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diff --git a/old/ebtid10.txt b/old/ebtid10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4f7663 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ebtid10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6025 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne + +#3 in our series by Stevenson & Osbourne +#41 in our series by Robert Louis Stevenson + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Etext scanned by Dianne Bean using OmniPage Pro software donated +by Caere. + + + + + +THE EBB-TIDE + + +A TRIO AND QUARTETTE + + + + +'There is a tide in the affairs of men.' + + +Chapter 1. NIGHT ON THE BEACH + +Throughout the island world of the Pacific, scattered men of +many European races and from almost every grade of society +carry activity and disseminate disease. Some prosper, some +vegetate. Some have mounted the steps of thrones and owned +islands and navies. Others again must marry for a livelihood; a +strapping, merry, chocolate-coloured dame supports them in +sheer idleness; and, dressed like natives, but still retaining +some foreign element of gait or attitude, still perhaps with some +relic (such as a single eye-glass) of the officer and gentleman, +they sprawl in palm-leaf verandahs and entertain an island +audience with memoirs of the music-hall. And there are still +others, less pliable, less capable, less fortunate, perhaps less +base, who continue, even in these isles of plenty, to lack bread. + +At the far end of the town of Papeete, three such men were +seated on the beach under a purao tree. + +It was late. Long ago the band had broken up and marched +musically home, a motley troop of men and women, merchant +clerks and navy officers, dancing in its wake, arms about waist +and crowned with garlands. Long ago darkness and silence had +gone from house to house about the tiny pagan city. Only the +street lamps shone on, making a glow-worm halo in the umbrageous +alleys or drawing a tremulous image on the waters of the +port. A sound of snoring ran among the piles of lumber by the +Government pier. It was wafted ashore from the graceful +clipper-bottomed schooners, where they lay moored close in like +dinghies, and their crews were stretched upon the deck under +the open sky or huddled in a rude tent amidst the disorder of +merchandise. + +But the men under the purao had no thought of sleep. The +same temperature in England would have passed without +remark in summer; but it was bitter cold for the South Seas. +Inanimate nature knew it, and the bottle of cocoanut oil stood +frozen in every bird-cage house about the island; and the men +knew it, and shivered. They wore flimsy cotton clothes, the same +they had sweated in by day and run the gauntlet of the tropic +showers; and to complete their evil case, they had no breakfast +to mention, less dinner, and no supper at all. + +In the telling South Sea phrase, these three men were ON THE +BEACH. Common calamity had brought them acquainted, as the +three most miserable English-speaking creatures in Tahiti; and +beyond their misery, they knew next to nothing of each other, +not even their true names. For each had made a long +apprenticeship in going downward; and each, at some stage of the +descent, had been shamed into the adoption of an alias. And yet +not one of them had figured in a court of justice; two were men +of kindly virtues; and one, as he sat and shivered under the +purao, had a tattered Virgil in his pocket. + +Certainly, if money,could have been raised upon the book, +Robert Herrick would long ago have sacrificed that last +possession; but the demand for literature, which is so marked a +feature in some parts of the South Seas, extends not so far as +the dead tongues; and the Virgil, which he could not exchange +against a meal, had often consoled him in his hunger. He would +study it, as he lay with tightened belt on the floor of the old +calaboose, seeking favourite passages and finding new ones only +less beautiful because they lacked the coinsecration of +remembrance. Or he would pause on random country walks; sit on +the path side, gazing over the sea on the mountains of Eimeo; and +dip into the Aeneid, seeking sortes. And if the oracle (as is +the way of oracles) replied with no very certain nor encouraging +voice, visions of England at least would throng upon the exile's +memory: the busy schoolroom, the green playing-fields, holidays +at home, and the perennial roar of London, and the fireside, and +the white head of his father. For it is the destiny of those +grave, restrained and classic writers, with whom we make enforced +and often painful acquaintanceship at school, to pass into the +blood and become native in the memory; so that a phrase of +Virgil speaks not so much of Mantua or Augustus, but of +English places and the student's own irrevocable youth. + +Robert Herrick was the son of an intelligent, active, and +ambitious man, small partner in a considerable London house. +Hopes were conceived of the boy; he was sent to a good school, +gained there an Oxford scholarship, and proceeded in course to +the Western University. With all his talent and taste (and he had +much of both) Robert was deficient in consistency and +intellectual manhood, wandered in bypaths of study, worked at +music or at metaphysics when he should have been at Greek, and +took at last a paltry degree. Almost at the same time, the London +house was disastrously wound up; Mr Herrick must begin the +world again as a clerk in a strange office, and Robert relinquish +his ambitions and accept with gratitude a career that he detested +and despised. He had no head for figures, no interest in affairs, +detested the constraint of hours, and despised the aims and the +success of merchants. To grow rich was none of his ambitions; +rather to do well. A worse or a more bold young man would +have refused the destiny; perhaps tried his future with his pen; +perhaps enlisted. Robert, more prudent, possibly more timid, +consented to embrace that way of life in which he could most +readily assist his family. But he did so with a mind divided; +fled the neighbourhood of former comrades; and chose, out of +several positions placed at his disposal, a clerkship in New +York. + +His career thenceforth was one of unbroken shame. He did +not drink, he was exactly honest, he was never rude to his +employers, yet was everywhere discharged. Bringing no interest +to his duties, he brought no attention; his day was a tissue of +things neglected and things done amiss; and from place to place +and from town to town, he carried the character of one +thoroughly incompetent. No man can bear the word applied to +him without some flush of colour, as indeed there is none other +that so emphatically slams in a man's face the door of self- +respect. And to Herrick, who was conscious of talents and +acquirements, who looked down upon those humble duties in +which he was found wanting, the pain was the more exquisite. +Early in his fall, he had ceased to be able to make remittances; +shortly after, having nothing but failure to communicate, he +ceased writing home; and about a year before this tale begins, +turned suddenly upon the streets of San Francisco by a vulgar +and infuriated German Jew, he had broken the last bonds of +self-respect, and upon a sudden Impulse, changed his name and +invested his last dollar in a passage on the mail brigantine, the +City of Papeete. With what expectation he had trimmed his flight +for the South Seas, Herrick perhaps scarcely knew. Doubtless +there were fortunes to be made in pearl and copra; doubtless +others not more gifted than himself had climbed in the island +world to be queen's consorts and king's ministers. But if Herrick +had gone there with any manful purpose, he would have kept +his father's name; the alias betrayed his moral bankruptcy; he +bad struck his flag; he entertained no hope to reinstate himself +or help his straitened family; and he came to the islands (where +he knew the climate to be soft, bread cheap, and manners easy) +a skulker from life's battle and his own immediate duty. Failure, +he had said, was his portion; let it be a pleasant failure. + +It is fortunately not enough to say 'I will be base.' Herrick +continued in the islands his career of failure; but in the new +scene and under the new name, he suffered no less sharply than +before. A place was got, it was lost in the old style; from the +long-suffering of the keepers of restaurants he fell to more open +charity upon the wayside; as time went on, good nature became +weary, and after a repulse or two, Herrick became shy. There +were women enough who would have supported a far worse +and a far uglier man; Herrick never met or never knew them: or +if he did both, some manlier feeling would revolt, and he +preferred starvation. Drenched with rains, broiling by day, +shivering by night, a disused and ruinous prison for a bedroom, +his diet begged or pilfered out of rubbish heaps, his associates +two creatures equally outcast with himself, he had drained for +months the cup of penitence. He had known what it was to be +resigned, what it was to break forth in a childish fury of +rebellion against fate, and what it was to sink into the coma of +despair. The time had changed him. He told himself no longer +tales of an easy and perhaps agreeable declension; he read his +nature otherwise; he had proved himself incapable of rising, and +he now learned by experience that he could not stoop to fall. +Something that was scarcely pride or strength, that was perhaps +only refinement, withheld him from capitulation; but he looked +on upon his own misfortune with a growing rage, and sometimes +wondered at his patience. + +It was now the fourth month completed, and still there was +no change or sign of change. The moon, racing through a world +of flying clouds of every size and shape and density, some black +as ink stains, some delicate as lawn, threw the marvel of her +Southern brightness over the same lovely and detested scene: the +island mountains crowned with the perennial island cloud, the +embowered city studded with rare lamps, the masts in the +harbour, the smooth mirror of the lagoon, and the mole of the +barrier reef on which the breakers whitened. The moon shone +too, with bull's-eye sweeps, on his companions; on the stalwart +frame of the American who called himself Brown, and was +known to be a master mariner in some disgrace; and on the +dwarfish person, the pale eyes and toothless smile of a vulgar +and bad-hearted cockney clerk. Here was society for Robert +Herrick! The Yankee skipper was a man at least: he had sterling +qualities of tenderness and resolution; he was one whose hand +you could take without a blush. But there was no redeeming +grace about the other, who called himself sometimes Hay and +sometimes Tomkins, and laughed at the discrepancy; who had +been employed in every store in Papeete, for the creature was +able in his way; who had been discharged from each in turn, for +he was wholly vile; who had alienated all his old employers so +that they passed him in the street as if he were a dog, and all +his old comrades so that they shunned him as they would a +creditor. + +Not long before, a ship from Peru had brought an influenza, +and it now raged in the island, and particularly in Papeete. From +all round the purao arose and fell a dismal sound of men +coughing, and strangling as they coughed. The sick natives, with +the islander's impatience of a touch of fever, had crawled from +their houses to be cool and, squatting on the shore or on the +beached canoes, painfully expected the new day. Even as the +crowing of cocks goes about the country in the night from farm to +farm, accesses of coughing arose, and spread, and died in the +distance, and sprang up again. Each miserable shiverer caught the +suggestion from his neighbour, was torn for some minutes by that +cruel ecstasy, and left spent and without voice or courage when +it passed. If a man had pity to spend, Papeete beach, in that +cold night and in that infected season, was a place to spend it +on. And of all the sufferers, perhaps the least deserving, but +surely the most pitiable, was the London clerk. He was used to +another life, to houses, beds, nursing, and the dainties of the +sickroom; he lay there now, in the cold open, exposed to the +gusting of the wind, and with an empty belly. He was besides +infirm; the disease shook him to the vitals; and his companions +watched his endurance with surprise. A profound commiseration +filled them, and contended with and conquered their abhorrence. +The disgust attendant on so ugly a sickness magnified this +dislike; at the same time, and with more than compensating +strength, shame for a sentiment so inhuman bound them the more +straitly to his service; and even the evil they knew of him +swelled their solicitude, for the thought of death is always the +least supportable when it draws near to the merely sensual and +selfish. Sometimes they held him up; sometimes, with mistaken +helpfulness, they beat him between the shoulders; and when the +poor wretch lay back ghastly and spent after a paroxysm of +coughing, they would sometimes peer into his face, doubtfully +exploring it for any mark of life. There is no one but has some +virtue: that of the clerk was courage; and he would make haste to +reassure them in a pleasantry not always decent. + +'I'm all right, pals,' he gasped once: 'this is the thing to +strengthen the muscles of the larynx.' + +'Well, you take the cake!' cried the captain. + +'O, I'm good plucked enough,' pursued the sufferer with a broken +utterance. 'But it do seem bloomin' hard to me, that I should be +the only party down with this form of vice, and the only one to +do the funny business. I think one of you other parties might +wake up. Tell a fellow something.' + +'The trouble is we've nothing to tell, my son,' returned the +captain. + +'I'll tell you, if you like, what I was thinking,' said Herrick. + +'Tell us anything,' said the clerk, 'I only want to be reminded +that I ain't dead.' + +Herrick took up his parable, lying on his face and speaking +slowly and scarce above his breath, not like a man who has +anything to say, but like one talking against time. + +'Well, I was thinking this,' he began: 'I was thinking I lay on +Papeete beach one night--all moon and squalls and fellows +coughing--and I was cold and hungry, and down in the mouth, and +was about ninety years of age, and had spent two hundred and +twenty of them on Papeete beach. And I was thinking I wished I +had a ring to rub, or had a fairy godmother, or could raise +Beelzebub. And I was trying to remember how you did it. I knew +you made a ring of skulls, for I had seen that in the +Freischultz: and that you took off your coat and turned up your +sleeves, for I had seen Formes do that when he was playing +Kaspar, and you could see (by the way he went about it) it was a +business he had studied; and that you ought to have something to +kick up a smoke and a bad smell, I dare say a cigar might do, and +that you ought to say the Lord's Prayer backwards. Well, I +wondered if I could do that; it seemed rather a feat, you see. +And then I wondered if I would say it forward, and I thought I +did. Well, no sooner had I got to WORLD WITHOUT END, than I saw a +man in a pariu, and with a mat under his arm, come along the +beach from the town. He was rather a hard-favoured old party, +and he limped and crippled, and all the time he kept coughing. At +first I didn't cotton to his looks, I thought, and then I got +sorry for the old soul because he coughed so hard. I remembered +that we had some of that cough mixture the American consul gave +the captain for Hay. It never did Hay a ha'porth of service, but +I thought it might do the old gentleman's business for him, and +stood up. "Yorana!" says I. "Yorana!" says he. "Look here," I +said, "I've got some first-rate stuff in a bottle; it'll fix your +cough, savvy? Harry my and I'll measure you a tablespoonful in +the palm of my hand, for all our plate is at the bankers." So I +thought the old party came up, and the nearer he came, the less I +took to him. But I had passed my word, you see.' + +'Wot is this bloomin' drivel?' interrupted the clerk. 'It's like +the rot there is in tracts.' + +'It's a story; I used to tell them to the kids at home,' said +Herrick. 'If it bores you, I'll drop it.' + +'O, cut along!' returned the sick man, irritably. 'It's better +than nothing.' + +'Well,' continued Herrick, 'I had no sooner given him the +cough mixture than he seemed to straighten up and change, and +I saw he wasn't a Tahitian after all, but some kind of Arab, and +had a long beard on his chin. "One good turn deserves another," +says he. "I am a magician out of the Arabian Nights, and this +mat that I have under my arm is the original carpet of +Mohammed Ben Somebody-or-other. Say the word, and you +can have a cruise upon the carpet." "You don't mean to say this +is the Travelling Carpet?" I cried. "You bet I do," said he. +"You've been to America since last I read the Arabian Nights," +said I, a little suspicious. "I should think so," said he. "Been +everywhere. A man with a carpet like this isn't going to moulder +in a semi-detached villa." Well, that struck me as reasonable. +"All right," I said; "and do you mean to tell me I can get on +that carpet and go straight to London, England?" I said, +"London, England," captain, because he seemed to have been +so long in your part of the world. "In the crack of a whip," said +he. I figured up the time. What is the difference between Papeete +and London, captain?' + +'Taking Greenwich and Point Venus, nine hours, odd minutes and +seconds,' replied the mariner. + +'Well, that's about what I made it,' resumed Herrick, 'about +nine hours. Calling this three in the morning, I made out I would +drop into London about noon; and the idea tickled me +immensely. "There's only one bother," I said, "I haven't a +copper cent. It would be a pity to go to London and not buy the +morning Standard." "O!" said he, "you don't realise the +conveniences of this carpet. You see this pocket? you've only got +to stick your hand in, and you pull it out filled with +sovereigns." + +'Double-eagles, wasn't iff inquired the captain. + +'That was what it was!' cried Herrick. 'I thought they seemed +unusually big, and I remember now I had to go to the +money-changers at Charing Cross and get English silver.' + +'O, you went there?' said the clerk. 'Wot did you do? Bet you +had a B. and S.!' + +'Well, you see, it was just as the old boy said--like the cut of +a whip,' said Herrick. 'The one minute I was here on the beach +at three in the morning, the next I was in front of the Golden +Cross at midday. At first I was dazzled, and covered my eyes, +and there didn't seem the smallest change; the roar of the Strand +and the roar of the reef were like the same: hark to it now, and +you can hear the cabs and buses rolling and the streets resound! +And then at last I could look about, and there was the old place, +and no mistake! With the statues in the square, and St Martin's- +in-the-Fields, and the bobbies, and the sparrows, and the hacks; +and I can't tell you what I felt like. I felt like crying, I +believe, or dancing, or jumping clean over the Nelson Column. I +was like a fellow caught up out of Hell and flung down into the +dandiest part of Heaven. Then I spotted for a hansom with a +spanking horse. "A shilling for yourself, if you're there in +twenty minutes!" said I to the jarvey. He went a good pace, +though of course it was a trifle to the carpet; and in nineteen +minutes and a half I was at the door.' + +'What door?' asked the captain. + +'Oh, a house I know of,' returned Herrick. + +'But it was a public-house!' cried the clerk--only these were +not his words. 'And w'y didn't you take the carpet there instead +of trundling in a growler?' + +'I didn't want to startle a quiet street,' said the narrator. + +'Bad form. And besides, it was a hansom.' + +'Well, and what did you do next?' inquired the captain. + +'Oh, I went in,' said Herrick. + +'The old folks?' asked the captain. + +'That's about it,' said the other, chewing a grass. + +'Well, I think you are about the poorest 'and at a yarn!' cried +the clerk. 'Crikey, it's like Ministering Children! I can tell +you there would be more beer and skittles about my little jaunt. +I would go and have a B. and S. for luck. Then I would get a big +ulster with astrakhan fur, and take my cane and do the la-de-la +down Piccadilly. Then I would go to a slap-up restaurant, and +have green peas, and a bottle of fizz, and a chump chop--Oh! +and I forgot, I'd 'ave some devilled whitebait first--and green +gooseberry tart, and 'ot coffee, and some of that form of vice in +big bottles with a seal--Benedictine--that's the bloomin' nyme! +Then I'd drop into a theatre, and pal on with some chappies, +and do the dancing rooms and bars, and that, and wouldn't go +'ome till morning, till daylight doth appear. And the next day +I'd have water-cresses, 'am, muffin, and fresh butter; wouldn't I +just, O my!' + +The clerk was interrupted by a fresh attack of coughing. + +'Well, now, I'll tell you what I would do,' said the captain: 'I +would have none of your fancy rigs with the man driving from +the mizzen cross-trees, but a plain fore-and-aft hack cab of the +highest registered tonnage. First of all, I would bring up at the +market and get a turkey and a sucking-pig. Then I'd go to a +wine merchant's and get a dozen of champagne, and a dozen of +some sweet wine, rich and sticky and strong, something in the +port or madeira line, the best in the store. Then I'd bear up for +a toy-store, and lay out twenty dollars in assorted toys for the +piccaninnies; and then to a confectioner's and take in cakes and +pies and fancy bread, and that stuff with the plums in it; and +then to a news-agency and buy all the papers, all the picture +ones for the kids, and all the story papers for the old girl +about the Earl discovering himself to Anna-Mariar and the escape +of the Lady Maude from the private madhouse; and then I'd tell +the fellow to drive home.' + +'There ought to be some syrup for the kids,' suggested Herrick; +'they like syrup.' + +'Yes, syrup for the kids, red syrup at that!' said the captain. +'And those things they pull at, and go pop, and have measly +poetry inside. And then I tell you we'd have a thanksgiving day +and Christmas tree combined. Great Scott, but I would like to +see the kids! I guess they would light right out of the house, +when they saw daddy driving up. My little Adar--' + +The captain stopped sharply. + +'Well, keep it up!' said the clerk. + +'The damned thing is, I don't know if they ain't starving!' +cried the captain. + +'They can't be worse off than we are, and that's one comfort,' +returned the clerk. 'I defy the devil to make me worse off.' + +It seemed as if the devil heard him. The light of the moon had +been some time cut off and they had talked in darkness. Now +there was heard a roar, which drew impetuously nearer; the face +of the lagoon was seen to whiten; and before they had staggered +to their feet, a squall burst in rain upon the outcasts. The rage +and volume of that avalanche one must have lived in the tropics +to conceive; a man panted in its assault, as he might pant under +a shower-bath; and the world seemed whelmed in night and water. + +They fled, groping for their usual shelter--it might be almost +called their home--in the old calaboose; came drenched into its +empty chambers; and lay down, three sops of humanity on the +cold coral floors, and presently, when the squall was overpast, +the others could hear in the darkness the chattering of the +clerk's teeth. + +'I say, you fellows,' he walled, 'for God's sake, lie up and try +to warm me. I'm blymed if I don't think I'll die else!' + +So the three crept together into one wet mass, and lay until +day came, shivering and dozing off, and continually re-awakened +to wretchedness by the coughing of the clerk. + + + +Chapter 2. MORNING ON THE BEACH - THE THREE LETTERS + +The clouds were all fled, the beauty of the tropic day was spread +upon Papeete; and the wall of breaking seas upon the reef, and +the palms upon the islet, already trembled in the heat. A French +man-of-war was going out, homeward bound; she lay in the +middle distance of the port, an ant heap for activity. In the +night a schooner had come in, and now lay far out, hard by the +passage; and the yellow flag, the emblem of pestilence, flew on +her. From up the coast, a long procession of canoes headed +round the point and towards the market, bright as a scarf with +the many-coloured clothing of the natives and the piles of fruit. +But not even the beauty and the welcome warmth of the +morning, not even these naval movements, so interesting to +sailors and to idlers, could engage the attention of the +outcasts. They were still cold at heart, their mouths sour from +the want of steep, their steps rambling from the lack of food; +and they strung like lame geese along the beach in a disheartened +silence. It was towards the town they moved; towards the town +whence smoke arose, where happier folk were breakfasting; and as +they went, their hungry eyes were upon all sides, but they were +only scouting for a meal. + +A small and dingy schooner lay snug against the quay, with +which it was connected by a plank. On the forward deck, under +a spot of awning, five Kanakas who made up the crew, were +squatted round a basin of fried feis, and drinking coffee from +tin mugs. + +'Eight bells: knock off for breakfast!' cried the captain with a +miserable heartiness. 'Never tried this craft before; positively +my first appearance; guess I'll draw a bumper house.' + +He came close up to where the plank rested on the grassy +quay; turned his back upon the schooner, and began to whistle +that lively air, 'The Irish Washerwoman.' It caught the ears of +the Kanaka seamen like a preconcerted signal; with one accord +they looked up from their meal and crowded to the ship's side, +fei in hand and munching as they looked. Even as a poor brown +Pyrenean bear dances in the streets of English towns under his +master's baton; even so, but with how much more of spirit and +precision, the captain footed it in time to his own whistling, +and his long morning shadow capered beyond him on the grass. The +Kanakas smiled on thie performance; Herrick looked on heavy-eyed, +hunger for the moment conquering all sense of shame; and a little +farther off, but still hard by, the clerk was torn by the +seven devils of the influenza. + +The captain stopped suddenly, appeared to perceive his audience +for the first time, and represented the part of a man surprised +in his private hour of pleasure. + +'Hello!' said he. + +The Kanakas clapped hands and called upon him to go on. + +'No, SIR!' said the captain. 'No eat, no dance. Savvy?' + +'Poor old man!' returned one of the crew. 'Him no eat?' + +'Lord, no!' said the captain. 'Like-um too much eat. No got.' + +'All right. Me got,' said the sailor; 'you tome here. Plenty +toffee, plenty fei. Nutha man him tome too.' + +'I guess we'll drop right in,' observed the captain; and he and +his companions hastened up the plank. They were welcomed on +board with the shaking of hands; place was made for them +about the basin; a sticky demijohn of molasses was added to the +feast in honour of company, and an accordion brought from the +forecastle and significantly laid by the performer's side. + +'Ariana," said he lightly, touching the instrument as he spoke; +and he fell to on a long savoury fei, made an end of it, raised +his mug of coffee, and nodded across at the spokesman of the +crew. 'Here's your health, old man; you're a credit to the South +Pacific,' said he. + +With the unsightly greed of hounds they glutted themselves +with the hot food and coffee; and even the clerk revived and the +colour deepened in his eyes. The kettle was drained, the basin +cleaned; their entertainers, who had waited on their wants +throughout with the pleased hospitality of Polynesians, made +haste to bring forward a dessert of island tobacco and rolls of +pandanus leaf to serve as paper; and presently all sat about the +dishes puffing like Indian Sachems. + +'When a man 'as breakfast every day, he don't know what it +is,' observed the clerk. + +'The next point is dinner,' said Herrick; and then with a +passionate utterance: 'I wish to God I was a Kanaka!' + +'There's one thing sure,' said the captain. 'I'm about desperate, +I'd rather hang than rot here much longer.' And with the +word he took the accordion and struck up. 'Home, sweet home.' + +'O, drop that!' cried Herrick, 'I can't stand that.' + +'No more can I,' said the captain. 'I've got to play something +though: got to pay the shot, my son.' And he struck up 'John +Brown's Body' in a fine sweet baritone: 'Dandy Jim of Carolina,' +came next; 'Rorin the Bold,' 'Swing low, Sweet Chariot,' and +'The Beautiful Land' followed. The captain was paying his shot +with usury, as he had done many a time before; many a meal +had he bought with the same currency from the melodious-minded +natives, always, as now, to their delight. + +He was in the middle of 'Fifteen Dollars in the Inside Pocket,' +singing with dogged energy, for the task went sore against the +grain, when a sensation was suddenly to be observed among the +crew. + +'Tapena Tom harry my,' said the spokesman, pointing. + +And the three beachcombers, following his indication, saw +the figure of a man in pyjama trousers and a white jumper +approaching briskly from the town. + +'Captain Tom is coming.' + +'That's Tapena Tom, is it?' said the captain, pausing in his +music. 'I don't seem to place the brute.' + +'We'd better cut,' said the clerk. "E's no good., + +'Well,' said the musician deliberately, 'one can't most generally +always tell. I'll try it on, I guess. Music has charms to soothe +the savage Tapena, boys. We might strike it rich; it might +amount to iced punch in the cabin.' + +'Hiced punch? O my!' said the clerk. 'Give him something 'ot, +captain. "Way down the Swannee River"; try that.' + +'No, sir! Looks Scotch,' said the captain; and he struck, for +his life, into 'Auld Lang Syne.' + +Captain Tom continued to approach with the same business-like +alacrity; no change was to be perceived in his bearded face +as he came swinging up the plank: he did not even turn his eyes +on the performer. + + 'We twa hae paidled in the burn + Frae morning tide till dine,' + +went the song. + +Captain Tom had a parcel under his arm, which he laid on +the house roof, and then turning suddenly to the strangers: +'Here, you!' he bellowed, 'be off out of that!' + +The clerk and Herrick stood not on the order of their going, +but fled incontinently by the plank. The performer, on the other +hand, flung down the instrument and rose to his full height +slowly. + +'What's that you say?' he said. 'I've half a mind to give you a +lesson in civility.' + +'You set up any more of your gab to me,' returned the Scotsman, +'and I'll show ye the wrong side of a jyle. I've heard tell of +the three of ye. Ye're not long for here, I can tell ye that. +The Government has their eyes upon ye. They make short work +of damned beachcombers, I'll say that for the French.' + +'You wait till I catch you off your ship!' cried the captain: +and then, turning to the crew, 'Good-bye, you fellows!' he said. +'You're gentlemen, anyway! The worst nigger among you would +look better upon a quarter-deck than that filthy Scotchman.' + +Captain Tom scorned to reply; he watched with a hard smile +the departure of his guests; and as soon as the last foot was off +the plank; turned to the hands to work cargo. + +The beachcombers beat their inglorious retreat along the +shore; Herrick first, his face dark with blood, his knees +trembling under him with the hysteria of rage. Presently, under +the same purao where they had shivered the night before, he cast +himself down, and groaned aloud, and ground his face into the +sand. + +'Don't speak to me, don't speak to me. I can't stand it,' broke +from him. + +The other two stood over him perplexed. + +'Wot can't he stand now?' said the clerk. ''Asn't he 'ad a +meal? I'M lickin' my lips.' + +Herrick reared up his wild eyes and burning face. 'I can't beg!' +he screamed, and again threw himself prone. + +'This thing's got to come to an end,' said the captain with an +intake of the breath. + +'Looks like signs of an end, don't it?' sneered the clerk. + +'He's not so far from it, and don't you deceive yourself,' +replied the captain. 