- 5 weeks ago
My reading of Jack London's 1904 terse psychological thriller. The book's protagonist, Humphrey Van Weyden, is an effete literary critic from San Francisco who survives a ship catastrophe only to come under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues and then shanghais him. Its first printing of forty thousand copies was immediately sold out before publication on the strength of London's previous The Call of the Wild. If you enjoy my readings and would like to support the channel, you can buy me a cup of coffee : https://buymeacoffee.com/lorigomez_apoetrychannel
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00:00I knew what it was, as she came toward me.
00:12For ten minutes I had watched her talking earnestly with the engineer,
00:15and now, with a sign for silence, I drew her out of earshot of the helmsman.
00:23Her face was white and set.
00:25Her large eyes, larger than usual, what of the purpose in them,
00:35looked, penetratingly, into mine.
00:40I felt rather timid and apprehensive, for she had come to search Humphrey van Wyden's soul,
00:46and Humphrey van Wyden had nothing of which to be particularly proud,
00:52since his advent, on the ghost.
00:56We walked to the break of the poop, where she turned and faced me.
01:02I glanced around to see that no one was within hearing distance.
01:06What is it? I asked, gently.
01:11But the expression of determination on her face did not relax.
01:16I can readily understand, she began, that this morning's affair was largely an accident.
01:26But I have been talking with Mr. Haskins.
01:29He tells me that the day we were rescued, even while I was in the cabin,
01:34two men were drowned, deliberately drowned, murdered.
01:39There was a query in her voice, and she faced me, accusingly,
01:45as though I were guilty of the deed, or at least a party to it.
01:50The information is quite correct, I answered.
01:54The two men were murdered.
01:57You permitted it, she cried.
02:04I was unable to prevent it.
02:07It is a better way of phrasing it, I replied.
02:11But you tried to prevent it?
02:16There was an emphasis on the tried,
02:19and a pleading little note in her voice.
02:22Oh, but you didn't.
02:27She hurried on, divining my answer.
02:30But why didn't you?
02:32I shrugged my shoulders.
02:34You must remember, Miss Brewster,
02:37that you are a new inhabitant of this little world,
02:43and you do not yet understand the laws which operate within it.
02:46You bring with you certain fine conceptions of humanity,
02:51manhood, conduct, and such things, but here you will find the misconceptions.
03:00I have found it so, I added, with an involuntary sigh.
03:07She shook her head incredulously.
03:10What would you advise, then, I asked?
03:13That I should take a knife, or a gun, or an axe, and kill this man?
03:19She half-started back.
03:22No, not that.
03:25Then what should I do?
03:27Kill myself?
03:29You speak in purely materialistic terms, she objected.
03:35There is such a thing as moral courage,
03:38and moral courage is never without effect.
03:40Ha ha ha, I smiled.
03:44You advise me to kill neither him nor myself,
03:48but to let him kill me.
03:51I held up my hand as she was about to speak.
03:55For moral courage is a worthless asset on this little floating world.
04:00Leech, one of the men who were murdered,
04:03had moral courage to an unusual degree.
04:06So had the other man, Johnson.
04:09Not only did it not stand in good stead, but it destroyed them.
04:14And so with them,
04:15if I should exercise what little moral courage I may possess.
04:19You must understand, Miss Brewster,
04:26and understand clearly,
04:28that this man is a monster.
04:32He is without conscience.
04:35Nothing is sacred to him.
04:36Nothing is too terrible for him to do.
04:38It was due to his whim that I was detained aboard in the first place.
04:43It is due to his whim that I am still alive.
04:47I do nothing, can do nothing,
04:50because I am a slave to this monster,
04:53as you are now a slave to him,
04:55because I desire to live,
04:58as you will desire to live,
05:00because I cannot fight and overcome him,
05:04just as you will not be able to fight and overcome him.
05:08She waited for me to go on.
05:11What remains, mine,
05:14is the role of the weak.
05:16I remain silent and suffer ignominy,
05:18as you will remain silent and suffer ignominy.
05:22And it is well.
05:23It is the best we can do,
05:26if we wish to live.
05:28The battle is not always to the strong.
05:31We have not the strength with which to fight this man.
05:33We must assimilate and wean,
05:36if we can,
05:39by craft.
05:41If you will be advised by me,
05:43this is what you will do.
