"Did you?" murmured Jukes to himself. + +"Wind fell all at once," went on the Captain. + +Jukes burst out: "If you think it was an easy job --" + +But his captain, clinging to the rail, paid no attention. +"According to the books the worst is not over yet." + +"If most of them hadn't been half dead with seasickness and +fright, not one of us would have come out of that 'tween-deck +alive," said Jukes. + +"Had to do what's fair by them," mumbled MacWhirr, stolidly. +"You don't find everything in books." + +"Why, I believe they would have risen on us if I hadn't ordered +the hands out of that pretty quick," continued Jukes with warmth. + +After the whisper of their shouts, their ordinary tones, so +distinct, rang out very loud to their ears in the amazing +stillness of the air. It seemed to them they were talking in a +dark and echoing vault. + +Through a jagged aperture in the dome of clouds the light of a +few stars fell upon the black sea, rising and falling confusedly. +Sometimes the head of a watery cone would topple on board and +mingle with the rolling flurry of foam on the swamped deck; and +the Nan-Shan wallowed heavily at the bottom of a circular cistern +of clouds. This ring of dense vapours, gyrating madly round the +calm of the centre, encompassed the ship like a motionless and +unbroken wall of an aspect inconceivably sinister. Within, the +sea, as if agitated by an internal commotion, leaped in peaked +mounds that jostled each other, slapping heavily against her +sides; and a low moaning sound, the infinite plaint of the +storm's fury, came from beyond the limits of the menacing calm. +Captain MacWhirr remained silent, and Jukes' ready ear caught +suddenly the faint, longdrawn roar of some immense wave rushing +unseen under that thick blackness, which made the appalling +boundary of his vision. + +"Of course," he started resentfully, "they thought we had caught +at the chance to plunder them. Of course! You said -- pick up +the money. Easier said than done. They couldn't tell what was +in our heads. We came in, smash -- right into the middle of them. +Had to do it by a rush." + +"As long as it's done . . . ," mumbled the Captain, without +attempting to look at Jukes. "Had to do what's fair." + +"We shall find yet there's the devil to pay when this is over," +said Jukes, feeling very sore. "Let them only recover a bit, and +you'll see. They will fly at our throats, sir. Don't forget, +sir, she isn't a British ship now. These brutes know it well, +too. The damned Siamese flag." + +"We are on board, all the same," remarked Captain MacWhirr. + +"The trouble's not over yet," insisted Jukes, prophetically, +reeling and catching on. "She's a wreck," he added, faintly. + +"The trouble's not over yet," assented Captain MacWhirr, half +aloud. . . . "Look out for her a minute." + +"Are you going off the deck, sir?" asked Jukes, hurriedly, as if +the storm were sure to pounce upon him as soon as he had been +left alone with the ship. + +He watched her, battered and solitary, labouring heavily in a +wild scene of mountainous black waters lit by the gleams of +distant worlds. She moved slowly, breathing into the still core +of the hurricane the excess of her strength in a white cloud of +steam -- and the deeptoned vibration of the escape was like the +defiant trumpeting of a living creature of the sea impatient for +the renewal of the contest. It ceased suddenly. The still air +moaned. Above Jukes' head a few stars shone into a pit of black +vapours. The inky edge of the cloud-disc frowned upon the ship +under the patch of glittering sky. The stars, too, seemed to +look at her intently, as if for the last time, and the cluster of +their splendour sat like a diadem on a lowering brow. + +Captain MacWhirr had gone into the chart-room. There was no light +there; but he could feel the disorder of that place where he used +to live tidily. His armchair was upset. The books had tumbled +out on the floor: he scrunched a piece of glass under his boot. +He groped for the matches, and found a box on a shelf with a deep +ledge. He struck one, and puckering the corners of his eyes, +held out the little flame towards the barometer whose glittering +top of glass and metals nodded at him continuously. + +It stood very low -- incredibly low, so low that Captain MacWhirr +grunted. The match went out, and hurriedly he extracted another, +with thick, stiff fingers. + +Again a little flame flared up before the nodding glass and metal +of the