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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffd1ec0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #55721 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55721) diff --git a/old/55721-8.txt b/old/55721-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 72d5167..0000000 --- a/old/55721-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5379 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Under Rocking Skies, by L. Frank Tooker - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Under Rocking Skies - -Author: L. Frank Tooker - -Release Date: October 9, 2017 [EBook #55721] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER ROCKING SKIES *** - - - - -Produced by David E. Brown and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -UNDER ROCKING SKIES - - - - -[Illustration: "There was a twinkle in Captain March's eyes"] - - - - - UNDER - ROCKING SKIES - - BY - L. FRANK TOOKER - - AUTHOR OF - "THE CALL OF THE SEA," ETC. - - [Illustration] - - NEW YORK - THE CENTURY CO. - 1905 - - - - - Copyright, 1905, by - THE CENTURY CO. - - _Published October, 1905_ - - _COLONIAL PRESS - Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. - Boston, U.S.A._ - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - - "THERE WAS A TWINKLE IN CAPTAIN MARCH'S EYES" _Frontispiece_ - - "THE BRIG WAS SLIDING DOWN THE SEAS LIKE A - BOY LET LOOSE FROM SCHOOL" 63 - - "'_YOU_ WILL NEED THE PATIENCE,' SHE SAID" 113 - - "THEY HEARD HIM WHISTLING FOR A WIND" 141 - - "THERE CAME A 'SMOOTH,' AND THE BOAT SHOT IN" 195 - - "'KEEP 'EM GOING! DON'T LET 'EM SLACK UP A BIT!'" 255 - - - - -UNDER ROCKING SKIES - - - - -UNDER ROCKING SKIES - - - - -I - -For a quarter of an hour Thomas Medbury had been standing at the east -window of his mother's parlor, gazing out across his neighbor's yard -with an eager intentness that betrayed a surprising absorption in a -landscape without striking features and wholly lacking in any human -interest. The low-studded room in which he stood was closely shut and -darkened, having about it the musty smell peculiar to old houses. There -were sea-fans before the fireplace, flanked on each side by polished -conch-shells. On the wall hung an oil-painting of the brig _North -Star_, with all sail set, and at her foretruck a white burgee, with -her name in red letters, standing straight out in half a gale of wind. -Family portraits in oval gilt frames were ranged with mathematical -precision along the remaining wall-spaces, and on the mantelpiece stood -a curious collection of objects brought from far lands--carved ivories -and strange ware from China, peculiar shells, a Japanese short sword, -and a South Pacific war-club. No one would have needed to be told that -it was the home of a sailor. - -Indeed, a keen observer might have guessed it from the young man -himself. He was tall and broad-shouldered, and bronzed to the color of -overripe wheat. His eyes had the steady, far-seeing look of the seaman, -but were not yet marked about by the crow's-feet that the glare of the -sun on the sea brings early in life. It was, moreover, a strong face, -straightforward and pleasant, and irradiated by an almost boyish -eagerness. - -Suddenly he leaned forward with quickened interest as the door of his -neighbor's house opened, and there stepped forth a short, stout man -of sixty, who stood a moment for a last word and then hurried down -the boxwood-lined path. He, too, was clearly a sailor: he walked with -his feet far apart, like a man so habituated to the rolling deck that -it seemed a waste of time and energy to alter his gait on the rare -occasions when he trod the firm ground. Medbury perceived that his -face wore a look of placid satisfaction, and with the tightening of -the lines of his own to an unspoken resolution, he hurried through -the house and across the yard, and, vaulting the low dividing fence, -approached his neighbor's back door. - -He lifted the latch without knocking, and at once came face to face -with a wet-eyed young woman standing at a table and listlessly cutting -out sugar-cookies with a tin mold. A child of four, leaning against -her, reached eagerly for the cutter, and a boy of ten sat near the -stove, softly crying. - -"Annie," said Medbury, abruptly, "where's Bob? I want to see him." - -"He's up-stairs, packing. He's going out with Cap'n Joel March," said -the young woman, tragically. The boy by the stove broke into a wail, -and she turned sharply toward him. - -"Do stop it, Bobbie!" she exclaimed. Then she walked toward the door to -call her husband. - -She returned at once, her husband, tall, brown, and wiry, walking -behind her with the subdued step of a culprit who feels that by -stepping softly, smiling unobtrusively, and gainsaying no man, he may -escape, through his humility, what he deserves for his misconduct. His -good-natured face lighted up at sight of Medbury. - -"Bob," said Medbury, without other prelude than a nod, "I want you to -do me a favor: don't go out this trip with Cap'n Joel." - -The other smiled uncertainly and seated himself. - -"Why, that's a funny thing to ask, Tom," he said wonderingly. "Annie's -been at me, of course; but I don't see what odds it makes to you. It's -a good berth, and it don't seem right to let the chance go by. Besides, -I've promised the old man. I can't back out now." - -"But he promised _me_ he'd stay home a spell," broke in his wife. "He -thinks that's nothing. He's just got home, after being away eleven -months. Why, baby didn't know him!" - -Under the concentrated gaze of her elders, the child contemplated her -father as a blinking puppy might have looked at an object that, from -being unfamiliar and terrifying, had gradually become an accepted but -still unexplained phenomenon. But presently she turned to Medbury. - -"Him gived me a pen-n-y," she said, with a serene gravity that seemed -to concern itself with the fact as a historical statement rather than -as a personal gratification. - -Medbury seized her and tossed her, giggling, in his arms. - -"He did, did he?" he exclaimed. "Well, he doesn't deserve to have -another if he can't stay home and get acquainted with you." He seated -himself, and, with the child snuggling against him, turned to her -father again. - -"It's a shame, Bob, after promising Annie. Mother says she hasn't -talked about anything for six months except your coming home for a -while. She said you were going to paint the house and fix things up, -and she's been running around asking everybody about the best kind of -paint, and planning where to set out shrubs and make flower-beds, and -dig up a little garden for the children. And now you run off at the -first chance!" - -"Why, I don't see why you take it so to heart, Tom," said Bob, smiling, -but a little grieved. He felt they ought to feel that he did it only -for the best. - -"Well, I'll tell you why: I want to go myself. I asked Cap'n Joel to -take me, but he wouldn't hear to it. Now, if he can't get anybody else, -he's bound to let me go in the end." - -Bob looked at him in amazement. - -"Why, you're going to have the new bark! What do you care for--" Then -all at once his face broke into a comprehending grin. "Oh, I see," he -added. He sat for a moment smiling down at the floor. "All right, Tom," -he said, looking up at last. "I'll do it. I wouldn't for anybody else. -I really didn't want to go, but I felt I ought to. But what I'm going -to say to the old man--" He looked at them with a troubled face. - -"Nothing," replied Medbury, promptly. He turned to the boy, who -was listening eagerly, the new hope of keeping his father at home -brightening his tear-stained cheeks. "Bobbie, go over and tell my -mother you want my fish-lines; then run up to Cap'n March's and tell -him your father can't go, after all. And hurry right back; your -father's going to take you fishing." - -The boy went out of the door and over the fence with a wild whoop of -unrestrained joy. Medbury caught up a hat and put it on his friend's -head. - -"You'll find my boat under Simeon's shop; everything's in her," he -told him. "We'll send Bobbie right down. And hurry; the tide's right -for fishing now. You want to get right off." He laughed boyishly. Then -he gently pushed Bob toward the door and watched him going down the -street. - -"Well, that's done," he said to Annie, and stepped outside, with his -hand still holding the latch. Suddenly he looked back. "Annie," he -said, "tell Bob I want him to go out with me as mate when the bark's -finished. Of course that's six months away; but tell him to keep it in -mind." With that he hurriedly closed the door. - -The boy returned, and followed his father, and five minutes later -Captain March turned in at the gate. His face was no longer placid, -but wore a look of annoyance. Medbury, watching him, saw him go away -a moment later, hurrying toward the harbor, taking shorter steps than -usual, and biting his bearded under lip in his perplexity. - -"Seems kind o' mean to bother the old fellow," Medbury said to himself, -looking troubled. He shook the feeling off as he added: "I guess it's -for his good. Now he'll look up Davis; he's the only man he can get." - -As he passed out of his gate, Annie called to him from her doorway. She -was smiling. - -"I wish you good luck, Tom." - -"Thank you, Annie," he replied. "Don't tell about this." - -She shook her head and laughed. - -"Not till it comes out all right," she promised. - -John Davis was sitting in the shipyard watching the carpenters setting -up a stern-post for a new vessel, and there the captain found him. -Medbury, watching them, saw them go away together; but at the corner of -the Shore Road and Main street they separated. - -Half-way up High street, Medbury caught up with Davis. - -"You're walking fast, John," he said. - -"Just shipped with Cap'n Joel," Davis replied, not slacking his gait, -but rather increasing it, as befitted a little man, sensitive as to his -size, when walking with a long-legged companion. - -"That's what I wanted to see you about," Medbury told him. "You're not -going." He smiled, but he glanced uneasily at Davis out of the corners -of his eyes. - -Davis stopped and looked at him. He was a middle-aged man with a red -beard and an uncertain temper, and now he stared at Medbury with -flushing face. Then he broke into a laugh. - -"I ain't, eh?" he demanded good-naturedly. "I'd like to know why not." - -Medbury smiled and laid his hand on the other's shoulder. - -"Because I want to go myself, John," he replied. "I've _got_ to go." - -Davis stared at him with dropping jaw. - -"You!" - -"That's what I said," Medbury replied. - -For a moment Davis stood grinning uncertainly; then he looked up. - -"Where's the joke?" he asked. "Blamed if I see it." - -"It's no joke," said Medbury, patiently. "I've _got_ to go. I can't -tell why--just now; but some day I may." - -Davis gazed up and down the street with an abstracted air; but all at -once he drew himself together and exclaimed: - -"Well, I'll be--" He broke off suddenly, and, turning sharply, began to -walk back to the village. - -"Where are you going?" asked Medbury, still standing in the road. - -Over his shoulder Davis answered laconically: - -"To tell the ol' man I can't go." He did not stop. - -"It's mighty good of you, John," Medbury called humbly. "I'll make it -up to you somehow--see if I don't." - -"Make it up!" cried Davis, stopping in the road. "I don't want nothin' -made up. You made it up, years ago, when you got me out of that affair -in Para. You didn't ask no questions that night; nor when you run -across our bar in that no'theaster to fish up my boy when his boat -capsized. I don't know what you're up to, and I don't care. It's all -right." He waved his hand lightly, as if to dismiss all obligations, -and departed in search of Captain March. - -But half a dozen steps away, Medbury heard him laugh, and turned to see -him standing in the road, looking back. - -"Just this minute saw what you was aimin' at," he called to Medbury. -"Well, good luck to you!" And, grinning to himself, he went his way. - -"Now," thought Medbury, "if Cap'n March'll only keep his eyes open for -the rest of the day, I guess he's not going to miss seeing me. I shall -be near, but not too near. Only I wish I knew of something to hurry -him up before too many people laugh and wish me luck." - -Fate, in the hands of a woman, was to do that for him. - - - - -II - - -With something of the serene imperturbability that was a part of -his habitual attitude toward life, the Rev. Robert Drew sat in a -rocking-chair on the little porch of his house and, slowly rocking, -looked out across the waters of the placid bay while he awaited Captain -March's summons. For twenty-four hours he had scarcely stirred from -home, that he might be in instant readiness for departure on the coming -of the captain's messenger; but the messenger still tarried, and the -_Henrietta C. March_, lying quietly at anchor off the harbor with her -mainsail up, seemed no nearer to sailing than she had been the day -before. - -It was early in March--March that had come in like a lamb and now -lay drowsing under a sun that hourly reddened the buds and gleamed -white on the salt-meadows and the shining boles of trees. There were -bird-calls at intervals; barnyard fowls sunned themselves in garden -spaces and sent up cloudy veils of dust: the life of the earth was -awakening. Drew could see dark specks about the harbor's mouth: he knew -that the boats had begun to go out for flatfish. The thought of even -that mild activity moved him to impatience, and, getting to his feet, -he walked to an open window and looked in. - -"Mother," he said, "I'm going to find Captain March and get some reason -from him why he doesn't sail. He can get a good mate, I hear; I don't -understand his delaying. I'm tired of it. If he isn't going, I wish to -know it, and arrange for a vacation elsewhere." - -"Very well, Robert." His mother looked up brightly. Her son as an -instrument of strenuous aggressiveness amused her. She had the sense -of humor, which he had not inherited, and it was this sense that lured -her on to add: "Don't say anything that you may regret." - -"Oh, no," he answered gravely, and went away, leaving her to the silent -laughter that always seemed to him, whenever he was a witness of it, as -something peculiarly elusive and almost pagan. - -In all Blackwater there was no cooler spot than Myron Beckwith's -boat-shop. Facing the Shore Road, and standing on piles, with big -sliding doors opening at each end, on a hot summer afternoon one could -always find a cool breeze drawing through it and hear the water lapping -about the piles beneath the floor. The panorama of village life passed -by on the Shore Road, and at the back doors one could sit and watch all -the activity of harbor and wharves and see the vessels going up and -down the sound. To sailors ashore and to idlers in general it was an -attractive spot. Here Drew found Captain March standing in a little -group near the rear doors, ruminating on life. - -"No," he was saying, "things go best by contraries. A sailor ought -to marry a girl from the inboard, who doesn't know a scow from a -full-rigged ship and is just a little scart at sight of salt water. -A man like the dominie here," he added, as Drew halted by the group, -"ought to marry a girl who's never been under conviction and has got a -spice of old Satan in her. That's what gives 'em variety and keeps 'em -interested. When you know just what you're going to have for your meals -every day, you kind o' lose interest in your eating." - -"Dominie," said Jehiel Dace, "you ought to get the cap'n to supply -your pulpit while you're off on your vacation. He's a good deal of a -preacher." - -"I have other uses for him," said Drew, with a smile. - -"'Twouldn't be a bad notion if we'd all change places now and then," -replied the captain. "We'd appreciate each other better. I don't -know but I could preach about as well as the dominie could run the -_Henrietta C._ I ain't so sure about the prayers. One thing, there's -several in that congregation I'd like to talk at." - -"Nothin' to hender you from freein' your mind as it is," suggested -Dace, brightening at the prospect. "You don't need no pulpit for that." - -There was a twinkle in Captain March's eyes, but he shook his head. - -"No," he said with an air of finality, "it wouldn't be official. Wisdom -has got to have authority to give it weight. Otherwise it's just blamed -impudence." - -"That's so," admitted Dace; "that's a good deal so. See what a man will -take from his wife without--" - -Captain March turned suddenly. - -"There he comes!" he exclaimed, and gazed steadily through the open -window. - -All eyes, turning in the same direction, saw a horseman galloping down -the Mount Horeb road. He descended the hill, was lost to sight behind -the rigging-loft, flashed past a bit of the Shore Road, and was hidden -again for a moment while they heard the thunder of his horse's feet on -the mill-creek bridge. Captain March seated himself and, with knees -wide apart, faced the land-side door. - -In front of the shop a boy threw himself from a panting horse. He -walked straight up to Captain March, and in much the same manner that a -courier might announce defeat to a king, said: - -"He can't come. His wife's sick, he says. He can't come." - -"That settles it," said the captain. "I heard Simeon Macy was ashore, -and I thought maybe I could get him for mate. Now I've got to go to -the city this afternoon and look one up." - -No one spoke, but every man in the group except the captain and -Drew thought of Thomas Medbury, and wondered how far a man might be -justified in letting personal reasons override necessity when his -vessel was loaded and ready for sea. - -Dace was the first to break the silence. - -"As I was sayin'," he remarked, "speakin' of wives--" - -Some one touched Drew on the shoulder and he turned quickly. It was -Deacon Taylor, anxious to talk over again the debated subject of a new -heater for the church. When Drew was again free the captain was gone. - -"Where did the captain go?" he asked. - -"My wisdom touchin' wives reminded him that his had sent him on an -errant," answered Dace. "He went to the market. I suppose by now he's -tryin' to explain to his wife how he happened to be three hours late -with the meat for dinner." - -At the market Drew was told that Captain March had gone home. When, -after a momentary hesitation, Drew had gone thither, it was only to -find Mrs. March sitting by a window, apparently watching for her -recreant husband. - -"And he wanted roast beef for dinner," sadly remarked that good lady -after she had told the minister that she knew no more about her -husband's whereabouts than she knew where Moses was buried. She turned -her face from him for an instant. - -"It is twelve o'clock, lacking seventeen minutes," she added in a tone -that suggested the tragic stage. Drew hurried away. - -When, after a hopeless search for the missing mariner, he wended his -way homeward half an hour later, he smiled to himself as he wondered if -it was not just as well: he could not for his life tell what he could -have said to urge the captain to sail. At his gate he came face to face -with a breathless small boy. - -"Mr. Drew," he gasped, "Cap'n March he says--he says--you be -at--Myron's boat-shop--boat-shop by half-past one--yes, sir. He's goin' -to sail." Then he disappeared. - -In wonder Drew hastened up to his house, to find his mother kneeling on -the floor and strapping a satchel. - -"I've just put some crullers and a glass of jelly in your bag," she -told him, without turning. "I don't suppose you'll get a thing that -tastes like real cooking. And I put your winter flannels in, too. It -will be cold nights, and you will sit out on deck and get chilled -through. Now come to dinner." - -"I don't understand this sudden haste," said Drew, as he took his seat -at the table. "I saw the captain an hour ago, and he showed no signs -of any impatience to be off. It seems too good to be true." - -Mrs. Drew laughed. - -"He says the same of you," she told him. "But if you really get away -you owe it to your mother. I am the god out of the machine--I. I was -tying up the flowering-currant bush by the fence, and Captain March -came by. He was hurrying, my dear. I never saw him hurry before. What -do sailors say--rolling both scuppers under? Yes; it was like that. -I called to him and asked him if he had seen my son. Yes, he had. -Then I told him that if he didn't sail soon you would need a second -vacation to recover from the nervous strain of waiting for this one to -begin. I let him know how you had done nothing for two days but sit by -your baggage and start at every sound. I told him, too, that you were -constantly worrying lest something should happen to keep you at home -at the last minute; so the sooner you got away the better." - -"Oh, mother! mother!" protested Drew, smiling. - -"Oh, I put it strongly--trust me for that. He said he had seen you, -but you had said nothing. I knew it would be like that. Oh, you were -two Buddhas sitting under the sacred Bo-tree, contemplating eternity. -Isn't that what the Buddha is supposed to do? You were like that, you -two, anyway. Well, he explained everything. He told me that two men -had promised to go out with him as mate, but changed their minds. He -thought it queer. Another asked to go, but, for personal reasons, he -didn't want him. But as soon as he knew just how you felt he said he'd -go right off for this man. I thought it very good of him. I hope the -man isn't a rough character. But, Robert, you didn't tell me that his -wife and daughter are going." She looked at her son reproachfully. - -"Whose wife and daughter? I can't follow you," he said. - -"The captain's, of course." - -"I believe he did mention the fact that his wife and little girl -were going, but it made no impression on me," Drew told her. "I have -scarcely thought of it since." - -"His little girl! Robert, haven't you ever seen her?" - -"No, mother." - -"Well, I suppose you knew of her, though they don't attend your -church." Then she changed the subject with an abruptness that was so -characteristic that Drew's thoughts slipped away from the question -he had been about to ask. "But, do you know," she said, "I think he -decided to go partly because he forgot his meat for dinner and he's -afraid of that round, good-natured-looking little wife of his. His -hurry to get away now looks as if he'd been too busy finding a mate to -get home earlier. He told me about it with an intimate chuckle that -seemed to take me right into his family closet and introduce me to the -skeleton." - -As Drew made his way through Beckwith's boat-shop half an hour later -and stopped at the wide sliding doors at the rear, a large yawl was -lying at the float. Three sailors sat on the thwarts, leaning forward -with the characteristic rounded shoulders and relaxed look of idle -seamen. Up the long plank walk from the boat hurried a tall, beardless -young man of twenty-eight or thirty. He walked with a swinging gait, -his shoulders were well back, and his face wore the look of one whose -thoughts were pleasant. - -He glanced from Drew to his baggage, then back to Drew again, and -smiled, showing firm white teeth. - -"Mr. Drew?" His voice suggested a query, but went on again immediately, -without waiting for an answer: "Tumble in. The old man's gone aboard. -He wouldn't wait." - -He paused while Drew gathered up his baggage, but did not offer to -assist. The American seaman is no burden-bearer for other men. - -The sailors in the boat turned incurious faces as they heard the two -draw near, then quickly rose and held the yawl to the float till they -were seated in the stern-sheets. In silence the oarsmen then took their -places, shipped their oars, and at Medbury's word sped away. - -Drew looked at his watch as they pulled away from the float. - -"It's not yet the hour Captain March set for leaving," he said. "I hope -I did not misunderstand it." - -"Oh, that's the old man's way," replied the other, lightly. "Now that -he's really off, he can't hurry fast enough--had to get Myron to take -him out in a sailboat while I was to wait for you." - -"Are you a Blackwater man?" asked Drew, later. - -"Born here, and my father and grandfather before me. I guess that makes -me a Blackwater man, all right. My name's Medbury. You know my mother; -she goes to your church." - -Drew's face brightened. - -"Yes, indeed. Now I understand why I've never seen you," he said. "Your -mother told me that you had not been home for more than two years. I've -not been here so long. She is very cheerful in her loneliness; I often -stop in to talk to her." - -"Yes," answered Medbury, soberly; "she told me. It does her lots of -good. She thinks a great deal of you." He paused a moment, and then -said: "I've promised her to take no more long voyages. She's getting -old, and I'm all she's got." - -"That's good," said Drew, heartily. He was very fond of the -bright-faced old woman who had lived to see the covetous ocean take all -but her youngest boy, and was quite prepared to like her son for her -sake. - - - - -III - - -The _Henrietta C. March_ was a brig of five hundred tons burden, and -was bound for Santa Cruz in the West Indies; and Captain March had -stopped off his home port to take aboard his wife and daughter and -Drew, who had been given a long vacation by his church. The mate of the -brig had been taken suddenly ill, and for two days the captain had been -trying to get a man to fill his place. - -It was with an impression of almost Crusoe-like loneliness that Drew -found himself upon the deck when they reached the brig at last, and -the mate, with the crew at his heels, had gone forward to swing the -boat to her place on the center-house, and then to the windlass to -heave the chain short. Drew set his baggage down on the deck and, -walking forward, watched the men heaving at the windlass, the jar and -clank of which filled the vessel. On the quarter-deck the captain, in -his shirt-sleeves and wearing a shapeless brown hat, walked back and -forth, occasionally glancing aloft at the fly, which was beginning -to straighten out in the freshening southwest breeze. His wife and -daughter were nowhere in sight. - -The clank of the windlass grew slower and slower as the cable -shortened, and every moment or two Medbury glanced over the bow. -Finally he raised his hand above his head, and the men came trooping -down from the forecastle-deck, some going aloft to loosen sails and -others going to various stations with a businesslike directness that -seemed to Drew to be under the guidance of wordless intuition. He -stood leaning against the fore-rigging as two came toward him with -the unseeing look of men who, having a duty to perform, recognize no -obstacle, and, gently pushing him aside, began to throw to the deck the -coils of running rigging against which he had been leaning. He moved -from place to place, always finding himself in the way and being pushed -aside with the silent directness that seemed purely impersonal, until -at last, throwing off his coat, he began to pull with the rest. In -silence they made place for him. For a time he found his hands catching -awkwardly at halyards and braces and slipping over and under other -harder hands; then at last he caught the swing, and his body rose and -sank with the bodies of the others, and his breathing came heavily and -thickened with theirs. The minister had found himself. - -It was not until the brig slowly paid off, heeling before the fresh -breeze, and the outward-bound song began its chant about her forefoot, -that he gathered up his baggage and went aft. Captain March was at the -wheel. - -"Go right down and make yourself to home," he said. "They'll show -you your room. I declare, you take a hold like an old hand. We'll be -sending you aloft in a few days." - -Drew smiled, but shook his head. - -"No," he said; "I shall stick to the deck." - -As he went down the companionway and stepped across the cabin, he saw -the round little form of Mrs. March kneeling before a locker in what -was to be his room. She turned her head at the sound of his footsteps. - -"I thought I'd tidy your room up a bit," she told him. "Gracious -knows, it needs it. You'd think it started out as a carpenter shop or -sail-loft, but got discouraged and ended up just plain litter. I guess -Cap'n March has left house-cleaning out of his almanac. And he said -this room was clean!" - -"Oh, I am sure it will do nicely, Mrs. March," Drew replied. "My mother -says I'm fond of a comfortable disorder." - -"I guess men are all alike in that," she said: "they like a -clutter--they think it's having things handy. But I hope you'll excuse -my back," she went on. "I was just telling my daughter that I was -almost ashamed to show my face to you. There I was scolding about Cap'n -March being so late, when all the time you and he were so anxious to -get off and he scurrying around to find a mate. I declare, sometimes it -seems as if the good Lord didn't do his best by women when he gave them -tongues. They're like drums to little children--make a dreadful noise -and keep them from better things." - -Drew smiled. It seemed clear that the captain had used some latitude in -explaining his late return home. Meanwhile Mrs. March was backing out -of the room. - -"There," she said; "it's in a sort of order, if you don't look too -close." - -Ten minutes later Drew came out into the cabin, having put away his -belongings. - -"I am sure the room couldn't be better, Mrs. March," he said. "It seems -to me delightfully cozy and neat." - -Mrs. March shook her head and smiled as she said: - -"I'd 'a' been better satisfied if you hadn't mentioned its being so -nice. I've noticed this about men folks, that when things suit them, -they don't notice them. When Cap'n March talks and acts like a man -right out of the Bible, I'm sure he's been up to mischief, or else has -something unpleasant on his mind, one." - -Drew laughed as he replied: - -"Then I'm going to cultivate wise silences, Mrs. March. I'll give you -the impression of a man walking in a dream. I have come on this voyage -to learn things; you are not letting me lose any time." - -"Oh, if you came to learn things, you'll be wasting time by talking -with the rest of us: you must go to my daughter here. She's been -called to that, you know--to teach all men and nations." Her voice -held a curious note: pride, resentment, anxiety, all seemed to marshal -themselves in the words. - -"Mother!" - -Drew turned quickly at the one word, to see the daughter standing in -the doorway of her room. He noticed that while the girl's brow was -drawn in a frown, her lips had the undecided irregularity of curve that -hinted at a smile suppressed. This study of particulars did not make -him any the less alert to a general impression of striking beauty. He -smiled and bowed somewhat elaborately, to which the girl returned a -curt little nod, though her answering smile was friendly. - -He had the tact to seem not to recognize the tension and to turn to -other subjects, and he now said, with a heartiness that seemed to have -long been waiting for expression, that they really were off at last. -His glance at the hanging lamp over the table, gently swaying in its -gimbals, had the effect of bringing the corroborative testimony of its -motion to their notice, while he went on to add that it seemed too -good to be true. He said that ever since the brig had anchored off the -harbor he had been haunted by the fear that something would happen at -the last moment to keep him at home. Not till now had he felt safe. - -"It's the other way about with me," said Mrs. March. "I shall not feel -safe till I get home again. If the Lord meant for us to go wandering -about on the face of the waters, he would have made them steady enough -to build roads on. If he put people 'way on the other side of the -earth, he meant them to stay there--and us, too," she added lamely, -but with sufficient clearness. - -Drew halted half-way up the companionway. - -"You don't mean to say that you are afraid of the sea, Mrs. March," he -asked, "after all your voyages?" - -"I've been going with Cap'n March off and on for twenty-five--yes, -thirty--years," she answered; "yet I never go out of sight of land -without feeling that I'm making faces at my Maker and daring him to -punish me." - -"Oh, mother's fear is her most precious possession," said the girl, -now for the first time coming forth into the cabin. "Nothing has ever -happened to her at sea; and that, she feels, is the best reason for -thinking that something is bound to happen the next time." She put her -hand on the elder woman's shoulder and smiled down on her from her -greater height. - -"Well, that's reasonable," retorted Mrs. March. "I was never one to -shut my eyes and claim it wasn't thundering. I've got my hearing. What -does the good Lord give us feelings for if he doesn't mean us to use -them?" With this challenge to unbelief in design in nature, she went to -her room. - -Captain March was still at the wheel when Drew returned to the deck. -Medbury was forward with the crew, busily stowing the anchor. Little -by little, Blackwater was disappearing behind the high white cliffs. -Drew took up the glass which lay in its box against the frame of the -sliding hood of the companionway and looked toward the village. Even -as he looked, the white spire of his church disappeared from view. He -saw it vanish, and put the glass down, to see the girl standing in the -companionway watching the changing shore. - -"I've seen the last of my church for three months," he said to her; -"now I am really loose and free." - -"It's good to get away from responsibility for a while," she said. "I -feel now as if I could dismiss all thought and worry until I return. -Then things may look different to me. I am going to think so, anyway." - -"Hetty," said the captain, "just run down and get my pipe off my desk, -won't you? You're younger than I am. Besides, I'm busy." He turned -to Drew. "Ashore I smoke cigars mostly; my wife says a pipe's low. -But here I'm master." He looked about his little kingdom with a mild, -complacent face. - -His daughter brought his pipe, and, with the gentle look not yet gone -from his face, he was filling it when a boyish-looking lad came aft -along the starboard side of the house, sent by the mate to take the -wheel. Drew, watching the captain, saw his face change. As the lad -came to the quarter-deck, the captain pointed a stubby finger at -him. "You--" he began harshly, and then hesitated and glanced at his -daughter. The boy stopped and turned a frightened look upon the captain. - -"Ever been to sea before?" demanded the captain. - -"Yes, sir," faltered the boy. - -"When?" - -"Along the sound here--last summer," he answered. - -"Ah," said the captain; then he added: "Didn't you learn the le'ward -side of a vessel?" - -The boy gave a startled look aloft, and then, with a flaming face, -turned quickly and came back along the lee side of the house. The -captain gave him the course, and without another word walked over to -the rail, where his daughter stood with Drew. - -"Sometimes they forget, sometimes they're green and don't know, and -sometimes it's just impudence," he said in a voice that the boy could -hear. "No matter which it is, ninety-nine times in a hundred the -sailorman who does it tumbles right into trouble. This happened to be -the hundredth time." - -His daughter took him by the shoulders and shook him gently. - -"Do you mean to say," she asked in a low voice, "that you might have -punished that boy for coming aft on the wrong side? You could see he -had forgotten or didn't know. Would you?" - -He smiled upon her. - -"Well," he answered, "he'd have remembered the next time if I had." - -She drew back haughtily. - -"I am going to parade--_parade_ up and down that gangway by the hour!" -she told him. - -Her father chuckled. - -"Nothing to hinder," he declared. - -"You're not down on the articles as a forecastle-hand, are you?" - -She did not stay to listen, but went indignantly away; at the cabin -door, however, she turned and came back. - -"You wouldn't have done it," she told him; "I know you wouldn't." She -stooped--she was taller than he--and kissed him lightly. Then she went -below. - -Her father gazed after her. - -"Sometimes she's a thousand feet tall," he said to Drew; "and then -again--" - -"No taller than your heart," suggested Drew as he hesitated. - -"That's about it, I guess," said the captain. - -The wind freshened as night came on, and had a touch of winter in its -sting. They were now running fast by the coast, the high cliffs of -which rose dark and desolate on the starboard. The water was black, -save where it ran hissing along the sides in a ragged gray ribbon of -foam. Behind them, in the west, a crimson flush lingered in the sky. -Drew stood at the break in the poop-deck, watching the shadowy forms -of the crew moving about the deck forward as they made the royal snug -for the night; far overhead he could hear the pennant halyards slatting -against the topmast in the dark. Every taut line and halyard sang in -the breeze, and there was a dull, humming roar in the canvas; under the -lower sails, across the deck, the wind swept crackling and keen. - -He heard the mate's last "That's well; belay!" and watched him come -aft. He passed without speaking, then hesitated and came back. - -"After we get through the Race," he said, "we'll begin to get the -swell." He spoke absent-mindedly, as if he were thinking of something -quite different; then he walked to the rail and sat down. Drew followed -him. - -Leaning his elbows on his knees, Medbury sat for a long time without -speaking; at last he looked up with a little laugh. - -"I'd give something to be out of this," he said. "I was a fool to -come. I might have known better. It's funny, but a man may know a -woman all his life, and at the end of the time know as little about -her as if he'd never seen her--that is, _really_ know her--how she'll -take things. Now, I suppose this was the very worst thing I could -have done. All that I've got to do is to wait till she gets ready and -she'll tell me so. Oh, I can see just how she'll look and what she'll -say! I don't need to have her tell me. 'You might have thought of _my_ -feelings!'"--he changed his voice,--"that's what she'll say. And I--" -he broke off impatiently. - -Drew looked at him in bewilderment. - -"I don't think I understand," he said. - -"You don't? Why, mother said she told you all about it one time when -you were at the house; she said she had to tell some one. That's how I -felt to-night, and I thought you knew." - -A light broke in upon Drew. - -"Ah!" he said. Then he went on: "Yes, she told me; but she did not tell -me the young lady's name. It is Miss March?" - -"Yes," Medbury answered. "I thought you must know. You'd have been the -only one in Blackwater if you hadn't. Sometimes I feel like the town -clock, with every one watching my face. That's one reason why I like -the China seas; I can't get farther away." - -"Your mother told me very little," said Drew; "she was worrying about -your not coming home, and lonely, and it did her good to speak. It -did not seem to me a hopeless situation as she told it. Captain March -strikes me as being a reasonable man." - -"I guess she didn't tell you all, then. Well, I was thinking of what -she said and how much she thought of you, and, thinking you knew, I -made up my mind to ask your advice. I felt that I had to talk to some -one." He hesitated a moment and then, with a boyish laugh, went on: -"You see, Hetty and I had always been pretty good friends from the time -we went to school together. Well, I've never got over it. When I first -went to sea she used to write to me; but after a while she went out to -Oberlin to live with an aunt while she went to college; and as I was -half the time on the other side of the world, we kind of lost track of -each other. I guess she lost track of me more than I did of her, for -she's changed since I saw her last, three years ago, and I can't quite -make her out. She's friendly enough, but she's different, and has come -home with a wild notion of going out to China as a missionary. Good -Lord! a girl like that to be thrown away on those--" He could think -of no word strong enough to convey his contempt. "Well," he went on, -"I can't see any place for me in that plan, but that doesn't seem -to trouble her. That's what worries me. Of course the old man's set -against her going; but he's set against me, too, because I'm a sailor. -That's the way things stand. When I heard she was going out with her -father this trip, and the mate was sick, I rushed off to the old man -and offered to go with him. He wouldn't hear of it, and engaged two -others; but I saw them privately, and they backed out. The old man -can't understand why they did. To-day he came to me, and here I am. -I've been offered a good vessel, and I intended to stay home a spell; -but when I heard Hetty was going, it seemed to me it was my last -chance--to go with her; but I guess it was a mistake. I can see she -thinks I've done a foolish thing, and is angry." - -"I think I can understand how she feels--how most women would feel," -said Drew, slowly, after a long pause. "Her sense of justice is -outraged--perhaps that's too strong a word; but she feels that you have -taken an unfair advantage of her in leaving her no way of escape. She -might not have cared to escape, but she likes to feel that retreat is -open to her. A woman fights at a disadvantage in these things; she is -more sensitive to public opinion than are men, and she has the instinct -of a hunted creature. I don't know that I can make it clear," he -concluded hopelessly. "Then, too, I may be wholly wrong." - -"Well, I don't know what I am going to do, now I'm here," said Medbury, -forlornly. - -"I should say, attend strictly to business and see her as little as -possible for a while," Drew told him. "As for her anger, that may be a -good sign. If she were simply indifferent to you, she wouldn't care. -She could leave it safely to time to make your coming ridiculous." - -When Drew entered the cabin, an hour later, Hetty sat at the table -reading, shading her eyes with her hand; her mother sat knitting near -her; and on the lounge her father reclined, pipe in mouth, his hat -on the floor beside him. Blinking in the strong light, Drew sat down -without removing his overcoat. - -"Ain't you going to stay a while?" asked the captain. "You can't make -church calls to-night." - -Drew laughed. - -"No," he said; "that's true. I'm out of that. But I'm going back on -deck soon. I can't get enough of it: the world seems all sky and stars. -I had lost sight of the fact that the earth is so trivial." - -Captain March let his feet come slowly to the floor and picked up his -hat. - -"That's a good deal so," he said. "Still, there's enough earth lying -loose around the Race to keep me from forgetting it, at least till -we've dropped it astern. I guess I'll go take a look up on deck." - -As her father disappeared, Hetty laid down her book and looked up. - -"Where are we now?" she asked Drew. - -"Little Gull Island light is just ahead of us," he answered. - -"That will be our last sight of land, won't it?" she asked. "I'm going -up to say good-by." - -When she had gone, her mother dropped her knitting in her lap. - -"I guess ministers are used to people coming to them with all their -troubles," she began, with a plaintive little note creeping into her -usually cheery voice, "and I _do_ hope you won't think I'm trying to -spoil your vacation by troubling you with ours; but Cap'n March and I -have talked and talked till we ain't on speaking terms with our own -judgments any more, and what to do next I don't know." Then she, too, -told the story. - -At the end of her hurried recital she said: - -"What she thinks of Tom I don't know; she's awfully close-mouthed -about some things. I like Tom, and if I had my way I guess I'd let the -young folks settle it themselves. But Cap'n March he's different. He's -going to take it for granted that she won't think of Tom because her -father disapproves of her marrying a sailor; and he will be so sure of -it, and so exasperating, that I don't know what he'll _make_ her do -first--marry Tom or go right off to China. In the end he'll let her do -just what she makes up her mind to do. He always did, and he always -will. If it's one thing, I don't care; but to think of her going off -alone to the other side of the world--" She picked up her work and -began to knit rapidly, with fast-falling tears. - -Drew sat with his elbow on the back of the chair, his chin in the palm -of his hand, looking down at the floor. - -"I wish I knew what to say--to advise, Mrs. March," he now said; "but I -do not. Perhaps after a while--" - -"Yes," she broke in eagerly; "that's all we could expect. I told -Cap'n March I was going to speak to you, and he seemed real pleased. -I'm sure you'll think of some way out," she added, with the cheerful -optimism with which we shift the burden of our desperate affairs to -the shoulders of others. It is hard to believe that Fate will continue -unkind when our friends are moved. "And I hope," she went on, "that -you won't feel it a duty to encourage Hetty's missionary notions. Of -course you're a minister and believe in missionaries, and I shouldn't -ask you to go against your conscience; but I suppose you can believe -in them without thinking that everybody's fit for the work. I'm sure -Hetty isn't. All the missionary women I ever saw were thin and homely, -and their clothes seemed just thrown at them. Hetty isn't a bit like -that. I can say so, if she is my daughter. And I've scarcely seen her -for three years; and if now she should go away to live at the end of -the world among heathen idols, with not a homelike thing, and no one to -mother her when she needs mothering, then I think that religion is very -kind to the heathen, who don't want it, and very cruel to a mother who -has always been a God-fearing woman and only wants her child near her -when she comes to die. She's all I've got." - -She had been speaking with increasing rapidity, but now a light -footfall sounded on deck, going aft, and she stopped. - -"Go up on deck," she said to Drew. "I don't want her to know I've ever -mentioned this to you. She's a dear girl, but sometimes I feel like a -hen who is the mother of a duckling. What she's going to do next I -don't know." - -Drew met the girl by the corner of the house. - -"I've been showing father the stars," she said. "He, a sailor, and not -to know them! I told him I thought it shameful." - -"I suppose he knew the north star," he said, smiling. - -"Oh, yes; he knew that. The others didn't seem to impress him. He said -they were too shifty to be of much use." - -"I think there are some folks who know so much that it kind o' clogs -their brains and keeps them from working right," said Captain March, -coming up behind her. "I have an idea that we can use just about so -much, and all over and above that is just pure waste. I once had a -mate that was like that. He could name all the stars, too, and knew a -good many things of that sort that didn't help him much to find his -longitude; but as for the look of the sky, or the heave of the sea, -or the feel of the wind, that meant nothing more to him than so much -blank paper. Now, when I walk the deck at night and look up and see -the stars shining overhead, winter or summer, they're company for me. -That's enough for me; what men call 'em I don't care. I suppose the -good Lord's got his own names for them." - -Hetty stayed on deck till Little Gull Island light came abreast; but -when she had gone below the captain sought out Drew as he stood by the -main-rigging and told him his daughter's desire. He made no mention of -Medbury. - -"Her mother thought you might help us," he concluded; "and I hope -you can, for we're in sore trouble. Still, I don't ask you to advise -against your conscience. Now I say, 'No,' to her; but if she feels -she's got to go, and doesn't change, why, I shall say, 'Yes,' in the -end. I know that. My father always wanted me to stay ashore, but I -was wild to go to sea. It seemed that I _had_ to go, and in the end I -did. I don't know that I got all I expected, but I got what I wanted; -and if my girl sets her heart on this as the only way for her to lead -her life, why, I sha'n't put a stone in her way when once I'm sure. It -wouldn't be right." - - - - -IV - - -Hetty had spread a shawl on the forward end of the house, and, with her -arm resting on the slide of the companionway, sat with an unopened book -in her lap and looked out across the shining sea. It was three bells -or more, and the morning sun was warm upon her face, and painted with -rainbow hues the spray that the fresh northwest wind clipped from every -toppling wave. The brig was sliding down the seas like a boy let loose -from school, now dipping her nose into a long roller with chuckling -hawse-pipes, now sinking into the blue hollows, sending the sheeted -spray outward for yards as her counter came home with a jarring thud. -The spars whined unceasingly, but the sails, bellying in the steady -breeze, made scarcely a sound, save when a sudden lurch spilled the -wind from the canvas, and it snapped like a great whip. - -The scene, with the vividness of its new sensations, now for the first -time experienced, impressed itself upon Drew's mind as something wholly -mysterious and strangely moving. After the first night, when there had -been no sea, he had remained steadily below, too ill to rise; but the -sickness had now passed, and it was with only the uncertainty of gait -of one not yet accustomed to the motion of the vessel that he had made -his way to the deck and looked out over the watery world. - -[Illustration: "The brig was sliding down the seas like a boy let loose -from school"] - -With a sense of aloofness, of absolute separation, from all that he had -ever known, he gazed about him. The words, - - "Look'd at each other with a wild surmise. - Silent, upon a peak in Darien," - -flashed through his mind: the perfect poem seemed strangely -interpretative of his mood. Then his gaze came back from the notched -and leaping horizon to the silent figure of Hetty, and, with the -lifting spirit of a mind released from the oppression of a strange and -portentous solitude, he clumsily made his way to her side, glad for -companionship. - -She looked up brightly. - -"Oh," she said, "I was wishing for some one to enjoy it with. I tried -to get my mother, but she would not come up. She said she could _feel_ -it; that was enough for her. I hope it is not enough for you." - -"No," he answered; "there is more in seeing it: it is strange and -overwhelming. I am inland-bred, you know: I feel as if all known things -had passed away." - -"To me it is like coming home," she declared. "I cannot remember when -it was not familiar. Now it is like lifting the latch of the door at -home after a long absence." - -He shook his head, smiling. - -"I cannot imagine any one thinking of it as companionable, as a part of -actual experience. I need hills and old trees and remembered turns in -roads to feel the intimacy of the world. This is strange and beautiful, -but leaves me an alien. It is like a kaleidoscope: nothing is twice the -same." - -"I do not care for things that are twice the same," she told him. "Here -something is always likely to happen. The only certain thing I know of -to-morrow is that we shall have plum-duff." She laughed. - -He looked at her, gravely smiling. - -"A certain noble discontent--you know the thought--is well; but--" -he was thinking of her mother's concern, and her words carried him -toward it; yet he hesitated, doubtful if it might not be too soon to -speak--"but constant change means lack of purpose, doesn't it? If you -set your heart on something,--something vastly different from anything -you have ever known,--it will be fruitless of good unless persisted -in--unless it wears grooves in your life. A mere impulse for change is -to be distrusted." He smiled and added: "Don't think that I cannot give -over preaching." - -"I know what you mean," replied the girl, looking seaward with troubled -eyes. "I suppose mother has told you what I wish. But it isn't a mere -desire for change, and everybody's disapproval only makes me more eager -to go. Isn't that a proof that the desire is something to be obeyed--a -real call? How can I be sure that it is not, unless I try? Do you think -me a silly person?" She looked at him with a suggestion of defiance, -but smilingly, too. - -"I should be the last one to think that," he told her. "Only look at it -from all sides--that is all your friends can ask." - -"Not father," she answered laughingly. "If I can be made to look at -it from his point of view, he will willingly spare me the rest. Poor -father! But let's not speak of it," she went on. "Look! the Mother -Carey's chicken!" - -She pointed to the bird, the black-and-white little creature which -always seems to be hurrying home, wherever it may be. Far to the -southeast a trail of smoke from an unseen steamer blotched the white -sky. On the main-deck the second mate and a sailor were patching a -topsail; from the galley drifted aft the cheerful whistling of the -steward, like a flock of blackbirds, and the homelike sound of rattling -pans. Only the man at the wheel was aft, now bending to the spokes, now -glancing at the binnacle, and now turning his eye aloft to the luff of -the mainsail. It was the morning of the third day out. - -Drew was silent so long that she turned a troubled face to him. - -"You must not think that I do not care for your advice," she said -gently; "I do--shall some day. Just now I cannot bear to speak of my -disappointment. It wasn't a sudden impulse; it was a part of my life, -and it must be given up, perhaps. After a little, when I can collect my -scattered forces, if you can help me--" She smiled uncertainly. - -"I know, I know," he hastened to say. "But I was really thinking of -something quite different--that three days ago I had not even seen you; -now our lives seem intimately near. Only at sea could that happen." - -"Yes," she agreed; "people grow into friendship quickly at sea--and -grow apart as quickly. I have heard my father say that is a reason -for the cruelty and harshness on shipboard--that men's tempers become -warped when they cannot escape from one another and they find no common -ground for companionship. He says there have been times when he fairly -hated a mate of his. On shore they might have been intimate for years -without an unpleasant thought." - -"Let us hope that we may escape that disaster," he said, with a smile. - -He wondered if Medbury had been in her thoughts. They had scarcely -spoken, he had observed. He himself had seen little of the younger -man, and he was quite prepared to rate him her inferior, in spite of -his physical attractiveness. He seemed a mere boy in his impulses; -he doubted not that he would keep his boyishness to the end of life. -Certainly, he told himself, he was lacking in her capacity for growth. - -Meanwhile his own first opinion of her beauty had not changed; it -was as apparent as ever, he told himself, and had taken on an added -grace with his widening knowledge of her many changing moods. As he -gazed at her now, he had an impression of distinction, but distinction -united with a certain gentleness that, he told himself, was rare. Her -face was in profile, and the mouth, clear-cut and undrooping, had the -softness of outline that he associated with good temper. Her eyes, -though now sad, had the same gentle look. He liked her thick brown -hair and the clear oval of her face: they gave him the impression of -harmony. In spite of his first feeling of attraction for Medbury, he -felt that the girl hesitated wisely; he could see no road by which -the two could travel as equal companions. That Medbury's hopes seemed -destined to be shattered did not move him greatly; for rarely to the -masculine onlooker is the disappointed lover a tragic figure. One has -seen him play his game and lose; now let him bear the loss manfully. - -They did not speak of her desire again that day; indeed, eight days -passed before he ventured to refer to it. Meanwhile they had become -great friends. The pleasant weather had held, and they had rolled down -the long, smooth seas, which daily seemed to grow bluer, under a sky -that remained cloudless. - -It was morning again, the morning of the eleventh day out, and they -sat in the same place, with much the same scene about them, though now -with a tropical softness flooding the world, and less heeded as their -thoughts turned more to themselves. He had been reading aloud while she -worked at some trifle, but suddenly he closed the book. - -"That is enough of other men's dreams," he said. "What of yours?" - -She did not even look up as she replied: - -"Mine are poor enough; I prefer those of others. Besides, I have -scarcely thought of them for days." - -"Are they less insistent?" he asked. - -"Don't!" she appealed. "Don't! I am not yet ready to face them. I have -lost my courage." - -"I will say no more," he said; "but I had thought that you seemed -different--ready to surrender. I had hoped so." - -She looked up now. - -"Are you against me, too?" she demanded. - -"Can you believe that?" he asked. "I had thought that I was for you--as -we all are." - -She smiled. - -"You are all making it very hard for me," she told him. - -A step sounded on the forward companionway, and Medbury appeared. He -glanced past them to the man at the wheel, looked aloft, then walked -slowly to the break of the deck. Suddenly he came back and seated -himself on the corner of the house near them. Apparently he had wearied -of self-suppression. - -He was manifestly trying to appear wholly at ease, and he began to -talk at once, and very rapidly, like one repeating a speech that had -been learned by heart. He spoke of the wind and the run of the vessel, -and he told them that they had not touched a sheet for more than sixty -hours. He said he hoped that it would last, though he added that he -doubted it. - -"When ought we to get out, Tom?" asked Hetty. She bit off her thread -as she spoke, and, spreading her work on her lap, examined it -absent-mindedly. - -"If the wind holds, in four or five days," he answered; "but I'm afraid -it won't. The sea's beginning to look oily now; the snap has gone out -of the wind. We'll be slatting and rolling in a dead calm by the middle -of the afternoon. I noticed the change in my bunk, and couldn't sleep." - -"I thought sailors could always sleep." This was Hetty's contribution -to the conversation as she still studied her work. - -"Well, I couldn't," he answered. - -"Then we may be three weeks going out," said Drew. "It seems like a -long time." - -"I was a hundred and twenty days on my last voyage--from Singapore," -said Medbury. - -"I am beginning to grasp the reason for the sailor's rapt, far-seeing -look," said Drew. "It is not strange that he never loses it, with his -constant study of invisible signs and meanings. But a hundred and -twenty days! What changes may take place in that time!" - -"We find changes enough," Medbury answered. "Sometimes I think we -sailors are the only things that do not change, except to grow older -and sadder. We always hope to find everything just as we left it, but -we never do." - -Hetty looked steadily seaward, and a fine flush came to her face; but -Drew was struck with the philosophy of the situation. - -"That surely ought to be true," he acquiesced--"that the sailor is the -most unchanging of men. One should come back wiser in sea-lore, but -solitude and the singleness of his purpose should keep him untouched by -all the distractions that change other men. I've noticed in Blackwater -the freshness of spirit, almost boyishness, of old men." - -Hetty's face was turned forward, and now she leaped to her feet. - -"What _is_ that, Tom?" she exclaimed. "We are running on a sand-bar!" - -A hundred yards ahead of them stretched a great golden-brown field -that looked like a salt-meadow in April. Above it wheeled a flock of -sea-birds. - -Medbury scarcely turned his head. - -"Sargasso weed," he answered, and grinned. "It's always waltzing about -in these latitudes." - -The girl walked to the main-rigging, and, leaning across the -sheer-pole, watched the yellow plain with wondering eyes. A moment -later, as they plunged into it, she caught her breath; it seemed -incredible to her that there should be no shock. - -Instantly the sounds of the sea were hushed; there was only the soft -hissing of the weed as it swept past the side of the brig. - -"Come up to the forecastle-deck and see it pile up on the bow," Medbury -said to the girl. - -She did not stir. - -"Won't you come?" - -"No," she answered. - -He leaned across the sheer-pole with her a moment in silence. The bell -forward struck four sharp strokes; it was like a cry in the night. Then -a sailor came lurching aft to relieve the man at the wheel. - -"Is it always going to be like this, Hetty?" Medbury asked her in a low -voice. - -"I suppose so." - -"You want it so?" - -"I said, 'I suppose so.'" - -"It's the same thing," he remarked drearily, and sighed. - -The sigh seemed to irritate her, for she turned upon him suddenly. - -"Why did you speak like that--before a stranger?" - -"Like what?" he asked, in astonishment. - -"About coming home unchanged, and finding nothing as you had left it. -Of course he knew what you meant. And it wasn't true, for I have not -changed. I could have sunk through the deck for shame." - -"Oh, _that_," he replied. "_He_ didn't understand; he thought it was a -text." - -"A text!" She turned away in scorn. - -A moment he stood looking outboard with unseeing eyes; then he stooped -and drew a boat-hook from the slings beneath the rail. - -"Wouldn't you like to have a piece?" he asked, pointing to the seaweed. - -She hesitated a moment, and then came back to his side. - -"Yes," she said. - -He drew in a great bunch and spread it at her feet, and she picked up a -bit with dainty fingers. - -"It's no longer beautiful," she said in disappointment, and dropped it -on the house. - -"No," he answered soberly, and tossed the weed back into the sea. - - - - -V - - -The wind died out, as he had predicted, and all the afternoon the brig -rolled on the long swells, which hourly grew heavier. They leaped -against the horizon, swung onward beneath the keel, and swept past with -the unrelenting persistency that seemed the embodiment of vindictive -hate. A gale can be combated, but, in the grasp of a calm, man is -helpless. Every part of the vessel cried out in protest. The canvas -slatted and flapped like the wings of a huge bird vainly trying to rise -from the waves; every block rattled and croaked; the main-boom, hauled -chock aft, snatched at its sheets with a viciousness that threatened -to part them at every roll and made their huge blocks crash; from -the pantry below came the constant rattle of crockery; and the blue -sea, dipped up through the scuppers, swashed back and forth across the -main-deck. By eight bells every stitch of canvas had been furled or -clewed up to save it, and the brig lay rolling in the dark hollows like -a drunken sailor reeling home. - -At dusk Hetty made her way to the forward companionway, and, seating -herself on the sill, with her hands clasped about the guard-rail, -looked out across the watery waste. The line of her eyes, parallel with -the deck, saw the stars fly downward till they seemed to vanish in -the sea, which suddenly seemed to tower like a huge black wall above -the brig; then suddenly it dropped away, and the stars flew up again, -and she saw them fairly overhead. Out of the swashing flood of the -main-deck, in a momentary lull, Medbury appeared. - -"Is that you, Hetty?" he said. - -"Yes," she answered. "It's awful, isn't it?" - -"It's a nasty roll, and no mistake. There's dirty weather knocking -about somewhere." - -"You mean a storm?" - -"Yes." - -"Shall we get it?" she asked. - -"We may and may not," he answered. "It's hard to say." - -"Could it be a hurricane coming?" she asked with awe. - -He laughed. - -"Haven't you ever heard the sailors' rhymes about hurricanes in the -West Indies?" he asked. - - "'July, - Stand by; - August, - Look out you must; - September, - Remember; - October, - All over.' - -That anchors March squarely in the middle of the safe months; so we're -all right, you see. No, it isn't a hurricane." - -He seated himself on the deck, and, leaning against the door-jamb, -braced himself to the roll. For a while they sat in silence, and -watched the long rollers infold them--three great ones, then a -succession of lower ones, in an ever-recurring sameness that moved the -girl with a growing nervousness. At last she turned to him and said: - -"I wanted to explain to you that I had no reason to be ugly this -morning. But what is the use? Father would always oppose; besides, I am -not sure myself. I want to be friends, nothing more." - -"Well! that is a wooden tale," he said disappointedly. - -"I never said anything different at any time, Tom," she protested. - -"Oh, I know. You always had a pair of skittish heels, Hetty." He -turned his face to her suddenly. "Is there any one else?" - -"No," she said. - -"All right," he answered; "I'll hope on. I've been doing that a long -time; I'm not going to stop now." He was silent a moment, and then he -said: "Do you know how long that's been, Hetty? Fourteen years. We were -in school then, and it began the day of that big snow-storm, when I -drew you home on my sled. You wore a red jacket, and your cheeks were -almost as red. I can see you sitting there now, and smiling whenever -I looked back. You were the shyest little thing! When we reached your -gate, you just slipped off and ran into the house without turning." - -"Oh, do you remember that!" - -"I've thought of it under every star in the sky, I think. I guess -that's the way it will always be with you--slipping away and not -looking back." He laughed a little dolefully. - -"I'm not like that," she said in a low voice. "I may go away, but I -shall look back. I am no longer a child." - -"Then don't go away," he said eagerly; but she stopped him. - -"Don't, Tom!" she pleaded. "Don't speak of it any more--now. Just be -friends." - -"All right, Hetty. It will be as you say. I don't nag my--friends." He -smiled forlornly. - -In silence they watched the swells racing in. They were like living -things, of incredible speed, insatiable, pitiless, rushing on to infold -them. As the brig rolled in their grasp, the girl instinctively moved -her body against the roll: it was as if she thought to lessen the awful -dip of the deck with her puny weight; and whenever the great rollers -passed, and the vessel, like a tired thing, lay for an instant almost -at peace in the lower levels of the sea, an involuntary sigh of relief -escaped her. Medbury heard her and looked up. - -"You're not afraid, Hetty, are you?" he asked. "It's disagreeable; -that's all." - -"No, not _really_, I think," she answered; "but I wish it would stop." - -"It's a regular cradle--as peaceful as that," he assured her. "Only -we're a little old for cradles, I guess," he added. - -"I am," she said. - -Over them the stars raced back and forth; for there were no clouds, -only a soft haze that made the stars seem large and near, but without -brightness. Close down to the sea a whitish film seemed to spread, -making the curtain of the night above it intensely black. Once, as they -dipped to port, Hetty's eyes caught sight of a deep-red glow suffusing -the lifted wave near the bow. She clutched at Medbury's arm. - -"What is that, Tom--there--like blood?" she gasped. - -"That? Why, the reflection of our port light. You poor thing!" he said -pityingly. "Hadn't you better go below? It's queer, but on a night like -this, or in thick weather, if you once lose your nerve, you see the -queerest things. Come, you'll be all right below." - -She dropped her face to her hands and laughed. - -"No," she said; "now I will stay. There!"