05:45I know my position is perilous,
05:49and I may say frankly that yours is even more perilous.
05:54We must stand together,
05:56without appearing to do so,
05:58in secret alliance.
06:00I shall not be able to side with you openly,
06:03and no matter what indignities may be put upon me,
06:07you are to remain likewise,
06:09silent.
06:10We must provoke no scenes with this man,
06:13nor cross his will,
06:14and we must keep smiling faces,
06:17and be friendly with him,
06:19no matter how repulsive it may be.
06:22She brushed her hand across her forehead,
06:26in a puzzled way,
06:27saying,
06:28Still, I do not understand.
06:34You must do as I say,
06:37I interrupted authoritatively,
06:40for I saw Wolf Larson's gaze wandering toward us,
06:43from where he paced up and down,
06:45with Latimer,
06:46amid ships.
06:47Do as I say,
06:49and ere long you will find I am right.
06:54What shall I do then?
06:57She asked,
06:58detecting the anxious glance I had shot at the object of our conversation,
07:02and impressed,
07:04I flatter myself with the earnestness of my manner.
07:08Dispense with all the moral courage you can,
07:12I said briskly.
07:13Don't arouse this man's animosity.
07:15Be quite friendly with him,
07:17talk with him,
07:18discuss literature and art with him.
07:20He is fond of such things.
07:22You will find him an interested listener,
07:24and no fool.
07:25And for your own sake,
07:26try to avoid witnessing,
07:28as much as you can,
07:29the brutalities of the ship.
07:31It will make it easier for you to act your part.
07:33I am to lie,
07:37she said in steady,
07:39rebellious tones,
07:40by speech,
07:41and action,
07:43to lie.
07:45Wolf Larson had separated from Latimer,
07:47and was coming toward us.
07:49I was desperate.
07:51Please,
07:52please understand me,
07:54I said hurriedly,
07:55lowering my voice.
07:56All your experience of men and things is worthless here.
07:59You must begin over again.
08:01I know,
08:01I can see it.
08:02You have,
08:03among other ways,
08:05been used to managing people with your eyes,
08:07letting your moral courage speak out through them,
08:09as it were.
08:10You have already managed me with your eyes,
08:13commanded me with them,
08:14but don't try it on Wolf Larson.
08:16You could as easily control a lion.
08:19Well,
08:19he would make a mock of you.
08:20He would.
08:21I have always been proud of the fact that I discovered him.
08:24I said,
08:25turning the conversation,
08:27as Wolf Larson stepped on the poop and joined us,
08:29the editors were afraid of him,
08:32and the publishers would have none of him,
08:33but I knew,
08:35and his genius and my judgment were vindicated
08:37when he made that magnificent hit with his forge.
08:43And it was a newspaper poem,
08:47she said glibly.
08:48It did happen to see the light in a newspaper,
08:51I replied,
08:52but not because the magazine editors had been denied a glimpse at it.
08:56We were talking of Harris.
09:01Oh,
09:02yes,
09:04he acknowledged.
09:05I remember the forge,
09:07filled with pretty sentiments,
09:09and an almighty faith in human illusions.
09:12By the way,
09:13Mr. Van Vyden,
09:15you'd better look in on Cookie.
09:17He's complaining,
09:19and restless.
09:21Thus,
09:23was I bluntly dismissed from the poop,
09:25only to find Mugret sleeping soundly from the morphine I had given him.
09:30I made no haste to return on deck,
09:33and when I did,
09:35I was gratified to see Miss Brewster
09:36in an animated conversation with Wolf Larson.
09:41As I say,
09:42the sight gratified me.
09:45She was following my advice,
09:47and yet,
09:48I was conscious of a slight shock or hurt,
09:51in that she was able to do the thing I had begged her to do,
09:55and which she had notably disliked.
09:59Chapter 23
10:00Brave winds blowing fair swiftly drove the ghost northward,
10:06into the seal herd.
10:08We encountered it well up to the forty-fourth parallel,
10:11in a raw and stormy sea,
10:14across which the wind
10:15harried the fog banks in eternal flight.
10:18For days at a time,
10:20we could not see the sun,
10:21nor take an observation.
10:24Then,
10:24the wind would sweep the face of the ocean clean.
10:28The waves would ripple and flash,
10:30and we would learn where we were.