top. His eyes looked at it, narrowed with attention, as +if expecting an imperceptible sign. With his grave face he +resembled a booted and misshapen pagan burning incense before the +oracle of a Joss. There was no mistake. It was the lowest +reading he had ever seen in his life. + +Captain MacWhirr emitted a low whistle. He forgot himself till +the flame diminished to a blue spark, burnt his fingers and +vanished. Perhaps something had gone wrong with the thing! + +There was an aneroid glass screwed above the couch. He turned +that way, struck another match, and discovered the white face of +the other instrument looking at him from the bulkhead, meaningly, +not to be gainsaid, as though the wisdom of men were made +unerring by the indifference of matter. There was no room for +doubt now. Captain MacWhirr pshawed at it, and threw the match +down. + +The worst was to come, then -- and if the books were right this +worst would be very bad. The experience of the last six hours +had enlarged his conception of what heavy weather could be like. +"It'll be terrific," he pronounced, mentally. He had not +consciously looked at anything by the light of the matches except +at the barometer; and yet somehow he had seen that his +waterbottle and the two tumblers had been flung out of their +stand. It seemed to give him a more intimate knowledge of the +tossing the ship had gone through. "I wouldn't have believed +it," he thought. And his table had been cleared, too; his +rulers, his pencils, the inkstand -- all the things that had +their safe appointed places -- they were gone, as if a +mischievous hand had plucked them out one by one and flung them +on the wet floor. The hurricane had broken in upon the orderly +arrangements of his privacy. This had never happened before, and +the feeling of dismay reached the very seat of his composure. +And the worst was to come yet! He was glad the trouble in the +'tween-deck had been discovered in time. If the ship had to go +after all, then, at least, she wouldn't be going to the bottom +with a lot of people in her fighting teeth and claw. That would +have been odious. And in that feeling there was a humane +intention and a vague sense of the fitness of things. + +These instantaneous thoughts were yet in their essence heavy and +slow, partaking of the nature of the man. He extended his hand +to put back the matchbox in its corner of the shelf. There were +always matches there -- by his order. The steward had his +instructions impressed upon him long before. "A box . . . just +there, see? Not so very full . . . where I can put my hand on +it, steward. Might want a light in a hurry. Can't tell on board +ship what you might want in a hurry. Mind, now." + +And of course on his side he would be careful to put it back in +its place scrupulously. He did so now, but before he removed his +hand it occurred to him that perhaps he would never have occasion +to use that box any more. The vividness of the thought checked +him and for an infinitesimal fraction of a second his fingers +closed again on the small object as though it had been the symbol +of all these little habits that chain us to the weary round of +life. He released it at last, and letting himself fall on the +settee, listened for the first sounds of returning wind. + +Not yet. He heard only the wash of water, the heavy splashes, +the dull shocks of the confused seas boarding his ship from all +sides. She would never have a chance to clear her decks. + +But the quietude of the air was startlingly tense and unsafe, +like a slender hair holding a sword suspended over his head. By +this awful pause the storm penetrated the defences of the man and +unsealed his lips. He spoke out in the solitude and the pitch +darkness of the cabin, as if addressing another being awakened +within his breast. + +"I shouldn't like to lose her," he said half aloud. + +He sat unseen, apart from the sea, from his ship, isolated, as if +withdrawn from the very current of his own existence, where such +freaks as talking to himself surely had no place. His palms +reposed on his knees, he bowed his short neck and puffed heavily, +surrendering to a strange sensation of weariness he was not +enlightened enough to recognize for the fatigue of mental stress. + +From where he sat he could reach the door of a washstand locker. +There should have been a towel there. There was. Good. . . . +He took it out, wiped his face, and afterwards went on rubbing +his wet head. He towelled himself