--she straightened herself and -looked at him smilingly,--"now, I'll be sensible. Why do you look at me -like that?" she asked abruptly. - -He turned his face away. - -"Can't I even look at you? A friend could do that." - -"But that was different," she answered. "It was--" The look of yearning -love upon his face moved her strangely. She felt the impatient tears -flood her eyes. Meanwhile he hastened to speak of other things. - -"Do you remember how you used to tie your hair up in two tight little -braids?" he asked--"always tied with red ribbon?" - -"Mother did that," she answered promptly. "I hated it. I used to tell -her they made my head ache. I've forgotten now whether they did or not. -But it wasn't always red ribbon." - -"Wasn't it?" he asked. "That's what I remember." - -"Some things you've forgotten, you see," she told him. "It is easy to -forget, after all." - -The door of the passage below them opened, and some one stumbled toward -them. It was Drew. Medbury slipped away, vexed at the interruption, but -Hetty turned a relieved face to the newcomer. In this difference lay -the measure of their love. - -Reaching the deck, Drew almost dropped in the place where Medbury -had been sitting. He removed his cap from his head, and passed his -hand across his forehead. From the forecastle floated aft, above the -jangling noises of the brig, the faint strains of an accordion. - -"Just at this moment I have no higher ambition than to sit out there -and play like that," said Drew, turning his head to listen. - -"It sounds rather nice at sea," said the girl. "Maybe it's because I've -always heard it there that I like it." - -"Oh, it isn't that," he replied. "It's the care-free touch I envy. -Care-free--with all our fixed beliefs tumbling about us! See those -stars! And we have been taught to call them steadfast!" - -She laughed, and looked at him mischievously. - -"You're seasick again," she said. "I knew it by the way you dropped to -the deck." - -"I am," he promptly admitted. - -"Well, you're honest; you ought to be proud of that," she told him. -"Most men refuse to confess to seasickness until the fact confesses -itself." She laughed. - -"I might be proud of being honest if I were not too much ashamed of -being ill. The lesser feeling is lost in the greater." - -"You would feel better if you would not watch the rail. It's the worst -thing you can do." - -"You are watching it," he said. - -"But I am never affected," she replied. "Besides, I'm feeling reckless -to-night." - -He turned and looked at her smilingly. - -"You reckless! You are self-control itself," he declared. - -It is strange, but there are times when to be called self-controlled is -like an accusation. - -"That sounds like calling me hard and unfeeling," she said. - -"Rather say it's calling you happy. I think there is no happiness -without self-control," he replied. - -"Do you call it happiness," she cried--"rolling like this? I think it -is dull." - -"All happiness is more or less dull," he declared. "It's the price it -pays to discontent, which is supposed to know all the ups and downs of -life." - -"I should not like to think that," she said soberly. - -"Then I hope your whole life may prove it false," he answered. - -In the silence that followed, his eyes, searching the night with the -fascination in the thought of discovery that the sea gives even to the -sighting of a sail, came back to her face and lingered there. For a -moment he looked at her with the intent, impersonal gaze that he had -directed toward the horizon. She was leaning against the guard-rail, -with her hands clasped over her knees, and her eyes turned up to -the stars. Her head was uncovered, and her hair looked black above -the gleaming whiteness of her face, which wore the intense look of -abounding vitality that pallor sometimes gives in a larger measure than -vivid coloring. As he watched her face in the dim light, he became -distinctly alive to a new impression--the impression that he was -becoming strangely drawn to her. The knowledge came upon him suddenly, -like a ship looming above him in the night. - -It was inevitable that his first thought should be of Medbury; but -whatever he might later come to think of his own ethical implication, -in this first moment of self-discovery the thought was little more -than that he should have a care. In a rush of mental restlessness he -rose to his feet and walked to the rail. He could hear the second mate -as he tramped steadily back and forth on the quarter-deck, passing -like a shuttle from darkness to light as he crossed the glow from the -binnacle-lamp. The thump of the wheel jumping in its becket was almost -continuous; it irritated him as the louder noises of the sea and the -vessel had not done. In the east a red light shone and vanished; again -it appeared for a moment. He called Hetty's attention to it, but she -did not rise. When it appeared again it was farther to the north. - -"It's a steamer going home," she said. "It's like your happiness--just -a dull light moving uncertainly through darkness." - -"You mustn't think that," he said gently. - -"Oh, it's true," she persisted; "I can see it's true. I wanted to go -away, but it was only discontent. If I had gone, it would have been the -same. I should have been broken in the first struggle." - -"To-morrow the wind will blow again, and you will see things in a -different light. Nothing will matter then," he assured her. - -"Do you think I should have succeeded if I had gone?" She turned toward -him sharply while she waited for his answer. - -He had seated himself again, and he paused a moment before he replied. - -"I think you would have put your whole heart into your work," he said -at last. "When we do that, we need not think of results--or fear -them--need we?" - -"I shall always feel that it was right for me to go," she said, after a -pause. "The regret will remain." - -"It is hard to say what is right, we owe allegiance in so many ways. -A week ago your going was simply an interesting thought to me. Now I -cannot bear to think of it." - -She caught her breath sharply. - -"There's your steamer again," she exclaimed. "It's almost gone." - -It came to him vividly, with her conscious refusal to follow his -leading, that he was not having a care; and he added in haste: "I can -see the tragic significance of such a decision, now that I am no longer -a stranger--this putting away of all your old life--your father and -mother. Think what it means to them! Life has many facets: we've got to -look at them all." - -"Yes," she said slowly, as if she were looking at them all in turn; -then she continued: "But if we study them too closely, isn't there -danger of being simply irresolute and accomplishing nothing?" - -"To crown the present hour--might that not be the hardest, and -therefore the noblest, task?" he asked smilingly. "A nature that is -overwhelmed by its first disappointment will not be likely to succeed -in any path. That is not yours, I am sure." - -"It is easy for you to say that," she answered, with a touch of -impatience; "you have found your chosen work; I must stay at home. -What can we women in seaports do? We tremble through storms, and then -wait in fear for the marine news." She laughed at her own exaggeration. - -"It makes strong, hopeful women," he declared stoutly. - -"Is that all you ask of your work--to be made strong and hopeful?" she -demanded. "It makes me think of life as a gymnasium." - -"No," he answered frankly; "but I have not found my chosen work, or, -rather, my chosen field." - -"May I ask what that is? Do you mind telling me?" - -"I shall be glad," he replied. "It is simply to work among the poor -in a large town or city. I cannot go among the little children of the -crowded streets without a heartache. That is where my work calls me. -I love the people of Blackwater, and I can be happy there when I can -forget for a time; but I am not needed. Sometimes I feel that no one -is needed, they are so firmly fixed in their beliefs, so hopelessly -certain of themselves. But the little children of the crowded streets!" -He broke off suddenly. - -They heard the bell forward ring out sharply. Both counted the strokes -in silence. - -"Eight bells," she murmured, as it ceased. - -The forecastle door opened, and a shaft of light flashed like an -opening fan along the wet, shining deck. Shadowy forms began to move -about, and vanished in the darkness. Then the door was shut, and the -deck was dark again; only the clamor of the rolling vessel and the sea -about her went on unceasingly. - -"I am glad you told me," Hetty said at last in a low voice that had in -it a tremor of exaltation. She did not turn to him as she spoke, but -kept her eyes fixed upon the lines of whitened waves glimmering in the -dark. - -"It was little to tell," he said, with a laugh. - -"It was much to know," she answered gently. - -He wondered at the touch of feeling in her tone, for he could not know -that, having condemned him for a seemingly Laodicean contentment with -life, with as little reason she was now prepared to exalt him unduly, -seeing in his desired course a form of martyrdom at once moving and -heroic. It was in the line of her own desire, and the thought flashed -upon her that here was something even she might be permitted to do. - -They had come tremblingly to the heights of emotion: a little thing -might send the streams of their life together, or bear them farther and -farther apart. - - - - -VI - - -Day was breaking when Drew came on deck the next morning. The noises of -the vessel, which had clanked and whined all night through his broken -sleep, seemed to him to take on new life as he reached the deck; but -the brig, as she lay rolling in the trough of the sea, had the gray, -tired look of ships coming home from long voyages. There were no clouds -in the sky, but the stars had faded out, and even as he gazed the rim -of the sun appeared above the sea, flattened out on the horizon, then -rose in an elongated ball. For an instant a red pendant seemed to cling -to the far edge of the ocean; then it vanished, and the sun, round -again and red, had broken free. Day had come. - -The ocean had the glassy aspect of the preceding day; as far as the -eye carried not a catspaw darkened the surface. In every direction the -white sails of the Portuguese men-of-war rose and fell on the long blue -swells. Fifty yards astern the triangular dorsal fin of a shark moved -slowly across their track. Drew watched its silent progress with the -fascination that the landsman, seeing it for the first time, bestows -upon it as the embodiment of the cruelty and mystery of its abode. - -He turned at the sound of a footstep, and, seeing Medbury beside him, -greeted him, and then nodded astern. - -"It's a shark, isn't it?" he asked. "I never saw one before." - -"Yes," replied the mate. "It's queer, but everybody seems to know them -right off. Sort of natural dislike, I guess." - -Medbury watched it a moment and then looked aloft to where the fly hung -limp. - -"It beats all," he muttered; "there isn't air enough to float a -soap-bubble." He walked to the pennant halyards, and, untying them, -jerked the fly free from its staff. "It hasn't lifted an inch in -fifteen hours," he said. "Confound it! I believe the world has died -overnight!" Then he laughed at his own ill-nature. "It always gets on -my nerves--weather like this," he explained to Drew. - -He turned and walked to the other side of the vessel as Captain March -came on deck. He also looked aloft, glanced at the binnacle from mere -force of habit, and then swept the horizon with half-shut eyes. His -face was inscrutable, and absolutely without emotion. "It's going to be -hot," was his only remark. Then he walked to a camp-chair, and, drawing -it to the rail, sat down, and began to whistle softly. - -A moment later Medbury crossed over to where he sat. - -"I guess I'll rig up the triangle this morning and scrape the -mainmast," he said. "It's a good chance." - -The captain squinted aloft, but said nothing. - -"I'll start at the foot," continued the mate, as if in answer to -unspoken criticism. "Maybe it'll breeze up before the men get much -above the deck." - -"All right," said the captain, and went on whistling. - -"There isn't a breath of air," said Medbury. "I believe everything's -dead." - -"Nothing dead about this roll," replied Captain March. - -"Well, it ought to be," replied the mate, and walked forward. - -"I don't know as the crew's going to rise up and call him blessed when -he orders them aloft on that job in a swell like this," said the -captain to Drew; "but then, as I said, I don't know." - -Then the barefooted crew came aft with buckets and brooms to wash down -the decks, and he and Drew went below. When they came back to the -deck, after breakfast, two men were at the grindstone sharpening their -knives, and a third was scraping a bright pin-rail forward. Medbury sat -on the forward end of the house, making double-crown knots in the ends -of new man-ropes. He did not look up as Hetty and the minister came and -stood over him, watching his work. Captain March came past the group in -his morning walk. - -"You're not going to scrape the mainmast, eh?" he said, as he went by. -His eyes twinkled. - -Medbury did not look up as he answered: - -"No; I guess I'll keep them on deck." - -Hetty looked aloft at the mast thrashing through a wide arc. - -"I knew you wouldn't," she said. "It would have been--unlike you." - -Medbury glanced at her with a shamefaced smile, but he made no reply. - -Drew laughed. - -"Do you know, I had heard so much of the harsh treatment of sailors by -their officers that I came on this voyage prepared for something of the -sort, and dreading it," he said, in his slow, deep voice; "but I have -seen nothing but consideration." - -Medbury's mouth twitched with scornful amusement; it almost seemed to -him that Drew had unknowingly called him pusillanimous. He was by no -means a hard man, and was popular with his crews; but he was young and -a certain amount of swagger seemed amusing, while, in addition, he had -all the contempt of the American sailor for the stolid alien creatures -who more and more were finding their way into the forecastles of ships -that carried his country's flag. - -"I don't believe in being a brute," he began; "but--" - -"Yes," broke in Hetty, eagerly; "it is only a brute who will take -advantage of his power. I have been going to sea all my life, but I -have never seen cruelty. All the sailors I know are the largest-hearted -of men. I hate the tales that blacken them." - -"I have known them only ashore," said Drew, "and I certainly never knew -a more joyous, open-hearted people--hardly the sort to make tyrants -of." He turned to Medbury: "But you were going to say--?" - -Medbury sharply drew the strands of his rope through the outer walling -of the knot as he replied: - -"Oh, nothing." - -"I fancy," began Drew, "that sailors are too practical a class, -too constantly surrounded by danger, not to know the value of -self-restraint. It is wise to keep far from one the passion that fires -the mind beyond the point where the every-day work of living is -accomplished with the least friction." - -Medbury glanced up as he spoke, and caught the look that Hetty fastened -upon the speaker. There was nothing in the quiet gaze beyond interest -and the sympathy of kindred convictions, but it gave Medbury the -curious sensation of standing apart from them, of being irrevocably -alone. He turned away with a new pain about his heart. He was still -thinking of Hetty's look when Drew, busily erecting his card-house of -the sailor's life upon a foundation of calm philosophy, asked him if -he had ever seen cruelty on shipboard. His tone was the confident one -of the philosopher who, having formulated a theory, calmly awaits the -facts that will establish it. - -"You two might call it that," Medbury answered, not without a touch of -resentment in his voice; "I shouldn't. It's easy enough to talk about -self-restraint, but when it means letting things go to the dogs, and -maybe putting your vessel in danger--" He thrust his fid between the -strands of his rope with an energy that seemed to him adequately to -complete his meaning. - -Drew was dimly aware that the situation had somehow become charged -with feeling, and remained silent; but Hetty, with clearer instinct, -recognized the cause of Medbury's heat, and resented it, while she -recognized its potential force, feeling that she had unwittingly been -drawn from the calm current of broad discussion into an inner vortex of -personal emotion. That she had become unduly interested in Drew--she -clearly saw that the thought was in Medbury's mind--she indignantly -denied to herself. She turned toward the sailor with resentment shining -in her eyes; but at the sight of his head bowed above his work, there -flashed over her a strange revulsion of feeling. It was not tenderness, -though compounded of tenderness, pity, and the memory of many things. -His loyalty to her, which had lived on through long years in spite of -varying encouragement, had sometimes provoked her vexation, sometimes -her complacency; at this moment it suddenly appeared to her to be a -beautiful thing. His hair waved a little about his brows; his face, -though sad, showed the old fine courage. She saw his close-shut lips -held nothing of harshness. His hands, brown and sinewy, revealed -strength and skill, and were as yet uncoarsened by hard contact with -hemp and canvas in cold and wet and sun. "After all, _he's_ a man," she -thought, with tears welling in her eyes. - -She turned and looked out across the shining sea, feeling its -immensity, its power in the moving waves, to be somehow strangely -like the life that inclosed her and swept her on without the power of -volition. She did not turn as Drew spoke. - -"Shall we finish our book?" he had asked her. - -From time to time in the last few days he had read aloud from the -"Idylls of the King" while she worked at some trifle, or sat with hands -clasped in her lap and watched the waves in a pleasurable emotion to -which his fine, unaffected voice had contributed quite as largely as -the words of the poet. At this moment his question, in its abrupt -withdrawal from the general interest, seemed tactless. For an instant -she made no answer. - -"No, not now," she said at last. "Just at present it seems too unreal, -too far away, to move me. I don't believe I am an imaginative person; -life appeals to me too strongly." - -She had turned to watch Medbury's work while she was yet speaking, -and Drew, lingering a moment, had gone away with the impression of -dismissal. This she felt, and was troubled by it, and vexed at finding -herself troubled. Her vexation had the effect of bringing her nearer -in spirit to Medbury. - -"I believe I could do that," she said as she watched him. - -He looked up with a flush of pleasure. - -"Want to try?" he asked, and jumped to his feet. "I'll get a piece of -manila and teach you." - -He threw down a coil of running rigging for a seat for her, and -together they laughingly began the lesson. - -"I always envied the things boys did," she said. "I know how I used to -watch them, but was too afraid of being called a tomboy ever to attempt -anything. It's hard to be ambitious and sensitive, too." - -"I know you could run when you were a child," he said, smiling. "Do you -remember the time you snatched my hat and I did not catch you till you -got to Martha Parsons's gate? Then you turned and looked so serious -that I did not dare to take it." - -"Yes," she answered, with a laugh. "And I remember how frightened I was -when you followed me. I thought I had done the boldest thing. And when -we stopped and just looked at each other I was sure that you thought -so, too. Finally I said, 'Here's your hat,' and you said, 'Oh,' and -took it. I don't remember now how it ended." - -"I do," he said promptly. "I took it and went away; afterward I went -back, but you had gone. Then I thought of all the things I ought to -have said and done when it was too late." - -"Well, it was silly enough," she said, dismissing the subject. "I don't -know what made me do it." - -He had unlaid the strands of the rope while they talked, and now, -placing it in her hand, he showed her how to make a bight with one -strand and pass a second around the first, and a third around the -second, and up through the bight of the first, forming the wall. - -"Now you try," he said, and, undoing the knot, passed the rope to her. - -In a moment she held it up triumphantly. - -"What do you do next?" she asked. - -"Now we will put on the double crown." - -"It _is_ hard," she said after a moment more. "It looked simple enough -while you were doing it." She held the rope in her hand and looked at -him in smiling despair. "I shall never learn." - -"Yes, you will," he assured her. "You only need a little patience." - -"_You_ will need the patience," she answered. - -"Haven't I always had it with you?" he asked in a low voice. - -"Is that right?" she demanded, holding up the knot. - -"Yes; now run the end--no, this end--through the bight. That's right; -now pull it taut. You haven't answered my question, Hetty." - -[Illustration: "'_You_ will need the patience,' she said"] - -"You haven't asked any," she replied quickly; and then added: "What -next?" - -"Pull it tighter," he answered, and, leaning forward, drew it taut, for -an instant covering her hands with his own. - -She drew hers away quickly and dropped them in her lap. - -"It's no use," she told him; "I shall never learn." - -"Try!" he urged. - -"No; I cannot even try." She looked about her with restless eyes. -Something in her face stirred his foreboding. - -"Do you mean, Hetty--" - -"Oh, I mean nothing," she cried impatiently. "I wish the sea would go -down. It's dreadful." - -She sprang to her feet, and, moving to the rigging, leaned against the -sheer-pole and watched the blue sea rise almost to the line of the -deck, then fall away with appalling swiftness. Medbury followed her -there. - -"What's the matter?" he demanded. - -"Why don't you whistle for a wind?" she asked him. "Why don't you? I -think I'll go below until you do." - -"Isn't it pleasanter here?" he said. "You would call it a beautiful day -at home." - -"Yes, I should," she acknowledged. "It seems like April--April at home. -I can shut my eyes"--she shut them--"and see just how it looks: the big -willow by our gate growing green in a night, and the grass, and the -sunlight on everything--or rain; only the rain makes the grass greener, -and you don't mind it at all in spring, as you do at other times." - -He had watched her while she stood with eyes closed, but when she -opened them suddenly and looked at him with a smile, he turned away -in confusion, as if he had been caught watching her when he knew she -would not care to be seen. - -"That's the way your face always looks to me," he said, with the -boldness of embarrassment. - -"What do you mean?" she asked. Her lips parted as if to smile, but -closed again in a neutral line that was neither smile nor frown, but -might easily become either when she had heard his explanation. - -"Like April--your face is like that. It's always changing. I like it -always, but best when you smile, of course." - -"I cannot smile at a speech like that," she said primly, and turned a -serious face from him. - -For five minutes he kept his eyes turned from her, and then looked to -see if her April face had changed again. It had not, and a sigh escaped -him. - -At the sigh her face had become severe, but almost immediately he saw -her lips twitch, close firmly together, then part in a laugh. - -"There!" he cried triumphantly, and laughed with her. - -"Oh, Tom, you're ridiculous!" she cried, and struggled against her -laughter. But her face became serious again at once, and she added: "I -do not like such speeches. They sound silly." - -"All right," he replied, but not in the tone of one cast down. - -Captain March's keen eyes, as he walked the deck, looking aloft, saw a -slightly frayed spot in the maintopsail-halyard. Crossing the deck, he -stopped by the side of his mate. - -"Looks as if that halyard wouldn't stand much strain," he said. "Better -look at it before long, Mr. Medbury." He pointed to the place as -Medbury looked up. - -"I will, sir," answered Medbury. - -"Hawkins never did look after the little things," the captain went on, -with gentle grumbling. "Good man, but didn't seem to have any eyes -sometimes. Still, I was sorry to have him go ashore sick. He can't -afford to lay idle long. Same with John Davis. I thought he'd jump at -the chance to take Hawkins's place. I didn't think it so strange in -Bob Markham's backing out: he'd promised his wife to stay ashore. But -Davis--I don't understand about him. I never knew folks to act so. -Davis seemed pleased when I asked him, and hurried right off to get his -things; but before I'd hardly turned my head, back he galloped and said -he'd changed his mind. It made me a little provoked; and when I asked -him why, he just winked. Well!" He walked away, still grumbling. - -Medbury had not lifted his eyes from his work as the captain had -talked, but now he glanced up, to find Hetty's eyes watching him -keenly. Something in the intensity of her look stirred his foreboding. -He was not wholly unacquainted with the intuitive divination with -which women often flash upon the secrets men would withhold from them, -and now he braced himself for the question that he knew was coming. - -"Do _you_ know why they would not come?" she asked. Her voice was tense. - -He tried to show surprise at the question, but knew that he failed. - -"I suppose they didn't want to," he answered. - -"Don't you _know_?" she demanded. - -He hesitated, and she sprang to her feet. - -"You needn't tell me," she cried with suppressed passion. "I know. I -know you got them to. They'd do it for you. You seem to have obliging -friends. Oh!" She turned away, but came back immediately. "And now -I suppose everybody in Blackwater is laughing over the story. And -laughing at _me_! I didn't _want_ you to come; but if I'd known this, -do you think I would have set foot on this vessel while you were -aboard? I'd have _died_ first." She walked to the rail, but came -restlessly back. "Well, it's over now. Do you think I could go back -home and have people know that your--your trick had succeeded? There -have been times when I have thought that I could care for you in the -way you wish, but I couldn't be sure. If my face is like April, as you -say, I think my mind is, too. I cannot be _sure_. Sometimes I think I -do not care for anything; I think I have no heart. And then, when I see -you watching me, and I know what you are thinking, I almost hate you, -and want to go away from everything I've ever known. But now, after -this, it is ended. Oh, you make me ashamed!" - -He had heard her in a tumult of contending emotions--shame and sorrow -for hurting her, pity, remorse. Heart-sick, he rose to his feet. - -"I didn't mean to hurt you, Hetty. Good Lord! you know that! You _must_ -know it!" he exclaimed. "And no one will know. You needn't care." - -"Oh, needn't care!" she cried in scorn. - -Then, manlike, because he was sorry, but had no answer, he became angry. - -"You are a hard woman," he said, in a sudden letting-go of all -self-control--"a hard and heartless woman." - -She shrank from him as if he had struck her, and her face grew white. - -"I wish you wouldn't," she whispered passionately--"wouldn't speak to -me. You hurt me." - -He did not understand, and his face hardened, and his eyes grew hot -with impotent anger. It was as if all the conventions had dropped away -from him, and he had become the primitive man. He could crush her with -one hand, he blindly told himself; yet she mocked him and his strength. -All his life he had loved her, followed her in devoted service, but -to what end? To be shunned, eluded, mocked, and scorned. He gripped -his hands tightly together in his revolt against his enforced inaction -because she was weak and a woman. But for once he would speak. - -"You've hurt me for many a long year," he answered hotly, "but you'll -hurt me no more." With that he walked away as Cromwell must have gone -from the Long Parliament. - - - - -VII - - -Medbury descended to his room, opened the lid of his desk, and fumbled -about aimlessly with hands that trembled; then, as if he had found what -he had been looking for, he lowered the lid, and, leaning his elbows -upon it, stood looking moodily before him. He told himself that he was -glad it was over; anything was better than the long uncertainty that -had held him bound in chains for years. But no one should know that he -cared, and he glanced at the little hand-glass under his window to see -if his face had changed. It cheered him to note no difference since -morning, and, with boyish affectation, he smiled at his image in the -glass. But suddenly, as if to test his strength, his mind flashed the -image of Hetty before him--her face turned up to him smilingly, as he -had often seen it, her eyes, every feature. With a groan he dropped his -head upon his arms. - -He put the mood away from him sternly, and began to debate with himself -whether it would be better to keep on loving her all his days, going to -his grave a sad and lonely man, or gaily to turn to another at once, to -show how little he cared. He came to no decision because he could not -determine which course would hurt her more. - -It was his watch below, but he could not sleep, so taking his log-book, -pen, and ink out into the cabin, he sat down at the table, though it -was neither the time nor the place for writing up his log. - -Mrs. March was there alone, and, saying that he could not write at his -desk, Medbury opened his book. - -He wrote down the date, saw that he had written that of two days -before, so scratched it out, and replaced it with the correct one, -and slowly began to write "Dead calm" in bold letters up and down the -column for winds. - -"How long do you suppose this is going to last, Tom?" asked Mrs. March. - -Medbury looked up and shook his head. - -"There's no telling. Wind's an uncertain thing; nothing more so," he -replied, and dipped his pen into the ink, squared his shoulders, and -made the down stroke of the first letter of a new word with a care for -details that seemed to indicate that he had left the subject of winds -irrevocably behind, and then added, "except women." - -Mrs. March had thought the sentence finished, and had taken up her -knitting again. Now she merely nodded. - -"It's true," she said impartially. "Most women wouldn't know their own -minds if they were to come upon them in broad daylight. They are like -men in that." She shot an amused glance toward the young man. - -"You know them," he said bitterly, ignoring her last sentence, and -secretly disappointed at such ready acquiescence, which indicated, he -feared, a jocular state of mind. - -"You mean I don't know them," corrected Mrs. March. "No one does. Do -you suppose I know my own daughter's? No more than she does herself. I -suppose you were thinking of her, weren't you?" - -"It's all over," he answered, and laid down his pen, but continued to -make motions across the page with his finger. - -Mrs. March showed no surprise, but she ceased knitting, apparently out -of respect for the young man's feelings. - -"How do you know?" she asked. - -"She just told me so," replied Medbury, glad that he could at last -unburden himself. "She said she sometimes thought she had no heart. She -told me that there were times when she had thought that she might care -for me, but now she knew her own mind. So it's all over." - -"Know her own mind! Fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Mrs. March, and proceeded -to knit again. "I guess you've pestered her in some way, and so she -said, 'Now I'll decide.' I suppose you've told her often enough that -you couldn't live without her, and should always feel that way. It's -perfectly natural for a girl to want to see if you can't." - -"Then you think it may come out all right, after all?" he asked quickly. - -She made a little murmur of dissent. - -"I couldn't go so far as to say that. It may be just pretense, and it -may be the plain truth, and it may be she doesn't know. You can't tell. -You've got to wait and see." - -"Well," he replied gloomily, "I guess it's all over." He was not going -to be so weak, he told himself, as to begin to hope again. - -"I've always thought it would come out right in the end," continued -Mrs. March. "You know I don't feel like Cap'n March. I've always said, -'Let the young folks settle it for themselves'; and I've always liked -you, Tom. But you've always been too humble, and she's been too certain -of you. I kind o' thought, when you took things in your own hands and -came this trip, it was the best thing you could have done. A girl likes -a masterful man." - -"She told me it was the worst thing," Medbury replied. - -"Then I guess she was afraid of herself," said Mrs. March, with -conviction. "She was afraid she'd have to give in." - -Medbury shook his head doubtfully as he said: - -"I don't know why she should be afraid, Mrs. March." - -"Because a girl's love is a funny thing. There's fear in it, and -pretense, and bashfulness, and coldness, and all the craziest things -under the sun." - -He hesitated a moment before speaking, and then said, with boyish -shyness: - -"She's known me so long, and known how I felt, sometimes it seems to me -that maybe it's grown tiresome to her. A man like Drew, now, who hasn't -known her long--if he cared--" He hesitated. - -"I've thought that, too," said Mrs. March, gently. - -The cabin door opened, and they heard Hetty's laugh near. It had the -peculiarly resonant quality of a voice on deck in a calm, heard by one -below. It also sounded happy. Medbury slipped away to his room. - -The last words Mrs. March had spoken were in his mind, and he put -his book away in bitterness of spirit. He heard Hetty descend into -the cabin, speak to her mother, and then pass his door, going up the -forward companionway. A sudden wild impulse to be aggressive seized -him, and, leaving his room, he, too, ascended to the deck. - -She was standing outside the cabin door, and she turned and smiled as -he drew near. - -"I thought it was your watch below," she said pleasantly. - -He did not even look at her, but, hurrying to the booby-hatch, threw -open the sliding hood and descended. - -"Now I've done it," he said, as he seated himself upon a coiled hawser. -"What a fool I can be when I really put my mind to it!" - -But even with this repulse of her he was not satisfied; he wondered why -he had not at least looked at her with scorn, and he thought of several -bitter speeches that would have been better than silence. - - - - -VIII - - -Mrs. March sat in a steamer-chair wedged in between the side of the -cabin and the lounge, the captain was smoking, and Drew held his book -unopened in his hand, when Hetty went below later in the morning. - -"Well, I'm glad to see you," said Mrs. March. "I don't see how you -keep from tumbling overboard, we roll so. Why don't your father stop -it,--pour oil on the water, or something,--if he's such a good sailor? -But he only smokes. He doesn't even tell us how much worse it was on -some other trip. I thought sailors always did that. I'm sure they talk -of nothing else ashore. Just hear those dishes rattle!" - -"If you'd only go up on deck, mother," Hetty advised, "you'd not mind -it so much. It doesn't seem so bad there. It's a beautiful day." - -"No," her mother answered; "I'll stay here. You know how a pussy-cat -will crouch down and shut her eyes when you go to box her ears; well, -I'm like that. I don't want to see what's coming; I know well enough." - -"That's like Billy Marvin," said Captain March, with a chuckle. - -"Then Billy Marvin's smarter'n I ever took him to be," said Mrs. March. - -The captain took his pipe from his mouth and turned to Drew. - -"I don't know's you've ever met Billy," he said; "but he's one of our -Blackwater folks. He's been going to sea a good many years, but he's -never got beyond the galley. Five or six years ago he went out as -steward with Cap'n Dave Barker on the old _Maggie P. Monroe_, and off -Cape Fear one night they struck a pretty lively southeaster, and for a -time it looked pretty dubious. Cap'n Dave is kind of excitable in bad -weather, and he got to raving up and down the deck and declaring they -were all going to kingdom come before morning, and everybody was pretty -well scared. Well, Cap'n Dave's a good deal better sailor than he is -prophesier, and, the gale going down before daybreak, they all felt -pretty good, but tired out from being on deck all night, and sharp-set -for breakfast. Well, seven bells came, but no signs of Billy, so Cap'n -Dave sent the mate forward to stir him up. He found the galley closed, -with no sign of fire inside, and Billy fast asleep in his bunk just -off the galley. The mate picked up a dish-pan and banged it up against -the boarding right by Billy's head, expecting to see him jump straight -through the deck. All he did was to turn over slowly and look at the -mate. The mate said he didn't even blink. Well, he used some pretty -strong language, and Billy tumbled out and began to hustle around. He -said Cap'n Dave was so certain they were going to the bottom before -morning, that it seemed a pity wasting time and strength to wind his -clock and set the alarm, so he just tumbled in, thinking he might as -well be comfortable and get a good night's sleep, if it was going to be -his last. Then he turned to the mate--he was raking out his stove--and, -grinning sheepishly, said: 'Mr. Thompson, I thought you was the angel -Gabriel when you started all that racket, blest if I didn't!' Cap'n -Dave asked him afterward if he was disappointed when he saw the mate -standing over him instead of what he'd expected. Billy thought a -minute, and then said: 'Well, cap'n, if you'd kind o' set your mind on -seeing a first-class show performance, and then after you'd paid for -your seat and was good and ready, if the curtain should go up, and, lo -and behold! there wasn't nothing there but just Sam Thompson, what -would you 'a' been?'" - -Mrs. March laughed with the rest, and, leaning forward, touched her -daughter's arm. - -"Don't you remember the winter Billy's wife got religion?" she asked. -"I don't know about telling a minister that; he might think that -Blackwater was pretty stony soil. You see,"--she turned to Drew,--"the -vessel Billy was in was long overdue, and folks were getting uneasy -about her. There was a big revival that winter, and Billy's wife got -to coming every night and going forward to the mourners' bench; and, -first and last, a good many prayers were offered for her husband. Well, -when everybody had about given him up, the vessel got in, with Billy -safe and sound. That was the end of Maria's church-going. Finally the -minister went around to find out why she had lost all her interest, and -she told him. 'Mr. Snow,' she said, 'Billy wasn't in a bit of danger -all the time we was a-praying for him. He said they didn't have wind -enough to blow the smoke away from his galley stovepipe, and what we -ought to have done was to pray for a gale of wind. That kind o' made me -lose all faith in the deficiency of prayer.'" - -"I suppose she thought that the good Lord could look out for folks at -sea a good deal better than those who didn't know the circumstances," -commented Captain March. "That doesn't sound unreasonable." His eyes -twinkled as he looked at the minister. - -"I fear there are many that have very queer notions about prayer," said -Drew, smiling. "Once I heard a man pray: 'O Lord, keep us from burning -the candle of life at both ends, and snuffing the ashes in thy face!' -It was a little startling." - -"It does sound a little familiar," admitted Mrs. March. "It's funny -how free we can be with the Lord in our prayers, when, if we stood -face to face with him, we wouldn't dare whisper a word or lift our -eyes. I think a good many of us, if we ever do get to heaven, will feel -more like hiding our faces than rejoicing when we think of some of the -things we've prayed for. But maybe such people won't get there, after -all." She spoke with so great an air of relief that the others laughed. - -"Don't you want them to go, mother?" asked Hetty. - -"Well, I don't think it's the place for folks who don't feel as though -they are going to enjoy every bit of it, do you?" Mrs. March replied. - -Hetty laughed uneasily, and glanced at the minister. - -"Mother," she said, "aren't you afraid Mr. Drew will think you speak -too lightly of sacred things? He doesn't know you as we do." - -"Don't think me so narrow, please," Drew protested, smiling. "I -hope I can distinguish between perfect frankness of character and -irreverence." - -Mrs. March looked from one to the other in silence, a trifle awed at -the thought of herself in the rôle of blasphemer. Her confusion was -only momentary, however. - -"Did I say anything very dreadful, my dear?" she asked. "I didn't know -it. I don't like moping here, and if I'm going to like it hereafter, -I shall be a good deal changed, that's all. And if I'm going to be so -much changed as not to be myself, I don't see what satisfaction it's -going to be. I might as well be like foolish Susan Burtis, and have no -character at all." - -The others laughed, but Hetty scarcely heard her. She sat where she -could see through the narrow windows the line of sea and sky as the -brig rolled to port; then it flew up, and the bright sunlight flashed -across her face and along the floor of the cabin. Turning at last, her -eyes met Drew's. - -"Did you learn how to make it?" he asked her. - -"The knot? No, I gave it up." - -"Like the reading?" - -"I didn't give that up. You carried the book away." - -"I can bring it back." - -She shook her head. - -"Not yet," she told him; then she turned to her father. "Isn't the wind -ever going to come again?" she asked. - -"Well," replied Captain March, "it brought us here, and I guess it'll -carry us away. It generally does." - -"It's very slow," she complained. - -"It doesn't consider us, my dear," he replied. Then he rose slowly and -went up the companionway, and a moment later they heard him whistling -for a wind. - -Hetty jumped to her feet. - -"Father must see something--a catspaw at least," she exclaimed. "I'm -going to find out." With that she, too, sought the deck, followed by -Drew. - -[Illustration: "They heard him whistling for a wind"] - -Captain March stood sweeping the sea with his glass; but as they -approached him he lowered it, and went silently below. - -"There isn't one--not one," said Hetty, as she looked about for the -dark streaks of catspaws. Three great rollers came sweeping in, and -they rocked and pitched with the might of them. The girl caught at the -rail for support. "It makes one think of the words, 'Who hath measured -the waters in the hollow of his hand,' doesn't it?" she said solemnly. - -"Yes," he answered. - -"It makes me feel humble, but useless, and I do not care to feel like -that," she said. "I want to be doing things. Doesn't life seem barren -to you here?" - -He shook his head. - -"No," he replied. "Life means just as much as we put into it, I fancy, -and these days have meant much for me. I should not care to have them -blotted out." - -She had turned abruptly just as they rolled down on a long swell, and, -stumbling against the bitts, with a gasp fell outboard across the low -rail. - -Drew leaped toward her just in time. His hand, flashing out, caught her -as she was slipping from the rail, and brought her back against his -breast. For an instant he held her there. - -"Hetty! O Hetty!" he gasped, as their eyes met. - -"Don't! for pity's sake, don't!" she whispered, and, pulling herself -free, sank upon the bitts, put her hands to her face, and laughed -hysterically. In a moment she looked up. - -"Don't tell them," she said. "I should not like to have them know I -fell." Then she walked unsteadily toward the cabin door. Half-way -there, she looked back. "I ought to thank you," she said, in a low -voice, "and I do." And with that she disappeared. - -Medbury, overhauling a spare sail on the main-deck, had not seen it, -but the sailor with him had, and his exclamation had made Medbury turn -quickly, only to see Hetty standing with Drew's arm about her. He -stooped to his work again with shaking fingers; but the sailor stood -still, staring. - -Medbury glanced at him, his face growing white. - -"Here!" he said savagely, and the sailor turned to his task again -without a word. - -The day dragged interminably. Hetty remained steadily in her room; -through his watches on deck Medbury drove the men from one task to -another with a feverish harshness wholly unusual, and which brought his -watch to the forecastle at the end of the day in heated and profane -weariness. Drew spent the time on deck with a book, sometimes read -with slight comprehension, but more often closed over his finger, -while he watched the gleaming whiteness of the sea, seeing now a school -of flying-fish run like flashes of quicksilver through the long arcs -of their flight, and now the dorsal fin of a shark, like an inverted -ploughshare, cut the surface of the barren glebe. Even Captain March's -imperturbability became less rocklike. Once he paused at Drew's side -with a grumbling sound that was clearly a sigh. - -"Well, it's 'Paddy's hurricane,' and no mistake," he said. "I never -saw anything like it. Usually there's a little air stirring somewhere -about. You'd think that something queer had got into things, wouldn't -you?" - -He had been standing balancing himself easily to the swing of the deck, -but there came a vicious lunge, which stopped suddenly, as if arrested -by a great hand, and he went staggering down the slope with swaying -arms, like a collapsing sprinter. When he brought up against the rail, -he talked on in a level voice that recognized no interruption: - -"It's queer about a calm: there's noise enough in it if a sea's -running, and it gets on your nerves; but when the wind blows again, you -feel as if you'd just come out of an air-tight room, and the sound of -the wind makes you want to shout. There's Mr. Medbury, now; he's been -nagging the men all the afternoon as if he was afraid without the sound -of his voice, like a boy whistling on a dark road. It's ridiculous in a -grown man, but it's natural enough." - -Drew flushed, but made no reply. He, too, had been thinking of Medbury, -but his thoughts were not enviable. He had been false to a man who had -trusted him, he told himself, and he had shown feeling that he had no -moral right to show. It was in vain that he tried to convince himself -that his right to Hetty was as great as Medbury's own; in his heart -he felt that it was not. And what of the girl? he asked himself, in -growing remorse. After his action of the morning, could he again meet -her on the old footing of friendly fellowship? He could not go on, but -how could he now draw back? In any way that he looked, he could see -nothing but his moral cowardice. - -In a mental restlessness that he could not allay, he rose to his feet -and walked forward to the break in the deck. The sun, a copper-colored -ball, was nearing the horizon, and Medbury and his men were gathering -up the sail that they had been patching; one of the crew was sweeping -up the deck. The querulous complaining of Medbury's voice floated aft, -the human undertone in the jangling noises of disturbed nature. - -For a moment Drew watched the scene before him, and then descending the -steps and, hurrying across the plank that was blocked high above the -water that swashed across the deck from scupper to scupper, he stopped -at the galley door. The steward looked up gloomily, but, seeing Drew, -showed his gleaming teeth in a perfunctory smile that had none of its -usual geniality. Through the high slide in the partition between the -galley and the forecastle Drew could hear the watch trooping in with -angry mutterings against the mate. - -The steward grinned, and jerked his head toward the forecastle. - -"Yo' heah dat?" he said. "Dese heah cahms trouble-breedehs faw shuah. -Ole mahn Satan done chase dat buckra mate's soul roun' de stump all -eb'nin'. Two, t'ree bad mahns aboa'd dis hookeh, en two, t'ree cowahds. -Dose cowahds been da worse--some dahk night. Dat buckra mate betteh -watch out." He laughed. - -Drew stirred uneasily. The threats of the crew and the scarcely -understood warning of the West Indian steward had to his mind something -of the character of a Greek tragic chorus foretelling doom, and -presently he moved away out of hearing, not caring to have even -negatively any part in the moving finger of Fate. - -He wandered about aimlessly for a while, dreading to approach Medbury, -who, now that his work was done, stood near the main-rigging with his -pipe in his mouth, his spirit for the moment at peace. Drew had little -knowledge of sailors, but he was sufficiently a man of the world to -know that the irrepressible threats of the forecastle meant little. -Still, the steward had hinted at danger, and, yielding to the other's -better knowledge of his little world, Drew finally went aft to warn the -mate. - -Medbury looked up sharply as Drew approached, but turned his eyes away -immediately. In the silence that followed neither stirred, but, resting -their arms upon the sheer-pole, each seemed absorbed in the cloudless -panorama of the closing day. - -The sun sank lower and lower; one by one the crew came out of the -forecastle, and, dipping up buckets of water, sluiced themselves with -the noisy abandon of water-spaniels. The pungent scent of tobacco -floated aft, and now the sound of a laugh, or the scuffle of feet upon -the deck. From the galley came the soft, slurred speech of the steward, -lifted high in a quick exchange of wit with his forecastle neighbors, -and followed by the almost continuous flood of his unrestrained -cachinnation. Clearly the day was ending in peace. - -This peacefulness, so at variance with the scarcely restrained passion -that, a moment before, had sent him aft to warn Medbury of danger, left -Drew strangely bewildered. He turned to his companion, and with a smile -said: - -"Do you know, a moment ago I thought that the crew was on the verge of -mutiny; now I feel as if I had been dreaming. I don't understand it. -They are like care-free children now. I can't believe they are such -consummate actors." - -Medbury turned to him and grinned. - -"What made you think that?" he asked. - -"I was at the galley door and heard them making threats. The steward -seemed to think there was danger--to you," Drew answered. "I thought I -ought to warn you; but now it seems silly." - -"A sailorman's threat doesn't mean anything," Medbury told him, "and -prophesying evil is the 'doctor's' trade. He's a big voodoo out home in -Santa Cruz, and half the negroes on the island will go five miles out -of their way to avoid him." - -Drew paused a moment before speaking, then he said slowly: - -"Well, my crisis was only a mare's nest, it seems. I was beginning to -think it was to be a day of adventures. One seemed enough." - -"One?" queried Medbury, looking up sharply. - -"Yes; Miss March fell across the rail. I caught her just in time. I -thought you saw." - -Medbury's face flushed. - -"I didn't see," he said. "I didn't understand." - -It was Drew's face that flushed now. - -"I ought to explain," he began, but Medbury broke in: - -"You haven't anything to explain to me. I'm the mate of this vessel; -nothing more. That's all the interest I've got here, and all I want." - -With that he walked away. He knew it was childish, but, having let -himself go, he was no longer able to exercise his self-restraint till -the whole madness had passed. - - - - -IX - - -As Captain March went up the companionway after supper, he thought he -felt a puff of air across his face. Stepping out upon the deck, his -eyes instinctively turned to the northeast, from which direction he -expected the wind. A dove-colored light still shone in the eastern sky; -below it the sea was a darker color, irradiated by the glowing west. - -His daughter and the young men had followed him, and now she touched -his arm. - -"Isn't that a catspaw?" she asked, and pointed northward, where a dark -film of purple seemed to roughen the long slope of a swell that shone -like pink satin. Even as they looked, the slope became a shallow bowl, -and the patch of purple faded to the uniform gray of the hollowed wave. - -Captain March shook his head and sighed. - -"It does beat the deuce," he said. - -This was as wide a departure from the placid philosophy with which he -looked upon life as he ever gave expression to; and his daughter and -his mate, who knew him equally well, recognized in it the extent of his -mental disturbance. To them both the prolonged calm, in the changing -twilight, took on an aspect of uncanniness. It was as if they stood -absolutely alone, the last of living things, in a chaos of dead waters, -under the sweeping throng of stars, which saw not and heeded not the -blotting out of their small world. Tacitly both had agreed to give no -sign of their changed relations so long as they were compelled to meet -daily. - -Medbury slipped away forward for a turn about the deck. He looked at -the lights to see if they were in order. - -"They might as well be kept burning," he muttered, "though God knows -what good they are." - -Back on the quarter-deck, when he returned from his round, he found the -others leaning over the rail in silence. It had suddenly grown dark, -and a haze had come up, obscuring the stars and the sea. He paused near -Hetty, who looked up, smiled, and made room for him. - -"We thought we heard the beat of a steamer's paddle just now," she -said. "Listen!" - -He leaned over the rail beside her, but for a long time heard nothing -but the whine of spars, the rattle of the main-sheet blocks as the boom -swung them taut, and the jump of the wheel in its becket. At intervals -there came the sound of water dripping from the channels or spouting -from the scuppers. These sounds seemed to make more acute the silence -of the sea, which seemed like a living, threatening presence. At last -Medbury stood up. - -"There's nothing," he said. - -"Listen!" said Hetty, in a low voice, and again he dropped his elbows -to the rail. - -Suddenly there came a quick succession of muffled throbs, like the -far-off churning sound of a steamer's paddle-wheel; then it ceased as -absolutely as if a door had been closed noiselessly upon it. - -"There!" cried Hetty. - -Fully ten minutes passed before they heard it again. - -"It's queer," said Medbury. "There wasn't a sign of a steamer in sight -at sunset. She must be far away, and we hear her only when we're both -on the top of a swell. Sound carries a long way on a night like this." - -Captain March straightened up. - -"Bring me the glasses, Mr. Medbury," he said. - -Medbury brought them, and the captain slowly swept the horizon; then -he crossed the deck and walked to the main-rigging. Coming back, he -handed the glasses to Medbury. - -"Go forward and take a look," he said. - -In five minutes the mate came back, and went up the main-rigging to the -crosstrees. When he descended, he came aft. - -"It's getting thick," he said; "she ought to blow her whistle." - -"Better get your fog-horn forward," said the captain, and took the -glasses for another look as Medbury went below. A moment later the -mate returned to the deck with the long box of the patent fog-horn, -and presently the dreary wail began to sound at intervals from the -forecastle-deck. Hetty shivered as she heard it. - -"It frightens me!" she murmured, with a little catch in her voice. "It -frightens me!" - -The crew were at the rail forward, silent and listening. The fog had -blotted out the fore part of the vessel, but the forecastle door was -open, and the swinging lamp was like an orange center of light in a -nebulous haze. Once a sailor passed before it, and his shape loomed -black and huge against the luminous interior. At short intervals the -fog-horn sounded like a wailing banshee through the darkness; but there -was no answering signal: only at long intervals came that strange, -throbbing beat, like an uncanny chuckle, but seemingly neither nearer -nor farther away than at first. Hardly two aboard agreed as to its -direction, for the opaque walls of fog deflect sound-waves at sea, as a -crystal breaks a ray of light. - -Back on the quarter-deck Medbury was telling a curious story. - -"Two years ago," he began slowly, with the hesitation of a man who -feels moved to confidence against his better judgment, "we were running -up the straits to Singapore, when it suddenly came on thick. We were -close-hauled and had just about wind enough for steerageway, and we had -the fog-horn going and were keeping a sharp lookout, for we were right -in the track of shipping, and you know how vessels drift together in -a fog, no matter which way they were heading before it thickened up. -Well, we hadn't heard a peep all day, and toward night it seemed to be -lifting a little, when I heard the man at the wheel give a little cry, -and, looking astern, there, not a cable's length away, was a dingy, -raveled-out, full-rigged Portuguese brig slipping right across our -wake. They hadn't made a sound, and they didn't even then, though our -old man got black in the face with cursing them for their sins. There -was a black-whiskered old fellow, with his coat-collar turned up about -his ears, at the wheel; but he scarcely looked our direction: only once -he wagged his beard at us, and threw one arm over his head in a funny -way, and then squinted aloft again, paying no more attention to us -than if we'd been so much seaweed. But just forward the fore-rigging -there was a row of sailormen leaning over the rail, and their eyes -followed us like a lot of beady birds' eyes till the fog swallowed them -up again. Well, the day after we reached Singapore the old man came -aboard in a brown study. He said he'd heard ashore that there'd been -a lot of dirty weather knocking about the straits, and a Portuguese -brig called the _Villa Real_ was forty days overdue. Well, she stayed -overdue, and not a splinter or spun-yarn of her ever came ashore." He -paused a moment to relight his pipe, and then added: "On the stern of -the Portuguese brig that we had seen, in big white letters a foot high, -was the name _Villa Real_." - -In the silence that followed some one forward gave a low laugh; in the -fog it sounded strange and unnatural. - -"Did you ever hear a loon cry alongshore at night?" asked Medbury. For -the first time on the voyage he had become actually loquacious. "I used -to hear them at home when I was a boy. It's a creepy sound, and makes a -man feel lonesome and homesick." He paused, as if half-ashamed of the -confession, but went on, with a boyish chuckle: "Somehow, that fellow's -laugh made me think of it, though I can't say it sounded like a loon, -either. It's queer how one thing'll suggest another that isn't at all -like it." - -"It sounded strange to me, too," confessed Hetty. - -"Did it?" he said, turning to her. "Well, that's funny." - -"Knocking about in fog and storm, without sleep, a sailor gets queer -notions in his head at times," said Captain March, slowly. "Now I had a -little experience once that seemed queer at the time, though I suppose -it was natural enough, if you only knew how to explain it. You know -what queer shapes will sometimes loom up at night; but walk right -up to 'em and you find it's nothing but a stump or a white post or -something. Well, the first vessel I ever had was the schooner _Sarah -J. Mason_. I was pretty young at the time, and I guess I was a bit -nervous, but it does seem yet as if that first voyage as master was -the roughest I've ever had. I had chartered for Para, and we struck -dirty weather almost from the first. About eight days out the wind -came out ahead, light and baffling, and I got her topsails on for the -first time. But along after sundown it freshened up again, and I took -'em in. A young fellow from up the State somewhere had stowed the -maintopsail, and someway, I don't know how,--I guess he was hurrying -and a little careless; it was his watch below,--he slipped. For years -after that, when I wasn't feeling first-rate, I used to wake up with -a start, thinking I heard his yell again. Well, it wasn't very rough, -and we got a boat over, but it wasn't any use. He must have gone down -like a stone. After that it was dirty weather, with scarcely a glimpse -of the sun, all the way out. I was upset and worn out, I guess; but one -night, looking aloft, I saw some one on the main-crosstrees. There was -a good-sized moon, though the sky was overcast, but light enough to -see pretty distinctly. 'Who's that aloft?' says I to the second mate. -He didn't answer much of anything, but walked to the rail and looked -up. 'Well, call him down,' I said sharply, and he went to the rigging, -and, standing on the rail, yelled: 'Who's that up there?' Then he went -half-way up and stopped. I guess he stood there five minutes before he -came down and went forward. In a minute he came back, looking pretty -white. 'Everybody accounted for, sir,' he said, and his teeth were -chattering as if he had the ague. - -"Now, it sounds funny, but I never looked aloft at night on that trip -without wishing I didn't have to, and there wasn't a sailorman aboard -who could have been driven to go up to that masthead after dark if -he'd been killed for refusing. We had fair weather coming home, and we -carried that topsail till we blew it off her one night. I was plagued -glad to see it go." - -"Talking about explaining things if you only walk right up to them," -said Medbury--"now there 're some things you _can't_ explain. Take the -old _Martha Hunter_, for instance. How are you going to explain her?" -He leaned forward and addressed his talk to Drew, who knew nothing of -the _Martha Hunter_. "She was built in Blackwater when I was a boy," he -went on, "and before her ribs were all up Jerry Bartow fell from the -scaffolding and was killed, and Tom Martin nearly cut his foot off with -an adze while he was trimming a stick of timber that went into her. -It went in with the stain of his blood on it, and it wasn't the last -stain of the kind that she carried before she was through. Oh, she -was greedy for that sort of thing! When she was launched she must have -got the notion that she was designed to dig out a new channel in the -harbor, for she fetched bottom and carried away her rudder; and before -the year was out she came off the Boston mud-banks so badly hogged that -she looked as if she'd got her sheer on upside down. It wasn't long -before a sailorman fell from aloft and was killed on her deck; and -the very next trip, in warping her out of her berth in Wareham, the -hawser parted and broke the leg of the man who was holding turn at the -capstan. Cap'n Silas Hawkins brought her home to overhaul, and the very -first day he walked down the main-hatchway and was killed. Why, she -used to drag ashore in any sort of a white-ash breeze; and if there was -any dirty weather knocking about, she always managed to run her nose -into it, and would come limping home like a disreputable old girl out -on a lark. You could have filled a book with the stories of the men -she lost or maimed, and the trouble she got into first and last. But -she was fortunate in a way, too, for she made money, and you couldn't -lose her. I guess she's running yet." - -"I saw her a year ago last fall," said Captain March. "I haven't heard -anything startling about her since, so I guess she's going." - -"Well," said Medbury, "how are you going to explain her, and others -like her? I'm not superstitious, or any more so than the common run of -folks; but things like that--" He shrugged his shoulders and laughed, -then, dropping his elbows to the rail again, turned to listen. - -For a long time they had not noticed the sound that puzzled them, and -now, in the silence, they remembered it again, and strained their ears -to catch it once more. The fog-horn boomed out at regular intervals; -only the noises of the rolling brig were also heard. - -While they still stood listening, all at once Medbury thought he felt -a puff of wind. Yet it was not so much wind as it was a suggestion of -wind: it seemed to him that a hand, wet and cold, had been thrust close -to his face and then withdrawn. He could not explain the chill that -seemed to run through his frame. Then he shook off the feeling, and -turned to Captain March. - -"Did you feel a puff, sir?" he asked, and held his finger above his -head. - -"No," replied the captain. "If we get a stir of air, I'll put the -canvas on her. I don't want to slat the sails all to pieces, but if we -get enough for steerageway, we'll try it. I don't like loafing about in -a fog like this with my hands in my pockets." - -Then, even while he was speaking, out of the darkness and the fog and -the subdued murmurs of the ocean, without other warning than the -intangible beat that had mystified them, a long roller came sweeping -in, lifted them in its mighty arms, slipped past, and dropped them with -a shock that shook the brig, and forced a cry from the lips of every -soul aboard. - - - - -X - - -The group on the quarter-deck staggered together in a huddled bunch, -then fell apart as Medbury and the captain slipped out and ran forward. -Then the brig rose on another swell, and came up bumping, with a -snarling sound along the fore-chains. - -"It's some barnacled old derelict," Medbury turned to shout to the -captain, who was following him with surprising swiftness, but with -short, quick strides, like a waddling duck, and breathing heavily. -Medbury was on the rail, peering over into the darkness, when the -captain reached the fore-rigging. A group of sailors huddled about the -rail. - -"Here, you," called Captain March, "get fenders quick! Bring that spare -royal-yard--anything!" Then he lifted himself into the rigging by -Medbury's side. The next minute he was calling for a lantern and the -flare. - -They quickly had the yard and some planks lashed over the side, though -they knew that such protections were almost futile in the lift of the -swell that was then running. Under the light of the flare, gray and -almost invisible in the thick night, awash at one moment, at the next -showing a jagged line of railless stanchions, they saw the derelict -lying almost parallel with them. With the flare in his hand, Medbury -lowered himself down to the channel, looking for the place of contact. -Forward of the chains the side of the brig was badly scraped, and a -part of the channel was splintered; but they could see no other injury. - -"Lucky she didn't come under us when we dropped," Medbury said. - -"She may yet," replied the captain. He straightened up, and held his -hand above his head. There was not a breath of air stirring. He turned -to the mate again. "Get a boat over the side quick, Mr. Medbury," he -said; "we've got to pull out of this." - -They swung the boat off the center-house, and with difficulty, in the -heavy swell, got her over the side and away, with Medbury and five -of the men as her crew. A line was paid out to them, and run through -a forward chock and passed about the capstan. Standing by the port -cathead, Captain March "held turn." - -"Don't know what may happen," he said aloud to himself. "I'd better -keep a hold o' this in this swell." He sent a man up to the top with -a lantern, and the second mate to the wheel. "Straight ahead, now!" -he roared to the boat. "We don't want to swing her counter over it. -Straight ahead, now, you!" - -He could hear the thud of the oars in the rowlocks and their irregular -beat on the water, for rowing in the swell was hard; but he could hear, -too, the _zip! zip!_ of the line as it tautened, and then the splash as -it dropped slack. At times the two hulls came together with a jar, but -with no great shock after the first. - -Drew had come forward, and once he asked the captain if he could be of -assistance. Captain March was leaning over the side, peering into the -darkness for the derelict, and had not answered. When he turned to his -line again, Drew repeated the question. - -"No, no; just keep out of the way," replied the captain, with the -impersonal contempt of the sailor for the landsman afloat in times of -need. - -They drew ahead but slowly; it was only by inches at the best, and -there were times when they fell behind as the sweep of the sea -caught them and rolled them from side to side through a wide arc. -Fortunately, they were to the leeward of the wreck, and what advantage -there was in their greater buoyancy and height above the sea added -its little to the feeble efforts of the crew of the boat. Captain -March could hear the unsteady ding-donging of the oars in the rowlocks -as Medbury urged them on. He peered over the side of the brig with -straining eyes. - -"It ain't no way to go--like this," once he said aloud. It seemed a -trivial end, without the pomp of storm and the exaltation that comes -with the last struggle for life. He longed for the struggle for -himself, he longed for it for his vessel. - -At last there came a time when he could no longer see the derelict, and -he grew restive under the uncertainty. All at once he thought he felt -a breath of air across his face. He straightened himself, and held his -hand up to the wind. It was surely a puff, and, quickly making the line -fast, he hurried aft to take the wheel. - -"Get your staysails on her," he told the second mate, as he relieved -him. "Set your maintopmast staysail first,--there'll be a steadier air -up there,--then get your foretopmast staysail on her." He turned to -Drew. "Just bear a hand there, will you?" he said to him. - -He heard the staysail run up and the cry of the second mate to belay; -then he heard them sheeting it home. - -"Not too flat, Mr. Barrett! Not too flat!" he called. "Give her an easy -sheet, so she'll lift a little. Now up with the others!" - -He saw Hetty's face at the companionway, and glanced at her with -half-averted eyes. She was a true sailor's daughter, he thought with -pride. He did not object to her presence, for she never worried folks -with questions. Then he called to her: - -"It's all right, my girl. Don't you worry. Just tell your mother it's -all right." - -He heard the staysails flap from time to time, and so began to whistle -for a wind. "Deuce take it!" he muttered, "why don't it blow?" Every -moment or two he stepped to the rail and peered into the darkness to -note his progress. They had slowly drifted away from the wreck, the -stern of which now lay opposite the quarter-deck of the brig. The -second mate came running aft. - -"Shall we brace the yards around, and try to get what canvas we can on -her, sir?" he asked. - -Captain March shook his head. - -"No," he answered; "you couldn't do much, short-handed as you are. -Maybe we'd just lose control of her. But you go forward and call to Mr. -Medbury to keep a-going--keep a-going." - -It was a quarter of an hour before the derelict's stern was clearly -past the brig's. Slowly the house crept past--a high house, Captain -March could now see plainly, and painted white. "Some foreigner," he -thought with scorn, "scared to his boats before he was hurt." He felt -all the contempt of his race and kind for timid unseafaring peoples. - -Once when the wreck sank deeply in the hollow of the sea, and the swell -broke over her, she came up sputtering, and Captain March heard the -water gushing from some opening with the rhythmic _chug-chug_ of water -gurgling from a bottle. - -"That's what we heard," he said aloud. It sounded uncanny even now. "I -guess it's a water-butt that's shifted over on its side and the sea -washes full," he thought. "Well, it's creepy enough." - -Suddenly he gave a start, for from the wreck came the faint, -unmistakable crying of a cat. He walked to the rail and listened, -muttering to himself: "The scoundrels, to leave her behind!" He stood -by the rail for a moment, and presently called: "Kitty! kitty! poor -kitty!" Then he went back to the wheel again, whistling loudly for a -wind, that he might not hear the plaintive response to his call. - -For a time the situation had worn for Hetty a certain pleasurable -aspect of romance; but in the dragging moments that followed the -sending away of the boat, her nerves grew tense under the strain, and -seemed to present, as it were, sharp edges to the irritating suspense. -The low-riding wreck, awash at one moment, at the next looming -threateningly above them, showing its jagged outlines uncertainly -through the enlarging fog, took on an aspect wholly sinister. With only -the desire to get beyond sight of it, she crossed to the starboard -main-rigging, and gazed steadily out across the vaporous expanse of the -windless sea. - -Her resolute refusal to watch the derelict took on, in her mind, -something of the character of a senseless game with her fear: she told -herself that she would count two hundred before she looked to see if -it were farther away, then five hundred; after that she resolved not to -look until she heard a footstep or a voice. The latter task, unrelieved -by the mechanically mental exertion of the whispered numbers, became -speedily unbearable, and she began to count again. Presently a step -sounded on the deck near her. In the tension of the moment she looked -up, dangerously near to hysteria. - -It was, of course, Drew, the only idle man aboard. - -"We have passed it," he said gaily. - -Her hand was resting against the rigging, and now, as he spoke, in a -revulsion of feeling she laid her forehead against it and laughed. - -"You poor child!" he murmured. - -At that she lifted her head quickly and said: - -"The whole night has been so unreal--that strange sound, the fog, our -ghost talk, and this danger--" She looked past him in a strange mental -relaxation, feeling the inadequacy of words to convey her immeasurable -relief. - -"It has been hard for you," he said gently. "I thought of you, and -wished that I might help you, but I'm a helpless creature here." He -smiled. - -No one else had come near her or thought of her, she told herself -unreasonably; and now she turned upon him the frank, open look of a -child. - -"You do help me," she said. - -Alone in that strange calm, but barely escaped from a grave danger, -they looked at each other for a moment through the distorting glass of -their common isolation. Suddenly he moved toward her. - -"Then may it not be for always?" he whispered. He could gather no other -meaning from Medbury's speech at sunset than that he had given up all -hope. He himself was free to speak at last. Yet he must have spoken in -any case. - -She gave a little backward spring, and laid hold of the shrouds with a -hand that trembled. - -"Not that!" she gasped. "Oh, I didn't mean that!" - -"But I mean it," he urged. "Try to think of it favorably. You know the -work I desire: let us work together. Life would mean so much to me with -you near! And for you--it would be in the path of your own desires, to -work among the poor." - -For a moment it seemed like an open door to her hopes. - -"I had thought of your work since you spoke of it," she said in a low -voice; "and I wondered if they would let me try that--alone, of course, -I mean," she added with pretty confusion. "I should like to do some -good in the world. I seem so useless now. It gave me a new hope." - -"And I," he urged--"do not put me apart from it!" - -She had put him apart from it, she thought. She laid her hand upon the -shrouds and dropped her face to it for a moment. - -"Oh, I cannot tell!" she whispered. - -"Do not try to tell now," he said. "Wait! It--" - -Then sharply across their absorption they heard her father calling to -the second mate to order in the boat. Without a word, she slipped aft. - -As the boat drew near, Captain March went to the rail. - -"They've left a cat aboard," he called to Medbury. "She's forward. I -shouldn't like to leave even a cat like that." Then he added, as if to -show that his humanity was dictated more by reason than by sentiment, -"It seems unlucky--as if _we'd_ left her." - -"All right, sir," Medbury replied; "I'll get her." - -"Well, don't get stove. Just as soon as you come aboard, we'll make -sail. There's a little air stirring." - -As the boat swung away behind them, the captain told the second mate -to rig and sound the pumps. The brig was unusually tight, and it was -with no uneasiness that he gave the order, which he considered merely -perfunctory. - -The first half-dozen strokes told a different tale. He was stooping -to grip the spokes of the wheel when the first rush of water sounded -on the deck, and its fullness stopped him like a blow in the face. -Instantly he blew his whistle over the stern, and called to Medbury to -come aboard at once. He heard Medbury's "Aye, aye, sir," and called to -the second mate for a lantern. It was already on the quarter-deck when -the boat swung out of the darkness in under the stern. - -"We got her," Medbury called out, but Captain March made no reply. He -swung the lantern down toward the boat by a lanyard. - -"Find where we struck," he said, and, giving the wheel to the second -mate, hurried forward. - -He was standing on the fore-channel when Medbury brought the boat up, -and, going as near as he dared, held the lantern over the side. - -"There!" cried Medbury as the light of the lantern flashed over the -scarred and abraded spots that they had already noted; but Captain -March shook his head impatiently. - -"No," he said curtly; "lower down. Watch when she rises." - -The lantern shed a wan light upon the oily sea and the glistening black -hull. Five times the brig rose and fell on the easy rollers; then she -leaped to a great height, and for an instant, below the bilge, they -caught sight of a jagged stretch of copper, torn, and shrunken like a -withered apple. One glance showed that nothing could be done. - -They had the boat over the side again in an incredibly short time. -As he was rigging the fall to hoist her to her old place on the -center-house, Medbury hesitated, and then hurried aft. - -"Shall I lash the boat on deck, sir?" he asked, adding significantly: -"We may need it." - -"No, sir," replied the captain; "hoist it to its place. I don't make -preparations to abandon my ship till I've done something to save her. -Besides, I want the boat in the safest place if I've got to use it, -after all. But I'm not thinking of that yet." - -It was not long before the wind was coming out of the northeast in -quicker and stronger puffs, and, under every thread of canvas, they -began to forge ahead to the dismal clank of the pumps. There was no -question of breaking out the cargo, and trying to patch the leak -from the inside. It was to be a rush for port, to the music of the -pump-brakes. - -Medbury and Drew were standing by the port rail at four bells when -Captain March came on deck from a study of his chart. He glanced aloft, -looked to windward, then at his binnacle. - -"Ease the sheets a little, Mr. Medbury," he said, "and keep her off -half a point." He gave the course, then added: "Change the men at the -pumps every hour; we'll all have to take a hand at it before it's over. -The wind's freshening fast, and that's our chance. We've got to carry -everything to-night. Call me in an hour." - -He was going down the companionway when Medbury called to him. - -"That vessel was burned, sir," he said. He held up his hands, blackened -with the charred wood. - -"You don't say!" exclaimed the captain. "How did that cat happen to -escape?" - -"Somehow she got forward, and the fire spread aft. It was the only spot -untouched--the forecastle-deck." - -"What did you do with her?" asked the captain. "I forgot all about her." - -"Oh, I gave her to the steward; she was half-starved." - -"All right," said the captain; "all right." Then he went below. It was -the last bit of sleep he was to get for many an hour. - -With started sheets and a freshening breeze, the brig began the song -of the road. The laced foam went hissing past her sides, flecked here -and there with spots of phosphorescent light; under her fore-foot was -the growl of the heaped-up, rolling wave; now and then the shock of a -higher sea, thrown back from her bows in a smother of spray, shook her -from stem to stern. The fog had gone with the coming of wind, but the -rack, like a flock of birds, swept by overhead. The wind began to sigh -and whine in the rigging; with a tremulous, muffled roar the canvas -strained and thundered: but through every other noise, insistent, -penetrating, sounded the steady thump of the pumps and the rush of -water from the spouts. - -Once Medbury came aft after changing the men at the pumps, and stopped -at the corner of the house to look aloft; he had felt the deck swinging -wide under his feet. - -"Steady, man! steady!" he called to the man at the wheel. "Don't let -her yaw!" - -He watched the sails for a moment, turning at last with a sigh of -satisfaction to Drew, who was standing near. - -"She's picking up her skirts like a little lady," he said. His tone was -almost exultant. - -"It's good to feel the rush of movement again," said Drew; "but I'm a -little bewildered yet, it has come and gone so quickly--this strange -experience." - -"That's the way with things at sea," replied Medbury. "We're always -expecting things to happen, and surprised when they come. But I don't -know as it's much different with life in general," he added gloomily. -"Trust in nothing--that's the only way to escape being disappointed. -Trust in nothing, and be prepared for the worst." - - - - -XI - - -A slim shape came softly up out of the companionway, and, closing the -door, paused uncertainly. Facing the wind, the girl thrust back her -blowing hair, and looked about her. - -"I thought my father was here," she murmured, not knowing whether to go -or stay. - -"He's below," Medbury told her. - -"I thought he was here," she repeated. She hesitated a moment, and then -turned suddenly to Medbury. - -"Where are we going?" she asked him. - -"Better ask your father that," he replied. "He only gave me the course." - -"I did ask him. He said he believed we were chartered for Santa Cruz." - -"Then that's where we're going," he said promptly. - -"I can't realize yet what has happened," she went on; "it was so calm -and peaceful. It seems the strangest thing." - -"Oh, this sort of thing's been done before," replied Medbury. "They -can't accuse us of inventing any new kind of foolishness; so don't you -go to feeling proud because you think you've found something strange. -When you get out to Santa Cruz all the old captains in port will drop -aboard and spin yarns about what's happened to them, till you'll think -this is the commonest thing in the world." - -"You're trying to make me feel safe," she declared; "that frightens me -all the more. You take too much pains to assure me. Tell me truly: have -you ever been in greater danger?" - -"Yes," he answered; "many a time, and only last winter, for once. For -five minutes, one night, I thought of more things in my life than -I'd done for twenty years. I haven't done that yet, to-night. I never -thought to walk the streets of Blackwater again." - -Hetty tried to think how it would seem to feel that she, too, would not -walk the streets of Blackwater again. In two months, she remembered, -the cherry-trees would be in bloom there; she could see them whitening -the whole village. She looked at him and smiled. - -"Did you think of it in cherry-time, with all the streets and -dooryards white with blossoms?" she asked idly, with a vague notion of -distracting her thoughts from the present hour. - -"Yes," he answered quietly; "and of other white things--of drawing my -sled home from school through the drifts, and glad to be alive." - -She caught her breath and turned her face away. She was beginning to -understand, she told herself, what it was to be a sailor, and face -danger year after year, living one's life mainly in dreams, with only -far-off memories to feed upon. Her eyes filled with tears. Finally she -turned to him again with a little smile. - -"I'm beginning to know what it is to be a sailor," she said. - -The clock in the cabin struck, and the bell forward repeated the four -sharp strokes. A man came aft to relieve the wheel. A moment later -Captain March appeared on deck, and walked over to his daughter's side. - -"Heh! young lady," he said, "I thought I told you to turn in." - -"I'm going to stay with you a while," she answered, and took his arm. - -"Cap'n," said Medbury, "hadn't you better keep your watch below? I'll -change the men at the pumps and take a spell at the wheel myself. We -don't need you now." - -"No," replied the captain; "my place is on deck to-night." - -They stood in silence a long time, listening to the sounds of the -night, and having no inclination to speech. Suddenly, above the roar -of the wind, they heard the voice of the lookout crying from the -forecastle-deck: - -"Light ahead on the port bow! Light ahead! White light!" - -Captain March sprang to the wheel and jammed the helm hard up; Medbury -ran forward. He had scarcely reached the forecastle-deck when the light -came abreast, a cable's length away. All at once it began to swing in a -short, quick arc, and the people on the brig heard the cry of voices. -It swept past them like a banshee, with the light swinging frantically, -and the sound of oars chopping the sea in short, irregular strokes. -The next moment the brig came up into the wind with rattling blocks -and slapping canvas, and Captain March was roaring orders in a mighty -voice, while the watch below streamed out upon the deck like a hive of -frightened bees. - -[Illustration: "There came a 'smooth,' and the boat shot in"] - -They lay with sails shaking and a flare burning over the quarter, -and listened for the sound of oars again, with the brig rolling and -thrashing under them. They heard it at last, and a voice urging the -rowers on; and soon a boat came out of the blackness of the night, -reeling crazily over the seas. - -Medbury stood on the rail, with the crew clustered behind him, as the -boat swung in. - -"Steady!" he sang out. "Steady there, or you'll swamp her! Hold off, -and watch your chance!" - -There came a "smooth," and the boat shot in, and a black little figure -leaped upon a thwart, and, steadied by two men, was swung up over the -rail and to the deck by Medbury almost before he realized that it was a -woman. - -As her feet struck the deck, she turned with a little laugh. - -"_Mon Dieu!_" she cried, "eet iss betteh--dees." She watched the others -coming over the rail, and, when all were safe, turned to Medbury with a -little courtesy. "Eet iss ver' _ro_manteec tow be safed from doze salt -wateh by so nize young gentleman," she murmured, with a gleeful face. -"Yo' happen tow be a mah'ied man, maybe?" - -"No, ma'am," Medbury answered soberly. - -She laughed in his face. - -"Yo' sad faw das, maybe?" she asked mischievously. - -"Oh, no," he answered, laughingly recovering himself. - -"Das iss mo' betteh," she said demurely, and turned to Hetty. - -Taking both her hands in her own, she kissed her impulsively. - -"Ah ahm mo' gladdeh faw tow see yo' naw ahnybody," she said. "Ah see -nut'ing but doze mens all tam. Ah t'ink Ah go git crezzy," she added -laughingly. - -They got the brig on her course again, and took the captain of the boat -and his two passengers down into the cabin. The captain said his vessel -was a Danish bark from Copenhagen, bound for Santa Cruz, and she had -been burned two days before. They had taken to their boats, but, as -there was no wind, they had lingered near, in the hope that the smoke -from the burning vessel would be a beacon for some rescuer. But no -vessel had been sighted, and before night came on they had started on -their long road. Their other boat had been lost in the fog. - -The captain had told his story in fair English, and at its close he -turned to his passengers, and said they were going home to Santa -Cruz, where the young man, a lieutenant in the army, was stationed. -His sister, Miss Stromberg, he added, lived with her brother. As he -mentioned their names, he bowed. Both rose, and, passing gravely -around the group, shook hands with all. They were much alike--small, -dark-haired, with handsome, piquant faces. Life seemed a huge joke to -both. - -As they seated themselves again, the girl looked about her and smiled. - -"Ah t'ink dis iss mo' nizeh naw das liddy boat," she said. - -"Mooch mo' nizeh," her brother agreed. He smiled, and bowed to the -collected company, beginning with Hetty and ending with her. - -"I hope so," said Captain March; then he turned to the Danish captain -and added: "I'm glad to get your men; I've already found your vessel." - -When he had finished the story of his own misfortune, he went up on -deck, followed by the two rescued men. - -"My dear," said Mrs. March to the girl, "you must be tired out. Now you -must have something to eat and then go straight to bed. My daughter can -easily take you in her room." - -The girl laughed, and, leaning forward, placed her hand on the -speaker's knee. - -"Ah t'ink das iss mos' kind, lak ma own modder. Das iss ve'y nize. How -s'all Ah say no at so kind heaht? Ah t'ink Ah ahm 'mos' t'ousand year' -old, and 'mos' aslip--me." Her shoulders drooped; her eyes closed. -"And das iss ve'y im_po_lite wiz so kind, good peop'!" Her eyes opened -again, and begged forgiveness for the discourtesy. - -"Nonsense, child!" said Mrs. March. "I should think you'd be half dead. -I only hope you won't find worse trouble here; though I must say we -deserve all we get for trusting ourselves on the water--we women." - -"Yo' lak not doze wateh?" Miss Stromberg asked. - -"Like it!" said Mrs. March. "I'm afraid every minute." - -"Ah!" she murmured piteously. Her eyes caught Drew's look, and she -smiled. "Yo' lak eet, maybe?" she asked him. - -"Yes," he answered; "or at least until to-night. But I do not know it -well." - -"No?" she said. - -"Mr. Drew is a minister of the gospel," explained Mrs. March, with -dignity; then she added with smiling derision: "He thinks he's taking a -pleasure trip." - -"Ah!"--Miss Stromberg flashed a bright smile upon Drew--"das iss ve'y -nize tow be a min_ees_ter--tow be so good as tow prich tow peop'. Ma -fader one also wass; but me--" she shrugged her shoulders--"Ah find das -ve'y hahd tow be so good all da tam. Eet iss ve'y sad not tow tek doze -examp' off ma fader." She sighed. - -Her brother and Captain Rand joined her at supper, and brother and -sister were very gay; but the captain ate hurriedly, and speedily -returned to the deck. Lieutenant Stromberg soon followed him, but Drew -lingered. Miss Stromberg had been telling her experiences in the wreck. - -"And you were not frightened?" he asked her. - -"Mos' exceeding'," she answered gaily. - -"Your brother says you were very brave," he told her, smilingly. - -"He!" she exclaimed, with gay scorn. "He knows not. Eet iss woman's -paht tow deceife efer. Yo' learn so not alretty?" She laughed in his -face. - -"Ah, I have much to learn!" he answered, with a smile. - -"Eet iss so," she agreed; "doze theologic school tich not efer't'ing." - -"Now I shall be on my guard," he answered, and, going up the -companionway, laughingly bade her good night. - -"On guahd!" Her scoffing voice followed him. "Das iss doze mos' worse -tam." - -Smilingly he walked to the rail, and, leaning his elbows on it, looked -out into the night. Medbury, walking the deck, stopped at his side. - -"Jolly little bit of flotsam we picked up," he said. - -"Yes," answered Drew; "she is charming." - -"Well, she's a little flirt," said Medbury. "Did you hear what she said -to me when she came aboard? It took away my breath for a minute." He -laughed. - -"She's audacious," said Drew; "but I think that's all. I should rather -say she is bent on amusing herself. I should call her remarkably -sincere." - -"Well, she's remarkably pretty," replied Medbury. "And what a voice! -She makes that lingo of hers sound like a pretty little piece of music. -I hope we'll not have to make her take to the boat again." - -Until then Drew had hardly thought of the wind. Now it seemed like the -pressure of a hand against his face. The darkness of the night was -relieved by a luminous haze close down to the sea, which seemed to -radiate a mysterious light that was like an opaque spray. The stars -were gone, and the wind no longer came in gusts, but in a great rush -of sound that overbore speech like the beat of a corps of drums, near -and threatening. Every strand of rigging twanged in the sweep of the -gale; the canvas hummed with a muffled roar; now and then a wave broke -amidships with a sudden shock, and ran hissing across the deck. - -Medbury had gone forward to the pumps, which stopped suddenly, and Drew -felt his way along the house to the break in the deck. A group stood -about the well with a lantern, and Medbury was bending over it. "Slack -three feet and a half," he said, straightening up. Captain March turned -away without a word, and walked aft; but Drew stayed to see the pumps -rigged again and their wearying thump begin once more, with four men at -the bars. As Medbury passed him, Drew asked him what it was. - -"Three and a half feet," he said, and hurried past. - -Then Drew at last understood that there was that depth of water in the -hold. - -It came on to rain later, at first a few small drops out of the black -sky, and then a driving sheet that seemed to sweep straight on and -never to fall. One by one the passengers disappeared, and Captain March -and Medbury, in oilskins, held the quarter-deck with the man at the -wheel. Back and forth across the deck the captain walked, now climbing -to windward, with his body bent forward and his legs far apart, now -braced back, and taking short steps down the wet incline, and sometimes -breaking into a little run and checking himself at the rail. Medbury -stood for the most part at the windward corner of the house, going -forward from time to time, but never for long. They rarely spoke. - -Once Medbury went to the binnacle for a moment. - -"Steady, man! steady!" he said. "You're yawing over half the card." - -"Steady, sir," the sailor replied in an emotionless voice. - -Captain March stopped his walk at the wheel, and looked aloft. - -"Steer hard?" he asked good-naturedly. He had shouted, for the uproar -was now too great for ordinary speech. - -"Yes, sir," the man replied, and bent to the spokes. - -"Guess I'll take a hold with you," shouted the captain, and stepped to -his side; but Medbury touched his arm. - -"I'll take it," he said; but the captain shook his head. - -"No," he answered; "I'll try it a spell." - -Medbury cast an uneasy look aloft at the maintopsail. In the murky -light he could see it bellied out like a great bowl. - -"It's that topsail makes her steer hard," he cried in an aggrieved -tone. - -Captain March did not glance up. - -"Yes," he shouted; "but I guess it's drawing some." - -Medbury looked at him sharply, and then turned away, grinning. - -"Well, I guess it is!" he muttered to himself. "The old pirate!" - -He made his way to the topsail-sheet, and shook it; it was like a rod -of iron. - -"Couldn't budge it, if I wanted to," he said to himself. "I wonder how -long that sail's going to stand all this." - -He started forward, shot in under the lee of the center-house as a -great green sea came over the rail, and, dripping, mounted to the -forecastle-deck. The lookout stood with his arms clasped about the -capstan-head, staring straight ahead. In his yellow oilskins, he -had the look of a wooden man, washed by the seas, immobile, without -sensation. - -Medbury took him by the shoulder, and he barely turned his head. His -face was as emotionless as his figure; only his eyes showed life. - -"You'll--" Medbury lowered his head as he began to shout, for a sheet -of spray sprang at his face like a cat, blinding him and making him -gasp. Then he felt the deck slipping into a bottomless abyss, and, -opening his eyes, saw the jibboom disappear, then the bowsprit, while -over the bow rolled a great green wave, shot with white, and irradiated -with phosphorescence. Almost to the waist it buried them, while they -stood for what seemed an interminable time, clasping the capstan, -with the dragging water roaring about them. The strange fancy flashed -across Medbury's mind that it was like being on the nose of a gigantic -mole frantically burrowing underground. Then the bow rose again, shook -itself free, and Medbury and the sailor, unlocking their grip on the -capstan, looked at each other. - -"You'll have to get out of this," shouted Medbury, finishing what he -had begun to say. The man nodded. - -"That was the first bad one, sir," he yelled back. "I don't know's -I mind bein' drownded, but I don't want to be speared to death." He -looked aloft, where the lighter spars and sails seemed like a falling -arch above him. "I've been expectin' to get that royal-yard through my -back for the last hour. Couldn't hear it if it did tumble--in all this -noise." - -"Well, you'll have to get out of this," Medbury repeated mechanically. -"Go up to the top of the center-house. You'll be safe there." - -They made their way down, the man going up to his station, and Medbury -aft. - -"She's burrowing a good deal," he shouted in the captain's ear--"like -an old mole." - -The captain nodded. - -"Good reason," he replied. - -"What did you say?" - -"I said, 'Good reason.' There's a lot of heft in this wind." - -"I sent the lookout up to the top of the center-house," Medbury now -called. "No place for him forward." - -"That's right," answered Captain March; then he nodded his head to show -that he had heard and approved. - -The watch was changed at twelve, and the second mate came on deck, but -Medbury still lingered. Captain March would not leave the wheel. At -three bells Medbury sounded the pumps again, and reported a full three -and a half feet of water in the hold. It had gained two inches in three -hours. - -Captain March merely nodded when he was told, and turned his -inscrutable face aloft. - - - - -XII - - -The night was dragging on toward the hour when the watch on deck is -the hardest to bear. In his weariness of body and mind, Medbury had -grown indifferent to the tremendous rush of the wind. The noises of the -night no longer seemed near him, but far off, muffled by some strange -mental wind-break that hedged him in as if by a wall. Once or twice he -caught himself nodding, and looked up, startled, to take a turn or two -across the deck. His mind was tense with the mental strain, and the -changing of the men at the pumps, or any pause in the monotony of the -uproar, irritated him, as the stopping of a railroad train at stations -affects one dozing through a long journey. He was not afraid,--he had -even begun to exult in the self-control of his superior, seeing in his -perfect handling of his vessel something uncanny, even godlike,--yet -he was all the while keenly alive to the thought that Hetty lay below, -within the circle of impending danger. It was like being compelled to -run for one's life under a great weight. - -It was past four bells when the maintopsail split with a sharp report -like musketry-fire, and, looking up, they saw black space where just -before they had seen a gray hollow of canvas loom through the night. A -ragged fringe of gray flapped along the bolt-ropes, whipping straight -out in the force of the gale. They let tack and sheet go with a rush, -and strove to clew up the topsail, trying to save, in the stoical -following of habit, what was no longer worth saving. - -Medbury came aft when they had clewed up what remained of the sail. It -seemed ludicrous to try to stow that frazzled bit of whipping canvas. -He went close to the captain. - -"I didn't stow it, sir," he shouted in his ear. "Didn't seem worth -while to send a man aloft. No place for him. Nothing but a rag left." - -"No, no," the captain roared. "That's right. Don't want to expose -anybody more'n we can help." His voice seemed far away--detached, as it -were, in some strange manner. - -Medbury still lingered near. He was a bit excited, and wished to talk. - -"Steer any easier, sir?" he roared. - -Captain March nodded, then he leaned toward his mate. - -"Yes," he yelled. He nodded aloft. "Been expecting that." Then, for -the first time in his life, he became communicative as to his plans at -sea. "It's like this," he went on: "We've got five hundred miles to run -in this craft or an open boat. I'll make it in this, if I can. Got to -take some risk, you know. Can't afford to take in sail as long as she -carries it. When it goes of its own accord, well and good. Can't help -that." - -Medbury had begun to long, with an indescribable sense of weariness, -for the coming of day. Once, as he looked eastward, it seemed to him -that the curtain of darkness had lifted: the crests of the waves no -longer showed a vivid contrast to the black body of the watery waste, -but both were fading into a neutral tone of gray, and objects on board -began to have more definite outlines. Then all at once the royal flew -out of its bolt-ropes, like a hound loosened from its leash, and went -twisting and snapping into the night. - -Medbury saw the yard lowered to its place and all things made snug -forward. As he passed under the foresail to go aft again, he had to -brace himself against the wind, which drew under the sail like a -great flue. Every cord of the sail seemed vibrant with sound; and as -he staggered on, out of the tail of his eye he watched the mainsail -tug at its sheet, and boom and gaff swing up like straws. As his head -rose above the top of the house, he saw that Captain March's eyes were -following him, and he turned his own away. - -"If he sees me watching that mainsail," he said to himself, "he'll -think I'm wondering why he doesn't take it in." He smiled grimly. -"Well, that would be God's truth; but he sha'n't know it." So he stood -and gazed steadily seaward. - -Now it was surely day--day that showed itself in a gray sea leaping -against a gray sky. A driving mist, too vaporous to be called rain, -gave the same neutral tone to the vessel, which seemed to have lost -her individuality overnight. She had the tired, lifeless look of the -men on her deck; and as she groaned and whined along the watery road, -her aspect was at once human and wholly sad. Though they were far to -the south, the mist was cold upon their faces. Now and then a dash of -spray flew across the quarter-deck, and its greater warmth was pleasant -in comparison. By eight o'clock the water in the hold had gained six -inches, and the crew were beginning to lose heart. - -The group that gathered in the cabin that day had the restlessness -of people waiting to start on a long journey. In her growing fear, -Mrs. March hungered for companionship; she steadily kept to the -cabin, refusing to go to her room, but half-sat, half-reclined upon -the lounge, and watched the wooden walls reel about her. Whenever an -unusually heavy sea rolled them down, she gripped the back of the -lounge and prayed in silence; and when it passed she looked about her -with a spent face. Hetty and Miss Stromberg sat in steamer-chairs, -talked a little, and sometimes laughed without reason; from time to -time they staggered to their room, never remaining long, or losing for -a moment the aspect of being about to do something quite different. -Drew tried to be cheerful, but felt that he was only inane; now and -then he read in a book that at other times he held closed over his -finger. All day Lieutenant Stromberg sat at the table and played -solitaire, resolutely forbearing to cheat himself, being restrained by -the thought that he might be near his last hour. At times he made jokes -that no one seemed to understand, and then looked up wonderingly when -he laughed alone. - -It was afternoon when Hetty, unable longer to bear the thought of -the dark, close cabin,--all the windows had now been battened down -and the skylight covered,--made her way to the forward companionway, -and, opening the doors, looked out upon the deck with eyes wide with -wondering fear. The leeward rail was level with the sea, which boiled -about it; the deck ran like a mill-race. The sky was lost in the -driving mist, which closed about them in a gray wall that seemed like -a barrier to hide the impending dangers beyond. Clinging to the door, -she stepped out upon the deck and glanced aft. The wind beat her down -like a flower-stalk, and she crouched upon the door-step. But Medbury -had seen her, and hurried to her side. - -"You mustn't stay here; you know you mustn't," he protested. "We may -ship a sea at any time." He himself was dripping, and his face was rosy -with the damp wind: he looked like Neptune's very brother. - -"Yes," she cried; "yes; I'll go in a minute. I couldn't stand it down -there another second." She lifted her face above the house for an -instant, and nodded aft. "What is that for?" - -Above the taffrail, from quarter to quarter, a stout piece of canvas -had been stretched between two upright poles, shutting off the outlook -astern. Medbury glanced toward it before he replied. - -"That?" he said. "Oh, to keep the spray off the glass of the binnacle. -It clouds it so the men can't read the compass." It did not seem to him -wise to tell her that it was to keep the helmsmen from glancing over -their shoulders at the following seas, and perhaps losing their nerve -at a critical moment. "Please go down now; it makes me nervous to see -you here." - -She crouched down upon the door-step and looked up at him with a smile. - -"I didn't suppose you were ever nervous," she told him. - -"Well, I am, about you--any woman, in a sea like this." - -"Oh," she murmured, and looked away, thinking of his qualifying -"any woman." He had never spoken like that before--classed her with -other women. It showed that he had accepted the situation, and she -told herself that she was glad; nevertheless, it was not an unmixed -gladness: for the first time she felt that something had gone out of -her life that she had always calmly accepted as being as unchanging as -her native hills. Yet it seemed unreasonable that it should sadden her. -With a little shrug of impatience she put the thought away just as he -leaned to speak to her again. - -"Won't you go below now, Hetty?" he said, with a touch of impatience. -"I can't stay here." - -"I've not asked you to," she replied. - -"You know what I mean well enough," he said. "I can't leave you here -alone. You are a little tease, for all you can be so dignified at -times." - -"If you call me names, I shall certainly be dignified," she declared. -She looked away as she added: "You wouldn't call Miss Stromberg a -tease, I'm sure." - -"She's a little flirt," he answered promptly. - -"How do you know?" she asked. - -"Oh, I just think so. The dominie says she isn't, though. It's only -fair to say that," he replied. - -"I _wondered_ what men found to talk about so much," she said. - -He did not think it necessary to answer this, but stood looking out -over the deck with unseeing eyes. A wave broke at the side, leaped up, -and swept across the deck in a sheet of spray. - -She gasped as it struck her face, and then she laughed. - -"You see," he warned her. "The next time it may be worse." - -"It's better than that stuffy cabin," she answered, feeling an -exhilaration in the salt spray and the wind. There was comfort in his -presence, too, though she hardly acknowledged it to herself. It had -needed this storm and the danger to bring back to her all her old -ideals of manliness, cherished in her girlhood in the little seaport, -but weakened by her later acquaintance with a widely different life. - -She looked up suddenly and said: - -"Can't we still be friends, Tom--just friends?" - -"I'm your friend," he answered. He did not look toward her as he spoke. - -"You wouldn't speak to me yesterday." - -"I was a fool," he said, still looking away from her. - -"It hurt me," she said. She paused, but he did not speak, and she went -on: "We can always be friends, then, can't we?" - -For a moment he did not speak or look at her. - -"Oh, yes," he said at last; "we'll be friends. I'm going back to the -old long voyages again as soon as I can--in Santa Cruz, if your father -will let me off. In a year or two, or perhaps three, I may go back -home, and we may meet on the street, and shake hands, and smile, and -you will go away satisfied. 'He's my friend yet,' you may say, and -maybe think of me again in a year or two, or perhaps meet me and bow as -we pass. Or, more likely, _you_ will go away, and, coming back again -after a long time, meet a bent, brown old man and not recognize him. Or -you may ask about me, and be told: 'Oh, he died long ago, in the South -Pacific or Japan, or some other God-forsaken place.' 