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00:00The Sea Wolf by Jack London, Chapter 3 and 4
00:05Wolf Larson ceased swearing as suddenly as he had begun.
00:10He relighted his cigar and glanced around.
00:13His eyes chanced upon the cook.
00:16Well, cookie, he began, with a suaveness that was cold and of the temper of steel.
00:23Yes, sir, the cook eagerly interpolated with appeasing and apologetic servility.
00:29Don't you think you've stretched that neck of yours just about enough?
00:35It's unhealthy, you know.
00:37The mate's gone, so I can't afford to lose you, too.
00:41You must be very, very careful of your health, cookie.
00:45Understand!
00:47His last word, in striking contrast with the smoothness of his previous utterance,
00:52snapped like the lash of a whip.
00:55The cook quailed under it.
00:57Yes, sir, was the meek reply, as the offending head disappeared into the galley.
01:03At this sweeping rebuke which the cook had only appointed,
01:06the rest of the crew became uninterested and fell to work at one task or another.
01:11A number of men, however, who were lounging about a companionway,
01:15between the galley and the hatch, and who did not seem to be sailors,
01:18continued talking in low tones with one another.
01:20These, afterward learned, were the hunters, the men who shot the seals,
01:25and a very superior breed to common sailor folk.
01:29Johansson!
01:31Wolf Larson called out.
01:33A sailor stepped forward obediently.
01:35Get your palm and needle and sew the beggar up.
01:38You'll find some old canvas in the sail locker.
01:40Make it do.
01:40What'll I put on his feet, sir?
01:44The man asked, after the customary aye-aye, sir.
01:47We'll see to that, Wolf Larson answered,
01:50and elevated his voice in a call of,
01:52Cookie!
01:54Thomas Mugridge popped out of his galley,
01:57like a jack-in-the-box.
01:58Go below, and fill a sack with coal.
02:01Any of you fellows got a Bible or prayer book?
02:04was the captain's next demand,
02:06this time of the hunters lounging about the companionway.
02:09They shook their heads,
02:12and someone made a jocular remark,
02:14which I did not catch,
02:15but which raised a general laugh.
02:17Wolf Larson made the same demand of the sailors.
02:20Bibles and prayer books seemed scarce articles,
02:22but one of the men volunteered to pursue the quest
02:25amongst the watch below,
02:27returning in a minute with the information that there was none.
02:31The captain shrugged his shoulders.
02:34Then we'll drop him over without any palavering,
02:36unless our clerical-looking castaway
02:39has the burial service at sea by heart.
02:42By this time, he had swung fully around,
02:45and was facing me.
02:47You're a preacher, aren't you?
02:50He asked.
02:51The hunters, there were six of them,
02:53turned and regarded me.
02:54I was painfully aware of my likeness to a scarecrow.
03:00A laugh went up at my appearance,
03:02a laugh that was not lessened or softened by the dead man
03:05stretched and grinning on the deck before us,
03:07a laugh that was as rough and harsh and frank as the sea itself,
03:13that rose out of coarse feelings and blunted sensibilities,
03:17from natures that neither knew courtesy nor gentleness.
03:22Wolf Larson did not laugh,
03:25though his grey eyes lighted with a slight glint of amusement,
03:28and in that moment,
03:30having stepped forward quite close to him,
03:32I received my first impression of the man himself,
03:35of the man as apart from his body,
03:38and from the torrent of blasphemy,
03:40had heard him spew forth.
03:43The face, with large features and strong lines,
03:47of the square order yet well filled out,
03:49was apparently massive at first sight,
03:51but again, as with the body,
03:54the massiveness seemed to vanish,
03:56and a conviction to grow,
03:58of a tremendous and excessive mental or spiritual strength
04:01that lay behind,
04:03sleeping in the deeps of his being.
04:05The jaw, the chin, the brow,
04:08rising to a goodly height and swelling heavily above the eyes.
04:11These, while strong in themselves,
04:14unusually strong,
04:15seemed to speak an immense vigor or virility of spirit
04:19that lay behind and beyond and out of sight.
04:22There was no such a spirit,
04:25no measuring,
04:26no determining of meets and bounds,
04:28nor neatly classifying in some pigeonhole with others of similar type.
04:33The eyes,
04:34and it was my destiny to know them well,
04:37were large and handsome,
04:38wide apart as the true artist's eyes are wide,
04:42sheltering under a heavy brow,
04:44and arched over by thick black eyebrows.
04:48The eyes themselves were of that baffling protean gray,
04:52which is never twice the same,
04:53which runs through many shades and colorings,
04:56like intershot silk and sunshine,
04:58which is gray, dark and light,
05:01and greenish gray,
05:02and sometimes of the clear azure of the deep sea.
05:06They were eyes that masked the soul with a thousand guises,
05:09and that sometimes opened at rare moments,
05:12and allowed it to rush up,
05:13as though it were about to fare forth,
05:17nakedly into the world,
05:18on some wonderful adventure.
05:21Eyes that could brood with the hopeless somberness of leaden skies,
05:26that could snap and crackle points of fire,
05:29like those which sparkle from a whirling sword,
05:33that could grow chill as an arctic landscape,
05:37and yet again,
05:38that could warm and soften,
05:40and be all a dance with love lights,
05:43intense and masculine,
05:45luring and compelling,
05:47which at the same time fascinate and dominate women,
05:51till they surrender in a gladness of joy,
05:53and of relief,
05:55and sacrifice.
05:56But to return,
05:58I told them that,
05:59unhappily for the burial service,
06:01I was not a preacher,
06:02when he sharply demanded,
06:04What do you do for a living?
06:09I confess,
06:10I had never had such a question asked me before,
06:12nor had I ever canvassed it.