with energy in the dark, and +then remained motionless with the towel on his knees. A moment +passed, of a stillness so profound that no one could have guessed +there was a man sitting in that cabin. Then a murmur arose. + +"She may come out of it yet." + +When Captain MacWhirr came out on deck, which he did brusquely, +as though he had suddenly become conscious of having stayed away +too long, the calm had lasted already more than fifteen minutes +-- long enough to make itself intolerable even to his +imagination. Jukes, motionless on the forepart of the bridge, +began to speak at once. His voice, blank and forced as though he +were talking through hard-set teeth, seemed to flow away on all +sides into the darkness, deepening again upon the sea. + +"I had the wheel relieved. Hackett began to sing out that he was +done. He's lying in there alongside the steering-gear with a +face like death. At first I couldn't get anybody to crawl out +and relieve the poor devil. That boss'n's worse than no good, I +always said. Thought I would have had to go myself and haul out +one of them by the neck." + +"Ah, well," muttered the Captain. He stood watchful by Jukes' +side. + +"The second mate's in there, too, holding his head. Is he hurt, +sir?" + +"No -- crazy," said Captain MacWhirr, curtly. + +"Looks as if he had a tumble, though." + +"I had to give him a push," explained the Captain. + +Jukes gave an impatient sigh. + +"It will come very sudden," said Captain MacWhirr, "and from over +there, I fancy. God only knows though. These books are only +good to muddle your head and make you jumpy. It will be bad, and +there's an end. If we only can steam her round in time to meet +it. . . ." + +A minute passed. Some of the stars winked rapidly and vanished. + +"You left them pretty safe?" began the Captain abruptly, as +though the silence were unbearable. + +"Are you thinking of the coolies, sir? I rigged lifelines all +ways across that 'tween-deck." + +"Did you? Good idea, Mr. Jukes." + +"I didn't . . . think you cared to . . . know," said Jukes -- the +lurching of the ship cut his speech as though somebody had been +jerking him around while he talked -- "how I got on with . . . +that infernal job. We did it. And it may not matter in the +end." + +"Had to do what's fair, for all -- they are only Chinamen. Give +them the same chance with ourselves -- hang it all. She isn't +lost yet. Bad enough to be shut up below in a gale --" + +"That's what I thought when you gave me the job, sir," +interjected Jukes, moodily. + +"-- without being battered to pieces," pursued Captain MacWhirr +with rising vehemence. "Couldn't let that go on in my ship, if I +knew she hadn't five minutes to live. Couldn't bear it, Mr. +Jukes." + +A hollow echoing noise, like that of a shout rolling in a rocky +chasm, approached the ship and went away again. The last star, +blurred, enlarged, as if returning to the fiery mist of its +beginning, struggled with the colossal depth of blackness hanging +over the ship -- and went out. + +"Now for it!" muttered Captain MacWhirr. "Mr. Jukes." + +"Here, sir." + +The two men were growing indistinct to each other. + +"We must trust her to go through it and come out on the other +side. That's plain and straight. There's no room for Captain +Wilson's storm-strategy here." + +"No, sir." + +"She will be smothered and swept again for hours," mumbled the +Captain. "There's not much left by this time above deck for the +sea to take away -- unless you or me." + +"Both, sir," whispered Jukes, breathlessly. + +"You are always meeting trouble half way, Jukes," Captain +MacWhirr remonstrated quaintly. "Though it's a fact that the +second mate is no good. D'ye hear, Mr. Jukes? You would be left +alone if. . . ." + +Captain MacWhirr interrupted himself, and Jukes, glancing on all +sides, remained silent. + +"Don't you be put out by anything," the Captain continued, +mumbling rather fast. "Keep her facing it. They may say what +they like, but the heaviest seas run with the wind. Facing it -- +always facing it -- that's the way to get through. You are a +young sailor. Face it. That's enough for any man. Keep a cool +head." + +"Yes, sir," said Jukes, with a flutter of the heart. + +In the next few seconds the Captain spoke to the engine-room and +got an answer. + +For some reason Jukes experienced an access of confidence, a +sensation that came from outside like a warm breath, and made him +feel equal to every demand. The distant muttering of the +darkness stole into his ears. He noted it unmoved, out of that +sudden belief in himself, as a man safe in a shirt of mail would +watch a point. + +The ship laboured without intermission amongst the black hills of +water, paying with this hard tumbling the price of her life. She +rumbled in her depths, shaking a white plummet of steam into the +night, and Jukes' thought skimmed like a bird through the +engine-room, where Mr. Rout -- good man -- was ready. When the +rumbling ceased it seemed to him that there was a pause of every +sound, a dead pause in which Captain MacWhirr's voice rang out +startlingly. + +"What's that? A puff of wind?" -- it spoke much louder than +Jukes had ever heard it before -- "On the bow. That's right. +She may come out of it yet." + +The mutter of the winds drew near apace. In the forefront could +be distinguished a drowsy waking plaint passing on, and far off +the growth of a multiple clamour, marching and expanding. There +was the throb as of many drums in it, a vicious rushing note, and +like the chant of a tramping multitude. + +Jukes could no longer see his captain distinctly. The darkness +was absolutely piling itself upon the ship. At most he made out +movements, a hint of elbows spread out, of a head thrown up. + +Captain MacWhirr was trying to do up the top button of his +oilskin coat with unwonted haste. The hurricane, with its power +to madden the seas, to sink ships, to uproot trees, to overturn +strong walls and dash the very birds of the air to the ground, +had found this taciturn man in its path, and, doing its utmost, +had managed to wring out a few words. Before the renewed wrath +of winds swooped on his ship, Captain MacWhirr was moved to +declare, in a tone of vexation, as it were: "I wouldn't like to +lose her." + +He was spared that annoyance. + + + +VI + +ON A bright sunshiny day, with the breeze chasing her smoke far +ahead, the Nan-Shan came into Fu-chau. Her arrival was at once +noticed on shore, and the seamen in harbour said: "Look! Look at +that steamer. What's that? Siamese -- isn't she? Just look at +her!" + +She seemed, indeed, to have been used as a running target for the +secondary batteries of a cruiser. A hail of minor shells could +not have given her upper works a more broken, torn, and +devastated aspect: and she had about her the worn, weary air of +ships coming from the far ends of the world -- and indeed with +truth, for in her short passage she had been very far; sighting, +verily, even the coast of the Great Beyond, whence no ship ever +returns to give up her crew to the dust of the earth. She was +incrusted and gray with salt to the trucks of her masts and to +the top of her funnel; as though (as some facetious seaman said) +"the crowd on board had fished her out somewhere from the bottom +of the sea and brought her in here for salvage." And further, +excited by the felicity of his own wit, he offered to give five +pounds for her -- "as she stands." + +Before she had been quite an hour at rest, a meagre little man, +with a red-tipped nose and a face cast in an angry mould, landed +from a sampan on the quay of the Foreign Concession, and +incontinently turned to shake his fist at her. + +A tall individual, with legs much too thin for a rotund stomach, +and with watery eyes, strolled up and remarked, "Just left her -- +eh? Quick work." + +He wore a soiled suit of blue flannel with a pair of dirty +cricketing shoes; a dingy gray moustache drooped from his lip, +and daylight could be seen in two places between the rim and the +crown of his hat. + +"Hallo! what are you doing here?" asked the exsecond-mate of the +Nan-Shan, shaking hands hurriedly. + +"Standing by for a job -- chance worth taking -- got a quiet +hint," explained the man with the broken hat, in jerky, apathetic +wheezes. + +The second shook his fist again at the Nan-Shan. "There's a +fellow there that ain't fit to have the command of a scow," he +declared, quivering with passion, while the other looked about +listlessly. + +"Is there?" + +But he caught sight on the quay of a heavy seaman's chest, +painted brown under a fringed sailcloth cover, and lashed with +new manila line. He eyed it with awakened interest. + +"I would talk and raise trouble if it wasn't for that damned +Siamese flag. Nobody to go to -- or I would make it hot for him. +The fraud! Told his chief engineer -- that's another fraud for +you -- I had lost my nerve. The greatest lot of ignorant fools +that ever sailed the seas. No! You