'Well,' he added in a livelier voice, 'you +fellows hang on here, and I'll go and interview my +representative.' + +Whereupon he turned on his heel, and set off at a swinging +sailor's walk towards Papeete. + +It was some half hour later when he returned. The clerk was +dozing with his back against the tree: Herrick still lay where he +had flung himself; nothing showed whether he slept or waked. + +'See, boys!' cried the captain, with that artificial heartiness +of his which was at times so painful, 'here's a new idea.' And he +produced note paper, stamped envelopes, and pencils, three of +each. 'We can all write home by the mail brigantine; the consul +says I can come over to his place and ink up the addresses.' + +'Well, that's a start, too,' said the clerk. 'I never thought of +that.' + +'It was that yarning last night about going home that put me +up to it,' said the captain. + +'Well, 'and over,' said the clerk. 'I'll 'ave a shy,' and he +retired a little distance to the shade of a canoe. + +The others remained under the purao. Now they would write +a word or two, now scribble it out; now they would sit biting at +the pencil end and staring seaward; now their eyes would rest +on the clerk, where he sat propped on the canoe, leering and +coughing, his pencil racing glibly on the paper. + +'I can't do it,' said Herrick suddenly. 'I haven't got the +heart.' + +'See here,' said the captain, speaking with unwonted gravity; +'it may be hard to write, and to write lies at that; and God +knows it is; but it's the square thing. It don't cost anything to +say you're well and happy, and sorry you can't make a remittance +this mail; and if you don't, I'll tell you what I think it +is--I think it's about the high-water mark of being a brute +beast.' + +'It's easy to talk,' said Herrick. 'You don't seem to have +written much yourself, I notice.' + +'What do you bring in me for?' broke from the captain. His +voice was indeed scarce raised above a whisper, but emotion +clanged in it. 'What do you know about me? If you had +commanded the finest barque that ever sailed from Portland; if +you had been drunk in your berth when she struck the breakers +in Fourteen Island Group, and hadn't had the wit to stay there +and drown, but came on deck, and given drunken orders, and +lost six lives--I could understand your talking then! There,' he +said more quietly, 'that's my yarn, and now you know it. It's a +pretty one for the father of a family. Five men and a woman +murdered. Yes, there was a woman on board, and hadn't no +business to be either. Guess I sent her to Hell, if there is such +a place. I never dared go home again; and the wife and the little +ones went to England to her father's place. I don't know what's +come to them,' he added, with a bitter shrug. + +'Thank you, captain,' said Herrick. 'I never liked you better.' + +They shook hands, short and hard, with eyes averted, tenderness +swelling in their bosoms. + +'Now, boys! to work again at lying!' said the captain. + +'I'll give my father up,' returned Herrick with a writhen smile. +'I'll try my sweetheart instead for a change of evils.' + +And here is what he wrote: + +'Emma, I have scratched out the beginning to my father, for I +think I can write more easily to you. This is my last farewell to +all, the last you will ever hear or see of an unworthy friend and +son. I have failed in life; I am quite broken down and disgraced. +I pass under a false name; you will have to tell my father that +with all your kindness. It is my own fault. I know, had I chosen, +that I might have done well; and yet I swear to you I tried to +choose. I could not bear that you should think I did not try. For +I loved you all; you must never doubt me in that, you least of +all. I have always unceasingly loved, but what was my love +worth? and what was I worth? I had not the manhood of a +common clerk, I could not work to earn you; I have lost you +now, and for your sake I could be glad of it. When you first +came to my father's house--do you remember those days? I +want you to--you saw the best of me then, all that was good in +me. Do you remember the day I took your hand and would not +let it go--and the day on Battersea Bridge, when we were +looking at a barge, and I began to tell you one of my silly +stories, and broke off to say I loved you? That was the +beginning, and now here is the end. When you have read this +letter, you will go round and kiss them all good-bye, my father +and mother, and the children, one by one, and poor uncle; And +tell them all to forget me, and forget me yourself. Turn the key +in the door; let no thought of me return; be done with the poor +ghost that pretended he was a man and stole your love. Scorn of +myself grinds in me as I write. I should tell you I am well and +happy, and want for nothing. I do not exactly make money, or I +should send a remittance; but I am well cared for, have friends, +live in a beautiful place and climate, such as we have dreamed +of together, and no pity need be wasted on me. In such places, +you understand, it is easy to live, and live well, but often hard +to make sixpence in money. Explain this to my father, he will +understand. I have no more to say; only linger, going out, like +an unwilling guest. God in heaven bless you. Think of me to the +last, here, on a bright beach, the sky and sea immoderately blue, +and the great breakers roaring outside on a barrier reef, where a +little isle sits green with palms. I am well and strong. It is a +more pleasant way to die than if you were crowding about me on a +sick-bed. And yet I am dying. This is my last kiss. Forgive, +forget the unworthy.' + +So far he bad written, his paper was all filled, when there +returned a memory of evenings at the piano, and that song, the +masterpiece of love, in which so many have found the expression +of their dearest thoughts. 'Einst, O wunder!' he added. More +was not required; he knew that in his love's heart the context +would spring up, escorted with fair images and harmony; of +how all through life her name should tremble in his ears, her +name be everywhere repeated in the sounds of nature; and when +death came, and he lay dissolved, her memory lingered and +thrilled among his elements. + + 'Once, O wonder! once from the ashes of my heart + Arose a blossom--' + +Herrick and the captain finished their letters about the same +time; each was breathing deep, and their eyes met and were +averted as they closed the envelopes. + +'Sorry I write so big,' said the captain gruffly. 'Came all of a +rush, when it did come.' + +'Same here,' said Herrick. 'I could have done with a ream when I +got started; but it's long enough for all the good I had to say.' + +They were still at the addresses when the clerk strolled up, +smirking and twirling his envelope, like a man well pleased. He +looked over Herrick's shoulder. + +'Hullo,' he said, 'you ain't writing 'ome.' + +'I am, though,' said Herrick; 'she lives with my father. Oh, I +see what you mean,' he added. 'My real name is Herrick. No +more Hay'--they had both used the same alias--'no more Hay +than yours, I dare say.' + +'Clean bowled in the middle stump!' laughed the clerk. 'My +name's 'Uish if you want to know. Everybody has a false nyme +in the Pacific. Lay you five to three the captain 'as.' + +'So I have too,' replied the captain; 'and I've never told my own +since the day I tore the title page out of my Bowditch and +flung the damned thing into the sea. But I'll tell it to you, +boys. John Davis is my name. I'm Davis of the Sea Ranger.' + +'Dooce you are!' said Hush. 'And what was she? a pirate or a +slyver?' + +'She was the fastest barque out of Portland, Maine,' replied +the captain; 'and for the way I lost her, I might as well have +bored a hole in her side with an auger.' + +'Oh, you lost her, did you?' said the clerk. ''Ope she was +insured?' + +No answer being returned to this sally, Huish, still brimming +over with vanity and conversation, struck into another subject. + +'I've a good mind to read you my letter,' said he. 'I've a good +fist with a pen when I choose, and this is a prime lark. She was +a barmaid I ran across in Northampton; she was a spanking fine +piece, no end of style; and we cottoned at first sight like +parties in the play. I suppose I spent the chynge of a fiver on +that girl. Well, I 'appened to remember her nyme, so I wrote to +her, and told her 'ow I had got rich, and married a queen in the +Hislands, and lived in a blooming palace. Such a sight of +crammers! I must read you one bit about my opening the nigger +parliament in a cocked 'at. It's really prime.' + +The captain jumped to his feet. 'That's what you did with the +paper that I went and begged for you?' he roared. + +It was perhaps lucky for Huish--it was surely in the end +unfortunate for all--that he was seized just then by one of his +prostrating accesses of cough; his comrades would have else +deserted him, so bitter was their resentment. When the fit had +passed, the clerk reached out his hand, picked up the letter, +which had fallen to the earth, and tore it into fragments, stamp +and all. + +'Does that satisfy you?' he asked sullenly. + +'We'll say no more about it,' replied Davis. + + + +Chapter 3. THE OLD CALABOOSE - DESTINY AT THE DOOR + +The old calaboose, in which the waifs had so long harboured, is +a low, rectangular enclosure of building at the corner of a shady +western avenue and a little townward of the British consulate. +Within was a grassy court, littered with wreckage and the traces +of vagrant occupation. Six or seven cells opened from the court: +the doors, that had once been locked on mutinous whalermen, +rotting before them in the grass. No mark remained of their old +destination, except the rusty bars upon the windows. + +The floor of one of the cells had been a little cleared; a bucket +(the last remaining piece of furniture of the three caitiffs) +stood full of water by the door, a half cocoanut shell beside it +for a drinking cup; and on some ragged ends of mat Huish sprawled +asleep, his mouth open, his face deathly. The glow of the tropic +afternoon, the green of sunbright foliage, stared into that shady +place through door and window; and Herrick, pacing to and fro +on the coral floor, sometimes paused and laved his face and +neck with tepid water from the bucket. His long arrears of +suffering, the night's vigil, the insults of the morning, and the +harrowing business of the letter, had strung him to that point +when pain is almost pleasure, time shrinks to a mere point, and +death and life appear indifferent. To and fro he paced like a +caged brute; his mind whirling through the universe of thought +and memory; his eyes, as he went, skimming the legends on the +wall. The crumbling whitewash was all full of them: Tahitian +names, and French, and English, and rude sketches of ships +under sail and men at fisticuffs. + +It came to him of a sudden that he too must leave upon these +walls the memorial of his passage. He paused before a clean +space, took the pencil out, and pondered. Vanity, so hard to +dislodge, awoke in him. We call it vanity at least; perhaps +unjustly. Rather it was the bare sense of his existence prompted +him; the sense of his life, the one thing wonderful, to which he +scarce clung with a finger. From his jarred nerves there came a +strong sentiment of coming change; whether good or ill he could +not say: change, he knew no more--change, with inscrutable +veiled face, approaching noiseless. With the feeling, came the +vision of a concert room, the rich hues of instruments, the +silent audience, and the loud voice of the symphony. 'Destiny +knocking at the door,' he thought; drew a stave on the plaster, +and wrote in the famous phrase from the Fifth Symphony. 'So,' +thought he, 'they will know that I loved music and had classical +tastes. They? He, I suppose: the unknown, kindred spirit that +shall come some day and read my memor querela. Ha, he shall +have Latin too!' And he added: terque quaterque beati Queis +ante ora patrum. + +He turned again to his uneasy pacing, but now with an +irrational and supporting sense of duty done. He had dug his +grave that morning; now he had carved his epitaph; the folds of +the toga were composed, why should he delay the insignificant +trifle that remained to do? He paused and looked long in the +face of the sleeping Huish, drinking disenchantment and distaste +of life. He nauseated himself with that vile countenance. Could +the thing continue? What bound him now? Had he no rights? - +only the obligation to go on, without discharge or furlough, +bearing the unbearable? Ich trage unertragliches, the quotation +rose in his mind; he repeated the whole piece, one of the most +perfect of the most perfect of poets; and a phrase struck him +like a blow: Du, stolzes Herz, A hast es ja gewolit. Where was +the pride of his heart? And he raged against himself, as a man +bites on a sore tooth, in a heady sensuality of scorn. 'I have no +pride, I have no heart, no manhood,' he thought, 'or why should +I prolong a life more shameful than the gallows? Or why should +I have fallen to it? No pride, no capacity, no force. Not even a +bandit! and to be starving here with worse than banditti--with +this trivial hell-hound!' His rage against his comrade rose and +flooded him, and he shook a trembling fist at the sleeper. + +A swift step was audible. The captain appeared upon the +threshold of the cell, panting and flushed, and with a foolish +face of happiness. In his arms he carried a loaf of bread and +bottles of beer; the pockets of his coat were bulging with +cigars. + +He rolled his treasures on the floor, grasped Herrick by both +hands, and crowed with laughter. + +'Broach the beer!' he shouted. 'Broach the beer, and glory +hallelujah!' + +'Beer?' repeated Huish, struggling to his feet. 'Beer it is!' +cried Davis. 'Beer and plenty of it. Any number of persons can +use it (like Lyon's tooth-tablet) with perfect propriety and +neatness. Who's to officiate?' + +'Leave me alone f6r that,' said the clerk. He knocked the +necks off with a lump of coral, and each drank in succession +from the shell. + +'Have a weed,' said Davis. 'It's all in the bill.' + +'What is up?' asked Herrick. + +The captain fell suddenly grave. 'I'm coming to that,' said he. +'I want to speak with Herrick here. You, Hay--or Huish, or +whatever your name is--you take a weed and the other bottle, +and go and see how the wind is down by the purao. I'll call you +when you're wanted!' + +'Hay? Secrets? That ain't the ticket,' said Huish. + +'Look here, my son,' said the captain, 'this is business, and +don't you make any mistake about it. If you're going to make +trouble, you can have it your own way and stop right here. Only +get the thing right: if Herrick and I go, we take the beer. +Savvy?' + +'Oh, I don't want to shove my oar in,' returned Huish. 'I'll +cut right enough. Give me the swipes. You can jaw till you're +blue in the face for what I care. I don't think it's the friendly +touch: that's all.' And he shambled grumbling out of the cell +into the staring sun. + +The captain watched him clear of the courtyard; then turned +to Herrick. + +'What is it?' asked Herrick thickly. + +'I'll tell you,' said Davis. 'I want to consult you. It's a +chance we've got. What's that?' he cried, pointing to the music +on the wall. + +'What?' said the other. 'Oh, that! It's music; it's a phrase of +Beethoven's I was writing up. It means Destiny knocking at the +door.' + +'Does it?' said the captain, rather low; and he went near and +studied the inscription; 'and this French?' he asked, pointing to +the Latin. + +'O, it just means I should have been luckier if I had died at +horne,' returned Herrick impatiently. 'What is this business?' + +'Destiny knocking at the door,' repeated the captain; and +then, looking over his shoulder. 'Well, Mr Herrick, that's about +what it comes to,' he added. + +'What do you mean? Explain yourself,' said Herrick. + +But the captain was again staring at the music. 'About how +long ago since you wrote up this truck?' he asked. + +'What does it matter?' exclaimed Herrick. 'I dare say half an +hour.' + +'My God, it's strange!' cried Davis. 'There's some men would +call that accidental: not me. That--' and he drew his thick +finger under the music--'that's what I call Providence.' + +'You said we had a chance,' said Herrick. + +'Yes, SIR!' said the captain, wheeling suddenly face to face +with his companion. 'I did so. If you're the man I take you for, +we have a chance.' + +'I don't know what you take me for,' was the reply. 'You can +scarce take me too low.' + +'Shake hands, Mr Herrick,' said the captain. 'I know you. +You're a gentleman and a man of spirit. I didn't want to speak +before that bummer there; you'll see why. But to you I'll rip it +right out. I got a ship.' + +'A ship?' cried Herrick. 'What ship?' + +'That schooner we saw this morning off the passage.' + +'The schooner with the hospital flag?' + +'That's the hooker,' said Davis. 'She's the Farallone, hundred +and sixty tons register, out of 'Frisco for Sydney, in California +champagne. Captain, mate, and one hand all died of the +smallpox, same as they had round in the Paumotus, I guess. +Captain and mate were the only white men; all the hands +Kanakas; seems a queer kind of outfit from a Christian port. +Three of them left and a cook; didn't know where they were; I +can't think where they were either, if you come to that; Wiseman +must have been on the booze, I guess, to sail the course he did. +However, there HE was, dead; and here are the Kanakas as good +as lost. They bummed around at sea like the babes in the wood; +and tumbled end-on upon Tahiti. The consul here took charge. He +offered the berth to Williams; Williams had never had the +smallpox and backed down. That was when I came in for the +letter paper; I thought there was something up when the consul +asked me to look in again; but I never let on to you fellows, +so's you'd not be disappointed. Consul tried M'Neil; scared of +smallpox. He tried Capirati, that Corsican and Leblue, or +whatever his name is, wouldn't lay a hand on it; all too fond of +their sweet lives. Last of all, when there wasn't nobody else +left to offer it to, he offers it to me. "Brown, will you ship +captain and take her to Sydney?" says he. "Let me choose my own +mate and another white hand," says I, "for I don't hold with this +Kanaka crew racket; give us all two months' advance to get our +clothes and instruments out of pawn, and I'll take stock tonight, +fill up stores, and get to sea tomorrow before dark!" That's +what I said. "That's good enough," says the consul, "and you +can count yourself damned lucky, Brown," says he. And he said +it pretty meaningful-appearing, too. However, that's all one +now. I'll ship Huish before the mast--of course I'll let him +berth aft--and I'll ship you mate at seventy-five dollars and two +months' advance.' + +'Me mate? Why, I'm a landsman!' cried Herrick. + +'Guess you've got to learn,' said the captain. 'You don't fancy +I'm going to skip and leave you rotting on the beach perhaps? +I'm not that sort, old man. And you're handy anyway; I've been +shipmates with worse.' + +'God knows I can't refuse,' said Herrick. 'God knows I thank +you from my heart.' + +'That's all right,' said the captain. 'But it ain't all.' He +turned aside to light a cigar. + +'What else is there?' asked the other, with a pang of undefinable +alarm. + +'I'm coming to that,' said Davis, and then paused a little. 'See +here,' he began, holding out his cigar between his finger and +thumb, 'suppose you figure up what this'll amount to. You don't +catch on? Well, we get two months' advance; we can't get away +from Papeete--our creditors wouldn't let us go--for less; it'll +take us along about two months to get to Sydney; and when we +get there, I just want to put it to you squarely: What the better +are we?' + +'We're off the beach at least,' said Herrick. + +'I guess there's a beach at Sydney,' returned the captain; 'and +I'll tell you one thing, Mr Herrick--I don't mean to try. No, +SIR! Sydney will never see me.' + +'Speak out plain,' said Herrick. + +'Plain Dutch,' replied the captain. 'I'm going to own that +schooner. It's nothing new; it's done every year in the Pacific. +Stephens stole a schooner the other day, didn't he? Hayes and +Pease stole vessels all the time. And it's the making of the +crowd of us. See here--you think of that cargo. Champagne! why, +it's like as if it was put up on purpose. In Peru we'll sell that +liquor off at the pier-head, and the schooner after it, if we can +find a fool to buy her; and then light out for the mines. If +you'll back me up, I stake my life I carry it through.' + +'Captain,' said Herrick, with a quailing voice, 'don't do it!' + +'I'm desperate,' returned Davis. 'I've got a chance; I may +never get another. Herrick, say the word; back me up; I think +we've starved together long enough for that.' + +'I can't do it. I'm sorry. I can't do it. I've not fallen as low +as that,' said Herrick, deadly pale. + +'What did you say this morning?' said Davis. 'That you +couldn't beg? It's the one thing or the other, my son.' + +'Ah, but this is the jail!' cried Herrick. 'Don't tempt me. It's +the jail.' + +'Did you hear what the skipper said on board that schooner?' +pursued the captain. 'Well, I tell you he talked straight. The +French have let us alone for a long time; It can't last longer; +they've got their eye on us; and as sure as you live, in three +weeks you'll be in jail whatever you do. I read it in the +consul's face.' + +'You forget, captain,' said the young man. 'There is another +way. I can die; and to say truth, I think I should have died +three years ago.' + +The captain folded his arms and looked the other in the face. +'Yes,' said he, 'yes, you can cut your throat; that's a frozen +fact; much good may it do you! And where do I come in?' + +The light of a strange excitement came in Herrick's face. 'Both +of us,' said he, 'both of us together. It's not possible you can +enjoy this business. Come,' and he reached out a timid hand, 'a +few strokes in the lagoon--and rest!' + +'I tell you, Herrick, I'm 'most tempted to answer you the way +the man does in the Bible, and say, "Get thee behind me, +Satan!"' said the captain. 'What! you think I would go drown +myself, and I got children starving? Enjoy it? No, by God, I do +not enjoy it! but it's the row I've got to hoe, and I'll hoe it +till I drop right here. I have three of them, you see, two boys +and the one girl, Adar. The trouble is that you are not a parent +yourself. I tell you, Herrick, I love you,' the man broke out; 'I +didn't take to you at first, you were so anglified and tony, but +I love you now; it's a man that loves you stands here and +wrestles with you. I can't go to sea with the bummer alone; it's +not possible. Go drown yourself, and there goes my last +chance--the last chance of a poor miserable beast, earning a +crust to feed his family. I can't do nothing but sail ships, and +I've no papers. And here I get a chance, and you go back on me! +Ah, you've no family, and that's where the trouble is!' + +'I have indeed,' said Herrick. + +'Yes, I know,' said the captain, 'you think so. But no man's +got a family till he's got children. It's only the kids count. +There's something about the little shavers ... I can't talk of +them. And if you thought a cent about this father that I hear +you talk of, or that sweetheart you were writing to this morning, +you would feel like me. You would say, What matters laws, and +God, and that? My folks are hard up, I belong to them, I'll get +them bread, or, by God! I'll get them wealth, if I have to burn +down London for it. That's what you would say. And I'll tell +you more: your heart is saying so this living minute. I can see +it in your face. You're thinking, Here's poor friendship for the +man I've starved along of, and as for the girl that I set up to +be in love with, here's a mighty limp kind of a love that won't +carry me as far as 'most any man would go for a demijohn of +whisky. There's not much ROmance to that love, anyway; it's not +the kind they carry on about in songbooks. But what's the good of +my carrying on talking, when it's all in your inside as plain as +print? I put the question to you once for all. Are you going to +desert me in my hour of need?--you know if I've deserted you--or +will you give me your hand, and try a fresh deal, and go home (as +like as not) a millionaire? Say no, and God pity me! Say yes, and +I'll make the little ones pray for you every night on +their bended knees. "God bless Mr Herrick!" that's what they'll +say, one after the other, the old girl sitting there holding +stakes at the foot of the bed, and the damned little innocents. . +. He broke off. 'I don't often rip out about the kids,' he said; +'but when I do, there's something fetches loose.' + +'Captain,' said Herrick faintly, 'is there nothing else?' + +'I'll prophesy if you like,' said the captain with renewed +vigour. 'Refuse this, because you think yourself too honest, and +before a month's out you'll be jailed for a sneak-thief. I give +you the word fair. I can see it, Herrick, if you can't; you're +breaking down. Don't think, if you refuse this chance, that +you'll go on doing the evangelical; you're about through with +your stock; and before you know where you are, you'll be right +out on the other side. No, it's either this for you; or else it's +Caledonia. I bet you never were there, and saw those white, +shaved men, in their dust clothes and straw hats, prowling around +in gangs in the lamplight at Noumea; they look like wolves, and +they look like preachers, and they look like the sick; Hulsh is a +daisy to the best of them. Well, there's your company. They're +waiting for you, Herrick, and you got to go; and that's a +prophecy.' + +And as the man stood and shook through his great stature, he +seemed indeed like one in whom the spirit of divination worked +and might utter oracles. Herrick looked at him, and looked +away; It seemed not decent to spy upon such agitation; and the +young man's courage sank. + +'You talk of going home,' he objected. 'We could never do +that.' + +'WE could,' said the other. 'Captain Brown couldn't, nor Mr +Hay, that shipped mate with him couldn't. But what's that to do +with Captain Davis or Mr Herrick, you galoot?' + +'But Hayes had these wild islands where he used to call,' came +the next fainter objection. + +'We have the wild islands of Peru,' retorted Davis. 'They were +wild enough for Stephens, no longer agone than just last year. I +guess they'll be wild enough for us.' + +'And the crew?' + +'All Kanakas. Come, I see you're right, old man. I see you'll +stand by.' And the captain once more offered his hand. + +'Have it your own way then,' said Herrick. 'I'll do it: a strange +thing for my father's son. But I'll do it. I'll stand by you, +man, for good or evil.' + +'God bless you!' cried the captain, and stood silent. 'Herrick,' +he added with a smile, 'I believe I'd have died in my tracks, if +you'd said, No!' + +And Herrick, looking at the man, half believed so also. + +'And now we'll go break it to the bummer,' said Davis. + +'I wonder how he'll take it,' said Herrick. + +'Him? Jump at it!' was the reply. + + + +Chapter 4. THE YELLOW FLAG + +The schooner Farallone lay well out in the jaws of the pass, +where the terrified pilot had made haste to bring her to her +moorings and escape. Seen from the beach through the thin line +of shipping, two objects stood conspicuous to seaward: the little +isle, on the one hand, with its palms and the guns and batteries +raised forty years before in defence of Queen Pomare's capital; +the outcast Farallone, upon the other, banished to the threshold +of the port, rolling there to her scuppers, and flaunting the +plague-flag as she rolled. A few sea birds screamed and cried +about the ship; and within easy range, a man-of-war guard boat +hung off and on and glittered with the weapons of marines. The +exuberant daylight and the blinding heaven of the tropics picked +out and framed the pictures. + +A neat boat, manned by natives in uniform, and steered by +the doctor of the port, put from shore towards three of- the +afternoon, and pulled smartly for the schooner. The fore-sheets +were heaped with sacks of flour, onions, and potatoes, perched +among which was Huish dressed as a foremast hand; a heap of +chests and cases impeded the action of the oarsmen; and in the +stern, by the left hand of the doctor, sat Herrick, dressed in a +fresh rig of slops, his brown beard trimmed to a point, a pile of +paper novels on his lap, and nursing the while between his feet +a chronometer, for which they had exchanged that of the +Farallone, long since run down and the rate lost. + +They passed the guard boat, exchanging hails with the +boat-swain's mate in charge, and drew near at last to the +forbidden ship. Not a cat stirred, there was no speech of man; +and the sea being exceeding high outside, and the reef close to +where the schooner lay, the clamour of the surf hung round her +like the sound of battle. + +'Ohe la goelette!' sang out the doctor, with his best voice. + +Instantly, from the house where they had been stowing away +stores, first Davis, and then the ragamuffin, swarthy crew made +their appearance. + +'Hullo, Hay, that you?' said the captain, leaning on the rail. +'Tell the old man to lay her alongside, as if she was eggs. +There's a hell of a run of sea here, and his boat's brittle.' + +The movement of the schooner was at that time more than +usually violent. Now she heaved her side as high as a deep sea +steamer's, and showed the flashing of her copper; now she +swung swiftly toward the boat until her scuppers gurgled. + +'I hope you have sea legs,' observed the doctor. 'You will +require them.' + +Indeed, to board the Farallone, in that exposed position where +she lay, was an affair of some dexterity. The less precious goods +were hoisted roughly in; the chronometer, after repeated +failures, was passed gently and successfully from hand to hand; +and there remained only the more difficult business of embarking +Huish. Even that piece of dead weight (shipped A.B. at eighteen +dollars, and described by the captain to the consul as an +invaluable man) was at last hauled on board without mishap; +and the doctor, with civil salutations, took his leave. + +The three co-adventurers looked at each other, and Davis +heaved a breath of relief. + +'Now let's get this chronometer fixed,' said he, and led the +way into the house. It was a fairly spacious place; two +staterooms and a good-sized pantry opened from the main cabin; +the bulkheads were painted white, the floor laid with waxcloth. +No litter, no sign of life remained; for the effects of the dead +men had been disinfected and conveyed on shore. Only on the +table, in a saucer, some sulphur burned, and the fumes set them +coughing as they entered. The captain peered into the starboard +stateroom, where the bed-clothes still lay tumbled in the bunk, +the blanket flung back as they had flung it back from the +disfigured corpse before its burial. + +'Now, I told these niggers to tumble that truck overboard,' +grumbled Davis. 'Guess they were afraid to lay hands on it. Well, +they've hosed the place out; that's as much as can be +expected, I suppose. Huish, lay on to these blankets.' + +'See you blooming well far enough first,' said Huish, drawing +back. + +'What's that?' snapped the captain. 'I'll tell you, my young +friend, I think you make a mistake. I'm captain here.' + +'Fat lot I care,' returned the clerk. + +'That so?' said Davis. 'Then you'll berth forward with the +niggers! Walk right out of this cabin.' + +'Oh, I dessay!' said Huish. 'See any green in my eye? A lark's +a lark.' + +'Well, now, I'll explain this business, and you'll see (once for +all) just precisely how much lark there is to it,' said Davis. +'I'm captain, and I'm going to be it. One thing of three. First, +you take my orders here as cabin steward, in which case you mess +with us. Or second, you refuse, and I pack you forward--and +you get as quick as the word's said. Or, third and last, I'll +signal that man-of-war and send you ashore under arrest for +mutiny.' + +'And, of course, I wouldn't blow the gaff? O no!' replied the +jeering Huish. + +'And who's to believe you, my son?' inquired the captain. +'No, sir! There ain't no lark about my captainising. Enough +said. Up with these blankets.' + +Huish was no fool, he knew when he was beaten; and he was +no coward either, for he stepped to the bunk, took the infected +bed-clothes fairly in his arms, and carried them out of the house +without a check or tremor. + +'I was waiting for the chance,' said Davis to Herrick. 'I +needn't do the same with you, because you understand it for +yourself.' + +'Are you going to berth here?' asked Herrick, following the +captain into the stateroom, where he began to adjust the +chronometer in its place at the bed-head. + +'Not much!' replied he. 