10:34A day of clear weather might follow,
10:36or three days,
10:37or four,
10:38and then,
10:39the fog would settle down upon us,
10:41seemingly thicker than ever.
10:44The hunting was perilous,
10:46yet,
10:47the boats,
10:48lowered day after day,
10:51were swallowed up in the grey obscurity,
10:54and were seen no more till nightfall,
10:56and often,
10:58not till long after,
10:59when they would creep in like sea-wraiths,
11:02one by one,
11:04out of the grey.
11:06Wainwright,
11:07the hunter whom Wolf Larson had stolen with boat and men,
11:11took advantage of the veiled sea,
11:13and escaped.
11:15He disappeared one morning in the encircling fog,
11:19with his two men,
11:20and we never saw them again,
11:22though it was not many days when we learned
11:25that they had passed from schooner to schooner,
11:28until they had finally regained their own.
11:32This was the thing I had set my mind upon doing,
11:37but the opportunity never offered.
11:40It was not in the mate's province to go out in the boats,
11:43and though I maneuvered cunningly for it,
11:46Wolf Larson never granted me the privilege.
11:49Had he done so,
11:50I would have managed,
11:52somehow,
11:52to carry Miss Brewster away with me.
11:54As it was,
11:56the situation was approaching a stage
11:58which I was afraid to consider.
12:01I involuntarily shunned the thought of it,
12:04and yet,
12:05the thought continually arose in my mind,
12:10like a haunting specter.
12:11I had read sea romances in my time,
12:15wherein figured,
12:16as a matter of course,
12:18the lone woman in the midst of a shipload of men,
12:21but I learned now
12:22that I had never comprehended
12:25the deeper significance of such a situation,
12:29the thing the writers harped upon
12:32and exploited so thoroughly.
12:34And here it was,
12:37now,
12:38and I was face to face with it,
12:41that it should be as vital as possible.
12:43It required no more than that the woman
12:46should be Maude Brewster,
12:47who now charmed me in person,
12:50as she had charmed me through her work.
12:54No one more out of environment could be imagined.
12:57She was a delicate, ethereal creature,
13:02swaying and willowy,
13:05light and graceful of movement.
13:08It never seemed to me that she walked,
13:10or at least,
13:12walked after the ordinary manner of mortals.
13:15Hers was an extreme lithesomeness,
13:19and she moved with a certain
13:21indefinable airiness,
13:24approaching one,
13:25as down might float,
13:27or as a bird,
13:30on noiseless wings.
13:33She was like a bit of Dresden China,
13:37and I was continually impressed
13:39with what I might call
13:41her fragility,
13:44as at the time I caught her arm
13:46when helping her below,
13:48so at any time I was quite prepared,
13:51should stress or rough handling before her,
13:53to see her crumble away.
13:55I have never seen body and spirit
13:58in such perfect accord.
14:01Describe her verse,
14:02as the critics have described it,
14:04as sublimated and spiritual.
14:07And you have described her body.
14:09It seemed to partake of her soul,
14:11to have analogous attributes,
14:13and to link it to life with
14:14the slenderest of chains.
14:17Indeed,
14:18she trod the earth lightly,
14:22and in her constitution,
14:24there was little
14:25of the robust clay.
14:28She was in striking contrast
14:30to Wolf Larson.
14:32Each was nothing like the other was,
14:35everything that the other was not.
14:37I noted them walking the deck together
14:40one morning,
14:41and I likened them to the extreme ends
14:44of the human ladder of evolution.
14:48The one,
14:50the culmination of all savagery.
14:53The other,
14:54the finished product
14:55of the finest civilization.
14:58True,
14:59Wolf Larson possessed intellect
15:00to an unusual degree,
15:02but it was directed
15:06solely
15:07to the exercise
15:09of his savage instincts
15:11and made him
15:13but the more formidable
15:14a savage.
15:16He was splendidly muscled,
15:18a heavy man,
15:19and though he strode
15:20with the certitude
15:20and directness
15:22of the physical man,
15:24there was nothing heavy
15:26about his stride.
15:28The jungle
15:29and the wilderness
15:30lurked in the uplift
15:31and down-put
15:32of his feet.
15:34He was cat-footed
15:35and lithe
15:36and strong,
15:38always strong.