06:14I was quite taken aback,
06:15and before I could find myself,
06:16had sillily stammered,
06:17I am a gentleman.
06:20His lip curled in a swift sneer.
06:26I've worked,
06:27I do work,
06:29I cried impetuously,
06:30as though he were my judge,
06:31and I required vindication,
06:32and at the same time,
06:33very much aware of my arrant idiocy
06:36in discussing the subject at all.
06:38For your living?
06:41There was something so imperative,
06:43and masterful about him,
06:45that I was quite beside myself,
06:46rattled,
06:47as Fur-Seth would have termed it,
06:50like a quaking child before a stern schoolmaster.
06:54Who feeds you?
06:56was his next question.
06:58I have an income,
07:01I answered stoutly,
07:02and could have bitten my tongue the next instant,
07:04all of which you will pardon my observing
07:06has nothing whatsoever to do
07:08with what I wish to see you about.
07:10But he disregarded my protest.
07:13Who earned it, eh?
07:14I thought so.
07:15Your father.
07:17You stand on dead men's legs.
07:19You've never had any of your own.
07:21You couldn't walk alone between two sunrises
07:23and hustle the meat for your belly for three meals.
07:26Let me see your hand.
07:28His tremendous dormant strength
07:30must have stirred swiftly and accurately,
07:33or I must have slept a moment,
07:35for before I knew it,
07:37he had stepped two paces forward,
07:38gripped my right hand in his,
07:40and held it up for inspection.
07:42I tried to withdraw,
07:43but his fingers tightened without visible effort,
07:45till I thought mine would be crushed.
07:47It is hard to maintain one's dignity
07:50under such circumstances.
07:51I could not squirm or struggle like a schoolboy,
07:54nor could I attack such a creature,
07:56who had but to twist my arm to break it.
07:58Nothing remained but to stand still
08:00and accept the indignity.
08:02I had time to notice that the pockets of the dead man
08:05had been emptied on the deck,
08:07and that his body and his grin
08:08had been wrapped from view in canvas,
08:11the folds of which the sailor Johansson
08:14was sewing together with coarse white twine,
08:18shoving the needle through
08:19with the leather contrivance
08:20fitted on the palm of his hand.
08:23Wolf Larson dropped my hand
08:24with a flirt of disdain.
08:26Dead man's hands have kept it soft.
08:29Good for little else than dishwashing
08:31and scullion work.
08:33I wish to be put ashore,
08:36I said firmly,
08:37for now I had myself in control.
08:39I shall pay you whatever you judge your delay
08:41and trouble to be worth.
08:44He looked at me curiously,
08:47mockery shone in his eyes.
08:50I have a counter-proposition to make,
08:53and for the good of your soul.
08:55My mate's gone,
08:56and there'll be a lot of promotion.
08:58A sailor comes aft to take mate's place,
09:00cabin boy goes forward to take sailor's place,
09:02and you take the cabin boy's place.
09:06Sign the articles for the cruise,
09:07twenty dollars per month and found.
09:09Now, what do you say?
09:10And mind you,
09:11it's for your own soul's sake.
09:13It will be the making of you.
09:15You might learn in time to stand on your own legs
09:17and perhaps to toddle along a bit.
09:19But I took no notice.
09:21The sails of the vessel I had seen off to the southwest
09:23had grown larger and plainer.
09:26They were of the same schooner rig as the ghost,
09:28though the hole itself,
09:29I could see was smaller.
09:31She was a pretty sight,
09:33leaping and flying toward us,
09:34and evidently bound to pass at close range.
09:37The wind had been momentarily increasing,
09:39and the sun,
09:40after a few angry gleams,
09:42had disappeared.
09:43The sea had turned a dull,
09:46leaden gray and grown rougher,
09:50and was now tossing,
09:52foaming whitecaps to the sky.
09:55We were traveling faster
09:56and heeled farther over.
09:59Once, in a gust,
10:00the rail dipped under the sea,
10:02and the decks on that side
10:03were for the moment awash with water,
10:05and made a couple of hunters
10:07hastily lift their feet.
10:08That vessel will soon be passing us,
10:11I said,
10:12after a moment's pause,
10:13and she's going in the opposite direction.
10:15She is very probably bound for San Francisco.
10:19Very probably,
10:21was Wolf Larson's answer,
10:23as he turned partly away from me
10:25and cried out,
10:26Cookie!
10:27Oh, Cookie!
10:29The cockney popped out of the galley.
10:31Where's that boy?
10:32Tell him I want him!
10:34Yes, sir.
10:36And Thomas Mugridge fled,
10:37fled swiftly aft,
10:39and disappeared down
10:40another companionway
10:41near the wheel.
10:43A moment later,
10:44he emerged,
10:45a heavyset young fellow
10:46of eighteen or nineteen
10:47with a glowering,
10:49villainous countenance
10:50trailing at his heels.
10:52Here he is, sir,
10:54the cook said.
10:56But Wolf Larson
10:57ignored that worthy,
10:58turning at once
10:59to the cabin boy.
11:01What's your name, boy?
11:04George Leach, sir,
11:06came the sullen answer,
11:08and the boy's bearing
11:09showed clearly
11:10that he divined the reason
11:11for which he had been summoned.
11:14Not an Irish name,
11:16the captain snapped sharply.
11:18Oh, Tool or McCarthy
11:19would suit your mug
11:20a damn sight better,
11:22unless very likely
11:22there's an Irishman
11:23in your mother's woodpile.
11:24I saw the young fellow's hands
11:27clench at the insult
11:28and the blood crawl
11:30scarlet up his neck.
11:34But let that go,
11:37Wolf Larson continued.
11:39You may have very good reasons
11:41for forgetting your name,
11:42and I'll like you
11:43none the worse for it
11:44as long as you toe the mark.