'I guess I'll berth on deck. I don't +know as I'm afraid, but I've no immediate use for confluent +smallpox.' + +'I don't know that I'm afraid either,' said Herrick. 'But the +thought of these two men sticks in my throat; that captain and +mate dying here, one opposite to the other. It's grim. I wonder +what they said last?' + +'Wiseman and Wishart?' said the captain. 'Probably mighty +small potatoes. That's a thing a fellow figures out for himself +one way, and the real business goes quite another. Perhaps +Wiseman said, "Here old man, fetch up the gin, I'm feeling +powerful rocky." And perhaps Wishart said, "Oh, hell!"' + +'Well, that's grim enough,' said Herrick. + +'And so it is,' said Davis. 'There; there's that chronometer +fixed. And now it's about time to up anchor and clear out.' + +He lit a cigar and stepped on deck. + +'Here, you! What's YOUR name?' he cried to one of the hands, +a lean-flanked, clean-built fellow from some far western island, +and of a darkness almost approaching to the African. + +'Sally Day,' replied the man. + +'Devil it is,' said the captain. 'Didn't know we had ladies on +board. Well, Sally, oblige me by hauling down that rag there. +I'll do the same for you another time.' He watched the yellow +bunting as it was eased past the cross-trees and handed down +on deck. 'You'll float no more on this ship,' he observed. +'Muster the people aft, Mr Hay,' he added, speaking unnecessarily +loud, 'I've a word to say to them.' + +It was with a singular sensation that Herrick prepared for the +first time to address a crew. He thanked his stars indeed, that +they were natives. But even natives, he reflected, might be +critics too quick for such a novice as himself; they might +perceive some lapse from that precise and cut-and-dry English +which prevails on board a ship; it was even possible they +understood no other; and he racked his brain, and overhauled his +reminiscences of sea romance for some appropriate words. + +'Here, men! tumble aft!' he said. 'Lively now! All hands aft!' + +They crowded in the alleyway like sheep. + +'Here they are, sir,' said Herrick. + +For some time the captain continued to face the stern; then +turned with ferocious suddenness on the crew, and seemed to +enjoy their shrinking. + +'Now,' he said, twisting his cigar in his mouth and toying +with the spokes of the wheel, 'I'm Captain Brown. I command +this ship. This is Mr Hay, first officer. The other white man is +cabin steward, but he'll stand watch and do his trick. My orders +shall be obeyed smartly. You savvy, "smartly"? There shall be +no growling about the kaikai, which will be above allowance. +You'll put a handle to the mate's name, and tack on "sir" to +every order I give you. If you're smart and quick, I'll make this +ship comfortable for all hands.' He took the cigar out of his +mouth. 'If you're not,' he added, in a roaring voice, 'I'll make +it a floating hell. Now, Mr Hay, we'll pick watches, if you +please.' + +'All right,' said Herrick. + +'You will please use "sir" when you address me, Mr Hay,' +said the captain. 'I'll take the lady. Step to starboard, Sally.' +And then he whispered in Herrick's ear: 'take the old man.' + +'I'll take you, there,' said Herrick. + +'What's your name?' said the captain. 'What's that you say? +Oh, that's no English; I'll have none of your highway gibberish +on my ship. We'll call you old Uncle Ned, because you've got +no wool on the top of your head, just the place where the wool +ought to grow. Step to port, Uncle. Don't you hear Mr Hay has +picked you? Then I'll take the white man. White Man, step to +starboard. Now which of you two is the cook? You? Then Mr +Hay takes your friend in the blue dungaree. Step to port, +Dungaree. There, we know who we all are: Dungaree, Uncle +Ned, Sally Day, White Man, and Cook. All F.F.V.'s I guess. And +now, Mr Hay, we'll up anchor, if you please.' + +'For Heaven's sake, tell me some of the words,' whispered +Herrick. + +An hour later, the Farallone was under all plain sail, the +rudder hard a-port, and the cheerfully clanking windlass had +brought the anchor home. + +'All clear, sir,' cried Herrick from the bow. + +The captain met her with the wheel, as she bounded like a +stag from her repose, trembling and bending to the puffs. The +guard boat gave a parting hail, the wake whitened and ran out; +the Farallone was under weigh. + +Her berth had been close to the pass. Even as she forged +ahead Davis slewed her for the channel between the pier ends of +the reef, the breakers sounding and whitening to either hand. +Straight through the narrow band of blue, she shot to seaward: +and the captain's heart exulted as he felt her tremble underfoot, +and (looking back over the taffrail) beheld the roofs of Papeete +changing position on the shore and the island mountains rearing +higher in the wake. + +But they were not yet done with the shore and the horror of the +yellow flag. About midway of the pass, there was a cry and +a scurry, a man was seen to leap upon the rail, and, throwing +his arms over his head, to stoop and plunge into the sea. + +'Steady as she goes,' fhe captain cried, relinquishing the wheel +to Huish. + +The next moment he was forward in the midst of the Kanakas, +belaying pin in hand. + +'Anybody else for shore?' he cried, and the savage trumpeting +of his voice, no less than the ready weapon in his hand, struck +fear in all. Stupidly they stared after their escaped companion, +whose black head was visible upon the water, steering for the +land. And the schooner meanwhile slipt like a racer through the +pass, and met the long sea of the open ocean with a souse of +spray. + +'Fool that I was, not to have a pistol ready!' exclaimed Davis. +'Well, we go to sea short-handed, we can't help that. You have +a lame watch of it, Mr Hay.' + +'I don't see how we are to get along,' said Herrick. + +'Got to,' said the captain. 'No more Tahiti for me.' + +Both turned instinctively and looked astern. The fair island +was unfolding mountain top on mountain top; Eimeo, on the +port board, lifted her splintered pinnacles; and still the +schooner raced to the open sea. + +'Think!' cried the captain with a gesture, 'yesterday morning +I danced for my breakfast like a poodle dog.' + + + +Chapter 5. THE CARGO OF CHAMPAGNE + +The ship's head was laid to clear Eimeo to the north, and the +captain sat down in the cabin, with a chart, a ruler, and an +epitome. + +'East a half no'the,' said he, raising his face from his labours. +'Mr Hay, you'll have to watch your dead reckoning; I want +every yard she makes on every hair's-breadth of a course. I'm +going to knock a hole right straight through the Paumotus, and +that's always a near touch. Now, if this South East Trade ever +blew out of the S.E., which it don't, we might hope to lie within +half a point of our course. Say we lie within a point of it. +That'll just about weather Fakarava. Yes, sir, that's what we've +got to do, if we tack for it. Brings us through this slush of +little islands in the cleanest place: see?' And he showed where +his ruler intersected the wide-lying labyrinth of the Dangerous +Archipelago. 'I wish it was night, and I could put her about +right now; we're losing time and easting. Well, we'll do our +best. And if we don't fetch Peru, we'll bring up to Ecuador. All +one, I guess. Depreciated dollars down, and no questions asked. A +remarkable fine institootion, the South American don.' + +Tahiti was already some way astern, the Diadem rising from +among broken mountains--Eimeo was already close aboard, +and stood black and strange against the golden splendour of the +west--when the captain took his departure from the two +islands, and the patent log was set. + +Some twenty minutes later, Sally Day, who was continually +leaving the wheel to peer in at the cabin clock, announced in a +shrill cry 'Fo'bell,' and the cook was to be seen carrying the +soup into the cabin. + +'I guess I'll sit down and have a pick with you,' said Davis to +Herrick. 'By the time I've done, it'll be dark, and we'll clap +the hooker on the wind for South America.' + +In the cabin at one corner of the table, immediately below the +lamp, and on the lee side of a bottle of champagne, sat Huish. +'What's this? Where did that come from?' asked the captain. + +'It's fizz, and it came from the after-'old, if you want to +know,' said Huish, and drained his mug. + +'This'll never do,' exclaimed Davis, the merchant seaman's +horror of breaking into cargo showing incongruously forth on +board that stolen ship. 'There was never any good came of +games like that.' + +'You byby!' said Huish. 'A fellow would think (to 'ear him) +we were on the square! And look 'ere, you've put this job up +'ansomely for me, 'aven't you? I'm to go on deck and steer while +you two sit and guzzle, and I'm to go by nickname, and got to +call you "sir" and "mister." Well, you look here, my bloke: I'll +have fizz ad lib., or it won't wash. I tell you that. And you +know mighty well, you ain't got any man-of-war to signal now.' + +Davis was staggered. 'I'd give fifty dollars this had never +happened,' he said weakly. + +'Well, it 'as 'appened, you see,' returned Huish. 'Try some; +it's devilish good.' + +The Rubicon was crossed without another struggle. The +captain filled a mug and drank. + +'I wish it was beer,' he said with a sigh. 'But there's no +denying it's the genuine stuff and cheap at the money. Now, +Huish, you clear out and take your wheel.' + +The little wretch had gained a point, and he was gay. 'Ay, ay, +sir,' said he, and left the others to their meal. + +'Pea soup!' exclaimed the captain. 'Blamed if I thought I +should taste pea soup again!' + +Herrick sat inert and silent. It was impossible after these +months of hopeless want to smell the rough, high-spiced sea +victuals without lust, and his mouth watered with desire of the +champagne. It was no less impossible to have assisted at the +scene between Huish and the captain, and not to perceive, with +sudden bluntness, the gulf where he had fallen. He was a thief +among thieves. He said it to himself. He could not touch the +soup. If he had moved at all, it must have been to leave the +table, throw himself overboard, and drown--an honest man. + +'Here,' said the captain, 'you look sick, old man; have a drop +of this.' + +The champagne creamed and bubbled in the mug; its bright +colour, its lively effervescence, seized his eye. 'It is too late +to hesitate,' he thought; his hand took the mug instinctively; he +drank, with unquenchable pleasure and desire of more; drained +the vessel dry, and set it down with sparkling eyes. + +'There is something in life after all!' he cried. 'I had forgot +what it was like. Yes, even this is worth while. Wine, food, dry +clothes--why, they're worth dying, worth hanging, for! Captain, +tell me one thing: why aren't all the poor folk foot-pads?' + +'Give it up,' said the captain. + +'They must be damned good,' cried Herrick. 'There's something +here beyond me. Think of that calaboose! Suppose we +were sent suddenly back.' He shuddered as though stung by a +convulsion, and buried his face in his clutching hands. + +'Here, what's wrong with you?' cried the captain. There was +no reply; only Herrick's shoulders heaved, so that the table was +shaken. 'Take some more of this. Here, drink this. I order you +to. Don't start crying when you're out of the wood.' + +'I'm not crying,' said Herrick, raising his face and showing his +dry eyes. 'It's worse than crying. It's the horror of that grave +that we've escaped from.' + +'Come now, you tackle your soup; that'll fix you,' said Davis +kindly. 'I told you you were all broken up. You couldn't have +stood out another week.' + +'That's the dreadful part of it!' cried Herrick. 'Another week +and I'd have murdered someone for a dollar! God! and I know +that? And I'm still living? It's some beastly dream.' + +'Quietly, quietly! Quietly does it, my son. Take your pea +soup. Food, that's what you want,' said Davis. + +The soup strengthened and quieted Herrick's nerves; another +glass of wine, and a piece of pickled pork and fried banana +completed what the soup began; and he was able once more to +look the captain in the face. + +'I didn't know I was so much run down,' he said. + +'Well,' said Davis, 'you were as steady as a rock all day: now +you've had a little lunch, you'll be as steady as a rock again.' + +'Yes,'was the reply, 'I'm steady enough now, but I'm a queer +kind of a first officer.' + +'Shucks!' cried the captain. 'You've only got to mind the +ship's course, and keep your slate to half a point. A babby could +do that, let alone a college graduate like you. There ain't +nothing TO sailoring, when you come to look it in the face. And +now we'll go and put her about. Bring the slate; we'll have to +start our dead reckoning right away.' + +The distance run since the departure was read off the log by +the binnacle light and entered on the slate. + +'Ready about,' said the captain. 'Give me the wheel, White +Man, and you stand by the mainsheet. Boom tackle, Mr Hay, +please, and then you can jump forward and attend head sails.' + +'Ay, ay, sir,' responded Herrick. + +'All clear forward?' asked Davis. + +'All clear, sir.' + +'Hard a-lee!' cried the captain. 'Haul in your slack as she +comes,' he called to Huish. 'Haul in your slack, put your back +into it; keep your feet out of the coils.' A sudden blow sent +Huish flat along the deck, and the captain was in his place. +'Pick yourself up and keep the wheel hard over!' he roared. 'You +wooden fool, you wanted to get killed, I guess. Draw the jib,' he +cried a moment later; and then to Huish, 'Give me the wheel +again, and see if you can coil that sheet.' + +But Huish stood and looked at Davis with an evil countenance. 'Do +you know you struck me?' said he. + +'Do you know I saved your life?' returned the other, not +deigning to look at him, his eyes travelling instead between the +compass and the sails. 'Where would you have been, if that +boom had swung out and you bundled in the clack? No, SIR, +we'll have no more of you at the mainsheet. Seaport towns are +full of mainsheet-men; they hop upon one leg, my son, what's left +of them, and the rest are dead. (Set your boom tackle, Mr +Hay.) Struck you, did I? Lucky for you I did.' + +'Well,' said Huish slowly, 'I daresay there may be somethink +in that. 'Ope there is.' He turned his back elaborately on the +captain, and entered the house, where the speedy explosion of a +champagne cork showed he was attending to his comfort. + +Herrick came aft to the captain. 'How is she doing now?' he +asked. + +'East and by no'the a half no'the,' said Davis. 'It's about as +good as I expected.' + +'What'll the hands think of it?' said Herrick. + +'Oh, they don't think. They ain't paid to,' says the captain. + +'There was something wrong, was there not? between you +and--' Herrick paused. + +'That's a nasty little beast, that's a biter,' replied the +captain, shaking his head. 'But so long as you and me hang in, it +don't matter.' + +Herrick lay down in the weather alleyway; the night was +cloudless, the movement of the ship cradled him, he was +oppressed besides by the first generous meal after so long a time +of famine; and he was recalled from deep sleep by the voice of +Davis singing out: 'Eight bells!' + +He rose stupidly, and staggered aft, where the captain gave +him the wheel. + +'By the wind,' said the captain. 'It comes a little puffy; when +you get a heavy puff, steal all you can to windward, but keep +her a good full.' + +He stepped towards the house, paused and hailed the +forecastle. + +'Got such a thing as a concertina forward?' said he. 'Bully for +you, Uncle Ned. Fetch it aft, will you?' + +The schooner steered very easy; and Herrick, watching the +moon-whitened sails, was overpowered by drowsiness. A sharp +report from the cabin startled him; a third bottle had been +opened; and Herrick remembered the Sea Ranger and Fourteen +Island Group. Presently the notes of the accordion sounded, and +then the captain's voice: + + 'O honey, with our pockets full of money, + + We will trip, trip, trip, we will trip it on the quay, + + And I will dance with Kate, and Tom will dance with Sall, + + When we're all back from South Amerikee.' + +So it went to its quaint air; and the watch below lingered and +listened by the forward door, and Uncle Ned was to be seen in +the moonlight nodding time; and Herrick smiled at the wheel, +his anxieties a while forgotten. Song followed song; another cork +exploded; there were voices raised, as though the pair in +the cabin were in disagreement; and presently it seemed the +breach was healed; for it was now the voice of Huish that struck +up, to the captain's accompaniment-- + + + 'Up in a balloon, boys, + + Up in a balloon, + + All among the little stars + + And round about the moon.' + + +A wave of nausea overcame Herrick at the wheel. He wondered why +the air, the words (which were yet written with a certain knack), +and the voice and accent of the singer, should all +jar his spirit like a file on a man's teeth. He sickened at the +thought of his two comrades drinking away their reason upon +stolen wine, quarrelling and hiccupping and waking up, while +the doors of the prison yawned for them in the near future. +'Shall I have sold my honour for nothing?' he thought; and a +heat of rage and resolution glowed in his bosom--rage against +his comrades--resolution to carry through this business if it +might be carried; pluck profit out of shame, since the shame at +least was now inevitable; and come home, home from South +America--how did the song go?--'with his pockets full of +money': + + +'O honey, with our pockets full of money, + +We will trip, trip, trip, we will trip it on the quay:' + +so the words ran in his head; and the honey took on visible +form, the quay rose before him and he knew it for the lamplit +Embankment, and he saw the lights of Battersea bridge bestride +the sullen river. All through the remainder of his trick, he +stood entranced, reviewing the past. He had been always true to +his love, but not always sedulous to recall her. In the growing +calamity of his life, she had swum more distant, like the moon +in mist. The letter of farewell, the dishonourable hope that had +surprised and corrupted him in his distress, the changed scene, +the sea, the night and the music--all stirred him to the roots of +manhood. 'I WILL win her,' he thought, and ground his teeth. +'Fair or foul, what matters if I win her?' + +'Fo' bell, matey. I think um fo' bell'--he was suddenly recalled +by these words in the voice of Uncle Ned. + +'Look in at the clock, Uncle,' said he. He would not look +himself, from horror of the tipplers. + +'Him past, matey,' repeated the Hawaiian. + +'So much the better for you, Uncle,' he replied; and he gave +up the wheel, repeating the directions as he had received them. + +He took two steps forward and remembered his dead reckoning. 'How +has she been heading?' he thought; and he flushed +from head to foot. He had not observed or had forgotten; here +was the old incompetence; the slate must be filled up by guess. +'Never again!' he vowed to himself in silent fury, 'never again. +It shall be no fault of mine if this miscarry.' And for the +remainder of his watch, he stood close by Uncle Ned, and read +the face of the compass as perhaps he had never read a letter +from his sweetheart. + +All the time, and spurring him to the more attention, song, +loud talk, fleering laughter and the occasional popping of a +cork, reached his ears from the interior of the house; and when +the port watch was relieved at midnight, Huish and the captain +appeared upon the quarter-deck with flushed faces and uneven +steps, the former laden with bottles, the latter with two tin +mugs. Herrick silently passed them by. They hailed him in thick +voices, he made no answer, they cursed him for a churl, he paid +no heed although his belly quivered with disgust and rage. He +closed-to the door of the house behind him, and cast himself on +a locker in the cabin--not to sleep he thought--rather to think +and to despair. Yet he had scarce turned twice on his uneasy +bed, before a drunken voice hailed him in the ear, and he must +go on deck again to stand the morning watch. + +The first evening set the model for those that were to follow. +Two cases of champagne scarce lasted the four-and-twenty +hours, and almost the whole was drunk by Huish and the +captain. Huish seemed to thrive on the excess; he was never +sober, yet never wholly tipsy; the food and the sea air had soon +healed him of his disease, and he began to lay on flesh. But +with Davis things went worse. In the drooping, unbuttoned figure +that sprawled all day upon the lockers, tippling and reading +novels; in the fool who made of the evening watch a public +carouse on the quarter-deck, it would have been hard to +recognise the vigorous seaman of Papeete roads. He kept himself +reasonably well in hand till he had taken the sun and yawned +and blotted through his calculations; but from the moment he +rolled up the chart, his hours were passed in slavish +self-indulgence or in hoggish slumber. Every other branch of his +duty was neglected, except maintaining a stern discipline about +the dinner table. Again and again Herrick would hear the cook +called aft, and see him running with fresh tins, or carrying away +again a meal that had been totally condemned. And the more +the captain became sunk in drunkenness, the more delicate his +palate showed itself. Once, in the forenoon, he had a bo'sun's +chair rigged over the rail, stripped to his trousers, and went +overboard with a pot of paint. 'I don't like the way this +schooner's painted,' said he, 'and I've taken a down upon her +name.' But he tired of it in half an hour, and the schooner went +on her way with an incongruous patch of colour on the stern, +and the word Farallone part obliterated and part looking +through. He refused to stand either the middle or the morning +watch. It was fine-weather sailing, he said; and asked, with a +laugh, 'Who ever heard of the old man standing watch himself?' +To the dead reckoning which Herrick still tried to keep, he +would pay not the least attention nor afford the least +assistance. + +'What do we want of dead reckoning?' he asked. 'We get the +sun all right, don't we?' + +'We mayn't get it always though,' objected Herrick. 'And you +told me yourself you weren't sure of the chronometer.' + +'Oh, there ain't no flies in the chronometer!' cried Davis. + +'Oblige me so far, captain,' said Herrick stiffly. 'I am anxious +to keep this reckoning, which is a part of my duty; I do not +know what to allow for current, nor how to allow for it. I am +too inexperienced; and I beg of you to help me.' + +'Never discourage zealous officer,' said the captain, unrolling +the chart again, for Herrick had taken him over his day's work +and while he was still partly sober. 'Here it is: look for +yourself; anything from west to west no'the-west, and anyways +from five to twenty-five miles. That's what the A'm'ralty chart +says; I guess you don't expect to get on ahead of your own +Britishers?' + +'I am trying to do my duty, Captain Brown,' said Herrick, +with a dark flush, 'and I have the honour to inform you that I +don't enjoy being trifled with.' + +'What in thunder do you want?' roared Davis. 'Go and look +at the blamed wake. If you're trying to do your duty, why don't +you go and do it? I guess it's no business of mine to go and +stick my head over the ship's rump? I guess it's yours. And I'll +tell you what it is, my fine fellow, I'll trouble you not to come +the dude over me. You're insolent, that's what's wrong with you. +Don't you crowd me, Mr Herrick, Esquire.' + +Herrick tore up his papers, threw them on the floor, and left +the cabin. + +'He's turned a bloomin' swot, ain't he?' sneered Huish. + +'He thinks himself too good for his company, that's what ails +Herrick, Esquire,' raged the captain. 'He thinks I don't +understand when he comes the heavy swell. Won't sit down with us, +won't he? won't say a civil word? I'll serve the son of a gun as +he deserves. By God, Huish, I'll show him whether he's too good +for John Davis!' + +'Easy with the names, cap',' said Huish, who was always the +more sober. 'Easy over the stones, my boy!' + +'All right, I will. You're a good sort, Huish. I didn't take to +you at first, but I guess you're right enough. Let's open another +bottle,' said the captain; and that day, perhaps because he was +excited by the quarrel, he drank more recklessly, and by four +o'clock was stretched insensible upon the locker. + +Herrick and Huish supped alone, one after the other, opposite +his flushed and snorting body. And if the sight killed Herrick's +hunger, the isolation weighed so heavily on the clerk's spirit, +that he was scarce risen from table ere he was currying favour +with his former comrade. + +Herrick was at the wheel when he approached, and Huish +leaned confidentially across the binnacle. + +'I say, old chappie,' he said, 'you and me don't seem to be +such pals somehow.' + +Herrick gave her a spoke or two in silence; his eye, as it +skirted from the needle to the luff of the foresail, passed the +man by without speculation. But Huish was really dull, a thing he +could support with difficulty, having no resources of his own. +The idea of a private talk with Herrick, at this stage of their +relations, held out particular inducements to a person of his +character. Drink besides, as it renders some men hyper-sensitive, +made Huish callous. And it would almost have required a blow +to make him quit his purpose. + +'Pretty business, ain't it?' he continued; 'Dyvis on the lush? +Must say I thought you gave it 'im A1 today. He didn't like it a +bit; took on hawful after you were gone.--"'Ere," says I, "'old +on, easy on the lush," I says. "'Errick was right, and you know +it. Give 'im a chanst," I says.--"Uish," sezee, "don't you +gimme no more of your jaw, or I'll knock your bloomin' eyes +out." Well, wot can I do, 'Errick? But I tell you, I don't 'arf +like it. It looks to me like the Sea Rynger over again.' + +Still Herrick was silent. + +'Do you )ear me speak?' asked Huish sharply. 'You're pleasant, +ain't you?' + +'Stand away from that binnacle,' said Herrick. + +The clerk looked at him, long and straight and black; his +figure seemed to writhe like that of a snake about to strike; +then he turned on his heel, went back to the cabin and opened a +bottle of champagne. When eight bells were cried, he slept on +the floor beside the captain on the locker; and of the whole +starboard watch, only Sally Day appeared upon the summons. +The mate proposed to stand the watch with him, and let Uncle +Ned lie down; it would make twelve hours on deck, and +probably sixteen, but in this fair-weather sailing, he might +safely sleep between his tricks of wheel, leaving orders to be +called on any sign of squalls. So far he could trust the men, +between whom and himself a close relation had sprung up. With +Uncle Ned he held long nocturnal conversations, and the old man +told him his simple and hard story of exile, suffering, and +injustice among cruel whites. The cook, when he found Herrick +messed alone, produced for him unexpected and sometimes +unpalatable dainties, of which he forced himself to eat. And one +day, when he was forward, he was surprised to feel a caressing +hand run down his shoulder, and to hear the voice of Sally Day +crooning in his ear: 'You gootch man!' He turned, and, choking +down a sob, shook hands with the negrito. They were kindly, +cheery, childish souls. Upon the Sunday each brought forth his +separate Bible--for they were all men of alien speech even to +each other, and Sally Day communicated with his mates in English +only, each read or made believe to read his chapter, Uncle Ned +with spectacles on his nose; and they would all join together in +the singing of missionary hymns. It was thus a cutting reproof to +compare the islanders and the whites aboard the Farallone. +Shame ran in Herrick's blood to remember what employment +he was on, and to see these poor souls--and even Sally Day, the +child of cannibals, in all likelihood a cannibal himself--so +faithful to what they knew of good. The fact that he was held in +grateful favour by these innocents served like blinders to his +conscience, and there were times when he was inclined, with +Sally Day, to call himself a good man. But the height of his +favour was only now to appear. With one voice, the crew +protested; ere Herrick knew what they were doing, the cook +was aroused and came a willing volunteer; all hands clustered +about their mate with expostulations and caresses; and he was +bidden to lie down and take his customary rest without alarm. + +'He tell you tlue,' said Uncle Ned. 'You sleep. Evely man hae +he do all light. Evely man he like you too much.' + +Herrick struggled, and gave way; choked upon some trivial +words of gratitude; and walked to the side of the house, against +which he leaned, struggling with emotion. + +Uncle Ned presently followed him and begged him to lie +down. + +'It's no use, Uncle Ned,' he replied. 'I couldn't sleep. I'm +knocked over with all your goodness.' + +'Ah, no call me Uncle Ned no mo'!' cried the old man. 'No +my name! My name Taveeta, all-e-same Taveeta King of Islael. Wat +for he call that Hawaii? I think no savvy nothing--all-e- +same Wise-a-mana.' + +It was the first time the name of the late captain had been +mentioned, and Herrick grasped the occasion. The reader shall +be spared Uncle Ned's unwieldy dialect, and learn in less +embarrassing English, the sum of what he now communicated. +The ship had scarce cleared the Golden Gates before the captain +and mate had entered on a career of drunkenness, which was +scarcely interrupted by their malady and only closed by death. +For days and weeks they had encountered neither land nor ship; +and seeing themselves lost on the huge deep with their insane +conductors, the natives had drunk deep of terror. + +At length they made a low island, and went in; and Wiseman +and Wishart landed in the boat. + +There was a great village, a very fine village, and plenty +Kanakas in that place; but all mighty serious; and from every +here and there in the back parts of the settlement, Taveeta heard +the sounds of island lamentation. 'I no savvy TALK that island,' +said he. 'I savvy hear um CLY. I think, Hum! too many people die +here!' But upon Wiseman and Wishart the significance of that +barbaric keening was lost. Full of bread and drink, they +rollicked along unconcerned, embraced the girls who had scarce +energy to repel them, took up and joined (with drunken voices) in +the death wail, and at last (on what they took to be an +invitation) entered under the roof of a house in which was a +considerable concourse of people sitting silent. They stooped +below the eaves, flushed and laughing; within a minute they came +forth again with changed faces and silent tongues; and as the +press severed to make way for them, Taveeta was able to perceive, +in the deep shadow of the house, the sick man raising from his +mat a head already defeatured by disease. The two tragic triflers +fled without hesitation for their boat, screaming on Taveeta to +make haste; they came aboard with all speed of oars, raised +anchor and crowded sail upon the ship with blows and curses, and +were at sea again--and again drunk--before sunset. A week after, +and the last of the two had been committed to the deep. Herrick +asked Taveeta where that island was, and he replied that, by +what he gathered of folks' talk as they went up together from +the beach, he supposed it must be one of the Paumotus. This +was in itself probable enough, for the Dangerous Archipelago +had been swept that year from east to west by devastating +smallpox; but Herrick thought it a strange course to lie from +Sydney. Then he remembered the drink. + +'Were they not surprised when they made the island?' he +asked. + +'Wise-a-mana he say "dam! what this?"' was the reply. + +'O, that's it then,' said Herrick. 'I don't believe they knew +where they were.' + +'I think so too,' said Uncle Ned. 