'I knew him long -ago,' you'll say, and then go on asking about others. I guess that's -what friendship like ours comes to mean." - -He turned to her as he ceased, and saw her rising to a stooping -position under the low sliding-hood. Her face was white. - -"I'm going below now," she said. - -"It's best," he answered; "I'm afraid to have you here." - -She descended two steps and then turned. - -"You are cruel," she said. Her voice trembled. - -"What did you say?" he asked. - -He leaned over toward her, for the gale had drowned her words. - -"I said, 'You are cruel.'" - -"Oh," he said vaguely, and watched her as she disappeared below. - - - - -XIII - - -In the cabin Lieutenant Stromberg was still playing solitaire; at -the opposite side of the table his sister sat, with Drew beside her, -reading aloud, as she took a lesson in English. - - "Da sea grows sto'-mee, da lit' ones mo-own, - But, ah-h, she gafe me nef-fair a lo-o-ok, - Faw her eyes weh seal'd tow da holy bo-o-ok! - Loud prays da pries'; shot stahnds da do'. - Coam avay, chillen, call no mo'! - Coam avay, coam da-own, call no mo'!" - -"Yo' pro-nouns doze _d_ in 'chillen'?" Her concerned eyes flashed an -anxious look up at Drew. - -"Yes," he answered--"'children.'" - -"Chil-d'en. Iss das mo' betteh?" - -He bowed gravely, but said: - -"You must pronounce the _r_, too." - -She shrugged her shoulders and laughed. - -"Ah t'ink doze _ahs_ ve'y dif_fi_cult tow pro-nouns. Alone, no; but wiz -doze ot'er let's doze bec-ome los'." She laughed again. - - "Coam avay, chil-_dahn_, call no mo'! - Coam avay, coam da-own, call no mo'!" - -She turned a bright look upon Hetty. - -"Meesteh Drew all tam rid doze po_et_ry; so Ah say tow tich me doze -lang-widge mo' betteh," she explained. "Ah was tich tow rid doze -Anglish by ma home tow Denmahk, but Ah leahn tow spik eet off ma black -maid tow St. Croix. She spik ve'y nize, but so sho'tly, Ah unnehstahnd -heh not alwis." - -"Shortly?" repeated Hetty, in doubt. - -"Fastly, ra_pid_ly," explained Lieutenant Stromberg, looking up from -his cards. "Ma sisteh's Anglish iss only a second coosin off das -real Anglish--second coosin twice remove'--t'r-rough Denmar-r-k and -Afr-r-rica." Lieutenant Stromberg knew his _r's_. - -"I think she speaks beautifully, with such opportunities," Hetty -replied, with spirit. - -Miss Stromberg beamed her thanks. - -"Ah t'ank yo' exceedin'," she said. She looked at her book, sighed, -looked up again, and continued: "But doze po_et_ry mek me tow haf -doze sadness--me." She sighed again and shook her head. "Yo' lak doze -po_et_ry?" - -"Not always," Hetty answered frankly. - -The questioner laid the book hesitatingly on the table, and her hands -drifted together in her lap. - -"Ah t'ink das iss mos' coh'ect," she agreed. "Eet iss not alwis -poss_i_ble tow lak eet when yo' s'all t'ink off ot'er t'ings--doze -noise' and stohms," she explained. - -"Yet yo' s'all desire to heah doze noise' ofer once mo' when yo' rich -St. Croix," said the lieutenant, without looking up from his game. -"'Ah, doze beau-tiful noise'!' yo' s'all say--'so poe_tic_al!'" He -laughed mischievously. - -"We shall miss many things when we reach St. Croix," said Drew, looking -at them and smiling. - -Hetty glanced at him, then she leaned forward and put her hand on the -Danish girl's arm. - -"We shall miss you," she said softly. - -"Ah, no!" Brother and sister spoke together. He turned and bowed to his -sister smilingly. - -"Ah, no!" she repeated; "yo' s'all coam at our house alwis; da do' -s'all stahnd wide faw yo' fawefer." Her eyes included them all in the -invitation. - -"Ah wass going tow spik doze sem lak ma sisteh," said the brother, with -a magnificent bow. - -"I shall bring the book," said Drew, touching it. "It may go better -there." - -"Shuah-lee!" laughed the Danish girl. "And yo' s'all rid eet in doze -gahden, among doze floweh' mos' beautiful, wiz doze o'ange-tree' and -t'ibet-tree' meking doze cool shadow, and doze sea-watah fah _be_-low -shining in da sun. And noise--yo' s'all heah on-lee doze sea-watah -mu'_mu_'ing soft-lee, and doze fountains whispehing, and poss_i_bly a -lil' song ofehhead, and maybe some dahkies pahssing _be_-hin' doze high -wall, calling tow sell yo' some t'ings ve'y nize--and nut'in' mo'." - -"Hot arepa! hot arepa dem! Ya da hot arepa!" In a high, slurring -singsong Lieutenant Stromberg gave the cry of the negro women -street-venders. - -"Yas; das iss eet," said his sister. "Yo' t'ink das iss nize?" - -"Ah, it would be _living_ poetry!" Drew answered. - -She smiled, looked up, caught his gaze; her own dropped to her hands -clasped in her lap. - -"Das iss mo' nizeh dan heah?" she asked demurely. - -"I shall never want to go away," he told her. - -"And when doze hurricane coam," began her brother, "how--" - -"Sh-h!" she exclaimed, while her eyes bubbled with laughter. "Why spik -off doze when we go-ing _in_-vite peop' at ouah house? Pos_si_bly doze -coam not aany mo'--doze huh'icane." - -"Pos_si_bly not," agreed her brother. - -"Aanyway," she continued triumphantly, "doze huh'icane nefer hu't us." - -For a moment Mrs. March had forgotten the rolling vessel and the -threatening sea. "The little tyke!" she said to herself, smilingly; but -her daughter spoke aloud. - -"Why do you make such a beautiful picture of it?" she asked. "Don't you -know that I must go back to the cold and the snow?" - -Miss Stromberg laughed, and shook her head. - -"Yo' s'all cah not," she answered. "Yo' s'all say, 'Oh, doze -huh'icane!' Wheah da heaht iss, da iss da beautiful pictu'. So womens -ah med," she added wisely. - -"And is your heart there--in that garden?" Drew asked. He smiled. - -She laughed again. - -"'Tiss joost heah--and unfast," she replied, and placed her hand on her -breast. "Eet hass no feexed 'abitation." - -On deck they heard the tramp of feet going aft, and then, as the -starboard side lifted, the cry of the crew hauling in the main sheet, -and the hoarse croak of the blocks. Before the tramp was heard again, -going forward, Captain March came from his room and hurried up to the -deck. - -Medbury walked over to his side. - -"The wind's hauled around a little, sir. We couldn't keep the course." - -Captain March looked aloft, then glanced at the compass. - -He gave no sign of having heard. Suddenly he stopped short and gazed -forward. - -"What's that contraption you got there, Mr. Medbury?" he asked. - -"One of the flanges of the pump gave 'way, sir," answered the mate, -"and we couldn't use but one bar; so I rigged up that whiz-jig. It's -better than one bar, and, besides, we can work it from the poop. If -things should get much worse, the men would drown on the main-deck." - -"Does the water gain on you?" the captain asked. - -"About the same--inch by inch. But she's getting a little logy, it -seems to me; and if the wind should go down or haul ahead--" He paused -in gloomy silence. - -"It won't," said the captain. - -He walked to the rail and took down the marking of the log-line, -and then went below to lay out his position on the chart. For two -days he had had no sun to take an observation, and could trust only -to dead-reckoning. Carefully he laid out his course and marked the -distance traveled, then tried to calculate how far the heave of the sea -and the set of the current had modified his right position. At last he -pricked out the spot with all the appearance of certainty, made a light -ring about the dot, and was rolling up his chart as his daughter came -to his side. - -"Where are we now, father?" she asked. - -He looked at her and smiled. - -"Just about here or hereabout," he told her. - -She took the chart from his hand and unrolled it. - -"Where are we?" she demanded. - -His stubby finger pointed to the dot. - -"It's a long way to go yet," she sighed. "I hoped we were nearer." - -As she spoke, the stern of the brig seemed to sink to a great depth, -swing wide, then settle again, and there came a crash of falling seas -upon the deck, and a wave went hissing across the house, falling in -sloppy cascades before the window facing forward, which had not been -battened. An instant later the captain was on deck. - -The canvas screen about the taffrail was flapping loose from one of the -poles; Medbury, with dripping oilskins, was at the wheel with one of -the helmsmen, but the other was under the lee rail with his head down -in his hands. - -"That was a heavy one, sir," called Medbury as he bent to the spokes. -He straightened up, panting, and nodded to the man who was down. "Don't -think he's much hurt," he shouted. - -Captain March walked over to the sailor, and, leaning over him, took -him by the shoulder. - -"What's the matter?" he demanded. - -The man rose slowly to his feet, shaking himself. - -"I struck my head against the bitts," he said slowly. "I guess it -stunned me for a minute." - -"Where?" asked the captain. - -The man, with fingers that trembled, slowly unbuttoned his sou'wester, -took it off, and fumbled about his head. The captain watched him. - -"Well, you better look out next time," he called with mild severity, -which stopped short of positive reproof. "I guess you were watching -over your shoulder more'n you were your course. Well, now you go -forward and send Charlie aft." - -He walked toward the wheel, but Medbury said: - -"I'll hold on here a spell, sir." - -"No," said the captain; "I'll take a hold. Just get that canvas lashed -up again, will you?" Then he took the wheel, which he was not to leave -again, except for one brief moment, until the end. - -When Medbury had lashed the screen fast, Captain March nodded to him to -come near, that he might speak. - -"Better start your topsail-sheets a bit," he shouted. "They'll lift a -little and ease her. Give 'em about two feet--no more'n that." - -As the afternoon wore on, the wind increased in force and the sea grew -heavier. Now and then a sharp shower swept past, and ceased suddenly; -but the clouds did not lift, and the rack flew overhead, low down, like -steam from a huge exhaust-pipe. At seven bells a topgallantsail-sheet -parted, and by the time the sail was housed and the yard lowered it was -dusk. - -As Medbury prepared to go aft again, he paused by the fore-rigging and -looked up. The canvas was thundering like a drum corps; the lee rigging -swung slack, but that to windward was as stiff as iron, and shrilled -like a score of fifes or roared like organ-pipes. - -"Oh, shut up!" he said aloud, and then grinned shamefacedly at his -irritability. - -As he came to the steps leading up to the poop-deck, he paused and -looked about him. It seemed to him that the wind had suddenly ceased, -and he could hear it far away, roaring back a defiance through the -murky twilight. The next moment he heard the captain shouting to call -all hands and shorten sail. - -With the crew increased by the men from the lost Danish bark, they -had all things made snug and fast in an incredibly short time, and -under maintopmast-staysail with the bonnet out, lower topsail, and -foretopmast-staysail, they were rolling down the long seas in leisurely -fashion by the time night was fairly upon them. - -Still panting with his heavy exertion, Medbury was standing by the -taffrail, looking down at the foam that now seemed only to creep by -them, and thinking gloomily of the water rising in the hold, when -suddenly he became aware of an increase in the weight of the wind -upon his face. He looked up, but, seeing nothing, glanced down again; -but in that brief moment the foam had disappeared, and he was gazing -into blackness. He turned quickly, only to see that the same darkness -had swallowed up the men at the wheel and every part of the vessel. -The binnacle-light was burning, but the dim glow stopped short at -the slide: beyond that it seemed to have no power to go. With an -indescribable sensation of being absolutely cut off from every living -thing, he stepped quickly toward the wheel, and, putting out his hand, -touched his captain. It gave him a curious feeling of intense relief. -Then he heard Captain March speaking in a calm voice that quieted him -instantly. - -"Is that you, Mr. Medbury?" he said. "What's wanted?" - -"It's getting black, sir," he said--"black as a nigger's pocket." - -"I noticed it," said the captain. - -"It came on all of a sudden," the mate went on. He wanted to hear -his voice and the voice of the captain: in some curious way even the -trivial words seemed to mitigate the awful darkness. - -"Maybe you'd better get out some lines for the men at the pumps, and -make 'em fast across deck," continued the captain. "We can't afford -to lose anybody overboard. And bring us some, too. When you've done -that, just go down to your room, as if you'd gone to fetch something. -Maybe it'll help the women-folks a little to see somebody from the deck -before it begins," he went on in a matter-of-fact voice. "But don't -stay. I may want you any minute." - -In haste, and with hands that fumbled a little, Medbury rigged stout -life-lines across the deck for the men at the pumps; and, leaving -straps for the captain and his companion at the wheel, descended into -the cabin. He struck a match in his room, and looked about him vaguely, -smiling to himself at his purposeless errand at a time when moments -were fraught with life or death. He was not, like his captain, a man of -imagination: his mere passage through the cabin seemed only a bit of -fanciful foolishness of which he was a trifle ashamed. - -His match flickered and went out; for a moment he stood staring before -him in the darkness, hearing the voices of those in the cabin as they -talked together. He heard Drew's deep tones, and Hetty replying to -them, and a sudden impotent rush of jealousy overwhelmed him as he -thought that he must battle on deck in what might be their last fight, -while this man, who had known her barely as many days as he had loved -her years, would be with her in these last hours. Blindly, without -looking to right or left, he walked through the cabin and ascended to -the deck. - -Though he had been below only a moment, an amazing change had taken -place. As he seized the hasp of the door to open it, the pressure from -the outside was so great that for a moment he thought that some one -was leaning against it. He knocked on it loudly, then pushed again, -becoming immediately aware that the resisting force was wind. Then -throwing all his weight forward, he squeezed through, with the door -slamming to behind him. - -It was only the beginning. The seas seemed to grow momentarily heavier, -and it became impossible to stand erect upon the deck. When Medbury -went forward to the pumps, as he did from time to time, he went with -bent body, keeping his hand upon the rail. His face was stiffened with -salt, which clung to his eyelashes and had to be wiped away constantly. -It became in time no longer possible to distinguish sounds: the bellow -of the wind, the roar of the sea, the thunder of the canvas, and the -groaning of spars and timber, became merged in an indescribable tumult, -the waves of which, like a great sea of sound, seemed to rise about -them and beat them down into insignificance. In this strange melting -away of all the known landmarks of his craft, Medbury stood at times -helpless and irresolute, and doggedly awaited the end. - -To those shut up in the cabin there came, as the night wore on, a -sense of impending danger. Once, unable longer to bear the feeling of -isolation from those who were fighting on deck for their lives, Hetty -made her way with difficulty to the companionway, and, mounting to the -doors, tried them. Then she turned. - -"They have locked us in!" she cried, staring down at her companions. -The lamp, swinging in its gimbals, cast only a faint light upon their -upturned, startled faces. Her lips trembled. "It makes me afraid," she -faltered. - -Miss Stromberg burst into tears. Hetty hurried down to her, and, -sitting close together on the lounge, the two clasped each other's -hands, listening. The men sat with closed eyes for the most part. Mrs. -March had long before gone to her room. - -Once there came three unusually heavy seas, and as the brig rolled down -it seemed to Hetty that they never would rise again, and, closing her -eyes, she prayed silently. Then there came the long "smooth," and she -opened her eyes and smiled upon her companion. - -"That is better, isn't it?" she whispered. - -"Ah do not lak eet," Miss Stromberg whispered back. "Ah ahm affred, -also--me." - -Hetty patted her hands. - -"It will be better soon," she said. - -"Do yo' t'ink Ah s'all be los' once mo'?" asked the girl. "Ah ahm tow -lit' tow was'e all doze sto'ms on--me." She laughed hysterically. - -"No, no!" cried Hetty. "You will be home to-morrow--in that garden." - -"Oh, doze gahden! Eet sims a t'ousand woilds f'om heah." - -"To-morrow," continued Hetty, "this will seem like a bad dream." - -"Ah pray Ah may slip mo' sound-lee," she murmured laughingly. "But -yo'--yo' haf doze cou'age!" she added admiringly. - -"I trust my father," replied Hetty. She was gaining courage by -imparting it. - -"And das young of_fic_er?" - -"Yes," said Hetty. - -"Yo' lak him mooch?" - -"I've known him all my life." - -"Das iss ve'y nize." She turned suddenly to Drew. "Wass yo' t'ink off?" -she asked him. - -He looked at her and smiled. - -"I was thinking of your garden just then," he replied. - -"Ah!" she murmured delightedly. "Yo' joost da sem lak us!" - -"You were thinking of it, too?" he asked. - -"Dees ve'y minute. Das iss ve'y nize--tow t'ink doze sem t'ings -altowgeddeh." - -"Eet iss a ve'y nize gahden," said Lieutenant Stromberg, "but eet -iss not so nize as yo' s'all t'ink. Nut'in' iss," he explained. "Eet -s'all _bec_-ome dull--lak dees, lak efer't'ing. Me--Ah s'all play doze -cahds." He laughed, and, taking his cards from the glass rack, began -another game of solitaire. - - - - -XIV - - -One by one the idlers in the cabin went to their rooms, and Drew, -putting on a storm-coat, stepped out upon the deck from the forward -companionway, blinded for a moment by the darkness. - -Slowly the shadowy world took on blurred outlines, and, turning his -gaze to windward, he saw gray flashes of foam leap high on the pointed -crests of waves, and drop quickly into darkness. The gale tore at him -and beat him down. He remembered that he had seen a sou'wester in his -room, and went softly below to get it. As he opened the door that led -from the passageway to the cabin, Hetty, with swinging arms, went -staggering across the unsteady floor toward the pantry. With a little -thrill of joy at finding her alone once more, Drew hastened to her side. - -She was on her knees, peering about her; but, startled by the sudden -obscurity that fell upon the room, she looked up quickly, to see him -standing in the doorway. - -"Oh," she exclaimed, "how you frightened me!" and turned to her search -again. "I was looking for something for my mother," she explained -when, a moment later, she rose to her feet. "I cannot find it." Still -glancing vaguely about her, she moved toward the doorway and made as if -to pass him; but he did not stir. - -"Can I not help you?" he asked. - -She shook her head, but did not look up. - -He had sought her with no other purpose than to be by her side for a -moment; for, though he had not seen her alone since he had asked her to -be his wife, he knew that this was not the fitting hour for his answer: -but neither could he let her go. - -"I cannot bear to see you suffer," he exclaimed. "Do not think our case -hopeless. It cannot be. We shall reach land yet." - -"Oh, you cannot know," she said listlessly. She had no thought to -be indifferent or cruel; standing, as she felt, face to face with -eternity, her thoughts had passed him by. She had come to regions where -he was a vague shadow, a part of a world no longer hers. She was only -the sailor's daughter now; all her faith and dreams lay with those who -were battling on the deck for the lives of all. - -Silently he stepped aside, and she went quickly to her room, closing -the door behind her and not looking back. - -He could not summon to his mind a single thread of proof; yet, as he -turned away, he knew that unconsciously she had given him her answer. -The closing door between them, he told himself, was the symbol. - -He was paler when he went up the companionway again, and his lips were -firmly closed; but there was no harshness in their lines, and he -carried his head high: clearly he would bear whatever life brought to -him. - -A moment later, as he stepped into the blinding darkness of the deck, -a wave broke near, and a sheet of water, clipped from the toppling -crest by the wind, swept across the house and struck him like a lash. -Staggered for an instant, with his hand slipping from the sliding-hood, -he dropped behind the house. - -He was still kneeling on the deck, brushing the water from his eyes, -when he felt rather than heard or saw some one go by. He would be sent -below, he knew, if seen by the captain or the mate; and he smiled as he -thought of his position, feeling like a schoolboy in mischief and in -danger of detection. Slowly he turned, and, without rising, watched the -passing figure. - -It was six bells, and Medbury had come forward to change the crew -at the pumps. As he stepped past the house and made his way to the -life-lines, he lifted his eyes and stopped short. The pumps were -deserted. Then he rushed forward and peered down upon the main-deck; -only the sloppy space showed itself, unrelieved by a human figure. One -of the down-hauls of the whiz-jig, whipping in the gale, snapped across -his face, and was flung irritably aside. - -In the first rush of his dismay the thought came to him that all -were lost; but the possibility of four men being swept away without -warning was too much to believe, and across his mind there flashed the -certainty that the crew had refused longer to work the pumps. That -they had been losing heart had been borne in upon him increasingly, -and now that he stood face to face with the desperate situation he -felt his face grow hot with the fury that seized him and bore him out -of himself. Some instinct told him that they had taken refuge down the -booby-hatchway, and he sprang to the sliding-hood, thrust it back, and -peered in. It was black and still, but the intangible something that -betrays the presence of human creatures seemed to pervade the place, -and he knew that his quarry was there. His voice choked with fury as he -yelled: - -"You damn' curs--you--you--want to ruin us all! Out of this--quick, or -I shoot you down like rats in a hole!" - -No sound came out of the black interior, and with a snarl of rage -he tore open the door, splintering the peg in the hasp, thrust one -foot over the sill to descend, and struck the back of a man. The next -instant he had the man by the collar, lifted him struggling to the -deck, and with a mighty swing sent him forward into the life-lines, -where he hung for a second, and then fell lightly, like a sprawling -cat, to the main-deck. With a snarl, Medbury swung himself into the -opening, and dropped between decks. Three men had been sitting on the -steps below the man he had thrown out, and he swept them off like -leaves from a wand, and he heard their smothered groans as he crushed -them together in a heap on the floor. He was in his own province now, -for the storeroom was his care, and he could have found a sail-needle -there in the dark; and as he freed himself from the sprawling bodies -under him, he swung about him, reaching out, with itching hands, for -his cowed and dispirited crew. - -He felt an arm encircle his legs, and kicked back viciously, feeling -rather than hearing his heel crunch against a face. The arm about his -legs dropped limp, and he felt another pawing along his shoulders and -reaching for his throat. With a quick thrust he found a bristly face, -and, striking straight with his free arm, sent the man tumbling to -the floor. He heard the sound of feet stumbling up the stairs, and -thought the fight was won, and so moved back, only to find shoulders -and legs clasped by other men. He clasped back, and the next moment -was staggering about the place in a hand-to-hand struggle. He kicked -himself free again, and with a quick thrust forward threw himself to -the floor, an opponent under him. He heard the sailor's head strike -hard, felt his hold relax, and rose, panting, to his knees as a lantern -swung in at the door, and Captain March's voice, cool and incisive, -called, "Stop right there!" Looking up, Medbury saw the light of -the lantern shining along the barrel of a pistol, and the captain's -impassive face above it. - -They put every man at the pumps, lashing them to the life-lines, and, -with a belaying-pin in his hand, Medbury stood guard over them and -rushed them at their work. Now and then a fitful flash of lightning -showed the men and the deck against a background of vitreous green -glare. - -Captain March watched them a moment, and then, placing his hand on his -mate's shoulder, yelled at his ear. Even then the words seemed far away -and indistinct. - -[Illustration: "'Keep 'em going! Don't let 'em slack up a bit!'"] - -"Keep 'em going! Don't let 'em slack up a bit!" he roared. "Never had -such a lot aboard a vessel of mine before. It makes me sick." - -"Yes, sir," shouted Medbury, grimly. - -"Don't understand it," went on the captain in an aggrieved, plaintive -voice; "nobody could." He paused irresolutely, and then said: "Hurt you -anywhere?" - -"Oh, no," answered the mate. "Guess I rather enjoyed it for a change. -Was pretty mad." - -The captain nodded, and was turning away when Medbury put out a -detaining hand. - -"How'd you know?" he shouted. - -"What?" - -"How did you know about it--the row?" Medbury asked again. - -"The dominie saw something was wrong, and told me. Got your lantern, -too. Good man--seemed to know what to do. Rather surprised me--don't -think they've got that sort of horse-sense, as a rule. But no business -on deck to-night. Told him so." Then he staggered aft, and took the -wheel from the second mate again. - -Drew had gone below when the crew went back to the pumps; but he was -strangely excited. He knew that he could not sleep, and in a state of -mental helplessness he sat for a long time upon the edge of his bunk. -Something of the significance of the scene on deck broke in upon him, -and he realized that the crew had given up hope. It was not revolt, but -a dumb, sheeplike acquiescence in fate. In his heart he was not without -a certain sympathy for the men, feeling in the overpowering mastery of -the storm something of the vanity of all human endeavor. Yet the mere -effort of holding himself in check, aloof from all the tumult of the -deck, grew momentarily more and more unbearable, and, rising at last, -he went up to the companionway door again. - -He saw at once, novice as he was, that in his brief absence the -situation had grown worse. There was a constant sweep of sheeted spray -across the deck, and he crouched behind the house, as he had done -before, both for protection and to avoid being seen by the mate. He -resented the thought of being ordered below. He could see the steady -rise and fall of the bodies of the men working the pumps, and Medbury -standing near them. It had grown lighter, he perceived, though it was -still black night. - -He was beginning to grow drowsy, and for a moment shifted his position, -when suddenly the brig seemed to pause and tremble, then spring to a -great height, and the next moment he had the sensation of falling in a -dream, and heard Medbury's voice, faint, muffled, like a voice coming -from a great distance underground, screaming, "Hold hard! Hold hard!" - -In a second of time, in the light of the foam that whitened the sea -to leeward, he saw the deck clearly: the men crouching low above the -life-lines; Medbury's face turned away, his hands grasping a line about -his waist, his body braced; and behind him, rising from his knees, -a man with uplifted arm about to strike. The next moment Drew threw -himself forward upon the man, and at the same instant was crushed -against the booby-hatch by a great weight of water. He was held there -till his ears roared and flashes of light snapped before his eyes and -his breath was almost gone; then he felt himself lifted and whirled -along for what seemed a great distance, with the body of the man he had -seized struggling in his grasp. He had at that moment the feeling that -his end had come, that he was being borne far from the garden with the -fountain, and from that other garden where he saw his mother kneeling -with a flower in her hand and her eyes turned up to him smilingly. -With these scenes standing out vividly in a dream where all things else -were strange unrealities, he was suddenly awakened to life by the crash -of his body against something cruelly hard, felt a sharp sting under -his arm, pressed it down tight, and fell to the deck alone. - -Groping in the darkness, almost breathless, half-blinded by water, -he got to his feet and looked about him. He was standing by the lee -rail, but the man with whom he had struggled was gone, blotted out. He -remembered the sting in his side, and, lifting his hand to the place, -struck the haft of a knife that still clung to his coat. Dazed and -bewildered, he drew it out, and, holding it gingerly, staggered back to -Medbury. - -The mate looked at him in astonishment. - -"You here?" he called. "You'd better go below." - -"I'm going," Drew answered. "I've had enough." With that he held out -the knife. - -"Where'd you get that?" demanded the mate, taking it. - -Clinging to the life-lines, Drew told his story briefly, and as clearly -as was possible in that shrieking gale, while Medbury turned the knife -over and over in his hand. - -"It's that damn' steward's," he said. "He's the one I threw out. I -forgot him." His voice trailed off in the tumult of the storm, and Drew -leaned forward to catch the words; then somehow he understood that the -mate was asking about the steward. - -"Gone," Drew shouted--"over the rail. I couldn't hold him." - -"Damn' good thing," replied Medbury, and gently pushed him toward the -companionway. - - - - -XV - - -It must have been four bells when the second mate found his way to -Medbury's side and told him that the captain wanted him. - -"I'm to stay here," he added. - -"Don't give them any let-up," Medbury shouted in his ear; "and lash -yourself fast. But don't give them any let-up." - -He struggled aft, and put his hand on the captain's shoulder. In the -light of the binnacle-lamp he could see that the old man's face was set -and grim. - -"Want me, sir?" he called, and bent his head to hear. - -"Yes," he heard. The captain whirled the wheel, and then continued: -"Yes; go aloft; see if you can see the light on Culebra." He paused to -shift the wheel, straightened up again, and went on: "These seas run--a -little like shoaling water. I'd hate to run too far to the westward and -fetch up on the shoals beyond Culebra. Bad enough as 'tis. Take a good -look, and hurry back." - -"All right, sir!" Medbury shouted, then made his way to the -main-rigging, and went slowly and carefully up. The wind flattened him -against the ratlines, so that it was with difficulty that he lifted -arms and knees; and when the brig swung to port, he seemed to be -clinging to the lower side of the rigging, so far did she roll down. -"Fetlock-shrouds all the way up," he muttered to himself. When he was -well above the obstructing lower topsail, he looked ahead. - -Under him, near the vessel, the sea gleamed spectrally over its whole -surface, but farther away it was black. The mist had lifted, and he had -the impression, even in the darkness, of a wide horizon-line; but no -light was to be seen. He went upward again, till the crosstrees were -just above him, and looked once more. - -He gazed long, sweeping the whole line of the sea ahead slowly, pausing -at each point, that he might not lose the flash. The strain brought the -tears to his eyes, and he wiped them with his sleeve and looked again. -Something in his dizzy altitude, in the task set him and its failure, -impressed him more than anything had yet done, and he began to lose -heart. - -"Father went this way," he muttered, "and I guess it's good enough for -me. He was a better man than I am. Poor Hetty!" He looked for the light -again, giving all his thought to it. Then he sighed. "I wish to God," -he went on, "that we'd let her be! She wouldn't have been here if we -hadn't teased her about China. I wish she was there. This is no way for -her to go--a girl like her." Then slowly at last he descended to the -deck. - -At the wheel, Captain March was growing unutterably weary, and -something like the same thoughts were passing through his mind. - -"Lord," he said, "I haven't ever been much of a praying man, and -I ain't going to begin now, when I can't shift for myself. I'd be -ashamed. You know I've tried to do right. I ain't afraid of death, but -I hate to lose the old boat. I've always had good luck, and I guess -I've kind o' got in the way of thinking it was going to last. I'd like -to have it. I rather expected to die at home, and be buried alongside -of mother. She thought of that a good deal." Of his wife and daughter -he would not trust himself to think. - -He looked up as Medbury approached him, but turned his eyes away -immediately. He saw that Culebra light had not been sighted. - -Medbury simply shook his head and stepped back, but the captain called -him nearer. - -"I guess it's too early," he said. "Go up again soon, and if we haven't -made it then, we'll try to get a sounding. See if that steward left any -cold tea below, will you?" - -As Medbury went down the companionway and into the pantry, a figure -came softly out of the girls' room and tiptoed across the cabin. It -was Hetty. As she neared the pantry, the swinging floor tripped her -and sent her flying into the room behind Medbury's back. She giggled -hysterically as he turned with a start. - -"Good Lord, Hetty!" he exclaimed, "haven't you gone to sleep yet?" - -"I couldn't sleep," she said plaintively. "I waited for you; I thought -you'd never come." She hesitated, laid her hand on his arm, and -continued slowly: "Now I want you to tell me the truth--the truth. I'm -not a child. I can bear it. I know we are in great danger--isn't it so?" - -He hesitated and looked away, and she dropped her hand to her side. - -"You needn't tell me; I know," she told him. - -"We've got a chance," he now explained. "It looks bad, I know, but -we've got a chance. I guess we've got an even chance." - -"We didn't think it would be like this when we left the harbor at home, -did we?" she continued. "It was like a spring day, and the buds were -getting red. I said the leaves would be full grown when we got back--I -said so to mother." She choked back a sob. - -"Don't, dear!" he pleaded. "Don't! You shall see them yet. You shall -live to grow old among your trees, Hetty." - -"But if I don't," she persisted, "and--anything happens, will you try -to get to me? I don't want to go alone, shut up down here." - -"Yes," he answered solemnly; "I'll get to you. But we're going to pull -through--really." - -"You will not forget!" she insisted. - -He laughed softly. - -"Do I ever forget you?" he asked - -"No," she said; "no--and I am glad." - -Then suddenly she flung her arms about his neck, pressed her cheek -against his, and vanished. - -When Medbury reached the deck he took the wheel while the captain drank -a great draught of the clear, cold tea. Taking the wheel again, he said -something that Medbury could not understand. - -"What's that, sir?" he asked, and leaned forward to catch the words. - -"I said you were gone long enough. Thought the teapot had got adrift." - -"Yes, sir," Medbury replied. "Didn't find it right away. That steward -never did leave things where you could put your hand right on them. -He--" Medbury paused. He was about to say that it was the last of the -steward's tea that the captain would ever drink, but changed his mind. -"I won't trouble the old man to-night," he said to himself. "Morning -will be time enough--if there is a morning." - -The canvas screen above the taffrail had whipped itself free, and the -great seas, in long ridges that seemed never to break, followed the -vessel with vindictive hate. The gale beat the men down, the spray -blinded them; now and then a rush of wind, coming with great fury, with -a wailing cry that sprang upon them like Indians from ambush, pressed -them onward along the rolling seas without motion other than the -forward one. Then the wind, relaxing its hold, left the brig wallowing -exhausted in the deep hollows, like a collapsing thing. - -It was after one of these outbursts that Medbury touched the captain's -arm. - -"Going up again," he yelled, and pointed aloft. - -The captain nodded, and Medbury slanted away. - -He went up deliberately, turning his eyes neither to right nor to -left until he saw the crosstrees just overhead. Stopping, he thrust -a leg between the ratlines to steady himself, and gazed ahead once -more. It had grown lighter, and he could now plainly distinguish the -blurred line where sky and water met. Suddenly, far ahead, he saw a -little point of light grow out of the blackness of the night, flash -for a moment, and then disappear. His heart leaped in exultation, but -he waited, to be sure. Again it flashed and disappeared. Marking its -position well, he hurried to the deck and aft. - -"It's ahead, sir," he shouted. "Bears a point off the starboard bow." - -Captain March made no reply; his face was as immobile as a figurehead. -Whatever exultation he may have felt in the triumph of his reckoning, -he was never to show it. - -By eight bells the light was abreast, and they had hauled up on their -course past Sail Rock. The gale was sweeping down through the passage, -with a threatening sea, and every bit of rigging roaring and piping to -the tune of the road. Suddenly, out of the blackness on their port bow -a dark shape loomed, and the rock stood up almost beside them. Without -changing the course a hair, they drew near, passed under its lee, -with the gale dropping for an instant and the staysails flapping, and -overhead, from the rock, the sound of startled sea-birds crying in the -night. Then the gale rushed down again, and sea and rigging roared once -more. - -Medbury gave a sigh of wonder. - -"Never heard anything like that before," he exclaimed. - -"You can always hear them at night, if you go close enough," said the -captain. - -"Well, it's stirring," replied Medbury. He walked to the rail and -scanned the sea with the glass. "Pity there isn't something more'n a -'bug light' on St. Thomas," he said to the captain as he walked over to -his side. "We might skip right in before daybreak." - -Captain March glanced over the rail. - -"By daybreak we'll not need St. Thomas light," he said dryly, and bent -to the wheel again. - -"The old pirate!" muttered Medbury. "He's chartered for Santa Cruz, and -that's where he's going! There's five feet of water in the hold, and -a tearing gale loose, and a worn-out, hopeless crew; but he's going -to Santa Cruz! If the wind should flop around or fall, we'd go to the -bottom; but it won't. It wouldn't have the cheek--not with him. Well!" - -The wind hauled over the quarter, and fell slightly; gradually the sea -grew pale, and spars and sails took on more definite shape; and then -all at once it was day, and they saw the sea whipped with foam, and -dark masses of purplish-black clouds hanging low, with dashes of gold -firing their edges in the east. St. Thomas had dropped behind them, -and far ahead the cone of Santa Cruz, gray and misty under the darker -clouds, was rising on the edge of the sea. - -Day came on apace; the wind dropped a trifle more, but not until the -harbor of Christiansted took shape, with the anchored ships lying thick -in the roadstead, and the bright-hued little town clinging to the -hillside above the water's edge, did the captain allow the girls on -deck. As they ascended at last, white but happy, and looked out of the -companionway, glancing eagerly about them, the gray, worn vessel, the -dark, low-hanging clouds, the wind-swept sea, appalled them, and for a -moment they could not speak. - -"Eet iss not lak home," murmured the Danish girl; "eet iss mos' sad -and mos' des_o_late." - -"But it's land," cried Hetty--"land after that awful sea!" - -They were silent for a moment and abstracted, gazing with curious eyes -at the land rising under the bow. Suddenly Miss Stromberg seized her -companion's arm. - -"Ah!" she cried, "doze flag--yonner!" She pointed where the red, -white-crossed ensign of Denmark flapped straight out in the gale above -the little white fort at the water's edge. "And op by doze tall tree," -she went on eagerly, "iss ma gahden--wiz yellow wall, and doze red -tiles beyon'. Now eet iss shuah-lee home." - -"It will be beautiful when the sun shines--Christiansted," said Hetty. - -Medbury, going forward, stopped a moment by the main-rigging, where -Drew stood alone. The pumps were quiet as they made harbor, and the -crew were forward. Drew was watching them with curious eyes. He -glanced up as Medbury drew near, and spoke. - -"What will be done with them?" he asked in a low voice. - -"With what?" asked Medbury. - -"With the crew. Wasn't it technically and actually mutiny?" - -Medbury laughed. - -"It was a beautiful fight," he said; then remembering their talk early -on the voyage, he added: "Call it a case of brutality, if you like; but -it seemed necessary." - -"But the men's part," persisted Drew--"will they not be punished?" - -"Man alive!" said Medbury, "they had been standing many hours at those -pumps and working as they'd never worked before--with no hope. That's -punishment enough, isn't it? They're tired now, and very humble, and, -I guess, if the truth could be told, pretty thankful to me. It wasn't -mutiny; it was a funk. They simply gave up, that's all. But if the old -man had done it, you wouldn't be looking into Christiansted roadstead -this morning. There's a man for you!" His voice changed as he added: -"And if it hadn't been for you, God knows where I'd be now. Over the -rail somewhere, with the steward's pretty little trinket in my back. I -haven't said much; but I guess you know I'm not going to forget it." - -"Do the ladies know?" asked Drew. He had not mentioned his own slight -scratch. - -"They know he was swept overboard," the mate replied. "I guess they -needn't know any more at present." Then he went forward. - -Rolling heavily, low above the sea, white with salt, but with the speed -of the gale in her rain-blackened sails, the brig flashed past the -shipping, crowded with wondering sailors, and drove straight for the -rocky beach where the cocoanut-palms came down to the shore, and on hot -mornings the negro washer-women lay their wet clothes upon the smooth -rocks, and the roadstead resounds with the echoing beat of their wooden -paddles. Then all at once Captain March's voice rang out, and with -sails shaking in the wind the _Henrietta C. March_ shot toward a narrow -ribbon of sand on the shore, struck, rolled slowly, and with a long, -grating sigh came safely to land. - -An hour later, as Medbury walked aft, he mounted the steps to -the poop-deck before he saw the flutter of Hetty's dress by the -main-rigging. She was looking steadily out to sea. - -He stopped by her side. - -"Here on this side, when you can see the town on the other!" he -exclaimed. "Haven't you had enough of the sea?" - -She looked up and smiled. - -"I was looking beyond the sea--as far as home," she said. - -"Are you homesick?" - -"No; only thinking of it." - -"It's a good thing to think of," he said soberly. - - "'East, west, - Hame's best.' - -After last night, that sounds true, doesn't it?" - -"It's always true--home and the old things," she said softly--"the -things we've always known." - -He looked down into her face. - -"Hetty," he said, "last night--you rushed away so quickly--is it all -right?" - -She turned her eyes seaward again as she answered in a low voice: - -"I think so--yes." - -"Oh, Hetty!" he whispered. - -She dropped her hand to her side, and he caught it for an instant. -Overhead there were widening patches of blue sky; the sea was taking -on a softer hue. Behind them the tropic world glowed in beauty. -On the beach little groups of negro women, in white bandanas and -bright-colored, wind-blown skirts, stood and watched the sailors aboard -the brig, their shrill laughter and cries coming up softened by the -gale, now rapidly falling. The pumps were going again. - -"It is the only familiar sound--that pump," said Hetty. - -Medbury scarcely heard her. - -"I don't understand it yet," he said at last, turning to her. "Just -when I thought it was all over, suddenly it comes out right. I don't -understand." - -"You never will, you poor boy," she replied, smiling up into his face. -Then suddenly her face grew grave, and she began to speak again: "It -was only when I thought it was all over that I began to think. Then -the storm came, and I saw how much it meant to me that you were near -me, and I was almost sure that I had made a mistake. I think I wasn't -_quite_ sure until you made that dreadful picture yesterday of what it -would be for us to be merely friends. Then I knew." - -"You said I was cruel," he told her. - -"You were," she said. - -"But if it brought us together, how--" - -"That doesn't make it any different." - -"Well," he replied, in his bewilderment, "I am sure I shall never -understand, as you say; but I do not care. It is enough to know that -everything is right at last. And you are sure that you will not mind -giving up China, Hetty, and the missionary work?" - -"Yes," she said firmly; "I was almost ready to give that up three days -ago--before I thought I cared for you, you know. I have thought many -things in these three days. Sometimes, when I think of them, I feel a -thousand years old, as Miss Stromberg says." - -The door of the cabin below them opened, and they heard the sound of -Drew's voice and Miss Stromberg's laugh. She was patiently waiting -until she could go ashore. - -"I was beginning to think that _he_ was going to stand in my way, -Hetty," said Medbury, nodding toward the cabin. - - -THE END. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: - -Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Under Rocking Skies, by L. Frank Tooker - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER ROCKING SKIES *** - -***** This file should be named 55721-8.txt or 55721-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/7/2/55721/ - -Produced by David E. 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Frank Tooker. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - - -.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold;} -.ph2 {text-align: center; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;} - -div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} -div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em;} - - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 25%; margin-left: 37.5%; margin-right: 37.5%;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {display: inline-block; text-align: left;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -2.5em; padding-left: 3em;} -.poetry .indent1 {text-indent: 1.5em} - -p.drop-cap { - text-indent: -0.25em; -} - -p.drop-cap2 { - text-indent: -.75em; -} -p.drop-cap:first-letter, p.drop-cap2:first-letter -{ - float: left; - margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; - font-size: 250%; - line-height:0.65em; -text-indent: 0em; -} -@media handheld -{ - p.drop-cap, p.drop-cap2 { - text-indent: 0em; /* restore default */ - } - p.drop-cap:first-letter, p.drop-cap2:first-letter - { - float: none; - margin: 0; - font-size: 100%; - } -} - -.gap {margin-top: 3em; text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Under Rocking Skies, by L. Frank Tooker - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Under Rocking Skies - -Author: L. Frank Tooker - -Release Date: October 9, 2017 [EBook #55721] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER ROCKING SKIES *** - - - - -Produced by David E. Brown and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h1>UNDER ROCKING SKIES</h1> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_0" id="Page_0"></a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i004.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">"There was a twinkle in Captain March's eyes"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<p class="ph1">UNDER<br /> -ROCKING SKIES</p> - -<p>BY</p> -<p class="ph2">L. FRANK TOOKER</p> - -<p>AUTHOR OF<br /> -"THE CALL OF THE SEA," ETC.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i005.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>NEW YORK<br /> -THE CENTURY CO.<br /> -1905</p></div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Copyright, 1905, by<br /> -<span class="smcap">The Century Co.</span></p> - - -<p class="center"><i>Published October, 1905</i><br /> -<br /> -<i>COLONIAL PRESS<br /> -Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.<br /> -Boston, U.S.A.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2></div> - - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> - -<tr><td> </td><td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td>"<span class="smcap">There was a twinkle in Captain March's eyes</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_0"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>"<span class="smcap">The brig was sliding down the seas like a boy let loose from school</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>"<span class="smcap">'<i>You</i> will need the patience,' she said</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>"<span class="smcap">They heard him whistling for a wind</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>"<span class="smcap">There came a 'smooth,' and the boat shot in</span>"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>"'<span class="smcap">Keep 'em going! Don't let 'em slack up a bit!</span>'"</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p class="ph1">UNDER ROCKING SKIES</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="ph2">UNDER ROCKING SKIES</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">I</h2></div> - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">For</span> a quarter of an hour Thomas Medbury -had been standing at the east window -of his mother's parlor, gazing out across -his neighbor's yard with an eager intentness -that betrayed a surprising absorption in -a landscape without striking features and -wholly lacking in any human interest. The -low-studded room in which he stood was -closely shut and darkened, having about it -the musty smell peculiar to old houses. -There were sea-fans before the fireplace, -flanked on each side by polished conch-shells. -On the wall hung an oil-painting of the brig<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> -<i>North Star</i>, with all sail set, and at her foretruck -a white burgee, with her name in -red letters, standing straight out in half a -gale of wind. Family portraits in oval gilt -frames were ranged with mathematical precision -along the remaining wall-spaces, and -on the mantelpiece stood a curious collection -of objects brought from far lands—carved -ivories and strange ware from China, peculiar -shells, a Japanese short sword, and a -South Pacific war-club. No one would have -needed to be told that it was the home of a -sailor.</p> - -<p>Indeed, a keen observer might have -guessed it from the young man himself. -He was tall and broad-shouldered, and -bronzed to the color of overripe wheat. His -eyes had the steady, far-seeing look of the -seaman, but were not yet marked about by -the crow's-feet that the glare of the sun on -the sea brings early in life. It was, moreover, -a strong face, straightforward and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> -pleasant, and irradiated by an almost boyish -eagerness.</p> - -<p>Suddenly he leaned forward with quickened -interest as the door of his neighbor's -house opened, and there stepped forth a -short, stout man of sixty, who stood a moment -for a last word and then hurried down -the boxwood-lined path. He, too, was clearly -a sailor: he walked with his feet far apart, -like a man so habituated to the rolling deck -that it seemed a waste of time and energy -to alter his gait on the rare occasions when -he trod the firm ground. Medbury perceived -that his face wore a look of placid satisfaction, -and with the tightening of the lines of -his own to an unspoken resolution, he hurried -through the house and across the yard, and, -vaulting the low dividing fence, approached -his neighbor's back door.</p> - -<p>He lifted the latch without knocking, and -at once came face to face with a wet-eyed -young woman standing at a table and listlessly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> -cutting out sugar-cookies with a tin -mold. A child of four, leaning against her, -reached eagerly for the cutter, and a boy of -ten sat near the stove, softly crying.</p> - -<p>"Annie," said Medbury, abruptly, -"where's Bob? I want to see him."</p> - -<p>"He's up-stairs, packing. He's going out -with Cap'n Joel March," said the young -woman, tragically. The boy by the stove -broke into a wail, and she turned sharply -toward him.</p> - -<p>"Do stop it, Bobbie!" she exclaimed. -Then she walked toward the door to call her -husband.</p> - -<p>She returned at once, her husband, tall, -brown, and wiry, walking behind her with -the subdued step of a culprit who feels that -by stepping softly, smiling unobtrusively, -and gainsaying no man, he may escape, -through his humility, what he deserves for -his misconduct. His good-natured face -lighted up at sight of Medbury.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>"Bob," said Medbury, without other prelude -than a nod, "I want you to do me a -favor: don't go out this trip with Cap'n -Joel."</p> - -<p>The other smiled uncertainly and seated -himself.</p> - -<p>"Why, that's a funny thing to ask, Tom," -he said wonderingly. "Annie's been at me, -of course; but I don't see what odds it makes -to you. It's a good berth, and it don't seem -right to let the chance go by. Besides, I've -promised the old man. I can't back out -now."</p> - -<p>"But he promised <i>me</i> he'd stay home a -spell," broke in his wife. "He thinks that's -nothing. He's just got home, after being -away eleven months. Why, baby didn't know -him!"</p> - -<p>Under the concentrated gaze of her elders, -the child contemplated her father as a blinking -puppy might have looked at an object -that, from being unfamiliar and terrifying,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> -had gradually become an accepted but still -unexplained phenomenon. But presently she -turned to Medbury.</p> - -<p>"Him gived me a pen-n-y," she said, with -a serene gravity that seemed to concern itself -with the fact as a historical statement rather -than as a personal gratification.</p> - -<p>Medbury seized her and tossed her, giggling, -in his arms.</p> - -<p>"He did, did he?" he exclaimed. "Well, -he doesn't deserve to have another if he -can't stay home and get acquainted with -you." He seated himself, and, with the child -snuggling against him, turned to her father -again.</p> - -<p>"It's a shame, Bob, after promising -Annie. Mother says she hasn't talked about -anything for six months except your coming -home for a while. She said you were going -to paint the house and fix things up, and -she's been running around asking everybody -about the best kind of paint, and planning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> -where to set out shrubs and make flower-beds, -and dig up a little garden for the children. -And now you run off at the first -chance!"</p> - -<p>"Why, I don't see why you take it so to -heart, Tom," said Bob, smiling, but a little -grieved. He felt they ought to feel that he -did it only for the best.</p> - -<p>"Well, I'll tell you why: I want to go -myself. I asked Cap'n Joel to take me, but -he wouldn't hear to it. Now, if he can't get -anybody else, he's bound to let me go in -the end."</p> - -<p>Bob looked at him in amazement.</p> - -<p>"Why, you're going to have the new bark! -What do you care for—" Then all at once -his face broke into a comprehending grin. -"Oh, I see," he added. He sat for a moment -smiling down at the floor. "All right, -Tom," he said, looking up at last. "I'll -do it. I wouldn't for anybody else. I really -didn't want to go, but I felt I ought to.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> -But what I'm going to say to the old -man—" He looked at them with a troubled -face.</p> - -<p>"Nothing," replied Medbury, promptly. -He turned to the boy, who was listening -eagerly, the new hope of keeping his father -at home brightening his tear-stained cheeks. -"Bobbie, go over and tell my mother you -want my fish-lines; then run up to Cap'n -March's and tell him your father can't go, -after all. And hurry right back; your -father's going to take you fishing."</p> - -<p>The boy went out of the door and over the -fence with a wild whoop of unrestrained joy. -Medbury caught up a hat and put it on his -friend's head.</p> - -<p>"You'll find my boat under Simeon's -shop; everything's in her," he told him. -"We'll send Bobbie right down. And -hurry; the tide's right for fishing now. -You want to get right off." He laughed -boyishly. Then he gently pushed Bob toward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> -the door and watched him going down the -street.</p> - -<p>"Well, that's done," he said to Annie, -and stepped outside, with his hand still holding -the latch. Suddenly he looked back. -"Annie," he said, "tell Bob I want him -to go out with me as mate when the bark's -finished. Of course that's six months away; -but tell him to keep it in mind." With that -he hurriedly closed the door.</p> - -<p>The boy returned, and followed his father, -and five minutes later Captain March turned -in at the gate. His face was no longer placid, -but wore a look of annoyance. Medbury, -watching him, saw him go away a moment -later, hurrying toward the harbor, taking -shorter steps than usual, and biting his -bearded under lip in his perplexity.</p> - -<p>"Seems kind o' mean to bother the old -fellow," Medbury said to himself, looking -troubled. He shook the feeling off as he -added: "I guess it's for his good. Now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> -he'll look up Davis; he's the only man he -can get."</p> - -<p>As he passed out of his gate, Annie -called to him from her doorway. She was -smiling.</p> - -<p>"I wish you good luck, Tom."</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Annie," he replied. "Don't -tell about this."</p> - -<p>She shook her head and laughed.</p> - -<p>"Not till it comes out all right," she -promised.</p> - -<p>John Davis was sitting in the shipyard -watching the carpenters setting up a stern-post -for a new vessel, and there the captain -found him. Medbury, watching them, saw -them go away together; but at the corner -of the Shore Road and Main street they -separated.</p> - -<p>Half-way up High street, Medbury caught -up with Davis.</p> - -<p>"You're walking fast, John," he said.</p> - -<p>"Just shipped with Cap'n Joel," Davis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> -replied, not slacking his gait, but rather increasing -it, as befitted a little man, sensitive -as to his size, when walking with a long-legged -companion.</p> - -<p>"That's what I wanted to see you about," -Medbury told him. "You're not going." -He smiled, but he glanced uneasily at Davis -out of the corners of his eyes.</p> - -<p>Davis stopped and looked at him. He was -a middle-aged man with a red beard and an -uncertain temper, and now he stared at Medbury -with flushing face. Then he broke into -a laugh.</p> - -<p>"I ain't, eh?" he demanded good-naturedly. -"I'd like to know why not."</p> - -<p>Medbury smiled and laid his hand on the -other's shoulder.</p> - -<p>"Because I want to go myself, John," -he replied. "I've <i>got</i> to go."</p> - -<p>Davis stared at him with dropping jaw.</p> - -<p>"You!"</p> - -<p>"That's what I said," Medbury replied.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>For a moment Davis stood grinning uncertainly; -then he looked up.</p> - -<p>"Where's the joke?" he asked. "Blamed -if I see it."</p> - -<p>"It's no joke," said Medbury, patiently. -"I've <i>got</i> to go. I can't tell why—just -now; but some day I may."</p> - -<p>Davis gazed up and down the street with -an abstracted air; but all at once he drew -himself together and exclaimed:</p> - -<p>"Well, I'll be—" He broke off suddenly, -and, turning sharply, began to walk -back to the village.</p> - -<p>"Where are you going?" asked Medbury, -still standing in the road.</p> - -<p>Over his shoulder Davis answered laconically:</p> - -<p>"To tell the ol' man I can't go." He did -not stop.</p> - -<p>"It's mighty good of you, John," Medbury -called humbly. "I'll make it up to -you somehow—see if I don't."