Latest / Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates / 08 - Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Transcript

08 - Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle · Dealings of Captain Sharkey and Other Stories of Pirates

0:00
Speaker 1: Of the Polestar, being an extract from the singular journal
0:03
Speaker 1: of John McAllister Ray, Student of Medicine, September eleventh, Latitude
0:09
Speaker 1: eighty one degrees forty minutes north, longitude two degrees east.
0:14
Speaker 1: Still lying too admit enormous ice fields. The one which
0:17
Speaker 1: stretches away to the north of us, and to which
0:19
Speaker 1: the ice anchor is attached, cannot be smaller than the
0:21
Speaker 1: English county to the right, and left unbroken sheets extend
0:25
Speaker 1: to the horizon. This morning the mate reported that there
0:28
Speaker 1: were signs of pack ice to the southward. Should this
0:31
Speaker 1: form of sufficient thickness to bar or return, we shall
0:34
Speaker 1: be in a position of danger, as the food I
0:36
Speaker 1: hear is already running somewhat short. It is late in
0:40
Speaker 1: the season, and the nights are beginning to reappear. This
0:43
Speaker 1: morning I saw a star twinkling just over the four yard,
0:46
Speaker 1: the first in the beginning of May. There is considerable
0:49
Speaker 1: discontent among the crew, many of whom are anxious to
0:52
Speaker 1: get back home in time for the herring season, which
0:54
Speaker 1: labour always commands a high price upon the Scotch coast.
0:57
Speaker 1: As yet, the displeasure is only signified by all encountenances
1:00
Speaker 1: in black looks. But I heard from the second mate
1:03
Speaker 1: this afternoon that they are contemplating sending a devitation to
1:05
Speaker 1: the captain to explain their grievance. I much doubt how
1:08
Speaker 1: he will receive it, as he is a man of
1:10
Speaker 1: a fierce temper and very sensitive about anything approaching to
1:13
Speaker 1: an infringement in his rights. I shall venture after dinner
1:16
Speaker 1: to say a few words to him upon the subject.
1:18
Speaker 1: I have always found that he would tolerate from me
1:20
Speaker 1: when he would resent from any other member of the crew.
1:23
Speaker 1: Amsterdam Island, at the northwest corner of Spitzenbergen, is visible
1:26
Speaker 1: upon our starboard quarter a rugged line of volcanic rocks
1:30
Speaker 1: interfected by white seams which represent glaciers. It is curious
1:34
Speaker 1: to think that at the present moment there is probably
1:36
Speaker 1: no human being nearer to us than the Danish settlements
1:39
Speaker 1: in the south of Greenland, a good nine hundred miles
1:41
Speaker 1: as the crow flies. A captain takes a great responsibility
1:46
Speaker 1: upon himself when he risks his vessel under such circumstances.
1:49
Speaker 1: No whaler has ever remained in these latitudes till so
1:51
Speaker 1: advanced the period of the year nine PM. I have
1:55
Speaker 1: spoken to Captain Craigie. And though the result has been
1:58
Speaker 1: hardly satisfactory, I am bound to say that he listened
2:00
Speaker 1: to what I had to say, very quietly and very differentially.
2:04
Speaker 1: When I have finished, he put on an air of
2:06
Speaker 1: iron determination which I have frequently observed upon his face,
2:09
Speaker 1: and paced rapidly backwards and forwards across the narrow cabin
2:12
Speaker 1: for some minutes. At first I feared that I had
2:15
Speaker 1: seriously offended him, but he dispelled the idea by sitting
2:17
Speaker 1: down again and putting his hands upon my arm with
2:19
Speaker 1: a gesture which almost amounted to a caress. There was
2:23
Speaker 1: a depth of tenderness too in his wild, dark eyes,
2:25
Speaker 1: which surprised me considerably. Look here, doctor, he said, I'm
2:29
Speaker 1: sorry I ever took you. I am indeed, and I
2:32
Speaker 1: would give fifty pounds this minute to see you standing
2:34
Speaker 1: safe upon a dundee key. It's hit or miss with
2:37
Speaker 1: me this time. There are fish to the north of us.
2:40
Speaker 1: How dare you shake your head, sir? When I tell
2:42
Speaker 1: you I saw him blowing from the mast head. This
2:45
Speaker 1: is a sudden burst of fury, though I was not
2:47
Speaker 1: conscious of having shown any signs of doubt. Two and
2:49
Speaker 1: twenty fished in as many minutes, as I am a
2:51
Speaker 1: living man and not one under ten foot. Now, doctor,
2:55
Speaker 1: do you think I can leave the country when there
2:56
Speaker 1: is one infertile strip of ice between me and my fortune?
3:00
Speaker 1: If it came on to blow from north tomorrow, we
3:02
Speaker 1: could fill the ship and be away before the frost
3:04
Speaker 1: would catch us. If it came on to blow from
3:06
Speaker 1: the south. Well, I suppose the man are paid for
3:08
Speaker 1: risking their lives, And as for myself, it matters but
3:11
Speaker 1: little to me, for I have more to bind me
3:12
Speaker 1: to the other world than to this one. I confess
3:15
Speaker 1: that I am sorry for you, though I wish I
3:17
Speaker 1: had old Angus Tate, who was with me the last voyage,
3:19
Speaker 1: for he was a man who would never be missed.
3:21
Speaker 1: And you you said once that you were engaged, did
3:24
Speaker 1: you not, Yes, I answered, snapping the spring of the
3:27
Speaker 1: locket which hung from my watch chain, and holding up
3:29
Speaker 1: a little vignette of Flora. Curse you, he yelled, springing
3:33
Speaker 1: out of his seat, and his very beard bristling with passion.
3:36
Speaker 1: What is your happiness to me? What have I to
3:38
Speaker 1: do with her that you must dangle her photograph before
3:40
Speaker 1: my eyes? I almost thought that he was about to
3:42
Speaker 1: strike me in the frenzy of his rage. But with
3:44
Speaker 1: another imprecation, he dashed upon the door of the cabin
3:46
Speaker 1: and rushed out upon deck, leaving me considerably astonished at
3:49
Speaker 1: his extraordinary violence. It is the first time to show
3:52
Speaker 1: me anything but courtesy and kindness. I could hear him
3:56
Speaker 1: pacing excitedly up and down overhead as I write these lines.
3:59
Speaker 1: I should like to give a sketch of the character
4:01
Speaker 1: of this man, But it seems presumptuous to attempts to
4:03
Speaker 1: think upon paper, when the idea of my own mind
4:05
Speaker 1: is at best a vague and uncertain one. Several times
4:08
Speaker 1: I have thought that I had grasped the clue which
4:10
Speaker 1: might explain it, but only to be disappointed by his
4:12
Speaker 1: presenting himself in some new light which would upset all
4:15
Speaker 1: my conclusions. It may be that no human eye but
4:18
Speaker 1: my own shall ever rest upon these lines. Yet as
4:20
Speaker 1: a psychological study, I shall attempt to leave some record
4:23
Speaker 1: of Captain Nicholas Craigie. A man's outer case generally gives
4:27
Speaker 1: some indication of the soul within. The Captain is tall
4:30
Speaker 1: and well formed, with dark, handsome features and a curious
4:33
Speaker 1: way of twitching his limbs, which may arise from nervousness,
4:36
Speaker 1: or may be simply an outcome of his excessive energy.
4:40
Speaker 1: His joe and whole cast of countenance is manly and resolute,
4:43
Speaker 1: but the eyes of a distinctive feature of his face.
4:46
Speaker 1: They are of the very darkest hazel, bright and eager,
4:48
Speaker 1: with a singular mixture of recklessness in their expression, and
4:51
Speaker 1: of something else that I have sometimes thought was more
4:53
Speaker 1: allied with horror than any other emotion. Generally the former predominated,
4:59
Speaker 1: but on occasions, and more particularly when he was thoughtfully inclined,
5:02
Speaker 1: the look of fear would spread in deepen until it
5:04
Speaker 1: imparted a new character to his whole countenance. It is
5:07
Speaker 1: at these times that he is most subject to tempestuous
5:09
Speaker 1: fits of anger, and it seemed to be aware of it,
5:12
Speaker 1: for I have known him lock himself up so that
5:14
Speaker 1: no one might approach himuntil his dark hour has passed.
5:17
Speaker 1: He sleeps badly, as I have heard him shouting during
5:20
Speaker 1: the night, but his cabin is some little distance from mine.
5:23
Speaker 1: I could never distinguish the words which he said. This
5:27
Speaker 1: is one phase of his character, and the most disagreeable one.
5:30
Speaker 1: It is only through my close association with him, thrown
5:33
Speaker 1: together as we are day after day that I have
5:34
Speaker 1: observed it. Otherwise, he is an agreeable companion, well read
5:38
Speaker 1: and entertaining, and as gallant a seaman has ever trod
5:40
Speaker 1: a deck. Shall I easily forget the way in which
5:43
Speaker 1: he handled the ship when we were caught by a
5:45
Speaker 1: gale among the loose ice at the beginning of April.