11:45Telegraph Hill, of course,
11:47is your port of entry.
11:48It sticks out
11:49all over your mug,
11:50tough as they make them
11:51and twice as nasty.
11:52I know the kind.
11:53Well, you can make up your mind
11:55to have it taken out of you
11:57on this craft, understand?
11:58Who shipped you anyway?
12:00MacReady and Swanson.
12:03Sir!
12:05Wolf Larson thundered.
12:07MacReady and old Swanson, sir,
12:10the boy corrected,
12:12his eyes burning
12:13with a bitter light.
12:15Who got the advance money?
12:17They did, sir.
12:19I thought as much,
12:22and damn glad you were
12:23to let them have it.
12:25Couldn't make yourself
12:25scarce too quick
12:26with several gentlemen
12:27you may have heard of
12:28looking for you.
12:30The boy metamorphosed
12:31into a savage on the instant.
12:33His body bunched together
12:34as though for a spring,
12:36and his face became
12:37an infuriated beast
12:38as he snarled.
12:39It's a...
12:40A what?
12:42Wolf Larson asked.
12:44A peculiar softness
12:45in his voice,
12:46as though he were
12:47overwhelmingly curious
12:49to hear the unspoken word.
12:51The boy hesitated,
12:53then mastered his temper.
12:56Nothing, sir.
12:58Take it back.
13:01And you have shown me
13:03I was right.
13:06This with a gratified smile.
13:09How old are you?
13:09Just turned sixteen, sir.
13:15A lie.
13:17You'll never see eighteen again.
13:19Big for your age at that
13:20with muscles like a horse.
13:21Pack up your kit
13:22and go forward
13:23into the fossicle.
13:24You're a boat puller now.
13:25You're promoted, see?
13:28Without waiting
13:29for the boy's acceptance,
13:31the captain turned
13:31to the sailor
13:32who had just finished
13:33the gruesome task
13:34of sewing up the corpse.
13:36Johansson,
13:37do you know anything
13:38about navigation?
13:41No, sir.
13:42Well, never mind.
13:44Your mate just the same.
13:45Get your tracks aft
13:47into the mate's berth.
13:48Aye, aye, sir,
13:50was the cheery response
13:51as Johansson started forward.
13:54In the meantime,
13:55the erstwhile cabin boy
13:56had not moved.
13:57What are you waiting for?
14:00Wolf Larson demanded.
14:02I didn't sign
14:03for pull boater, sir,
14:05was the reply.
14:06I signed for cabin boy
14:07and I don't want
14:09no boat pullin' in mine.
14:12Pack up and go forward.
14:15This time,
14:18Wolf Larson's command
14:19was thrillingly imperative.
14:22The boy glowered
14:23sullenly
14:24but refused to move.
14:27Then came another stirring
14:28of Wolf Larson's
14:30tremendous strength.
14:32It was utterly unexpected
14:33and it was over
14:34and done with
14:35between the ticks
14:36of two seconds.
14:38He had sprung
14:38fully six feet
14:40across the deck
14:40and driven his fist
14:42into the other's stomach.
14:44At the same moment,
14:45as though I had been
14:45struck myself,
14:46I felt a sickening shock
14:48in the pit of my stomach.
14:50I instanced this
14:52to show the sensitiveness
14:53of my nervous organization
14:55at the time
14:56and how unused
14:57I was to spectacles
14:59of brutality.
15:00The cabin boy,
15:01and he weighed
15:02one hundred and sixty-five
15:03at the very least,
15:05crumpled up.
15:06His body wrapped
15:07limply about the fist
15:08like a wet rag
15:10about a stick.
15:12He lifted into the air,
15:13described a short curve,
15:14and struck the deck
15:15alongside the corpse
15:17on his head and shoulders
15:18where he lay
15:19and writhed about
15:20in agony.
15:22Well?
15:24Larson asked of me.
15:26Have you made up
15:27your mind?
15:29I had glanced
15:30occasionally
15:31at the approaching schooner,
15:33and it was now
15:34almost abreast of us
15:35and not more than
15:35a couple of hundred yards away.
15:37It was a very trim
15:38and neat little craft.
15:40I could see a large
15:41black number
15:42on one of its sails,
15:43and I had seen pictures
15:44of pilot boats.
15:46What vessel is that?
15:48I asked.
15:49The pilot boat
15:52lady mine,
15:54Wolf Larson
15:54answered grimly.
15:56Got rid of her pilots
15:57and running into
15:58San Francisco.
15:59She'll be there
16:00in five or six hours
16:01with this wind.
16:03Will you please
16:04signal it
16:05so that I may be
16:06put ashore?
16:08Sorry.
16:09But I've lost
16:10the signal book
16:11overboard,
16:12he remarked,
16:13and the group
16:14of hunters grinned.
16:16I debated a moment,
16:18looking him
16:18squirreling in the eyes.
16:19I had seen
16:20the frightful treatment
16:21of the cabin boy,
16:22and knew that I should
16:23very probably receive
16:25the same,
16:26if not worse.
16:27As I say,
16:28I debated with myself,
16:30and then
16:30I did what I consider
16:32the bravest act
16:33of my life.
16:34I ran to the side,
16:35waving my arms
16:36and shouting,
16:37Lady mine,
16:38ahoy!
16:39Take me ashore!
16:41A thousand dollars
16:42if you take me ashore!
16:43I waited,
16:46watching two men
16:47who stood by the wheel,
16:48one of them steering.
16:50The other was lifting
16:51a megaphone to his lips.
16:53I did not turn my head,
16:54though I expected
16:54every moment
16:55a killing blow
16:56from the human brute
16:57behind me.
16:59At last,
17:00after what seemed
17:00centuries,
17:01unable longer
17:02to sound the strain,
17:03I looked around.