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>"Make it up!" cried Davis, stopping in -the road. "I don't want nothin' made up. -You made it up, years ago, when you got -me out of that affair in Para. You didn't -ask no questions that night; nor when you -run across our bar in that no'theaster to -fish up my boy when his boat capsized. I -don't know what you're up to, and I don't -care. It's all right." He waved his hand -lightly, as if to dismiss all obligations, and -departed in search of Captain March.</p> - -<p>But half a dozen steps away, Medbury -heard him laugh, and turned to see him standing -in the road, looking back.</p> - -<p>"Just this minute saw what you was -aimin' at," he called to Medbury. "Well, -good luck to you!" And, grinning to himself, -he went his way.</p> - -<p>"Now," thought Medbury, "if Cap'n -March'll only keep his eyes open for the -rest of the day, I guess he's not going to -miss seeing me. I shall be near, but not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> -too near. Only I wish I knew of something -to hurry him up before too many people -laugh and wish me luck."</p> - -<p>Fate, in the hands of a woman, was to -do that for him.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">II</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">With</span> something of the serene imperturbability -that was a part of his -habitual attitude toward life, the Rev. Robert -Drew sat in a rocking-chair on the little -porch of his house and, slowly rocking, looked -out across the waters of the placid bay while -he awaited Captain March's summons. For -twenty-four hours he had scarcely stirred -from home, that he might be in instant readiness -for departure on the coming of the captain's -messenger; but the messenger still -tarried, and the <i>Henrietta C. March</i>, lying -quietly at anchor off the harbor with her -mainsail up, seemed no nearer to sailing than -she had been the day before.</p> - -<p>It was early in March—March that had -come in like a lamb and now lay drowsing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> -under a sun that hourly reddened the buds -and gleamed white on the salt-meadows and -the shining boles of trees. There were bird-calls -at intervals; barnyard fowls sunned -themselves in garden spaces and sent up -cloudy veils of dust: the life of the earth -was awakening. Drew could see dark specks -about the harbor's mouth: he knew that the -boats had begun to go out for flatfish. The -thought of even that mild activity moved him -to impatience, and, getting to his feet, he -walked to an open window and looked in.</p> - -<p>"Mother," he said, "I'm going to find -Captain March and get some reason from -him why he doesn't sail. He can get a good -mate, I hear; I don't understand his delaying. -I'm tired of it. If he isn't going, I -wish to know it, and arrange for a vacation -elsewhere."</p> - -<p>"Very well, Robert." His mother looked -up brightly. Her son as an instrument of -strenuous aggressiveness amused her. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> -had the sense of humor, which he had not -inherited, and it was this sense that lured -her on to add: "Don't say anything that -you may regret."</p> - -<p>"Oh, no," he answered gravely, and went -away, leaving her to the silent laughter that -always seemed to him, whenever he was a -witness of it, as something peculiarly elusive -and almost pagan.</p> - -<p>In all Blackwater there was no cooler spot -than Myron Beckwith's boat-shop. Facing -the Shore Road, and standing on piles, with -big sliding doors opening at each end, on -a hot summer afternoon one could always -find a cool breeze drawing through it and -hear the water lapping about the piles beneath -the floor. The panorama of village life -passed by on the Shore Road, and at the back -doors one could sit and watch all the activity -of harbor and wharves and see the vessels -going up and down the sound. To sailors -ashore and to idlers in general it was an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> -attractive spot. Here Drew found Captain -March standing in a little group near the -rear doors, ruminating on life.</p> - -<p>"No," he was saying, "things go best by -contraries. A sailor ought to marry a girl -from the inboard, who doesn't know a scow -from a full-rigged ship and is just a little -scart at sight of salt water. A man like the -dominie here," he added, as Drew halted by -the group, "ought to marry a girl who's -never been under conviction and has got a -spice of old Satan in her. That's what gives -'em variety and keeps 'em interested. When -you know just what you're going to have for -your meals every day, you kind o' lose interest -in your eating."</p> - -<p>"Dominie," said Jehiel Dace, "you ought -to get the cap'n to supply your pulpit while -you're off on your vacation. He's a good -deal of a preacher."</p> - -<p>"I have other uses for him," said Drew, -with a smile.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>"'Twouldn't be a bad notion if we'd all -change places now and then," replied the -captain. "We'd appreciate each other better. -I don't know but I could preach about -as well as the dominie could run the <i>Henrietta -C.</i> I ain't so sure about the prayers. -One thing, there's several in that congregation -I'd like to talk at."</p> - -<p>"Nothin' to hender you from freein' your -mind as it is," suggested Dace, brightening -at the prospect. "You don't need no pulpit -for that."</p> - -<p>There was a twinkle in Captain March's -eyes, but he shook his head.</p> - -<p>"No," he said with an air of finality, "it -wouldn't be official. Wisdom has got to have -authority to give it weight. Otherwise it's -just blamed impudence."</p> - -<p>"That's so," admitted Dace; "that's a -good deal so. See what a man will take -from his wife without—"</p> - -<p>Captain March turned suddenly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>"There he comes!" he exclaimed, and -gazed steadily through the open window.</p> - -<p>All eyes, turning in the same direction, -saw a horseman galloping down the Mount -Horeb road. He descended the hill, was lost -to sight behind the rigging-loft, flashed past -a bit of the Shore Road, and was hidden -again for a moment while they heard the -thunder of his horse's feet on the mill-creek -bridge. Captain March seated himself and, -with knees wide apart, faced the land-side -door.</p> - -<p>In front of the shop a boy threw himself -from a panting horse. He walked straight -up to Captain March, and in much the same -manner that a courier might announce defeat -to a king, said:</p> - -<p>"He can't come. His wife's sick, he says. -He can't come."</p> - -<p>"That settles it," said the captain. "I -heard Simeon Macy was ashore, and I -thought maybe I could get him for mate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> -Now I've got to go to the city this afternoon -and look one up."</p> - -<p>No one spoke, but every man in the group -except the captain and Drew thought of -Thomas Medbury, and wondered how far a -man might be justified in letting personal -reasons override necessity when his vessel -was loaded and ready for sea.</p> - -<p>Dace was the first to break the silence.</p> - -<p>"As I was sayin'," he remarked, -"speakin' of wives—"</p> - -<p>Some one touched Drew on the shoulder -and he turned quickly. It was Deacon Taylor, -anxious to talk over again the debated -subject of a new heater for the church. -When Drew was again free the captain was -gone.</p> - -<p>"Where did the captain go?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"My wisdom touchin' wives reminded -him that his had sent him on an errant," -answered Dace. "He went to the market. -I suppose by now he's tryin' to explain to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> -his wife how he happened to be three hours -late with the meat for dinner."</p> - -<p>At the market Drew was told that Captain -March had gone home. When, after a momentary -hesitation, Drew had gone thither, -it was only to find Mrs. March sitting by a -window, apparently watching for her recreant -husband.</p> - -<p>"And he wanted roast beef for dinner," -sadly remarked that good lady after she had -told the minister that she knew no more about -her husband's whereabouts than she knew -where Moses was buried. She turned her -face from him for an instant.</p> - -<p>"It is twelve o'clock, lacking seventeen -minutes," she added in a tone that -suggested the tragic stage. Drew hurried -away.</p> - -<p>When, after a hopeless search for the -missing mariner, he wended his way homeward -half an hour later, he smiled to himself -as he wondered if it was not just as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> -well: he could not for his life tell what he -could have said to urge the captain to sail. -At his gate he came face to face with a -breathless small boy.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Drew," he gasped, "Cap'n March -he says—he says—you be at—Myron's -boat-shop—boat-shop by half-past one—yes, -sir. He's goin' to sail." Then he disappeared.</p> - -<p>In wonder Drew hastened up to his house, -to find his mother kneeling on the floor and -strapping a satchel.</p> - -<p>"I've just put some crullers and a glass -of jelly in your bag," she told him, without -turning. "I don't suppose you'll get a thing -that tastes like real cooking. And I put -your winter flannels in, too. It will be -cold nights, and you will sit out on deck -and get chilled through. Now come to -dinner."</p> - -<p>"I don't understand this sudden haste," -said Drew, as he took his seat at the table.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> -"I saw the captain an hour ago, and he -showed no signs of any impatience to be off. -It seems too good to be true."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Drew laughed.</p> - -<p>"He says the same of you," she told him. -"But if you really get away you owe it to -your mother. I am the god out of the machine—I. -I was tying up the flowering-currant -bush by the fence, and Captain -March came by. He was hurrying, my dear. -I never saw him hurry before. What do -sailors say—rolling both scuppers under? -Yes; it was like that. I called to him and -asked him if he had seen my son. Yes, he -had. Then I told him that if he didn't sail -soon you would need a second vacation to -recover from the nervous strain of waiting -for this one to begin. I let him know how -you had done nothing for two days but sit -by your baggage and start at every sound. -I told him, too, that you were constantly worrying -lest something should happen to keep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> -you at home at the last minute; so the sooner -you got away the better."</p> - -<p>"Oh, mother! mother!" protested Drew, -smiling.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I put it strongly—trust me for that. -He said he had seen you, but you had said -nothing. I knew it would be like that. Oh, -you were two Buddhas sitting under the -sacred Bo-tree, contemplating eternity. Isn't -that what the Buddha is supposed to do? -You were like that, you two, anyway. Well, -he explained everything. He told me that -two men had promised to go out with him -as mate, but changed their minds. He -thought it queer. Another asked to go, but, -for personal reasons, he didn't want him. -But as soon as he knew just how you felt -he said he'd go right off for this man. I -thought it very good of him. I hope the man -isn't a rough character. But, Robert, you -didn't tell me that his wife and daughter are -going." She looked at her son reproachfully.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>"Whose wife and daughter? I can't follow -you," he said.</p> - -<p>"The captain's, of course."</p> - -<p>"I believe he did mention the fact that -his wife and little girl were going, but it -made no impression on me," Drew told -her. "I have scarcely thought of it -since."</p> - -<p>"His little girl! Robert, haven't you ever -seen her?"</p> - -<p>"No, mother."</p> - -<p>"Well, I suppose you knew of her, though -they don't attend your church." Then she -changed the subject with an abruptness that -was so characteristic that Drew's thoughts -slipped away from the question he had been -about to ask. "But, do you know," she said, -"I think he decided to go partly because -he forgot his meat for dinner and he's afraid -of that round, good-natured-looking little -wife of his. His hurry to get away now looks -as if he'd been too busy finding a mate to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> -home earlier. He told me about it with an -intimate chuckle that seemed to take me right -into his family closet and introduce me to -the skeleton."</p> - -<p>As Drew made his way through Beckwith's -boat-shop half an hour later and stopped at -the wide sliding doors at the rear, a large -yawl was lying at the float. Three sailors -sat on the thwarts, leaning forward with -the characteristic rounded shoulders and -relaxed look of idle seamen. Up the long -plank walk from the boat hurried a tall, -beardless young man of twenty-eight or -thirty. He walked with a swinging gait, -his shoulders were well back, and his face -wore the look of one whose thoughts were -pleasant.</p> - -<p>He glanced from Drew to his baggage, then -back to Drew again, and smiled, showing firm -white teeth.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Drew?" His voice suggested a -query, but went on again immediately, without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> -waiting for an answer: "Tumble in. -The old man's gone aboard. He wouldn't -wait."</p> - -<p>He paused while Drew gathered up his -baggage, but did not offer to assist. The -American seaman is no burden-bearer for -other men.</p> - -<p>The sailors in the boat turned incurious -faces as they heard the two draw near, then -quickly rose and held the yawl to the float -till they were seated in the stern-sheets. In -silence the oarsmen then took their places, -shipped their oars, and at Medbury's word -sped away.</p> - -<p>Drew looked at his watch as they pulled -away from the float.</p> - -<p>"It's not yet the hour Captain March set -for leaving," he said. "I hope I did not -misunderstand it."</p> - -<p>"Oh, that's the old man's way," replied -the other, lightly. "Now that he's really -off, he can't hurry fast enough—had to get<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> -Myron to take him out in a sailboat while -I was to wait for you."</p> - -<p>"Are you a Blackwater man?" asked -Drew, later.</p> - -<p>"Born here, and my father and grandfather -before me. I guess that makes me -a Blackwater man, all right. My name's -Medbury. You know my mother; she goes -to your church."</p> - -<p>Drew's face brightened.</p> - -<p>"Yes, indeed. Now I understand why -I've never seen you," he said. "Your -mother told me that you had not been home -for more than two years. I've not been -here so long. She is very cheerful in her -loneliness; I often stop in to talk to her."</p> - -<p>"Yes," answered Medbury, soberly; "she -told me. It does her lots of good. She -thinks a great deal of you." He paused a -moment, and then said: "I've promised her -to take no more long voyages. She's getting -old, and I'm all she's got."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>"That's good," said Drew, heartily. He -was very fond of the bright-faced old woman -who had lived to see the covetous ocean take -all but her youngest boy, and was quite prepared -to like her son for her sake.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">III</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> <i>Henrietta C. March</i> was a brig of -five hundred tons burden, and was -bound for Santa Cruz in the West Indies; -and Captain March had stopped off his home -port to take aboard his wife and daughter -and Drew, who had been given a long vacation -by his church. The mate of the brig -had been taken suddenly ill, and for two -days the captain had been trying to get a -man to fill his place.</p> - -<p>It was with an impression of almost Crusoe-like -loneliness that Drew found himself -upon the deck when they reached the brig -at last, and the mate, with the crew at his -heels, had gone forward to swing the boat -to her place on the center-house, and then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> -to the windlass to heave the chain short. -Drew set his baggage down on the deck and, -walking forward, watched the men heaving -at the windlass, the jar and clank of which -filled the vessel. On the quarter-deck the -captain, in his shirt-sleeves and wearing a -shapeless brown hat, walked back and forth, -occasionally glancing aloft at the fly, which -was beginning to straighten out in the freshening -southwest breeze. His wife and daughter -were nowhere in sight.</p> - -<p>The clank of the windlass grew slower and -slower as the cable shortened, and every -moment or two Medbury glanced over the -bow. Finally he raised his hand above his -head, and the men came trooping down from -the forecastle-deck, some going aloft to -loosen sails and others going to various -stations with a businesslike directness that -seemed to Drew to be under the guidance -of wordless intuition. He stood leaning -against the fore-rigging as two came toward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> -him with the unseeing look of men who, -having a duty to perform, recognize no obstacle, -and, gently pushing him aside, began -to throw to the deck the coils of running -rigging against which he had been leaning. -He moved from place to place, always finding -himself in the way and being pushed -aside with the silent directness that seemed -purely impersonal, until at last, throwing off -his coat, he began to pull with the rest. In -silence they made place for him. For a time -he found his hands catching awkwardly at -halyards and braces and slipping over and -under other harder hands; then at last he -caught the swing, and his body rose and sank -with the bodies of the others, and his breathing -came heavily and thickened with theirs. -The minister had found himself.</p> - -<p>It was not until the brig slowly paid off, -heeling before the fresh breeze, and the outward-bound -song began its chant about her -forefoot, that he gathered up his baggage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> -and went aft. Captain March was at the -wheel.</p> - -<p>"Go right down and make yourself to -home," he said. "They'll show you your -room. I declare, you take a hold like an old -hand. We'll be sending you aloft in a few -days."</p> - -<p>Drew smiled, but shook his head.</p> - -<p>"No," he said; "I shall stick to the -deck."</p> - -<p>As he went down the companionway and -stepped across the cabin, he saw the round -little form of Mrs. March kneeling before a -locker in what was to be his room. She -turned her head at the sound of his footsteps.</p> - -<p>"I thought I'd tidy your room up a bit," -she told him. "Gracious knows, it needs it. -You'd think it started out as a carpenter shop -or sail-loft, but got discouraged and ended -up just plain litter. I guess Cap'n March -has left house-cleaning out of his almanac. -And he said this room was clean!"</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>"Oh, I am sure it will do nicely, Mrs. -March," Drew replied. "My mother says -I'm fond of a comfortable disorder."</p> - -<p>"I guess men are all alike in that," she -said: "they like a clutter—they think it's -having things handy. But I hope you'll -excuse my back," she went on. "I was -just telling my daughter that I was almost -ashamed to show my face to you. There -I was scolding about Cap'n March being so -late, when all the time you and he were so -anxious to get off and he scurrying around -to find a mate. I declare, sometimes it seems -as if the good Lord didn't do his best -by women when he gave them tongues. -They're like drums to little children—make -a dreadful noise and keep them from better -things."</p> - -<p>Drew smiled. It seemed clear that the -captain had used some latitude in explaining -his late return home. Meanwhile Mrs. -March was backing out of the room.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>"There," she said; "it's in a sort of -order, if you don't look too close."</p> - -<p>Ten minutes later Drew came out into -the cabin, having put away his belongings.</p> - -<p>"I am sure the room couldn't be better, -Mrs. March," he said. "It seems to me -delightfully cozy and neat."</p> - -<p>Mrs. March shook her head and smiled -as she said:</p> - -<p>"I'd 'a' been better satisfied if you hadn't -mentioned its being so nice. I've noticed -this about men folks, that when things suit -them, they don't notice them. When Cap'n -March talks and acts like a man right out -of the Bible, I'm sure he's been up to mischief, -or else has something unpleasant on -his mind, one."</p> - -<p>Drew laughed as he replied:</p> - -<p>"Then I'm going to cultivate wise silences, -Mrs. March. I'll give you the impression of -a man walking in a dream. I have come on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> -this voyage to learn things; you are not letting -me lose any time."</p> - -<p>"Oh, if you came to learn things, you'll -be wasting time by talking with the rest of -us: you must go to my daughter here. She's -been called to that, you know—to teach all -men and nations." Her voice held a curious -note: pride, resentment, anxiety, all seemed -to marshal themselves in the words.</p> - -<p>"Mother!"</p> - -<p>Drew turned quickly at the one word, to -see the daughter standing in the doorway -of her room. He noticed that while the girl's -brow was drawn in a frown, her lips had the -undecided irregularity of curve that hinted -at a smile suppressed. This study of particulars -did not make him any the less -alert to a general impression of striking -beauty. He smiled and bowed somewhat -elaborately, to which the girl returned a -curt little nod, though her answering smile -was friendly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>He had the tact to seem not to recognize the -tension and to turn to other subjects, and -he now said, with a heartiness that seemed -to have long been waiting for expression, that -they really were off at last. His glance at -the hanging lamp over the table, gently swaying -in its gimbals, had the effect of bringing -the corroborative testimony of its motion to -their notice, while he went on to add that it -seemed too good to be true. He said that -ever since the brig had anchored off the harbor -he had been haunted by the fear that -something would happen at the last moment -to keep him at home. Not till now had he -felt safe.</p> - -<p>"It's the other way about with me," said -Mrs. March. "I shall not feel safe till I -get home again. If the Lord meant for us -to go wandering about on the face of the -waters, he would have made them steady -enough to build roads on. If he put people -'way on the other side of the earth, he meant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> -them to stay there—and us, too," she added -lamely, but with sufficient clearness.</p> - -<p>Drew halted half-way up the companionway.</p> - -<p>"You don't mean to say that you are -afraid of the sea, Mrs. March," he asked, -"after all your voyages?"</p> - -<p>"I've been going with Cap'n March off -and on for twenty-five—yes, thirty—years," -she answered; "yet I never go out -of sight of land without feeling that I'm -making faces at my Maker and daring him -to punish me."</p> - -<p>"Oh, mother's fear is her most precious -possession," said the girl, now for the first -time coming forth into the cabin. "Nothing -has ever happened to her at sea; and -that, she feels, is the best reason for thinking -that something is bound to happen the next -time." She put her hand on the elder -woman's shoulder and smiled down on her -from her greater height.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>"Well, that's reasonable," retorted Mrs. -March. "I was never one to shut my eyes -and claim it wasn't thundering. I've got -my hearing. What does the good Lord give -us feelings for if he doesn't mean us to -use them?" With this challenge to unbelief -in design in nature, she went to her -room.</p> - -<p>Captain March was still at the wheel when -Drew returned to the deck. Medbury was -forward with the crew, busily stowing the -anchor. Little by little, Blackwater was disappearing -behind the high white cliffs. Drew -took up the glass which lay in its box against -the frame of the sliding hood of the companionway -and looked toward the village. -Even as he looked, the white spire of his -church disappeared from view. He saw it -vanish, and put the glass down, to see the -girl standing in the companionway watching -the changing shore.</p> - -<p>"I've seen the last of my church for three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> -months," he said to her; "now I am really -loose and free."</p> - -<p>"It's good to get away from responsibility -for a while," she said. "I feel now as -if I could dismiss all thought and worry -until I return. Then things may look different -to me. I am going to think so, anyway."</p> - -<p>"Hetty," said the captain, "just run -down and get my pipe off my desk, won't -you? You're younger than I am. Besides, -I'm busy." He turned to Drew. "Ashore -I smoke cigars mostly; my wife says a pipe's -low. But here I'm master." He looked -about his little kingdom with a mild, complacent -face.</p> - -<p>His daughter brought his pipe, and, with -the gentle look not yet gone from his face, -he was filling it when a boyish-looking lad -came aft along the starboard side of the -house, sent by the mate to take the wheel. -Drew, watching the captain, saw his face -change. As the lad came to the quarter-deck,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> -the captain pointed a stubby finger at him. -"You—" he began harshly, and then -hesitated and glanced at his daughter. The -boy stopped and turned a frightened look -upon the captain.</p> - -<p>"Ever been to sea before?" demanded -the captain.</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," faltered the boy.</p> - -<p>"When?"</p> - -<p>"Along the sound here—last summer," -he answered.</p> - -<p>"Ah," said the captain; then he added: -"Didn't you learn the le'ward side of a -vessel?"</p> - -<p>The boy gave a startled look aloft, and -then, with a flaming face, turned quickly -and came back along the lee side of the -house. The captain gave him the course, -and without another word walked over to -the rail, where his daughter stood with Drew.</p> - -<p>"Sometimes they forget, sometimes -they're green and don't know, and sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> -it's just impudence," he said in a -voice that the boy could hear. "No matter -which it is, ninety-nine times in a hundred -the sailorman who does it tumbles right -into trouble. This happened to be the hundredth -time."</p> - -<p>His daughter took him by the shoulders -and shook him gently.</p> - -<p>"Do you mean to say," she asked in a -low voice, "that you might have punished -that boy for coming aft on the wrong side? -You could see he had forgotten or didn't -know. Would you?"</p> - -<p>He smiled upon her.</p> - -<p>"Well," he answered, "he'd have remembered -the next time if I had."</p> - -<p>She drew back haughtily.</p> - -<p>"I am going to parade—<i>parade</i> up and -down that gangway by the hour!" she told -him.</p> - -<p>Her father chuckled.</p> - -<p>"Nothing to hinder," he declared.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>"You're not down on the articles as a -forecastle-hand, are you?"</p> - -<p>She did not stay to listen, but went indignantly -away; at the cabin door, however, -she turned and came back.</p> - -<p>"You wouldn't have done it," she told -him; "I know you wouldn't." She stooped—she -was taller than he—and kissed him -lightly. Then she went below.</p> - -<p>Her father gazed after her.</p> - -<p>"Sometimes she's a thousand feet tall," -he said to Drew; "and then again—"</p> - -<p>"No taller than your heart," suggested -Drew as he hesitated.</p> - -<p>"That's about it, I guess," said the captain.</p> - -<p>The wind freshened as night came on, and -had a touch of winter in its sting. They -were now running fast by the coast, the high -cliffs of which rose dark and desolate on the -starboard. The water was black, save where -it ran hissing along the sides in a ragged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> -gray ribbon of foam. Behind them, in the -west, a crimson flush lingered in the sky. -Drew stood at the break in the poop-deck, -watching the shadowy forms of the crew moving -about the deck forward as they made -the royal snug for the night; far overhead -he could hear the pennant halyards slatting -against the topmast in the dark. Every taut -line and halyard sang in the breeze, and there -was a dull, humming roar in the canvas; -under the lower sails, across the deck, the -wind swept crackling and keen.</p> - -<p>He heard the mate's last "That's well; -belay!" and watched him come aft. He -passed without speaking, then hesitated and -came back.</p> - -<p>"After we get through the Race," he -said, "we'll begin to get the swell." He -spoke absent-mindedly, as if he were thinking -of something quite different; then he -walked to the rail and sat down. Drew followed -him.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>Leaning his elbows on his knees, Medbury -sat for a long time without speaking; -at last he looked up with a little laugh.</p> - -<p>"I'd give something to be out of this," -he said. "I was a fool to come. I might -have known better. It's funny, but a man -may know a woman all his life, and at the -end of the time know as little about her as -if he'd never seen her—that is, <i>really</i> know -her—how she'll take things. Now, I suppose -this was the very worst thing I could -have done. All that I've got to do is to -wait till she gets ready and she'll tell me -so. Oh, I can see just how she'll look and -what she'll say! I don't need to have her -tell me. 'You might have thought of <i>my</i> -feelings!'"—he changed his voice,—"that's -what she'll say. And I—" he -broke off impatiently.</p> - -<p>Drew looked at him in bewilderment.</p> - -<p>"I don't think I understand," he said.</p> - -<p>"You don't? Why, mother said she told<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> -you all about it one time when you were at -the house; she said she had to tell some one. -That's how I felt to-night, and I thought you -knew."</p> - -<p>A light broke in upon Drew.</p> - -<p>"Ah!" he said. Then he went on: "Yes, -she told me; but she did not tell me the -young lady's name. It is Miss March?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," Medbury answered. "I thought -you must know. You'd have been the only -one in Blackwater if you hadn't. Sometimes -I feel like the town clock, with every -one watching my face. That's one reason -why I like the China seas; I can't get farther -away."</p> - -<p>"Your mother told me very little," said -Drew; "she was worrying about your not -coming home, and lonely, and it did her good -to speak. It did not seem to me a hopeless -situation as she told it. Captain March -strikes me as being a reasonable man."</p> - -<p>"I guess she didn't tell you all, then.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> -Well, I was thinking of what she said and -how much she thought of you, and, thinking -you knew, I made up my mind to ask -your advice. I felt that I had to talk to -some one." He hesitated a moment and -then, with a boyish laugh, went on: "You -see, Hetty and I had always been pretty good -friends from the time we went to school together. -Well, I've never got over it. When -I first went to sea she used to write to me; -but after a while she went out to Oberlin to -live with an aunt while she went to college; -and as I was half the time on the other side -of the world, we kind of lost track of each -other. I guess she lost track of me more -than I did of her, for she's changed since I -saw her last, three years ago, and I can't -quite make her out. She's friendly enough, -but she's different, and has come home with -a wild notion of going out to China as a missionary. -Good Lord! a girl like that to be -thrown away on those—" He could think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> -of no word strong enough to convey his contempt. -"Well," he went on, "I can't see -any place for me in that plan, but that -doesn't seem to trouble her. That's what -worries me. Of course the old man's set -against her going; but he's set against me, -too, because I'm a sailor. That's the way -things stand. When I heard she was going -out with her father this trip, and the mate -was sick, I rushed off to the old man and -offered to go with him. He wouldn't hear -of it, and engaged two others; but I saw -them privately, and they backed out. The -old man can't understand why they did. -To-day he came to me, and here I am. I've -been offered a good vessel, and I intended -to stay home a spell; but when I heard Hetty -was going, it seemed to me it was my -last chance—to go with her; but I guess it -was a mistake. I can see she thinks I've done -a foolish thing, and is angry."</p> - -<p>"I think I can understand how she feels<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>—how -most women would feel," said Drew, -slowly, after a long pause. "Her sense of -justice is outraged—perhaps that's too -strong a word; but she feels that you have -taken an unfair advantage of her in leaving -her no way of escape. She might not have -cared to escape, but she likes to feel that -retreat is open to her. A woman fights at -a disadvantage in these things; she is more -sensitive to public opinion than are men, -and she has the instinct of a hunted creature. -I don't know that I can make it clear," -he concluded hopelessly. "Then, too, I may -be wholly wrong."</p> - -<p>"Well, I don't know what I am going -to do, now I'm here," said Medbury, forlornly.</p> - -<p>"I should say, attend strictly to business -and see her as little as possible for a while," -Drew told him. "As for her anger, that -may be a good sign. If she were simply -indifferent to you, she wouldn't care. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> -could leave it safely to time to make your -coming ridiculous."</p> - -<p>When Drew entered the cabin, an hour -later, Hetty sat at the table reading, shading -her eyes with her hand; her mother sat -knitting near her; and on the lounge her -father reclined, pipe in mouth, his hat on the -floor beside him. Blinking in the strong light, -Drew sat down without removing his overcoat.</p> - -<p>"Ain't you going to stay a while?" asked -the captain. "You can't make church calls -to-night."</p> - -<p>Drew laughed.</p> - -<p>"No," he said; "that's true. I'm out -of that. But I'm going back on deck soon. -I can't get enough of it: the world seems all -sky and stars. I had lost sight of the fact -that the earth is so trivial."</p> - -<p>Captain March let his feet come slowly -to the floor and picked up his hat.</p> - -<p>"That's a good deal so," he said. "Still,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> -there's enough earth lying loose around the -Race to keep me from forgetting it, at least -till we've dropped it astern. I guess I'll go -take a look up on deck."</p> - -<p>As her father disappeared, Hetty laid -down her book and looked up.</p> - -<p>"Where are we now?" she asked Drew.</p> - -<p>"Little Gull Island light is just ahead of -us," he answered.</p> - -<p>"That will be our last sight of land, -won't it?" she asked. "I'm going up to -say good-by."</p> - -<p>When she had gone, her mother dropped -her knitting in her lap.</p> - -<p>"I guess ministers are used to people -coming to them with all their troubles," she -began, with a plaintive little note creeping -into her usually cheery voice, "and I <i>do</i> -hope you won't think I'm trying to spoil -your vacation by troubling you with ours; -but Cap'n March and I have talked and -talked till we ain't on speaking terms with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> -our own judgments any more, and what to -do next I don't know." Then she, too, told -the story.</p> - -<p>At the end of her hurried recital she said:</p> - -<p>"What she thinks of Tom I don't know; -she's awfully close-mouthed about some -things. I like Tom, and if I had my way -I guess I'd let the young folks settle it -themselves. But Cap'n March he's different. -He's going to take it for granted that she -won't think of Tom because her father disapproves -of her marrying a sailor; and he -will be so sure of it, and so exasperating, -that I don't know what he'll <i>make</i> her do -first—marry Tom or go right off to China. -In the end he'll let her do just what she -makes up her mind to do. He always did, -and he always will. If it's one thing, I don't -care; but to think of her going off alone to -the other side of the world—" She picked -up her work and began to knit rapidly, with -fast-falling tears.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>Drew sat with his elbow on the back of -the chair, his chin in the palm of his hand, -looking down at the floor.</p> - -<p>"I wish I knew what to say—to advise, -Mrs. March," he now said; "but I do not. -Perhaps after a while—"</p> - -<p>"Yes," she broke in eagerly; "that's all -we could expect. I told Cap'n March I was -going to speak to you, and he seemed real -pleased. I'm sure you'll think of some way -out," she added, with the cheerful optimism -with which we shift the burden of our desperate -affairs to the shoulders of others. It -is hard to believe that Fate will continue -unkind when our friends are moved. "And -I hope," she went on, "that you won't feel -it a duty to encourage Hetty's missionary -notions. Of course you're a minister and -believe in missionaries, and I shouldn't ask -you to go against your conscience; but I -suppose you can believe in them without -thinking that everybody's fit for the work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> -I'm sure Hetty isn't. All the missionary -women I ever saw were thin and homely, -and their clothes seemed just thrown at them. -Hetty isn't a bit like that. I can say so, if -she is my daughter. And I've scarcely seen -her for three years; and if now she should -go away to live at the end of the world among -heathen idols, with not a homelike thing, and -no one to mother her when she needs mothering, -then I think that religion is very kind -to the heathen, who don't want it, and very -cruel to a mother who has always been a -God-fearing woman and only wants her child -near her when she comes to die. She's all -I've got."</p> - -<p>She had been speaking with increasing -rapidity, but now a light footfall sounded -on deck, going aft, and she stopped.</p> - -<p>"Go up on deck," she said to Drew. "I -don't want her to know I've ever mentioned -this to you. She's a dear girl, but sometimes -I feel like a hen who is the mother of a duckling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> -What she's going to do next I don't -know."</p> - -<p>Drew met the girl by the corner of the -house.</p> - -<p>"I've been showing father the stars," -she said. "He, a sailor, and not to know -them! I told him I thought it shameful."</p> - -<p>"I suppose he knew the north star," he -said, smiling.</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes; he knew that. The others -didn't seem to impress him. He said they -were too shifty to be of much use."</p> - -<p>"I think there are some folks who know -so much that it kind o' clogs their brains -and keeps them from working right," said -Captain March, coming up behind her. "I -have an idea that we can use just about so -much, and all over and above that is just -pure waste. I once had a mate that was -like that. He could name all the stars, too, -and knew a good many things of that sort -that didn't help him much to find his longitude;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> -but as for the look of the sky, or the -heave of the sea, or the feel of the wind, -that meant nothing more to him than so much -blank paper. Now, when I walk the deck -at night and look up and see the stars shining -overhead, winter or summer, they're company -for me. That's enough for me; what -men call 'em I don't care. I suppose the -good Lord's got his own names for them."</p> - -<p>Hetty stayed on deck till Little Gull Island -light came abreast; but when she had gone -below the captain sought out Drew as he -stood by the main-rigging and told him his -daughter's desire. He made no mention of -Medbury.</p> - -<p>"Her mother thought you might help us," -he concluded; "and I hope you can, for -we're in sore trouble. Still, I don't ask you -to advise against your conscience. Now I -say, 'No,' to her; but if she feels she's got -to go, and doesn't change, why, I shall say, -'Yes,' in the end. I know that. My father<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> -always wanted me to stay ashore, but I was -wild to go to sea. It seemed that I <i>had</i> to -go, and in the end I did. I don't know that -I got all I expected, but I got what I wanted; -and if my girl sets her heart on this as the -only way for her to lead her life, why, I -sha'n't put a stone in her way when once -I'm sure. It wouldn't be right."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">IV</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Hetty</span> had spread a shawl on the forward -end of the house, and, with her -arm resting on the slide of the companionway, -sat with an unopened book in her lap -and looked out across the shining sea. It -was three bells or more, and the morning -sun was warm upon her face, and painted -with rainbow hues the spray that the fresh -northwest wind clipped from every toppling -wave. The brig was sliding down the seas -like a boy let loose from school, now dipping -her nose into a long roller with chuckling -hawse-pipes, now sinking into the blue hollows, -sending the sheeted spray outward for -yards as her counter came home with a jarring -thud. The spars whined unceasingly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> -but the sails, bellying in the steady breeze, -made scarcely a sound, save when a sudden -lurch spilled the wind from the canvas, and it -snapped like a great whip.</p> - -<p>The scene, with the vividness of its new -sensations, now for the first time experienced, -impressed itself upon Drew's mind as -something wholly mysterious and strangely -moving. After the first night, when there -had been no sea, he had remained steadily -below, too ill to rise; but the sickness had -now passed, and it was with only the uncertainty -of gait of one not yet accustomed -to the motion of the vessel that he had made -his way to the deck and looked out over the -watery world.</p> - - - -<p>With a sense of aloofness, of absolute separation, -from all that he had ever known, -he gazed about him. The words,</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">"Look'd at each other with a wild surmise.</div> -<div class="verse">Silent, upon a peak in Darien,"</div> -</div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i071.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">"The brig was sliding down the seas like a boy let loose from school"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span><br /> -flashed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> through his mind: the perfect poem -seemed strangely interpretative of his mood. -Then his gaze came back from the notched -and leaping horizon to the silent figure of -Hetty, and, with the lifting spirit of a mind -released from the oppression of a strange -and portentous solitude, he clumsily made -his way to her side, glad for companionship.</p> - -<p>She looked up brightly.</p> - -<p>"Oh," she said, "I was wishing for some -one to enjoy it with. I tried to get my -mother, but she would not come up. She -said she could <i>feel</i> it; that was enough for -her. I hope it is not enough for you."</p> - -<p>"No," he answered; "there is more in -seeing it: it is strange and overwhelming. -I am inland-bred, you know: I feel as if all -known things had passed away."</p> - -<p>"To me it is like coming home," she declared. -"I cannot remember when it was -not familiar. Now it is like lifting the latch -of the door at home after a long absence."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>He shook his head, smiling.</p> - -<p>"I cannot imagine any one thinking of -it as companionable, as a part of actual experience. -I need hills and old trees and -remembered turns in roads to feel the intimacy -of the world. This is strange and -beautiful, but leaves me an alien. It is like -a kaleidoscope: nothing is twice the same."</p> - -<p>"I do not care for things that are twice -the same," she told him. "Here something -is always likely to happen. The only certain -thing I know of to-morrow is that we -shall have plum-duff." She laughed.</p> - -<p>He looked at her, gravely smiling.</p> - -<p>"A certain noble discontent—you know -the thought—is well; but—" he was thinking -of her mother's concern, and her words -carried him toward it; yet he hesitated, -doubtful if it might not be too soon to speak—"but -constant change means lack of purpose, -doesn't it? If you set your heart -on something,—something vastly different<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> -from anything you have ever known,—it -will be fruitless of good unless persisted in—unless -it wears grooves in your life. A -mere impulse for change is to be distrusted." -He smiled and added: "Don't think that I -cannot give over preaching."</p> - -<p>"I know what you mean," replied the -girl, looking seaward with troubled eyes. -"I suppose mother has told you what I wish. -But it isn't a mere desire for change, and -everybody's disapproval only makes me -more eager to go. Isn't that a proof that -the desire is something to be obeyed—a real -call? How can I be sure that it is not, unless -I try? Do you think me a silly person?" -She looked at him with a suggestion of defiance, -but smilingly, too.</p> - -<p>"I should be the last one to think that," -he told her. "Only look at it from all sides—that -is all your friends can ask."</p> - -<p>"Not father," she answered laughingly. -"If I can be made to look at it from his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> -point of view, he will willingly spare me the -rest. Poor father! But let's not speak of -it," she went on. "Look! the Mother Carey's -chicken!"</p> - -<p>She pointed to the bird, the black-and-white -little creature which always seems to -be hurrying home, wherever it may be. Far -to the southeast a trail of smoke from an -unseen steamer blotched the white sky. On -the main-deck the second mate and a sailor -were patching a topsail; from the galley -drifted aft the cheerful whistling of the -steward, like a flock of blackbirds, and the -homelike sound of rattling pans. Only the -man at the wheel was aft, now bending to -the spokes, now glancing at the binnacle, and -now turning his eye aloft to the luff of the -mainsail. It was the morning of the third -day out.</p> - -<p>Drew was silent so long that she turned a -troubled face to him.</p> - -<p>"You must not think that I do not care<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> -for your advice," she said gently; "I do—shall -some day. Just now I cannot bear -to speak of my disappointment. It wasn't -a sudden impulse; it was a part of my life, -and it must be given up, perhaps. After -a little, when I can collect my scattered -forces, if you can help me—" She smiled -uncertainly.</p> - -<p>"I know, I know," he hastened to say. -"But I was really thinking of something -quite different—that three days ago I had -not even seen you; now our lives seem -intimately near. Only at sea could that -happen."</p> - -<p>"Yes," she agreed; "people grow into -friendship quickly at sea—and grow apart -as quickly. I have heard my father say that -is a reason for the cruelty and harshness -on shipboard—that men's tempers become -warped when they cannot escape from one -another and they find no common ground for -companionship. He says there have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> -times when he fairly hated a mate of his. -On shore they might have been intimate for -years without an unpleasant thought."</p> - -<p>"Let us hope that we may escape that -disaster," he said, with a smile.</p> - -<p>He wondered if Medbury had been in her -thoughts. They had scarcely spoken, he had -observed. He himself had seen little of the -younger man, and he was quite prepared to -rate him her inferior, in spite of his physical -attractiveness. He seemed a mere boy -in his impulses; he doubted not that he -would keep his boyishness to the end of life. -Certainly, he told himself, he was lacking -in her capacity for growth.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile his own first opinion of her -beauty had not changed; it was as apparent -as ever, he told himself, and had taken -on an added grace with his widening knowledge -of her many changing moods. As he -gazed at her now, he had an impression of -distinction, but distinction united with a certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> -gentleness that, he told himself, was -rare. Her face was in profile, and the mouth, -clear-cut and undrooping, had the softness -of outline that he associated with good temper. -Her eyes, though now sad, had the -same gentle look. He liked her thick brown -hair and the clear oval of her face: they -gave him the impression of harmony. In -spite of his first feeling of attraction for -Medbury, he felt that the girl hesitated -wisely; he could see no road by which the -two could travel as equal companions. That -Medbury's hopes seemed destined to be shattered -did not move him greatly; for rarely -to the masculine onlooker is the disappointed -lover a tragic figure. One has seen him play -his game and lose; now let him bear the loss -manfully.</p> - -<p>They did not speak of her desire again -that day; indeed, eight days passed before -he ventured to refer to it. Meanwhile they -had become great friends. The pleasant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> -weather had held, and they had rolled down -the long, smooth seas, which daily seemed -to grow bluer, under a sky that remained -cloudless.</p> - -<p>It was morning again, the morning of the -eleventh day out, and they sat in the same -place, with much the same scene about them, -though now with a tropical softness flooding -the world, and less heeded as their thoughts -turned more to themselves. He had been -reading aloud while she worked at some -trifle, but suddenly he closed the book.</p> - -<p>"That is enough of other men's dreams," -he said. "What of yours?"</p> - -<p>She did not even look up as she replied:</p> - -<p>"Mine are poor enough; I prefer those -of others. Besides, I have scarcely thought -of them for days."</p> - -<p>"Are they less insistent?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Don't!" she appealed. "Don't! I am -not yet ready to face them. I have lost my -courage."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>"I will say no more," he said; "but I -had thought that you seemed different—ready -to surrender. I had hoped so."</p> - -<p>She looked up now.</p> - -<p>"Are you against me, too?" she demanded.</p> - -<p>"Can you believe that?" he asked. "I -had thought that I was for you—as we all -are."</p> - -<p>She smiled.</p> - -<p>"You are all making it very hard for me," -she told him.</p> - -<p>A step sounded on the forward companionway, -and Medbury appeared. He glanced -past them to the man at the wheel, looked -aloft, then walked slowly to the break of the -deck. Suddenly he came back and seated -himself on the corner of the house near them. -Apparently he had wearied of self-suppression.</p> - -<p>He was manifestly trying to appear wholly -at ease, and he began to talk at once, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> -very rapidly, like one repeating a speech -that had been learned by heart. He spoke -of the wind and the run of the vessel, and -he told them that they had not touched a -sheet for more than sixty hours. He said -he hoped that it would last, though he added -that he doubted it.</p> - -<p>"When ought we to get out, Tom?" -asked Hetty. She bit off her thread as she -spoke, and, spreading her work on her lap, -examined it absent-mindedly.</p> - -<p>"If the wind holds, in four or five days," -he answered; "but I'm afraid it won't. -The sea's beginning to look oily now; the -snap has gone out of the wind. We'll be -slatting and rolling in a dead calm by the -middle of the afternoon. I noticed the -change in my bunk, and couldn't sleep."</p> - -<p>"I thought sailors could always sleep." -This was Hetty's contribution to the conversation -as she still studied her work.</p> - -<p>"Well, I couldn't," he answered.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>"Then we may be three weeks going -out," said Drew. "It seems like a long -time."</p> - -<p>"I was a hundred and twenty days on -my last voyage—from Singapore," said -Medbury.</p> - -<p>"I am beginning to grasp the reason for -the sailor's rapt, far-seeing look," said Drew. -"It is not strange that he never loses it, -with his constant study of invisible signs -and meanings. But a hundred and twenty -days! What changes may take place in that -time!"</p> - -<p>"We find changes enough," Medbury answered. -"Sometimes I think we sailors are -the only things that do not change, except -to grow older and sadder. We always hope -to find everything just as we left it, but we -never do."</p> - -<p>Hetty looked steadily seaward, and a fine -flush came to her face; but Drew was struck -with the philosophy of the situation.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>"That surely ought to be true," he acquiesced—"that -the sailor is the most -unchanging of men. One should come back -wiser in sea-lore, but solitude and the singleness -of his purpose should keep him untouched -by all the distractions that change -other men. I've noticed in Blackwater the -freshness of spirit, almost boyishness, of old -men."</p> - -<p>Hetty's face was turned forward, and now -she leaped to her feet.</p> - -<p>"What <i>is</i> that, Tom?" she exclaimed. -"We are running on a sand-bar!"</p> - -<p>A hundred yards ahead of them stretched -a great golden-brown field that looked like -a salt-meadow in April. Above it wheeled -a flock of sea-birds.</p> - -<p>Medbury scarcely turned his head.</p> - -<p>"Sargasso weed," he answered, and -grinned. "It's always waltzing about in -these latitudes."</p> - -<p>The girl walked to the main-rigging, and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> -leaning across the sheer-pole, watched the -yellow plain with wondering eyes. A moment -later, as they plunged into it, she -caught her breath; it seemed incredible to -her that there should be no shock.</p> - -<p>Instantly the sounds of the sea were -hushed; there was only the soft hissing of -the weed as it swept past the side of the -brig.</p> - -<p>"Come up to the forecastle-deck and see -it pile up on the bow," Medbury said to -the girl.</p> - -<p>She did not stir.</p> - -<p>"Won't you come?"</p> - -<p>"No," she answered.</p> - -<p>He leaned across the sheer-pole with her -a moment in silence. The bell forward -struck four sharp strokes; it was like a cry -in the night. Then a sailor came lurching -aft to relieve the man at the wheel.</p> - -<p>"Is it always going to be like this, -Hetty?" Medbury asked her in a low voice.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>"I suppose so."</p> - -<p>"You want it so?"</p> - -<p>"I said, 'I suppose so.'"</p> - -<p>"It's the same thing," he remarked -drearily, and sighed.</p> - -<p>The sigh seemed to irritate her, for she -turned upon him suddenly.</p> - -<p>"Why did you speak like that—before -a stranger?"</p> - -<p>"Like what?" he asked, in astonishment.</p> - -<p>"About coming home unchanged, and -finding nothing as you had left it. Of course -he knew what you meant. And it wasn't -true, for I have not changed. I could have -sunk through the deck for shame."</p> - -<p>"Oh, <i>that</i>," he replied. "<i>He</i> didn't understand; -he thought it was a text."</p> - -<p>"A text!" She turned away in scorn.</p> - -<p>A moment he stood looking outboard with -unseeing eyes; then he stooped and drew -a boat-hook from the slings beneath the -rail.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>"Wouldn't you like to have a piece?" -he asked, pointing to the seaweed.</p> - -<p>She hesitated a moment, and then came -back to his side.</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said.</p> - -<p>He drew in a great bunch and spread it -at her feet, and she picked up a bit with -dainty fingers.</p> - -<p>"It's no longer beautiful," she said in -disappointment, and dropped it on the house.</p> - -<p>"No," he answered soberly, and tossed -the weed back into the sea.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">V</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> wind died out, as he had predicted, -and all the afternoon the brig rolled on -the long swells, which hourly grew heavier. -They leaped against the horizon, swung onward -beneath the keel, and swept past with -the unrelenting persistency that seemed the -embodiment of vindictive hate. A gale can -be combated, but, in the grasp of a calm, man -is helpless. Every part of the vessel cried -out in protest. The canvas slatted and -flapped like the wings of a huge bird vainly -trying to rise from the waves; every block -rattled and croaked; the main-boom, hauled -chock aft, snatched at its sheets with a viciousness -that threatened to part them at -every roll and made their huge blocks crash;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> -from the pantry below came the constant -rattle of crockery; and the blue sea, dipped -up through the scuppers, swashed back and -forth across the main-deck. By eight bells -every stitch of canvas had been furled or -clewed up to save it, and the brig lay rolling -in the dark hollows like a drunken sailor -reeling home.</p> - -<p>At dusk Hetty made her way to the forward -companionway, and, seating herself on -the sill, with her hands clasped about the -guard-rail, looked out across the watery -waste. The line of her eyes, parallel with -the deck, saw the stars fly downward till -they seemed to vanish in the sea, which -suddenly seemed to tower like a huge black -wall above the brig; then suddenly it dropped -away, and the stars flew up again, and she -saw them fairly overhead. Out of the swashing -flood of the main-deck, in a momentary -lull, Medbury appeared.</p> - -<p>"Is that you, Hetty?" he said.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>"Yes," she answered. "It's awful, isn't -it?"</p> - -<p>"It's a nasty roll, and no mistake. -There's dirty weather knocking about somewhere."</p> - -<p>"You mean a storm?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Shall we get it?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"We may and may not," he answered. -"It's hard to say."</p> - -<p>"Could it be a hurricane coming?" she -asked with awe.</p> - -<p>He laughed.</p> - -<p>"Haven't you ever heard the sailors' -rhymes about hurricanes in the West Indies?" -he asked.