5:48
Speaker 1: I have never seen him so cheerful and even hilarious
5:50
Speaker 1: as he was that night, as he paced backwards and
5:52
Speaker 1: forward upon the bridge amid the flashing of lightning and
5:55
Speaker 1: howling of the wind. He has told me several times
5:57
Speaker 1: the thought of death was a pleasant one to him,
5:59
Speaker 1: Which is this sad thing for a young man to say.
6:02
Speaker 1: He cannot be much more than thirty. Those hair and
6:04
Speaker 1: mustache are already slightly grizzled. Some great sorrow must have
6:08
Speaker 1: overtaken him and blighted his whole life. Perhaps I should
6:11
Speaker 1: be the same if I lost my Flora. God knows,
6:14
Speaker 1: I think if it were not for her, that I
6:16
Speaker 1: should care very little whether the wind blew from the
6:18
Speaker 1: north or the south. Tomorrow there I hear him come down,
6:22
Speaker 1: the companion, and he's locked himself up in his room,
6:24
Speaker 1: which shows that he's still in an unamiable mood, and
6:27
Speaker 1: so to bed, as old Pepys would say, for the
6:29
Speaker 1: candle is burning down. We have to use them now,
6:31
Speaker 1: since the knights are closing in and the steward has
6:33
Speaker 1: turned in, and there are no hopes of another one.
6:37
Speaker 1: September twelfth, calm, clear day, and still lying in the
6:41
Speaker 1: same position. What wind there is comes from the southeast,
6:44
Speaker 1: but it is very slight. Captain is in a better
6:47
Speaker 1: humor and apologize to me at breakfast for his rudeness.
6:50
Speaker 1: He still looks somewhat distrait, however, and retains that wild
6:53
Speaker 1: look in his eyes, which in the Highlander wouldn't mean
6:55
Speaker 1: that he was fee at least so our chief engineer
6:58
Speaker 1: remarked to me, And he has some reputation on the
7:00
Speaker 1: Celtic portion of our crew as a steer and expounder
7:02
Speaker 1: of omens. It is strange that superstitions should have attained
7:07
Speaker 1: such mastery over this hard headed and practical race. I
7:10
Speaker 1: couldnot believed to what an extent is carried had I
7:12
Speaker 1: not observed it for myself. We have had a perfect
7:15
Speaker 1: epidemic of this voyage until I have felt inclined to
7:18
Speaker 1: serve out rations of sedatives and nerve tonics with a
7:20
Speaker 1: Saturday allowance of grog. The first symptom of it was
7:24
Speaker 1: that shortly after leaving Shetland, the men in the wheel
7:26
Speaker 1: used to complain that they heard plaintive cries and screams
7:29
Speaker 1: in the wake of the ship, as if something were
7:30
Speaker 1: following it, and were unable to overtake it. This fiction
7:34
Speaker 1: had been kept up during a whole voyage, and on
7:36
Speaker 1: dark nights at the beginning of the seal fishing. It
7:38
Speaker 1: was only with great difficulty that men could be induced
7:40
Speaker 1: to do their spell. No doubt what they heard was
7:44
Speaker 1: either the creaking of the rudder chains or the cry
7:46
Speaker 1: of some passing sea bird. I have been fetched out
7:48
Speaker 1: of bed several times to listen to it, but I
7:50
Speaker 1: need hardly say that I was never able to distinguish
7:52
Speaker 1: anything unnatural. The men, however, are so absurdly positive upon
7:57
Speaker 1: the subject that is hopeless to argue with them. I
8:00
Speaker 1: mentioned this matter to the captain once, but to my surprise,
8:02
Speaker 1: he took it very gravely, and indeed appeared to be
8:04
Speaker 1: considerably disturbed by what I told him. I should have
8:07
Speaker 1: felt that he at least would have been above such
8:09
Speaker 1: vulgar delusions. All this disquisition upon superstition, leads me to
8:14
Speaker 1: the fact that mister Manson, our second mate, saw a
8:17
Speaker 1: ghost last night, or at least says that he did,
8:19
Speaker 1: which of course is the same thing. This quite refreshing
8:22
Speaker 1: to have some new topic of conversation after the eternal
8:25
Speaker 1: routine of bears and whales which I served us for
8:27
Speaker 1: many months. Manson swear the ship is haunted, and that
8:31
Speaker 1: he would not stay in her a day if he
8:32
Speaker 1: had any other place to go. Indeed, the fellow is
8:36
Speaker 1: honestly frightened, and I had to give him some chloral
8:38
Speaker 1: and bromide of potassium this morning to settle him down.
8:42
Speaker 1: He seemed quite indignant when I suggested that, even having
8:44
Speaker 1: an extra glass the night before, and I was obliged
8:47
Speaker 1: to pacify him by keeping as grave accountant as as possible.
8:50
Speaker 1: During his story, which he certainly narrated in a very
8:52
Speaker 1: straightforward and matter of fact way. I was on the bridge,
8:57
Speaker 1: he said about four bells in the middle watch, just
8:59
Speaker 1: when the night was at its darkest. There was a
9:02
Speaker 1: bit of moon, but the clouds were blowing across it
9:04
Speaker 1: so that you couldn't see far from the ship. John McLoud,
9:07
Speaker 1: the harpooner came aft from the forecastle head and reported
9:10
Speaker 1: the strange noise on a starboard bow. I went forward
9:14
Speaker 1: and we both heard it, sometimes like a baron crying,
9:17
Speaker 1: and sometimes like a wench in pain. I've been seventeen
9:20
Speaker 1: years to the county and I've never heard seal old
9:22
Speaker 1: or young make a sound like that. As we were
9:25
Speaker 1: standing there in the forecastle head, the moon came out
9:28
Speaker 1: behind the cloud and we both saw a sort of
9:30
Speaker 1: white figure moving across the ice field in the same
9:32
Speaker 1: direction that we had heard the cries. We lost sight
9:35
Speaker 1: of it for a while, but it came back on
9:37
Speaker 1: the port bow and we could just make it out
9:38
Speaker 1: like a shadow on the ice. I set to hand
9:41
Speaker 1: aft with the rifles and McLoud and I went down
9:43
Speaker 1: on the pack, thinking that maybe it might be a bear.
9:46
Speaker 1: When we got on the ice, I lost sight of
9:48
Speaker 1: the cloud, and I pushed on in the direction where
9:50
Speaker 1: I could still hear the cries. I filed them for
9:53
Speaker 1: a mile or maybe more, and then running around hummock
9:56
Speaker 1: that came right on to the top of it, standing
9:58
Speaker 1: and waiting for me seemingly. I don't know what it was.
10:01
Speaker 1: It wasn't a bear anyway, it was tall and white
10:03
Speaker 1: and straight. And if it wasn't a man nor a woman,
10:06
Speaker 1: I'll stake my davy it was something worse. I made
10:09
Speaker 1: for the ship as hard as I can run, and
10:10
Speaker 1: precious glad I was to find myself aboard. I signed
10:13
Speaker 1: articles to do my duty by the ship, and on
10:15
Speaker 1: the ship I'll stay. But you don't catch me on
10:17
Speaker 1: that ice again after sundown. That is his story, given
10:22
Speaker 1: as far as I can in his own words. I
10:24
Speaker 1: fancy what he saw must, in spite of his denial,
10:27
Speaker 1: have been a young bear erected upon its hind legs,
10:29
Speaker 1: an attitude which they often assume went alarm. In the
10:32
Speaker 1: uncertain light, this would bear a resemblance to a human figure,
10:35
Speaker 1: especially to a man whose nerves were already somewhat shaken.
10:39
Speaker 1: Whatever it may have been, the occurrence is unfortunate, and
10:41
Speaker 1: for has produced a most unpleasant effect upon the crew.
10:44
Speaker 1: Their looks are more sullen than before, and a disc
10:47
Speaker 1: attent more open. The double grievance of being debarred from
10:50
Speaker 1: the herring fishing and of being detained in what they
10:53
Speaker 1: chose to call a haunted vessel, may lead him to
10:55
Speaker 1: do something rash. Even the harpooners, who are the oldest
10:58
Speaker 1: and steadiest among them, are joining in the general agitation.
11:03
Speaker 1: Apart from this absurd outbreak of superstition, things are looking
11:06
Speaker 1: rather more cheerful. The pack which was forming to the
11:08
Speaker 1: south of us had partly cleared away, and the water
11:11
Speaker 1: is so warm as to leave me the belief that
11:12
Speaker 1: we are lying in one of those branches of the
11:14
Speaker 1: Gulf Stream which run up between Greenland and Spitzenburgen. There
11:18
Speaker 1: are numerous small medusa and selamons about the ship, with
11:21
Speaker 1: abundance of shrimps, so that there is every possibility of
11:23
Speaker 1: fish being sighted. Indeed, one of them was seen blowing
11:27
Speaker 1: about dinner time, but in such a position that it
11:29
Speaker 1: was impossible for the boats to follow. In September thirteenth,
11:34
Speaker 1: had an interesting conversation with the chief mate, mister Milne,
11:36
Speaker 1: upon the bridge. It seems that our captain is as
11:39
Speaker 1: great an enigma to the seamen and even to the
11:41
Speaker 1: owners of the vessel that he has been to me.