17:04He had not moved.
17:06He was standing
17:06in the same position,
17:08swaying easily
17:09to the roll of the ship,
17:11and lighting
17:12a fresh cigar.
17:15What is the matter?
17:17Anything wrong?
17:19This was the cry
17:20from the lady mine.
17:22Yes!
17:24I shouted
17:24at the top of my lungs.
17:26Life or death!
17:27One thousand dollars
17:29if you take me ashore!
17:32Too much Frisco Tanglefoot
17:34for the health
17:35of my crew,
17:36Wolf Larson shouted
17:37after.
17:38This one!
17:39Indicating with his thumb
17:40fancy sea serpents
17:42and monkeys just now.
17:47The man on the lady mine
17:48laughed back
17:49through the megaphone.
17:50The pilot boat
17:51plunged past.
17:53Give him hell for me!
17:56came a final cry,
17:57and the two men
17:58waved their arms
17:59in farewell.
18:02I leaned despairingly
18:04over the rail,
18:05watched the trim
18:06little schooner
18:07swiftly increasing
18:08the bleak sweep
18:09of ocean
18:10between us.
18:11And she would probably
18:12be in San Francisco
18:13in five or six hours.
18:16My head seemed bursting.
18:18There was an ache
18:18in my throat,
18:19as though my heart
18:20were up in it.
18:21A curling wave
18:23struck the side
18:23and splashed salt
18:24sprayed out
18:25in my lips.
18:26The wind puffed strongly
18:28and the ghost
18:29healed far over,
18:31bearing her lee rail.
18:33I could hear the water
18:34rushing down
18:34upon the deck.
18:37When I turned around,
18:39a moment later,
18:41I saw the cabin boy
18:42staggering to his feet.
18:45His face was ghastly white,
18:47twitching with suppressed pain.
18:50He looked very sick.
18:51Well, leech,
18:55are you going fard?
18:58Will Florsen asked.
19:01Yes, sir,
19:03came the answer
19:04of a spirit cowed.
19:06And you?
19:08I was asked.
19:10I'll give you a thousand,
19:12I began but was interrupted.
19:14Stow that!
19:15Are you going to take up
19:15your duties as cabin boy,
19:17or do I have to take you
19:18in hand?
19:22What was I to do?
19:23To be brutally beaten?
19:25To be killed, perhaps?
19:26Would not help my case.
19:28I looked steadily
19:29into the cruel grey eyes.
19:32They might have been granite
19:33for all the light
19:34and warmth
19:34of a human soul
19:35they contained.
19:36One may see the soul
19:38stir in some men's eyes,
19:40but his were bleak
19:42and cold
19:43and grey as the sea itself.
19:47Well?
19:48Yes,
19:50I said.
19:51Say yes, sir.
19:55Yes, sir,
19:56I corrected.
19:58What is your name?
20:00Van Whedon, sir.
20:02First name?
20:03Humphrey, sir.
20:05Humphrey Van Whedon.
20:07Age?
20:08Thirty-five, sir.
20:10That'll do.
20:11Go to the cook
20:11and learn your duties.
20:13And thus,
20:14it was that I passed
20:16into a state
20:17of involuntary servitude
20:18to Wolf Larsen.
20:21He was stronger than I,
20:22that was all,
20:23but it was very unreal
20:24at the time.
20:25It is no less unreal now
20:27that I look back upon it.
20:29It will always be to me
20:31a monstrous,
20:32inconceivable thing,
20:33a horrible nightmare.
20:37Hold on.
20:38Don't go yet.
20:39I stopped obediently
20:41in my walk
20:41toward the galley.
20:43Johansson,
20:44call our hands.
20:45Now that we've
20:46everything cleaned up,
20:48we'll have the funeral
20:49and get the decks
20:49cleared of useless lumber.
20:51While Johansson
20:53was summoning
20:57the watch below,
20:58a couple of sailors,
21:00under the captain's direction,
21:02laid the canvas-swathed corpse
21:04upon a hatch cover.
21:06On either side the deck,
21:07against the rail
21:08and bottoms up,
21:09were lashed
21:10a number of small boats.
21:12Several men
21:12picked up the hatch cover
21:13with its ghastly freight,
21:15carried it to the lee side,
21:17and rested it on the boats,
21:18the feet pointing overboard.
21:21To the feet
21:21was attached
21:22the sack of coal,
21:24which the cook had fetched.
21:26I had always conceived
21:27a burial at sea
21:28to be a very solemn
21:29and awe-inspiring event,
21:32but I was quickly disillusioned
21:34by this burial at any rate.
21:36One of the hunters,
21:37a little dark-eyed man,
21:39whom his mates called Smoke,
21:40was telling stories,
21:42liberally intersprinkled
21:43with oaths and obscenities,
21:46and every minute or so
21:47the group of hunters
21:48gave mouth to a laughter
21:49that sounded to me
21:51like a wolf chorus
21:52or the barking
21:54of hellhounds.
21:56The sailors
21:56trooped noisily aft,
21:59some of the watch below
22:00rubbing the sleep
22:01from their eyes
22:02and talked in low tones
22:03together.
22:05There was an ominous
22:06and worried expression
22:07on their faces.
22:08It was evident
22:09that they did not like
22:10the outlook of a voyage
22:11under such a captain
22:12and begun so inauspiciously.
22:16From time to time
22:17they stole glances
22:19at Wolf Larson
22:20and I could see
22:22that they were apprehensive
22:23of the man.
22:25He stepped up to the hatch over
22:27and all caps came off.
22:30I ran my eyes over them,
22:32twenty men all told,
22:34twenty-two,
22:36including the man
22:37at the wheel
22:37and myself.