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">"'July,</div> -<div class="verse">Stand by;</div> -<div class="verse">August,</div> -<div class="verse">Look out you must;</div> -<div class="verse">September,</div> -<div class="verse">Remember;</div> -<div class="verse">October,</div> -<div class="verse">All over.'</div> -</div></div> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>That anchors March squarely in the middle -of the safe months; so we're all right, you -see. No, it isn't a hurricane."</p> - -<p>He seated himself on the deck, and, leaning -against the door-jamb, braced himself -to the roll. For a while they sat in silence, -and watched the long rollers infold them—three -great ones, then a succession of lower -ones, in an ever-recurring sameness that -moved the girl with a growing nervousness. -At last she turned to him and -said:</p> - -<p>"I wanted to explain to you that I had -no reason to be ugly this morning. But -what is the use? Father would always oppose; -besides, I am not sure myself. I want -to be friends, nothing more."</p> - -<p>"Well! that is a wooden tale," he said -disappointedly.</p> - -<p>"I never said anything different at any -time, Tom," she protested.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I know. You always had a pair<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> -of skittish heels, Hetty." He turned his -face to her suddenly. "Is there any one -else?"</p> - -<p>"No," she said.</p> - -<p>"All right," he answered; "I'll hope on. -I've been doing that a long time; I'm not -going to stop now." He was silent a moment, -and then he said: "Do you know how -long that's been, Hetty? Fourteen years. -We were in school then, and it began the -day of that big snow-storm, when I drew you -home on my sled. You wore a red jacket, -and your cheeks were almost as red. I can -see you sitting there now, and smiling whenever -I looked back. You were the shyest -little thing! When we reached your gate, -you just slipped off and ran into the house -without turning."</p> - -<p>"Oh, do you remember that!"</p> - -<p>"I've thought of it under every star in -the sky, I think. I guess that's the way it -will always be with you—slipping away and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> -not looking back." He laughed a little dolefully.</p> - -<p>"I'm not like that," she said in a low -voice. "I may go away, but I shall look -back. I am no longer a child."</p> - -<p>"Then don't go away," he said eagerly; -but she stopped him.</p> - -<p>"Don't, Tom!" she pleaded. "Don't -speak of it any more—now. Just be -friends."</p> - -<p>"All right, Hetty. It will be as you say. -I don't nag my—friends." He smiled forlornly.</p> - -<p>In silence they watched the swells racing -in. They were like living things, of incredible -speed, insatiable, pitiless, rushing on to -infold them. As the brig rolled in their -grasp, the girl instinctively moved her body -against the roll: it was as if she thought -to lessen the awful dip of the deck with her -puny weight; and whenever the great rollers -passed, and the vessel, like a tired thing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> -lay for an instant almost at peace in the -lower levels of the sea, an involuntary sigh -of relief escaped her. Medbury heard her -and looked up.</p> - -<p>"You're not afraid, Hetty, are you?" he -asked. "It's disagreeable; that's all."</p> - -<p>"No, not <i>really</i>, I think," she answered; -"but I wish it would stop."</p> - -<p>"It's a regular cradle—as peaceful as -that," he assured her. "Only we're a little -old for cradles, I guess," he added.</p> - -<p>"I am," she said.</p> - -<p>Over them the stars raced back and forth; -for there were no clouds, only a soft haze -that made the stars seem large and near, but -without brightness. Close down to the sea -a whitish film seemed to spread, making the -curtain of the night above it intensely black. -Once, as they dipped to port, Hetty's eyes -caught sight of a deep-red glow suffusing the -lifted wave near the bow. She clutched at -Medbury's arm.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>"What is that, Tom—there—like -blood?" she gasped.</p> - -<p>"That? Why, the reflection of our port -light. You poor thing!" he said pityingly. -"Hadn't you better go below? It's queer, -but on a night like this, or in thick weather, -if you once lose your nerve, you see the -queerest things. Come, you'll be all right -below."</p> - -<p>She dropped her face to her hands and -laughed.</p> - -<p>"No," she said; "now I will stay. -There!"—she straightened herself and -looked at him smilingly,—"now, I'll be -sensible. Why do you look at me like -that?" she asked abruptly.</p> - -<p>He turned his face away.</p> - -<p>"Can't I even look at you? A friend -could do that."</p> - -<p>"But that was different," she answered. -"It was—" The look of yearning love -upon his face moved her strangely. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> -felt the impatient tears flood her eyes. -Meanwhile he hastened to speak of other -things.</p> - -<p>"Do you remember how you used to tie -your hair up in two tight little braids?" -he asked—"always tied with red ribbon?"</p> - -<p>"Mother did that," she answered -promptly. "I hated it. I used to tell her -they made my head ache. I've forgotten -now whether they did or not. But it wasn't -always red ribbon."</p> - -<p>"Wasn't it?" he asked. "That's what -I remember."</p> - -<p>"Some things you've forgotten, you see," -she told him. "It is easy to forget, after -all."</p> - -<p>The door of the passage below them -opened, and some one stumbled toward -them. It was Drew. Medbury slipped away, -vexed at the interruption, but Hetty turned -a relieved face to the newcomer. In this -difference lay the measure of their love.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>Reaching the deck, Drew almost dropped -in the place where Medbury had been sitting. -He removed his cap from his head, -and passed his hand across his forehead. -From the forecastle floated aft, above the -jangling noises of the brig, the faint strains -of an accordion.</p> - -<p>"Just at this moment I have no higher -ambition than to sit out there and play like -that," said Drew, turning his head to listen.</p> - -<p>"It sounds rather nice at sea," said the -girl. "Maybe it's because I've always heard -it there that I like it."</p> - -<p>"Oh, it isn't that," he replied. "It's -the care-free touch I envy. Care-free—with -all our fixed beliefs tumbling about -us! See those stars! And we have been -taught to call them steadfast!"</p> - -<p>She laughed, and looked at him mischievously.</p> - -<p>"You're seasick again," she said. "I -knew it by the way you dropped to the deck."</p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>"I am," he promptly admitted.</p> - -<p>"Well, you're honest; you ought to be -proud of that," she told him. "Most men -refuse to confess to seasickness until the -fact confesses itself." She laughed.</p> - -<p>"I might be proud of being honest if I -were not too much ashamed of being ill. -The lesser feeling is lost in the greater."</p> - -<p>"You would feel better if you would not -watch the rail. It's the worst thing you can -do."</p> - -<p>"You are watching it," he said.</p> - -<p>"But I am never affected," she replied. -"Besides, I'm feeling reckless to-night."</p> - -<p>He turned and looked at her smilingly.</p> - -<p>"You reckless! You are self-control itself," -he declared.</p> - -<p>It is strange, but there are times when -to be called self-controlled is like an accusation.</p> - -<p>"That sounds like calling me hard and -unfeeling," she said.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>"Rather say it's calling you happy. I -think there is no happiness without self-control," -he replied.</p> - -<p>"Do you call it happiness," she cried—"rolling -like this? I think it is dull."</p> - -<p>"All happiness is more or less dull," he -declared. "It's the price it pays to discontent, -which is supposed to know all the -ups and downs of life."</p> - -<p>"I should not like to think that," she -said soberly.</p> - -<p>"Then I hope your whole life may prove -it false," he answered.</p> - -<p>In the silence that followed, his eyes, -searching the night with the fascination in -the thought of discovery that the sea gives -even to the sighting of a sail, came back to -her face and lingered there. For a moment -he looked at her with the intent, impersonal -gaze that he had directed toward the horizon. -She was leaning against the guard-rail, with -her hands clasped over her knees, and her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> -eyes turned up to the stars. Her head was -uncovered, and her hair looked black above -the gleaming whiteness of her face, which -wore the intense look of abounding vitality -that pallor sometimes gives in a larger measure -than vivid coloring. As he watched her -face in the dim light, he became distinctly -alive to a new impression—the impression -that he was becoming strangely drawn to -her. The knowledge came upon him suddenly, -like a ship looming above him in the -night.</p> - -<p>It was inevitable that his first thought -should be of Medbury; but whatever he -might later come to think of his own ethical -implication, in this first moment of self-discovery -the thought was little more than that -he should have a care. In a rush of mental -restlessness he rose to his feet and walked -to the rail. He could hear the second mate -as he tramped steadily back and forth on the -quarter-deck, passing like a shuttle from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> -darkness to light as he crossed the glow -from the binnacle-lamp. The thump of the -wheel jumping in its becket was almost continuous; -it irritated him as the louder noises -of the sea and the vessel had not done. In -the east a red light shone and vanished; -again it appeared for a moment. He called -Hetty's attention to it, but she did not rise. -When it appeared again it was farther to the -north.</p> - -<p>"It's a steamer going home," she said. -"It's like your happiness—just a dull light -moving uncertainly through darkness."</p> - -<p>"You mustn't think that," he said -gently.</p> - -<p>"Oh, it's true," she persisted; "I can -see it's true. I wanted to go away, but it -was only discontent. If I had gone, it would -have been the same. I should have been -broken in the first struggle."</p> - -<p>"To-morrow the wind will blow again, -and you will see things in a different light.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> -Nothing will matter then," he assured -her.</p> - -<p>"Do you think I should have succeeded -if I had gone?" She turned toward him -sharply while she waited for his answer.</p> - -<p>He had seated himself again, and he -paused a moment before he replied.</p> - -<p>"I think you would have put your whole -heart into your work," he said at last. -"When we do that, we need not think of -results—or fear them—need we?"</p> - -<p>"I shall always feel that it was right for -me to go," she said, after a pause. "The -regret will remain."</p> - -<p>"It is hard to say what is right, we owe -allegiance in so many ways. A week ago -your going was simply an interesting thought -to me. Now I cannot bear to think of it."</p> - -<p>She caught her breath sharply.</p> - -<p>"There's your steamer again," she exclaimed. -"It's almost gone."</p> - -<p>It came to him vividly, with her conscious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> -refusal to follow his leading, that -he was not having a care; and he added -in haste: "I can see the tragic significance -of such a decision, now that I am no longer -a stranger—this putting away of all your -old life—your father and mother. Think -what it means to them! Life has many -facets: we've got to look at them all."</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said slowly, as if she were -looking at them all in turn; then she continued: -"But if we study them too closely, -isn't there danger of being simply irresolute -and accomplishing nothing?"</p> - -<p>"To crown the present hour—might that -not be the hardest, and therefore the noblest, -task?" he asked smilingly. "A nature that -is overwhelmed by its first disappointment -will not be likely to succeed in any path. -That is not yours, I am sure."</p> - -<p>"It is easy for you to say that," she -answered, with a touch of impatience; "you -have found your chosen work; I must stay<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> -at home. What can we women in seaports -do? We tremble through storms, and then -wait in fear for the marine news." She -laughed at her own exaggeration.</p> - -<p>"It makes strong, hopeful women," he -declared stoutly.</p> - -<p>"Is that all you ask of your work—to -be made strong and hopeful?" she demanded. -"It makes me think of life as -a gymnasium."</p> - -<p>"No," he answered frankly; "but I have -not found my chosen work, or, rather, my -chosen field."</p> - -<p>"May I ask what that is? Do you mind -telling me?"</p> - -<p>"I shall be glad," he replied. "It is -simply to work among the poor in a large -town or city. I cannot go among the little -children of the crowded streets without a -heartache. That is where my work calls me. -I love the people of Blackwater, and I can -be happy there when I can forget for a time;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> -but I am not needed. Sometimes I feel that -no one is needed, they are so firmly fixed -in their beliefs, so hopelessly certain of themselves. -But the little children of the crowded -streets!" He broke off suddenly.</p> - -<p>They heard the bell forward ring out -sharply. Both counted the strokes in silence.</p> - -<p>"Eight bells," she murmured, as it ceased.</p> - -<p>The forecastle door opened, and a shaft -of light flashed like an opening fan along -the wet, shining deck. Shadowy forms began -to move about, and vanished in the darkness. -Then the door was shut, and the deck was -dark again; only the clamor of the rolling -vessel and the sea about her went on unceasingly.</p> - -<p>"I am glad you told me," Hetty said at -last in a low voice that had in it a tremor -of exaltation. She did not turn to him as -she spoke, but kept her eyes fixed upon the -lines of whitened waves glimmering in the -dark.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>"It was little to tell," he said, with a -laugh.</p> - -<p>"It was much to know," she answered -gently.</p> - -<p>He wondered at the touch of feeling in -her tone, for he could not know that, having -condemned him for a seemingly Laodicean -contentment with life, with as little -reason she was now prepared to exalt him -unduly, seeing in his desired course a form -of martyrdom at once moving and heroic. -It was in the line of her own desire, and -the thought flashed upon her that here was -something even she might be permitted to do.</p> - -<p>They had come tremblingly to the heights -of emotion: a little thing might send the -streams of their life together, or bear them -farther and farther apart.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">VI</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Day</span> was breaking when Drew came on -deck the next morning. The noises of -the vessel, which had clanked and whined all -night through his broken sleep, seemed to -him to take on new life as he reached the -deck; but the brig, as she lay rolling in the -trough of the sea, had the gray, tired look -of ships coming home from long voyages. -There were no clouds in the sky, but the -stars had faded out, and even as he gazed -the rim of the sun appeared above the sea, -flattened out on the horizon, then rose in -an elongated ball. For an instant a red -pendant seemed to cling to the far edge of -the ocean; then it vanished, and the sun,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> -round again and red, had broken free. Day -had come.</p> - -<p>The ocean had the glassy aspect of the -preceding day; as far as the eye carried -not a catspaw darkened the surface. In -every direction the white sails of the Portuguese -men-of-war rose and fell on the long -blue swells. Fifty yards astern the triangular -dorsal fin of a shark moved slowly -across their track. Drew watched its silent -progress with the fascination that the landsman, -seeing it for the first time, bestows -upon it as the embodiment of the cruelty -and mystery of its abode.</p> - -<p>He turned at the sound of a footstep, and, -seeing Medbury beside him, greeted him, -and then nodded astern.</p> - -<p>"It's a shark, isn't it?" he asked. "I -never saw one before."</p> - -<p>"Yes," replied the mate. "It's queer, -but everybody seems to know them right off. -Sort of natural dislike, I guess."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>Medbury watched it a moment and then -looked aloft to where the fly hung limp.</p> - -<p>"It beats all," he muttered; "there isn't -air enough to float a soap-bubble." He -walked to the pennant halyards, and, untying -them, jerked the fly free from its staff. -"It hasn't lifted an inch in fifteen hours," -he said. "Confound it! I believe the world -has died overnight!" Then he laughed at -his own ill-nature. "It always gets on my -nerves—weather like this," he explained to -Drew.</p> - -<p>He turned and walked to the other side -of the vessel as Captain March came on deck. -He also looked aloft, glanced at the binnacle -from mere force of habit, and then swept the -horizon with half-shut eyes. His face was -inscrutable, and absolutely without emotion. -"It's going to be hot," was his only remark. -Then he walked to a camp-chair, and, drawing -it to the rail, sat down, and began to -whistle softly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>A moment later Medbury crossed over to -where he sat.</p> - -<p>"I guess I'll rig up the triangle this morning -and scrape the mainmast," he said. -"It's a good chance."</p> - -<p>The captain squinted aloft, but said nothing.</p> - -<p>"I'll start at the foot," continued the -mate, as if in answer to unspoken criticism. -"Maybe it'll breeze up before the men get -much above the deck."</p> - -<p>"All right," said the captain, and went -on whistling.</p> - -<p>"There isn't a breath of air," said Medbury. -"I believe everything's dead."</p> - -<p>"Nothing dead about this roll," replied -Captain March.</p> - -<p>"Well, it ought to be," replied the mate, -and walked forward.</p> - -<p>"I don't know as the crew's going to -rise up and call him blessed when he orders -them aloft on that job in a swell like this,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> -said the captain to Drew; "but then, as I -said, I don't know."</p> - -<p>Then the barefooted crew came aft with -buckets and brooms to wash down the decks, -and he and Drew went below. When they -came back to the deck, after breakfast, two -men were at the grindstone sharpening their -knives, and a third was scraping a bright -pin-rail forward. Medbury sat on the forward -end of the house, making double-crown -knots in the ends of new man-ropes. He did -not look up as Hetty and the minister came -and stood over him, watching his work. Captain -March came past the group in his morning -walk.</p> - -<p>"You're not going to scrape the mainmast, -eh?" he said, as he went by. His eyes -twinkled.</p> - -<p>Medbury did not look up as he answered:</p> - -<p>"No; I guess I'll keep them on deck."</p> - -<p>Hetty looked aloft at the mast thrashing -through a wide arc.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>"I knew you wouldn't," she said. "It -would have been—unlike you."</p> - -<p>Medbury glanced at her with a shamefaced -smile, but he made no reply.</p> - -<p>Drew laughed.</p> - -<p>"Do you know, I had heard so much of -the harsh treatment of sailors by their officers -that I came on this voyage prepared -for something of the sort, and dreading it," -he said, in his slow, deep voice; "but I have -seen nothing but consideration."</p> - -<p>Medbury's mouth twitched with scornful -amusement; it almost seemed to him that -Drew had unknowingly called him pusillanimous. -He was by no means a hard man, and -was popular with his crews; but he was young -and a certain amount of swagger seemed -amusing, while, in addition, he had all the -contempt of the American sailor for the -stolid alien creatures who more and more -were finding their way into the forecastles -of ships that carried his country's flag.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>"I don't believe in being a brute," he -began; "but—"</p> - -<p>"Yes," broke in Hetty, eagerly; "it is -only a brute who will take advantage of -his power. I have been going to sea all -my life, but I have never seen cruelty. All -the sailors I know are the largest-hearted of -men. I hate the tales that blacken them."</p> - -<p>"I have known them only ashore," said -Drew, "and I certainly never knew a more -joyous, open-hearted people—hardly the -sort to make tyrants of." He turned to -Medbury: "But you were going to say—?"</p> - -<p>Medbury sharply drew the strands of his -rope through the outer walling of the knot -as he replied:</p> - -<p>"Oh, nothing."</p> - -<p>"I fancy," began Drew, "that sailors are -too practical a class, too constantly surrounded -by danger, not to know the value -of self-restraint. It is wise to keep far from -one the passion that fires the mind beyond<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> -the point where the every-day work of living -is accomplished with the least friction."</p> - -<p>Medbury glanced up as he spoke, and -caught the look that Hetty fastened upon -the speaker. There was nothing in the quiet -gaze beyond interest and the sympathy of -kindred convictions, but it gave Medbury the -curious sensation of standing apart from -them, of being irrevocably alone. He turned -away with a new pain about his heart. He -was still thinking of Hetty's look when Drew, -busily erecting his card-house of the sailor's -life upon a foundation of calm philosophy, -asked him if he had ever seen cruelty on shipboard. -His tone was the confident one of the -philosopher who, having formulated a theory, -calmly awaits the facts that will establish -it.</p> - -<p>"You two might call it that," Medbury -answered, not without a touch of resentment -in his voice; "I shouldn't. It's easy enough -to talk about self-restraint, but when it means<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> -letting things go to the dogs, and maybe putting -your vessel in danger—" He thrust -his fid between the strands of his rope with -an energy that seemed to him adequately to -complete his meaning.</p> - -<p>Drew was dimly aware that the situation -had somehow become charged with feeling, -and remained silent; but Hetty, with clearer -instinct, recognized the cause of Medbury's -heat, and resented it, while she recognized -its potential force, feeling that she had unwittingly -been drawn from the calm current -of broad discussion into an inner vortex of -personal emotion. That she had become unduly -interested in Drew—she clearly saw -that the thought was in Medbury's mind—she -indignantly denied to herself. She -turned toward the sailor with resentment -shining in her eyes; but at the sight of his -head bowed above his work, there flashed -over her a strange revulsion of feeling. It -was not tenderness, though compounded of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> -tenderness, pity, and the memory of many -things. His loyalty to her, which had lived -on through long years in spite of varying -encouragement, had sometimes provoked her -vexation, sometimes her complacency; at -this moment it suddenly appeared to her -to be a beautiful thing. His hair waved a -little about his brows; his face, though sad, -showed the old fine courage. She saw his -close-shut lips held nothing of harshness. -His hands, brown and sinewy, revealed -strength and skill, and were as yet uncoarsened -by hard contact with hemp and canvas -in cold and wet and sun. "After all, <i>he's</i> -a man," she thought, with tears welling in -her eyes.</p> - -<p>She turned and looked out across the shining -sea, feeling its immensity, its power in -the moving waves, to be somehow strangely -like the life that inclosed her and swept her -on without the power of volition. She did -not turn as Drew spoke.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>"Shall we finish our book?" he had asked -her.</p> - -<p>From time to time in the last few days -he had read aloud from the "Idylls of the -King" while she worked at some trifle, or -sat with hands clasped in her lap and watched -the waves in a pleasurable emotion to which -his fine, unaffected voice had contributed -quite as largely as the words of the poet. -At this moment his question, in its abrupt -withdrawal from the general interest, seemed -tactless. For an instant she made no answer.</p> - -<p>"No, not now," she said at last. "Just -at present it seems too unreal, too far away, -to move me. I don't believe I am an imaginative -person; life appeals to me too -strongly."</p> - -<p>She had turned to watch Medbury's work -while she was yet speaking, and Drew, lingering -a moment, had gone away with the impression -of dismissal. This she felt, and -was troubled by it, and vexed at finding herself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> -troubled. Her vexation had the effect -of bringing her nearer in spirit to Medbury.</p> - -<p>"I believe I could do that," she said as -she watched him.</p> - -<p>He looked up with a flush of pleasure.</p> - -<p>"Want to try?" he asked, and jumped -to his feet. "I'll get a piece of manila and -teach you."</p> - -<p>He threw down a coil of running rigging -for a seat for her, and together they laughingly -began the lesson.</p> - -<p>"I always envied the things boys did," -she said. "I know how I used to watch -them, but was too afraid of being called a -tomboy ever to attempt anything. It's hard -to be ambitious and sensitive, too."</p> - -<p>"I know you could run when you were -a child," he said, smiling. "Do you remember -the time you snatched my hat and I did -not catch you till you got to Martha Parsons's -gate? Then you turned and looked -so serious that I did not dare to take it."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>"Yes," she answered, with a laugh. -"And I remember how frightened I was -when you followed me. I thought I had -done the boldest thing. And when we -stopped and just looked at each other I -was sure that you thought so, too. Finally -I said, 'Here's your hat,' and you said, -'Oh,' and took it. I don't remember now -how it ended."</p> - -<p>"I do," he said promptly. "I took it -and went away; afterward I went back, but -you had gone. Then I thought of all the -things I ought to have said and done when -it was too late."</p> - -<p>"Well, it was silly enough," she said, dismissing -the subject. "I don't know what -made me do it."</p> - -<p>He had unlaid the strands of the rope -while they talked, and now, placing it in -her hand, he showed her how to make a -bight with one strand and pass a second -around the first, and a third around the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> -second, and up through the bight of the -first, forming the wall.</p> - -<p>"Now you try," he said, and, undoing the -knot, passed the rope to her.</p> - -<p>In a moment she held it up triumphantly.</p> - -<p>"What do you do next?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"Now we will put on the double crown."</p> - -<p>"It <i>is</i> hard," she said after a moment -more. "It looked simple enough while you -were doing it." She held the rope in her -hand and looked at him in smiling despair. -"I shall never learn."</p> - -<p>"Yes, you will," he assured her. "You -only need a little patience."</p> - -<p>"<i>You</i> will need the patience," she answered.</p> - -<p>"Haven't I always had it with you?" -he asked in a low voice.</p> - -<p>"Is that right?" she demanded, holding -up the knot.</p> - -<p>"Yes; now run the end—no, this end—through -the bight. That's right; now pull<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> -it taut. You haven't answered my question, -Hetty."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i121.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="caption">"'<i>You</i> will need the patience,' she said"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>"You haven't asked any," she replied -quickly; and then added: "What next?"</p> - -<p>"Pull it tighter," he answered, and, leaning -forward, drew it taut, for an instant -covering her hands with his own.</p> - -<p>She drew hers away quickly and dropped -them in her lap.</p> - -<p>"It's no use," she told him; "I shall -never learn."</p> - -<p>"Try!" he urged.</p> - -<p>"No; I cannot even try." She looked -about her with restless eyes. Something in -her face stirred his foreboding.</p> - -<p>"Do you mean, Hetty—"</p> - -<p>"Oh, I mean nothing," she cried impatiently. -"I wish the sea would go down. It's -dreadful."</p> - -<p>She sprang to her feet, and, moving to -the rigging, leaned against the sheer-pole -and watched the blue sea rise almost to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> -line of the deck, then fall away with appalling -swiftness. Medbury followed her there.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>"Why don't you whistle for a wind?" -she asked him. "Why don't you? I think -I'll go below until you do."</p> - -<p>"Isn't it pleasanter here?" he said. -"You would call it a beautiful day at -home."</p> - -<p>"Yes, I should," she acknowledged. "It -seems like April—April at home. I can -shut my eyes"—she shut them—"and see -just how it looks: the big willow by our -gate growing green in a night, and the grass, -and the sunlight on everything—or rain; -only the rain makes the grass greener, and -you don't mind it at all in spring, as you do -at other times."</p> - -<p>He had watched her while she stood with -eyes closed, but when she opened them suddenly -and looked at him with a smile, he -turned away in confusion, as if he had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> -caught watching her when he knew she would -not care to be seen.</p> - -<p>"That's the way your face always looks -to me," he said, with the boldness of embarrassment.</p> - -<p>"What do you mean?" she asked. Her -lips parted as if to smile, but closed again -in a neutral line that was neither smile nor -frown, but might easily become either when -she had heard his explanation.</p> - -<p>"Like April—your face is like that. It's -always changing. I like it always, but best -when you smile, of course."</p> - -<p>"I cannot smile at a speech like that," she -said primly, and turned a serious face from -him.</p> - -<p>For five minutes he kept his eyes turned -from her, and then looked to see if her April -face had changed again. It had not, and a -sigh escaped him.</p> - -<p>At the sigh her face had become severe, -but almost immediately he saw her lips<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> -twitch, close firmly together, then part in -a laugh.</p> - -<p>"There!" he cried triumphantly, and -laughed with her.</p> - -<p>"Oh, Tom, you're ridiculous!" she cried, -and struggled against her laughter. But her -face became serious again at once, and she -added: "I do not like such speeches. They -sound silly."</p> - -<p>"All right," he replied, but not in the -tone of one cast down.</p> - -<p>Captain March's keen eyes, as he walked -the deck, looking aloft, saw a slightly frayed -spot in the maintopsail-halyard. Crossing -the deck, he stopped by the side of his mate.</p> - -<p>"Looks as if that halyard wouldn't stand -much strain," he said. "Better look at it -before long, Mr. Medbury." He pointed to -the place as Medbury looked up.</p> - -<p>"I will, sir," answered Medbury.</p> - -<p>"Hawkins never did look after the little -things," the captain went on, with gentle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> -grumbling. "Good man, but didn't seem to -have any eyes sometimes. Still, I was sorry -to have him go ashore sick. He can't afford -to lay idle long. Same with John Davis. -I thought he'd jump at the chance to take -Hawkins's place. I didn't think it so strange -in Bob Markham's backing out: he'd promised -his wife to stay ashore. But Davis—I -don't understand about him. I never knew -folks to act so. Davis seemed pleased when -I asked him, and hurried right off to get his -things; but before I'd hardly turned my head, -back he galloped and said he'd changed his -mind. It made me a little provoked; and -when I asked him why, he just winked. -Well!" He walked away, still grumbling.</p> - -<p>Medbury had not lifted his eyes from his -work as the captain had talked, but now he -glanced up, to find Hetty's eyes watching -him keenly. Something in the intensity of -her look stirred his foreboding. He was not -wholly unacquainted with the intuitive divination<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> -with which women often flash upon -the secrets men would withhold from them, -and now he braced himself for the question -that he knew was coming.</p> - -<p>"Do <i>you</i> know why they would not -come?" she asked. Her voice was tense.</p> - -<p>He tried to show surprise at the question, -but knew that he failed.</p> - -<p>"I suppose they didn't want to," he answered.</p> - -<p>"Don't you <i>know</i>?" she demanded.</p> - -<p>He hesitated, and she sprang to her feet.</p> - -<p>"You needn't tell me," she cried with -suppressed passion. "I know. I know you -got them to. They'd do it for you. You -seem to have obliging friends. Oh!" She -turned away, but came back immediately. -"And now I suppose everybody in Blackwater -is laughing over the story. And laughing -at <i>me</i>! I didn't <i>want</i> you to come; but if -I'd known this, do you think I would have set -foot on this vessel while you were aboard?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> -I'd have <i>died</i> first." She walked to the rail, -but came restlessly back. "Well, it's over -now. Do you think I could go back home and -have people know that your—your trick had -succeeded? There have been times when I -have thought that I could care for you in -the way you wish, but I couldn't be sure. -If my face is like April, as you say, I think -my mind is, too. I cannot be <i>sure</i>. Sometimes -I think I do not care for anything; -I think I have no heart. And then, when I -see you watching me, and I know what you -are thinking, I almost hate you, and want to -go away from everything I've ever known. -But now, after this, it is ended. Oh, you -make me ashamed!"</p> - -<p>He had heard her in a tumult of contending -emotions—shame and sorrow for hurting -her, pity, remorse. Heart-sick, he rose -to his feet.</p> - -<p>"I didn't mean to hurt you, Hetty. Good -Lord! you know that! You <i>must</i> know it!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> -he exclaimed. "And no one will know. You -needn't care."</p> - -<p>"Oh, needn't care!" she cried in scorn.</p> - -<p>Then, manlike, because he was sorry, but -had no answer, he became angry.</p> - -<p>"You are a hard woman," he said, in a -sudden letting-go of all self-control—"a -hard and heartless woman."</p> - -<p>She shrank from him as if he had struck -her, and her face grew white.</p> - -<p>"I wish you wouldn't," she whispered -passionately—"wouldn't speak to me. You -hurt me."</p> - -<p>He did not understand, and his face hardened, -and his eyes grew hot with impotent -anger. It was as if all the conventions had -dropped away from him, and he had become -the primitive man. He could crush her with -one hand, he blindly told himself; yet she -mocked him and his strength. All his life -he had loved her, followed her in devoted -service, but to what end? To be shunned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> -eluded, mocked, and scorned. He gripped -his hands tightly together in his revolt -against his enforced inaction because she -was weak and a woman. But for once he -would speak.</p> - -<p>"You've hurt me for many a long year," -he answered hotly, "but you'll hurt me no -more." With that he walked away as Cromwell -must have gone from the Long Parliament.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">VII</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Medbury</span> descended to his room, -opened the lid of his desk, and fumbled -about aimlessly with hands that trembled; -then, as if he had found what he had been -looking for, he lowered the lid, and, leaning -his elbows upon it, stood looking moodily -before him. He told himself that he was -glad it was over; anything was better than -the long uncertainty that had held him bound -in chains for years. But no one should know -that he cared, and he glanced at the little -hand-glass under his window to see if his -face had changed. It cheered him to note no -difference since morning, and, with boyish -affectation, he smiled at his image in the -glass. But suddenly, as if to test his strength,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> -his mind flashed the image of Hetty before -him—her face turned up to him smilingly, -as he had often seen it, her eyes, every feature. -With a groan he dropped his head upon -his arms.</p> - -<p>He put the mood away from him sternly, -and began to debate with himself whether it -would be better to keep on loving her all his -days, going to his grave a sad and lonely -man, or gaily to turn to another at once, to -show how little he cared. He came to no -decision because he could not determine which -course would hurt her more.</p> - -<p>It was his watch below, but he could not -sleep, so taking his log-book, pen, and ink -out into the cabin, he sat down at the table, -though it was neither the time nor the place -for writing up his log.</p> - -<p>Mrs. March was there alone, and, saying -that he could not write at his desk, Medbury -opened his book.</p> - -<p>He wrote down the date, saw that he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> -written that of two days before, so scratched -it out, and replaced it with the correct one, -and slowly began to write "Dead calm" in -bold letters up and down the column for -winds.</p> - -<p>"How long do you suppose this is going -to last, Tom?" asked Mrs. March.</p> - -<p>Medbury looked up and shook his head.</p> - -<p>"There's no telling. Wind's an uncertain -thing; nothing more so," he replied, and -dipped his pen into the ink, squared his shoulders, -and made the down stroke of the first -letter of a new word with a care for details -that seemed to indicate that he had left the -subject of winds irrevocably behind, and then -added, "except women."</p> - -<p>Mrs. March had thought the sentence finished, -and had taken up her knitting again. -Now she merely nodded.</p> - -<p>"It's true," she said impartially. "Most -women wouldn't know their own minds if -they were to come upon them in broad daylight.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> -They are like men in that." She shot -an amused glance toward the young man.</p> - -<p>"You know them," he said bitterly, ignoring -her last sentence, and secretly disappointed -at such ready acquiescence, which -indicated, he feared, a jocular state of mind.</p> - -<p>"You mean I don't know them," corrected -Mrs. March. "No one does. Do you suppose -I know my own daughter's? No more than -she does herself. I suppose you were thinking -of her, weren't you?"</p> - -<p>"It's all over," he answered, and laid -down his pen, but continued to make motions -across the page with his finger.</p> - -<p>Mrs. March showed no surprise, but she -ceased knitting, apparently out of respect for -the young man's feelings.</p> - -<p>"How do you know?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"She just told me so," replied Medbury, -glad that he could at last unburden himself. -"She said she sometimes thought she had no -heart. She told me that there were times<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> -when she had thought that she might care -for me, but now she knew her own mind. So -it's all over."</p> - -<p>"Know her own mind! Fiddlesticks!" -exclaimed Mrs. March, and proceeded to knit -again. "I guess you've pestered her in some -way, and so she said, 'Now I'll decide.' I -suppose you've told her often enough that -you couldn't live without her, and should -always feel that way. It's perfectly natural -for a girl to want to see if you can't."</p> - -<p>"Then you think it may come out all right, -after all?" he asked quickly.</p> - -<p>She made a little murmur of dissent.</p> - -<p>"I couldn't go so far as to say that. It -may be just pretense, and it may be the plain -truth, and it may be she doesn't know. You -can't tell. You've got to wait and see."</p> - -<p>"Well," he replied gloomily, "I guess -it's all over." He was not going to be so -weak, he told himself, as to begin to hope -again.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>"I've always thought it would come out -right in the end," continued Mrs. March. -"You know I don't feel like Cap'n March. -I've always said, 'Let the young folks settle -it for themselves'; and I've always liked -you, Tom. But you've always been too humble, -and she's been too certain of you. I kind -o' thought, when you took things in your own -hands and came this trip, it was the best -thing you could have done. A girl likes a -masterful man."</p> - -<p>"She told me it was the worst thing," -Medbury replied.</p> - -<p>"Then I guess she was afraid of herself," -said Mrs. March, with conviction. "She was -afraid she'd have to give in."</p> - -<p>Medbury shook his head doubtfully as he -said:</p> - -<p>"I don't know why she should be afraid, -Mrs. March."</p> - -<p>"Because a girl's love is a funny thing. -There's fear in it, and pretense, and bashfulness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> -and coldness, and all the craziest -things under the sun."</p> - -<p>He hesitated a moment before speaking, -and then said, with boyish shyness:</p> - -<p>"She's known me so long, and known how -I felt, sometimes it seems to me that maybe -it's grown tiresome to her. A man like Drew, -now, who hasn't known her long—if he -cared—" He hesitated.</p> - -<p>"I've thought that, too," said Mrs. March, -gently.</p> - -<p>The cabin door opened, and they heard -Hetty's laugh near. It had the peculiarly -resonant quality of a voice on deck in a calm, -heard by one below. It also sounded happy. -Medbury slipped away to his room.</p> - -<p>The last words Mrs. March had spoken -were in his mind, and he put his book away -in bitterness of spirit. He heard Hetty descend -into the cabin, speak to her mother, and -then pass his door, going up the forward -companionway. A sudden wild impulse to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> -be aggressive seized him, and, leaving his -room, he, too, ascended to the deck.</p> - -<p>She was standing outside the cabin door, -and she turned and smiled as he drew near.</p> - -<p>"I thought it was your watch below," she -said pleasantly.</p> - -<p>He did not even look at her, but, hurrying -to the booby-hatch, threw open the sliding -hood and descended.</p> - -<p>"Now I've done it," he said, as he seated -himself upon a coiled hawser. "What a fool -I can be when I really put my mind to it!"</p> - -<p>But even with this repulse of her he was -not satisfied; he wondered why he had not at -least looked at her with scorn, and he thought -of several bitter speeches that would have -been better than silence.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">VIII</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">Mrs. march</span> sat in a steamer-chair -wedged in between the side of the -cabin and the lounge, the captain was smoking, -and Drew held his book unopened in his -hand, when Hetty went below later in the -morning.</p> - -<p>"Well, I'm glad to see you," said Mrs. -March. "I don't see how you keep from -tumbling overboard, we roll so. Why don't -your father stop it,—pour oil on the water, -or something,—if he's such a good sailor? -But he only smokes. He doesn't even tell us -how much worse it was on some other trip. -I thought sailors always did that. I'm sure -they talk of nothing else ashore. Just hear -those dishes rattle!"</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>"If you'd only go up on deck, mother," -Hetty advised, "you'd not mind it so much. -It doesn't seem so bad there. It's a beautiful -day."</p> - -<p>"No," her mother answered; "I'll stay -here. You know how a pussy-cat will crouch -down and shut her eyes when you go to box -her ears; well, I'm like that. I don't want -to see what's coming; I know well enough."</p> - -<p>"That's like Billy Marvin," said Captain -March, with a chuckle.</p> - -<p>"Then Billy Marvin's smarter'n I ever -took him to be," said Mrs. March.</p> - -<p>The captain took his pipe from his mouth -and turned to Drew.</p> - -<p>"I don't know's you've ever met Billy," -he said; "but he's one of our Blackwater -folks. He's been going to sea a good many -years, but he's never got beyond the galley. -Five or six years ago he went out as steward -with Cap'n Dave Barker on the old <i>Maggie -P. Monroe</i>, and off Cape Fear one night they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> -struck a pretty lively southeaster, and for a -time it looked pretty dubious. Cap'n Dave -is kind of excitable in bad weather, and he -got to raving up and down the deck and -declaring they were all going to kingdom -come before morning, and everybody was -pretty well scared. Well, Cap'n Dave's a -good deal better sailor than he is prophesier, -and, the gale going down before daybreak, -they all felt pretty good, but tired out -from being on deck all night, and sharp-set -for breakfast. Well, seven bells came, but no -signs of Billy, so Cap'n Dave sent the mate -forward to stir him up. He found the galley -closed, with no sign of fire inside, and Billy -fast asleep in his bunk just off the galley. -The mate picked up a dish-pan and banged it -up against the boarding right by Billy's head, -expecting to see him jump straight through -the deck. All he did was to turn over slowly -and look at the mate. The mate said he didn't -even blink. Well, he used some pretty strong<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> -language, and Billy tumbled out and began to -hustle around. He said Cap'n Dave was so -certain they were going to the bottom before -morning, that it seemed a pity wasting time -and strength to wind his clock and set the -alarm, so he just tumbled in, thinking he -might as well be comfortable and get a good -night's sleep, if it was going to be his last. -Then he turned to the mate—he was raking -out his stove—and, grinning sheepishly, -said: 'Mr. Thompson, I thought you was the -angel Gabriel when you started all that -racket, blest if I didn't!' Cap'n Dave asked -him afterward if he was disappointed when -he saw the mate standing over him instead -of what he'd expected. Billy thought a minute, -and then said: 'Well, cap'n, if you'd -kind o' set your mind on seeing a first-class -show performance, and then after you'd -paid for your seat and was good and ready, -if the curtain should go up, and, lo and -behold! there wasn't nothing there but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> -just Sam Thompson, what would you 'a' -been?'"</p> - -<p>Mrs. March laughed with the rest, and, -leaning forward, touched her daughter's arm.</p> - -<p>"Don't you remember the winter Billy's -wife got religion?" she asked. "I don't -know about telling a minister that; he might -think that Blackwater was pretty stony soil. -You see,"—she turned to Drew,—"the -vessel Billy was in was long overdue, and -folks were getting uneasy about her. There -was a big revival that winter, and Billy's -wife got to coming every night and going forward -to the mourners' bench; and, first and -last, a good many prayers were offered for -her husband. Well, when everybody had -about given him up, the vessel got in, with -Billy safe and sound. That was the end of -Maria's church-going. Finally the minister -went around to find out why she had lost all -her interest, and she told him. 'Mr. Snow,' -she said, 'Billy wasn't in a bit of danger all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> -the time we was a-praying for him. He said -they didn't have wind enough to blow the -smoke away from his galley stovepipe, and -what we ought to have done was to pray for -a gale of wind. That kind o' made me lose -all faith in the deficiency of prayer.'"</p> - -<p>"I suppose she thought that the good Lord -could look out for folks at sea a good deal -better than those who didn't know the circumstances," -commented Captain March. -"That doesn't sound unreasonable." His -eyes twinkled as he looked at the minister.</p> - -<p>"I fear there are many that have very -queer notions about prayer," said Drew, -smiling. "Once I heard a man pray: 'O -Lord, keep us from burning the candle of life -at both ends, and snuffing the ashes in thy -face!' It was a little startling."</p> - -<p>"It does sound a little familiar," admitted -Mrs. March. "It's funny how free we can -be with the Lord in our prayers, when, if we -stood face to face with him, we wouldn't dare<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> -whisper a word or lift our eyes. I think a -good many of us, if we ever do get to heaven, -will feel more like hiding our faces than rejoicing -when we think of some of the things -we've prayed for. But maybe such people -won't get there, after all." She spoke with -so great an air of relief that the others -laughed.</p> - -<p>"Don't you want them to go, mother?" -asked Hetty.</p> - -<p>"Well, I don't think it's the place for folks -who don't feel as though they are going to -enjoy every bit of it, do you?" Mrs. March -replied.</p> - -<p>Hetty laughed uneasily, and glanced at the -minister.</p> - -<p>"Mother," she said, "aren't you afraid -Mr. Drew will think you speak too lightly of -sacred things? He doesn't know you as we -do."</p> - -<p>"Don't think me so narrow, please," Drew -protested, smiling. "I hope I can distinguish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> -between perfect frankness of character and -irreverence."</p> - -<p>Mrs. March looked from one to the other -in silence, a trifle awed at the thought of herself -in the rôle of blasphemer. Her confusion -was only momentary, however.</p> - -<p>"Did I say anything very dreadful, my -dear?" she asked. "I didn't know it. I -don't like moping here, and if I'm going to -like it hereafter, I shall be a good deal -changed, that's all. And if I'm going to be -so much changed as not to be myself, I don't -see what satisfaction it's going to be. I might -as well be like foolish Susan Burtis, and have -no character at all."</p> - -<p>The others laughed, but Hetty scarcely -heard her. She sat where she could see -through the narrow windows the line of sea -and sky as the brig rolled to port; then it -flew up, and the bright sunlight flashed across -her face and along the floor of the cabin. -Turning at last, her eyes met Drew's.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>"Did you learn how to make it?" he asked -her.</p> - -<p>"The knot? No, I gave it up."</p> - -<p>"Like the reading?"</p> - -<p>"I didn't give that up. You carried the -book away."</p> - -<p>"I can bring it back."</p> - -<p>She shook her head.</p> - -<p>"Not yet," she told him; then she turned -to her father. "Isn't the wind ever going to -come again?" she asked.</p> - -<p>"Well," replied Captain March, "it -brought us here, and I guess it'll carry us -away. It generally does."</p> - -<p>"It's very slow," she complained.</p> - -<p>"It doesn't consider us, my dear," he replied. -Then he rose slowly and went up the -companionway, and a moment later they -heard him whistling for a wind.</p> - -<p>Hetty jumped to her feet.</p> - -<p>"Father must see something—a catspaw -at least," she exclaimed. "I'm going to find<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> -out." With that she, too, sought the deck, -followed by Drew.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i149.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">"They heard him whistling for a wind"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>Captain March stood sweeping the sea -with his glass; but as they approached him -he lowered it, and went silently below.</p> - -<p>"There isn't one—not one," said Hetty, -as she looked about for the dark streaks of -catspaws. Three great rollers came sweeping -in, and they rocked and pitched with the -might of them. The girl caught at the rail -for support. "It makes one think of the -words, 'Who hath measured the waters in -the hollow of his hand,' doesn't it?" she said -solemnly.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he answered.</p> - -<p>"It makes me feel humble, but useless, and -I do not care to feel like that," she said. "I -want to be doing things. Doesn't life seem -barren to you here?"</p> - -<p>He shook his head.</p> - -<p>"No," he replied. "Life means just as -much as we put into it, I fancy, and these days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> -have meant much for me. I should not care -to have them blotted out."</p> - -<p>She had turned abruptly just as they rolled -down on a long swell, and, stumbling against -the bitts, with a gasp fell outboard across -the low rail.</p> - -<p>Drew leaped toward her just in time. His -hand, flashing out, caught her as she was slipping -from the rail, and brought her back -against his breast. For an instant he held -her there.</p> - -<p>"Hetty! O Hetty!" he gasped, as their -eyes met.</p> - -<p>"Don't! for pity's sake, don't!" she -whispered, and, pulling herself free, sank -upon the bitts, put her hands to her face, and -laughed hysterically. In a moment she looked -up.</p> - -<p>"Don't tell them," she said. "I should -not like to have them know I fell." Then she -walked unsteadily toward the cabin door. -Half-way there, she looked back. "I ought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> -to thank you," she said, in a low voice, "and -I do." And with that she disappeared.</p> - -<p>Medbury, overhauling a spare sail on the -main-deck, had not seen it, but the sailor with -him had, and his exclamation had made Medbury -turn quickly, only to see Hetty standing -with Drew's arm about her. He stooped to -his work again with shaking fingers; but the -sailor stood still, staring.</p> - -<p>Medbury glanced at him, his face growing -white.</p> - -<p>"Here!" he said savagely, and the sailor -turned to his task again without a word.</p> - -<p>The day dragged interminably. Hetty remained -steadily in her room; through his -watches on deck Medbury drove the men from -one task to another with a feverish harshness -wholly unusual, and which brought his watch -to the forecastle at the end of the day in -heated and profane weariness. Drew spent -the time on deck with a book, sometimes read -with slight comprehension, but more often<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> -closed over his finger, while he watched the -gleaming whiteness of the sea, seeing now a -school of flying-fish run like flashes of quicksilver -through the long arcs of their flight, -and now the dorsal fin of a shark, like an -inverted ploughshare, cut the surface of the -barren glebe. Even Captain March's imperturbability -became less rocklike. Once he -paused at Drew's side with a grumbling sound -that was clearly a sigh.</p> - -<p>"Well, it's 'Paddy's hurricane,' and no -mistake," he said. "I never saw anything -like it. Usually there's a little air stirring -somewhere about. You'd think that something -queer had got into things, wouldn't -you?"</p> - -<p>He had been standing balancing himself -easily to the swing of the deck, but there came -a vicious lunge, which stopped suddenly, as -if arrested by a great hand, and he went staggering -down the slope with swaying arms, -like a collapsing sprinter. When he brought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> -up against the rail, he talked on in a level -voice that recognized no interruption:</p> - -<p>"It's queer about a calm: there's noise -enough in it if a sea's running, and it gets -on your nerves; but when the wind blows -again, you feel as if you'd just come out of -an air-tight room, and the sound of the wind -makes you want to shout. There's Mr. Medbury, -now; he's been nagging the men all -the afternoon as if he was afraid without -the sound of his voice, like a boy whistling -on a dark road. It's ridiculous in a grown -man, but it's natural enough."</p> - -<p>Drew flushed, but made no reply. He, -too, had been thinking of Medbury, but his -thoughts were not enviable. He had been -false to a man who had trusted him, he told -himself, and he had shown feeling that he -had no moral right to show. It was in vain -that he tried to convince himself that his -right to Hetty was as great as Medbury's -own; in his heart he felt that it was not.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> -And what of the girl? he asked himself, in -growing remorse. After his action of the -morning, could he again meet her on the -old footing of friendly fellowship? He could -not go on, but how could he now draw back? -In any way that he looked, he could see nothing -but his moral cowardice.</p> - -<p>In a mental restlessness that he could not -allay, he rose to his feet and walked forward -to the break in the deck. The sun, a copper-colored -ball, was nearing the horizon, and -Medbury and his men were gathering up the -sail that they had been patching; one of the -crew was sweeping up the deck. The querulous -complaining of Medbury's voice floated -aft, the human undertone in the jangling -noises of disturbed nature.</p> - -<p>For a moment Drew watched the scene -before him, and then descending the steps and, -hurrying across the plank that was blocked -high above the water that swashed across the -deck from scupper to scupper, he stopped at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> -the galley door. The steward looked up -gloomily, but, seeing Drew, showed his gleaming -teeth in a perfunctory smile that had none -of its usual geniality. Through the high slide -in the partition between the galley and the -forecastle Drew could hear the watch trooping -in with angry mutterings against the -mate.</p> - -<p>The steward grinned, and jerked his head -toward the forecastle.</p> - -<p>"Yo' heah dat?" he said. "Dese heah -cahms trouble-breedehs faw shuah. Ole mahn -Satan done chase dat buckra mate's soul -roun' de stump all eb'nin'. Two, t'ree bad -mahns aboa'd dis hookeh, en two, t'ree -cowahds. Dose cowahds been da worse—some -dahk night. Dat buckra mate betteh -watch out." He laughed.</p> - -<p>Drew stirred uneasily. The threats of the -crew and the scarcely understood warning -of the West Indian steward had to his mind -something of the character of a Greek tragic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> -chorus foretelling doom, and presently he -moved away out of hearing, not caring to -have even negatively any part in the moving -finger of Fate.</p> - -<p>He wandered about aimlessly for a while, -dreading to approach Medbury, who, now -that his work was done, stood near the main-rigging -with his pipe in his mouth, his spirit -for the moment at peace. Drew had little -knowledge of sailors, but he was sufficiently -a man of the world to know that the irrepressible -threats of the forecastle meant -little. Still, the steward had hinted at danger, -and, yielding to the other's better knowledge -of his little world, Drew finally went aft to -warn the mate.</p> - -<p>Medbury looked up sharply as Drew approached, -but turned his eyes away immediately. -In the silence that followed neither -stirred, but, resting their arms upon the -sheer-pole, each seemed absorbed in the cloudless -panorama of the closing day.