'I think no savvy. This one +mo' betta,' he added, pointing to the house where the drunken +captain slumbered: 'Take-a-sun all-e-time.' + +The implied last touch completed Herrick's picture of the life +and death of his two predecessors; of their prolonged, sordid, +sodden sensuality as they sailed, they knew not whither, on their +last cruise. He held but a twinkling and unsure belief in any +future state; the thought of one of punishment he derided; yet +for him (as for all) there dwelt a horror about the end of the +brutish man. Sickness fell upon him at the image thus called up; +and when he compared it with the scene in which himself was +acting, and considered the doom that seemed to brood upon the +schooner, a horror that was almost superstitious fell upon him. +And yet the strange thing was, he did not falter. He who had +proved his incapacity in so many fields, being now falsely placed +amid duties which he did not understand, without help, and it +might be said without countenance, had hitherto surpassed +expectation; and even the shameful misconduct and shocking +disclosures of that night seemed but to nerve and strengthen +him. He had sold his honour; he vowed it should not be in vain; +'it shall be no fault of mine if this miscarry,' he repeated. And +in his heart he wondered at himself. Living rage no doubt +supported him; no doubt also, the sense of the last cast, of the +ships burned, of all doors closed but one, which is so strong a +tonic to the merely weak, and so deadly a depressant to the +merely cowardly. + +For some time the voyage went otherwise well. They weathered +Fakarava with one board; and the wind holding well to the +southward and blowing fresh, they passed between Ranaka and +Ratiu, and ran some days north-east by east-half-east under the +lee of Takume and Honden, neither of which they made. In +about 14 degrees South and between 134 and 135 degrees West, it +fell a dead calm with rather a heavy sea. The captain refused to +take in sail, the helm was lashed, no watch was set, and the +Farallone rolled and banged for three days, according to +observation, in almost the same place. The fourth morning, a +little before day, a breeze sprang up and rapidly freshened. The +captain had drunk hard the night before; he was far from sober +when he was roused; and when he came on deck for the first time +at half-past eight, it was plain he had already drunk deep again +at breakfast. Herrick avoided his eye; and resigned the deck with +indignation to a man more than half-seas over. + +By the loud commands of the captain and the singing out of +fellows at the ropes, he could judge from the house that sail was +being crowded on the ship; relinquished his half-eaten breakfast; +and came on deck again, to find the main and the jib topsails +set, and both watches and the cook turned out to hand the +staysail. The Farallone lay already far over; the sky was +obscured with misty scud; and from the windward an ominous +squall came flying up, broadening and blackening as it rose. + +Fear thrilled in Herrick's vitals. He saw death hard by; and if +not death, sure ruin. For if the Farallone lived through the +coming squall, she must surely be dismasted. With that their +enterprise was at an end, and they themselves bound prisoners to +the very evidence of their crime. The greatness of the peril +and his own alarm sufficed to silence him. Pride, wrath, and +shame raged without issue in his mind; and he shut his teeth +and folded his arms close. + +The captain sat in the boat to windward, bellowing orders +and insults, his eyes glazed, his face deeply congested; a bottle +set between his knees, a glass in his hand half empty. His back +was to the squall, and he was at first intent upon the setting of +the sail. When that was done, and the great trapezium of canvas +had begun to draw and to trail the lee-rail of the Farallone +level with the foam, he laughed out an empty laugh, drained his +glass, sprawled back among the lumber in the boat, and fetched +out a crumpled novel. + +Herrick watched him, and his indignation glowed red hot. He +glanced to windward where the squall already whitened the near +sea and heralded its coming with a singular and dismal sound. +He glanced at the steersman, and saw him clinging to the spokes +with a face of a sickly blue. He saw the crew were running to +their stations without orders. And it seemed as if something +broke in his brain; and the passion of anger, so long restrained, +so long eaten in secret, burst suddenly loose and shook him like +a sail. He stepped across to the captain and smote his hand +heavily on the drunkard's shoulder. + +'You brute,' he said, in a voice that tottered, 'look behind +you!' + +'Wha's that?' cried Davis, bounding in the boat and upsetting +the champagne. + +'You lost the Sea Ranger because you were a drunken sot,' said +Herrick. 'Now you're going to lose the Farallone. You're going to +drown here the same way as you drowned others, and be damned. And +your daughter shall walk the streets, and your sons be thieves +like their father.' + +For the moment, the words struck the captain white and +foolish. 'My God!' he cried, looking at Herrick as upon a ghost; +'my God, Herrick!' + +'Look behind you, then!' reiterated the assailant. + +The wretched man, already partly sobered, did as he was told, +and in the same breath of time leaped to his feet. 'Down +staysail!' he trumpeted. The hands were thrilling for the order, +and the great sail came with a run, and fell half overboard +among the racing foam. 'Jib topsail-halyards! Let the stays'l +be,' he said again. + +But before it was well uttered, the squall shouted aloud and +fell, in a solid mass of wind and rain commingled, on the +Farallone; and she stooped under the blow, and lay like a thing +dead. From the mind of Herrick reason fled; he clung in the +weather rigging, exulting; he was done with life, and he gloried +in the release; he gloried in the wild noises of the wind and the +choking onslaught of the rain; he gloried to die so, and now, +amid this coil of the elements. And meanwhile, in the waist up +to his knees in water--so low. the schooner lay--the captain +was hacking at the foresheet with a pocket knife. It was a +question of seconds, for the Farallone drank deep of the +encroaching seas. But the hand of the captain had the advance; +the foresail boom tore apart the last strands of the sheet and +crashed to leeward; the Farallone leaped up into the wind and +righted; and the peak and throat halyards, which had long been +let go, began to run at the same instant. + +For some ten minutes more she careered under the impulse of +the squall; but the captain was now master of himself and of his +ship, and all danger at an end. And then, sudden as a trick +change upon the stage, the squall blew by, the wind dropped +into light airs, the sun beamed forth again upon the tattered +schooner; and the captain, having secured the foresail boom and +set a couple of hands to the pump, walked aft, sober, a little +pale, and with the sodden end of a cigar still stuck between his +teeth even as the squall had found it. Herrick followed him; he +could scarce recall the violence of his late emotions, but he +felt there was a scene to go through, and he was anxious and even +eager to go through with it. + +The captain, turning at the house end, met him face to face, +and averted his eyes. 'We've lost the two tops'ls and the +stays'l,' he gabbled. 'Good business, we didn't lose any sticks. +I guess you think we're all the better without the kites.' + +'That's not what I'm thinking,' said Herrick, in a voice +strangely quiet, that yet echoed confusion in the captain's mind. + +'I know that,' he cried, holding up his hand. 'I know what +you're thinking. No use to say it now. I'm sober.' + +'I have to say it, though,' returned Herrick. + +'Hold on, Herrick; you've said enough,' said Davis. 'You've +said what I would take from no man breathing but yourself; +only I know it's true.' + +'I have to tell you, Captain Brown,' pursued Herrick, 'that I +resign my position as mate. You can put me in irons or shoot +me, as you please; I will make no resistance--only, I decline in +any way to help or to obey you; and I suggest you should put +Mr Huish in my place. He will make a worthy first officer to +your captain, sir.' He smiled, bowed, and turned to walk +forward. + +'Where are you going, Herrick?' cried the captain, detaining +him by the shoulder. + +'To berth forward with the men, sir,' replied Herrick, with +the same hateful smile. 'I've been long enough aft here with you +--gentlemen. + +'You're wrong there,' said Davis. 'Don't you be too quick with +me; there ain't nothing wrong but the drink--it's the old +story, man! Let me get sober once, and then you'll see,' he +pleaded. + +'Excuse me, I desire to see no more of you,' said Herrick. + +The captain groaned aloud. 'You know what you said about +my children?' he broke out. + +'By rote. In case you wish me to say it you again?' asked +Herrick. + +'Don't!' cried the captain, clapping his hands to his ears. +'Don't make me kill a man I care for! Herrick, if you see me put +glass to my lips again till we're ashore, I give you leave to +put bullet through me; I beg you to do it! You're the only man +aboard whose carcase is worth losing; do you think I don't +know that? do you think I ever went back on you? I always +knew you were in the right of it--drunk or sober, I knew that. +What do you want?--an oath? Man, you're clever enough to +see that this is sure-enough earnest.' + +'Do you mean there shall be no more drinking?' asked +Herrick, 'neither by you nor Huish? that you won't go on +stealing my profits and drinking my champagne that I gave my +honour for? and that you'll attend to your duties, and stand +watch and watch, and bear your proper share of the ship's +work, instead of leaving it all on the shoulders of a landsman, +and making yourself the butt and scoff of native seamen? Is that +what you mean? If it is, be so good as to say it categorically.' + +'You put these things in a way hard for a gentleman to +swallow,' said the captain. 'You wouldn't have me say I was +ashamed of myself? Trust me this once; I'll do the square thing, +and there's my hand on it.' + +'Well, I'll try it once,' said Herrick. 'Fail me again. . .' + +'No more now!' interrupted Davis. 'No more, old man! +Enough said. You've a riling tongue when your back's up, +Herrick. Just be glad we're friends again, the same as what I +am; and go tender on the raws; I'll see as you don't repent it. +We've been mighty near death this day--don't say whose fault +it was!--pretty near hell, too, I guess. We're in a mighty bad +line of life, us two, and ought to go easy with each other.' + +He was maundering; yet it seemed as if he were maundering +with some design, beating about the bush of some communication +that he feared to make, or perhaps only talking against +time in terror of what Herrick might say next. But Herrick had +now spat his venom; his was a kindly nature, and, content with +his triumph, he had now begun to pity. With a few soothing +words, he sought to conclude the interview, and proposed that +they should change their clothes. + +'Not right yet,' said Davis. 'There's another thing I want to +tell you first. You know what you said about my children? I +want to tell you why it hit me so hard; I kind of think you'll +feel bad about it too. It's about my little Adar. You hadn't +ought to have quite said that--but of course I know you didn't +know. She--she's dead, you see.' + +'Why, Davis!' cried Herrick. 'You've told me a dozen times +she was alive! Clear your head, man! This must be the drink.' + +"No, SIR,' said Davis. 'She's dead. Died of a bowel complaint. +That was when I was away in the brig Oregon. She lies in +Portland, Maine. "Adar, only daughter of Captain John Davis +and Mariar his wife, aged five." I had a doll for her on board. I +never took the paper off'n that doll, Herrick; it went down the +way it was with the Sea Ranger, that day I was damned.' + +The Captain's eyes were fixed on the horizon, he talked with +an extraordinary softness but a complete composure; and Herrick +looked upon him with something that was almost terror. + +'Don't think I'm crazy neither,' resumed Davis. 'I've all the +cold sense that I know what to do with. But I guess a man that's +unhappy's like a child; and this is a kind of a child's game of +mine. I never could act up to the plain-cut truth, you see; so I +pretend. And I warn you square; as soon as we're through with +this talk, I'll start in again with the pretending. Only, you +see, she can't walk no streets,' added the captain, 'couldn't +even make out to live and get that doll!' + +Herrick laid a tremulous hand upon the captain's shoulder. + +'Don't do that" cried Davis, recoiling from the touch. 'Can't +you see I'm all broken up the way it is? Come along, then; come +along, old man; you can put your trust in me right through; +come along and get dry clothes.' + +They entered the cabin, and there was Huish on his knees +prising open a case of champagne. + +"Vast, there!' cried the captain. 'No more of that. No more +drinking on this ship.' + +'Turned teetotal, 'ave you?' inquired Hu'sh. 'I'm agreeable. +About time, eh? Bloomin' nearly lost another ship, I fancy.' He +took out a bottle and began calmly to burst the wire with the +spike of a corkscrew. + +'Do you hear me speak?' cried Davis. + +'I suppose I do. You speak loud enough,' said Huish. 'The +trouble is that I don't care.' + +Herrick plucked the captain's sleeve. 'Let him free now,' he +said. 'We've had all we want this morning.' + +'Let him have it then,' said the captain. 'It's his last.' + +By this time the wire was open, the string was cut, the head +of glided paper was torn away; and Huish waited, mug in hand, +expecting the usual explosion. It did not follow. He eased the +cork with his thumb; still there was no result. At last he took +the screw and drew it. It came out very easy and with scarce a +sound. + +"Illo!'said Huish. "Ere's a bad bottle.' + +He poured some of the wine into the mug; it was colourless and +still. He smelt and tasted it. + +'W'y, wot's this?' he said. 'It's water!' + +If the voice of trumpets had suddenly sounded about the ship +in the midst of the sea, the three men in the house could +scarcely have been more stunned than by this incident. The mug +passed round; each sipped, each smelt of it; each stared at the +bottle in its glory of gold paper as Crusoe may have stared at +the footprint; and their minds were swift to fix upon a common +apprehension. The difference between a bottle of champagne +and a bottle of water is not great; between a shipload of one or +the other lay the whole scale from riches to ruin. + +A second bottle was broached. There were two cases standing +ready in a stateroom; these two were brought out, broken open, +and tested. Still with the same result: the contents were still +colourless and tasteless, and dead as the rain in a beached +fishing-boat. + +'Crikey!' said Huish. + +'Here, let's sample the hold!' said the captain, mopping his +brow with a back-handed sweep; and the three stalked out of +the house, grim and heavy-footed. + +All hands were turned out; two Kanakas were sent below, +another stationed at a purchase; and Davis, axe in hand, took +his place beside the coamings. + +'Are you going to let the men know?' whispered Herrick. + +'Damn the men!' said Davis. 'It's beyond that. We've got to +know ourselves.' + +Three cases were sent on deck and sampled in turn; from each +bottle, as the captain smashed it with the axe, the champagne +ran bubbling and creaming. + +'Go deeper, can't you?' cried Davis to the Kanakas in the +hold. + +The command gave the signal for a disastrous change. Case +after case came up, bottle after bottle was burst and bled mere +water. Deeper yet, and they came upon a layer where there was +scarcely so much as the intention to deceive; where the cases +were no longer branded, the bottles no longer wired or papered, +where the fraud was manifest and stared them in the face. + +'Here's about enough of this foolery!' said Davis. 'Stow back +the cases in the hold, Uncle, and get the broken crockery +overboard. Come with me,' he added to his co-adventurers, and +led the way back into the cabin. + + + +Chapter 6. THE PARTNERS + +Each took a side of the fixed table; it was the first time they +had sat down at it together; but now all sense of incongruity, +all memory of differences, was quite swept away by the presence +of the common ruin. + +'Gentlemen,' said the captain, after a pause, and with very +much the air of a chairman opening a board-meeting, 'we're +sold.' + +Huish broke out in laughter. 'Well, if this ain't the 'ighest old +rig!' he cried. 'And Dyvis, 'ere, who thought he had got up so +bloomin' early in the mornin'! We've stolen a cargo of spring +water! Oh, my crikey!' and he squirmed with mirth. + +The captain managed to screw out a phantom smile. + +'Here's Old Man Destiny again,' said he to Herrick, 'but this +time I guess he's kicked the door right in.' + +Herrick only shook his head. + +'O Lord, it's rich!' laughed Huish. 'it would really be a +scrumptious lark if it 'ad 'appened to somebody else! And wot +are we to do next? Oh, my eye! with this bloomin' schooner, +too?' + +'That's the trouble,' said Davis. 'There's only one thing +certain: it's no use carting this old glass and ballast to Peru. +No, SIR, we're in a hole.' + +'O my, and the merchand' cried Huish; 'the man that made +this shipment! He'll get the news by the mail brigantine; and +he'll think of course we're making straight for Sydney.' + +'Yes, he'll be a sick merchant,' said the captain. 'One thing: +this explains the Kanaka crew. If you're going to lose a ship, I +would ask no better myself than a Kanaka crew. But there's one +thing it don't explain; it don't explain why she came down +Tahiti ways.' + +'Wy, to lose her, you byby!' said Huish. + +'A lot you know,' said the captain. 'Nobody wants to lose a +schooner; they want to lose her ON HER COURSE, you skeericks! +You seem to think underwriters haven't got enough sense to +come in out of the rain.' + +'Well,' said Herrick, 'I can tell you (I am afraid) why she came +so far to the eastward. I had it of Uncle Ned. It seems these two +unhappy devils, Wiseman and Wishart, were drunk on the +champagne from the beginning--and died drunk at the end.' + +The captain looked on the table. + +'They lay in their two bunks, or sat here in this damned +house,' he pursued, with rising agitation, 'filling their skins +with the accursed stuff, till sickness took them. As they +sickened and the fever rose, they drank the more. They lay here +howling and groaning, drunk and dying, all in one. They didn't +know where they were, they didn't care. They didn't even take the +sun, it seems.' + +'Not take the sun?' cried the captain, looking up. 'Sacred +Billy! what a crowd!' + +'Well, it don't matter to Joe!' said Huish. 'Wot are Wiseman +and the t'other buffer to us?' + +'A good deal, too,' says the captain. 'We're their heirs, I +guess.' + +'It is a great inheritance,' said Herrick. + +'Well, I don't know about that,' returned Davis. 'Appears to +me as if it might be worse. 'Tain't worth what the cargo would +have been of course, at least not money down. But I'll tell you +what it appears to figure up to. Appears to me as if it amounted +to about the bottom dollar of the man in 'Frisco.' + +''Old on,' said Huish. 'Give a fellow time; 'ow's this, umpire?' + +'Well, my sons,' pursued the captain, who seemed to have +recovered his assurance, 'Wiseman and Wishart were to be paid +for casting away this old schooner and its cargo. We're going to +cast away the schooner right enough; and I'll make it my private +business to see that we get paid. What were W. and W. to get? +That's more'n I can tell. But W. and W. went into this business +themselves, they were on the crook. Now WE'RE on the square, +we only stumbled into it; and that merchant has just got to +squeal, and I'm the man to see that he squeals good. No, sir! +there's some stuffing to this Farallone racket after all.' + +'Go it, cap!' cried Huish. 'Yoicks! Forrard! 'Old 'ard! There's +your style for the money! Blow me if I don't prefer this to the +hother.' + +'I do not understand,' said Herrick. 'I have to ask you to +excuse. me; I do not understand.' + +'Well now, see here, Herrick,' said Davis, 'I'm going to have a +word with you anyway upon a different matter, and it's good +that Huish should hear it too. We're done with this boozing +business, and we ask your pardon for it right here and now. We +have to thank you for all you did for us while we were making +hogs of ourselves; you'll find me turn-to all right in future; +and as for the wine, which I grant we stole from you, I'll take +stock and see you paid for it. That's good enough, I believe. But +what I want to point out to you is this. The old game was a risky +game. The new game's as safe as running a Vienna Bakery. We +just put this Farallone before the wind, and run till we're well +to looard of our port of departure and reasonably well up with +some other place, where they have an American Consul. Down +goes the Farallone, and good-bye to her! A day or so in the +boat; the consul packs us home, at Uncle Sam's expense, to +'Frisco; and if that merchant don't put the dollars down, you +come to me!' + +'But I thought,' began Herrick; and then broke out; 'oh, let's +get on to Peru!' + +'Well, if you're going to Peru for your health, I won't say no!' +replied. the captain. 'But for what other blame' shadow of a +reason you should want to go there, gets me clear. We don't +want to go there with this cargo; I don't know as old bottles is +a lively article anywheres; leastways, I'll go my bottom cent, it +ain't Peru. It was always a doubt if we could sell the schooner; +I never rightly hoped to, and now I'm sure she ain't worth a hill +of beans; what's wrong with her, I don't know; I only know it's +something, or she wouldn't be here with this truck in her inside. +Then again, if we lose her, and land in Peru, where are we? We +can't declare the loss, or how did we get to Peru? In that case +the merchant can't touch the insurance; most likely he'll go +bust; and don't you think you see the three of us on the beach of +Callao?' + +'There's no extradition there,' said Herrick. + +'Well, my son, and we want to be extraded,' said the captain. + +'What's our point? We want to have a consul extrade us as far +as San Francisco and that merchant's office door. My idea is +that Samoa would be found an eligible business centre. It's dead +before the wind; the States have a consul there, and 'Frisco +steamers call, so's we could skip right back and interview the +merchant.' + +'Samoa?' said Herrick. 'It will take us for ever to get there.' + +'Oh, with a fair wind!' said the captain. + +'No trouble about the log, eh?' asked Huish. + +'No, SIR,' said Davis. 'Ligbt airs and baffling winds. Squalls +and calms. D. R.: five miles. No obs. Pumps attended. And fill +in the barometer and thermometer off of last year's trip.' 'Never +saw such a voyage,' says you to the consul. 'Thought I was +going to run short . . .' He stopped in mid career. "Say,' he +began again, and once more stopped. 'Beg your pardon, Herrick,' +he added with undisguised humility, 'but did you keep the +run of the stores?' + +'Had I been told to do so, it should have been done, as the +rest was done, to the best of my little ability,' said Herrick. +'As it was, the cook helped himself to what he pleased.' + +Davis looked at the table. + +'I drew it rather fine, you see,' he said at last. 'The great +thing was to clear right out of Papeete before the consul could +think better of it. Tell you what: I guess I'll take stock.' + +And he rose from table and disappeared with a lamp in the +lazarette. + +"Ere's another screw loose,' observed Huish. + +'My man,' said Herrick, with a sudden gleam of animosity, 'it +is still your watch on deck, and surely your wheel also?' + +'You come the 'eavy swell, don't you, ducky?' said Huish. + +'Stand away from that binnacle. Surely your w'eel, my man. +Yah.' + +He lit a cigar ostentatiously, and strolled into the waist with +his hands in his pockets. + +In a surprisingly short time, the captain reappeared; he did +not look at Herrick, but called Huish back and sat down. + +'Well,' he began, 'I've taken stock--roughly.' He paused as if +for somebody to help him out; and none doing so, both gazing +on him instead with manifest anxiety, he yet more heavily +resumed. 'Well, it won't fight. We can't do it; that's the bed +rock. I'm as sorry as what you can be, and sorrier. We can't +look near Samoa. I don't know as we could get to Peru.' + +'Wot-ju mean?' asked Huish brutally. + +'I can't 'most tell myself,' replied the captain. 'I drew it +fine; I said I did; but what's been going on here gets me! +Appears as if the devil had been around. That cook must be the +holiest kind of fraud. Only twelve days, too! Seems like +craziness. I'll own up square to one thing: I seem to have +figured too fine upon the flour. But the rest--my land! I'll +never understand it! There's been more waste on this twopenny +ship than what there is to an Atlantic Liner.' He stole a glance +at his companions; nothing good was to be gleaned from their dark +faces; and he had recourse to rage. 'You wait till I interview +that cook!' he roared and smote the table with his fist. 'I'll +interview the son of a gun so's he's never been spoken to before. +I'll put a bead upon the--' + +'You will not lay a finger on the man,' said Herrick. 'The fault +is yours and you know it. If you turn a savage loose in your +store-room, you know what to expect. I will not allow the man +to be molested.' + +It is hard to say how Davis might have taken this defiance; +but he was diverted to a fresh assailant. + +'Well!' drawled Huish, 'you're a plummy captain, ain't you? +You're a blooming captain! Don't you, set up any of your chat +to me, John Dyvis: I know you now, you ain't any more use +than a bloomin' dawl! Oh, you "don't know", don't you? Oh, +it "gets you", do it? Oh, I dessay! W'y, we en't you 'owling for +fresh tins every blessed day? 'Ow often 'ave I 'eard you send the +'ole bloomin' dinner off and tell the man to chuck it in the +swill tub? And breakfast? Oh, my crikey! breakfast for ten, and +you 'ollerin' for more! And now you "can't 'most tell"! Blow me, +if it ain't enough to make a man write an insultin' letter to +Gawd! You dror it mild, John Dyvis; don't 'andle me; I'm +dyngerous.' + +Davis sat like one bemused; it might even have been doubted +if he heard, but the voice of the clerk rang about the cabin like +that of a cormorant among the ledges of the cliff. + +'That will do, Huish,' said Herrick. + +'Oh, so you tyke his part, do you? you stuck-up sneerin' snob! +Tyke it then. Come on, the pair of you. But as for John Dyvis, +let him look out! He struck me the first night aboard, and I +never took a blow yet but wot I gave as good. Let him knuckle +down on his marrow bones and beg my pardon. That's my last +word.' + +'I stand by the Captain,' said Herrick. 'That makes us two to +one, both good men; and the crew will all follow me. I hope I +shall die very soon; but I have not the least objection to +killing you before I go. I should prefer it so; I should do it +with no more remorse than winking. Take care--take care, you +little cad!' + +The animosity with which these words were uttered was so +marked in itself, and so remarkable in the man who uttered +them that Huish stared, and even the humiliated Davis reared +up his head and gazed at his defender. As for Herrick, the +successive agitations and disappointments of the day had left +him wholly reckless; he was conscious of a pleasant glow, an +agreeable excitement; his head seemed empty, his eyeballs +burned as he turned them, his throat was dry as a biscuit; the +least dangerous man by nature, except in so far as the weak are +always dangerous, at that moment he was ready to slay or to be +slain with equal unconcern. + +Here at least was the gage thrown down, and battle offered; +he who should speak next would bring the matter to an issue +there and then; all knew it to be so and hung back; and for +many seconds by the cabin clock, the trio sat motionless and +silent. + +Then came an interruption, welcome as the flowers in May. + +'Land ho!' sang out a voice on deck. 'Land a weatha bow!' + +'Land!' cried Davis, springing to his feet. 'What's this? There +ain't no land here.' + +And as men may run from the chamber of a murdered corpse, +the three ran forth out of the house and left their quarrel +behind them, undecided. + +The sky shaded down at the sea level to the white of opals; the +sea itself, insolently, inkily blue, drew all about them the +uncompromising wheel of the horizon. Search it as they pleased, +not even the practisect eye of Captain Davis could descry the +smallest interruption. A few filmy clouds were slowly melting +overhead; and about the schooner, as around the only point of +interest, a tropic bird, white as a snowflake, hung, and circled, +and displayed, as it turned, the long vermilion feather of its +tall. Save the sea and the heaven, that was all. + +'Who sang out land?' asked Davis. 'If there's any boy playing +funny dog with me, I'll teach him skylarking!' + +But Uncle Ned contentedly pointed to a part of the horizon, +where a greenish, filmy iridescence could be discerned floating +like smoke on the pale heavens. + +Davis applied his glass to it, and then looked at the Kanaka. +'Call that land?' said he. 'Well, it's more than I do.' + +'One time long ago,' said Uncle Ned, 'I see Anaa all-e-same +that, four five hours befo' we come up. Capena he say sun go +down, sun go up again; he say lagoon all-e-same milla.' + +'All-e-same WHAT?' asked Davis. + +'Milla, sah,' said Uncle Ned. + +'Oh, ah! mirror,' said Davis. 'I see; reflection from the lagoon. +Well, you know, it is just possible, though it's strange I never +heard of it. Here, let's look at the chart.' + +They went back to the cabin, and found the position of the +schooner well to windward of the archipelago in the midst of a +white field of paper. + +'There! you see for yourselves,' said Davis. + +'And yet I don't know,' said Herrick, 'I somehow think there's +something in it. I'll tell you one thing too, captain; that's all +right about the reflection; I heard it in Papeete.' + +'Fetch up that Findlay, then!' said Davis. 'I'll try it all +ways. An island wouldn't come amiss, the way we're fixed.' + +The bulky volume was handed up to him, broken-backed as +is the way with Findlay; and he turned to the place and began +to run over the text, muttering to himself and turning over the +pages with a wetted finger. + +'Hullo!' he exclaimed. 'How's this?' And he read aloud. 'New +Island. According to M. Delille this island, which from private +interests would remain unknown, lies, it is said, in lat. 12 +degrees 49' 10" S. long. 113degrees 6' W. In addition to the +position above given Commander Matthews, H.M.S. Scorpion, states +that an island exists in lat. 12 degrees 0' S. long. 13 degrees +16' W. This must be the same, if such an island exists, which is +very doubtful, and totally disbelieved in by South Sea traders.' + +'Golly!' said Huish. + +'It's rather in the conditional mood,' said Herrick. + +'It's anything you please,' cried Davis, 'only there it is! +That's our place, and don't you make any mistake.' + +"'Which from private interests would remain unknown,"' +read Herrick, over his shoulder. 'What may that mean?' + +'It should mean pearls,' said Davis. 'A pearling island the +government don't know about? That sounds like real estate. Or +suppose it don't mean anything. Suppose it's just an island; I +guess we could fill up with fish, and cocoanuts, and native +stuff, and carry out the Samoa scheme hand over fist. How long +did he say it was before they raised Anaa) Five hours, I think?' + +'Four or five,' said Herrick. + +Davis stepped to the door. 'What breeze had you that time +you made Anaa, Uncle Ned?' said he. + +'Six or seven knots,' was the reply. + +'Thirty or thirty-five miles,' said Davis. 