22:39I was pardonably
22:40curious in my survey,
22:43for it appeared
22:44my fate to be
22:45pent up with them
22:46on this miniature
22:47floating world,
22:48for I knew not
22:49how many weeks
22:49or months.
22:51The sailors in the main
22:52were English
22:52and Scandinavian,
22:53and their faces
22:54seemed of the heavy,
22:55stolid order.
22:57The hunters,
22:57on the other hand,
22:58had stronger
22:58and more diversified faces,
23:00with hard lines
23:01and the marks
23:02of the free play
23:03of passions.
23:05Strange to say,
23:07and I noted it
23:08at once,
23:09Wolf Larson's features
23:11showed no such
23:12evil stamp.
23:14There seemed
23:14nothing vicious in them.
23:16True,
23:16there were lines,
23:17but they were the lines
23:18of decision
23:19and firmness.
23:20It seemed rather
23:21a frank and open
23:22countenance,
23:23which frankness
23:24or openness
23:24was enhanced
23:25by the fact
23:25that he was smooth-shaven.
23:27I could hardly believe,
23:29until the next incident
23:30occurred,
23:30that it was the face
23:31of a man
23:32who could behave
23:33as he had behaved
23:34to the cabin boy.
23:36At this moment,
23:37as he opened his mouth
23:38to speak,
23:39puff after puff
23:40struck the schooner
23:42and pressed her side under.
23:45The wind shrieked
23:46a wild song
23:47through the rigging.
23:48Some of the hunters
23:49glanced anxiously aloft.
23:52The lee rail,
23:53where the dead man lay,
23:54was buried in the sea,
23:56and as the schooner
23:57lifted and rided,
23:57the water swept
23:58across the deck,
24:00wetting us
24:00above our shoetops.
24:02A shower of rain
24:03drove down upon us,
24:05each drop
24:06stinging like a hailstone.
24:09As it passed,
24:10Wolf Larson
24:10began to speak,
24:12the bare-headed men
24:13swaying in unison
24:14to the heave
24:15and lunge
24:15of the deck.
24:18I only remember
24:19one part of the service,
24:21he said,
24:21and that is,
24:22and the body
24:23shall be cast
24:24into the sea.
24:25So,
24:26cast it in.
24:28He ceased speaking.
24:31The men,
24:32holding the hatch cover,
24:33seemed perplexed,
24:34puzzled,
24:34no doubt,
24:34by the briefness
24:35of the ceremony.
24:36He burst upon them
24:37in a fury.
24:38Lift up that end there,
24:40damn you!
24:40What the hell's
24:41the matter with you?
24:44They elevated
24:45the end of the hatch cover
24:46with pitiful haste,
24:47and, like a dog
24:49flung overside,
24:50the dead man slid,
24:52feet first,
24:53into the sea.
24:54The coal at his feet
24:55dragged him down.
24:57He was gone.
24:59Johansson?
25:01Wolf Larson said briskly
25:03to the new mate.
25:04Keep all hands on deck
25:05now they're here.
25:06Get in the topsails
25:07and jibs
25:08and make a good job of it.
25:10We're in for a sow-easter.
25:12Better reef the jib
25:13and mainsail, too,
25:14while you're about it.
25:16In a moment,
25:17the decks were in commotion.
25:19Johansson bellowing orders
25:20and the men pulling
25:21or letting go ropes
25:22of various sorts,
25:23all naturally confusing
25:25to a landsman
25:25such as myself.
25:27But it was the heartlessness
25:28of it that especially
25:29struck me.
25:30The dead man
25:30was an episode
25:31that was passed,
25:32an incident that was dropped,
25:33in a canvas covering
25:35with a sack of coal,
25:36while the ship sped along
25:37and her work went on.
25:39Nobody had been affected.
25:41The hunters were laughing
25:42at a fresh story of smokes,
25:44the men pulling and hauling,
25:45and two of them
25:46climbing aloft.
25:47Wolf Larson was studying
25:48the clouding sky
25:49to windward,
25:51and the dead man
25:52dying obscenely,
25:54buried sordidly,
25:56and sinking down,
25:58down.
26:00Then it was that
26:01the cruelty of the sea,
26:03its relentlessness
26:04and awfulness,
26:05rushed upon me.
26:07Life had become
26:08cheap and tawdry,
26:09a beastly,
26:10inarticulate thing,
26:11a soulless stirring
26:12of the ooze and slime,
26:14held on to the weather rail,
26:17close by the shrouds,
26:18and gazed out
26:20across the desolate,
26:21foaming waves
26:22to the low-lying fog banks
26:25that hit San Francisco
26:27and the California coast.
26:30Rain squalls were driving
26:31in between,
26:32and I could scarcely
26:34see the fog,
26:35and this strange vessel,
26:38with its terrible men,
26:40pressed under by wind and sea,
26:43and ever leaping up and out,
26:45was heading away
26:46into the southwest,
26:48into the great
26:49and lonely
26:50Pacific expanse.
26:52What happened to me next
26:56on the ceiling schooner ghost,
26:58as strove to fit
26:59into my new environment,
27:00are matters of humiliation
27:01and pain.
27:03The cook,
27:04who was called
27:04the doctor by the crew,
27:06Tommy by the hunters,
27:07and Cookie by Wolf Larson,
27:09was a changed person.
27:10The difference worked
27:11in my status
27:12brought about
27:12a corresponding difference
27:13in treatment from him.
27:15Servile and fawning
27:16as he had been before,
27:17he was now
27:18as domineering
27:19and bellicose.
27:21In truth,
27:21I was no longer
27:22the fine gentleman
27:23with a skin as soft
27:24as a lady's,
27:26but only an ordinary
27:27and very worthless
27:28cabin boy.
27:30He absurdly insisted upon
27:31my addressing him
27:32as Mr. Mugridge,
27:34and his behavior
27:36and carriage
27:37were insufferable
27:38as he showed me
27:39my duties.