11:43
Speaker 1: Mister Milner tells me that when the ship is paid
11:45
Speaker 1: off upon returning from a voyage, Captain Craigie disappears and
11:49
Speaker 1: is not seen again until approach of another season. When
11:51
Speaker 1: he walks quietly into the office of the company and
11:53
Speaker 1: asks whether his services will be required. He has no
11:56
Speaker 1: friend in Dundee, nor does anyone pretend to be acquainted
11:59
Speaker 1: with his early history. His position depends entirely upon his
12:02
Speaker 1: skill as a seaman and the name for courage and coolness,
12:05
Speaker 1: which he has earned in the capacity of the mate
12:07
Speaker 1: before being entrusted with a separate command. The unanimous opinion
12:11
Speaker 1: seems to be that he is a scotchman, and that
12:12
Speaker 1: his name is an assumed one. Mister Milne thinks that
12:15
Speaker 1: he has devoted himself to wailing simply for the reason
12:17
Speaker 1: that is the most dangerous occupation which he could select,
12:20
Speaker 1: and that it courts death in every possible manner. He
12:23
Speaker 1: mentioned several instances of this, one of which is rather
12:26
Speaker 1: curious if true. It seems that on one occasion he
12:29
Speaker 1: did not put in an appearance at the office, and
12:31
Speaker 1: a substitute had to be selected in his place. This
12:34
Speaker 1: was at a time of the last Russian and Turkish War.
12:36
Speaker 1: When it turned up again the next spring, he had
12:38
Speaker 1: a puckered wound on the side of his neck, which
12:40
Speaker 1: he used to endeavor to conceal with his cravat. Whether
12:43
Speaker 1: the mate's inference that he had engaged in the war
12:45
Speaker 1: is true or not, I cannot say. It was certainly
12:47
Speaker 1: a strange coincidence. The wind is veering round in an
12:51
Speaker 1: easterly direction, but it is still very slight. I think
12:54
Speaker 1: the ice is lying closer than it did yesterday, as
12:57
Speaker 1: far as the eye can reach out. On every side
12:58
Speaker 1: there's one wide expanse of spot white, only broken by
13:01
Speaker 1: an occasional rift or a dark shadow obahamma. To the
13:05
Speaker 1: south there is a narrow land of blue water, which
13:07
Speaker 1: is our sole means of escape, and which is closing
13:09
Speaker 1: up every day. The captain is taking a heavy responsibility
13:13
Speaker 1: upon himself. I hear that the tank of potatoes has
13:16
Speaker 1: been finished, and even that biscuits are running short. But
13:18
Speaker 1: it preserves the same impassable countenance and spends the greater
13:21
Speaker 1: part of the day at the crow's nest, sweeping the
13:23
Speaker 1: horizon with his glass. His manner is very variable, and
13:27
Speaker 1: he seems to avoid my society. But there has been
13:29
Speaker 1: no repetition of the violence which he showed the other
13:31
Speaker 1: night seven thirty pm. My deliberate opinion is that we
13:36
Speaker 1: are commanded by a madman. Nothing else can account for
13:39
Speaker 1: the extraordinary vigories of Captain Craigie. It is fortunate that
13:42
Speaker 1: I have kept this journal of our voyage, as it
13:44
Speaker 1: will serve to justify us in case we have to
13:46
Speaker 1: put him under any sort of restraint, a step which
13:48
Speaker 1: I can only consent to as a last resource. Curiously enough,
13:52
Speaker 1: it was as if he himself had suggested lunacy and
13:55
Speaker 1: not merely eccentricity, as the secret of his strange conduct.
13:58
Speaker 1: He was standing upon the bridge an hour ago, appearing
14:00
Speaker 1: as usual through his glass, while I was walking up
14:02
Speaker 1: and down the corridor. The majority of the men were
14:05
Speaker 1: below at their tee, for the watches have not been
14:07
Speaker 1: regularly kept of late. Tired of walking out, laid against
14:10
Speaker 1: the bulwarks and admired the mellow glow cast by the
14:13
Speaker 1: sinking sun upon the great ice fields which surround us,
14:16
Speaker 1: I was suddenly aroused from the reverie into which I
14:19
Speaker 1: was fallen by a hoarse voice of my elbow, and
14:21
Speaker 1: starting around, and found the Captain had descended and was
14:23
Speaker 1: standing by my side. He was staring out over the
14:26
Speaker 1: ice with an expression in such horror. Surprise and something
14:29
Speaker 1: approaching to joy were contending for his mastery. In spite
14:33
Speaker 1: of the cold. Great drops of perspiration were coursing down
14:35
Speaker 1: his forehead, and he was evidently fearfully excited. His limbs
14:39
Speaker 1: twitched like those of a man upon the verge fro
14:40
Speaker 1: an epileptic fit, and the lines of his mouth were
14:43
Speaker 1: drawn and hard. Look, he gasped, seizing me by the wrists,
14:47
Speaker 1: but still keeping his eyes upon a distant ice, and
14:50
Speaker 1: moving his head slowly in a horizontal direction, as if
14:52
Speaker 1: following some object which was moving across the field of vision.
14:56
Speaker 1: Look there, man, there between the hummocks, now coming out
14:59
Speaker 1: from behind the far one. You see her, You must
15:02
Speaker 1: see her there, still flying from me, by God, flying
15:05
Speaker 1: from me, and gone. He uttered the last two words
15:09
Speaker 1: in a whisper of concentrated agony, which shall never fade
15:12
Speaker 1: from my remembrance. Clinging to the rat lines, he endeavored
15:15
Speaker 1: to climb up upon the top of the bulwarks, as
15:17
Speaker 1: if in the hope of obtaining a last glance at
15:19
Speaker 1: the departing object. His strength was not equal to the attempt, however,
15:23
Speaker 1: and he staggered back against the saloon skylights, where he leaned,
15:26
Speaker 1: panting and exhausted. His face was so livid that I
15:29
Speaker 1: expected him to become unconscious, so lost no time in
15:32
Speaker 1: lending him down the companion and stretching him out upon
15:35
Speaker 1: one of the sofas of the cabin. I then poured
15:37
Speaker 1: him out some brandy, which I held to his lips,
15:39
Speaker 1: and which had a wonderful effect upon him, bringing the
15:42
Speaker 1: blood back into his white face and steadying his poor
15:45
Speaker 1: shaking limps. He raised himself up upon his elbows, and,
15:48
Speaker 1: looking round to see that we were alone, he beckoned
15:51
Speaker 1: to me to come and sit beside him. You saw it,
15:54
Speaker 1: didn't you, he asked, still in the same subdued, awesome
15:57
Speaker 1: tone so foreign to the nature of the man. No,
16:01
Speaker 1: I saw nothing. His head sank back against the cushions. No,
16:06
Speaker 1: he wouldn't without the glass, he murmured, He couldn't. It
16:09
Speaker 1: was the glass that showed her to me, and then
16:11
Speaker 1: the eyes of love, the eyes of love. I say, Doc,
16:15
Speaker 1: don't let this throw it in. They'll think I'm mad.
16:18
Speaker 1: Just bolt the door, will you. I rose and did
16:21
Speaker 1: what he commanded. He lay quiet for a while, lost
16:25
Speaker 1: in thought, apparently, and then raised himself up upon his
16:27
Speaker 1: elbow again and asked for some more brandy. You don't
16:31
Speaker 1: think I am, do you? Doc, he asked, as I
16:33
Speaker 1: was putting the bottle back into the afterlocker. Tell me now,
16:36
Speaker 1: as man to man, do you think and I am mad?
16:40
Speaker 1: I think you have something on your mind, I answered,
16:42
Speaker 1: which is exciting you and doing you a great deal
16:44
Speaker 1: of harm Right there, Lad, he cried, his eyes sparkling
16:48
Speaker 1: from the effects of the brandy. Plenty on my mind. Plenty.
16:51
Speaker 1: But I can work out the latitude and the longitude,
16:53
Speaker 1: and I can handle my sextant and manage my logarithms.
16:56
Speaker 1: You couldn't prove me mad in the court of law,
16:58
Speaker 1: could you. Now? He was curious to hear the man
17:01
Speaker 1: lying back and coolly arguing out the question of his
17:03
Speaker 1: own sanity. Perhaps not, I said, But still, I think
17:07
Speaker 1: you would be wise to get home as soon as
17:09
Speaker 1: you can, and settled down for quiet life for a while.