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>The sun sank lower and lower; one by one -the crew came out of the forecastle, and, -dipping up buckets of water, sluiced themselves -with the noisy abandon of water-spaniels. -The pungent scent of tobacco -floated aft, and now the sound of a laugh, or -the scuffle of feet upon the deck. From the -galley came the soft, slurred speech of the -steward, lifted high in a quick exchange of -wit with his forecastle neighbors, and followed -by the almost continuous flood of his -unrestrained cachinnation. Clearly the day -was ending in peace.</p> - -<p>This peacefulness, so at variance with the -scarcely restrained passion that, a moment -before, had sent him aft to warn Medbury -of danger, left Drew strangely bewildered. -He turned to his companion, and with a smile -said:</p> - -<p>"Do you know, a moment ago I thought -that the crew was on the verge of mutiny; -now I feel as if I had been dreaming. I don't<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> -understand it. They are like care-free children -now. I can't believe they are such consummate -actors."</p> - -<p>Medbury turned to him and grinned.</p> - -<p>"What made you think that?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"I was at the galley door and heard them -making threats. The steward seemed to -think there was danger—to you," Drew answered. -"I thought I ought to warn you; -but now it seems silly."</p> - -<p>"A sailorman's threat doesn't mean anything," -Medbury told him, "and prophesying -evil is the 'doctor's' trade. He's a big -voodoo out home in Santa Cruz, and half the -negroes on the island will go five miles out -of their way to avoid him."</p> - -<p>Drew paused a moment before speaking, -then he said slowly:</p> - -<p>"Well, my crisis was only a mare's nest, -it seems. I was beginning to think it was -to be a day of adventures. One seemed -enough."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>"One?" queried Medbury, looking up -sharply.</p> - -<p>"Yes; Miss March fell across the rail. I -caught her just in time. I thought you saw."</p> - -<p>Medbury's face flushed.</p> - -<p>"I didn't see," he said. "I didn't understand."</p> - -<p>It was Drew's face that flushed now.</p> - -<p>"I ought to explain," he began, but Medbury -broke in:</p> - -<p>"You haven't anything to explain to me. -I'm the mate of this vessel; nothing more. -That's all the interest I've got here, and all -I want."</p> - -<p>With that he walked away. He knew it -was childish, but, having let himself go, he -was no longer able to exercise his self-restraint -till the whole madness had passed.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">IX</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap2"><span class="smcap">As</span> Captain March went up the companionway -after supper, he thought he -felt a puff of air across his face. Stepping -out upon the deck, his eyes instinctively -turned to the northeast, from which direction -he expected the wind. A dove-colored light -still shone in the eastern sky; below it the -sea was a darker color, irradiated by the -glowing west.</p> - -<p>His daughter and the young men had followed -him, and now she touched his arm.</p> - -<p>"Isn't that a catspaw?" she asked, and -pointed northward, where a dark film of purple -seemed to roughen the long slope of a -swell that shone like pink satin. Even as they -looked, the slope became a shallow bowl, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> -the patch of purple faded to the uniform gray -of the hollowed wave.</p> - -<p>Captain March shook his head and sighed.</p> - -<p>"It does beat the deuce," he said.</p> - -<p>This was as wide a departure from the -placid philosophy with which he looked upon -life as he ever gave expression to; and his -daughter and his mate, who knew him equally -well, recognized in it the extent of his mental -disturbance. To them both the prolonged -calm, in the changing twilight, took on an -aspect of uncanniness. It was as if they stood -absolutely alone, the last of living things, in -a chaos of dead waters, under the sweeping -throng of stars, which saw not and heeded -not the blotting out of their small world. -Tacitly both had agreed to give no sign of -their changed relations so long as they were -compelled to meet daily.</p> - -<p>Medbury slipped away forward for a turn -about the deck. He looked at the lights to see -if they were in order.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>"They might as well be kept burning," he -muttered, "though God knows what good -they are."</p> - -<p>Back on the quarter-deck, when he returned -from his round, he found the others leaning -over the rail in silence. It had suddenly -grown dark, and a haze had come up, obscuring -the stars and the sea. He paused near -Hetty, who looked up, smiled, and made room -for him.</p> - -<p>"We thought we heard the beat of a -steamer's paddle just now," she said. -"Listen!"</p> - -<p>He leaned over the rail beside her, but for -a long time heard nothing but the whine of -spars, the rattle of the main-sheet blocks as -the boom swung them taut, and the jump of -the wheel in its becket. At intervals there -came the sound of water dripping from the -channels or spouting from the scuppers. -These sounds seemed to make more acute the -silence of the sea, which seemed like a living,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> -threatening presence. At last Medbury stood -up.</p> - -<p>"There's nothing," he said.</p> - -<p>"Listen!" said Hetty, in a low voice, and -again he dropped his elbows to the rail.</p> - -<p>Suddenly there came a quick succession of -muffled throbs, like the far-off churning sound -of a steamer's paddle-wheel; then it ceased as -absolutely as if a door had been closed noiselessly -upon it.</p> - -<p>"There!" cried Hetty.</p> - -<p>Fully ten minutes passed before they heard -it again.</p> - -<p>"It's queer," said Medbury. "There -wasn't a sign of a steamer in sight at sunset. -She must be far away, and we hear her only -when we're both on the top of a swell. Sound -carries a long way on a night like this."</p> - -<p>Captain March straightened up.</p> - -<p>"Bring me the glasses, Mr. Medbury," he -said.</p> - -<p>Medbury brought them, and the captain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> -slowly swept the horizon; then he crossed -the deck and walked to the main-rigging. -Coming back, he handed the glasses to Medbury.</p> - -<p>"Go forward and take a look," he said.</p> - -<p>In five minutes the mate came back, and -went up the main-rigging to the crosstrees. -When he descended, he came aft.</p> - -<p>"It's getting thick," he said; "she ought -to blow her whistle."</p> - -<p>"Better get your fog-horn forward," said -the captain, and took the glasses for another -look as Medbury went below. A moment later -the mate returned to the deck with the long -box of the patent fog-horn, and presently the -dreary wail began to sound at intervals from -the forecastle-deck. Hetty shivered as she -heard it.</p> - -<p>"It frightens me!" she murmured, with a -little catch in her voice. "It frightens me!"</p> - -<p>The crew were at the rail forward, silent -and listening. The fog had blotted out the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> -fore part of the vessel, but the forecastle door -was open, and the swinging lamp was like an -orange center of light in a nebulous haze. -Once a sailor passed before it, and his shape -loomed black and huge against the luminous -interior. At short intervals the fog-horn -sounded like a wailing banshee through the -darkness; but there was no answering signal: -only at long intervals came that strange, -throbbing beat, like an uncanny chuckle, but -seemingly neither nearer nor farther away -than at first. Hardly two aboard agreed as -to its direction, for the opaque walls of fog -deflect sound-waves at sea, as a crystal breaks -a ray of light.</p> - -<p>Back on the quarter-deck Medbury was -telling a curious story.</p> - -<p>"Two years ago," he began slowly, with -the hesitation of a man who feels moved to -confidence against his better judgment, "we -were running up the straits to Singapore, -when it suddenly came on thick. We were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> -close-hauled and had just about wind enough -for steerageway, and we had the fog-horn -going and were keeping a sharp lookout, for -we were right in the track of shipping, and -you know how vessels drift together in a fog, -no matter which way they were heading before -it thickened up. Well, we hadn't heard -a peep all day, and toward night it seemed -to be lifting a little, when I heard the man -at the wheel give a little cry, and, looking -astern, there, not a cable's length away, was -a dingy, raveled-out, full-rigged Portuguese -brig slipping right across our wake. They -hadn't made a sound, and they didn't even -then, though our old man got black in the -face with cursing them for their sins. There -was a black-whiskered old fellow, with his -coat-collar turned up about his ears, at the -wheel; but he scarcely looked our direction: -only once he wagged his beard at us, and -threw one arm over his head in a funny way, -and then squinted aloft again, paying no more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> -attention to us than if we'd been so much -seaweed. But just forward the fore-rigging -there was a row of sailormen leaning over -the rail, and their eyes followed us like a -lot of beady birds' eyes till the fog swallowed -them up again. Well, the day after we -reached Singapore the old man came aboard -in a brown study. He said he'd heard ashore -that there'd been a lot of dirty weather -knocking about the straits, and a Portuguese -brig called the <i>Villa Real</i> was forty days overdue. -Well, she stayed overdue, and not a -splinter or spun-yarn of her ever came -ashore." He paused a moment to relight his -pipe, and then added: "On the stern of the -Portuguese brig that we had seen, in big -white letters a foot high, was the name <i>Villa -Real</i>."</p> - -<p>In the silence that followed some one forward -gave a low laugh; in the fog it sounded -strange and unnatural.</p> - -<p>"Did you ever hear a loon cry alongshore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> -at night?" asked Medbury. For the first -time on the voyage he had become actually -loquacious. "I used to hear them at home -when I was a boy. It's a creepy sound, and -makes a man feel lonesome and homesick." -He paused, as if half-ashamed of the confession, -but went on, with a boyish chuckle: -"Somehow, that fellow's laugh made me -think of it, though I can't say it sounded like -a loon, either. It's queer how one thing'll -suggest another that isn't at all like it."</p> - -<p>"It sounded strange to me, too," confessed -Hetty.</p> - -<p>"Did it?" he said, turning to her. "Well, -that's funny."</p> - -<p>"Knocking about in fog and storm, without -sleep, a sailor gets queer notions in his head -at times," said Captain March, slowly. "Now -I had a little experience once that seemed -queer at the time, though I suppose it was -natural enough, if you only knew how to -explain it. You know what queer shapes will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> -sometimes loom up at night; but walk right -up to 'em and you find it's nothing but a -stump or a white post or something. Well, -the first vessel I ever had was the schooner -<i>Sarah J. Mason</i>. I was pretty young at the -time, and I guess I was a bit nervous, but it -does seem yet as if that first voyage as master -was the roughest I've ever had. I had chartered -for Para, and we struck dirty weather -almost from the first. About eight days out -the wind came out ahead, light and baffling, -and I got her topsails on for the first time. -But along after sundown it freshened up -again, and I took 'em in. A young fellow -from up the State somewhere had stowed the -maintopsail, and someway, I don't know how,—I -guess he was hurrying and a little careless; -it was his watch below,—he slipped. -For years after that, when I wasn't feeling -first-rate, I used to wake up with a start, -thinking I heard his yell again. Well, it -wasn't very rough, and we got a boat over,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> -but it wasn't any use. He must have gone -down like a stone. After that it was dirty -weather, with scarcely a glimpse of the sun, -all the way out. I was upset and worn out, -I guess; but one night, looking aloft, I saw -some one on the main-crosstrees. There was -a good-sized moon, though the sky was overcast, -but light enough to see pretty distinctly. -'Who's that aloft?' says I to the second -mate. He didn't answer much of anything, -but walked to the rail and looked up. 'Well, -call him down,' I said sharply, and he went -to the rigging, and, standing on the rail, -yelled: 'Who's that up there?' Then he -went half-way up and stopped. I guess he -stood there five minutes before he came down -and went forward. In a minute he came back, -looking pretty white. 'Everybody accounted -for, sir,' he said, and his teeth were chattering -as if he had the ague.</p> - -<p>"Now, it sounds funny, but I never looked -aloft at night on that trip without wishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> -I didn't have to, and there wasn't a sailorman -aboard who could have been driven to -go up to that masthead after dark if he'd been -killed for refusing. We had fair weather -coming home, and we carried that topsail till -we blew it off her one night. I was plagued -glad to see it go."</p> - -<p>"Talking about explaining things if you -only walk right up to them," said Medbury—"now -there 're some things you <i>can't</i> explain. -Take the old <i>Martha Hunter</i>, for instance. -How are you going to explain her?" -He leaned forward and addressed his talk -to Drew, who knew nothing of the <i>Martha -Hunter</i>. "She was built in Blackwater when -I was a boy," he went on, "and before her -ribs were all up Jerry Bartow fell from the -scaffolding and was killed, and Tom Martin -nearly cut his foot off with an adze while he -was trimming a stick of timber that went into -her. It went in with the stain of his blood -on it, and it wasn't the last stain of the kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> -that she carried before she was through. Oh, -she was greedy for that sort of thing! When -she was launched she must have got the notion -that she was designed to dig out a new channel -in the harbor, for she fetched bottom and carried -away her rudder; and before the year -was out she came off the Boston mud-banks -so badly hogged that she looked as if she'd -got her sheer on upside down. It wasn't long -before a sailorman fell from aloft and was -killed on her deck; and the very next trip, in -warping her out of her berth in Wareham, -the hawser parted and broke the leg of the -man who was holding turn at the capstan. -Cap'n Silas Hawkins brought her home to -overhaul, and the very first day he walked -down the main-hatchway and was killed. -Why, she used to drag ashore in any sort of a -white-ash breeze; and if there was any dirty -weather knocking about, she always managed -to run her nose into it, and would come limping -home like a disreputable old girl out on a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> -lark. You could have filled a book with the -stories of the men she lost or maimed, and -the trouble she got into first and last. But -she was fortunate in a way, too, for she made -money, and you couldn't lose her. I guess -she's running yet."</p> - -<p>"I saw her a year ago last fall," said Captain -March. "I haven't heard anything -startling about her since, so I guess she's -going."</p> - -<p>"Well," said Medbury, "how are you going -to explain her, and others like her? I'm -not superstitious, or any more so than the -common run of folks; but things like -that—" He shrugged his shoulders and -laughed, then, dropping his elbows to the rail -again, turned to listen.</p> - -<p>For a long time they had not noticed the -sound that puzzled them, and now, in the -silence, they remembered it again, and -strained their ears to catch it once more. The -fog-horn boomed out at regular intervals;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> -only the noises of the rolling brig were also -heard.</p> - -<p>While they still stood listening, all at once -Medbury thought he felt a puff of wind. Yet -it was not so much wind as it was a suggestion -of wind: it seemed to him that a hand, wet -and cold, had been thrust close to his face -and then withdrawn. He could not explain -the chill that seemed to run through his -frame. Then he shook off the feeling, and -turned to Captain March.</p> - -<p>"Did you feel a puff, sir?" he asked, and -held his finger above his head.</p> - -<p>"No," replied the captain. "If we get a -stir of air, I'll put the canvas on her. I don't -want to slat the sails all to pieces, but if we -get enough for steerageway, we'll try it. I -don't like loafing about in a fog like this with -my hands in my pockets."</p> - -<p>Then, even while he was speaking, out of -the darkness and the fog and the subdued -murmurs of the ocean, without other warning<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> -than the intangible beat that had mystified -them, a long roller came sweeping in, lifted -them in its mighty arms, slipped past, and -dropped them with a shock that shook the -brig, and forced a cry from the lips of every -soul aboard.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">X</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> group on the quarter-deck staggered -together in a huddled bunch, then fell -apart as Medbury and the captain slipped -out and ran forward. Then the brig rose on -another swell, and came up bumping, with a -snarling sound along the fore-chains.</p> - -<p>"It's some barnacled old derelict," Medbury -turned to shout to the captain, who -was following him with surprising swiftness, -but with short, quick strides, like a waddling -duck, and breathing heavily. Medbury was -on the rail, peering over into the darkness, -when the captain reached the fore-rigging. -A group of sailors huddled about the rail.</p> - -<p>"Here, you," called Captain March, "get fenders quick! Bring that spare -royal-yard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>—anything!" Then he lifted himself into the rigging by -Medbury's side. The next minute he was calling for a lantern and the -flare.</p> - -<p>They quickly had the yard and some planks -lashed over the side, though they knew that -such protections were almost futile in the -lift of the swell that was then running. -Under the light of the flare, gray and almost -invisible in the thick night, awash at one -moment, at the next showing a jagged line of -railless stanchions, they saw the derelict -lying almost parallel with them. With the -flare in his hand, Medbury lowered himself -down to the channel, looking for the place of -contact. Forward of the chains the side of -the brig was badly scraped, and a part of -the channel was splintered; but they could -see no other injury.</p> - -<p>"Lucky she didn't come under us when -we dropped," Medbury said.</p> - -<p>"She may yet," replied the captain. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> -straightened up, and held his hand above his -head. There was not a breath of air stirring. -He turned to the mate again. "Get -a boat over the side quick, Mr. Medbury," -he said; "we've got to pull out of this."</p> - -<p>They swung the boat off the center-house, -and with difficulty, in the heavy swell, got -her over the side and away, with Medbury -and five of the men as her crew. A line was -paid out to them, and run through a forward -chock and passed about the capstan. Standing -by the port cathead, Captain March -"held turn."</p> - -<p>"Don't know what may happen," he said -aloud to himself. "I'd better keep a hold -o' this in this swell." He sent a man up -to the top with a lantern, and the second mate -to the wheel. "Straight ahead, now!" he -roared to the boat. "We don't want to -swing her counter over it. Straight ahead, -now, you!"</p> - -<p>He could hear the thud of the oars in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> -rowlocks and their irregular beat on the -water, for rowing in the swell was hard; -but he could hear, too, the <i>zip! zip!</i> of the -line as it tautened, and then the splash as -it dropped slack. At times the two hulls -came together with a jar, but with no great -shock after the first.</p> - -<p>Drew had come forward, and once he asked -the captain if he could be of assistance. -Captain March was leaning over the side, -peering into the darkness for the derelict, and -had not answered. When he turned to his -line again, Drew repeated the question.</p> - -<p>"No, no; just keep out of the way," replied -the captain, with the impersonal contempt -of the sailor for the landsman afloat -in times of need.</p> - -<p>They drew ahead but slowly; it was only -by inches at the best, and there were times -when they fell behind as the sweep of the -sea caught them and rolled them from side -to side through a wide arc. Fortunately,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> -they were to the leeward of the wreck, and -what advantage there was in their greater -buoyancy and height above the sea added its -little to the feeble efforts of the crew of the -boat. Captain March could hear the unsteady -ding-donging of the oars in the rowlocks -as Medbury urged them on. He peered -over the side of the brig with straining eyes.</p> - -<p>"It ain't no way to go—like this," once -he said aloud. It seemed a trivial end, without -the pomp of storm and the exaltation -that comes with the last struggle for life. -He longed for the struggle for himself, he -longed for it for his vessel.</p> - -<p>At last there came a time when he could -no longer see the derelict, and he grew restive -under the uncertainty. All at once he thought -he felt a breath of air across his face. He -straightened himself, and held his hand up -to the wind. It was surely a puff, and, -quickly making the line fast, he hurried aft -to take the wheel.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>"Get your staysails on her," he told the -second mate, as he relieved him. "Set your -maintopmast staysail first,—there'll be a -steadier air up there,—then get your foretopmast -staysail on her." He turned to -Drew. "Just bear a hand there, will you?" -he said to him.</p> - -<p>He heard the staysail run up and the cry -of the second mate to belay; then he heard -them sheeting it home.</p> - -<p>"Not too flat, Mr. Barrett! Not too flat!" -he called. "Give her an easy sheet, so she'll -lift a little. Now up with the others!"</p> - -<p>He saw Hetty's face at the companionway, -and glanced at her with half-averted eyes. -She was a true sailor's daughter, he thought -with pride. He did not object to her presence, -for she never worried folks with questions. -Then he called to her:</p> - -<p>"It's all right, my girl. Don't you worry. -Just tell your mother it's all right."</p> - -<p>He heard the staysails flap from time to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> -time, and so began to whistle for a wind. -"Deuce take it!" he muttered, "why don't -it blow?" Every moment or two he stepped -to the rail and peered into the darkness to -note his progress. They had slowly drifted -away from the wreck, the stern of which now -lay opposite the quarter-deck of the brig. -The second mate came running aft.</p> - -<p>"Shall we brace the yards around, and -try to get what canvas we can on her, sir?" -he asked.</p> - -<p>Captain March shook his head.</p> - -<p>"No," he answered; "you couldn't do -much, short-handed as you are. Maybe we'd -just lose control of her. But you go forward -and call to Mr. Medbury to keep a-going—keep -a-going."</p> - -<p>It was a quarter of an hour before the -derelict's stern was clearly past the brig's. -Slowly the house crept past—a high house, -Captain March could now see plainly, and -painted white. "Some foreigner," he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> -thought with scorn, "scared to his boats -before he was hurt." He felt all the contempt -of his race and kind for timid unseafaring -peoples.</p> - -<p>Once when the wreck sank deeply in the -hollow of the sea, and the swell broke over -her, she came up sputtering, and Captain -March heard the water gushing from some -opening with the rhythmic <i>chug-chug</i> of -water gurgling from a bottle.</p> - -<p>"That's what we heard," he said aloud. -It sounded uncanny even now. "I guess it's -a water-butt that's shifted over on its side -and the sea washes full," he thought. "Well, -it's creepy enough."</p> - -<p>Suddenly he gave a start, for from the -wreck came the faint, unmistakable crying of -a cat. He walked to the rail and listened, -muttering to himself: "The scoundrels, to -leave her behind!" He stood by the rail for -a moment, and presently called: "Kitty! -kitty! poor kitty!" Then he went back to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> -the wheel again, whistling loudly for a wind, -that he might not hear the plaintive response -to his call.</p> - -<p>For a time the situation had worn for -Hetty a certain pleasurable aspect of romance; -but in the dragging moments that -followed the sending away of the boat, her -nerves grew tense under the strain, and -seemed to present, as it were, sharp edges -to the irritating suspense. The low-riding -wreck, awash at one moment, at the next -looming threateningly above them, showing -its jagged outlines uncertainly through the -enlarging fog, took on an aspect wholly sinister. -With only the desire to get beyond -sight of it, she crossed to the starboard main-rigging, -and gazed steadily out across the -vaporous expanse of the windless sea.</p> - -<p>Her resolute refusal to watch the derelict -took on, in her mind, something of the character -of a senseless game with her fear: she -told herself that she would count two hundred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> -before she looked to see if it were farther -away, then five hundred; after that she resolved -not to look until she heard a footstep -or a voice. The latter task, unrelieved by -the mechanically mental exertion of the whispered -numbers, became speedily unbearable, -and she began to count again. Presently a -step sounded on the deck near her. In the -tension of the moment she looked up, dangerously -near to hysteria.</p> - -<p>It was, of course, Drew, the only idle man -aboard.</p> - -<p>"We have passed it," he said gaily.</p> - -<p>Her hand was resting against the rigging, -and now, as he spoke, in a revulsion of feeling -she laid her forehead against it and -laughed.</p> - -<p>"You poor child!" he murmured.</p> - -<p>At that she lifted her head quickly and -said:</p> - -<p>"The whole night has been so unreal—that -strange sound, the fog, our ghost talk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> -and this danger—" She looked past him -in a strange mental relaxation, feeling the -inadequacy of words to convey her immeasurable -relief.</p> - -<p>"It has been hard for you," he said -gently. "I thought of you, and wished that -I might help you, but I'm a helpless creature -here." He smiled.</p> - -<p>No one else had come near her or thought -of her, she told herself unreasonably; and -now she turned upon him the frank, open look -of a child.</p> - -<p>"You do help me," she said.</p> - -<p>Alone in that strange calm, but barely escaped -from a grave danger, they looked at -each other for a moment through the distorting -glass of their common isolation. Suddenly -he moved toward her.</p> - -<p>"Then may it not be for always?" he -whispered. He could gather no other meaning -from Medbury's speech at sunset than -that he had given up all hope. He himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> -was free to speak at last. Yet he must have -spoken in any case.</p> - -<p>She gave a little backward spring, and laid -hold of the shrouds with a hand that trembled.</p> - -<p>"Not that!" she gasped. "Oh, I didn't -mean that!"</p> - -<p>"But I mean it," he urged. "Try to -think of it favorably. You know the work -I desire: let us work together. Life would -mean so much to me with you near! And -for you—it would be in the path of your -own desires, to work among the poor."</p> - -<p>For a moment it seemed like an open door -to her hopes.</p> - -<p>"I had thought of your work since you -spoke of it," she said in a low voice; "and -I wondered if they would let me try that—alone, -of course, I mean," she added with -pretty confusion. "I should like to do some -good in the world. I seem so useless now. -It gave me a new hope."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>"And I," he urged—"do not put me -apart from it!"</p> - -<p>She had put him apart from it, she thought. -She laid her hand upon the shrouds and -dropped her face to it for a moment.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I cannot tell!" she whispered.</p> - -<p>"Do not try to tell now," he said. -"Wait! It—"</p> - -<p>Then sharply across their absorption they -heard her father calling to the second mate -to order in the boat. Without a word, she -slipped aft.</p> - -<p>As the boat drew near, Captain March went -to the rail.</p> - -<p>"They've left a cat aboard," he called to -Medbury. "She's forward. I shouldn't like -to leave even a cat like that." Then he added, -as if to show that his humanity was dictated -more by reason than by sentiment, "It seems -unlucky—as if <i>we'd</i> left her."</p> - -<p>"All right, sir," Medbury replied; "I'll -get her."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>"Well, don't get stove. Just as soon as -you come aboard, we'll make sail. There's -a little air stirring."</p> - -<p>As the boat swung away behind them, the -captain told the second mate to rig and sound -the pumps. The brig was unusually tight, -and it was with no uneasiness that he gave -the order, which he considered merely perfunctory.</p> - -<p>The first half-dozen strokes told a different -tale. He was stooping to grip the spokes of -the wheel when the first rush of water -sounded on the deck, and its fullness stopped -him like a blow in the face. Instantly he blew -his whistle over the stern, and called to Medbury -to come aboard at once. He heard -Medbury's "Aye, aye, sir," and called to the -second mate for a lantern. It was already on -the quarter-deck when the boat swung out of -the darkness in under the stern.</p> - -<p>"We got her," Medbury called out, but -Captain March made no reply. He swung<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> -the lantern down toward the boat by a lanyard.</p> - -<p>"Find where we struck," he said, and, -giving the wheel to the second mate, hurried -forward.</p> - -<p>He was standing on the fore-channel when -Medbury brought the boat up, and, going as -near as he dared, held the lantern over the -side.</p> - -<p>"There!" cried Medbury as the light of -the lantern flashed over the scarred and -abraded spots that they had already noted; -but Captain March shook his head impatiently.</p> - -<p>"No," he said curtly; "lower down. -Watch when she rises."</p> - -<p>The lantern shed a wan light upon the -oily sea and the glistening black hull. Five -times the brig rose and fell on the easy rollers; -then she leaped to a great height, and -for an instant, below the bilge, they caught -sight of a jagged stretch of copper, torn, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> -shrunken like a withered apple. One glance -showed that nothing could be done.</p> - -<p>They had the boat over the side again in -an incredibly short time. As he was rigging -the fall to hoist her to her old place on the -center-house, Medbury hesitated, and then -hurried aft.</p> - -<p>"Shall I lash the boat on deck, sir?" -he asked, adding significantly: "We may -need it."</p> - -<p>"No, sir," replied the captain; "hoist it to -its place. I don't make preparations to abandon -my ship till I've done something to save -her. Besides, I want the boat in the safest -place if I've got to use it, after all. But I'm -not thinking of that yet."</p> - -<p>It was not long before the wind was coming -out of the northeast in quicker and stronger -puffs, and, under every thread of canvas, they -began to forge ahead to the dismal clank of -the pumps. There was no question of breaking -out the cargo, and trying to patch the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> -leak from the inside. It was to be a rush -for port, to the music of the pump-brakes.</p> - -<p>Medbury and Drew were standing by the -port rail at four bells when Captain March -came on deck from a study of his chart. He -glanced aloft, looked to windward, then at his -binnacle.</p> - -<p>"Ease the sheets a little, Mr. Medbury," -he said, "and keep her off half a point." He -gave the course, then added: "Change the -men at the pumps every hour; we'll all have -to take a hand at it before it's over. The -wind's freshening fast, and that's our chance. -We've got to carry everything to-night. Call -me in an hour."</p> - -<p>He was going down the companionway -when Medbury called to him.</p> - -<p>"That vessel was burned, sir," he said. -He held up his hands, blackened with the -charred wood.</p> - -<p>"You don't say!" exclaimed the captain. -"How did that cat happen to escape?"</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>"Somehow she got forward, and the fire -spread aft. It was the only spot untouched—the -forecastle-deck."</p> - -<p>"What did you do with her?" asked the -captain. "I forgot all about her."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I gave her to the steward; she was -half-starved."</p> - -<p>"All right," said the captain; "all right." -Then he went below. It was the last bit of -sleep he was to get for many an hour.</p> - -<p>With started sheets and a freshening -breeze, the brig began the song of the road. -The laced foam went hissing past her sides, -flecked here and there with spots of phosphorescent -light; under her fore-foot was the -growl of the heaped-up, rolling wave; now -and then the shock of a higher sea, thrown -back from her bows in a smother of spray, -shook her from stem to stern. The fog had -gone with the coming of wind, but the rack, -like a flock of birds, swept by overhead. The -wind began to sigh and whine in the rigging;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> -with a tremulous, muffled roar the canvas -strained and thundered: but through every -other noise, insistent, penetrating, sounded -the steady thump of the pumps and the rush -of water from the spouts.</p> - -<p>Once Medbury came aft after changing the -men at the pumps, and stopped at the corner -of the house to look aloft; he had felt the -deck swinging wide under his feet.</p> - -<p>"Steady, man! steady!" he called to the -man at the wheel. "Don't let her yaw!"</p> - -<p>He watched the sails for a moment, turning -at last with a sigh of satisfaction to Drew, -who was standing near.</p> - -<p>"She's picking up her skirts like a little -lady," he said. His tone was almost exultant.</p> - -<p>"It's good to feel the rush of movement -again," said Drew; "but I'm a little bewildered -yet, it has come and gone so quickly—this -strange experience."</p> - -<p>"That's the way with things at sea," replied -Medbury. "We're always expecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> -things to happen, and surprised when they -come. But I don't know as it's much different -with life in general," he added gloomily. -"Trust in nothing—that's the only way to -escape being disappointed. Trust in nothing, -and be prepared for the worst."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XI</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">A slim</span> shape came softly up out of the -companionway, and, closing the door, -paused uncertainly. Facing the wind, the -girl thrust back her blowing hair, and looked -about her.</p> - -<p>"I thought my father was here," she murmured, -not knowing whether to go or stay.</p> - -<p>"He's below," Medbury told her.</p> - -<p>"I thought he was here," she repeated. -She hesitated a moment, and then turned -suddenly to Medbury.</p> - -<p>"Where are we going?" she asked him.</p> - -<p>"Better ask your father that," he replied. -"He only gave me the course."</p> - -<p>"I did ask him. He said he believed we -were chartered for Santa Cruz."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>"Then that's where we're going," he said -promptly.</p> - -<p>"I can't realize yet what has happened," -she went on; "it was so calm and peaceful. -It seems the strangest thing."</p> - -<p>"Oh, this sort of thing's been done before," -replied Medbury. "They can't accuse -us of inventing any new kind of foolishness; -so don't you go to feeling proud because you -think you've found something strange. When -you get out to Santa Cruz all the old captains -in port will drop aboard and spin yarns about -what's happened to them, till you'll think this -is the commonest thing in the world."</p> - -<p>"You're trying to make me feel safe," she -declared; "that frightens me all the more. -You take too much pains to assure me. Tell -me truly: have you ever been in greater -danger?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," he answered; "many a time, and -only last winter, for once. For five minutes, -one night, I thought of more things in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> -life than I'd done for twenty years. I haven't -done that yet, to-night. I never thought to -walk the streets of Blackwater again."</p> - -<p>Hetty tried to think how it would seem -to feel that she, too, would not walk the -streets of Blackwater again. In two months, -she remembered, the cherry-trees would be in -bloom there; she could see them whitening -the whole village. She looked at him and -smiled.</p> - -<p>"Did you think of it in cherry-time, with -all the streets and dooryards white with -blossoms?" she asked idly, with a vague -notion of distracting her thoughts from the -present hour.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he answered quietly; "and of -other white things—of drawing my sled -home from school through the drifts, and -glad to be alive."</p> - -<p>She caught her breath and turned her face -away. She was beginning to understand, she -told herself, what it was to be a sailor, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> -face danger year after year, living one's life -mainly in dreams, with only far-off memories -to feed upon. Her eyes filled with tears. -Finally she turned to him again with a little -smile.</p> - -<p>"I'm beginning to know what it is to be -a sailor," she said.</p> - -<p>The clock in the cabin struck, and the bell -forward repeated the four sharp strokes. A -man came aft to relieve the wheel. A moment -later Captain March appeared on deck, and -walked over to his daughter's side.</p> - -<p>"Heh! young lady," he said, "I thought -I told you to turn in."</p> - -<p>"I'm going to stay with you a while," she -answered, and took his arm.</p> - -<p>"Cap'n," said Medbury, "hadn't you better -keep your watch below? I'll change the -men at the pumps and take a spell at the -wheel myself. We don't need you now."</p> - -<p>"No," replied the captain; "my place is -on deck to-night."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>They stood in silence a long time, listening -to the sounds of the night, and having -no inclination to speech. Suddenly, above -the roar of the wind, they heard the voice -of the lookout crying from the forecastle-deck:</p> - -<p>"Light ahead on the port bow! Light -ahead! White light!"</p> - -<p>Captain March sprang to the wheel and -jammed the helm hard up; Medbury ran -forward. He had scarcely reached the forecastle-deck -when the light came abreast, a -cable's length away. All at once it began -to swing in a short, quick arc, and the people -on the brig heard the cry of voices. It swept -past them like a banshee, with the light -swinging frantically, and the sound of oars -chopping the sea in short, irregular strokes. -The next moment the brig came up into the -wind with rattling blocks and slapping canvas, -and Captain March was roaring orders -in a mighty voice, while the watch below<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> -streamed out upon the deck like a hive of -frightened bees.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i203.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">"There came a 'smooth,' and the boat shot in"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>They lay with sails shaking and a flare -burning over the quarter, and listened for the -sound of oars again, with the brig rolling -and thrashing under them. They heard it at -last, and a voice urging the rowers on; and -soon a boat came out of the blackness of the -night, reeling crazily over the seas.</p> - -<p>Medbury stood on the rail, with the crew -clustered behind him, as the boat swung in.</p> - -<p>"Steady!" he sang out. "Steady there, -or you'll swamp her! Hold off, and watch -your chance!"</p> - -<p>There came a "smooth," and the boat shot -in, and a black little figure leaped upon a -thwart, and, steadied by two men, was swung -up over the rail and to the deck by Medbury -almost before he realized that it was a -woman.</p> - -<p>As her feet struck the deck, she turned with -a little laugh.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>"<i>Mon Dieu!</i>" she cried, "eet iss betteh—dees." -She watched the others coming -over the rail, and, when all were safe, -turned to Medbury with a little courtesy. -"Eet iss ver' <i>ro</i>manteec tow be safed from -doze salt wateh by so nize young gentleman," -she murmured, with a gleeful face. "Yo' -happen tow be a mah'ied man, maybe?"</p> - -<p>"No, ma'am," Medbury answered soberly.</p> - -<p>She laughed in his face.</p> - -<p>"Yo' sad faw das, maybe?" she asked -mischievously.</p> - -<p>"Oh, no," he answered, laughingly recovering -himself.</p> - -<p>"Das iss mo' betteh," she said demurely, -and turned to Hetty.</p> - -<p>Taking both her hands in her own, she -kissed her impulsively.</p> - -<p>"Ah ahm mo' gladdeh faw tow see yo' naw -ahnybody," she said. "Ah see nut'ing but -doze mens all tam. Ah t'ink Ah go git -crezzy," she added laughingly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>They got the brig on her course again, and -took the captain of the boat and his two -passengers down into the cabin. The captain -said his vessel was a Danish bark from Copenhagen, -bound for Santa Cruz, and she had -been burned two days before. They had -taken to their boats, but, as there was no -wind, they had lingered near, in the hope that -the smoke from the burning vessel would be -a beacon for some rescuer. But no vessel -had been sighted, and before night came on -they had started on their long road. Their -other boat had been lost in the fog.</p> - -<p>The captain had told his story in fair English, -and at its close he turned to his passengers, -and said they were going home to Santa -Cruz, where the young man, a lieutenant in -the army, was stationed. His sister, Miss -Stromberg, he added, lived with her brother. -As he mentioned their names, he bowed. Both -rose, and, passing gravely around the group, -shook hands with all. They were much alike<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>—small, -dark-haired, with handsome, piquant -faces. Life seemed a huge joke to both.</p> - -<p>As they seated themselves again, the girl -looked about her and smiled.</p> - -<p>"Ah t'ink dis iss mo' nizeh naw das liddy -boat," she said.</p> - -<p>"Mooch mo' nizeh," her brother agreed. -He smiled, and bowed to the collected company, -beginning with Hetty and ending with -her.</p> - -<p>"I hope so," said Captain March; then -he turned to the Danish captain and added: -"I'm glad to get your men; I've already -found your vessel."</p> - -<p>When he had finished the story of his own -misfortune, he went up on deck, followed by -the two rescued men.</p> - -<p>"My dear," said Mrs. March to the girl, -"you must be tired out. Now you must have -something to eat and then go straight to -bed. My daughter can easily take you in -her room."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>The girl laughed, and, leaning forward, -placed her hand on the speaker's knee.</p> - -<p>"Ah t'ink das iss mos' kind, lak ma own -modder. Das iss ve'y nize. How s'all Ah -say no at so kind heaht? Ah t'ink Ah ahm -'mos' t'ousand year' old, and 'mos' aslip—me." -Her shoulders drooped; her eyes -closed. "And das iss ve'y im<i>po</i>lite wiz so -kind, good peop'!" Her eyes opened again, -and begged forgiveness for the discourtesy.</p> - -<p>"Nonsense, child!" said Mrs. March. "I -should think you'd be half dead. I only hope -you won't find worse trouble here; though -I must say we deserve all we get for trusting -ourselves on the water—we women."</p> - -<p>"Yo' lak not doze wateh?" Miss Stromberg -asked.</p> - -<p>"Like it!" said Mrs. March. "I'm afraid -every minute."</p> - -<p>"Ah!" she murmured piteously. Her -eyes caught Drew's look, and she smiled. -"Yo' lak eet, maybe?" she asked him.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>"Yes," he answered; "or at least until -to-night. But I do not know it well."</p> - -<p>"No?" she said.</p> - -<p>"Mr. Drew is a minister of the gospel," -explained Mrs. March, with dignity; then she -added with smiling derision: "He thinks -he's taking a pleasure trip."</p> - -<p>"Ah!"—Miss Stromberg flashed a bright -smile upon Drew—"das iss ve'y nize tow -be a min<i>ees</i>ter—tow be so good as tow prich -tow peop'. Ma fader one also wass; but -me—" she shrugged her shoulders—"Ah -find das ve'y hahd tow be so good all da tam. -Eet iss ve'y sad not tow tek doze examp' off -ma fader." She sighed.</p> - -<p>Her brother and Captain Rand joined her -at supper, and brother and sister were very -gay; but the captain ate hurriedly, and -speedily returned to the deck. Lieutenant -Stromberg soon followed him, but Drew lingered. -Miss Stromberg had been telling her -experiences in the wreck.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>"And you were not frightened?" he asked -her.</p> - -<p>"Mos' exceeding'," she answered gaily.</p> - -<p>"Your brother says you were very brave," -he told her, smilingly.</p> - -<p>"He!" she exclaimed, with gay scorn. -"He knows not. Eet iss woman's paht tow -deceife efer. Yo' learn so not alretty?" She -laughed in his face.</p> - -<p>"Ah, I have much to learn!" he answered, -with a smile.</p> - -<p>"Eet iss so," she agreed; "doze theologic -school tich not efer't'ing."</p> - -<p>"Now I shall be on my guard," he answered, -and, going up the companionway, -laughingly bade her good night.</p> - -<p>"On guahd!" Her scoffing voice followed -him. "Das iss doze mos' worse tam."</p> - -<p>Smilingly he walked to the rail, and, leaning -his elbows on it, looked out into the night. -Medbury, walking the deck, stopped at his -side.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>"Jolly little bit of flotsam we picked up," -he said.</p> - -<p>"Yes," answered Drew; "she is charming."</p> - -<p>"Well, she's a little flirt," said Medbury. -"Did you hear what she said to me when -she came aboard? It took away my breath -for a minute." He laughed.</p> - -<p>"She's audacious," said Drew; "but I -think that's all. I should rather say she is -bent on amusing herself. I should call her -remarkably sincere."</p> - -<p>"Well, she's remarkably pretty," replied -Medbury. "And what a voice! She makes -that lingo of hers sound like a pretty little -piece of music. I hope we'll not have to make -her take to the boat again."</p> - -<p>Until then Drew had hardly thought of the -wind. Now it seemed like the pressure of a -hand against his face. The darkness of the -night was relieved by a luminous haze close -down to the sea, which seemed to radiate a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> -mysterious light that was like an opaque -spray. The stars were gone, and the wind -no longer came in gusts, but in a great rush -of sound that overbore speech like the beat -of a corps of drums, near and threatening. -Every strand of rigging twanged in the -sweep of the gale; the canvas hummed with -a muffled roar; now and then a wave broke -amidships with a sudden shock, and ran hissing -across the deck.</p> - -<p>Medbury had gone forward to the pumps, -which stopped suddenly, and Drew felt his -way along the house to the break in the deck. -A group stood about the well with a lantern, -and Medbury was bending over it. "Slack -three feet and a half," he said, straightening -up. Captain March turned away without a -word, and walked aft; but Drew stayed to see -the pumps rigged again and their wearying -thump begin once more, with four men at -the bars. As Medbury passed him, Drew -asked him what it was.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>"Three and a half feet," he said, and -hurried past.</p> - -<p>Then Drew at last understood that there -was that depth of water in the hold.</p> - -<p>It came on to rain later, at first a few -small drops out of the black sky, and then a -driving sheet that seemed to sweep straight -on and never to fall. One by one the passengers -disappeared, and Captain March and -Medbury, in oilskins, held the quarter-deck -with the man at the wheel. Back and forth -across the deck the captain walked, now -climbing to windward, with his body bent forward -and his legs far apart, now braced back, -and taking short steps down the wet incline, -and sometimes breaking into a little run and -checking himself at the rail. Medbury stood -for the most part at the windward corner of -the house, going forward from time to time, -but never for long. They rarely spoke.</p> - -<p>Once Medbury went to the binnacle for a -moment.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>"Steady, man! steady!" he said. "You're -yawing over half the card."</p> - -<p>"Steady, sir," the sailor replied in an -emotionless voice.</p> - -<p>Captain March stopped his walk at the -wheel, and looked aloft.</p> - -<p>"Steer hard?" he asked good-naturedly. -He had shouted, for the uproar was now too -great for ordinary speech.</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," the man replied, and bent to -the spokes.</p> - -<p>"Guess I'll take a hold with you," shouted -the captain, and stepped to his side; but -Medbury touched his arm.</p> - -<p>"I'll take it," he said; but the captain -shook his head.</p> - -<p>"No," he answered; "I'll try it a spell."</p> - -<p>Medbury cast an uneasy look aloft at the -maintopsail. In the murky light he could see -it bellied out like a great bowl.</p> - -<p>"It's that topsail makes her steer hard," -he cried in an aggrieved tone.</p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>Captain March did not glance up.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he shouted; "but I guess it's -drawing some."</p> - -<p>Medbury looked at him sharply, and then -turned away, grinning.</p> - -<p>"Well, I guess it is!" he muttered to himself. -"The old pirate!"</p> - -<p>He made his way to the topsail-sheet, and -shook it; it was like a rod of iron.</p> - -<p>"Couldn't budge it, if I wanted to," he -said to himself. "I wonder how long that -sail's going to stand all this."</p> - -<p>He started forward, shot in under the lee -of the center-house as a great green sea came -over the rail, and, dripping, mounted to the -forecastle-deck. The lookout stood with his -arms clasped about the capstan-head, staring -straight ahead. In his yellow oilskins, he -had the look of a wooden man, washed by the -seas, immobile, without sensation.</p> - -<p>Medbury took him by the shoulder, and he -barely turned his head. His face was as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> -emotionless as his figure; only his eyes -showed life.</p> - -<p>"You'll—" Medbury lowered his head -as he began to shout, for a sheet of spray -sprang at his face like a cat, blinding him -and making him gasp. Then he felt the deck -slipping into a bottomless abyss, and, opening -his eyes, saw the jibboom disappear, then -the bowsprit, while over the bow rolled a -great green wave, shot with white, and irradiated -with phosphorescence. Almost to the -waist it buried them, while they stood for -what seemed an interminable time, clasping -the capstan, with the dragging water roaring -about them. The strange fancy flashed -across Medbury's mind that it was like being -on the nose of a gigantic mole frantically -burrowing underground. Then the bow rose -again, shook itself free, and Medbury and -the sailor, unlocking their grip on the capstan, -looked at each other.</p> - -<p>"You'll have to get out of this," shouted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> -Medbury, finishing what he had begun to say. -The man nodded.</p> - -<p>"That was the first bad one, sir," he -yelled back. "I don't know's I mind bein' -drownded, but I don't want to be speared to -death." He looked aloft, where the lighter -spars and sails seemed like a falling arch -above him. "I've been expectin' to get -that royal-yard through my back for the last -hour. Couldn't hear it if it did tumble—in -all this noise."</p> - -<p>"Well, you'll have to get out of this," -Medbury repeated mechanically. "Go up to -the top of the center-house. You'll be safe -there."</p> - -<p>They made their way down, the man going -up to his station, and Medbury aft.</p> - -<p>"She's burrowing a good deal," he shouted -in the captain's ear—"like an old mole."</p> - -<p>The captain nodded.</p> - -<p>"Good reason," he replied.</p> - -<p>"What did you say?"</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>"I said, 'Good reason.' There's a lot of -heft in this wind."</p> - -<p>"I sent the lookout up to the top of the -center-house," Medbury now called. "No -place for him forward."</p> - -<p>"That's right," answered Captain March; -then he nodded his head to show that he had -heard and approved.</p> - -<p>The watch was changed at twelve, and the -second mate came on deck, but Medbury still -lingered. Captain March would not leave the -wheel. At three bells Medbury sounded the -pumps again, and reported a full three and -a half feet of water in the hold. It had -gained two inches in three hours.</p> - -<p>Captain March merely nodded when he was -told, and turned his inscrutable face aloft.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XII</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">The</span> night was dragging on toward the -hour when the watch on deck is the -hardest to bear. In his weariness of body -and mind, Medbury had grown indifferent to -the tremendous rush of the wind. The noises -of the night no longer seemed near him, but -far off, muffled by some strange mental wind-break -that hedged him in as if by a wall. -Once or twice he caught himself nodding, and -looked up, startled, to take a turn or two -across the deck. His mind was tense with -the mental strain, and the changing of the -men at the pumps, or any pause in the monotony -of the uproar, irritated him, as the stopping -of a railroad train at stations affects -one dozing through a long journey. He was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> -not afraid,—he had even begun to exult in -the self-control of his superior, seeing in his -perfect handling of his vessel something uncanny, -even godlike,—yet he was all the -while keenly alive to the thought that Hetty -lay below, within the circle of impending danger. -It was like being compelled to run for -one's life under a great weight.</p> - -<p>It was past four bells when the maintopsail -split with a sharp report like musketry-fire, -and, looking up, they saw black space where -just before they had seen a gray hollow of -canvas loom through the night. A ragged -fringe of gray flapped along the bolt-ropes, -whipping straight out in the force of the gale. -They let tack and sheet go with a rush, and -strove to clew up the topsail, trying to save, in -the stoical following of habit, what was no -longer worth saving.</p> - -<p>Medbury came aft when they had clewed -up what remained of the sail. It seemed -ludicrous to try to stow that frazzled bit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> -whipping canvas. He went close to the captain.</p> - -<p>"I didn't stow it, sir," he shouted in his -ear. "Didn't seem worth while to send a -man aloft. No place for him. Nothing but -a rag left."</p> - -<p>"No, no," the captain roared. "That's -right. Don't want to expose anybody more'n -we can help." His voice seemed far away—detached, -as it were, in some strange manner.</p> - -<p>Medbury still lingered near. He was a bit -excited, and wished to talk.</p> - -<p>"Steer any easier, sir?" he roared.</p> - -<p>Captain March nodded, then he leaned -toward his mate.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he yelled. He nodded aloft. "Been -expecting that." Then, for the first time in -his life, he became communicative as to his -plans at sea. "It's like this," he went on: -"We've got five hundred miles to run in this -craft or an open boat. I'll make it in this, -if I can. Got to take some risk, you know.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> -Can't afford to take in sail as long as she -carries it. When it goes of its own accord, -well and good. Can't help that."</p> - -<p>Medbury had begun to long, with an indescribable -sense of weariness, for the coming -of day. Once, as he looked eastward, it -seemed to him that the curtain of darkness -had lifted: the crests of the waves no longer -showed a vivid contrast to the black body of -the watery waste, but both were fading into -a neutral tone of gray, and objects on board -began to have more definite outlines. Then -all at once the royal flew out of its bolt-ropes, -like a hound loosened from its leash, and -went twisting and snapping into the night.</p> - -<p>Medbury saw the yard lowered to its place -and all things made snug forward. As he -passed under the foresail to go aft again, he -had to brace himself against the wind, which -drew under the sail like a great flue. Every -cord of the sail seemed vibrant with sound; -and as he staggered on, out of the tail of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> -his eye he watched the mainsail tug at its -sheet, and boom and gaff swing up like -straws. As his head rose above the top of -the house, he saw that Captain March's eyes -were following him, and he turned his own -away.</p> - -<p>"If he sees me watching that mainsail," -he said to himself, "he'll think I'm wondering -why he doesn't take it in." He smiled -grimly. "Well, that would be God's truth; -but he sha'n't know it." So he stood and -gazed steadily seaward.</p> - -<p>Now it was surely day—day that showed -itself in a gray sea leaping against a gray -sky. A driving mist, too vaporous to be -called rain, gave the same neutral tone to the -vessel, which seemed to have lost her individuality -overnight. She had the tired, lifeless -look of the men on her deck; and as she -groaned and whined along the watery road, -her aspect was at once human and wholly -sad. Though they were far to the south, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> -mist was cold upon their faces. Now and -then a dash of spray flew across the quarter-deck, -and its greater warmth was pleasant in -comparison. By eight o'clock the water in -the hold had gained six inches, and the crew -were beginning to lose heart.