can't think . . ." + +"Got your money all right?" inquired his seedy acquaintance +suddenly. + +"Yes. Paid me off on board," raged the second mate. "'Get your +breakfast on shore,' says he." + +"Mean skunk!" commented the tall man, vaguely, and passed his +tongue on his lips. "What about having a drink of some sort?" + +"He struck me," hissed the second mate. + +"No! Struck! You don't say?" The man in blue began to bustle +about sympathetically. "Can't possibly talk here. I want to +know all about it. + +Struck -- eh? Let's get a fellow to carry your chest. I know a +quiet place where they have some bottled beer. . . ." + +Mr. Jukes, who had been scanning the shore through a pair of +glasses, informed the chief engineer afterwards that "our late +second mate hasn't been long in finding a friend. A chap looking +uncommonly like a bummer. I saw them walk away together from the +quay." + +The hammering and banging of the needful repairs did not disturb +Captain MacWhirr. The steward found in the letter he wrote, in a +tidy chart-room, passages of such absorbing interest that twice +he was nearly caught in the act. But Mrs. MacWhirr, in the +drawing-room of the forty-pound house, stifled a yawn -- perhaps +out of self-respect -- for she was alone. + +She reclined in a plush-bottomed and gilt hammockchair near a +tiled fireplace, with Japanese fans on the mantel and a glow of +coals in the grate. Lifting her hands, she glanced wearily here +and there into the many pages. It was not her fault they were so +prosy, so completely uninteresting -- from "My darling wife" at +the beginning, to "Your loving husband" at the end. She couldn't +be really expected to understand all these ship affairs. She was +glad, of course, to hear from him, but she had never asked +herself why, precisely. + +". . . They are called typhoons . . . The mate did not seem to +like it . . . Not in books . . . Couldn't think of letting it +go on. . . ." + +The paper rustled sharply. ". . . . A calm that lasted more +than twenty minutes," she read perfunctorily; and the next words +her thoughtless eyes caught, on the top of another page, were: +"see you and the children again. . . ." She had a movement of +impatience. He was always thinking of coming home. He had never +had such a good salary before. What was the matter now? + +It did not occur to her to turn back overleaf to look. She would +have found it recorded there that between 4 and 6 A. M. on +December 25th, Captain MacWhirr did actually think that his ship +could not possibly live another hour in such a sea, and that he +would never see his wife and children again. Nobody was to know +this (his letters got mislaid so quickly) -- nobody whatever but +the steward, who had been greatly impressed by that disclosure. +So much so, that he tried to give the cook some idea of the +"narrow squeak we all had" by saying solemnly, "The old man +himself had a dam' poor opinion of our chance." + +"How do you know?" asked, contemptuously, the cook, an old +soldier. "He hasn't told you, maybe?" + +"Well, he did give me a hint to that effect," the steward +brazened it out. + +"Get along with you! He will be coming to tell me next," jeered +the old cook, over his shoulder. + +Mrs. MacWhirr glanced farther, on the alert. ". . . Do what's +fair. . . . Miserable objects . . . . Only three, with a broken +leg each, and one . . . Thought had better keep the matter quiet +. . . hope to have done the fair thing. . . ." + +She let fall her hands. No: there was nothing more about coming +home. Must have been merely expressing a pious wish. Mrs. +MacWhirr's mind was set at ease, and a black marble clock, priced +by the local jeweller at £3 18s. 6d., had a discreet +stealthy tick. + +The door flew open, and a girl in the long-legged, short-frocked +period of existence, flung into the room. + +A lot of colourless, rather lanky hair was scattered over her +shoulders. Seeing her mother, she stood still, and directed her +pale prying eyes upon the letter. + +"From father," murmured Mrs. MacWhirr. "What have you done with +your ribbon?" + +The girl put her hands up to her head and pouted. + +"He's well," continued Mrs. MacWhirr languidly. "At least I think +so. He never says." She had a little laugh. The girl's face +expressed a wandering indifference, and Mrs. MacWhirr surveyed +her with fond pride. + +"Go and get your hat," she said after a while. "I am going out +to do some shopping. There is a sale at Linom's." + +"Oh, how