17:12
Speaker 1: Get home, eh, he muttered, with a sneer upon his face.
17:15
Speaker 1: One word for me and two for yourself. Lad, settled
17:18
Speaker 1: down with Flora, Pretty little Flora? Are bad dreams signs
17:22
Speaker 1: of madness? Sometimes? I answered? What else? What would be
17:26
Speaker 1: the first symptoms? Pains in the head, noises in the ears,
17:31
Speaker 1: flashes before the eyes, delusions, Ah, what about them? He interrupted,
17:36
Speaker 1: What would you call a delusion? Seeing a thing which
17:39
Speaker 1: is not there is a delusion? But she was there,
17:43
Speaker 1: He grown to himself. She was there, and rising, he
17:46
Speaker 1: unbolted the door and walked with slow and uncertain steps
17:48
Speaker 1: to his own cabin, where I have no doubt that
17:50
Speaker 1: he will remain until tomorrow morning. His system seems to
17:54
Speaker 1: have received a terrible shock, whatever it may have been
17:56
Speaker 1: that he imagined himself to have seen. The man becomes
17:59
Speaker 1: a greater miss free every day. Though I fear that
18:01
Speaker 1: the solution which he has himself suggested is the correct one,
18:04
Speaker 1: and that his reason is affected. I do not think
18:07
Speaker 1: that the guilty conscience has anything to do with his behavior.
18:10
Speaker 1: The idea is a popular one among the officers, and
18:12
Speaker 1: I believe the crew, but I have seen nothing to
18:14
Speaker 1: support it. He is not the heir of a guilty man,
18:17
Speaker 1: but of one who has had terrible usage at the
18:19
Speaker 1: hands of fortune, and who should be regarded as a
18:21
Speaker 1: martyr rather than a criminal. The wind is veering round
18:26
Speaker 1: to the south tonight. God help us off the blocks.
18:28
Speaker 1: That narrow pass, which is our only road to safety.
18:31
Speaker 1: Situated as we were, on the edge of the main
18:32
Speaker 1: Arctic pack or the barrier, as it is called by
18:35
Speaker 1: the whalers. Any wind from the north has the effect
18:37
Speaker 1: of shredding out the ice around us and allowing our escape,
18:40
Speaker 1: while wind from the south blows up, while the loose
18:42
Speaker 1: eyes behind us and hamms us in between two packs.
18:45
Speaker 1: God help us, I say again, September fourteenth, Sunday, and
18:52
Speaker 1: the day of rest. My fears have been confirmed, and
18:54
Speaker 1: a thin strip of blue water has disappeared from the southward.
18:58
Speaker 1: Nothing but the great, motionless ice fields around us, but
19:00
Speaker 1: with their weird hummocks and fantastic pinnacles. There is a
19:04
Speaker 1: deathly silence over all the wide expands, which is horrible.
19:08
Speaker 1: No lapping of the waves now, no crying of seagulls
19:10
Speaker 1: or stranding of sails, but one deep, universal silence, in
19:14
Speaker 1: which the murmurs of the seamen and the creak of
19:16
Speaker 1: their boots upon the white, shining deck seem discordant and
19:19
Speaker 1: out of place. Our only visitor was an arctic fox,
19:23
Speaker 1: a rare animal upon the pack, though common enough upon
19:25
Speaker 1: the land. He did not come near the ship, however,
19:28
Speaker 1: but after surveying us from a distance, fled rapidly across
19:31
Speaker 1: the ice. This was curious conduct, as they generally know
19:34
Speaker 1: nothing of man, and being of an inquisitive nature, becomes
19:37
Speaker 1: so familiar that they are easily captured. Incredible as it
19:41
Speaker 1: may seem, even this little incident produced a bad effect
19:44
Speaker 1: upon the crew. Yon poor beastie kens mar eh, and
19:48
Speaker 1: seize ma, nor you nor me, was the comment of
19:51
Speaker 1: one of the leading harpooners, and the others nodded in
19:53
Speaker 1: an acquiescence. It is vain to attempt to argue against
19:56
Speaker 1: such pyerile superstition. They've made up their that there was
20:00
Speaker 1: a curse upon the ship, and nothing will ever persuade
20:02
Speaker 1: them to the contrary. The captain remained in seclusion all day,
20:06
Speaker 1: except for about half an hour in the afternoon, when
20:09
Speaker 1: he came out upon the quarter deck. I observed that
20:11
Speaker 1: he kept his eye fixed upon the spot where the
20:13
Speaker 1: vision of yesterday had appeared, and was quite prepared for
20:15
Speaker 1: another outburst, But none such came. He did not seem
20:19
Speaker 1: to see me of all standing close beside him. Divine
20:22
Speaker 1: service was read as usual by the chief engineer. It
20:25
Speaker 1: is a curious thing that in whaling vessels the Church
20:27
Speaker 1: of England prayer book is always employed, although there is
20:30
Speaker 1: never a member of the Church among either officers or crew.
20:34
Speaker 1: Our men are either all Roman Catholics or Presbyterians, the
20:37
Speaker 1: former predominating since the ritual is used, which is foreign
20:41
Speaker 1: to both, and neither can complain that the others preferred
20:43
Speaker 1: to them. And they listen with all attention and devotion,
20:46
Speaker 1: so that the system has something to recommend it. In
20:49
Speaker 1: a glorious sunset which made the great fields of ice
20:51
Speaker 1: look like a lake of blood, I have never seen
20:53
Speaker 1: a finer and at the same time more weird effect.
20:56
Speaker 1: Wind is veering around. If it will blow twenty fours
21:00
Speaker 1: hours from the north, all will yet be well. September fifteenth,
21:05
Speaker 1: today is Flora's birthday. Dear lass it as well as
21:08
Speaker 1: she cannot see her boy, as she used to call me.
21:10
Speaker 1: Shut up among the ice fields with a crazy captain
21:13
Speaker 1: and a few weeks provisions no doubt. She scans the
21:16
Speaker 1: shipping list in the Scotsman every morning to see if
21:18
Speaker 1: we are reported from Shetland. I have to set an
21:20
Speaker 1: example to the men in a low, cheery and unconcern.
21:23
Speaker 1: But God knows my heart is very heavy at times.
21:27
Speaker 1: The thermometer is at nineteen fahrenheit today there is but
21:30
Speaker 1: little wind, and what there is comes from an unfavorable quarter.
21:34
Speaker 1: Captain is in an excellent humor. I think he imagines
21:37
Speaker 1: he has seen some other almen or vision poor fellow
21:39
Speaker 1: during the night, for he came into my room early
21:42
Speaker 1: in the morning, and, stooping down over my bunk, whispered,
21:45
Speaker 1: it wasn't a delusion, Doc, it's all right. After breakfast,
21:49
Speaker 1: he asked me to find out how much food was left,
21:51
Speaker 1: which the second mate and I proceeded to do. It
21:54
Speaker 1: is even less than we had expected. Forward. They have
21:57
Speaker 1: half tank full of biscuits, three barrels of salt meat,
22:00
Speaker 1: and a very limited supply of coffee, beans and sugar.
22:03
Speaker 1: In the after hold and lockers. There are a good
22:05
Speaker 1: many luxuries, such as tin, salmon, soups, Harrycott, mutton, et cetera,
22:10
Speaker 1: but they will go a very short way among a
22:11
Speaker 1: crew of fifty men. There are two barrels of flour
22:14
Speaker 1: in the storeroom, and an unlimited supply of tobacco. Altogether,
22:18
Speaker 1: there is about enough to keep the men on half
22:20
Speaker 1: rations for eighteen or twenty days, certainly not more. When
22:25
Speaker 1: we reported the state of things to the captain, he
22:27
Speaker 1: ordered all hands to be piped and addressed them for
22:29
Speaker 1: the quarter deck. I never saw him to better advantage.
22:33
Speaker 1: With his tall, well knit figure and dark animated face,
22:36
Speaker 1: he seemed a man born to command, and he discussed
22:39
Speaker 1: the situation in a cool, cillulate way, which showed that
22:42
Speaker 1: while appreciating the danger, he had an eye for every
22:44
Speaker 1: loophole of escape. My lads, he said, no doubt you
22:48
Speaker 1: think I brought you into this fix if it is
22:50
Speaker 1: a fix, and maybe some of you feel bitter against
22:52
Speaker 1: me on account of it, but you must remember that
22:55
Speaker 1: for many a season, no ship deck comes to the
22:57
Speaker 1: county has brought in as much oil money as the
22:59
Speaker 1: poles are, and every one of you has had his
23:01
Speaker 1: share of it. You can leave your wives behind you
23:04
Speaker 1: in comfort while other poor fellows come back to find
23:06
Speaker 1: our lasses on the patch. If you have to fand
23:08
Speaker 1: him for the one, you have to thank me for
23:10
Speaker 1: the other, and we may call it quits. We've tried
23:13
Speaker 1: a bold venture before this and succeeded, so now that
23:15
Speaker 1: we've tried one and failed, we've no cost to cry
23:18
Speaker 1: about it. If the worst comes to the worst, we
23:20
Speaker 1: can make the land across the ice and lay in
23:22
Speaker 1: a stock of seals which will keep us alive until
23:24
Speaker 1: the spring. It won't come to that, though, for you'll
23:27
Speaker 1: see the Scotch coast again before three weeks are out.