'High time we were +shortening sail, then. If it is an island, we don't want to be +butting our head against it in the dark; and if it isn't an +island, we can get through it just as well by daylight. Ready +about!' he roared. + +And the schooner's head was laid for that elusive glimmer in +the sky, which began already to pale in lustre and diminish in +size, as the stain of breath vanishes from a window pane. At the +same time she was reefed close down. + + + +Part II + +THE QUARTETTE + +Chapter 7. THE PEARL-FISHER + +About four in the morning, as the captain and Herrick sat +together on the rail, there arose from the midst of the night in +front of them the voice of breakers. Each sprang to his feet and +stared and listened. The sound was continuous, like the passing +of a train; no rise or fall could be distinguished; minute by +minute the ocean heaved with an equal potency against the +invisible isle; and as time passed, and Herrick waited in vain +for any vicissitude in the volume of that roaring, a sense of the +eternal weighed upon his mind. To the expert eye the isle itself +was to be inferred from a certain string of blots along the +starry heaven. And the schooner was laid to and anxiously +observed till daylight. + +There was little or no morning bank. A brightening came in +the east; then a wash of some ineffable, faint, nameless hue +between crimson and silver; and then coals of fire. These +glimmered a while on the sea line, and seemed to brighten and +darken and spread out, and still the night and the stars reigned +undisturbed; it was as though a spark should catch and glow +and creep along the foot of some heavy and almost incombusti- +ble wall-hanging, and the room itself be scarce menaced. Yet a +little after, and the whole east glowed with gold and scarlet, +and the hollow of heaven was filled with the daylight. + +The isle--the undiscovered, the scarce believed-in--now lay +before them and close aboard; and Herrick thought that never +in his dreams had he beheld anything more strange and delicate. +The beach was excellently white, the continuous barrier of trees +inimitably green; the land perhaps ten feet high, the trees +thirty more. Every here and there, as the schooner coasted +northward, the wood was intermitted; and he could see clear over +the inconsiderable strip of land (as a man looks over a wall) to +the lagoon within--and clear over that again to where the far +side of the atoll prolonged its pencilling of trees against the +morning sky. He tortured himself to find analogies. The isle was +like the rim of a great vessel sunken in the waters; it was like +the embankment of an annular railway grown upon with wood: so +slender it seemed amidst the outrageous breakers, so frail and +pretty, he would scarce have wondered to see it sink and +disappear without a sound, and the waves close smoothly over +its descent. + +Meanwhile the captain was in the forecross-trees, glass in +hand, his eyes in every quarter, spying for an entrance, spying +for signs of tenancy. But the isle continued to unfold itself in +joints, and to run out in indeterminate capes, and still there +was neither house nor man, nor the smoke of fire. Here a +multitude of sea-birds soared and twinkled, and fished in the +blue waters; and there, and for miles together, the fringe of +cocoa-palm and pandanus extended desolate, and made desirable +green bowers for nobody to visit, and the silence of death was +only broken by the throbbing of the sea. + +The airs were very light, their speed was small; the heat +intense. The decks were scorching underfoot, the sun flamed +overhead, brazen, out of a brazen sky; the pitch bubbled in the +seams, and the brains in the brain-pan. And all the while the +excitement of the three adventurers glowed about their bones +like a fever. They whispered, and nodded, and pointed, and put +mouth to ear, with a singular instinct of secrecy, approaching +that island underhand like eavesdroppers and thieves; and even +Davis from the cross-trees gave his orders mostly by gestures. +The hands shared in this mute strain, like dogs, without +comprehending it; and through the roar of so many miles of +breakers, it was a silent ship that approached an empty island. + +At last they drew near to the break in that interminable +gangway. A spur of coral sand stood forth on the one hand; on +the other a high and thick tuft of trees cut off the view; +between was the mouth of the huge laver. Twice a day the ocean +crowded in that narrow entrance and was heaped between these +frail walls; twice a day, with the return of the ebb, the mighty +surplusage of water must struggle to escape. The hour in which +the Farallone came there was the hour of flood. The sea turned +(as with the instinct of the homing pigeon) for the vast +receptacle, swept eddying through the gates, was transmuted, as +it did so, into a wonder of watery and silken hues, and brimmed +into the inland sea beyond. The schooner looked up close-hauled, +and was caught and carried away by the influx like a toy. She +skimmed; she flew; a momentary shadow touched her decks +from the shore-side trees; the bottom of the channel showed up +for a moment and was in a moment gone; the next, she floated +on the bosom of the lagoon, and below, in the transparent +chamber of waters, a myriad of many-coloured fishes were +sporting, a myriad pale-flowers of coral diversified the floor. + +Herrick stood transported. In the gratified lust of his eye, he +forgot the past and the present; forgot that he was menaced by +a prison on the one hand and starvation on the other; forgot +that he was come to that island, desperately foraging, clutching +at expedients. A drove of fishes, painted like the rainbow and +billed like parrots, hovered up in the shadow of the schooner, +and passed clear of it, and glinted in the submarine sun. They +were beautiful, like birds, and their silent passage impressed +him like a strain of song. + +Meanwhile, to the eye of Davis in the cross-trees, the lagoon +continued to expand its empty waters, and the long succession +of the shore-side trees to be paid out like fishing line off a +reel. And still there was no mark of habitation. The schooner, +immediately on entering, had been kept away to the nor'ard +where the water seemed to be the most deep; and she was now +skimming past the tall grove of trees, which stood on that side +of the channel and denied further view. Of the whole of the low +shores of the island, only this bight remained to be revealed. +And suddenly the curtain was raised; they began to open out a +haven, snugly elbowed there, and beheld, with an astonishment +beyond words, the roofs of men. + +The appearance, thus 'instantaneously disclosed' to those on +the deck of the Farallone, was not that of a city, rather of a +substantial country farm with its attendant hamlet: a long line +of sheds and store-houses; apart, upon the one side, a deep- +verandah'ed dwelling-house; on the other, perhaps a dozen +native huts; a building with a belfry and some rude offer at +architectural features that might be thought to mark it out for a +chapel; on the beach in front some heavy boats drawn up, and +a pile of timber running forth into the burning shallows of the +lagoon. From a flagstaff at the pierhead, the red ensign of +England was displayed. Behind, about, and over, the same tall +grove of palms, which had masked the settlement in the beginning, +prolonged its root of tumultuous green fans, and turned +and ruffled overhead, and sang its silver song all day in the +wind. The place had the indescribable but unmistakable appearance +of being in commission; yet there breathed from it a sense +of desertion that was almost poignant, no human figure was to +be observed going to and fro about the houses, and there was +no sound of human industry or enjoyment. Only, on the top of +the beach and hard by the flagstaff, a woman of exorbitant +stature and as white as snow was to be seen beckoning with +uplifted arm. The second glance identified her as a piece of +naval sculpture, the figure-head of a ship that had long hovered +and plunged into so many running billows, and was now brought +ashore to be the ensign and presiding genius of that empty town. + +The Farallone made a soldier's breeze of it; the wind, besides, +was stronger inside than without under the lee of the land; and +the stolen schooner opened out successive objects with the +swiftness of a panorama, so that the adventurers stood +speechless. The flag spoke for itself; it was no frayed and +weathered trophy that had beaten itself to pieces on the post, +flying over desolation; and to make assurance stronger, there was +to be descried in the deep shade of the verandah, a glitter of +crystal and the fluttering of white napery. If the figure-head at +the pier end, with its perpetual gesture and its leprous +whiteness, reigned alone in that hamlet as it seemed to do, it +would not have reigned long. Men's hands had been busy, men's +feet stirring there, within the circuit of the clock. The +Farallones were sure of it; their eyes dug in the deep shadow of +the palms for some one hiding; if intensity of looking might have +prevailed, they would have pierced the walls of houses; and there +came to them, in these pregnant seconds, a sense of being watched +and played with, and of a blow impending, that was hardly +bearable. + +The extreme point of palms they had just passed enclosed a +creek, which was thus hidden up to the last moment from the +eyes of those on board; and from this, a boat put suddenly and +briskly out, and a voice hailed. + +'Schooner aboy!' it cried. 'Stand in for the pier! In two +cables' lengths you'll have twenty fathoms water and good holding +ground.' + +The boat was manned with a couple of brown oarsmen in +scanty kilts of blue. The speaker, who was steering, wore white +clothes, the full dress oi the tropics; a wide hat shaded his +face; but it could be seen that be was of stalwart size, and his +voice sounded like a gentleman's. So much could be made out. It +was plain, besides, that the Farallone had been descried some +time before at sea, and the inhabitants were prepared for its +reception. + +Mechanically the orders were obeyed, and the ship berthed; +and the three adventurers gathered aft beside the house and +waited, with galloping pulses and a perfect vacancy of mind, the +coming of the stranger who might mean so much to them. They +had no plan, no story prepared; there was no time to make one; +they were caught red-handed and must stand their chance. Yet +this anxiety was chequered with hope. The island being +undeclared, it was not possible the man could hold any office or +be in a position to demand their papers. And beyond that, if +there was any truth in Findlay, as it now seemed there should be, +he was the representative of the 'private reasons,' he must see +their coming with a profound disappointment; and perhaps (hope +whispered) he would be willing and able to purchase their +silence. + +The boat was by that time forging alongside, and they were +able at last to see what manner of man they had to do with. He +was a huge fellow, six feet four in height, and of a build +proportionately strong, but his sinews seemed to be dissolved in +a listlessness that was more than languor. It was only the eye +that corrected this impression; an eye of an unusual mingled +brilliancy and softness, sombre as coal and with lights that +outshone the topaz; an eye of unimpaired health and virility; an +eye that bid you beware of the man's devastating anger. A +complexion, naturally dark, had been tanned in the island to a +hue hardly distinguishable from that of a Tahitian; only his +manners and movements, and the living force that dwelt in him, +like fire in flint, betrayed the European. He was dressed in +white drill, exquisitely made; his scarf and tie were of +tender-coloured silks; on the thwart beside him there leaned a +Winchester rifle. + +'Is the doctor on board?' he cried as he came up. 'Dr Symonds, +I mean? You never heard of him? Nor yet of the Trinity Hall? +Ah!' + +He did not look surprised, seemed rather to affect it in +politeness; but his eye rested on each of the three white men in +succession with a sudden weight of curiosity that was almost +savage. 'Ah, THEN!' said he, 'there is some small mistake, no +doubt, and I must ask you to what I am indebted for this +pleasure?' + +He was by this time on the deck, but he had the art to be +quite unapproachable; the friendliest vulgarian, three parts +drunk, would have known better than take liberties; and not +one of the adventurers so much as offered to shake hands. + +'Well,' said Davis, 'I suppose you may call it an accident. We +had heard of your island, and read that thing in the Directory +about the PRIVATE REASONS, you see; so when we saw the lagoon +reflected in the sky, we put her head for it at once, and so here +we are.' + +''Ope we don't intrude!' said Huish. + +The stranger looked at Huish with an air of faint surprise, +and looked pointedly away again. It was hard to be more +offensive in dumb show. + +'It may suit me, your coming here,' he said. 'My own schooner +is overdue, and I may put something in your way in the +meantime. Are you open to a charter?' + +'Well, I guess so,' said Davis; 'it depends.' + +'My name is Attwater,' continued the stranger. 'You, I +presume, are the captain?' + +'Yes, sir. I am the captain of this ship: Captain Brown,' was +the reply. + +'Well, see 'ere!' said Huish, 'better begin fair! 'E's skipper on +deck right enough, but not below. Below, we're all equal, all got +a lay in the adventure; when it comes to business, I'm as good +as 'e; and what I say is, let's go into the 'ouse and have a +lush, and talk it over among pals. We've some prime fizz,' he +said, and winked. + +The presence of the gentleman lighted up like a candle the +vulgarity of the clerk; and Herrick instinctively, as one shields +himself from pain, made haste to interrupt. + +'My name is Hay,' said he, 'since introductions are going. We +shall be very glad if you will step inside.' + +Attwater leaned to him swiftly. 'University man?' said he. + +'Yes, Merton,' said Herrick, and the next moment blushed +scarlet at his indiscretion. + +'I am of the other lot,' said Attwater: 'Trinity Hall, Cambridge. +I called my schooner after the old shop. Well! this is a +queer place and company for us to meet in, Mr Hay,' he +pursued, with easy incivility to the others. 'But do you bear out +... I beg this gentleman's pardon, I really did not catch his +name.' + +'My name is 'Uish, sir,' returned the clerk, and blushed in +turn. + +'Ah!' said Attwater. And then turning again to Herrick, 'Do +you bear out Mr Whish's description of your vintage? or was it +only the unaffected poetry of his own nature bubbling up?' + +Herrick was embarrassed; the silken brutality of their visitor +made him blush; that he should be accepted as an equal, and +the others thus pointedly ignored, pleased him in spite of +himself, and then ran through his veins in a recoil of anger. + +'I don't know,' he said. 'It's only California; it's good +enough, I believe.' + +Attwater seemed to make up his mind. 'Well then, I'll tell you +what: you three gentlemen come ashore this evening and bring a +basket of wine with you; I'll try and find the food,' he said. +'And by the by, here is a question I should have asked you when +I come on board: have you had smallpox?' + +'Personally, no,' said Herrick. 'But the schooner had it.' + +'Deaths?' from Attwater. + +'Two,' said Herrick. + +'Well, it is a dreadful sickness,' said Attwater. + +"Ad you any deaths?' asked Huish, ''ere on the island?' + +'Twenty-nine,' said Attwater. 'Twenty-nine deaths and thirty-one +cases, out of thirty-three souls upon the island.--That's a +strange way to calculate, Mr Hay, is it not? Souls! I never say +it but it startles me.' + +'Oh, so that's why everything's deserted?' said Huish. + +'That is why, Mr Whish,' said Attwater; 'that is why the +house is empty and the graveyard full.' + +'Twenty-nine out of thirty-three!' exclaimed Herrick, 'Why, +when it came to burying--or did you bother burying?' + +'Scarcely,' said Attwater; 'or there was one day at least when +we gave up. There were five of the dead that morning, and +thirteen of the dying, and no one able to go about except the +sexton and myself. We held a council of war, took the. . . empty +bottles ... into the lagoon, and buried them.' He looked +over his shoulder, back at the bright water. 'Well, so you'll +come to dinner, then? Shall we say half-past six. So good of +you!' + +His voice, in uttering these conventional phrases, fell at once +into the false measure of society; and Herrick unconsciously +followed the example. + +'I am sure we shall be very glad,' he said. 'At half-past six? +Thank you so very much.' + +'"For my voice has been tuned to the note of the gun + +That startles the deep when the combat's begun,"' + +quoted Attwater, with a smile, which instantly gave way to an +air of funereal solemnity. 'I shall particularly expect Mr +Whish,' he continued. 'Mr Whish, I trust you understand the +invitation?' + +'I believe you, my boy!' replied the genial Huish. + +'That is right then; and quite understood, is it not?' said +Attwater. 'Mr Whish and Captain Brown at six-thirty without +fault--and you, Hay, at four sharp.' + +And he called his boat. + +During all this talk, a load of thought or anxiety had weighed +upon the captain. There was no part for which nature had so +liberally endowed him as that of the genial ship captain. But +today he was silent and abstracted. Those who knew him could +see that he hearkened close to every syllable, and seemed to +ponder and try it in balances. It would have been hard to say +what look there was, cold, attentive, and sinister, as of a man +maturing plans, which still brooded over the unconscious guest; +it was here, it was there, it was nowhere; it was now so little +that Herrick chid himself for an idle fancy; and anon it was so +gross and palpable that you could say every hair on the man's +head talked mischief. + +He woke up now, as with a start. 'You were talking of a +charter,' said he. + +'Was I?' said Attwater. 'Well, let's talk of it no more at +present.' + +'Your own schooner is overdue, I understand?' continued the +captain. + +'You understand perfectly, Captain Brown,' said Attwater; +'thirty-three days overdue at noon today.' + +'She comes and goes, eh? plies between here and . . . ?' hinted +the captain. + +'Exactly; every four months; three trips in the year,' said +Attwater. + +'You go in her, ever?' asked Davis. + +'No, one stops here,' said Attwater, 'one has plenty to attend +to.' + +'Stop here, do you?' cried Davis. 'Say, how long?' + +'How long, O Lord,' said Attwater with perfect, stern gravity. +'But it does not seem so,' he added, with a smile. + +'No, I dare say not,' said Davis. 'No, I suppose not. Not with +all your gods about you, and in as snug a berth as this. For it +is a pretty snug berth,' said he, with a sweeping look. + +'The spot, as you are good enough to indicate, is not entirely +intolerable,' was the reply. + +'Shell, I suppose?' said Davis. + +'Yes, there was shell,' said Attwater. + +'This is a considerable big beast of a lagoon, sir,' said the +captain. 'Was there a--was the fishing--would you call the +fishing anyways GOOD?' + +'I don't know that I would call it anyways anything,' said +Attwater, 'if you put it to me direct.' + +'There were pearls too?' said Davis. + +'Pearls, too,' said Attwater. + +'Well, I give out!' laughed Davis, and his laughter rang +cracked like a false piece. 'If you're not going to tell, you're +not going to tell, and there's an end to it.' + +'There can be no reason why I should affect the least degree +of secrecy about my island,' returned Attwater; 'that came +wholly to an end with your arrival; and I am sure, at any rate, +that gentlemen like you and Mr Whish, I should have always +been charmed to make perfectly at home. The point on which +we are now differing--if you can call it a difference--is one of +times and seasons. I have some information which you think I +might impart, and I think not. Well, we'll see tonight! By-by, +Whish!' He stepped into his boat and shoved off. 'All understood, +then?' said he. 'The captain and Mr Whish at six-thirty, +and you, Hay, at four precise. You understand that, Hay? Mind, +I take no denial. If you're not there by the time named, there +will be no banquet; no song, no supper, Mr Whish!' + +White birds whisked in the air above, a shoal of parti-coloured +fishes in the scarce denser medium below; between, like Mahomet's +coffin, the boat drew away briskly on the surface, and its +shadow followed it over the glittering floor of the lagoon. +Attwater looked steadily back over his shoulders as he sat; he +did not once remove his eyes from the Farallone and the group +on her quarter-deck beside the house, till his boat ground upon +the pier. Thence, with an agile pace, he hurried ashore, and they +saw his white clothes shining in the chequered dusk of the grove +until the house received him. + +The captain, with a gesture and a speaking countenance, +called the adventurers into the cabin. + +'Well,' he said to Herrick, when they were seated, 'there's one +good job at least. He's taken to you in earnest.' + +'Why should that be a good job?' said Herrick. + +'Oh, you'll see how it pans out presently,' returned Davis. +'You go ashore and stand in with him, that's all! You'll get lots +of pointers; you can find out what he has, and what the charter +is, and who's the fourth man--for there's four of them, and +we're only three.' + +'And suppose I do, what next?' cried Herrick. 'Answer me that!' + +'So I will, Robert Herrick,' said the captain. 'But first, let's +see all clear. I guess you know,' he said with an imperious +solemnity, 'I guess you know the bottom is out of this Farallone +speculation? I guess you know it's RIGHT out? and if this old +island hadn't been turned up right when it did, I guess you know +where you and I and Huish would have been?' + +'Yes, I know that,' said Herrick. 'No matter who's to blame, +I know it. And what next?' + +'No matter who's to blame, you know it, right enough,' said +the captain, 'and I'm obliged to you for the reminder. Now +here's this Attwater: what do you think of him?' + +'I do not know,' said Herrick. 'I am attracted and repelled. +He was insufferably rude to you.' + +'And you, Huish?' said the captain. + +Huish sat cleaning a favourite briar root; he scarce looked up +from that engrossing task. 'Don't ast me what I think of him!' +he said. 'There's a day comin', I pray Gawd, when I can tell it +him myself.' + +'Huish means the same as what I do,' said Davis. 'When that +man came stepping around, and saying "Look here, I'm +Attwater"--and you knew it was so, by God!--I sized him right +straight up. Here's the real article, I said, and I don't like +it; here's the real, first-rate, copper-bottomed aristocrat. 'AW' +I DON'T KNOW YE, DO I? GOD DAMN YE, DID GOD MAKE YE?' No, that +couldn't be nothing but genuine; a man got to be born to that, +and notice! smart as champagne and hard as nails; no kind of a +fool; no, SIR! not a pound of him! Well, what's he here upon this +beastly island for? I said. HE'S not here collecting eggs. He's a +palace at home, and powdered flunkies; and if he don't stay +there, you bet he knows the reason why! Follow?' + +'O yes, I 'ear you,' said Huish. + +'He's been doing good business here, then,' continued the +captain. 'For ten years, he's been doing a great business. It's +pearl and shell, of course; there couldn't be nothing else in +such a place, and no doubt the shell goes off regularly by this +Trinity Hall, and the money for it straight into the bank, so +that's no use to us. But what else is there? Is there nothing +else he would be likely to keep here? Is there nothing else he +would be bound to keep here? Yes, sir; the pearls! First, because +they're too valuable to trust out of his hands. Second, because +pearls want a lot of handling and matching; and the man who sells +his pearls as they come in, one here, one there, instead of +hanging back and holding up--well, that man's a fool, and it's +not Attwater.' + +'Likely,' said Huish, 'that's w'at it is; not proved, but +likely.' + +'It's proved,' said Davis bluntly. + +'Suppose it was?' said Herrick. 'Suppose that was all so, and +he had these pearls--a ten years' collection of them?--Suppose +he had? There's my question.' + +The captain drummed with his thick hands on the board in +front of him; he looked steadily in Herrick's face, and Herrick +as steadily looked upon the table and the pattering fingers; +there was a gentle oscillation of the anchored ship, and a big +patch of sunlight travelled to and fro between the one and the +other. + +'Hear me!' Herrick burst out suddenly. + +'No, you better hear me first,' said Davis. 'Hear me and +understand me. WE'VE got no use for that fellow, whatever you +may have. He's your kind, he's not ours; he's took to you, and +he's wiped his boots on me and Huish. Save him if you can!' + +'Save him?' repeated Herrick. + +'Save him, if you're able!' reiterated Davis, with a blow of his +clenched fist. 'Go ashore, and talk him smooth; and if you get +him and his pearls aboard, I'll spare him. If you don't, there's +going to be a funeral. Is that so, Huish? does that suit you?' + +'I ain't a forgiving man,' said Huish, 'but I'm not the sort to +spoil business neither. Bring the bloke on board and bring his +pearls along with him, and you can have it your own way; +maroon him where you like--I'm agreeable.' + +'Well, and if I can't?' cried Herrick, while the sweat streamed +upon his face. 'You talk to me as if I was God Almighty, to do +this and that! But if I can't?' + +'My son,' said the captain, 'you better do your level best, or +you'll see sights!' + +'O yes,' said Huish. 'O crikey, yes!' He looked across at Herrick +with a toothless smile that was shocking in its savagery; +and his ear caught apparently by the trivial expression he had +used, broke into a piece of the chorus of a comic song which he +must have heard twenty years before in London: meaningless +gibberish that, in that hour and place, seemed hateful as a +blasphemy: 'Hikey, pikey, crikey, fikey, chillingawallaba dory.' + +The captain suffered him to finish; his face was unchanged. + +'The way things are, there's many a man that wouldn't let +you go ashore,' he resumed. 'But I'm not that kind. I know +you'd never go back on me, Herrick! Or if you choose to--go, +and do it, and be damned!' he cried, and rose abruptly from the +table. + +He walked out of the house; and as he reached the door, turned +and called Huish, suddenly and violently, like the barking +of a dog. Huish followed, and Herrick remained alone in the +cabin. + +'Now, see here!' whispered Davis. 'I know that man. If you +open your mouth to him again, you'll ruin all.' + + + +Chapter 8. BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + +The boat was gone again, and already half-way to the Farallone, +before Herrick turned and went unwillingly up the pier. From +the crown of the beach, the figure-head confronted him with +what seemed irony, her helmeted head tossed back, her formidable +arm apparently hurling something, whether shell or +missile, in the direction of the anchored schooner. She seemed a +defiant deity from the island, coming forth to its threshold with +a rush as of one about to fly, and perpetuated in that dashing +attitude. Herrick looked up at her, where she towered above +him head and shoulders, with singular feelings of curiosity and +romance, and suffered his mind to travel to and fro in her life- +history. So long she had been the blind conductress of a ship +among the waves; so long she had stood here idle in the violent +sun, that yet did not avail to blister her; and was even this the +end of so many adventures? he wondered, or was more behind? And +he could have found in his heart to regret that she was not +a goddess, nor yet he a pagan, that he might have bowed down +before her in that hour of difficulty. + +When he now went forward, it was cool with the shadow of +many well-grown palms; draughts of the dying breeze swung +them together overhead; and on all sides, with a swiftness +beyond dragon-flies or swallows, the spots of sunshine flitted, +and hovered, and returned. Underfoot, the sand was fairly solid +and quite level, and Herrick's steps fell there noiseless as in +new-fallen snow. It bore the marks of having been once weeded +like a garden alley at home; but the pestilence had done its +work, and the weeds were returning. The buildings of the +settlement showed here and there through the stems of the +colonnade, fresh painted, trim and dandy, and all silent as the +grave. Only, here and there in the crypt, there was a rustle and +scurry and some crowing of poultry; and from behind the house +with the verandahs, he saw smoke arise and heard the crackling +of a fire. + +The stone houses were nearest him upon his right. The first +was locked; in the second, he could dimly perceive, through a +window, a certain accumulation of pearl-shell piled in the far +end; the third, which stood gaping open on the afternoon, seized +on the mind of Herrick with its multiplicity and disorder of +romantic things. Therein were cables, windlasses and blocks of +every size and capacity; cabin windows and ladders; rusty tanks, +a companion hutch; a binnacle with its brass mountings and its +compass idly pointing, in the confusion and dusk of that shed, +to a forgotten pole; ropes, anchors, harpoons, a blubber dipper +of copper, green with years, a steering wheel, a tool chest with +the vessel's name upon the top, the Asia: a whole curiosity-shop +of sea curios, gross and solid, heavy to lift, ill to break, +bound with brass and shod with iron. Two wrecks at the least must +have contributed to this random heap of lumber; and as Herrick +looked upon it, it seemed to him as if the two ships' companies +were there on guard, and he heard the tread of feet and +whisperings, and saw with the tail of his eye the commonplace +ghosts of sailor men. + +This was not merely the work of an aroused imagination, but +had something sensible to go upon; sounds of a stealthy +approach were no doubt audible; and while he still stood staring +at the lumber, the voice of his host sounded suddenly, and with +even more than the customary softness of enunciation, from +behind. + +'Junk,', it said, 'only old junk! And does Mr Hay find a +parable?' + +'I find at least a strong impression,' replied Herrick, turning +quickly, lest he might be able to catch, on the face of the +speaker, some commentary on the words. + +Attwater stood in the doorway, which he almost wholly filled; +his hands stretched above his head and grasping the architrave. +He smiled when their eyes Met, but the expression was +inscrutable. + +'Yes, a powerful impression. You are like me; nothing +so affecting as ships!' said he. 'The ruins of an empire would +leave me frigid, when a bit of an old rail that an old shellback +leaned on in the middle watch, would bring me up all standing. +But come, let's see some more of the island. It's all sand and +coral and palm trees; but there's a kind of a quaintness in the +place.' + +'I find it heavenly,' said Herrick, breathing deep, with head +bared in the shadow. + +'Ah, that's because you're new from sea,' said Attwater. 'I +dare say, too, you can appreciate what one calls it. It's a +lovely name. It has a flavour, it has a colour, it has a ring and +fall to it; it's like its author--it's half Christian! Remember +your first view of the island, and how it's only woods and water; +and suppose you had asked somebody for the name, and he had +answered--nemorosa Zacynthos!' + +'Jam medio apparet fluctu!' exclaimed Herrick. 'Ye gods, yes, +how good!' + +'If it gets upon the chart, the skippers will make nice work +of it,' said Attwater. 'But here, come and see the diving-shed.' + +He opened a door, and Herrick saw a large display of +apparatus neatly ordered: pumps and pipes, and the leaded +boots, and the huge snouted helmets shining in rows along the +wall; ten complete outfits. + +'The whole eastern half of my lagoon is shallow, you must +understand,' said Attwater; 'so we were able to get in the dress +to great advantage. It paid beyond belief, and was a queer sight +when they were at it, and these marine monsters'--tapping the +nearest of the helmets--'kept appearing and reappearing in the +midst of the lagoon. Fond of parables?' he asked abruptly. + +'O yes!' said Herrick. + +'Well, I saw these machines come up dripping and go down +again, and come up dripping and go down again, and all the +while the fellow inside as dry as toast!' said Attwater; 'and +I thought we all wanted a dress to go down into the world in, +and come up scatheless. What do you think the name was?' he +inquired. + +'Self-conceit,' said Herrick. + +'Ah, but I mean seriously!' said Attwater. + +'Call it self-respect, then!' corrected Herrick, with a laugh. + +'And why not Grace? Why not God's Grace, Hay?' asked +Attwater. 'Why not the grace of your Maker and Redeemer, He +who died for you, He who upholds you, He whom you daily +crucify afresh? There is nothing here,'--striking on his bosom-- +'nothing there'--smiting the wall--'and nothing there'-- +stamping--'nothing but God's Grace! We walk upon it, we +breathe it; we live and die by it; it makes the nails and axles +of the universe; and a puppy in pyjamas prefers self-conceit!' +The huge dark man stood over against Herrick by the line of the +divers' helmets, and seemed to swell and glow; and the next +moment the life had gone from him. 'I beg your pardon,' said +he; 'I see you don't believe in God?' + +'Not in your sense, I am afraid,' said Herrick. + +'I never argue with young atheists or habitual drunkards,' +said Attwater flippantly. 