15:40I likened him
15:41to some great tiger,
15:43a beast of prowess
15:44and prey.
15:46He looked it,
15:47and the piercing glitter
15:48that arose at time
15:49in his eyes
15:50was the same piercing glitter
15:52I had observed
15:53in the eyes
15:54of caged leopards
15:55and other praying creatures
15:57of the wild.
15:59But this day,
16:01as I noted them,
16:03pacing up and down,
16:05I saw that it was she
16:07who terminated the walk.
16:09They came up to where
16:10I was standing
16:11by the entrance
16:12to the companionway.
16:14Though she betrayed it
16:15by no outward sign,
16:17I felt somehow
16:18that she was greatly perturbed.
16:20She had made
16:21some idle remark,
16:23looking at me,
16:24and laughed lightly enough,
16:25but I saw her eyes
16:27return to his,
16:29involuntarily,
16:31as though fascinated.
16:33Then they fell,
16:34but not swiftly enough
16:35to veil the rush of terror
16:37that filled them.
16:39It was in his eyes
16:41that I saw the cause
16:44of her perturbation.
16:48Ordinarily gray
16:49and cold
16:50and harsh,
16:51they were now warm
16:53and soft
16:53and golden,
16:55and all a dance
16:56with tiny lights
16:57that dimmed
16:58and faded,
16:59or welled up
17:00till the full orbs
17:01were flooded
17:02with a glowing radiance.
17:04Perhaps it was
17:05to this
17:06that the golden color
17:08was due,
17:09but golden
17:10his eyes were,
17:12enticing
17:13and masterful.
17:16At the same time
17:17luring and compelling,
17:19and speaking a demand
17:20and clamor
17:21of the blood
17:22which no woman,
17:24much less
17:24Maud Brewster,
17:26could understand.
17:28Her own terror
17:29rushed upon me,
17:31and in that moment
17:32of fear,
17:33the most terrible fear
17:34a man can experience,
17:36I knew that
17:36in inexpressible ways
17:39she was dear to me.
17:41The knowledge
17:41that I loved her
17:42rushed upon me
17:43with the terror,
17:46and with both emotions
17:47gripping at my heart
17:48and causing my blood
17:49at the same time
17:49to chill
17:50and to leap
17:51riotously,
17:52I felt myself
17:53drawn by a power
17:54without me
17:55and beyond me,
17:57and found my eyes
17:58returning
17:59against my will
18:00to gaze into the eyes
18:02of Wolf Larson.
18:04But he had
18:04recovered himself.
18:07The golden color
18:08and the dancing lights
18:09were gone,
18:11cold and gray
18:12and glittering.
18:13They were as he bowed
18:14brusquely
18:15and turned away.
18:18I'm afraid,
18:20she whispered
18:20with a shiver.
18:21I'm so afraid.
18:24I too was afraid,
18:25and what if my discovery
18:26of how much
18:27she meant to me
18:28my mind
18:29was in
18:29a turmoil.
18:31But I succeeded
18:32in answering
18:33quite calmly.
18:35All will come right,
18:37Miss Brewster,
18:38trust me.
18:40It will come right,
18:41she answered
18:42with a grateful
18:43little smile
18:44that sent my heart
18:45pounding
18:45and started to descend
18:47the companion stairs.
18:50For a long while,
18:52I remained standing
18:53where she had left me.
18:55There was imperative
18:56need to adjust myself
18:58to consider
18:59the significance
19:01of the changed
19:02aspect of things.
19:05It had come,
19:06at last,
19:07love,
19:08had come,
19:09when I least
19:10expected it
19:11and under the most
19:12forbidding conditions.
19:15Of course,
19:15my philosophy
19:16had always recognized
19:18the inevitableness
19:19of the love call
19:20sooner or later,
19:21but long years
19:22of bookish silence
19:23had made me
19:25inattentive
19:26and unprepared.
19:27And now,
19:29it had come,
19:30Maud Brewster.
19:33My memory flashed back
19:34to that first
19:36thin little volume
19:37on my desk,
19:39and I saw before me,
19:41as though in the concrete,
19:43the row of thin
19:45little volumes
19:46on my library shelf.
19:48how I had welcomed
19:51each of them.
19:52Each one
19:53had come from the press,
19:55and to me,
19:56each was the advent
19:57of the year.