23:29
Speaker 1: At present, every man must go on half rations, share
23:32
Speaker 1: and share alike, and no favor to any. Keep up
23:36
Speaker 1: your hearts and you'll pull through this that you pull
23:37
Speaker 1: through many a danger. Before these few simple words of
23:40
Speaker 1: his had a wonderful effect upon the crew. His former
23:43
Speaker 1: unpopularity was forgotten, and the old harpooner, whom I have
23:45
Speaker 1: already mentioned for his superstition, led off three cheers, which
23:48
Speaker 1: were hardly joined in by all hands. September sixteenth, the
23:54
Speaker 1: vin had weired round to the north during the night,
23:56
Speaker 1: and the ice shows some symptoms of opening up. A
23:58
Speaker 1: men are in good humor right of the short allowance
24:01
Speaker 1: upon which they have been placed. Steam is kept up
24:04
Speaker 1: in the engine room that there may be no delay
24:05
Speaker 1: should an opening for their escape present itself. The captain
24:09
Speaker 1: is an exuberant sperience, though he still retains his wild
24:12
Speaker 1: fey expression, which I have already remarked upon. This burst
24:16
Speaker 1: of cheerfulness puzzles me more than his former gloom. I
24:18
Speaker 1: cannot understand it. I think I mentioned it in an
24:21
Speaker 1: early part of this journal that one of his oddities
24:23
Speaker 1: is that he never permits any person to enter his cabin,
24:25
Speaker 1: but insists upon making his own beds, such as it is,
24:27
Speaker 1: and performing every other office himself. To my surprise, he
24:31
Speaker 1: handed me the key today and requested me to go
24:33
Speaker 1: down there and take the time by the chronometer while
24:35
Speaker 1: he measured the altitude of the sun at noon. It
24:39
Speaker 1: is a bare little room, containing a washing stand and
24:41
Speaker 1: a few books, but little else in the way of
24:43
Speaker 1: luxury except some pictures on the wall. The majority of
24:46
Speaker 1: these are some cheap oleographs, but there was one watercolored
24:49
Speaker 1: sketch of the head of a young lady which arrested
24:52
Speaker 1: my attention. He was evidently a portrait, and not one
24:55
Speaker 1: of those fancy types of female beauty which sailors particularly,
24:58
Speaker 1: a fact no artists could have evolved from his own.
25:01
Speaker 1: Such a curious mixture of character and weakness. The languid,
25:05
Speaker 1: dreamy eyes with their drooping lashes, and the broad, low
25:09
Speaker 1: brow unruffled by thought or care, or in strong contrast
25:12
Speaker 1: to the clean cut, prominent jaw and the resolute set
25:15
Speaker 1: of the upper lip underneath it. In one of the
25:18
Speaker 1: corners was written mb At nineteen that anyone in the
25:23
Speaker 1: short space of nineteen years of existence could develop such
25:25
Speaker 1: strength of will as was stamped upon her face seemed
25:28
Speaker 1: to me at the time to be wellnigh incredible. She
25:30
Speaker 1: must have been an extraordinary woman. Her features have thrown
25:33
Speaker 1: such a glamor over me that, though I had been
25:35
Speaker 1: a fleeting glance at them, I could where I a draftsman,
25:38
Speaker 1: reproduced them line for line upon this page of the journal.
25:42
Speaker 1: I wonder what parts has played in our captain's life.
25:45
Speaker 1: She has hung her picture at the end of his birth, says,
25:47
Speaker 1: eyes continually rest upon it. Were he a less reserved man,
25:51
Speaker 1: I should make some remark upon the subject of the
25:54
Speaker 1: other things in his cabin, there was nothing worth mention.
25:56
Speaker 1: Uniform coats, the campstool, small looking glass, tobacco box, numerous pipes,
26:02
Speaker 1: including an Oriental hookah, which, by the bye gives some
26:05
Speaker 1: color to mister Miller's story about his participation in the war,
26:08
Speaker 1: though the connection may seem rather a distant one. Eleven
26:12
Speaker 1: twenty pm. Captain just gone to bed after a long
26:15
Speaker 1: and interesting conversation of general topics. When he chooses to
26:19
Speaker 1: be a most fascinating companion, being remarkably well read and
26:22
Speaker 1: having the power of expressing his opinion forcibly, without appearing
26:25
Speaker 1: to be dogmatic. I hate to have my intellectual toes
26:28
Speaker 1: trod upon. He spoke upon the nature of the soul
26:31
Speaker 1: and sketch out the views of Aristotle and Plato upon
26:33
Speaker 1: the subject in a masterly manner. He seems to have
26:36
Speaker 1: a leaning for metempsychosis and the doctrines of Pythagoras. In
26:40
Speaker 1: discussing them. We touched upon modern spiritualism, and I made
26:43
Speaker 1: some joking allusions to the impostures of Slade, upon which,
26:46
Speaker 1: to my surprise, he warned me most impressively against confusing
26:49
Speaker 1: the innocent with the guilty, and argued that it would
26:51
Speaker 1: be as logical to brand Christianity as an error, because Judas,
26:55
Speaker 1: who professed that religion, was a villain. He shortly afterwards
26:59
Speaker 1: bab me good night and retired to his room. The
27:03
Speaker 1: wind is freshening up and blows steadily from the north.
27:06
Speaker 1: The nights are as dark now as they are in England.
27:08
Speaker 1: I hope tomorrow may set us free from our frozen fetters.
27:12
Speaker 1: September seventeenth, the bogie again, thank heaving the Knight of
27:16
Speaker 1: strong nerves. The superstition of these poor fellows in the
27:19
Speaker 1: circumstantial accounts, which they give with the utmost earnestness and
27:22
Speaker 1: self conviction, would horrify any man not accustomed to their ways.
27:26
Speaker 1: There are many versions of the matter, but the sum
27:29
Speaker 1: total of them is that something uncanny has been flitting
27:31
Speaker 1: around the ship at night, and that Sandy MacDonald of
27:34
Speaker 1: Peterhead and Lang Peter and Williamson of Shetland saw it too,
27:38
Speaker 1: and also did mister mill on the bridge. So having
27:41
Speaker 1: three witnesses they can have a better case of it
27:43
Speaker 1: than the second mad did. I spoke to mill And
27:46
Speaker 1: after breakfast and told him that he should be above
27:47
Speaker 1: such nonsense, and then as an officer, he ought to
27:50
Speaker 1: sit the men in better example. He shook his weather
27:53
Speaker 1: beaten head ominously, but answered with the characters to caution,
27:56
Speaker 1: I maybe not doctor, he said, I didn't a call
27:59
Speaker 1: to guest. I cannot say I preen my faith in
28:01
Speaker 1: his sea Bogles and alike, though there's a many at
28:03
Speaker 1: a claim that they've seen that in wir I'm no
28:06
Speaker 1: easy feared, but maybe your own blood to run a
28:09
Speaker 1: cold man if instead of spear and about it in daylight,
28:12
Speaker 1: you were with me last night and seen in awful
28:14
Speaker 1: shape white and gruesome, whilst here whiles there and a
28:17
Speaker 1: great and in kind in the darkness, like a bit
28:19
Speaker 1: lady that had lost its mother, you would never be
28:21
Speaker 1: said ready to put a doom to old wives. Clavis.
28:24
Speaker 1: Then I'm thinking I saw was hopeless to reason with him,
28:27
Speaker 1: so contented myself with begging him, as a personal favor,
28:30
Speaker 1: to call me up the next time the specter appeared,
28:32
Speaker 1: a request which he exceeded with many ejaculations, expressive of
28:35
Speaker 1: the hopes that such an opportunity might never arise as
28:39
Speaker 1: I had hoped. The white desert behind us had become
28:41
Speaker 1: broken by many thin streaks of water which intersect it
28:44
Speaker 1: in all directions. Our latitude to day was eighty degrees
28:47
Speaker 1: fifty two minutes north, which shows that there is a strong,
28:50
Speaker 1: subtly drift upon the pack. Should the wind continue favorable,
28:53
Speaker 1: it would break up as rapidly as it formed. At present.