27:41Besides,
27:41my work in the cabin
27:42with its four
27:43small state rooms
27:44was supposed to be
27:45his assistant
27:46in the galley,
27:48and my colossal ignorance
27:50concerning such things
27:51as peeling potatoes
27:51or washing greasy pots
27:53was a source of
27:54unending and sarcastic
27:56wonder to him.
27:57He refused to take
27:58into consideration
27:59what I was,
28:00or rather,
28:01what my life
28:01and the things
28:02I was accustomed
28:02to had been.
28:04This was part
28:05of the attitude
28:05he chose to adopt
28:06toward me,
28:07and I confess,
28:08ere the day was done,
28:09that I hated him
28:11with more lively feelings
28:13than I had ever hated
28:14anyone in my life before.
28:17This first day
28:18was made more difficult
28:19for me from the fact
28:20that the ghost
28:22under close reefs,
28:23terms such as these
28:24I did not learn
28:25till later,
28:26was plunging through
28:27what Mr. Mugridge
28:28called an
28:29Owling-Sow Easter.
28:32At half-past five,
28:33under his directions,
28:34I set the table
28:35in the cabin
28:36with rough weather
28:36trays in place,
28:38and then carried
28:38the tea and cooked food
28:40down from the galley.
28:41In this connection,
28:43cannot forbear
28:44relating my first experience
28:46with a boarding sea.
28:49Look sharp!
28:51Oh, you get doused!
28:53was Mr. Mugridge's
28:54parting injunction,
28:56as I left the galley
28:57with a big teapot
28:58in one hand
28:58and in the hollow
28:59of the other arm
29:00several loaves
29:01of fresh-baked bread.
29:03One of the hunters,
29:03a tall, loose-jointed chap
29:05named Henderson,
29:06was going aft
29:07at the time
29:07from the steerage.
29:09The name the hunters
29:10facetiously gave
29:11their midship
29:11sleeping quarters
29:12to the cabin.
29:15Wolf Larson
29:17was on the poop,
29:19smoking his
29:19everlasting cigar.
29:22Here she comes!
29:23Sling your hook!
29:25The cook cried.
29:27I stopped,
29:28for I did not know
29:29what was coming,
29:30and saw the galley
29:31door slide shut
29:32with a bang.
29:33Then I saw Henderson
29:34leaping like a madman
29:35for the main rigging,
29:36up which he shot
29:37on the inside
29:37till he was many feet
29:38higher than my head.
29:40Also I saw
29:41a great wave,
29:42curling and foaming,
29:44poised far above
29:45the rail.
29:46I was directly under it.
29:47My mind did not
29:48work quickly.
29:49Everything was so
29:50new and strange.
29:51I grasped
29:52that I was in danger,
29:53but that was all.
29:54I stood still
29:55in trepidation.
29:56Then Wolf Larson
29:57shouted from the poop,
29:58Grab hold something,
30:00you, you hump!
30:03But it was too late.
30:04I sprang toward
30:05the rigging,
30:06to which I might
30:07have clung,
30:08and was met
30:09by the descending
30:10wall of water.
30:11What happened
30:12after that
30:12was very confusing.
30:14I was beneath
30:14the water,
30:15suffocating and drowning.
30:16My feet were out
30:17from under me,
30:18and I was turning
30:19over and over,
30:20and being swept along
30:21I knew not where.
30:22Several times
30:23I collided against
30:24hard objects,
30:25once striking my right knee
30:27a terrible blow.
30:28Then the flood
30:29seemed suddenly
30:30to subside,
30:30and I was breathing
30:31the good air again.
30:32I had been swept
30:33against the galley
30:34and around the steerage
30:35companionway,
30:36from the weather side
30:37into the lee scuppers.
30:39The pain
30:40from my hurt knee
30:41was agonizing.
30:42I could not
30:43put my weight on it,
30:44or at least
30:45I thought I could
30:46not put my weight on it,
30:47and I felt sure
30:48the leg was broken,
30:49but the cook
30:49was after me,
30:50shouting through
30:50the lee galley door,
30:52EAR YOU!
30:53DON'T HIKE
30:53ALL DAY ABOUT IT!
30:55WHERE'S THE POT?
30:56LOST OVERBOARD?
30:56SERVE YOU BLOODY WELL
30:58IF YOUR NECK WAS BROKE!
31:00I managed to struggle
31:01to my feet.
31:02The great teapot
31:03was still in my hand.
31:04I limped to the galley
31:05and handed it to him,
31:07but he was consuming
31:08with indignation,
31:09real or feigned.
31:11Caw blimey,
31:12if he ain't a slob!
31:13What are you good for,
31:15anyway?
31:15I'd like to know, eh?
31:18What are you good for,
31:18anyway?
31:20Can't even carry
31:21a bit of tea aft
31:22without losing it.
31:23Now I'll have to
31:24boil some more.
31:26And what are you
31:26sniffing about?
31:27He burst out at me
31:29with renewed rage.
31:30Cause you hurt
31:31your poor little leg,
31:32poor little mama's darling.
31:35I was not sniffling,
31:37though my face
31:38might have been drawn
31:39and twitching
31:39from the pain,
31:40but I called up
31:41all my resolution,
31:42set my teeth,
31:43and hobbled
31:43back and forth
31:45from galley to cabin
31:46and cabin to galley
31:47without further mishap.
31:49Two things I had acquired
31:50by my accident.
31:52An injured kneecap
31:53that went undressed
31:54and from which I suffered
31:56for weary months
31:57and the name of Hump,
31:59which Wolf Larson
32:00had called me
32:00from the poop.