19:59They had voiced
20:01a kindred intellect
20:03and spirit,
20:04and as much as I had
20:05received them
20:06into a camaraderie
20:07of the mind,
20:07but now,
20:09their place
20:10was in my heart.
20:12My heart!
20:14A revulsion of feeling
20:15came over me.
20:16I seemed to stand
20:17outside myself
20:18and to look at myself
20:20incredulously.
20:22Maud Brewster?
20:24Humphrey Van Vyden,
20:26the cold-blooded fish,
20:28the emotionless monster,
20:30the analytical demon
20:32of Charlie Furroseth's
20:34christening in love.
20:37And then,
20:37without rhyme or reason
20:38or all skeptical,
20:40my mind flew back
20:42to a small biographical note
20:44in the red-bound
20:45who's who.
20:46And I said to myself,
20:48she was born in Cambridge,
20:50and she is 27 years old.
20:54And then I said,
20:5627 years old,
20:59and still free,
21:01and fancy-free.
21:03But how did I know
21:04she was fancy-free,
21:05and the pang
21:06of newborn jealousy
21:08put all incredulity
21:10to flight?
21:10There was no doubt
21:13about it.
21:15I was jealous.
21:17Therefore,
21:17I loved.
21:19And the woman I loved
21:20was Maud Brewster.
21:21I,
21:22Humphrey Van Vyden,
21:23was in love.
21:26And again,
21:27the doubt
21:28assailed me.
21:29Not that I was afraid
21:30of it, however,
21:31or reluctant
21:32to meet it.
21:33On the contrary,
21:35idealist that I was
21:36to the most pronounced degree,
21:37my philosophy
21:38had always recognized
21:39and good in love
21:41as the greatest thing
21:42in the world,
21:43the aim and the summit
21:44of being,
21:46the most exquisite pitch
21:47of joy and happiness
21:49to which life could thrill,
21:51the thing of all things
21:51to be hailed
21:52and welcomed
21:53and taken into the heart.
21:55But now
21:56that it had come,
21:57I could not
21:59believe.
22:01I could not
22:01be so fortunate.
22:03It was too good.
22:04Too good to be true.
22:06Simon's lines
22:07came into my head.
22:09I wandered
22:10all these years
22:11among
22:11a world of woman
22:13seeking you.
22:16And then
22:17I had ceased
22:19seeking.
22:20It was not for me
22:21this greatest thing
22:22in the world.
22:23I had decided
22:24for Osseth
22:25was right.
22:26I was abnormal,
22:27an emotionless monster,
22:29a strange,
22:30bookish creature
22:31capable of pleasuring
22:32and sensations
22:33only of the mind.
22:36And though
22:36I had been
22:36surrounded by women
22:37all my days,
22:39my appreciation
22:40of them
22:41had been
22:42aesthetic
22:42and nothing more.
22:44I had actually
22:45at times
22:45considered myself
22:46outside the pale,
22:48a monkish fellow
22:49denied the eternal
22:50or the passing passions
22:51I saw and understood
22:52so well in others.
22:54And now
22:55it had come,
22:57undreamed of
22:59and unheralded.
23:02It had come.
23:04In what could have been
23:05no less than
23:06an ecstasy,
23:07I left my post
23:09at the head
23:09of the companionway
23:10and started
23:11along the deck
23:12murmuring to myself
23:13those beautiful lines
23:16of Mrs. Browning.
23:17I lived with visions
23:19for my company
23:21instead of men
23:23and women
23:24years ago
23:25and found them
23:27gentle maids
23:28nor thought to know
23:30a sweeter music
23:32than they played to me.
23:34But the sweeter
23:35the music was playing
23:36in my ears
23:37and I was blind
23:39and oblivious
23:39to all about me,
23:41the sharp voice
23:42of Wolf Larson
23:44aroused me.
23:46What the hell
23:47are you up to?
23:49He was demanding.
23:51I had strayed forward
23:53where the sailors
23:55were painting
23:55and I came to myself
23:57to find my advancing foot
23:59on the verge
24:00of overturning
24:00a paint pot.
24:03Sleepwalking?
24:04Sunstroke?
24:05What?
24:05he barked.
24:07No, indigestion,
24:10I retorted
24:11and continued my walk
24:13as if nothing untoward
24:15had occurred.
24:20
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