28:56
Speaker 1: We could do nothing but smoke and wait and hope
28:58
Speaker 1: for the best. I am rapidly becoming a fatalist. When
29:02
Speaker 1: dealing with such uncertain factors as wind and ice, a
29:04
Speaker 1: man could be nothing else. Perhaps it was the wind
29:06
Speaker 1: and sand of the Arabian deserts which gave the minds
29:08
Speaker 1: of the original followers of Muhammed their tendency to bow
29:11
Speaker 1: to Kismet. These spectral alarms have had a very bad
29:15
Speaker 1: effect upon the captain. I feared that it might excite
29:17
Speaker 1: his sensitive mind, and endeavored to conceal the absurd story
29:20
Speaker 1: from him. But unfortunately he overheard one of the men
29:23
Speaker 1: making an allusion to it, and insisted upon being formed
29:25
Speaker 1: about it. As I had expected, it brought out all
29:29
Speaker 1: his latent lunacy in an exaggerated form. I can hardly
29:32
Speaker 1: believe that this is the same man who discoursed philosophy
29:34
Speaker 1: last night with the most critical acumen and coolest judgment.
29:38
Speaker 1: He's pacing backwards and forwards upon the quarter deck like
29:40
Speaker 1: a caged tiger, stepping now and again to throw out
29:43
Speaker 1: his hands in a yearning gesture and stare impatiently out
29:47
Speaker 1: over the ice. He keeps up a continual mutter to himself,
29:50
Speaker 1: and once he called out, but a little time, love,
29:53
Speaker 1: but a little time, poor fellow. It is sad up
29:56
Speaker 1: to see a gallant seaman and accomplished gentleman reduces such
29:59
Speaker 1: a pass, and to think that imagination and delusion can
30:02
Speaker 1: cow a mind to which real danger was but the
30:04
Speaker 1: salt of life was ever a man. In such a
30:06
Speaker 1: position as I between a demented captain and a ghost
30:10
Speaker 1: seeing mate, I sometimes take on the only really sane
30:12
Speaker 1: man aboard the vessel, except perhaps the second engineer, who
30:15
Speaker 1: was a kind of ruminant whom cared nothing for all
30:18
Speaker 1: the fiends in the red sea, so long as they
30:19
Speaker 1: would leave him alone and not disarrange his tools. The
30:23
Speaker 1: ice is still opening rapidly, and there is every probability
30:26
Speaker 1: of our being able to make a start tomorrow morning.
30:28
Speaker 1: They will think I am inventing when I tell them
30:30
Speaker 1: at home all the strange things that have befallen me.
30:34
Speaker 1: Twelve p m. I have been a good deal startled.
30:37
Speaker 1: Though I feel steadier now thanks to a stiff glass
30:39
Speaker 1: of brandy. I am hardly myself yet, However, as this
30:43
Speaker 1: handwriting will testify, the fact is that I have gone
30:46
Speaker 1: through a very strange experience. And I'm beginning to doubt
30:48
Speaker 1: whether I was justified in branding everyone on board as madmen,
30:51
Speaker 1: because they professed to have seen the things which did
30:53
Speaker 1: not seem reasonable to my understanding. Poshaw, I am a
30:57
Speaker 1: fool less Such a trifle unnerved me, and yet coming
31:00
Speaker 1: as it does after all these alarms, it has an
31:02
Speaker 1: additional significance, for I can not doubt either mister Manson's
31:05
Speaker 1: story or that of the mate, now that I've experienced
31:07
Speaker 1: that which I used formerly to scoff at. After all,
31:10
Speaker 1: it was nothing very alarming, a mere sound, and that
31:13
Speaker 1: was all. I cannot expect that anyone reading this, if
31:16
Speaker 1: anyone should read it, will sympathize with my feelings or
31:18
Speaker 1: realize the effect which had produced upon me. At the
31:20
Speaker 1: time supper was over and I got on deck to
31:24
Speaker 1: have a quiet pipe before turning in, the night was
31:26
Speaker 1: very dark, so dark that, standing under the quarterboat, I
31:29
Speaker 1: was unable to see the officer upon the bridge. I
31:32
Speaker 1: think I have already mentioned the extraordinary silence which prevails
31:35
Speaker 1: in these frozen seas. In other parts of the world,
31:38
Speaker 1: be they ever so barren, there is some slight vibration
31:40
Speaker 1: of the air, some faint hum beat from the distant
31:44
Speaker 1: haunts of men, or from the leaves of the trees,
31:46
Speaker 1: or the wings of the bird, or even the faint
31:48
Speaker 1: rustle of the grasses that cover the ground. One may
31:51
Speaker 1: not actively perceive the sound, and yet if it were withdrawn,
31:55
Speaker 1: it would be missed is only here in these arctic
31:58
Speaker 1: seas that stark, unfathomable stillness obtrudes itself upon you. In
32:02
Speaker 1: all its gruesome reality, you find your tympanum straining to
32:05
Speaker 1: catch some little murmur, and dwelling eagerly upon every accidental
32:09
Speaker 1: sound within the vessel. In this state, I was leaning
32:12
Speaker 1: against the bulwarks when there arose from the ice, almost
32:15
Speaker 1: directly underneath me, a cry, sharpened shrill upon the silent
32:18
Speaker 1: air of the night, beginning, as it seemed to me
32:21
Speaker 1: at a note such a prima donna never reached, and
32:23
Speaker 1: mounting from that ever higher and higher, until it culminated
32:26
Speaker 1: in the long wail of agony, which might have been
32:29
Speaker 1: the last cry of a lost soul. The ghastly scream
32:33
Speaker 1: is still ringing in my ears. Grief, unutterable grief, seemed
32:37
Speaker 1: to be expressed in it, and a great longing. And
32:39
Speaker 1: yet through it all there was an occasional wild note
32:41
Speaker 1: of exultation. It shrilled out from close behind me. Yet
32:45
Speaker 1: as I glared into the darkness, I could discern nothing.
32:48
Speaker 1: I waited some little time, but without hearing any repetition
32:50
Speaker 1: of the sound, so I came below, more shaking than
32:53
Speaker 1: I had ever been in my life before. As I
32:56
Speaker 1: came down the companion, I met mister Milne coming up
32:59
Speaker 1: to relieve the watch. Wheed a doctor. He said, maybe
33:02
Speaker 1: that's old wives clavers too. Do you hear no scurling?
33:06
Speaker 1: Maybe that's a superstition. What do you think? God know?
33:10
Speaker 1: I was obliged to apologize to the honest fellow and
33:12
Speaker 1: acknowledged that I was as puzzled by it as he was.
33:15
Speaker 1: Perhaps tomorrow things may look different. Yet present I deaarly
33:18
Speaker 1: heart ripe all that I think reading it again in
33:21
Speaker 1: days to come, when I've shaken off these associations, I
33:23
Speaker 1: might despise myself for having been so weak. September eighteenth
33:29
Speaker 1: passed a restless and uneasy night, still haunted by a
33:32
Speaker 1: strange sound. The captain does not look as if he
33:35
Speaker 1: has much reposed, either, for his face is haggard and
33:37
Speaker 1: his eyes bloodshot. I've not told him of my adventure
33:40
Speaker 1: last night, nor shall I. He's already restless and excited,
33:44
Speaker 1: standing up, sitting down, and apparently utterly unable to keep still.
33:49
Speaker 1: A fine lead appeared in the pack this morning, as
33:52
Speaker 1: I have expected, and we were able to cast off
33:54
Speaker 1: our ice anchor and steam about twelve miles in the
33:57
Speaker 1: west southwesterly direction. We were then brought to a hall
34:00
Speaker 1: by a great flow, as massive as any which we
34:01
Speaker 1: had left behind us. It bars our progress completely, so
34:05
Speaker 1: we can do nothing but anchor again and wait until
34:07
Speaker 1: it breaks up, which it will probably do within twenty
34:09
Speaker 1: four hours if the wind holds. Several blat or nose
34:13
Speaker 1: seals were seen swimming in the water, and one was shot.
34:15
Speaker 1: An immense creature more than eleven feet long. They are fierce,
34:18
Speaker 1: pugnacious animals and are said to be more than a
34:21
Speaker 1: match for a bear. Fortunately, they are slow and clumsy
34:23
Speaker 1: in their movements, so there's little danger in attacking them
34:26
Speaker 1: upon the ice. The captain evidently does not think we
34:30
Speaker 1: have seen the last of our troubles, though why we
34:32
Speaker 1: should take such gloomy view of the situation is more
34:34
Speaker 1: than I can found them, since everyone else on board
34:36
Speaker 1: considers that we have had a miraculous escape and are
34:39
Speaker 1: sure now to reach the open sea. I suppose you
34:42
Speaker 1: think it's all right now, doctor, he said, as we
34:44
Speaker 1: sat together after dinner. I hope, so, I answered. We
34:48
Speaker 1: mustn't be too sure, and yet, no doubt you are right.
34:51
Speaker 1: We'll all be in the arms of our true loves
34:52
Speaker 1: before long, lad won't we But we mustn't be too sure.