32:02Thereafter,
32:03fore and aft,
32:04I was known
32:04by no other name
32:06until the term became
32:07a part of my
32:08thought processes
32:09and I identified it
32:10with myself,
32:11thought of myself
32:12as Hump,
32:14as though Hump
32:15were I
32:15and had always been I.
32:18It was no easy task
32:20waiting on the cabin table
32:21where sat Wolf Larson,
32:23Joe Hansen,
32:24and the Six Hunters.
32:26The cabin was small
32:27to begin with,
32:28and to move around
32:29as I was compelled to do
32:30was not made easier
32:32by the schooner's
32:33violent pitching
32:33and wallowing,
32:34but what struck me
32:35most forcibly
32:36was the total lack
32:38of sympathy
32:39on the part of the men
32:40whom served.
32:41I could feel my knee
32:45through my clothes
32:46swelling and swelling,
32:48and I was sick
32:49and faint
32:49from the pain of it.
32:51I could catch glimpses
32:52of my face
32:53white and ghastly
32:54distorted with pain
32:55in the cabin mirror.
32:58All the men
32:58must have seen
32:59my condition,
32:59but not one spoke
33:01or took notice of me
33:02till I was almost grateful
33:03to Wolf Larson
33:04later on.
33:05I was washing the dishes
33:06when he said,
33:07Don't let a little thing
33:10like that bother you.
33:11You'll get used
33:12to such things in time.
33:13It may cripple you some,
33:15but all the same,
33:16you'll be learning to walk.
33:18That's what you call
33:19a paradox,
33:20isn't it?
33:21He added.
33:23He seemed pleased
33:24when I nodded my head
33:24with the customary
33:25Yes, sir.
33:27I suppose you know
33:28a bit about literary things, eh?
33:31Good.
33:32I'll have some talks
33:33with you sometime.
33:35And then,
33:36taking no further account
33:37of me,
33:38he turned his back
33:39and went up on deck.
33:42That night,
33:43when I had finished
33:44an endless amount of work
33:46and was sent to bed
33:48in the steerage
33:48where I made up
33:49a spare bunk,
33:50I was glad to get out
33:51of the detestable presence
33:53of the cook
33:53and to be off my feet.
33:55To my surprise,
33:57my clothes had dried on me
33:58and there seemed
33:59no indications
34:00of catching cold,
34:01either from the last soaking
34:02or from the prolonged soaking
34:04from the foundering
34:05of the Martinez.
34:06Under ordinary circumstances,
34:08after all that I had undergone,
34:09I should have been
34:10fit for bed
34:10and a trained nurse.
34:12But my knee
34:13was bothering me terribly,
34:15as well as I could make out
34:16the kneecap seam
34:17turned up on the edge
34:18in the midst
34:18of the swelling.
34:20As I sat in my bunk
34:21examining it,
34:22the six hunters
34:23were all in the steerage
34:24smoking and talking
34:24in loud voices.
34:26Henderson took
34:27a passing glance at it.
34:29Looks nasty,
34:31he commented.
34:32Tie a rag around it
34:33and it'll be all right.
34:35That was all.
34:36And on the land,
34:37I would have been lying
34:38on the broad of my back
34:39with a surgeon attending on me
34:40and with strict injunctions
34:41to do nothing but rest.
34:42But I must do
34:43these men justice.
34:44Callous as they were
34:45to my suffering,
34:46they were equally callous
34:47to their own
34:47when anything befell them.
34:49And this was due,
34:50I believe,
34:50first to habit
34:51and second to the fact
34:52that they were
34:53less sensitively organized.
34:56I really believed
34:56that a finely organized,
34:58high-strung man
34:58would suffer twice
34:59and thrice as much
35:00as they from a like injury.
35:03Tired as I was,
35:04exhausted in fact,
35:05I was prevented
35:06from sleeping
35:07by the pain in my knee.
35:08It was all I could do
35:09to keep from groaning aloud.
35:11At home,
35:12I should undoubtedly
35:12have given vent
35:13to my anguish,
35:14but this new
35:14and elemental environment
35:16seemed to call
35:17for a savage repression.
35:19Like the savage,
35:20the attitude of these men
35:21was stoical
35:21and great things,
35:22childish and little things.
35:24I remember later
35:25in the voyage
35:26seeing Kerfoot,
35:27another of the hunters,
35:28lose a finger
35:28by having it smashed
35:30to a jelly.
35:31And he did not even murmur
35:33or change the expression
35:34on his face.
35:35Yet I have seen
35:36the same man
35:36time and again
35:37fly into the most
35:38outrageous passion
35:39over a trifle.
35:41He was doing it now,
35:43vociferating,
35:43bellowing,
35:44waving his arms
35:44and cursing like a fiend,
35:46and all because
35:46of a disagreement
35:47with another hunter
35:48as to whether a seal pup
35:49knew instinctively
35:50how to swim.
35:52He held that it did,
35:53that it could swim
35:54the moment it was born.
35:55The other hunter,
35:56Latimer,
35:57a lean, Yankee-looking fellow
35:58with shrewd,
36:00narrow, slitted eyes,
36:01held otherwise,
36:02held that the seal pup
36:03was born on the land
36:04for no other reason
36:05than it could not swim,
36:08that its mother
36:08was compelled
36:09to teach it
36:09to swim as birds,
36:10were compelled
36:11to teach their nestlings
36:12how to fly.
36:13For the most part,
36:14the remaining four hunters
36:16leaned on the table
36:17or lay in their bunks
36:18and left the discussion
36:19to the two antagonists.
36:21But they were supremely
36:23interested,
36:23for every little while
36:24they ardently took sides
36:26and sometimes
36:27all were talking at once
36:28till their voices
36:29surged back and forth
36:30in waves of sound
36:31like mimic thunder rolls
36:33in the confined space.