'Let us go across the island to the +outer beach.' + +It was but a little way, the greatest width of that island scarce +exceeding a furlong, and they walked gently. Herrick was like +one in a dream. He had come there with a mind divided; come +prepared to study that ambiguous and sneering mask, drag out +the essential man from underneath, and act accordingly; +decision being till then postponed. Iron cruelty, an iron +insensibility to the suffering of others, the uncompromising +pursuit of his own interests, cold culture, manners without +humanity; these he had looked for, these he still thought he saw. +But to find the whole machine thus glow with the reverberation of +religious zeal, surprised him beyond words; and he laboured in +vain, as he walked, to piece together into any kind of whole his +odds and qnds of knowledge--to adjust again into any kind of +focus with itself, his picture of the man beside him. + +'What brought you here to the South Seas?' he asked +presently. + +'Many things,' said Attwater. 'Youth, curiosity, romance, the +love of the sea, and (it will surprise you to hear) an interest +in missions. That has a good deal declined, which will surprise +you less. They go the wrong way to work; they are too parsonish, +too much of the old wife, and even the old apple wife. CLOTHES, +CLOTHES, are their idea; but clothes are not Christianity, any +more than they are the sun in heaven, or could take the place of +it! They think a parsonage with roses, and church bells, and nice +old women bobbing in the lanes, are part and parcel of religion. +But religion is a savage thing, like the universe it illuminates; +savage, cold, and bare, but infinitely strong.' + +'And you found this island by an accident?' said Herrick. + +'As you did!' said Attwater. 'And since then I have had a +business, and a colony, and a mission of my own. I was a man +of the world before I was a Christian; I'm a man of the world +still, and I made my mission pay. No good ever came of +coddling. A man has to stand up in God's sight and work up to +his weight avoirdupois; then I'll talk to him, but not before. I +gave these beggars what they wanted: a judge in Israel, the +bearer of the sword and scourge; I was making a new people +here; and behold, the angel of the Lord smote them and they. +were not!' + +With the very uttering of the words, which were accompanied +by a gesture, they came forth out of the porch of the palm wood +by the margin of the sea and full in front of the sun which was +near setting. Before them the surf broke slowly. All around, with +an air of imperfect wooden things inspired with wicked activity, +the crabs trundled and scuttled into holes. On the right, whither +Attwater pointed and abruptly turned, was the cemetery of the +island, a field of broken stones from the bigness of a child's +hand to that of his head, diversified by many mounds of the +same material, and walled by a rude rectangular enclosure. +Nothing grew there but a shrub or two with some white flowers; +nothing but the number of the mounds, and their disquieting +shape, indicated the presence of the dead. + + 'The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep!' + +quoted Attwater as he entered by the open gateway into that +unholy close. 'Coral to coral, pebbles to pebbles,' he said, +'this has been the main scene of my activity in the South +Pacific. Some were good, and some bad, and the majority (of +course and always) null. Here was a fellow, now, that used to +frisk like a dog; if you had called him he came like an arrow +from a bow; if you had not, and he came unbidden, you should have +seen the deprecating eye and the little intricate dancing step. +Well, his trouble is over now, he has lain down with kings and +councillors; the rest of his acts, are they not written in the +book of the chronicles? That fellow was from Penrhyn; like all +the Penrhyn islanders he was ill to manage; heady, jealous, +violent: the man with the nose! He lies here quiet enough. And so +they all lie. + + "And darkness was the burier of the dead!"' + +He stood, in the strong glow of the sunset, with bowed head; +his voice sounded now sweet and now bitter with the varying +sense. + +'You loved these people?' cried Herrick, strangely touched. + +'I?' said Attwater. 'Dear no! Don't think me a philanthropist. +I dislike men, and hate women. If I like the islands at all, it +is because you see them here plucked of their lendings, their +dead birds and cocked hats, their petticoats and coloured hose. +Here was one I liked though,' and he set his foot upon a mound. +'He was a fine savage fellow; he had a dark soul; yes, I liked +this one. I am fanciful,' he added, looking hard at Herrick, 'and +I take fads. I like you.' + +Herrick turned swiftly and looked far away to where the +clouds were beginning to troop together and amass themselves +round the obsequies of day. 'No one can like me,' he said. + +'You are wrong there,' said the other, 'as a man usually is +about himself. You are attractive, very attractive.' + +'It is not me,' said Herrick; 'no one can like me. If you knew +how I despised myself--and why!' His voice rang out in the +quiet graveyard. + +'I knew that you despised yourself,' said Attwater. 'I saw the +blood come into your face today when you remembered Oxford. +And I could have blushed for you myself, to see a man, a +gentleman, with these two vulgar wolves.' + +Herrick faced him with a thrill. 'Wolves?' he repeated. + +'I said wolves and vulgar wolves,' said Attwater. 'Do you +know that today, when I came on board, I trembled?' + +'You concealed it well,' stammered Herrick. + +'A habit of mine,' said Attwater. 'But I was afraid, for all +that: I was afraid of the two wolves.' He raised his hand slowly. +'And now, Hay, you poor lost puppy, what do you do with the +two wolves?' + +'What do I do? I don't do anything,' said Herrick. 'There +is nothing wrong; all is above board; Captain Brown is a +good soul; he is a ... he is . . .' The phantom voice of Davis +called in his ear: 'There's going to be a funeral' and the sweat +burst forth and streamed on his brow. 'He is a family man,' he +resumed again, swallowing; 'he has children at home--and a +wife.' + +'And a very nice man?' said Attwater. 'And so is Mr Whish, +no doubt?' + +'I won't go so far as that,' said Herrick. 'I do not like Huish. +And yet ... he has his merits too.' + +'And, in short, take them for all in all, as good a ship's +company as one would ask?' said Attwater. + +'O yes,' said Herrick, 'quite.' + +'So then we approach the other point of why you despise +yourself?' said Attwater. + +'Do we not all despise ourselves?' cried Herrick. 'Do not +you?' + +'Oh, I say I do. But do I?' said Attwater. 'One thing I know at +least: I never gave a cry like yours. Hay! it came from a bad +conscience! Ah, man, that poor diving dress of self-conceit is +sadly tattered! Today, now, while the sun sets, and here in this +burying place of brown innocents, fall on your knees and cast +your sins and sorrows on the Redeemer. Hay--' + +'Not Hay!' interrupted the other, strangling. 'Don't call +me that! I mean. . . For God's sake, can't you see I'm on the +rack?' + +'I see it, I know it, I put and keep you there, my fingers are on +the screws!' said Attwater. 'Please God, I will bring a penitent +this night before His throne. Come, come to the mercy-seat! He +waits to be gracious, man--waits to be gracious!' + +He spread out his arms like a crucifix, his face shone with the +brightness of a seraph's; in his voice, as it rose to the last +word, the tears seemed ready. + +Herrick made a vigorous call upon himself. 'Attwater,' he +said, 'you push me beyond bearing. What am I to do? I do not +believe. It is living truth to you; to me, upon my conscience, +only folk-lore. I do not believe there is any form of words under +heaven by which I can lift the burthen from my shoulders. I must +stagger on to the end with the pack of my responsibility; I +cannot shift it; do you suppose I would not, if I thought I +could? I cannot--cannot--cannot--and let that suffice.' + +The rapture was all gone from Artwater's countenance; the +dark apostle had disappeared; and in his place there stood an +easy, sneering gentleman, who took off his hat and bowed. It +was pertly done, and the blood burned in Herrick's face. + +'What do you mean by that?' he cried. + +'Well, shall we go back to the house?' said Attwater. 'Our +guests will soon be due.' + +Herrick stood his ground a moment with clenched fists and +teeth; and as he so stood, the fact of his errand there slowly +swung clear in front of him, like the moon out of clouds. He +had come to lure that man on board; he was failing, even if +it could be said that he had tried; he was sure to fail now, +and knew it, and knew it was better so. And what was to be +next? + +With a groan he turned to follow his host, who was standing +with polite smile, and instantly and somewhat obsequiously led +the way in the now darkened colonnade of palms. There they +went in silence, the earth gave up richly of her perfume, the air +tasted warm and aromatic in the nostrils; and from a great way +forward in the wood, the brightness of lights and fire marked +out the house of Attwater. + +Herrick meanwhile resolved and resisted an immense temptation to +go up, to touch him on the arm and breathe a word in +his ear: 'Beware, they are going to murder you.' There would +be one life saved; but what of the two others? The three lives +went up and down before him like buckets in a well, or like +the scales of balances. It had come to a choice, and one that +must be speedy. For certain invaluable minutes, the wheels +of life ran before him, and he could still divert them with a +touch to the one side or the other, still choose who was to +live and who was to die. He considered the men. Attwater +intrigued, puzzled, dazzled, enchanted and revolted him; alive, +he seemed but a doubtful good; and the thought of him lying +dead was so unwelcome that it pursued him, like a vision, with +every circumstance of colour and sound. Incessantly, he had +before him the image of that great mass of man stricken down +in varying attitudes and with varying wounds; fallen prone, +fallen supine, fallen on his side; or clinging to a doorpost with +the changing face and the relaxing fingers of the death-agony. +He heard the click of the trigger, the thud of the, ball, the cry +of the victim; he saw the blood flow. And this building up +of circumstance was like a consecration of the man, till he +seemed to walk in sacrificial fillets. Next he considered Davis, +with his thick-fingered, coarse-grained, oat-bread commonness +of nature, his indomitable valour and mirth in the old days +of their starvation, the endearing blend of his faults and +virtues, the sudden shining forth of a tenderness that lay too +deep for tears; his children, Adar and her bowel complaint, and +Adar's doll. No, death could not be suffered to approach that +head even in fancy; with a general heat and a bracing of his +muscles, it was borne in on Herrick that Adar's father would +find in him a son to the death. And even Huish showed a little +in that sacredness; by the tacit adoption of daily life they were +become brothers; there was an implied bond of loyalty in their +cohabitation of the ship and their passed miseries, to which +Herrick must be a little true or wholly dishonoured. Horror of +sudden death for horror of sudden death, there was here no +hesitation possible: it must be Attwater. And no sooner was +the thought formed (which was a sentence) than his whole +mind of man ran in a panic to the other side: and when he +looked within himself, he was aware only of turbulence and +inarticulate outcry. + +In all this there was no thought of Robert Herrick. He had +complied with the ebb-tide in man's affairs, and the tide had +carried him away; he heard already the roaring of the maelstrom +that must hurry him under. And in his bedevilled and dishonoured +soul there was no thought of self. + +For how long he walked silent by his companion Herrick had +no guess. The clouds rolled suddenly away; the orgasm was over; +he found himself placid with the placidity of despair; there +returned to him the power of commonplace speech; and he +heard with surprise his own voice say: 'What a lovely evening!' + +'Is it not?' said Attwater. 'Yes, the evenings here would be +very pleasant if one had anything to do. By day, of course, one +can shoot.' + +'You shoot?' asked Herrick. + +'Yes, I am what you would call a fine shot,' said Attwater. 'It +is faith; I believe my balls will go true; if I were to miss +once, it would spoil me for nine months.' + +'You never miss, then?' said Herrick. + +'Not unless I mean to,' said Attwater. 'But to miss nicely is +the art. There was an old king one knew in the western islands, +who used to empty a Winchester all round a man, and stir his +hair or nick a rag out of his clothes with every ball except the +last; and that went plump between the eyes. It was pretty +practice.' + +'You could do that?' asked Herrick, with a sudden chill. + +'Oh, I can do anything,' returned the other. 'You do not +understand: what must be, must.' + +They were now come near to the back part of the house. One +of the men was engaged about the cooking fire, which burned +with the clear, fierce, essential radiance of cocoanut shells. A +fragrance of strange meats was in the air. All round in the +verandahs lamps were lighted, so that the place shone abroad +in the dusk of the trees with many complicated patterns of +shadow. + +'Come and wash your hands,' said Attwater, and led the way +into a clean, matted room with a cot bed, a safe, or shelf or +two of books in a glazed case, and an iron washing-stand. +Presently he cried in the native, and there appeared for a moment +in the doorway a plump and pretty young woman with a clean +towel. + +'Hullo!' cried Herrick, who now saw for the first time the +fourth survivor of the pestilence, and was startled by the +recollection of the captain's orders. + +'Yes,' said Attwater, 'the whole colony lives about the house, +what's left of it. We are all afraid of devils, if you please! +and Taniera and she sleep in the front parlour, and the other boy +on the verandah.' + +'She is pretty,' said Herrick. + +'Too pretty,' said Attwater. 'That was why I had her married. +A man never knows when he may be inclined to be a fool about +women; so when we were left alone, I had the pair of them +to the chapel and performed the ceremony. She made a lot of +fuss. I do not take at all the romantic view of marriage,' he +explained. + +'And that strikes you as a safeguard?' asked Herrick with +amazement. + +'Certainly. I am a plain man and very literal. WHOM GOD HATH +JOINED TOGETHER, are the words, I fancy. So one married them, +and respects the marriage,' said Attwater. + +'Ah!' said Herrick. + +'You see, I may look to make an excellent marriage when I go +home,' began Attwater, confidentially. 'I am rich. This safe +alone'--laying his hand upon it--'will be a moderate fortune, +when I have the time to place the pearls upon the market. Here +are ten years' accumulation from a lagoon, where I have had as +many as ten divers going all day long; and I went further than +people usually do in these waters, for I rotted a lot of shell, +and did splendidly. Would you like to see them?' + +This confirmation of the captain's guess hit Herrick hard, and +he contained himself with difficulty. 'No, thank you, I think +not,' said he. 'I do not care for pearls. I am very indifferent +to all these . . .' + +'Gewgaws?' suggested Attwater. 'And yet I believe you ought +to cast an eye on my collection, which is really unique, and +which--oh! it is the case with all of us and everything about +us!--hangs. by a hair. Today it groweth up and flourisheth; +tomorrow it is cut down and cast into the oven. Today it is here +and together in this safe; tomorrow--tonight!--it may be +scattered. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of +thee.' + +'I do not understand you,' said Herrick. + +'Not?' said Attwater. + +'You seem to speak in riddles,' said Herrick, unsteadily. 'I do +not understand what manner of man you are, nor what you are +driving at.' + +Attwater stood with his hands upon his hips, and his head +bent forward. 'I am a fatalist,' he replied, 'and just now (if +you insist on it) an experimentalist. Talking of which, by the +bye, who painted out the schooner's name?' he said, with mocking +softness, 'because, do you know? one thinks it should be done +again. It can still be partly read; and whatever is worth doing, +is surely worth doing well. You think with me? That is so nice! +Well, shall we step on the verandah? I have a dry sherry that I +would like your opinion of.' + +Herrick followed him forth to where, under the light of the +hanging lamps, the table shone with napery and crystal; followed +him as the criminal goes with the hangman, or the sheep +with the butcher; took the sherry mechanically, drank it, and +spoke mechanical words of praise. The object of his terror had +become suddenly inverted; till then he had seen Attwater trussed +and gagged, a helpless victim, and had longed to run in and save +him; he saw him now tower up mysterious and menacing, the +angel of the Lord's wrath, armed with knowledge and threatening +judgment. He set down his glass again, and was surprised to +see it empty. + +'You go always armed?' he said, and the next moment could +have plucked his tongue out. + +'Always,' said Attwater. 'I have been through a mutiny here; +that was one of my incidents of missionary life.' + +And just then the sound of voices reached them, and looking +forth from the verandah they saw Huish and the captain +drawing near. + + + +Chapter 9. THE DINNER PARTY + +They sat down to an island dinner, remarkable for its variety +and excellence; turtle soup and steak, fish, fowls, a sucking +pig, a cocoanut salad, and sprouting cocoanut roasted for +dessert. Not a tin had been opened; and save for the oil and +vinegar in the salad, and some green spears of onion which +Attwater cultivated and plucked with his own hand, not even the +condiments were European. Sherry, hock, and claret succeeded each +other, and the Farallone champagne brought up the rear with the +dessert. + +It was plain that, like so many of the extremely religious in +the days before teetotalism, Attwater had a dash of the epicure. +For such characters it is softening to eat well; doubly so to +have designed and had prepared an excellent meal for others; and +the manners of their host were agreeably mollified in +consequence. + +A cat of huge growth sat on his shoulders purring, and +occasionally, with a deft paw, capturing a morsel in the air. To +a cat he might be likened himself, as he lolled at the head of +his table, dealing out attentions and innuendoes, and using the +velvet and the claw indifferently. And both Huish and the captain +fell progressively under the charm of his hospitable freedom. + +Over the third guest, the incidents of the dinner may be said +to have passed for long unheeded. Herrick accepted all that was +offered him, ate and drank without tasting, and heard without +comprehension. His mind was singly occupied in contemplating +the horror of the circumstances in which he sat. What Attwater +knew, what the captain designed, from which side treachery was +to be first expected, these were the ground of his thoughts. +There were times when he longed to throw down the table and flee +into the night. And even that was debarred him; to do anything, +to say anything, to move at all, were only to precipitate the +barbarous tragedy; and he sat spellbound, eating with white lips. +Two of his companions observed him narrowly, Attwater with +raking, sidelong glances that did not interrupt his talk, the +captain with a heavy and anxious consideration. + +'Well, I must say this sherry is a really prime article,' said +Huish. "Ow much does it stand you in, if it's a fair question?' + +'A hundred and twelve shillings in London, and the freight to +Valparaiso, and on again,' said Attwater. 'It strikes one as +really not a bad fluid.' + +'A 'undred and twelve!' murmured the clerk, relishing the +wine and the figures in a common ecstasy: 'O my!' + +'So glad you like it,' said Attwater. 'Help yourself, Mr Whish, +and keep the bottle by you.' + +'My friend's name is Huish and not Whish, sit,' said the +captain with a flush. + +'I beg your pardon, I am sure. Huish and not Whish, +certainly,' said Attwater. 'I was about to say that I have still +eight dozen,' he added, fixing the captain with his eye. + +'Eight dozen what?' said Davis. + +'Sherry,' was the reply. 'Eight dozen excellent sherry. Why, it +seems almost worth it in itself; to a man fond of wine.' + +The ambiguous words struck home to guilty consciences, and +Huish and the captain sat up in their places and regarded him +with a scare. + +'Worth what?' said Davis. + +'A hundred and twelve shillings,' replied Attwater. + +The captain breathed hard for a moment. He reached out far +and wide to find any coherency in these remarks; then, with a +great effort, changed the subject. + +'I allow we are about the first white men upon this island, sir,' +said he. + +Attwater followed him at once, and with entire gravity, to the +new ground. 'Myself and Dr Symonds excepted, I should say +the only ones,' he returned. 'And yet who can tell? In the course +of the ages someone may have lived here, and we sometimes +think that someone must. The cocoa palms grow all round the +island, which is scarce like nature's planting. We found besides, +when we landed, an unmistakable cairn upon the beach; use +unknown; but probably erected in the hope of gratifying some +mumbo jumbo whose very name is forgotten, by some thick-witted +gentry whose very bones are lost. Then the island (witness +the Directory) has been twice reported; and since my tenancy, +we have had two wrecks, both derelict. The rest is conjecture.' + +'Dr Symonds is your partner, I guess?' said Davis. + +'A dear fellow, Symonds! How he would regret it, if he knew +you had been here!' said Attwater. + +"E's on the Trinity 'All, ain't he?' asked Huish. + +'And if you could tell me where the Trinity 'All was, you +would confer a favour, Mr Whish!' was the reply. + +'I suppose she has a native crew?' said Davis. + +'Since the secret has been kept ten years, one would suppose +she had,' replied Attwater. + +'Well, now, see 'ere!' said Huish. 'You have everything about +you in no end style, and no mistake, but I tell you it wouldn't +do for me. Too much of "the old rustic bridge by the mill"; too +retired, by 'alf. Give me the sound of Bow Bells!' + +'You must not think it was always so,' replied Attwater, 'This +was once a busy shore, although now, hark! you can hear the +solitude. I find it stimulating. And talking of the sound of +bells, kindly follow a little experiment of mine in silence.' +There was a silver bell at his right hand to call the servants; +he made them a sign to stand still, struck the bell with force, +and leaned eagerly forward. The note rose clear and strong; it +rang out clear and far into the night and over the deserted +island; it died into the distance until there only lingered in +the porches of the ear a vibration that was sound no longer. +'Empty houses, empty sea, solitary beaches!' said Attwater. 'And +yet God hears the bell! And yet we sit in this verandah on a +lighted stage with all heaven for spectators! And you call that +solitude?' + +There followed a bar of silence, during which the captain sat +mesmerised. + +Then Attwater laughed softly. 'These are the diversions of a +lonely, man,' he resumed, 'and possibly not in good taste. One +tells oneself these little fairy tales for company. If there +SHOULD happen to be anything in folk-lore, Mr Hay? But here comes +the claret. One does not offer you Lafitte, captain, because I +believe it is all sold to the railroad dining cars in your great +country; but this Brine-Mouton is of a good year, and Mr Whish +will give me news of it.' + +'That's a queer idea of yours!' cried the captain, bursting with +a sigh from the spell that had bound him. 'So you mean to tell +me now, that you sit here evenings and ring up . . . well, ring +on the angels . . . by yourself?' + +'As a matter of historic fact, and since you put it directly, one +does not,' said Attwater. 'Why ring a bell, when there flows out +from oneself and everything about one a far more momentous +silence? the least beat of my heart and the least thought in my +mind echoing into eternity for ever and for ever and for ever.' + +'O look 'ere,' said Huish, 'turn down the lights at once, and +the Band of 'Ope will oblige! This ain't a spiritual seance.' + +'No folk-lore about Mr Whish--I beg your pardon, captain: +Huish not Whish, of course,' said Attwater. + +As the boy was filling Huish's glass, the bottle escaped from +his hand and was shattered, and the wine spilt on the verandah +floor. Instant grimness as of death appeared on the face of +Attwater; he smote the bell imperiously, and the two brown +natives fell into the attitude of attention and stood mute and +trembling. There was just a moment of silence and hard looks; +then followed a few savage words in the native; and, upon a +gesture of dismissal, the service proceeded as before. + +None of the party had as yet observed upon the excellent +bearing of the two men. They were dark, undersized, and well +set up; stepped softly, waited deftly, brought on the wines and +dishes at a look, and their eyes attended studiously on their +master. + +'Where do you get your labour from anyway?' asked Davis. + +'Ah, where not?' answered Attwater. + +'Not much of a soft job, I suppose?' said the captain. + +'If you will tell me where getting labour is!' said Attwater +with a shrug. 'And of course, in our case, as we could name no +destination, we had to go far and wide and do the best we could. +We have gone as far west as the Kingsmills and as far south as +Rapa-iti. Pity Symonds isn't here! He is full of yarns. That was +his part, to collect them. Then began mine, which was the +educational.' + +'You mean to run them?' said Davis. + +'Ay! to run them,' said Attwater. + +'Wait a bit,' said Davis, 'I'm out of my depth. How was this? +Do you mean to say you did it single-handed?' + + +'One did it single-handed,' said Attwater, 'because there was +nobody to help one.' + +'By God, but you must be a holy terror!' cried the captain, in +a glow of admiration. + +'One does one's best,' said Attwater. + +'Well, now!' said Davis, 'I have seen a lot of driving in my +time and been counted a good driver myself; I fought my way, +third mate, round the Cape Horn with a push of packet rats +that would have turned the devil out of hell and shut the door +on him; and I tell you, this racket of Mr Attwater's takes the +cake. In a ship, why, there ain't nothing to it! You've got the +law with you, that's what does it. But put me down on this +blame' beach alone, with nothing but a whip and a mouthful of +bad words, and ask me to ... no, SIR! it's not good enough! I +haven't got the sand for that!' cried Davis. 'It's the law +behind,' he added; 'it's the law does it, every time!' + +'The beak ain't as black as he's sometimes pynted,' observed +Huish, humorously. + +'Well, one got the law after a fashion,' said Attwater. 'One +had to be a number of things. It was sometimes rather a bore.' + +'I should smile!' said Davis. 'Rather lively, I should think!' + +'I dare say we mean the same thing,' said Attwater. 'However, +one way or another, one got it knocked into their heads that +they MUST work, and they DID. . . until the Lord took them!' + +''Ope you made 'em jump,' said Huish. + +'When it was necessary, Mr Whish, I made them jump,' said +Attwater. + +'You bet you did,' cried the captain. He was a good deal +flushed, but not so much with wine as admiration; and his eyes +drank in the huge proportions of the other with delight. 'You bet +you did, and you bet that I can see you doing it! By God, +you're a man, and you can say I said so.' + +'Too good of you, I'm sure,' said Attwater. + +'Did you--did you ever have crime here?' asked Herrick, +breaking his silence with a pungent voice. + +'Yes,' said Attwater, 'we did.' + +'And how did you handle that, sir?' cried the eager captain. + +'Well, you see, it was a queer case,' replied Attwater. 'it was +a case that would have puzzled Solomon. Shall I tell it you? +yes?' + +The captain rapturously accepted. + +'Well,' drawled Attwater, 'here is what it was. I dare say you +know two types of natives, which may be called the obsequious +and the sullen? Well, one had them, the types themselves, +detected in the fact; and one had them together. Obsequiousness +ran out of the first like wine out of a bottle, sullenness +congested in the second. Obsequiousness was all smiles; he ran to +catch your eye, he loved to gabble; and he had about a dozen +words of beach English, and an eighth-of-an-inch veneer of +Christianity. Sullens was industrious; a big down-looking bee. +When he was spoken to, he answered with a black look and a shrug +of one shoulder, but the thing would be done. I don't give him to +you for a model of manners; there was nothing showy about +Sullens; but he was strong and steady, and ungraciously obedient. +Now Sullens got into trouble; no matter how; the regulations of +the place were broken, and he was punished accordingly--without +effect. So, the next day, and the next, and the day after, till I +began to be weary of the business, and Sullens (I am +afraid) particularly so. There came a day when he was in fault +again, for the--oh, perhaps the thirtieth time; and he rolled a +dull eye upon me, with a spark in it, and appeared to speak. +Now the regulations of the place are formal upon one point: we +allow no explanations; none are received, none allowed to be +offered. So one stopped him instantly; but made a note of the +circumstance. The next day, he was gone from the settlement. +There could be nothing more annoying; if the labour took to +running away, the fishery was wrecked. There are sixty miles of +this island, you see, all in length like the Queen's Highway; the +idea of pursuit in such a place was a piece of single-minded +childishness, which one did not entertain. Two days later, I +made a discovery; it came in upon me with a flash that Sullens +had been unjustly punished from beginning to end, and the real +culprit throughout had been Obsequiousness. The native who +talks, like the woman who hesitates, is lost. You set him talking +and lying; and he talks, and lies, and watches your face to see +if he has pleased you; till at last, out comes the truth! It came +out of Obsequiousness in the regular course. I said nothing to +him; I dismissed him; and late as it was, for it was already +night, set off to look for Sullens. I had not far to go: about +two hundred yards up the island, the moon showed him to me. He +was hanging in a cocoa palm--I'm not botanist enough to tell you +how--but it's the way, in nine cases out of ten, these natives +commit suicide. His tongue was out, poor devil, and the birds +had got at him; I spare you details, he was an ugly sight! I gave +the business six good hours of thinking in this verandah. My +justice had been made a fool of; I don't suppose that I was ever +angrier. Next day, I had the conch sounded and all hands out +before sunrise. One took one's gun, and led the way, with +Obsequiousness. He was very talkative; the beggar supposed +that all was right now he had confessed; in the old schoolboy +phrase, he was plainly 'sucking up' to me; full of protestations +of goodwill and good behaviour; to which one answered one +really can't remember what. Presently the tree came in sight, +and the hanged man. They all burst out lamenting for their +comrade in the island way, and Obsequiousness was the loudest +of the mourners. He was quite genuine; a noxious creature, +without any consciousness of guilt. Well, presently--to make a +long story short--one told him to go up the tree. He stared a +bit, looked at one with a trouble in his eye, and had rather a +sickly smile; but went. He was obedient to the last; he had all +the pretty virtues, but the truth was not in him. So soon as he +was up, he looked down, and there was the rifle covering him; +and at that he gave a whimper like a dog. You could bear a pin +drop; no more keening now. There they all crouched upon the +ground, with bulging eyes; there was he in the tree top, the +colour of the lead; and between was the dead man, dancing a +bit in the air. He was obedient to the last, recited his crime, +recommended his soul to God. And then. . .' + +Attwater paused, and Herrick, who had been listening attentively, +made a convulsive movement which upset his glass. + +'And then?' said the breathless captain. + +'Shot,' said Attwater. 