34:56
Speaker 1: We mustn't be too sure. He sat silent, a little
34:59
Speaker 1: swing his leg thoughtfully backwards and forwards. Look here, he continued.
35:03
Speaker 1: It's a dangerous place this, even that it's best a treacherous,
35:06
Speaker 1: dangerous place. I have no men cut off very suddenly
35:09
Speaker 1: in a land like this. A slip would do it.
35:11
Speaker 1: Sometimes a single slip, and down you go through a crack,
35:14
Speaker 1: and only a bubble in the green water to show
35:16
Speaker 1: where it was that you sang. It's a queer thing,
35:19
Speaker 1: he continued, with a nervous laugh. But all the years
35:21
Speaker 1: I've been in this country, I never once thought of
35:23
Speaker 1: making a will, not that I have anything to leave
35:25
Speaker 1: in particular. But still, when a man is exposed to danger,
35:28
Speaker 1: he should have something arranged and ready, don't you think certainly,
35:32
Speaker 1: I answered, wondering what on earth he was driving out.
35:35
Speaker 1: He feels better for knowing it's all settled, he went on. Now,
35:38
Speaker 1: if anything should ever befall me, I hope you will
35:41
Speaker 1: look after my things for me. There's very little in
35:43
Speaker 1: the cabin, but such as it is, I should like
35:45
Speaker 1: it to be sold, and the hight he divided in
35:47
Speaker 1: some proportion as the oil money among the crew the chronometer.
35:50
Speaker 1: I wish you to keep yourself as some slight remembrance
35:52
Speaker 1: of our voyage. Of course, all this is mere precaution,
35:55
Speaker 1: but I thought it would take the opportunity of speaking
35:57
Speaker 1: to you about it. I suppose I might rely upon
35:59
Speaker 1: you if there's any necessity. Most assuredly, I answered, And
36:03
Speaker 1: since you are taking this death, I may as well you?
36:07
Speaker 1: He interrupted, You're all right? What the devil's the matter
36:10
Speaker 1: with you there? I didn't mean to be peppery, but
36:13
Speaker 1: I don't like to hear a young fellow that has
36:14
Speaker 1: hardly begun life speculating about death. Go up on deck
36:18
Speaker 1: and get some fresh air into your lung instead of
36:19
Speaker 1: talking nonsense in the cabin and encouraging me to do
36:22
Speaker 1: the same. The more I think of this conversation of ours,
36:26
Speaker 1: the less do I like it. Why should demand be
36:28
Speaker 1: settling his affairs at the very time when we seemed
36:30
Speaker 1: to be emerging from all danger. There must be some
36:33
Speaker 1: method to his madness. Can it be that he contemplates suicide?
36:37
Speaker 1: I remember that upon one occasion he spoke in a
36:39
Speaker 1: deeply reverent manner, of the heinousness of the crime of
36:42
Speaker 1: self destruction. I shall keep my eye upon him, however,
36:45
Speaker 1: and though I cannot obtrude upon the privacy of his
36:47
Speaker 1: cabin I shall leaves make a point of remaining on
36:49
Speaker 1: deck as long as he stays up there. Mister Milne
36:52
Speaker 1: pooh poohs my fears, and said, it's only the skipper's
36:55
Speaker 1: little way. He himself takes a very rosy view of
36:58
Speaker 1: the situation. According to him, we shall be out of
37:01
Speaker 1: the ice by the day after tomorrow, pass jan May
37:03
Speaker 1: in two days after that, and cite Shetland in a
37:06
Speaker 1: little more than a week. I hope he may not
37:08
Speaker 1: be too sanguine. His opinions may be fairly balanced against
37:11
Speaker 1: the gloomy precautions of the captain, for he is an
37:13
Speaker 1: old and experienced seaman, and weighs his words well before
37:16
Speaker 1: uttering him. The long and pending catastrophe has come at last.
37:23
Speaker 1: I hardly know what to write about it. The captain
37:25
Speaker 1: is gone. He may come back to us alive. But
37:27
Speaker 1: I fear me. I fear me. It is now seven
37:31
Speaker 1: o'clock of the morning of the nineteenth September. I spent
37:33
Speaker 1: the whole night traversing the great ice floe in front
37:35
Speaker 1: of us with a party of seamen, in the hopes
37:37
Speaker 1: of coming upon some trace of him, but in vain.
37:40
Speaker 1: I shall try to give some account of the circumstances
37:42
Speaker 1: which attended upon his disappearance. Should anyone ever chance to
37:45
Speaker 1: read the words which I put down, I trust they
37:47
Speaker 1: will remember that I did not write from conjecture or
37:49
Speaker 1: from hearsay, but that I, a sane, educated man, am
37:53
Speaker 1: describing accurately what actually occurred before my very eyes. My
37:56
Speaker 1: inferences are my own, but I shall be answerable for
37:59
Speaker 1: the facts. The Captain remained in excellent spirits after the
38:02
Speaker 1: conversation which I had recorded. He appeared to be nervous
38:05
Speaker 1: and impatient, however, frequently changing his position and moving his
38:08
Speaker 1: limbs in an aimless, coreic way, which is characteristic of him.
38:11
Speaker 1: At times, in a quarter of an hour he went
38:14
Speaker 1: upon decks seven times, poll it de sand after a
38:16
Speaker 1: few hurried paces. I followed him each time, for there
38:19
Speaker 1: was something about his face which confirmed my resolution of
38:21
Speaker 1: not letting him out of my sight. He seemed to
38:24
Speaker 1: observe the effect which his movements had produced, for he
38:26
Speaker 1: endeavored by an overdone hilarity, laughing boisterously at the very
38:30
Speaker 1: smallest of jokes to quiet my apprehensions. After supper, he
38:34
Speaker 1: went on to the poop once more, and I with him.
38:36
Speaker 1: The night was dark and very still, save for the
38:39
Speaker 1: melancholy softening of the wind. Among the spars. A thick
38:42
Speaker 1: cloud was coming up from the northwest, and the ragged
38:44
Speaker 1: tentacles which had threw out in front of it were
38:46
Speaker 1: drifting across the face in the moon, which only shone
38:49
Speaker 1: now and again through a rift in the rack. The
38:52
Speaker 1: captain paced rapidly backwards and forwards, and at seeing me
38:55
Speaker 1: dogging him, he came across and hinted that he thought
38:57
Speaker 1: I should be better below, which I need hardly. It
38:59
Speaker 1: as had the effect of strengthening my resolution to remain
39:02
Speaker 1: on deck. I think he forgot about my presence after this,
39:06
Speaker 1: for he stood silently, leaning over the taffrail and peering
39:09
Speaker 1: out across the great desert of snow, part of which
39:11
Speaker 1: lay in shadow, while part glittered mistily in the moonlight.
39:15
Speaker 1: Several times I could see by his movements that he
39:17
Speaker 1: was referring to his watch, and once he muttered the
39:19
Speaker 1: short sentence of which I can only catch the one
39:21
Speaker 1: word ready. I confessed to having an eerie feeling creeping
39:25
Speaker 1: over me. As I watched the loom of his tall
39:27
Speaker 1: figure through the darkness, noted how completely he filled the
39:30
Speaker 1: idea of a man who was keeping a tryst, a
39:33
Speaker 1: tryst with whom some vague perception began to dawn upon
39:37
Speaker 1: me as I pieced one fact with another, but I
39:40
Speaker 1: was autibly unprepared for the sequel. By the sudden intensity
39:43
Speaker 1: of his attitude, I felt that he saw something. I
39:45
Speaker 1: crept up behind him. He was staring with an eager,
39:48
Speaker 1: questioning gaze that what seemed to be a wreath of mist,
39:51
Speaker 1: blown swiftly in line with the ship, it was a dim,
39:55
Speaker 1: nebulous body, devoid of shape, sometimes more sometimes less apparent.
39:59
Speaker 1: As the light fell upon it. The moon was dimmed
40:02
Speaker 1: in as brilliance at the moment by a canopy of the
40:04
Speaker 1: thinnest cloud, like the coating of an enemy coming last coming,
40:08
Speaker 1: cried the skipper, and a voice unfathomable tenderness and compassion,
40:12
Speaker 1: like one who sues a beloved one by some favor
40:15
Speaker 1: long looked for, and as pleasant to bestow as to receive.
40:19
Speaker 1: What followed happened in an instant I had no power
40:21
Speaker 1: to interfere. He gave one spring to the top of
40:23
Speaker 1: the bulwarks, and another which took him off the ice,
40:26
Speaker 1: almost to the feet of the pale, misty figure. He
40:28
Speaker 1: held out his hands as at a clasp it, and
40:30
Speaker 1: so ran into the darkness with outstretched arms and loving words.
40:34
Speaker 1: I still stood, rigid and motionless, straining my eyes after
40:37
Speaker 1: his retreating form, until his voice died away in the distance.
40:41
Speaker 1: I never thought to see him again, But at that
40:42
Speaker 1: moment the moon shone up brilliantly through a chink in
40:45
Speaker 1: the cloudy heaven and illuminated the great field of ice.