jolly!" uttered the child, impressively, in unexpectedly +grave vibrating tones, and bounded out of the room. + +It was a fine afternoon, with a gray sky and dry sidewalks. +Outside the draper's Mrs. MacWhirr smiled upon a woman in a black +mantle of generous proportions armoured in jet and crowned with +flowers blooming falsely above a bilious matronly countenance. +They broke into a swift little babble of greetings and +exclamations both together, very hurried, as if the street were +ready to yawn open and swallow all that pleasure before it could +be expressed. + +Behind them the high glass doors were kept on the swing. People +couldn't pass, men stood aside waiting patiently, and Lydia was +absorbed in poking the end of her parasol between the stone +flags. Mrs. MacWhirr talked rapidly. + +"Thank you very much. He's not coming home yet. Of course it's +very sad to have him away, but it's such a comfort to know he +keeps so well." Mrs. MacWhirr drew breath. "The climate there +agrees with him," she added, beamingly, as if poor MacWhirr had +been away touring in China for the sake of his health. + +Neither was the chief engineer coming home yet. Mr. Rout knew too +well the value of a good billet. + +"Solomon says wonders will never cease," cried Mrs. Rout joyously +at the old lady in her armchair by the fire. Mr. Rout's mother +moved slightly, her withered hands lying in black half-mittens on +her lap. + +The eyes of the engineer's wife fairly danced on the paper. +"That captain of the ship he is in -- a rather simple man, you +remember, mother? -- has done something rather clever, Solomon +says." + +"Yes, my dear," said the old woman meekly, sitting with bowed +silvery head, and that air of inward stillness characteristic of +very old people who seem lost in watching the last flickers of +life. "I think I remember." + +Solomon Rout, Old Sol, Father Sol, the Chief, "Rout, good man" -- +Mr. Rout, the condescending and paternal friend of youth, had +been the baby of her many children -- all dead by this time. And +she remembered him best as a boy of ten -- long before he went +away to serve his apprenticeship in some great engineering works +in the North. She had seen so little of him since, she had gone +through so many years, that she had now to retrace her steps very +far back to recognize him plainly in the mist of time. Sometimes +it seemed that her daughter-in-law was talking of some strange +man. + +Mrs. Rout junior was disappointed. "H'm. H'm." She turned the +page. "How provoking! He doesn't say what it is. Says I +couldn't understand how much there was in it. Fancy! What could +it be so very clever? What a wretched man not to tell us!" + +She read on without further remark soberly, and at last sat +looking into the fire. The chief wrote just a word or two of the +typhoon; but something had moved him to express an increased +longing for the companionship of the jolly woman. "If it hadn't +been that mother must be looked after, I would send you your +passage-money to-day. You could set up a small house out here. +I would have a chance to see you sometimes then. We are not +growing younger. . . ." + +"He's well, mother," sighed Mrs. Rout, rousing herself. + +"He always was a strong healthy boy," said the old woman, +placidly. + +But Mr. Jukes' account was really animated and very full. His +friend in the Western Ocean trade imparted it freely to the other +officers of his liner. "A chap I know writes to me about an +extraordinary affair that happened on board his ship in that +typhoon -- you know -- that we read of in the papers two months +ago. It's the funniest thing! Just see for yourself what he +says. I'll show you his letter." + +There were phrases in it calculated to give the impression of +light-hearted, indomitable resolution. Jukes had written them in +good faith, for he felt thus when he wrote. He described with +lurid effect the scenes in the 'tween-deck. ". . . It struck me +in a flash that those confounded Chinamen couldn't tell we +weren't a desperate kind of robbers. 