'They came to ground together.' + +Herrick sprang to his feet with a shriek and an insensate +gesture. + +'It was a murder,' he screamed. 'A cold-hearted, bloody-minded +murder! You monstrous being! Murderer and hypocrite--murderer and +hypocrite--murderer and hypocrite--' he repeated, and his tongue +stumbled among the words. + +The captain was by him in a moment. 'Herrick!' he cried, 'behave +yourself! Here, don't be a blame' fool!' + +Herrick struggled in his embrace like a frantic child, and +suddenly bowing his face in his hands, choked into a sob, the +first of many, which now convulsed his body silently, and now +jerked from him indescribable and meaningless sounds. + +'Your friend appears over-excited,' remarked Attwater, sitting +unmoved but all alert at table. + +'It must be the wine,' replied the captain. 'He ain't no drinking +man, you see. I--I think I'll take him away. A walk'll sober him +up, I guess.' + +He led him without resistance out of the verandah and into +the night, in which they soon melted; but still for some time, as +they drew away, his comfortable voice was to be heard soothing +and remonstrating, and Herrick answering, at intervals, with the +mechanical noises of hysteria. + +"E's like a bloomin' poultry yard!' observed Huish, helping +himself to wine (of which he spilled a good deal) with +gentlemanly ease. 'A man should learn to beyave at table,' he +added. + +'Rather bad form, is it not?' said Attwater. 'Well, well, we are +left tete-a-tete. A glass of wine with you, Mr Whish!' + + + +Chapter 10. THE OPEN DOOR + +The captain and Herrick meanwhile turned their back upon the +lights in Attwater's verandah, and took a direction towards the +pier and the beach of the lagoon. + +The isle, at this hour, with its smooth floor of sand, the +pillared roof overhead, and the prevalent illumination of the +lamps, wore an air of unreality like a deserted theatre or a +public garden at midnight. A man looked about him for the statues +and tables. Not the least air of wind was stirring among the +palms, and the silence was emphasised by the continuous +clamour of the surf from the seashore, as it might be of traffic +in the next street. + +Still talking, still soothing him, the captain hurried his +patient on, brought him at last to the lagoon- side, and leading +him down the beach, laved his head and face with the tepid water. +The paroxysm gradually subsided, the sobs became less convulsive +and then ceased; by an odd but not quite unnatural +conjunction, the captain's soothing current of talk died away at +the same time and by proportional steps, and the pair remained +sunk in silence. The lagoon broke at their feet in petty +wavelets, and with a sound as delicate as a whisper; stars of all +degrees looked down on their own images in that vast mirror; and +the more angry colour of the Farallone's riding lamp burned in +the middle distance. For long they continued to gaze on the scene +before them, and hearken anxiously to the rustle and tinkle of +that miniature surf, or the more distant and loud reverberations +from the outer coast. For long speech was denied them; and +when the words came at last, they came to both simultaneously. +'Say, Herrick . . .'the captain was beginning. + +But Herrick, turning swiftly towards his companion, bent him +down with the eager cry: 'Let's up anchor, captain, and to sea!' + +'Where to, my son?' said the captain. 'Up anchor's easy saying. +But where to?' + +'To sea,' responded Herrick. 'The sea's big enough! To sea--away +from this dreadful island and that, oh! that sinister man!' + +'Oh, we'll see about that,' said Davis. 'You brace up, and +we'll see about that. You're all run down, that's what's wrong +with you; you're all nerves, like Jemimar; you've got to brace +up good and be yourself again, and then we'll talk.' + +'To sea,' reiterated Herrick, 'to sea tonight--now--this +moment!' + +'It can't be, my son,' replied the captain firmly. 'No ship of +mine puts to sea without provisions, you can take that for +settled.' + +'You don't seem to understand,' said Herrick. 'The whole +thing is over, I tell you. There is nothing to do here, when he +knows all. That man there with the cat knows all; can't you +take it in?' + +'All what?' asked the captain, visibly discomposed. 'Why, he +received us like a perfect gentleman and treated us real +handsome, until you began with your foolery--and I must say I +seen men shot for less, and nobody sorry! What more do you expect +anyway?' + +Herrick rocked to and fro upon the sand, shaking his head. + +'Guying us,' he said, 'he was guying us--only guying us; it's +all we're good for.' + +'There was one queer thing, to be sure,' admitted the captain, +with a misgiving of the voice; 'that about the sherry. Damned if +I caught on to that. Say, Herrick, you didn't give me away?' + +'Oh! give you away!' repeated Herrick with weary, querulous +scorn. 'What was there to give away? We're transparent; we've +got rascal branded on us: detected rascal--detected rascal! Why, +before he came on board, there was the name painted out, and +he saw the whole thing. He made sure we would kill him there +and then, and stood guying you and Huish on the chance. He +calls that being frightened! Next he had me ashore; a fine time I +had! THE TWO WOLVES, he calls you and Huish.--WHAT IS THE +PUPPY DOING WITH THE TWO WOLVES? he asked. He showed me his +pearls; he said they might be dispersed before morning, and ALL +HUNG BY A HAIr--and smiled as he said it, such a smile! O, it's +no use, I tell you! He knows all, he sees through all; we only +make him laugh with our pretences--he looks at us and laughs +like God!' + +There was a silence. Davis stood with contorted brows, gazing +into the night. + +'The pearls?' he said suddenly. 'He showed them to you? he +has them?' + +'No, he didn't show them; I forgot: only the safe +they were in,' said Herrick. 'But you'll never get them!' + +'I've two words to say to that,' said the captain. + +'Do you think he would have been so easy at table, unless he +was prepared?' cried Herrick. 'The servants were both armed. +He was armed himself; he always is; he told me. You will never +deceive his vigilance. Davis, I know it! It's all up; all up. +There's nothing for it, there's nothing to be done: all gone: +life, honour, love. Oh, my God, my God, why was I born?' + +Another pause followed upon this outburst. + +The captain put his hands to his brow, + +'Another thing!' he broke out. 'Why did he tell you all this? +Seems like madness to me!' + +Herrick shook his head with gloomy iteration. 'You wouldn't +understand if I were to tell you,' said he. + +'I guess I can understand any blame' thing that you can tell +me,' said the captain. + +'Well, then, he's a fatalist,' said Herrick. + +'What's that, a fatalist?' said Davis. + +'Oh, it's a fellow that believes a lot of things,' said Herrick, +'believes that his bullets go true; believes that all falls out +as God chooses, do as you like to prevent it; and all that.' + +'Why, I guess I believe right so myself,' said Davis. + +'You do?' said Herrick. + +'You bet I do!' says Davis. + +Herrick shrugged his shoulders. 'Well, you must be a fool,' +said he, and he leaned his head upon his knees. + +The captain stood biting his hands. + +'There's one thing sure,' he said at last. 'I must get Huish out +of that. HE'S not fit to hold his end up with a man like you +describe.' + +And he turned to go away. The words had been quite simple; +not so the tone; and the other was quick to catch it. + +'Davis!' he cried, 'no! Don't do it. Spare ME, and don't do it-- +spare yourself, and leave it alone--for God's sake, for your +children's sake!' + +His voice rose to a passionate shrillness; another moment, +and he might be overheard by their not distant victim. But Davis +turned on him with a savage oath and gesture; and the miserable +young man rolled over on his face on the sand, and lay +speechless and helpless. + +The captain meanwhile set out rapidly for Attwater's house. +As he went, he considered with himself eagerly, his thoughts +racing. The man had understood, he had mocked them from the +beginning; he would teach him to make a mockery of John +Davis! Herrick thought him a god; give him a second to aim in, +and the god was overthrown. He chuckled as he felt the butt of +his revolver. It should be done now, as he went in. From behind? +It was difficult to get there. From across the table? No, the +captain preferred to shoot standing, so as you could be sure to +get your hand upon your gun. The best would be to summon +Huish, and when Attwater stood up and turned--ah, then +would be the moment. Wrapped in his ardent prefiguration of +events, the captain posted towards the house with his head +down. + +'Hands up! Halt!' cried the voice of Attwater. + +And the captain, before he knew what he was doing, had +obeyed. The surprise was complete and irremediable. Coming +on the top crest of his murderous intentions, he had walked +straight into an ambuscade, and now stood, with his hands +impotently lifted, staring at the verandah. + +The party was now broken up. Attwater leaned on a post, +and kept Davis covered with a Winchester. One of the servants +was hard by with a second at the port arms, leaning a little +forward, round-eyed with eager expectancy. In the open space +at the head of the stair, Huish was partly supported by the other +native; his face wreathed in meaningless smiles, his mind +seemingly sunk in the contemplation of an unlighted cigar. + +'Well,' said Attwater, 'you seem to me to be a very twopenny +pirate!' + +The captain uttered a sound in his throat for which we have +no name; rage choked him. + +'I am going to give you Mr Whish--or the wine-sop that remains of +him,' continued Attwater. 'He talks a great deal when he drinks, +Captain Davis of the Sea Ranger. But I have quite done with +him--and return the article with thanks. Now,' he cried sharply. +'Another false movement like that, and your family will have to +deplore the loss of an invaluable parent; keep strictly still, +Davis.' + +Attwater said a word in the native, his eye still undeviatingly +fixed on the captain; and the servant thrust Huish smartly +forward from the brink of the stair. With an extraordinary +simultaneous dispersion of his members, that gentleman +bounded forth into space, struck the earth, ricocheted, and +brought up with his arms about a palm. His mind was quite a +stranger to these events; the expression of anguish that deformed +his countenance at the moment of the leap was probably +mechanical; and he suffered these convulsions in silence; clung +to the tree like an infant; and seemed, by his dips, to suppose +himself engaged in the pastime of bobbing for apples. A more +finely sympathetic mind or a more observant eye might havc +remarked, a little in front of him on the sand, and still quite +beyond reach, the unlighted cigar. + + 'There is your Whitechapel carrion!' said Attwater. 'And now +you might very well ask me why I do not put a period to you +at once, as you deserve. I will tell you why, Davis. It is +because I have nothing to do with the Sea Ranger and the people +you drowned, or the Farallone and the champagne that you stole. +That is your account with God, He keeps it, and He will settle +it when the clock strikes. In my own case, I have nothing to go +on but suspicion, and I do not kill on suspicion, not even vermin +like you. But understand! if ever I see any of you again, it is +another matter, and you shall eat a bullet. And now take +yourself off. March! and as you value what you call your life, +keep your hands up as you go!' + +The captain remained as he was, his hands up, his mouth open: +mesmerised with fury. + +'March!' said Attwater. 'One--two--three!' + +And Davis turned and passed slowly away. But even as he +went, he was meditating a prompt, offensive return. In the +twinkling of an eye, he had leaped behind a tree; and was +crouching there, pistol in hand, peering from either side of his +place of ambush with bared teeth; a serpent already poised to +strike. And already he was too late. Attwater and his servants +had disappeared; and only the lamps shone on the deserted table +and the bright sand about the house, and threw into the night in +all directions the strong and tall shadows of the palms. + +Davis ground his teeth. Where were they gone, the cowards? +to what hole had they retreated beyond reach? It was in vain he +should try anything, he, single and with a second-hand revolver, +against three persons, armed with Winchesters, and who did not +show an ear out of any of the apertures of that lighted and +silent house? Some of them might have already ducked below it +from the rear, and be drawing a bead upon him at that moment from +the low-browed crypt, the receptacle of empty bottles and +broken crockery. No, there was nothing to be done but to bring +away (if it were still possible) his shattered and demorallsed +forces. + +'Huish,' he said, 'come along.' + +''S lose my ciga',' said Huish, reaching vaguely forward. + +The captain let out a rasping oath. 'Come right along here,' +said he. + +''S all righ'. Sleep here 'th Atty-Attwa. Go boar' t'morr',' +replied the festive one. + +'If you don't come, and come now, by the living God, I'll +shoot you!' cried the captain. + +It is not to be supposed that the sense of these words in any +way penetrated to the mind of Hulsh; rather that, in a fresh +attempt upon the cigar, he overbalanced himself and came flying +erratically forward: a course which brought him within reach of +Davis. + +'Now you walk straight,' said the captain, clutching him, 'or +I'll know why not!' + +''S lose my ciga',' replied Huish. + +The captain's contained fury blazed up for a moment. He +twisted Huish round, grasped him by the neck of the coat, ran +him in front of him to the pier end, and flung him savagely +forward on his face. + +'Look for your cigar then, you swine!' said he, and blew his +boat call till the pea in it ceased to rattle. + +An immediate activity responded on board the Farallone; far +away voices, and soon the sound of oars, floated along the +surface of the lagoon; and at the same time, from nearer hand, +Herrick aroused himself and strolled languidly up. He bent over +the insignificant figure of Huish, where it grovelled, apparently +insensible, at the base of the figure-head. + +'Dead?' he asked. + +'No, he's not dead,' said Davis. + +'And Attwater?' asked Herrick. + +'Now you just shut your head!' replied Davis. 'You can do that, I +fancy, and by God, I'll show you how! I'll stand no more of your +drivel.' + +They waited accordingly in silence till the boat bumped on +the furthest piers; then raised Huish, head and heels, carried +him down the gangway, and flung him summarily in the bottom. +On the way out he was heard murmuring of the loss of his cigar; +and after he had been handed up the side like baggage, and cast +down in the alleyway to slumber, his last audible expression +was: 'Splen'l fl' Attwa'!' This the expert construed into +'Splendid fellow, Attwater'; with so much innocence had this +great spirit issued from the adventures of the evening. + +The captain went and walked in the waist with brief, irate +turns; Herrick leaned his arms on the taffrail; the crew had all +turned in. The ship had a gentle, cradling motion; at times a +block piped like a bird. On shore, through the colonnade of +palm stems, Attwater's house was to be seen shining steadily +with many lamps. And there was nothing else visible, whether +in the heaven above or in the lagoon below, but the stars and +their reflections. It might have been minutes or it might have +been hours, that Herrick leaned there, looking in the glorified +water and drinking peace. 'A bath of stars,' he was thinking; +when a hand was laid at last on his shoulder. + +'Herrick,' said the captain, 'I've been walking off my trouble.' + +A sharp jar passed through the young man, but he neither +answered nor so much as turned his head. + +'I guess I spoke a little rough to you on shore,' pursued the +captain; 'the fact is, I was real mad; but now it's over, and you +and me have to turn to and think.' + +'I will NOT think,' said Herrick. + +'Here, old man!' said Davis, kindly; 'this won't fight, you +know! You've got to brace up and help me get things straight. +You're not going back on a friend? That's not like you, Herrick!' + +'O yes, it is,' said Herrick. + +'Come, come!' said the captain, and paused as if quite at a +loss. 'Look here,' he cried, 'you have a glass of champagne. I +won't touch it, so that'll show you if I'm in earnest. But it's +just the pick-me-up for you; it'll put an edge on you at once.' + +'O, you leave me alone!' said Herrick, and turned away. + +The captain caught him by the sleeve; and he shook him off +and turned on him, for the moment, like a demoniac. + +'Go to hell in your own way!' he cried. + +And he turned away again, this time unchecked, and stepped +forward to where the boat rocked alongside and ground +occasionally against the schooner. He looked about him. A +corner of the house was interposed between the captain and +himself; all was well; no eye must see him in that last act. He +slid silently into the boat; thence, silently, into the starry +water. + +Instinctively he swam a little; it would be time enough to stop +by and by. + +The shock of the immersion brightened his mind immediately. +The events of the ignoble day passed before him in a frieze of +pictures, and he thanked 'whatever Gods there be' for that open +door of suicide. In such a little while he would be done with it, +the random business at an end, the prodigal son come home. A +very bright planet shone before him and drew a trenchant wake +along the water. He took that for his line and followed it. That +was the last earthly thing that he should look upon; that radiant +speck, which he had soon magnified into a City of Laputa, +along whose terraces there walked men and women of awful +and benignant features, who viewed him with distant +commiseration. These imaginary spectators consoled him; he told +himself their talk, one to another; it was of himself and his sad +destiny. + +From such flights of fancy, he was aroused by the growing +coldness of the water. Why should he delay? Here, where he +was now, let him drop the curtain, let him seek the ineffable +refuge, let him lie down with all races and generations of men in +the house of sleep. It was easy to say, easy to do. To stop +swimming: there was no mystery in that, if he could do it. Could +he? And he could not. He knew it instantly. He was aware +instantly of an opposition in his members, unanimous and +invincible, clinging to life with a single and fixed resolve, +finger by finger, sinew by sinew; something that was at once he +and not he--at once within and without him;--the shutting of some +miniature valve in his brain, which a single manly thought +should suffice to open--and the grasp of an external fate +ineluctable as gravity. To any man there may come at times a +consciousness that there blows, through all the articulations of +his body, the wind of a spirit not wholly his; that his mind +rebels; that another girds him and carries him whither he would +not. It came now to Herrick, with the authority of a revelation. +There was no escape possible. The open door was closed in his +recreant face. He must go back into the world and amongst men +without illusion. He must stagger on to the end with the pack of +his responsibility and his disgrace, until a cold, a blow, a +merciful chance ball, or the more merciful hangman, should +dismiss him from his infamy. There were men who could commit +suicide; there were men who could not; and he was one who +could not. + +For perhaps a minute, there raged in his mind the coil of this +discovery; then cheerless certitude followed; and, with an +incredible simplicity of submission to ascertained fact, he +turned round and struck out for shore. There was a courage in +this which he could not appreciate; the ignobility of his +cowardice wholly occupying him. A strong current set against him +like a wind in his face; he contended with it heavily, wearily, +without enthusiasm, but with substantial advantage; marking his +progress the while, without pleasure, by the outline of the +trees. Once he had a moment of hope. He heard to the southward of +him, towards the centre of the lagoon, the wallowing of some +great fish, doubtless a shark, and paused for a little, treading +water. Might not this be the hangman? he thought. But the +wallowing died away; mere silence succeeded; and Herrick +pushed on again for the shore, raging as he went at his own +nature. Ay, he would wait for the shark; but if he had heard +him coming! . . . His smile was tragic. He could have spat upon +himself. + +About three in the morning, chance, and the set of the current, +and the bias of his own right-handed body, so decided it between +them that he came to shore upon the beach in front of +Attwater's. There he sat down, and looked forth into a world +without any of the lights of hope. The poor diving dress of +self-conceit was sadly tattered! With the fairy tale of suicide, +of a refuge always open to him, he had hitherto beguiled and +supported himself in the trials of life; and behold! that also +was only a fairy tale, that also was folk-lore. With the +consequences of his acts he saw himself implacably confronted for +the duration of life: stretched upon a cross, and nailed there +with the iron bolts of his own cowardice. He had no tears; he +told himself no stories. His disgust with himself was so complete +that even the process of apologetic mythology had ceased. He was +like a man cast down from a pillar, and every bone broken. He lay +there, and admitted the facts, and did not attempt to rise. + +Dawn began to break over the far side of the atoll, the sky +brightened, the clouds became dyed with gorgeous colours, the +shadows of the night lifted. And, suddenly, Herrick was aware +that the lagoon and the trees wore again their daylight livery; +and he saw, on board the Farallone, Davis extinguishing the +lantern, and smoke rising from the galley. + +Davis, without doubt, remarked and recognised the figure on +the beach; or perhaps hesitated to recognise it; for after he had +gazed a long while from under his hand, he went into the house +and fetched a glass. It was very powerful; Herrick had often +used it. With an instinct of shame, he hid his face in his hands. + +'And what brings you here, Mr Herrick-Hay, or Mr Hay-Herrick?' +asked the voice of Attwater. 'Your back view from my present +position is remarkably fine, and I would continue to +present it. We can get on very nicely as we are, and if you were +to turn round, do you know? I think it would be awkward.' + +Herrick slowly rose to his feet; his heart throbbed hard, a +hideous excitement shook him, but he was master of himself. +Slowly he turned, and faced Attwater and the muzzle of a +pointed rifle. 'Why could I not do that last night?' he thought. + +'Well, why don't you fire?' he said aloud, with a voice that +trembled. + +Attwater slowly put his gun under his arm, then his hands in +his pockets. + +'What brings you here?' he repeated. + +'I don't know' ' said Herrick; and then, with a cry: 'Can you +do anything with me?' + +'Are you armed?' said Attwater. 'I ask for the form's sake.' + +'Armed? No!' said Herrick. 'O yes, I am, too!' And he flung +upon the beach a dripping pistol. + +'You are wet,' said Attwater. + +'Yes, I am wet,' said Herrick. 'Can you do anything with me?' + +Attwater read his face attentively. + +'It would depend a good deal upon what you are,' said he. + +'What I am? A coward!' said Herrick. + +'There is very little to be done with that,' said Attwater. 'And +yet the description hardly strikes one as exhaustive.' + +'Oh, what does it matter?' cried Herrick. 'Here I am. I am +broken crockery; I am a burst drum; the whole of my life is +gone to water; I have nothing left that I believe in, except my +living horror of myself. Why do I come to you? I don't know; +you are cold, cruel, hateful; and I hate you, or I think I hate +you. But you are an honest man, an honest gentleman. I put +myself, helpless, in your hands. What must I do? If I can't do +anything, be merciful and put a bullet through me; it's only a +puppy with a broken leg!' + +'If I were you, I would pick up that pistol, come up to the +house, and put on some dry clothes,' said Attwater. + +'If you really mean it?' said Herrick. 'You know they--we--they . +. . But you know all.' + +'I know quite enough,' said Attwater. 'Come up to the house.' + +And the captain, from the deck of the Farallone, saw the two +men pass together under the shadow of the grove. + + + +Chapter 11. DAVID AND GOLIATH + +Huish had bundled himself up from the glare of the day--his +face to the house, his knees retracted. The frail bones in the +thin tropical raiment seemed scarce more considerable than a +fowl's; and Davis, sitting on the rail with his arm about a stay, +contemplated him with gloom, wondering what manner of +counsel that insignificant figure should contain. For since +Herrick had thrown him off and deserted to the enemy, Huish, +alone of mankind, remained to him to be a helper and oracle. + +He considered their position with a sinking heart. The ship +was a stolen ship; the stores, either from initial carelessness +or ill administration during the voyage, were insufficient to +carry them to any port except back to Papeete; and there +retribution waited in the shape of a gendarme, a judge with a +queer-shaped hat, and the horror of distant Noumea. Upon that +side, there was no glimmer of hope. Here, at the island, the +dragon was roused; Attwater with his men and his Winchesters +watched and patrolled the house; let him who dare approach it. +What else was then left but to sit there, inactive, pacing the +decks--until the Trinity Hall arrived and they were cast into +irons, or until the food came to an end, and the pangs of famine +succeeded? For the Trinity Hall Davis was prepared; he would +barricade the house, and die there defending it, like a rat in a +crevice. But for the other? The cruise of the Farallone, into +which he had plunged only a fortnight before, with such golden +expectations, could this be the nightmare end of it? The ship +rotting at anchor, the crew stumbling and dying in the scuppers? +It seemed as if any extreme of hazard were to be preferred to so +grisly a certainty; as if it would be better to up-anchor after +all, put to sea at a venture, and, perhaps, perish at the hands +of cannibals on one of the more obscure Paumotus. His eye roved +swiftly over sea and sky in quest of any promise of wind, but +the fountains of the Trade were empty. Where it had run yesterday +and for weeks before, a roaring blue river charioting clouds, +silence now reigned; and the whole height of the atmosphere +stood balanced. On the endless ribbon of island that stretched +out to either hand of him its array of golden and green and +silvery palms, not the most volatile frond was to be seen +stirring; they drooped to their stable images in the lagoon like +things carved of metal, and already their long line began to +reverberate heat. There was no escape possible that day, none +probable on the morrow. And still the stores were running out! + +Then came over Davis, from deep down in the roots of his +being, or at least from far back among his memories of +childhood and innocence, a wave of superstition. This run of ill +luck was something beyond natural; the chances of the game +were in themselves more various; it seemed as if the devil must +serve the pieces. The devil? He heard again the clear note of +Attwater's bell ringing abroad into the night, and dying away. +How if God . . . ? + +Briskly, he averted his mind. Attwater: that was the point. +Attwater had food and a treasure of pearls; escape made possible +in the present, riches in the future. They must come to grips, +with Attwater; the man must die. A smoky heat went over his +face, as he recalled the impotent figure he had made last night +and the contemptuous speeches he must bear in silence. Rage, +shame, and the love of life, all pointed the one way; and only +invention halted: how to reach him? had he strength enough? +was there any help in that misbegotten packet of bones against +the house? + +His eyes dwelled upon him with a strange avidity, as though +he would read into his soul; and presently the sleeper moved, +stirred uneasily, turned suddenly round, and threw him a +blinking look. Davis maintained the same dark stare, and Huish +looked away again and sat up. + +'Lord, I've an 'eadache on me!' said he. 'I believe I was a bit +swipey last night. W'ere's that cry-byby 'Errick?' + +'Gone,' said the captain. + +'Ashore?' cried Huish. 'Oh, I say! I'd 'a gone too.' + +'Would you?' said the captain. + +'Yes, I would,' replied Huish. 'I like Attwater. 'E's all right; +we got on like one o'clock when you were gone. And ain't his +sherry in it, rather? It's like Spiers and Ponds' Amontillado! I +wish I 'ad a drain of it now.' He sighed. + +'Well, you'll never get no more of it--that's one thing,' said +Davis, gravely. + +"Ere! wot's wrong with you, Dyvis? Coppers 'ot? Well, look at me! +I ain't grumpy,' said Huish; 'I'm as plyful as a canary-bird, I +am.' + +'Yes,' said Davis, 'you're playful; I own that; and you were +playful last night, I believe, and a damned fine performance you +made of it.' + +"Allo!' said Huish. "Ow's this? Wot performance?' + +'Well, I'll tell you,' said the captain, getting slowly off the +rail. + +And he did: at full length, with every wounding epithet and +absurd detail repeated and emphasised; he had his own vanity +and Huish's upon the grill, and roasted them; and as he spoke, +he inflicted and endured agonies of humiliation. It was a plain +man's masterpiece of the sardonic. + +'What do you think of it?' said he, when he had done, and +looked down at Huish, flushed and serious, and yet jeering. + +'I'll tell you wot it is,' was the reply, 'you and me cut a +pretty dicky figure.' + +'That's so,' said Davis, 'a pretty measly figure, by God! And, +by God, I want to see that man at my knees.' + +'Ah!' said Huish. "Ow to get him there?' + +'That's it!' cried Davis. 'How to get hold of him! They're four +to two; though there's only one man among them to count, and +that's Attwater. Get a bead on Attwater, and the others would +cut and run and sing out like frightened poultry--and old man +Herrick would come round with his hat for a share of the pearls. +No, SIR! it's how to get hold of Attwater! And we daren't even +go ashore; he would shoot us in the boat like dogs.' + +'Are you particular about having him dead or alive?' asked +Huish. + +'I want to see him dead,' said the captain. + +'Ah, well!' said Huish, 'then I believe I'll do a bit of +breakfast.' + +And he turned into the house. + +The captain doggedly followed him. + +'What's this?' he asked. 'What's your idea, anyway?' + +'Oh, you let me alone, will you?' said Huish, opening a bottle +of champagne. 'You'll 'ear my idea soon enough. Wyte till I +pour some chain on my 'ot coppers.' He drank a glass off, and +affected to listen. ''Ark!' said he, ''ear it fizz. Like 'am +fryin', I declyre. 'Ave a glass, do, and look sociable.' + +'No!' said the captain, with emphasis; 'no, I will not! there's +business.' + +'You p'ys your money and you tykes your choice, my little +man,' returned Huish. 'Seems rather a shyme to me to spoil your +breakfast for wot's really ancient 'istory.' + +He finished three parts of a bottle of champagne, and nibbled +a corner of biscuit, with extreme deliberation; the captain +sitting opposite and champing the bit like an impatient horse. +Then Huish leaned his arms on the table and looked Davis in the +face. + +'W'en you're ready!' said he. + +'Well, now, what's your idea?' said Davis, with a sigh. + +'Fair play!' said Huish. 'What's yours?' + +'The trouble is that I've got none,' replied Davis; and wandered +for some time in aimless discussion of the difficulties in +their path, and useless explanations of his own fiasco. + +'About done?' said Huish. + +'I'll dry up right here,' replied Davis. + +'Well, then,' said Huish, 'you give me your 'and across the +table, and say, "Gawd strike me dead if I don't back you up."' + +His voice was hardly raised, yet it thrilled the hearer. His face +seemed the epitome of cunning, and the captain recoiled from it +as from a blow. + +'What for?' said he. + +'Luck,' said Huish. 'Substantial guarantee demanded.' + +And he continued to hold out his hand. + +'I don't see the good of any such tomfoolery,' said the other. + +'I do, though,' returned Huish. 