36:36Childish and immaterial
36:37as the topic was,
36:38the quality of their reasoning
36:39was still more childish
36:41and immaterial.
36:42In truth,
36:42there was very little reasoning
36:44or none at all.
36:45Their method was one
36:46of assertion,
36:47assumption,
36:47and denunciation.
36:49They proved that a seal pup
36:50could not swim
36:51or could swim at birth
36:53by stating the proposition
36:54very bellicosely
36:55and then following it up
36:57with an attack
36:58on the opposing man's judgment,
37:00common sense,
37:01nationality,
37:01or past history.
37:03Rebuttal was precisely the same.
37:05I have related this
37:06in order to show
37:07the mental caliber
37:08of the men
37:09with whom I was thrown
37:10in contact.
37:11Intellectually,
37:12they were children,
37:13inhabiting the physical forms
37:15of men.
37:16And they smoked,
37:17incessantly smoked,
37:19using a coarse,
37:20cheap,
37:21and offensive
37:21smelling tobacco.
37:23The air was thick
37:24and murky
37:24with the smoke of it,
37:26and this,
37:26combined with the violent
37:27movement of the ship
37:28as she struggled
37:29through the storm,
37:30would surely have made me seasick
37:32had I been victim
37:33to that malady.
37:35As it was,
37:35it made me quite squeamish,
37:37though this nausea
37:38might have been due
37:38to the pain of my leg
37:40and exhaustion.
37:41As I lay there thinking,
37:43I naturally dwelt upon myself
37:44and my situation.
37:46It was unparalleled,
37:47undreamed of,
37:48that I,
37:49Humphrey Van Weeden,
37:51a scholar
37:51and a dilettante,
37:52if you please,
37:53in things artistic
37:54and literary,
37:55should be lying here
37:56on a bearing seal-hunting
37:58schooner,
37:59cabin boy.
38:01I had never done
38:02any manual labor
38:03or scullion labor
38:04in my life.
38:05I had lived
38:06a placid,
38:07uneventful,
38:08sedentary existence
38:09all my days,
38:10the life of a scholar
38:11and a recluse
38:12on an assured
38:12and comfortable income.
38:14Violent life
38:15and athletic sports
38:16had never appealed to me.
38:17I had always been
38:18a bookworm.
38:19So my sisters
38:20and father
38:20had called me
38:21during childhood.
38:22I'd gone camping
38:22but once in my life
38:23and then I left
38:24the party almost
38:25at its start
38:25and returned
38:26to the comforts
38:27and conveniences
38:28of a roof.
38:29And here I was,
38:31with dreary
38:32and endless vistas
38:33before me
38:34of table setting,
38:36potato peeling
38:36and dishwashing.
38:38And I was not strong.
38:40The doctors
38:40had always said
38:41I had a remarkable
38:41constitution,
38:42but I had never
38:43developed it
38:44or my body
38:45through exercise.
38:46My muscles
38:46were small
38:47and soft
38:48like a woman's.
38:50Or so the doctors
38:50had said time and again
38:52in the course
38:53of their attempts
38:54to persuade me
38:55to go in
38:55for physical culture fads.
38:57But I had preferred
38:58to use my head
38:59rather than my body.
39:00And here I was,
39:02in no fit condition
39:03for the rough life
39:04and prospect.
39:05These are merely
39:06a few of the things
39:07that went through my mind
39:08and are related
39:09for the sake
39:09of vindicating myself
39:10in advance
39:11in the weak
39:13and helpless role
39:15I was destined to play.
39:17But I thought also
39:18of my mother and sisters
39:19and pictured their grief.
39:21I was among
39:22the missing dead
39:23of the Martinez disaster,
39:25an unrecovered body.
39:27I could see
39:27the headlines
39:28in the papers,
39:29the fellows
39:29at the university club
39:30and the baby lot
39:31shaking their heads
39:34and saying,
39:34poor chap.
39:36And I could see
39:36Charlie Furosef
39:38as I said goodbye
39:39to him that morning,
39:40lounging in a
39:40dressing gown
39:41on the be-pillowed
39:42window couch
39:42and delivering himself
39:44of oracular
39:45and pessimistic epigrams.
39:47And all the while
39:48rolling, plunging,
39:50climbing the moving mountains
39:52and falling and wallowing
39:53in the foaming valleys,
39:55the schooner ghost
39:56was fighting her way
39:57farther and farther
39:58into the heart
39:59of the Pacific.
40:00And I was on her.
40:02I could hear
40:03the wind above me.
40:04It came to my ears
40:05as a muffled roar,
40:07now and again
40:07feet stamped overhead
40:09and endless creaking
40:11was going on
40:11all about me,
40:13the woodwork
40:13and the fittings
40:14groaning and squeaking
40:16and complaining
40:17in a thousand keys.
40:19The hunters
40:20were still arguing
40:20and roaring
40:21like some semi-human
40:22amphibious breed.
40:24The air was filled
40:25with oaths
40:26and indecent expressions.
40:28I could see
40:28their faces
40:29flushed and angry,
40:30the brutality
40:31distorted and emphasized
40:33by the sickly yellow
40:34of the sea lamps
40:35which rocked
40:37back and forth
40:38with the ship.
40:40Through the dim smoke haze
40:41the bunks looked like
40:42the sleeping dens
40:43of animals
40:44in a menagerie.
40:45Oil skins
40:46and sea boots
40:46were hanging
40:47from the walls
40:48and here and there
40:49rifles and shotguns
40:51rested securely
40:52in their racks.
40:53It was a sea fitting
40:54for the buccaneers
40:55and pirates
40:56of bygone years.
40:57My imagination
40:58ran riot
40:59and still
41:01I could not sleep
41:02and it was a long
41:04long night
41:06weary
41:07and dreary
41:09and long.
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