'Tisn't good to part the +Chinaman from his money if he is the stronger party. We need have +been desperate indeed to go thieving in such weather, but what +could these beggars know of us? So, without thinking of it twice, +I got the hands away in a jiffy. Our work was done -- that the +old man had set his heart on. We cleared out without staying to +inquire how they felt. I am convinced that if they had not been +so unmercifully shaken, and afraid -- each individual one of them +-- to stand up, we would have been torn to pieces. Oh! It was +pretty complete, I can tell you; and you may run to and fro +across the Pond to the end of time before you find yourself with +such a job on your hands." + +After this he alluded professionally to the damage done to the +ship, and went on thus: + +"It was when the weather quieted down that the situation became +confoundedly delicate. It wasn't made any better by us having +been lately transferred to the Siamese flag; though the skipper +can't see that it makes any difference -- 'as long as we are on +board' -he says. There are feelings that this man simply hasn't +got -- and there's an end of it. You might just as well try to +make a bedpost understand. But apart from this it is an +infernally lonely state for a ship to be going about the China +seas with no proper consuls, not even a gunboat of her own +anywhere, nor a body to go to in case of some trouble. + +"My notion was to keep these Johnnies under hatches for another +fifteen hours or so; as we weren't much farther than that from +Fu-chau. We would find there, most likely, some sort of a +man-of-war, and once under her guns we were safe enough; for +surely any skipper of a man-of-war -- English, French or Dutch +-would see white men through as far as row on board goes. We +could get rid of them and their money afterwards by delivering +them to their Mandarin or Taotai, or whatever they call these +chaps in goggles you see being carried about in sedan-chairs +through their stinking streets. + +"The old man wouldn't see it somehow. He wanted to keep the +matter quiet. He got that notion into his head, and a steam +windlass couldn't drag it out of him. He wanted as little fuss +made as possible, for the sake of the ship's name and for the +sake of the owners -- 'for the sake of all concerned,' says he, +looking at me very hard. + +It made me angry hot. Of course you couldn't keep a thing like +that quiet; but the chests had been secured in the usual manner +and were safe enough for any earthly gale, while this had been an +altogether fiendish business I couldn't give you even an idea of. + +"Meantime, I could hardly keep on my feet. None of us had a +spell of any sort for nearly thirty hours, and there the old man +sat rubbing his chin, rubbing the top of his head, and so +bothered he didn't even think of pulling his long boots off. + +"'I hope, sir,' says I, 'you won't be letting them out on deck +before we make ready for them in some shape or other.' Not, mind +you, that I felt very sanguine about controlling these beggars if +they meant to take charge. A trouble with a cargo of Chinamen is +no child's play. I was dam' tired, too. 'I wish,' said I, 'you +would let us throw the whole lot of these dollars down to them +and leave them to fight it out amongst themselves, while we get a +rest.' + +"'Now you talk wild, Jukes,' says he, looking up in his slow way +that makes you ache all over, somehow. 'We must plan out +something that would be fair to all parties.' + +"I had no end of work on hand, as you may imagine, so I set the +hands going, and then I thought I would turn in a bit. I hadn't +been asleep in my bunk ten minutes when in rushes the steward and +begins to pull at my leg. + +"'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes, come out! Come on deck quick, sir. +Oh, do come out!' + +"The fellow scared all the sense out of me. I didn't know what +had happened: another hurricane -- or what. Could hear no wind. + +"'The Captain's letting them out. Oh, he is letting them out! +Jump on deck, sir, and save us. The chief engineer has just run +below for his revolver.' + +"That's what I understood the fool to say. However, Father Rout +swears he went in there only to get a clean pocket-handkerchief. +Anyhow, I made one jump into my trousers and flew on deck aft. +There was certainly a good deal of noise going on forward of the +bridge. Four of the hands with the boss'n were at work abaft. I +passed up to them some of the rifles all the ships on the China +coast carry in the cabin, and led them on the bridge. On the way +I ran against Old Sol, looking startled and sucking at an +unlighted cigar. + +"'Come along,' I shouted to him. + +"We charged, the seven of us, up to the chart-room. All was over. +There stood the old man with his sea-boots still drawn up to the +hips and in shirt-sleeves -got warm thinking it out, I suppose. +Bun Hin's dandy clerk at his elbow, as dirty as a sweep, was +still green in the face. I could see directly I was in for +something. + +"'What the devil are these monkey tricks, Mr. Jukes?' asks the +old man, as angry as ever he could be. I tell you frankly it made +me lose my tongue. 