</p> - -<p>The group that gathered in the cabin that -day had the restlessness of people waiting to -start on a long journey. In her growing fear, -Mrs. March hungered for companionship; -she steadily kept to the cabin, refusing to -go to her room, but half-sat, half-reclined -upon the lounge, and watched the wooden -walls reel about her. Whenever an unusually -heavy sea rolled them down, she gripped the -back of the lounge and prayed in silence; -and when it passed she looked about her with -a spent face. Hetty and Miss Stromberg -sat in steamer-chairs, talked a little, and -sometimes laughed without reason; from time -to time they staggered to their room, never -remaining long, or losing for a moment the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> -aspect of being about to do something quite -different. Drew tried to be cheerful, but felt -that he was only inane; now and then he read -in a book that at other times he held closed -over his finger. All day Lieutenant Stromberg -sat at the table and played solitaire, -resolutely forbearing to cheat himself, being -restrained by the thought that he might be -near his last hour. At times he made jokes -that no one seemed to understand, and then -looked up wonderingly when he laughed -alone.</p> - -<p>It was afternoon when Hetty, unable longer -to bear the thought of the dark, close cabin,—all -the windows had now been battened -down and the skylight covered,—made her -way to the forward companionway, and, -opening the doors, looked out upon the deck -with eyes wide with wondering fear. The -leeward rail was level with the sea, which -boiled about it; the deck ran like a mill-race. -The sky was lost in the driving mist, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> -closed about them in a gray wall that seemed -like a barrier to hide the impending dangers -beyond. Clinging to the door, she stepped -out upon the deck and glanced aft. The -wind beat her down like a flower-stalk, and -she crouched upon the door-step. But Medbury -had seen her, and hurried to her side.</p> - -<p>"You mustn't stay here; you know you -mustn't," he protested. "We may ship a -sea at any time." He himself was dripping, -and his face was rosy with the damp wind: -he looked like Neptune's very brother.</p> - -<p>"Yes," she cried; "yes; I'll go in a -minute. I couldn't stand it down there another -second." She lifted her face above -the house for an instant, and nodded aft. -"What is that for?"</p> - -<p>Above the taffrail, from quarter to quarter, -a stout piece of canvas had been stretched -between two upright poles, shutting off the -outlook astern. Medbury glanced toward it -before he replied.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>"That?" he said. "Oh, to keep the spray -off the glass of the binnacle. It clouds it so -the men can't read the compass." It did -not seem to him wise to tell her that it was -to keep the helmsmen from glancing over -their shoulders at the following seas, and -perhaps losing their nerve at a critical moment. -"Please go down now; it makes me -nervous to see you here."</p> - -<p>She crouched down upon the door-step and -looked up at him with a smile.</p> - -<p>"I didn't suppose you were ever nervous," -she told him.</p> - -<p>"Well, I am, about you—any woman, in -a sea like this."</p> - -<p>"Oh," she murmured, and looked away, -thinking of his qualifying "any woman." -He had never spoken like that before—classed -her with other women. It showed -that he had accepted the situation, and she -told herself that she was glad; nevertheless, -it was not an unmixed gladness: for the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> -time she felt that something had gone out -of her life that she had always calmly accepted -as being as unchanging as her native -hills. Yet it seemed unreasonable that it -should sadden her. With a little shrug of -impatience she put the thought away just as -he leaned to speak to her again.</p> - -<p>"Won't you go below now, Hetty?" he -said, with a touch of impatience. "I can't -stay here."</p> - -<p>"I've not asked you to," she replied.</p> - -<p>"You know what I mean well enough," -he said. "I can't leave you here alone. You -are a little tease, for all you can be so dignified -at times."</p> - -<p>"If you call me names, I shall certainly -be dignified," she declared. She looked -away as she added: "You wouldn't call Miss -Stromberg a tease, I'm sure."</p> - -<p>"She's a little flirt," he answered -promptly.</p> - -<p>"How do you know?" she asked.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>"Oh, I just think so. The dominie says -she isn't, though. It's only fair to say that," -he replied.</p> - -<p>"I <i>wondered</i> what men found to talk about -so much," she said.</p> - -<p>He did not think it necessary to answer -this, but stood looking out over the deck with -unseeing eyes. A wave broke at the side, -leaped up, and swept across the deck in a -sheet of spray.</p> - -<p>She gasped as it struck her face, and then -she laughed.</p> - -<p>"You see," he warned her. "The next -time it may be worse."</p> - -<p>"It's better than that stuffy cabin," she -answered, feeling an exhilaration in the salt -spray and the wind. There was comfort in -his presence, too, though she hardly acknowledged -it to herself. It had needed this -storm and the danger to bring back to her -all her old ideals of manliness, cherished in -her girlhood in the little seaport, but weakened<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> -by her later acquaintance with a widely -different life.</p> - -<p>She looked up suddenly and said:</p> - -<p>"Can't we still be friends, Tom—just -friends?"</p> - -<p>"I'm your friend," he answered. He did -not look toward her as he spoke.</p> - -<p>"You wouldn't speak to me yesterday."</p> - -<p>"I was a fool," he said, still looking away -from her.</p> - -<p>"It hurt me," she said. She paused, but -he did not speak, and she went on: "We can -always be friends, then, can't we?"</p> - -<p>For a moment he did not speak or look at -her.</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes," he said at last; "we'll be -friends. I'm going back to the old long voyages -again as soon as I can—in Santa Cruz, -if your father will let me off. In a year or -two, or perhaps three, I may go back home, -and we may meet on the street, and shake -hands, and smile, and you will go away satisfied.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> -'He's my friend yet,' you may say, -and maybe think of me again in a year or -two, or perhaps meet me and bow as we pass. -Or, more likely, <i>you</i> will go away, and, coming -back again after a long time, meet a bent, -brown old man and not recognize him. Or -you may ask about me, and be told: 'Oh, he -died long ago, in the South Pacific or Japan, -or some other God-forsaken place.' 'I knew -him long ago,' you'll say, and then go on -asking about others. I guess that's what -friendship like ours comes to mean."</p> - -<p>He turned to her as he ceased, and saw her -rising to a stooping position under the low -sliding-hood. Her face was white.</p> - -<p>"I'm going below now," she said.</p> - -<p>"It's best," he answered; "I'm afraid to -have you here."</p> - -<p>She descended two steps and then turned.</p> - -<p>"You are cruel," she said. Her voice -trembled.</p> - -<p>"What did you say?" he asked.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>He leaned over toward her, for the gale -had drowned her words.</p> - -<p>"I said, 'You are cruel.'"</p> - -<p>"Oh," he said vaguely, and watched her -as she disappeared below.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XIII</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">In</span> the cabin Lieutenant Stromberg was still -playing solitaire; at the opposite side of -the table his sister sat, with Drew beside her, -reading aloud, as she took a lesson in English.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">"Da sea grows sto'-mee, da lit' ones mo-own,</div> -<div class="verse">But, ah-h, she gafe me nef-fair a lo-o-ok,</div> -<div class="verse">Faw her eyes weh seal'd tow da holy bo-o-ok!</div> -<div class="verse">Loud prays da pries'; shot stahnds da do'.</div> -<div class="indent1">Coam avay, chillen, call no mo'!</div> -<div class="indent1">Coam avay, coam da-own, call no mo'!"</div> -</div></div> - -<p>"Yo' pro-nouns doze <i>d</i> in 'chillen'?" -Her concerned eyes flashed an anxious look -up at Drew.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he answered—"'children.'"</p> - -<p>"Chil-d'en. Iss das mo' betteh?"</p> - -<p>He bowed gravely, but said:</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>"You must pronounce the <i>r</i>, too."</p> - -<p>She shrugged her shoulders and laughed.</p> - -<p>"Ah t'ink doze <i>ahs</i> ve'y dif<i>fi</i>cult tow -pro-nouns. Alone, no; but wiz doze ot'er -let's doze bec-ome los'." She laughed again.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">"Coam avay, chil-<i>dahn</i>, call no mo'!</div> -<div class="verse">Coam avay, coam da-own, call no mo'!"</div> -</div></div> - -<p>She turned a bright look upon Hetty.</p> - -<p>"Meesteh Drew all tam rid doze po<i>et</i>ry; -so Ah say tow tich me doze lang-widge mo' -betteh," she explained. "Ah was tich tow -rid doze Anglish by ma home tow Denmahk, -but Ah leahn tow spik eet off ma black maid -tow St. Croix. She spik ve'y nize, but so -sho'tly, Ah unnehstahnd heh not alwis."</p> - -<p>"Shortly?" repeated Hetty, in doubt.</p> - -<p>"Fastly, ra<i>pid</i>ly," explained Lieutenant -Stromberg, looking up from his cards. "Ma -sisteh's Anglish iss only a second coosin -off das real Anglish—second coosin -twice remove'—t'r-rough Denmar-r-k and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> -Afr-r-rica." Lieutenant Stromberg knew -his <i>r's</i>.</p> - -<p>"I think she speaks beautifully, with such -opportunities," Hetty replied, with spirit.</p> - -<p>Miss Stromberg beamed her thanks.</p> - -<p>"Ah t'ank yo' exceedin'," she said. She -looked at her book, sighed, looked up again, -and continued: "But doze po<i>et</i>ry mek me -tow haf doze sadness—me." She sighed -again and shook her head. "Yo' lak doze -po<i>et</i>ry?"</p> - -<p>"Not always," Hetty answered frankly.</p> - -<p>The questioner laid the book hesitatingly -on the table, and her hands drifted together -in her lap.</p> - -<p>"Ah t'ink das iss mos' coh'ect," she -agreed. "Eet iss not alwis poss<i>i</i>ble tow lak -eet when yo' s'all t'ink off ot'er t'ings—doze -noise' and stohms," she explained.</p> - -<p>"Yet yo' s'all desire to heah doze noise' -ofer once mo' when yo' rich St. Croix," said -the lieutenant, without looking up from his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> -game. "'Ah, doze beau-tiful noise'!' yo' -s'all say—'so poe<i>tic</i>al!'" He laughed -mischievously.</p> - -<p>"We shall miss many things when we -reach St. Croix," said Drew, looking at them -and smiling.</p> - -<p>Hetty glanced at him, then she leaned forward -and put her hand on the Danish girl's -arm.</p> - -<p>"We shall miss you," she said softly.</p> - -<p>"Ah, no!" Brother and sister spoke together. -He turned and bowed to his sister -smilingly.</p> - -<p>"Ah, no!" she repeated; "yo' s'all coam -at our house alwis; da do' s'all stahnd wide -faw yo' fawefer." Her eyes included them -all in the invitation.</p> - -<p>"Ah wass going tow spik doze sem lak ma -sisteh," said the brother, with a magnificent -bow.</p> - -<p>"I shall bring the book," said Drew, touching -it. "It may go better there."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>"Shuah-lee!" laughed the Danish girl. -"And yo' s'all rid eet in doze gahden, among -doze floweh' mos' beautiful, wiz doze o'ange-tree' -and t'ibet-tree' meking doze cool -shadow, and doze sea-watah fah <i>be</i>-low -shining in da sun. And noise—yo' s'all -heah on-lee doze sea-watah mu'<i>mu</i>'ing -soft-lee, and doze fountains whispehing, and -poss<i>i</i>bly a lil' song ofehhead, and maybe -some dahkies pahssing <i>be</i>-hin' doze high wall, -calling tow sell yo' some t'ings ve'y nize—and -nut'in' mo'."</p> - -<p>"Hot arepa! hot arepa dem! Ya da hot -arepa!" In a high, slurring singsong Lieutenant -Stromberg gave the cry of the negro -women street-venders.</p> - -<p>"Yas; das iss eet," said his sister. "Yo' -t'ink das iss nize?"</p> - -<p>"Ah, it would be <i>living</i> poetry!" Drew -answered.</p> - -<p>She smiled, looked up, caught his gaze; her -own dropped to her hands clasped in her lap.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>"Das iss mo' nizeh dan heah?" she asked -demurely.</p> - -<p>"I shall never want to go away," he told -her.</p> - -<p>"And when doze hurricane coam," began -her brother, "how—"</p> - -<p>"Sh-h!" she exclaimed, while her eyes -bubbled with laughter. "Why spik off doze -when we go-ing <i>in</i>-vite peop' at ouah house? -Pos<i>si</i>bly doze coam not aany mo'—doze -huh'icane."</p> - -<p>"Pos<i>si</i>bly not," agreed her brother.</p> - -<p>"Aanyway," she continued triumphantly, -"doze huh'icane nefer hu't us."</p> - -<p>For a moment Mrs. March had forgotten -the rolling vessel and the threatening sea. -"The little tyke!" she said to herself, smilingly; -but her daughter spoke aloud.</p> - -<p>"Why do you make such a beautiful picture -of it?" she asked. "Don't you know -that I must go back to the cold and the -snow?"</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>Miss Stromberg laughed, and shook her -head.</p> - -<p>"Yo' s'all cah not," she answered. "Yo' -s'all say, 'Oh, doze huh'icane!' Wheah da -heaht iss, da iss da beautiful pictu'. So -womens ah med," she added wisely.</p> - -<p>"And is your heart there—in that garden?" -Drew asked. He smiled.</p> - -<p>She laughed again.</p> - -<p>"'Tiss joost heah—and unfast," she replied, -and placed her hand on her breast. -"Eet hass no feexed 'abitation."</p> - -<p>On deck they heard the tramp of feet going -aft, and then, as the starboard side lifted, -the cry of the crew hauling in the main sheet, -and the hoarse croak of the blocks. Before -the tramp was heard again, going forward, -Captain March came from his room and hurried -up to the deck.</p> - -<p>Medbury walked over to his side.</p> - -<p>"The wind's hauled around a little, sir. -We couldn't keep the course."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>Captain March looked aloft, then glanced at -the compass.</p> - -<p>He gave no sign of having heard. Suddenly -he stopped short and gazed forward.</p> - -<p>"What's that contraption you got there, -Mr. Medbury?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"One of the flanges of the pump gave 'way, -sir," answered the mate, "and we couldn't -use but one bar; so I rigged up that whiz-jig. -It's better than one bar, and, besides, -we can work it from the poop. If things -should get much worse, the men would drown -on the main-deck."</p> - -<p>"Does the water gain on you?" the captain -asked.</p> - -<p>"About the same—inch by inch. But -she's getting a little logy, it seems to me; -and if the wind should go down or haul -ahead—" He paused in gloomy silence.</p> - -<p>"It won't," said the captain.</p> - -<p>He walked to the rail and took down the -marking of the log-line, and then went below<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> -to lay out his position on the chart. For two -days he had had no sun to take an observation, -and could trust only to dead-reckoning. -Carefully he laid out his course and marked -the distance traveled, then tried to calculate -how far the heave of the sea and the set of -the current had modified his right position. -At last he pricked out the spot with all the -appearance of certainty, made a light ring -about the dot, and was rolling up his chart -as his daughter came to his side.</p> - -<p>"Where are we now, father?" she asked.</p> - -<p>He looked at her and smiled.</p> - -<p>"Just about here or hereabout," he told -her.</p> - -<p>She took the chart from his hand and unrolled -it.</p> - -<p>"Where are we?" she demanded.</p> - -<p>His stubby finger pointed to the dot.</p> - -<p>"It's a long way to go yet," she sighed. -"I hoped we were nearer."</p> - -<p>As she spoke, the stern of the brig seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> -to sink to a great depth, swing wide, then settle -again, and there came a crash of falling -seas upon the deck, and a wave went hissing -across the house, falling in sloppy cascades -before the window facing forward, which had -not been battened. An instant later the captain -was on deck.</p> - -<p>The canvas screen about the taffrail was -flapping loose from one of the poles; Medbury, -with dripping oilskins, was at the wheel -with one of the helmsmen, but the other was -under the lee rail with his head down in his -hands.</p> - -<p>"That was a heavy one, sir," called Medbury -as he bent to the spokes. He straightened -up, panting, and nodded to the man who -was down. "Don't think he's much hurt," -he shouted.</p> - -<p>Captain March walked over to the sailor, -and, leaning over him, took him by the -shoulder.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" he demanded.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>The man rose slowly to his feet, shaking -himself.</p> - -<p>"I struck my head against the bitts," he -said slowly. "I guess it stunned me for a -minute."</p> - -<p>"Where?" asked the captain.</p> - -<p>The man, with fingers that trembled, slowly -unbuttoned his sou'wester, took it off, and -fumbled about his head. The captain watched -him.</p> - -<p>"Well, you better look out next time," -he called with mild severity, which stopped -short of positive reproof. "I guess you were -watching over your shoulder more'n you were -your course. Well, now you go forward and -send Charlie aft."</p> - -<p>He walked toward the wheel, but Medbury -said:</p> - -<p>"I'll hold on here a spell, sir."</p> - -<p>"No," said the captain; "I'll take a hold. -Just get that canvas lashed up again, will -you?" Then he took the wheel, which he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> -not to leave again, except for one brief moment, -until the end.</p> - -<p>When Medbury had lashed the screen fast, -Captain March nodded to him to come near, -that he might speak.</p> - -<p>"Better start your topsail-sheets a bit," -he shouted. "They'll lift a little and ease -her. Give 'em about two feet—no more'n -that."</p> - -<p>As the afternoon wore on, the wind increased -in force and the sea grew heavier. -Now and then a sharp shower swept past, -and ceased suddenly; but the clouds did not -lift, and the rack flew overhead, low down, -like steam from a huge exhaust-pipe. At -seven bells a topgallantsail-sheet parted, and -by the time the sail was housed and the yard -lowered it was dusk.</p> - -<p>As Medbury prepared to go aft again, he -paused by the fore-rigging and looked up. -The canvas was thundering like a drum corps; -the lee rigging swung slack, but that to windward<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> -was as stiff as iron, and shrilled like -a score of fifes or roared like organ-pipes.</p> - -<p>"Oh, shut up!" he said aloud, and then -grinned shamefacedly at his irritability.</p> - -<p>As he came to the steps leading up to the -poop-deck, he paused and looked about him. -It seemed to him that the wind had suddenly -ceased, and he could hear it far away, roaring -back a defiance through the murky twilight. -The next moment he heard the captain -shouting to call all hands and shorten sail.</p> - -<p>With the crew increased by the men from -the lost Danish bark, they had all things made -snug and fast in an incredibly short time, and -under maintopmast-staysail with the bonnet -out, lower topsail, and foretopmast-staysail, -they were rolling down the long seas in -leisurely fashion by the time night was fairly -upon them.</p> - -<p>Still panting with his heavy exertion, Medbury -was standing by the taffrail, looking -down at the foam that now seemed only to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> -creep by them, and thinking gloomily of the -water rising in the hold, when suddenly he -became aware of an increase in the weight of -the wind upon his face. He looked up, but, -seeing nothing, glanced down again; but in -that brief moment the foam had disappeared, -and he was gazing into blackness. He turned -quickly, only to see that the same darkness -had swallowed up the men at the wheel and -every part of the vessel. The binnacle-light -was burning, but the dim glow stopped short -at the slide: beyond that it seemed to have -no power to go. With an indescribable sensation -of being absolutely cut off from every -living thing, he stepped quickly toward the -wheel, and, putting out his hand, touched his -captain. It gave him a curious feeling of -intense relief. Then he heard Captain March -speaking in a calm voice that quieted him instantly.</p> - -<p>"Is that you, Mr. Medbury?" he said. -"What's wanted?"</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>"It's getting black, sir," he said—"black -as a nigger's pocket."</p> - -<p>"I noticed it," said the captain.</p> - -<p>"It came on all of a sudden," the mate -went on. He wanted to hear his voice and -the voice of the captain: in some curious way -even the trivial words seemed to mitigate -the awful darkness.</p> - -<p>"Maybe you'd better get out some lines -for the men at the pumps, and make 'em -fast across deck," continued the captain. -"We can't afford to lose anybody overboard. -And bring us some, too. When you've done -that, just go down to your room, as if you'd -gone to fetch something. Maybe it'll help -the women-folks a little to see somebody from -the deck before it begins," he went on in a -matter-of-fact voice. "But don't stay. I -may want you any minute."</p> - -<p>In haste, and with hands that fumbled a -little, Medbury rigged stout life-lines across -the deck for the men at the pumps; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> -leaving straps for the captain and his companion -at the wheel, descended into the cabin. -He struck a match in his room, and looked -about him vaguely, smiling to himself at his -purposeless errand at a time when moments -were fraught with life or death. He was not, -like his captain, a man of imagination: his -mere passage through the cabin seemed only -a bit of fanciful foolishness of which he was -a trifle ashamed.</p> - -<p>His match flickered and went out; for a -moment he stood staring before him in the -darkness, hearing the voices of those in the -cabin as they talked together. He heard -Drew's deep tones, and Hetty replying to -them, and a sudden impotent rush of jealousy -overwhelmed him as he thought that he must -battle on deck in what might be their last -fight, while this man, who had known her -barely as many days as he had loved her -years, would be with her in these last hours. -Blindly, without looking to right or left, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> -walked through the cabin and ascended to the -deck.</p> - -<p>Though he had been below only a moment, -an amazing change had taken place. As he -seized the hasp of the door to open it, the -pressure from the outside was so great that -for a moment he thought that some one was -leaning against it. He knocked on it loudly, -then pushed again, becoming immediately -aware that the resisting force was wind. -Then throwing all his weight forward, he -squeezed through, with the door slamming to -behind him.</p> - -<p>It was only the beginning. The seas seemed -to grow momentarily heavier, and it became -impossible to stand erect upon the deck. -When Medbury went forward to the pumps, -as he did from time to time, he went with -bent body, keeping his hand upon the rail. -His face was stiffened with salt, which clung -to his eyelashes and had to be wiped away -constantly. It became in time no longer possible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> -to distinguish sounds: the bellow of the -wind, the roar of the sea, the thunder of the -canvas, and the groaning of spars and timber, -became merged in an indescribable tumult, -the waves of which, like a great sea -of sound, seemed to rise about them and beat -them down into insignificance. In this strange -melting away of all the known landmarks of -his craft, Medbury stood at times helpless and -irresolute, and doggedly awaited the end.</p> - -<p>To those shut up in the cabin there came, -as the night wore on, a sense of impending -danger. Once, unable longer to bear the feeling -of isolation from those who were fighting -on deck for their lives, Hetty made her way -with difficulty to the companionway, and, -mounting to the doors, tried them. Then she -turned.</p> - -<p>"They have locked us in!" she cried, staring -down at her companions. The lamp, -swinging in its gimbals, cast only a faint light -upon their upturned, startled faces. Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> -lips trembled. "It makes me afraid," she -faltered.</p> - -<p>Miss Stromberg burst into tears. Hetty -hurried down to her, and, sitting close together -on the lounge, the two clasped each -other's hands, listening. The men sat with -closed eyes for the most part. Mrs. March -had long before gone to her room.</p> - -<p>Once there came three unusually heavy -seas, and as the brig rolled down it seemed -to Hetty that they never would rise again, -and, closing her eyes, she prayed silently. -Then there came the long "smooth," and -she opened her eyes and smiled upon her -companion.</p> - -<p>"That is better, isn't it?" she whispered.</p> - -<p>"Ah do not lak eet," Miss Stromberg -whispered back. "Ah ahm affred, also—me."</p> - -<p>Hetty patted her hands.</p> - -<p>"It will be better soon," she said.</p> - -<p>"Do yo' t'ink Ah s'all be los' once mo'?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> -asked the girl. "Ah ahm tow lit' tow was'e -all doze sto'ms on—me." She laughed hysterically.</p> - -<p>"No, no!" cried Hetty. "You will be -home to-morrow—in that garden."</p> - -<p>"Oh, doze gahden! Eet sims a t'ousand -woilds f'om heah."</p> - -<p>"To-morrow," continued Hetty, "this will -seem like a bad dream."</p> - -<p>"Ah pray Ah may slip mo' sound-lee," -she murmured laughingly. "But yo'—yo' -haf doze cou'age!" she added admiringly.</p> - -<p>"I trust my father," replied Hetty. She -was gaining courage by imparting it.</p> - -<p>"And das young of<i>fic</i>er?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said Hetty.</p> - -<p>"Yo' lak him mooch?"</p> - -<p>"I've known him all my life."</p> - -<p>"Das iss ve'y nize." She turned suddenly -to Drew. "Wass yo' t'ink off?" she asked -him.</p> - -<p>He looked at her and smiled.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>"I was thinking of your garden just then," -he replied.</p> - -<p>"Ah!" she murmured delightedly. "Yo' -joost da sem lak us!"</p> - -<p>"You were thinking of it, too?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Dees ve'y minute. Das iss ve'y nize—tow -t'ink doze sem t'ings altowgeddeh."</p> - -<p>"Eet iss a ve'y nize gahden," said Lieutenant -Stromberg, "but eet iss not so nize as -yo' s'all t'ink. Nut'in' iss," he explained. -"Eet s'all <i>bec</i>-ome dull—lak dees, lak efer't'ing. -Me—Ah s'all play doze cahds." He -laughed, and, taking his cards from the glass -rack, began another game of solitaire.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XIV</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">One</span> by one the idlers in the cabin went -to their rooms, and Drew, putting on a -storm-coat, stepped out upon the deck from -the forward companionway, blinded for a -moment by the darkness.</p> - -<p>Slowly the shadowy world took on blurred -outlines, and, turning his gaze to windward, -he saw gray flashes of foam leap high on the -pointed crests of waves, and drop quickly into -darkness. The gale tore at him and beat him -down. He remembered that he had seen a -sou'wester in his room, and went softly below -to get it. As he opened the door that led -from the passageway to the cabin, Hetty, with -swinging arms, went staggering across the -unsteady floor toward the pantry. With a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> -little thrill of joy at finding her alone once -more, Drew hastened to her side.</p> - -<p>She was on her knees, peering about her; -but, startled by the sudden obscurity that fell -upon the room, she looked up quickly, to see -him standing in the doorway.</p> - -<p>"Oh," she exclaimed, "how you frightened -me!" and turned to her search again. -"I was looking for something for my -mother," she explained when, a moment later, -she rose to her feet. "I cannot find it." -Still glancing vaguely about her, she moved -toward the doorway and made as if to pass -him; but he did not stir.</p> - -<p>"Can I not help you?" he asked.</p> - -<p>She shook her head, but did not look up.</p> - -<p>He had sought her with no other purpose -than to be by her side for a moment; for, -though he had not seen her alone since he -had asked her to be his wife, he knew that -this was not the fitting hour for his answer: -but neither could he let her go.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>"I cannot bear to see you suffer," he exclaimed. -"Do not think our case hopeless. -It cannot be. We shall reach land yet."</p> - -<p>"Oh, you cannot know," she said listlessly. -She had no thought to be indifferent or cruel; -standing, as she felt, face to face with eternity, -her thoughts had passed him by. She -had come to regions where he was a vague -shadow, a part of a world no longer hers. -She was only the sailor's daughter now; all -her faith and dreams lay with those who were -battling on the deck for the lives of all.</p> - -<p>Silently he stepped aside, and she went -quickly to her room, closing the door behind -her and not looking back.</p> - -<p>He could not summon to his mind a single -thread of proof; yet, as he turned away, he -knew that unconsciously she had given him -her answer. The closing door between them, -he told himself, was the symbol.</p> - -<p>He was paler when he went up the companionway -again, and his lips were firmly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> -closed; but there was no harshness in their -lines, and he carried his head high: clearly he -would bear whatever life brought to him.</p> - -<p>A moment later, as he stepped into the -blinding darkness of the deck, a wave broke -near, and a sheet of water, clipped from the -toppling crest by the wind, swept across the -house and struck him like a lash. Staggered -for an instant, with his hand slipping from -the sliding-hood, he dropped behind the house.</p> - -<p>He was still kneeling on the deck, brushing -the water from his eyes, when he felt -rather than heard or saw some one go by. -He would be sent below, he knew, if seen by -the captain or the mate; and he smiled as he -thought of his position, feeling like a schoolboy -in mischief and in danger of detection. -Slowly he turned, and, without rising, -watched the passing figure.</p> - -<p>It was six bells, and Medbury had come forward -to change the crew at the pumps. As -he stepped past the house and made his way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> -to the life-lines, he lifted his eyes and stopped -short. The pumps were deserted. Then he -rushed forward and peered down upon the -main-deck; only the sloppy space showed itself, -unrelieved by a human figure. One of -the down-hauls of the whiz-jig, whipping in -the gale, snapped across his face, and was -flung irritably aside.</p> - -<p>In the first rush of his dismay the thought -came to him that all were lost; but the possibility -of four men being swept away without -warning was too much to believe, and across -his mind there flashed the certainty that the -crew had refused longer to work the pumps. -That they had been losing heart had been -borne in upon him increasingly, and now that -he stood face to face with the desperate situation -he felt his face grow hot with the fury -that seized him and bore him out of himself. -Some instinct told him that they had taken -refuge down the booby-hatchway, and he -sprang to the sliding-hood, thrust it back, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> -peered in. It was black and still, but the intangible -something that betrays the presence -of human creatures seemed to pervade the -place, and he knew that his quarry was there. -His voice choked with fury as he yelled:</p> - -<p>"You damn' curs—you—you—want to -ruin us all! Out of this—quick, or I shoot -you down like rats in a hole!"</p> - -<p>No sound came out of the black interior, -and with a snarl of rage he tore open the -door, splintering the peg in the hasp, thrust -one foot over the sill to descend, and struck -the back of a man. The next instant he had -the man by the collar, lifted him struggling -to the deck, and with a mighty swing sent him -forward into the life-lines, where he hung for -a second, and then fell lightly, like a sprawling -cat, to the main-deck. With a snarl, Medbury -swung himself into the opening, and -dropped between decks. Three men had been -sitting on the steps below the man he had -thrown out, and he swept them off like leaves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> -from a wand, and he heard their smothered -groans as he crushed them together in a heap -on the floor. He was in his own province -now, for the storeroom was his care, and he -could have found a sail-needle there in the -dark; and as he freed himself from the -sprawling bodies under him, he swung about -him, reaching out, with itching hands, for his -cowed and dispirited crew.</p> - -<p>He felt an arm encircle his legs, and kicked -back viciously, feeling rather than hearing -his heel crunch against a face. The arm about -his legs dropped limp, and he felt another -pawing along his shoulders and reaching for -his throat. With a quick thrust he found a -bristly face, and, striking straight with his -free arm, sent the man tumbling to the floor. -He heard the sound of feet stumbling up the -stairs, and thought the fight was won, and so -moved back, only to find shoulders and legs -clasped by other men. He clasped back, and -the next moment was staggering about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> -place in a hand-to-hand struggle. He kicked -himself free again, and with a quick thrust -forward threw himself to the floor, an opponent -under him. He heard the sailor's head -strike hard, felt his hold relax, and rose, panting, -to his knees as a lantern swung in at the -door, and Captain March's voice, cool and -incisive, called, "Stop right there!" Looking -up, Medbury saw the light of the lantern -shining along the barrel of a pistol, and the -captain's impassive face above it.</p> - -<p>They put every man at the pumps, lashing -them to the life-lines, and, with a belaying-pin -in his hand, Medbury stood guard -over them and rushed them at their work. -Now and then a fitful flash of lightning -showed the men and the deck against a background -of vitreous green glare.</p> - -<p>Captain March watched them a moment, -and then, placing his hand on his mate's -shoulder, yelled at his ear. Even then the -words seemed far away and indistinct.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i263.jpg" alt="" /></div> -<p class="caption">"'Keep 'em going! Don't let 'em slack up a bit!'"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span><br /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> -<p>"Keep 'em going! Don't let 'em slack -up a bit!" he roared. "Never had such a -lot aboard a vessel of mine before. It makes -me sick."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," shouted Medbury, grimly.</p> - -<p>"Don't understand it," went on the captain -in an aggrieved, plaintive voice; "nobody -could." He paused irresolutely, and -then said: "Hurt you anywhere?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, no," answered the mate. "Guess I -rather enjoyed it for a change. Was pretty -mad."</p> - -<p>The captain nodded, and was turning away -when Medbury put out a detaining hand.</p> - -<p>"How'd you know?" he shouted.</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"How did you know about it—the row?" -Medbury asked again.</p> - -<p>"The dominie saw something was wrong, -and told me. Got your lantern, too. Good -man—seemed to know what to do. Rather -surprised me—don't think they've got that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> -sort of horse-sense, as a rule. But no business -on deck to-night. Told him so." Then -he staggered aft, and took the wheel from the -second mate again.</p> - -<p>Drew had gone below when the crew went -back to the pumps; but he was strangely -excited. He knew that he could not sleep, -and in a state of mental helplessness he sat -for a long time upon the edge of his bunk. -Something of the significance of the scene on -deck broke in upon him, and he realized that -the crew had given up hope. It was not revolt, -but a dumb, sheeplike acquiescence in -fate. In his heart he was not without a certain -sympathy for the men, feeling in the -overpowering mastery of the storm something -of the vanity of all human endeavor. -Yet the mere effort of holding himself in -check, aloof from all the tumult of the deck, -grew momentarily more and more unbearable, -and, rising at last, he went up to the -companionway door again.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>He saw at once, novice as he was, that in -his brief absence the situation had grown -worse. There was a constant sweep of -sheeted spray across the deck, and he -crouched behind the house, as he had done -before, both for protection and to avoid -being seen by the mate. He resented the -thought of being ordered below. He could -see the steady rise and fall of the bodies -of the men working the pumps, and Medbury -standing near them. It had grown -lighter, he perceived, though it was still black -night.</p> - -<p>He was beginning to grow drowsy, and for -a moment shifted his position, when suddenly -the brig seemed to pause and tremble, then -spring to a great height, and the next moment -he had the sensation of falling in a -dream, and heard Medbury's voice, faint, -muffled, like a voice coming from a great -distance underground, screaming, "Hold -hard! Hold hard!"</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>In a second of time, in the light of the -foam that whitened the sea to leeward, he -saw the deck clearly: the men crouching low -above the life-lines; Medbury's face turned -away, his hands grasping a line about his -waist, his body braced; and behind him, rising -from his knees, a man with uplifted arm -about to strike. The next moment Drew -threw himself forward upon the man, and at -the same instant was crushed against the -booby-hatch by a great weight of water. He -was held there till his ears roared and flashes -of light snapped before his eyes and his -breath was almost gone; then he felt himself -lifted and whirled along for what seemed -a great distance, with the body of the man -he had seized struggling in his grasp. He -had at that moment the feeling that his end -had come, that he was being borne far from -the garden with the fountain, and from that -other garden where he saw his mother kneeling -with a flower in her hand and her eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> -turned up to him smilingly. With these -scenes standing out vividly in a dream where -all things else were strange unrealities, he -was suddenly awakened to life by the crash -of his body against something cruelly hard, -felt a sharp sting under his arm, pressed it -down tight, and fell to the deck alone.</p> - -<p>Groping in the darkness, almost breathless, -half-blinded by water, he got to his feet -and looked about him. He was standing by -the lee rail, but the man with whom he had -struggled was gone, blotted out. He remembered -the sting in his side, and, lifting his -hand to the place, struck the haft of a knife -that still clung to his coat. Dazed and bewildered, -he drew it out, and, holding it gingerly, -staggered back to Medbury.</p> - -<p>The mate looked at him in astonishment.</p> - -<p>"You here?" he called. "You'd better -go below."</p> - -<p>"I'm going," Drew answered. "I've had -enough." With that he held out the knife.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>"Where'd you get that?" demanded the -mate, taking it.</p> - -<p>Clinging to the life-lines, Drew told his -story briefly, and as clearly as was possible -in that shrieking gale, while Medbury turned -the knife over and over in his hand.</p> - -<p>"It's that damn' steward's," he said. -"He's the one I threw out. I forgot him." -His voice trailed off in the tumult of the -storm, and Drew leaned forward to catch -the words; then somehow he understood that -the mate was asking about the steward.</p> - -<p>"Gone," Drew shouted—"over the rail. -I couldn't hold him."</p> - -<p>"Damn' good thing," replied Medbury, -and gently pushed him toward the companionway.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XV</h2></div> - - -<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap">It</span> must have been four bells when the -second mate found his way to Medbury's -side and told him that the captain wanted -him.</p> - -<p>"I'm to stay here," he added.</p> - -<p>"Don't give them any let-up," Medbury -shouted in his ear; "and lash yourself fast. -But don't give them any let-up."</p> - -<p>He struggled aft, and put his hand on the -captain's shoulder. In the light of the binnacle-lamp -he could see that the old man's face -was set and grim.</p> - -<p>"Want me, sir?" he called, and bent his -head to hear.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he heard. The captain whirled the -wheel, and then continued: "Yes; go aloft;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> -see if you can see the light on Culebra." -He paused to shift the wheel, straightened up -again, and went on: "These seas run—a -little like shoaling water. I'd hate to run -too far to the westward and fetch up on -the shoals beyond Culebra. Bad enough as -'tis. Take a good look, and hurry back."</p> - -<p>"All right, sir!" Medbury shouted, then -made his way to the main-rigging, and went -slowly and carefully up. The wind flattened -him against the ratlines, so that it was with -difficulty that he lifted arms and knees; and -when the brig swung to port, he seemed to -be clinging to the lower side of the rigging, -so far did she roll down. "Fetlock-shrouds -all the way up," he muttered to himself. -When he was well above the obstructing -lower topsail, he looked ahead.</p> - -<p>Under him, near the vessel, the sea gleamed -spectrally over its whole surface, but farther -away it was black. The mist had lifted, and -he had the impression, even in the darkness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> -of a wide horizon-line; but no light was to -be seen. He went upward again, till the crosstrees -were just above him, and looked once -more.</p> - -<p>He gazed long, sweeping the whole line of -the sea ahead slowly, pausing at each point, -that he might not lose the flash. The strain -brought the tears to his eyes, and he wiped -them with his sleeve and looked again. Something -in his dizzy altitude, in the task set -him and its failure, impressed him more than -anything had yet done, and he began to lose -heart.</p> - -<p>"Father went this way," he muttered, -"and I guess it's good enough for me. He -was a better man than I am. Poor Hetty!" -He looked for the light again, giving all his -thought to it. Then he sighed. "I wish to -God," he went on, "that we'd let her be! -She wouldn't have been here if we hadn't -teased her about China. I wish she was there. -This is no way for her to go—a girl like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> -her." Then slowly at last he descended to -the deck.</p> - -<p>At the wheel, Captain March was growing -unutterably weary, and something like the -same thoughts were passing through his -mind.</p> - -<p>"Lord," he said, "I haven't ever been -much of a praying man, and I ain't going -to begin now, when I can't shift for myself. -I'd be ashamed. You know I've tried to do -right. I ain't afraid of death, but I hate to -lose the old boat. I've always had good luck, -and I guess I've kind o' got in the way of -thinking it was going to last. I'd like to -have it. I rather expected to die at home, -and be buried alongside of mother. She -thought of that a good deal." Of his wife -and daughter he would not trust himself to -think.</p> - -<p>He looked up as Medbury approached him, -but turned his eyes away immediately. He -saw that Culebra light had not been sighted.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>Medbury simply shook his head and -stepped back, but the captain called him -nearer.</p> - -<p>"I guess it's too early," he said. "Go -up again soon, and if we haven't made it -then, we'll try to get a sounding. See if that -steward left any cold tea below, will you?"</p> - -<p>As Medbury went down the companionway -and into the pantry, a figure came softly out -of the girls' room and tiptoed across the -cabin. It was Hetty. As she neared the -pantry, the swinging floor tripped her and -sent her flying into the room behind Medbury's -back. She giggled hysterically as he -turned with a start.</p> - -<p>"Good Lord, Hetty!" he exclaimed, -"haven't you gone to sleep yet?"</p> - -<p>"I couldn't sleep," she said plaintively. -"I waited for you; I thought you'd never -come." She hesitated, laid her hand on his -arm, and continued slowly: "Now I want -you to tell me the truth—the truth. I'm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> -not a child. I can bear it. I know we are -in great danger—isn't it so?"</p> - -<p>He hesitated and looked away, and she -dropped her hand to her side.</p> - -<p>"You needn't tell me; I know," she told -him.</p> - -<p>"We've got a chance," he now explained. -"It looks bad, I know, but we've got a -chance. I guess we've got an even chance."</p> - -<p>"We didn't think it would be like this -when we left the harbor at home, did we?" -she continued. "It was like a spring day, -and the buds were getting red. I said the -leaves would be full grown when we got back—I -said so to mother." She choked back a -sob.</p> - -<p>"Don't, dear!" he pleaded. "Don't! -You shall see them yet. You shall live to -grow old among your trees, Hetty."</p> - -<p>"But if I don't," she persisted, "and—anything -happens, will you try to get to me? -I don't want to go alone, shut up down here."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>"Yes," he answered solemnly; "I'll get -to you. But we're going to pull through—really."</p> - -<p>"You will not forget!" she insisted.</p> - -<p>He laughed softly.</p> - -<p>"Do I ever forget you?" he asked</p> - -<p>"No," she said; "no—and I am glad."</p> - -<p>Then suddenly she flung her arms about -his neck, pressed her cheek against his, and -vanished.</p> - -<p>When Medbury reached the deck he took -the wheel while the captain drank a great -draught of the clear, cold tea. Taking the -wheel again, he said something that Medbury -could not understand.</p> - -<p>"What's that, sir?" he asked, and leaned -forward to catch the words.</p> - -<p>"I said you were gone long enough. -Thought the teapot had got adrift."</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," Medbury replied. "Didn't -find it right away. That steward never did -leave things where you could put your hand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> -right on them. He—" Medbury paused. -He was about to say that it was the last -of the steward's tea that the captain would -ever drink, but changed his mind. "I won't -trouble the old man to-night," he said to himself. -"Morning will be time enough—if -there is a morning."</p> - -<p>The canvas screen above the taffrail had -whipped itself free, and the great seas, in -long ridges that seemed never to break, followed -the vessel with vindictive hate. The -gale beat the men down, the spray blinded -them; now and then a rush of wind, coming -with great fury, with a wailing cry that -sprang upon them like Indians from ambush, -pressed them onward along the rolling seas -without motion other than the forward one. -Then the wind, relaxing its hold, left the -brig wallowing exhausted in the deep hollows, -like a collapsing thing.</p> - -<p>It was after one of these outbursts that -Medbury touched the captain's arm.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>"Going up again," he yelled, and pointed -aloft.</p> - -<p>The captain nodded, and Medbury slanted -away.</p> - -<p>He went up deliberately, turning his eyes -neither to right nor to left until he saw the -crosstrees just overhead. Stopping, he thrust -a leg between the ratlines to steady himself, -and gazed ahead once more. It had grown -lighter, and he could now plainly distinguish -the blurred line where sky and water met. -Suddenly, far ahead, he saw a little point of -light grow out of the blackness of the night, -flash for a moment, and then disappear. His -heart leaped in exultation, but he waited, to -be sure. Again it flashed and disappeared. -Marking its position well, he hurried to the -deck and aft.</p> - -<p>"It's ahead, sir," he shouted. "Bears a -point off the starboard bow."</p> - -<p>Captain March made no reply; his face -was as immobile as a figurehead. Whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> -exultation he may have felt in the triumph of -his reckoning, he was never to show it.</p> - -<p>By eight bells the light was abreast, and -they had hauled up on their course past Sail -Rock. The gale was sweeping down through -the passage, with a threatening sea, and -every bit of rigging roaring and piping to the -tune of the road. Suddenly, out of the blackness -on their port bow a dark shape loomed, -and the rock stood up almost beside them. -Without changing the course a hair, they -drew near, passed under its lee, with the -gale dropping for an instant and the staysails -flapping, and overhead, from the rock, -the sound of startled sea-birds crying in the -night. Then the gale rushed down again, -and sea and rigging roared once more.</p> - -<p>Medbury gave a sigh of wonder.</p> - -<p>"Never heard anything like that before," -he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"You can always hear them at night, if -you go close enough," said the captain.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>"Well, it's stirring," replied Medbury. -He walked to the rail and scanned the sea -with the glass. "Pity there isn't something -more'n a 'bug light' on St. Thomas," -he said to the captain as he walked over to -his side. "We might skip right in before -daybreak."</p> - -<p>Captain March glanced over the rail.</p> - -<p>"By daybreak we'll not need St. Thomas -light," he said dryly, and bent to the wheel -again.</p> - -<p>"The old pirate!" muttered Medbury. -"He's chartered for Santa Cruz, and that's -where he's going! There's five feet of water -in the hold, and a tearing gale loose, and a -worn-out, hopeless crew; but he's going to -Santa Cruz! If the wind should flop around -or fall, we'd go to the bottom; but it won't. -It wouldn't have the cheek—not with him. -Well!"</p> - -<p>The wind hauled over the quarter, and fell -slightly; gradually the sea grew pale, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> -spars and sails took on more definite shape; -and then all at once it was day, and they saw -the sea whipped with foam, and dark masses -of purplish-black clouds hanging low, with -dashes of gold firing their edges in the east. -St. Thomas had dropped behind them, and -far ahead the cone of Santa Cruz, gray and -misty under the darker clouds, was rising -on the edge of the sea.</p> - -<p>Day came on apace; the wind dropped a -trifle more, but not until the harbor of -Christiansted took shape, with the anchored -ships lying thick in the roadstead, and the -bright-hued little town clinging to the hillside -above the water's edge, did the captain -allow the girls on deck. As they ascended -at last, white but happy, and looked out of -the companionway, glancing eagerly about -them, the gray, worn vessel, the dark, low-hanging -clouds, the wind-swept sea, appalled -them, and for a moment they could not speak.</p> - -<p>"Eet iss not lak home," murmured the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> -Danish girl; "eet iss mos' sad and mos' -des<i>o</i>late."</p> - -<p>"But it's land," cried Hetty—"land -after that awful sea!"</p> - -<p>They were silent for a moment and abstracted, -gazing with curious eyes at the land -rising under the bow. Suddenly Miss Stromberg -seized her companion's arm.</p> - -<p>"Ah!" she cried, "doze flag—yonner!" -She pointed where the red, white-crossed ensign -of Denmark flapped straight out in the -gale above the little white fort at the water's -edge. "And op by doze tall tree," she went -on eagerly, "iss ma gahden—wiz yellow -wall, and doze red tiles beyon'. Now eet iss -shuah-lee home."</p> - -<p>"It will be beautiful when the sun shines—Christiansted," -said Hetty.</p> - -<p>Medbury, going forward, stopped a moment -by the main-rigging, where Drew stood -alone. The pumps were quiet as they made -harbor, and the crew were forward. Drew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> -was watching them with curious eyes. He -glanced up as Medbury drew near, and spoke.</p> - -<p>"What will be done with them?" he asked -in a low voice.</p> - -<p>"With what?" asked Medbury.</p> - -<p>"With the crew. Wasn't it technically -and actually mutiny?"</p> - -<p>Medbury laughed.</p> - -<p>"It was a beautiful fight," he said; then -remembering their talk early on the voyage, -he added: "Call it a case of brutality, if you -like; but it seemed necessary."</p> - -<p>"But the men's part," persisted Drew—"will -they not be punished?"</p> - -<p>"Man alive!" said Medbury, "they had -been standing many hours at those pumps -and working as they'd never worked before—with -no hope. That's punishment enough, -isn't it? They're tired now, and very humble, -and, I guess, if the truth could be told, -pretty thankful to me. It wasn't mutiny; it -was a funk. They simply gave up, that's all.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> -But if the old man had done it, you wouldn't -be looking into Christiansted roadstead this -morning. There's a man for you!" His -voice changed as he added: "And if it hadn't -been for you, God knows where I'd be now. -Over the rail somewhere, with the steward's -pretty little trinket in my back. I haven't -said much; but I guess you know I'm not -going to forget it."</p> - -<p>"Do the ladies know?" asked Drew. He -had not mentioned his own slight scratch.</p> - -<p>"They know he was swept overboard," -the mate replied. "I guess they needn't -know any more at present." Then he went -forward.</p> - -<p>Rolling heavily, low above the sea, white -with salt, but with the speed of the gale in -her rain-blackened sails, the brig flashed past -the shipping, crowded with wondering sailors, -and drove straight for the rocky beach -where the cocoanut-palms came down to the -shore, and on hot mornings the negro washer-women<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> -lay their wet clothes upon the smooth -rocks, and the roadstead resounds with the -echoing beat of their wooden paddles. Then -all at once Captain March's voice rang out, -and with sails shaking in the wind the <i>Henrietta -C. March</i> shot toward a narrow ribbon -of sand on the shore, struck, rolled slowly, -and with a long, grating sigh came safely -to land.</p> - -<p>An hour later, as Medbury walked aft, he -mounted the steps to the poop-deck before he -saw the flutter of Hetty's dress by the main-rigging. -She was looking steadily out to sea.</p> - -<p>He stopped by her side.</p> - -<p>"Here on this side, when you can see the -town on the other!" he exclaimed. "Haven't -you had enough of the sea?"</p> - -<p>She looked up and smiled.</p> - -<p>"I was looking beyond the sea—as far as -home," she said.</p> - -<p>"Are you homesick?"</p> - -<p>"No; only thinking of it."</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>"It's a good thing to think of," he said -soberly.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">"'East, west,</div> -<div class="verse">Hame's best.'</div> -</div></div> - -<p>After last night, that sounds true, doesn't -it?"</p> - -<p>"It's always true—home and the old -things," she said softly—"the things we've -always known."</p> - -<p>He looked down into her face.</p> - -<p>"Hetty," he said, "last night—you -rushed away so quickly—is it all right?"</p> - -<p>She turned her eyes seaward again as she -answered in a low voice:</p> - -<p>"I think so—yes."</p> - -<p>"Oh, Hetty!" he whispered.</p> - -<p>She dropped her hand to her side, and he -caught it for an instant. Overhead there -were widening patches of blue sky; the sea -was taking on a softer hue. Behind them -the tropic world glowed in beauty. On the -beach little groups of negro women, in white<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> -bandanas and bright-colored, wind-blown -skirts, stood and watched the sailors aboard -the brig, their shrill laughter and cries coming -up softened by the gale, now rapidly -falling. The pumps were going again.</p> - -<p>"It is the only familiar sound—that -pump," said Hetty.</p> - -<p>Medbury scarcely heard her.</p> - -<p>"I don't understand it yet," he said at -last, turning to her. "Just when I thought -it was all over, suddenly it comes out right. -I don't understand."</p> - -<p>"You never will, you poor boy," she replied, -smiling up into his face. Then suddenly -her face grew grave, and she began -to speak again: "It was only when I thought -it was all over that I began to think. Then -the storm came, and I saw how much it meant -to me that you were near me, and I was -almost sure that I had made a mistake. I -think I wasn't <i>quite</i> sure until you made that -dreadful picture yesterday of what it would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> -be for us to be merely friends. Then I -knew."</p> - -<p>"You said I was cruel," he told her.</p> - -<p>"You were," she said.</p> - -<p>"But if it brought us together, how—"</p> - -<p>"That doesn't make it any different."</p> - -<p>"Well," he replied, in his bewilderment, -"I am sure I shall never understand, as -you say; but I do not care. It is enough to -know that everything is right at last. And -you are sure that you will not mind giving -up China, Hetty, and the missionary -work?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," she said firmly; "I was almost -ready to give that up three days ago—before -I thought I cared for you, you know. -I have thought many things in these three -days. Sometimes, when I think of them, I -feel a thousand years old, as Miss Stromberg -says."</p> - -<p>The door of the cabin below them opened, -and they heard the sound of Drew's voice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> -and Miss Stromberg's laugh. She was patiently -waiting until she could go ashore.</p> - -<p>"I was beginning to think that <i>he</i> was -going to stand in my way, Hetty," said Medbury, -nodding toward the cabin.</p> - - -<p class="gap">THE END.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Under Rocking Skies, by L. Frank Tooker - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER ROCKING SKIES *** - -***** This file should be named 55721-h.htm or 55721-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/7/2/55721/ - -Produced by David E. 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