'Gimme your 'and and say the +words; then you'll 'ear my view of it. Don't, and you won't.' + +The captain went through the required form, breathing short, +and gazing on the clerk with anguish. What to fear, he knew +not; yet he feared slavishly what was to fall from the pale lips. + +'Now, if you'll excuse me 'alf a second,' said Huish, 'I'll go +and fetch the byby.' + +'The baby?' said Davis. 'What's that?' + +'Fragile. With care. This side up,' replied the clerk with a +wink, as he disappeared. + +He returned, smiling to himself, and carrying in his hand a +silk handkerchief. The long stupid wrinkles ran up Davis's brow, +as he saw it. What should it contain? He could think of nothing +more recondite than a revolver. + +Huish resumed his seat. + +'Now,' said he, 'are you man enough to take charge of 'Errick +and the niggers? Because I'll take care of Hattwater.' + +'How?' cried Davis. 'You can't!' + +'Tut, tut!' said the clerk. 'You gimme time. Wot's the first +point? The first point is that we can't get ashore, and I'll make +you a present of that for a 'ard one. But 'ow about a flag of +truce? Would that do the trick, d'ye think? or would Attwater +simply blyze aw'y at us in the bloomin' boat like dawgs?' + +'No,' said Davis, 'I don't believe he would.' + +'No more do I,' said Huish; 'I don't believe he would either; +and I'm sure I 'ope he won't! So then you can call us ashore. +Next point is to get near the managin' direction. And for that +I'm going to 'ave you write a letter, in w'ich you s'y you're +ashamed to meet his eye, and that the bearer, Mr J. L. 'Uish, is +empowered to represent you. Armed with w'ich seemin'ly simple +expedient, Mr J. L. 'Uish will proceed to business.' + +He paused, like one who had finished, but still held Davis +with his eye. + +'How?' said Davis. 'Why?' + +'Well, you see, you're big,' returned Huish; ''e knows you +'ave a gun in your pocket, and anybody can see with 'alf an eye +that you ain't the man to 'esitate about usin' it. So it's no go +with you, and never was; you're out of the runnin', Dyvis. But +he won't be afryde of me, I'm such a little un! I'm unarmed--no +kid about that--and I'll hold my 'ands up right enough.' He +paused. 'If I can manage to sneak up nearer to him as we talk,' +he resumed, 'you look out and back me up smart. If I don't, we +go aw'y again, and nothink to 'urt. See?' + +The captain's face was contorted by the frenzied effort to +comprehend. + +'No, I don't see,' he cried, 'I can't see. What do you mean?' + +'I mean to do for the Beast!' cried Huish, in a burst of +venomous triumph. 'I'll bring the 'ulkin' bully to grass. He's +'ad his larks out of me; I'm goin' to 'ave my lark out of 'im, +and a good lark too!' + +'What is it?' said the captain, almost in a whisper. + +'Sure you want to know?' asked Huish. + +Davis rose and took a turn in the house. + +'Yes, I want to know,' he said at last with an effort. + +'We'n you're back's at the wall, you do the best you can, +don't you?' began the clerk. 'I s'y that, because I 'appen to +know there's a prejudice against it; it's considered vulgar, +awf'ly vulgar.' He unrolled the handkerchief and showed a +four-ounce jar. 'This 'ere's vitriol, this is,' said he. + +The captain stared upon him with a whitening face. + +'This is the stuff!' he pursued, holding it up. 'This'll burn to +the bone; you'll see it smoke upon 'im like 'ell fire! One drop +upon 'is bloomin' heyesight, and I'll trouble you for Attwater!' + +'No, no, by God!' exclaimed the captain. + +'Now, see 'ere, ducky,' said Huish, 'this is my bean feast, I +believe? I'm goin' up to that man single-'anded, I am. 'E's about +seven foot high, and I'm five foot one. 'E's a rifle in his 'and, +'e's on the look-out, 'e wasn't born yesterday. This is Dyvid and +Goliar, I tell you! If I'd ast you to walk up and face the music +I could understand. But I don't. I on'y ast you to stand by and +spifflicate the niggers. It'll all come in quite natural; you'll +see, else! Fust thing, you know, you'll see him running round and +owling like a good un . . .' + +'Don't!' said Davis. 'Don't talk of it!' + +'Well, you ARE a juggins!' exclaimed Huish. 'What did you +want? You wanted to kill him, and tried to last night. You +wanted to kill the 'ole lot of them and tried to, and 'ere I show +you 'ow; and because there's some medicine in a bottle you kick +up this fuss!' + +'I suppose that's so,' said Davis. 'It don't seem someways +reasonable, only there it is.' + +'It's the happlication of science, I suppose?' sneered Huish. + +'I don't know what it is,' cried Davis, pacing the floor; 'it's +there! I draw the line at it. I can't put a finger to no such +piggishness. It's too damned hateful!' + +'And I suppose it's all your fancy pynted it,' said Huish, 'w'en +you take a pistol and a bit o' lead, and copse a man's brains all +over him? No accountin' for tystes.' + +'I'm not denying it,' said Davis, 'It's something here, inside of +me. It's foolishness; I dare say it's dam foolishness. I don't +argue, I just draw the line. Isn't there no other way?' + +'Look for yourself,' said Huish. 'I ain't wedded to this, if you +think I am; I ain't ambitious; I don't make a point of playin' +the lead; I offer to, that's all, and if you can't show me +better, by Gawd, I'm goin' to!' + +'Then the risk!' cried Davis. + +'If you ast me straight, I should say it was a case of seven to +one and no takers,' said Huish. 'But that's my look-out, ducky, +and I'm gyme, that's wot I am: gyme all through.' + +The captain looked at him. Huish sat there, preening his +sinister vanity, glorying in his precedency in evil; and the +villainous courage and readiness of the creature shone out of +him like a candle from a lantern. Dismay and a kind of respect +seized hold on Davis in his own despite. Until that moment, he +had seen the clerk always hanging back, always listless, +uninterested, and openly grumbling at a word of anything to do; +and now, by the touch of an enchanter's wand, he beheld him +sitting girt and resolved, and his face radiant. He had raised +the devil, he thought; and asked who was to control him? and his +spirits quailed. + +'Look as long as you like,' Huish was going on. 'You don't see +any green in my eye! I ain't afryde of Attwater, I ain't afryde +of you, and I ain't afryde of words. You want to kill people, +that's wot YOU want; but you want to do it in kid gloves, and it +can't be done that w'y. Murder ain't genteel, it ain't easy, it +ain't safe, and it tykes a man to do it. 'Ere's the man.' + +'Huish!' began the captain with energy; and then stopped, +and remained staring at him with corrugated brows. + +'Well, hout with it!' said Huish. "Ave you anythink else to +put up? Is there any other chanst to try?' + +The captain held his peace. + +'There you are then!' said Huish with a shrug. + +Davis fell again to his pacing. + +'Oh, you may do sentry-go till you're blue in the mug, you +won't find anythink else,' said Huish. + +There was a little silence; the captain, like a man launched on +a swing, flying dizzily among extremes of conjecture and refusal. + +'But see,' he said, suddenly pausing. 'Can you? Can the thing +be done? It--it can't be easy.' + +'If I get within twenty foot of 'im it'll be done; so you look +out,' said Huish, and his tone of certainty was absolute. + +'How can you know that?' broke from the captain in a choked +cry. 'You beast, I believe you've done it before!' + +'Oh, that's private affyres,' returned Huish, 'I ain't a talking +man.' + +A shock of repulsion struck and shook the captain; a scream +rose almost to his lips; had he uttered it, he might have cast +himself at the same moment on the body of Huish, might have +picked him up, and flung him down, and wiped the cabin with +him, in a frenzy of cruelty that seemed half moral. But the +moment passed; and the abortive crisis left the man weaker. The +stakes were so high--the pearls on the one hand--starvation +and shame on the other. Ten years of pearls! The imagination of +Davis translated them into a new, glorified existence for himself +and his family. The seat of this new life must be in London; +there were deadly reasons against Portland, Maine; and the +pictures that came to him were of English manners. He saw his +boys marching in the procession of a school, with gowns on, an +usher marshalling them and reading as he walked in a great +book. He was installed in a villa, semi-detached; the name, +Rosemore, on the gateposts. In a chair on the gravel walk, he +seemed to sit smoking a cigar, a blue ribbon in his buttonhole, +victor over himself and circumstances, and the malignity of +bankers. He saw the parlour with red curtains and shells on the +mantelpiece--and with the fine inconsistency of visions, mixed +a grog at the mahogany table ere he turned in. With that the +Farallone gave one of the aimless and nameless movements +which (even in an anchored ship and even in the most profound +calm) remind one of the mobility of fluids; and he was back again +under the cover of the house, the fierce daylight besieging +it all round and glaring in the chinks, and the clerk in a rather +airy attitude, awaiting his decision. + +He began to walk again. He aspired after the realisation of +these dreams, like a horse nickering for water; the lust of them +burned in his inside. And the only obstacle was Attwater, who +had insulted him from the first. He gave Herrick a full share of +the pearls, he insisted on it; Huish opposed him, and he trod the +opposition down; and praised himself exceedingly. He was not +going to use vitriol himself; was he Huish's keeper? It was a +pity he had asked, but after all! . . . he saw the boys again in +the school procession, with the gowns he had thought to be so +'tony' long since . . . And at the same time the incomparable +shame of the last evening blazed up in his mind. + +'Have it your own way!' he said hoarsely. + +'Oh, I knew you would walk up,' said Huish. 'Now for the +letter. There's paper, pens and ink. Sit down and I'll dictyte.' + +The captain took a seat and the pen, looked a while helplessly +at the paper, then at Huish. The swing had gone the other way; +there was a blur upon his eyes. 'It's a dreadful business,' he +said, with a strong twitch of his shoulders. + +'It's rather a start, no doubt,' said Huish. 'Tyke a dip of ink. +That's it. William John Hattwater, Esq., Sir': he dictated + +'How do you know his name is William John?' asked Davis. + +'Saw it on a packing case,' said Huish. 'Got that?' + +'No,' said Davis. 'But there's another thing. What are we to +write?' + +'O my golly!' cried the exasperated Huish. 'Wot kind of man +do YOU call yourself? I'M goin' to tell you wot to write; that's +my pitch; if you'll just be so bloomin' condescendin' as to write +it down! WILLIAM JOHN ATTWATER, ESQ., SIR': he reiterated. And +the captain at last beginning half mechanically to move his pen, +the dictation proceeded: + +It is with feelings of shyme and 'artfelt contrition that I +approach you after the yumiliatin' events of last night. Our Mr +'Errick has left the ship, and will have doubtless communicated +to you the nature of our 'opes. Needless to s'y, these are no +longer possible: Fate 'as declyred against us, and we bow the +'ead. Well awyre as I am of the just suspicions with w'ich I am +regarded, I do not venture to solicit the fyvour of an interview +for myself, but in order to put an end to a situytion w'ich must +be equally pyneful to all, I 'ave deputed my friend and partner, +Mr J. L. Huish, to l'y before you my proposals, and w'ich by +their moderytion, Will, I trust, be found to merit your +attention. Mr J. L. Huish is entirely unarmed, I swear to Gawd! +and will 'old 'is 'ands over 'is 'ead from the moment he begins +to approach you. I am your fytheful servant, John Davis. + + +Huish read the letter with the innocent joy of amateurs, +chuckled gustfully to himself, and reopened it more than once +after it was folded, to repeat the pleasure; Davis meanwhile +sitting inert and heavily frowning. + +Of a sudden he rose; he seemed all abroad. 'No!' he cried. +'No! it can't be! It's too much; it's damnation. God would never +forgive it.' + +'Well, and 'oo wants Him to?' returned Huish, shrill with +fury. 'You were damned years ago for the Sea Rynger, and said +so yourself. Well then, be damned for something else, and 'old +your tongue.' + +The captain looked at him mistily. 'No,' he pleaded, 'no, old +man! don't do it.' + +"Ere now,' said Huish, 'I'll give you my ultimytum. Go or st'y +w'ere you are; I don't mind; I'm goin' to see that man and +chuck this vitriol in his eyes. If you st'y I'll go alone; the +niggers will likely knock me on the 'ead, and a fat lot you'll be +the better! But there's one thing sure: I'll 'ear no more of your +moonin', mullygrubbin' rot, and tyke it stryte.' + +The captain took it with a blink and a gulp. Memory, with +phantom voices, repeated in his cars something similar, something +he had once said to Herrick--years ago it seemed. + +'Now, gimme over your pistol,' said Huish. 'I 'ave to see all +clear. Six shots, and mind you don't wyste them.' + +The captain, like a man in a nightmare, laid down his revolver +on the table, and Huish wiped the cartridges and oiled the +works. + +It was close on noon, there was no breath of wind, and the +heat was scarce bearable, when the two men came on deck, had +the boat manned, and passed down, one after another, into the +stern-sheets. A white shirt at the end of an oar served as a flag +of truce; and the men, by direction, and to give it the better +chance to be observed, pulled with extreme slowness. The isle +shook before them like a place incandescent; on the face of the +lagoon blinding copper suns, no bigger than sixpences, danced +and stabbed them in the eyeballs; there went up from sand and +sea, and even from the boat, a glare of scathing brightness; and +as they could only peer abroad from between closed lashes, the +excess of light seemed to be changed into a sinister darkness, +comparable to that of a thundercloud before it bursts. + +The captain had come upon this errand for any one of a +dozen reasons, the last of which was desire for its success. +Superstition rules all men; semi-ignorant and gross natures, like +that of Davis, it rules utterly. For murder he had been prepared; +but this horror of the medicine in the bottle went beyond him, +and he seemed to himself to be parting the last strands that +united him to God. The boat carried him on to reprobation, to +damnation; and he suffered himself to be carried passively +consenting, silently bidding farewell to his better self and his +hopes. Huish sat by his side in towering spirits that were not +wholly genuine. Perhaps as brave a man as ever lived, brave as a +weasel, he must still reassure himself with the tones of his own +voice; he must play his part to exaggeration, he must out-Herod +Herod, insult all that was respectable, and brave all that was +formidable, in a kind of desperate wager with himself. + +'Golly, but it's 'ot!' said he. 'Cruel 'ot, I call it. Nice d'y +to get your gruel in! I s'y, you know, it must feel awf'ly +peculiar to get bowled over on a d'y like this. I'd rather 'ave +it on a cowld and frosty morning, wouldn't you? (Singing) "'Ere +we go round the mulberry bush on a cowld and frosty mornin'." +(Spoken) Give you my word, I 'aven't thought o' that in ten +year; used to sing it at a hinfant school in 'Ackney, 'Ackney +Wick it was. (Singing) "This is the way the tyler does, the tyler +does.' (Spoken) Bloomin' 'umbug. 'Ow are you off now, for the +notion of a future styte? Do you cotton to the tea-fight views, +or the old red 'ot boguey business?' + +'Oh, dry up!' said the captain. + +'No, but I want to know,' said Huish. 'It's within the sp'ere +of practical politics for you and me, my boy; we may both be +bowled over, one up, t'other down, within the next ten minutes. +It would be rather a lark, now, if you only skipped across, came +up smilin' t'other side, and a hangel met you with a B. and S. +under his wing. 'Ullo, you'd s'y: come, I tyke this kind.' + +The captain groaned. While Huish was thus airing and +exercising his bravado, the man at his side was actually engaged +in prayer. Prayer, what for? God knows. But out of his +inconsistent, illogical, and agitated spirit, a stream of +supplication was poured forth, inarticulate as himself, earnest +as death and judgment. + +'Thou Gawd seest me!' continued Huish. 'I remember I had +that written in my Bible. I remember the Bible too, all about +Abinadab and parties. Well, Gawd!' apostrophising the meridian, +'you're goin' to see a rum start presently, I promise you +that!' + +The captain bounded. + +'I'll have no blasphemy!' he cried, 'no blasphemy in my boat.' + +'All right, cap,' said Huish. 'Anythink to oblige. Any other +topic you would like to sudgest, the rynegyge, the lightnin' rod, +Shykespeare, or the musical glasses? 'Ere's conversation on a +tap. Put a penny in the slot, and . . . 'ullo! 'ere they are!' he +cried. 'Now or never is 'e goin' to shoot?' + +And the little man straightened himself into an alert and +dashing attitude, and looked steadily at the enemy. +But the captain rose half up in the boat with eyes protruding. + +'What's that?' he cried. + +'Wot's wot?' said Huish. + +'Those--blamed things,' said the captain. + +And indeed it was something strange. Herrick and Attwater, both +armed with Winchesters, had appeared out of the grove +behind the figure-head; and to either hand of them, the sun +glistened upon two metallic objects, locomotory like men, and +occupying in the economy of these creatures the places of heads-- +only the heads were faceless. To Davis between wind and water, +his mythology appeared to have come alive, and Tophet to be +vomiting demons. But Huish was not mystified a moment. + +'Divers' 'elmets, you ninny. Can't you see?' he said. + +'So they are,' said Davis, with a gasp. 'And why? Oh, I see, +it's for armour.' + +'Wot did I tell you?' said Huish. 'Dyvid and Goliar all the w'y +and back.' + +The two natives (for they it was that were equipped in this +unusual panoply of war) spread out to right and left, and at last +lay down in the shade, on the extreme flank of the position. +Even now that the mystery was explained, Davis was hatefully +preoccupied, stared at the flame on their crests, and forgot, and +then remembered with a smile, the explanation. + +Attwater withdrew again into the grove, and Herrick, with +his gun under his arm, came down the pier alone. + +About half-way down he halted and hailed the boat. + +'What do you want?' he cried. + +'I'll tell that to Mr Attwater,' replied Huish, stepping briskly +on the ladder. 'I don't tell it to you, because you played the +trucklin' sneak. Here's a letter for him: tyke it, and give it, +and be 'anged to you!' + +'Davis, is this all right?' said Herrick. + +Davis raised his chin, glanced swiftly at Herrick and away +again, and held his peace. The glance was charged with some +deep emotion, but whether of hatred or of fear, it was beyond +Herrick to divine. + +'Well,' he said, 'I'll give the letter.' He drew a score with his +foot on the boards of the gangway. 'Till I bring the answer, +don't move a step past this.' + +And he returned to where Attwater leaned against a tree, and +gave him the letter. Attwater glanced it through. + +'What does that mean?' he asked, passing it to Herrick. + +'Treachery?' + +'Oh, I suppose so!' said Herrick. + +'Well, tell him to come on,' said Attwater. 'One isn't a fatalist +for nothing. Tell him to come on and to look out.' + +Herrick returned to the figure-head. Half-way down the pier +the clerk was waiting, with Davis by his side. + +'You are to come along, Huish,' said Herrick. 'He bids you +look out, no tricks.' + +Huish walked briskly up the pier, and paused face to face +with the young man. + +'W'ere is 'e?' said he, and to Herrick's surprise, the low-bred, +insignificant face before him flushed suddenly crimson and went +white again. + +'Right forward,' said Herrick, pointing. 'Now your hands +above your head.' + +The clerk turned away from him and towards the figure-head, +as though he were about to address to it his devotions; he was +seen to heave a deep breath; and raised his arms. In common +with many men of his unhappy physical endowments, Huish's +hands were disproportionately long and broad, and the palms +in particular enormous; a four-ounce jar was nothing in that +capacious fist. The next moment he was plodding steadily +forward on his mission. + +Herrick at first followed. Then a noise in his rear startled him, +and he turned about to find Davis already advanced as far as +the figure-head. He came, crouching and open-mouthed, as the +mesmerised may follow the mesmeriser; all human considerations, +and even the care of his own life, swallowed up in one +abominable and burning curiosity. + +'Halt!' cried Herrick, covering him with his rifle. 'Davis, what +are you doing, man? YOU are not to come.' + +Davis instinctively paused, and regarded him with a dreadful +vacancy of eye. + +'Put your back to that figure-head, do you hear me? and stand +fast!' said Herrick. + +The captain fetched a breath, stepped back against the +figure-head, and instantly redirected his glances after Huish. + +There was a hollow place of the sand in that part, and, as it +were, a glade among the cocoa palms in which the direct +noonday sun blazed intolerably. At the far end, in the shadow, +the tall figure of Attwater was to be seen leaning on a tree; +towards him, with his hands over his head, and his steps +smothered in the sand, the clerk painfully waded. The surrounding +glare threw out and exaggerated the man's smallness; it +seemed no less perilous an enterprise, this that he was gone +upon, than for a whelp to besiege a citadel. + +'There, Mr Whish. That will do,' cried Attwater. 'From that +distance, and keeping your hands up, like a good boy, you can +very well put me in possession of the skipper's views.' + +The interval betwixt them was perhaps forty feet; and Huish +measured it with his eye, and breathed a curse. He was already +distressed with labouring in the loose sand, and his arms ached +bitterly from their unnatural position. In the palm of his right +hand, the jar was ready; and his heart thrilled, and his voice +choked,as he began to speak. + +'Mr Hattwater,' said he, 'I don't know if ever you 'ad a +mother . . .' + +'I can set your mind at rest: I had,' returned Attwater; 'and +henceforth, if I might venture to suggest it, her name need not +recur in our communications. I should perhaps tell you that I +am not amenable to the pathetic.' + +'I am sorry, sir, if I 'ave seemed to tresparse on your private +feelin's,' said the clerk, cringing and stealing a step. 'At +least, sir, you will never pe'suade me that you are not a perfec' +gentleman; I know a gentleman when I see him; and as such, I +'ave no 'esitation in throwin' myself on your merciful +consideration. It IS 'ard lines, no doubt; it's 'ard lines to +have to hown yourself beat; it's 'ard lines to 'ave to come and +beg to you for charity.' + +'When, if things had only gone right, the whole place was as +good as your own?' suggested Attwater. 'I can understand the +feeling.' + +'You are judging me, Mr Attwater,' said the clerk, 'and God +knows how unjustly! THOU GAWD SEEST ME, was the tex' I 'ad in +my Bible, w'ich my father wrote it in with 'is own 'and upon the +fly leaft.' + +'I am sorry I have to beg your pardon once more,' said +Attwater; 'but, do you know, you seem to me to be a trifle +nearer, which is entirely outside of our bargain. And I would +venture to suggest that you take one--two--three--steps back; +and stay there.' + +The devil, at this staggering disappointment, looked out of +Huish's face, and Attwater was swift to suspect. He frowned, he +stared on the little man, and considered. Why should he be +creeping nearer? The next moment, his gun was at his shoulder. + +'Kindly oblige me by opening your hands. Open your hands +wide--let me see the fingers spread, you dog--throw down that +thing you're holding!' he roared, his rage and certitude +increasing together. + +And then, at almost the same moment, the indomitable Huish +decided to throw, and Attwater pulled the trigger. There was +scarce the difference of a second between the two resolves, but +it was in favour of the man with the rifle; and the jar had not +yet left the clerk's hand, before the ball shattered both. For +the twinkling of an eye the wretch was in hell's agonies, bathed +in liquid flames, a screaming bedlamite; and then a second and +more merciful bullet stretched him dead. + +The whole thing was come and gone in a breath. Before +Herrick could turn about, before Davis could complete his cry +of horror, the clerk lay in the sand, sprawling and convulsed. + +Attwater ran to the body; he stooped and viewed it; he put +his finger in the vitriol, and his face whitened and hardened +with anger. + +Davis had not yet moved; he stood astonished, with his back +to the figure-head, his hands clutching it behind him, his body +inclined forward from the waist. + +Attwater turned deliberately and covered him with his rifle. + +'Davis,' he cried, in a voice like a trumpet, 'I give you sixty +seconds to make your peace with God!' + +Davis looked, and his mind awoke. He did not dream of +self-defence, he did not reach for his pistol. He drew himself up +instead to face death, with a quivering nostril. + +'I guess I'll not trouble the Old Man,' he said; 'considering the +job I was on, I guess it's better business to just shut my face.' + +Attwater fired; there came a spasmodic movement of the +victim, and immediately above the middle of his forehead, a +black hole marred the whiteness of the figure-head. A dreadful +pause; then again the report, and the solid sound and jar of the +bullet in the wood; and this time the captain had felt the wind +of it along his cheek. A third shot, and he was bleeding from +one ear; and along the levelled rifle Attwater smiled like a Red +Indian. + +The cruel game of which he was the puppet was now clear to +Davis; three times he had drunk of death, and he must look to +drink of it seven times more before he was despatched. He held +up his hand. + +'Steady!' he cried; 'I'll take your sixty seconds.' + +'Good!' said Attwater. + +The captain shut his eyes tight like a child: he held his hands +up at last with a tragic and ridiculous gesture. + +'My God, for Christ's sake, look after my two kids,' he said; +and then, after a pause and a falter, 'for Christ's sake, Amen.' + +And he opened his eyes and looked down the rifle with a +quivering mouth. + +'But don't keep fooling me long!' he pleaded. + +'That's all your prayer?' asked Attwater, with a singular ring +in his voice. + +'Guess so,' said Davis. + +So?' said Attwater, resting the butt of his rifle on the ground, +'is that done? Is your peace made with Heaven? Because it is +with me. Go, and sin no more, sinful father. And remember that +whatever you do to others, God shall visit it again a thousand- +fold upon your innocents.' + +The wretched Davis came staggering forward from his place +against the figure-head, fell upon his knees, and waved his +hands, and fainted. + +When he came to himself again, his head was on Attwater's +arm, and close by stood one of the men in divers' helmets, +holding a bucket of water, from which his late executioner now +laved his face. The memory of that dreadful passage returned +upon him in a clap; again he saw Huish lying dead, again he +seemed to himself to totter on the brink of an unplumbed +eternity. With trembling hands he seized hold of the man whom +he had come to slay; and his voice broke from him like that of a +child among the nightmares of fever: 'O! isn't there no mercy? +O! what must I do to be saved?' + +'Ah!' thought Attwater, 'here's the true penitent.' + + + +Chapter 12. TAIL-PIECE + +On a very bright, hot, lusty, strongly blowing noon, a fortnight +after the events recorded, and a month since the curtain rose +upon this episode, a man might have been spied, praying on the +sand by the lagoon beach. A point of palm trees isolated him +from the settlement; and from the place where he knelt, the only +work of man's hand that interrupted the expanse, was the +schooner Farallone, her berth quite changed, and rocking at +anchor some two miles to windward in the midst of the lagoon. +The noise of the Trade ran very boisterous in all parts of the +island; the nearer palm trees crashed and whistled in the gusts, +those farther off contributed a humming bass like the roar of +cities; and yet, to any man less absorbed, there must have risen +at times over this turmoil of the winds, the sharper note of the +human voice from the settlement. There all was activity. +Attwater, stripped to his trousers and lending a strong hand of +help, was directing and encouraging five Kanakas; from his +lively voice, and their more lively efforts, it was to be +gathered that some sudden and joyful emergency had set them in +this bustle; and the Union Jack floated once more on its staff. +But the suppliant on the beach, unconscious of their voices, +prayed on with instancy and fervour, and the sound of his voice +rose and fell again, and his countenance brightened and was +deformed with changing moods of piety and terror. + +Before his closed eyes, the skiff had been for some time tacking +towards the distant and deserted Farallone; and presently the +figure of Herrick might have been observed to board +her, to pass for a while into the house, thence forward to the +forecastle, and at last to plunge into the main hatch. In all +these quarters, his visit was followed by a coil of smoke; and he +had scarce entered his boat again and shoved off, before flames +broke forth upon the schooner. They burned gaily; kerosene +had not been spared, and the bellows of the Trade incited the +conflagration. About half way on the return voyage, when +Herrick looked back, he beheld the Farallone wrapped to the +topmasts in leaping arms of fire, and the voluminous smoke +pursuing him along the face of the lagoon. In one hour's time, +he computed, the waters would have closed over the stolen ship. + +It so chanced that, as his boat flew before the wind with much +vivacity, and his eyes were continually busy in the wake, +measuring the progress of the flames, he found himself embayed +to the northward of the point of palms, and here became aware +at the same time of the figure of Davis immersed in his devotion. +An exclamation, part of annoyance, part of amusement, broke +from him: and he touched the helm and ran the prow upon the +beach not twenty feet from the unconscious devotee. Taking the +painter in his hand, he landed, and drew near, and stood over +him. And still the voluble and incoherent stream of prayer +continued unabated. It was not possible for him to overhear the +suppliant's petitions, which he listened to some while in a very +mingled mood of humour and pity: and it was only when his +own name began to occur and to be conjoined with epithets, +that he at last laid his hand on the captain's shoulder. + +'Sorry to interrupt the exercise,' said he; 'but I want you to +look at the Farallone.' + +The captain scrambled to his feet, and stood gasping and +staring. 'Mr Herrick, don't startle a man like that!' he said. 'I +don't seem someways rightly myself since . . .' he broke off. +'What did you say anyway? O, the Farallone,' and he looked +languidly out. + +'Yes,' said Herrick. 'There she burns! and you may guess from +that what the news is.' + +'The Trinity Hall, I guess,' said the captain. + +'The same,' said Herrick; 'sighted half an hour ago, and +coming up hand over fist.' + +'Well, it don't amount to a hill of beans,' said the captain +with a sigh. + +'O, come, that's rank ingratitude!' cried Herrick. + +'Well,' replied the captain, meditatively, 'you mayn't just see +the way that I view it in, but I'd 'most rather stay here upon +this island. I found peace here, peace in believing. Yes, I guess +this island is about good enough for John Davis.' + +'I never heard such nonsense!' cried Herrick. 'What! with all +turning out in your favour the way it does, the Farallone wiped +out, the crew disposed of, a sure thing for your wife and family, +and you, yourself, Attwater's spoiled darling and pet penitent!' + +'Now, Mr Herrick, don't say that,' said the captain gently; +'when you know he don't make no difference between us. But, +O! why not be one of us? why not come to Jesus right away, +and let's meet in yon beautiful land? That's just the one thing +wanted; just say, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief! And +He'll fold you in His arms. You see, I know! I've been a sinner +myself!' + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Ebb-Tide by Stevenson & Osbourne + diff --git a/old/ebtid10.zip b/old/ebtid10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..09d182e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ebtid10.zip |