'For God's sake, Mr. Jukes,' says he, 'do +take away these rifles from the men. Somebody's sure to get hurt +before long if you don't. Damme, if this ship isn't worse than +Bedlam! Look sharp now. I want you up here to help me and Bun +Hin's Chinaman to count that money. You wouldn't mind lending a +hand, too, Mr. Rout, now you are here. The more of us the +better.' + +"He had settled it all in his mind while I was having a snooze. +Had we been an English ship, or only going to land our cargo of +coolies in an English port, like Hong-Kong, for instance, there +would have been no end of inquiries and bother, claims for +damages and so on. But these Chinamen know their officials +better than we do. + +"The hatches had been taken off already, and they were all on +deck after a night and a day down below. It made you feel queer +to see so many gaunt, wild faces together. The beggars stared +about at the sky, at the sea, at the ship, as though they had +expected the whole thing to have been blown to pieces. And no +wonder! They had had a doing that would have shaken the soul out +of a white man. But then they say a Chinaman has no soul. He +has, though, something about him that is deuced tough. There was +a fellow (amongst others of the badly hurt) who had had his eye +all but knocked out. It stood out of his head the size of half a +hen's egg. This would have laid out a white man on his back for +a month: and yet there was that chap elbowing here and there in +the crowd and talking to the others as if nothing had been the +matter. They made a great hubbub amongst themselves, and +whenever the old man showed his bald head on the foreside of the +bridge, they would all leave off jawing and look at him from +below. + +"It seems that after he had done his thinking he made that Bun +Hin's fellow go down and explain to them the only way they could +get their money back. He told me afterwards that, all the coolies +having worked in the same place and for the same length of time, +he reckoned he would be doing the fair thing by them as near as +possible if he shared all the cash we had picked up equally among +the lot. You couldn't tell one man's dollars from another's, he +said, and if you asked each man how much money he brought on +board he was afraid they would lie, and he would find himself a +long way short. I think he was right there. As to giving up the +money to any Chinese official he could scare up in Fu-chau, he +said he might just as well put the lot in his own pocket at once +for all the good it would be to them. I suppose they thought so, +too. + +"We finished the distribution before dark. It was rather a +sight: the sea running high, the ship a wreck to look at, these +Chinamen staggering up on the bridge one by one for their share, +and the old man still booted, and in his shirt-sleeves, busy +paying out at the chartroom door, perspiring like anything, and +now and then coming down sharp on myself or Father Rout about one +thing or another not quite to his mind. He took the share of +those who were disabled himself to them on the No. 2 hatch. +There were three dollars left over, and these went to the three +most damaged coolies, one to each. We turned-to afterwards, and +shovelled out on deck heaps of wet rags, all sorts of fragments +of things without shape, and that you couldn't give a name to, +and let them settle the ownership themselves. + +"This certainly is coming as near as can be to keeping the thing +quiet for the benefit of all concerned. What's your opinion, you +pampered mail-boat swell? The old chief says that this was +plainly the only thing that could be done. The skipper remarked +to me the other day, 'There are things you find nothing about in +books.' I think that he got out of it very well for such a +stupid man." + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Typhoon, by Joseph Conrad + + + +The other stories included in this volume ("Amy Foster," "Falk: A +Reminiscence," and "To-morrow") being already available in +another volume, I have not entered them here. + diff --git a/old/old/typhn10.zip b/old/old/typhn10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce47cca --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/typhn10.zip |