40:48
Speaker 1: Then I saw his dark figure, already a very long
40:50
Speaker 1: way off, running with prodigious speed across the frozen plane.
40:54
Speaker 1: That was the last glimpse which we caught of him,
40:56
Speaker 1: perhaps the last we ever shall. A party was organized
40:59
Speaker 1: to follow him, and I companied them, but the men's
41:01
Speaker 1: hearts were not in the work, and nothing was found.
41:03
Speaker 1: Another will be forming within a few hours. I can
41:06
Speaker 1: hardly believe I have not been dreaming or suffering from
41:08
Speaker 1: some hideous nightmare. As I write these down. Seven thirty
41:13
Speaker 1: p M. Just returned, dead beat and utterly tired out
41:16
Speaker 1: from the second unsuccessful search for the captain. The floe
41:20
Speaker 1: is of enormous extent, for though we have traversed at
41:22
Speaker 1: least twenty miles of its surface, there have been no
41:24
Speaker 1: sign of it coming to an end. The frost has
41:27
Speaker 1: been so severe of late that an overlying snow is
41:29
Speaker 1: frozen as hard as granite. Otherwise we might have had
41:31
Speaker 1: the footsteps to guide us. The crew are anxious that
41:34
Speaker 1: we should cast off and steam round the floe, and
41:37
Speaker 1: so to the southward, for the ice is opened up
41:39
Speaker 1: during the night and the sea is visible upon the horizon.
41:42
Speaker 1: They argue that Captain Craigie is certainly dead, and that
41:45
Speaker 1: we are all risking our lives to no purpose by
41:47
Speaker 1: remaining when we have an opportunity to escape. Mister Milner
41:51
Speaker 1: and I have had the greatest difficulty in persuading them
41:53
Speaker 1: to wait until tomorrow night, and have been compelled to
41:55
Speaker 1: promise that we will not, under any circumstances to lay
41:57
Speaker 1: our departure longer than that. We proposed, therefore to take
42:01
Speaker 1: a few hours sleep, and then to start upon a
42:02
Speaker 1: final search September twentieth evening. I crossed the ice this
42:08
Speaker 1: morning with a party of men exploring the southern part
42:10
Speaker 1: of the flow, while mister Milne went off in a
42:12
Speaker 1: northy direction. We pushed on for ten or twelve miles
42:16
Speaker 1: without seeing a trace of any living thing, except a
42:18
Speaker 1: single bird, which fluttered a great way over our heads,
42:20
Speaker 1: and which by its flight it should have judged to
42:22
Speaker 1: have been a falcon. The southern extremity of the ice
42:25
Speaker 1: field tapered away into a long, narrow spit which projected
42:28
Speaker 1: out upon the sea. When we came to the base
42:31
Speaker 1: of this promontory, the men halted, but I begged them
42:34
Speaker 1: to continue to the extreme end of it. We might
42:35
Speaker 1: have the satisfaction of knowing that no possible chance has
42:38
Speaker 1: been neglected. We can hardly have gone one hundred yards
42:41
Speaker 1: before MacDonald of Peter had cried out that he saw
42:44
Speaker 1: something in front of us, and began to run. We
42:46
Speaker 1: all got a glimpse of it and ran to At
42:49
Speaker 1: first there was only a vague darkness against the white ice,
42:51
Speaker 1: but as we braced along together, it took the shape
42:53
Speaker 1: of a man, and eventually of the man whom we
42:55
Speaker 1: were in search. He was lying face downwards upon a
42:58
Speaker 1: frozen bank. Many little cristi ice and feathers of snow
43:01
Speaker 1: had drifted on to him as he lay, and sparkled
43:03
Speaker 1: upon the dark seaman's jacket. As he came up, some
43:07
Speaker 1: wandering puff of wind caught these tiny flakes in a vortex,
43:10
Speaker 1: and they whirled up in the air, partially descending again,
43:13
Speaker 1: and then once more, and current sped rapidly away in
43:16
Speaker 1: the direction of the sea. To my eyes it seen
43:19
Speaker 1: but a snow drift, but many of my companions averred
43:21
Speaker 1: that it started up in the shape of a woman,
43:23
Speaker 1: stooped over the corpse and kissed it, and then hurried
43:25
Speaker 1: away across the floe. I have learned never to ridicule
43:29
Speaker 1: any man's opinion, however strange it may seem, suret as
43:32
Speaker 1: that Captain Nicholas Craigie had met with no painful end,
43:35
Speaker 1: For there was a bright smile upon his blue, pinched features,
43:37
Speaker 1: and his hands were still outstretched, as though grasping up
43:40
Speaker 1: a strange visitor which had summoned him away into the
43:42
Speaker 1: dim world that lies beyond the grave. We buried him
43:46
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, with the ship's ensign around him, and
43:48
Speaker 1: the thirty two pounds shot at his feet. I read
43:50
Speaker 1: the burial service, which the rough sailors wept like children,
43:54
Speaker 1: For there were many who owed much to his kind heart,
43:56
Speaker 1: and who showed now the affection which his strange ways
43:58
Speaker 1: had repelled during his life time. He went off the
44:01
Speaker 1: grating with a dull, sullen splash, and as I looked
44:03
Speaker 1: into the green water, I saw him go down, down, down,
44:07
Speaker 1: until he was but a flickering patch of white hanging
44:09
Speaker 1: above the outskirts of eternal darkness. Then even that fitted away,
44:13
Speaker 1: and he was gone. There he shall lie, with his
44:16
Speaker 1: secret and his sorrows and his misery, all still buried
44:18
Speaker 1: in his breast, until that great day when the sea
44:21
Speaker 1: shall give up its dead, and Nicholas Craigie come out
44:23
Speaker 1: from among the ice with a smile upon his face
44:26
Speaker 1: and his stiffened arms outstretched in greeting. I pray that
44:29
Speaker 1: his lot may be a happier one in that life
44:31
Speaker 1: than it has been in this. I shall not continue
44:35
Speaker 1: my journal. Our rode to home lies plain and clear
44:37
Speaker 1: before us, and the great ice field would soon be
44:39
Speaker 1: a remembrance of the past. It will be some time
44:41
Speaker 1: before I get over the shock produced by recent events.
44:44
Speaker 1: When I began this record of our voyage, I little
44:47
Speaker 1: thought of how I should be compelled to finish it.
44:49
Speaker 1: I am writing these final words in the lonely cabin,
44:51
Speaker 1: but starting at times and fancying, I heard the quick,
44:53
Speaker 1: nervous steps of a dead man upon the deck above me.
44:57
Speaker 1: I entered the cabin tonight as was my duty, to
44:59
Speaker 1: make a list of effects in order that they may
45:01
Speaker 1: he entered into the official log. All was as an
45:03
Speaker 1: advent upon my previous visit, said, the picture which I
45:06
Speaker 1: had described as having hung at the end of his bed,
45:08
Speaker 1: had been cut out of its frame as of a knife,
45:10
Speaker 1: and was gone. With this last link in the strange
45:14
Speaker 1: chain of evidence, I closed my Diary on the Voyage
45:16
Speaker 1: of the Polestar note by Doctor John McAllister Ray Senior.
45:22
Speaker 1: I have read over the strange events connected with the
45:24
Speaker 1: death of the Captain of the Polestar, as narrated in
45:26
Speaker 1: the journal of my son, that everything occurred exactly as
45:29
Speaker 1: that he describes it. I have the false confidence, and
45:32
Speaker 1: indeed the most positive certainty, for I know him to
45:34
Speaker 1: be a strong, nerved and unimaginative man with the strictest
45:37
Speaker 1: regard for veracity. Still, the story is, on the face
45:41
Speaker 1: of it, so vague and so improbable that I was
45:43
Speaker 1: long opposed to its publication. Within the last few days. However,
45:47
Speaker 1: I have had an independent testimony upon the subject which
45:49
Speaker 1: throws a new light upon it. I had run down
45:52
Speaker 1: to Edinburgh to attend the meeting of a British medical Association,
45:55
Speaker 1: where I chanced to come across doctor p an old
45:57
Speaker 1: college jump of mine, now practicing at Soish in Devonshire.
46:01
Speaker 1: Upon my telling him of this experience of my sons,
46:03
Speaker 1: he declared to me that he was familiar with the man,
46:06
Speaker 1: and proceeded, to my own no surprise, to give me
46:08
Speaker 1: a description of him, which tallied remarkably well with that
46:11
Speaker 1: given in the journal, except that he depicted him a
46:13
Speaker 1: younger man. According to his account, he had been engaged
46:16
Speaker 1: to a young lady of singular beauty residing upon the
46:18
Speaker 1: Cornish coast. During his absence at sea, his betrothed had
46:22
Speaker 1: died under circumstances of peculiar horror. End of Chapter eight