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33 - Sea Wolf by Jack London · Sea Wolf

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  Speaker 1: Public Domain. The Sea Wolf by Jack London, chapter thirty three.
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  Speaker 1: We waited all day for Wolf Larsen to come ashore.
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  Speaker 1: It was an intolerable period of anxiety. Each moment one
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  Speaker 1: or the other of us cast expecting glances towards the ghost.
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  Speaker 1: But he did not come. He did not even appear
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  Speaker 1: on deck. Perhaps it is his headache, I said, I
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  Speaker 1: left him lying on the poop. He may lie there
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  Speaker 1: all night. I think I'll go and see. Maud looked
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  Speaker 1: entreaty at me. It's all right, I assured her. I
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  Speaker 1: shall take the revolvers. You know, I collected every weapon
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  Speaker 1: on board. But there are his arms, his hands, his terrible,
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  Speaker 1: terrible hands. She objected, and then she cried, oh, humphrey,
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  Speaker 1: I am afraid of him. Don't go, Please, don't go.
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  Speaker 1: She rested her hand appealingly on mine, and sent my
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  Speaker 1: pulse fluttering. My heart was surely in my eyes for
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  Speaker 1: a moment, the dear and lovely woman. And she was
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  Speaker 1: so much the woman, clinging and appealing sunshine and dew
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  Speaker 1: to my manhood, rooting it deeper and sending through it
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  Speaker 1: the sap of a new strength. I was for putting
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  Speaker 1: my arm around her, as when in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: the seal herd. But I considered and refrained, I shall
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  Speaker 1: not take any risks, I said, I'm merely peep over
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  Speaker 1: the bow and see. She pressed my hand earnestly and
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  Speaker 1: let me go. But the space on deck where I
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  Speaker 1: had left him lying was vacant. He had evidently gone below.
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  Speaker 1: That night we stood alternate watches, one of us sleeping
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  Speaker 1: out of time, for there was no telling what wolf
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  Speaker 1: Larsen might do. He was certainly capable of anything. The
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  Speaker 1: next day we waited, and the next, and still he
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  Speaker 1: made no sign, these headaches of his, these attacks. Maud said,
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  Speaker 1: on the afternoon of the fourth day. Perhaps he is ill,
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  Speaker 1: very ill. He may be dead or dying, was her afterthought,
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  Speaker 1: when she had waited some time for me to speak better.
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  Speaker 1: So I answered, But think Humphrey a fellow creature in
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  Speaker 1: his last lonely hour, perhaps, I suggested, Yes, even perhaps
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  Speaker 1: she acknowledged, But we do not know. It would be
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  Speaker 1: terrible if he were. I could never forgive myself. We
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  Speaker 1: must do something, perhaps, I suggested. Again. I waited, smiling
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  Speaker 1: inwardly at the woman of her which compelled a solicitude
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  Speaker 1: for wolf Larsen of all creatures. Where was her solicitude
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  Speaker 1: for me? I thought, for me whom she had been
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  Speaker 1: afraid to have merely peep aboard. She was too subtle
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  Speaker 1: not to follow the trend of my silence, And she
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  Speaker 1: was as direct as she was subtle. You must go
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  Speaker 1: aboard Humphrey and find out, she said, And if you
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  Speaker 1: want to laugh at me, you have my concer and forgiveness.
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  Speaker 1: I arose obediently and went down to the beach. Do
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  Speaker 1: be careful, she called after me. I waved my arm
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  Speaker 1: from the forcastle head and dropped down to the deck.
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  Speaker 1: After I walked to the cabin companion, where I contented
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  Speaker 1: myself with hailing below. Wolf Larsen answered, And as he
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  Speaker 1: started to ascend the stairs, I cocked my revolver. I
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  Speaker 1: displayed it openly during our conversation, but he took no
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  Speaker 1: notice of it. He appeared the same physically as when
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  Speaker 1: last I saw him, but he was gloomy and silent.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the few words we spoke could hardly be
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  Speaker 1: called the conversation. I did not inquire why he had
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  Speaker 1: not been ashore, nor did he ask why I had
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  Speaker 1: not come aboard. His head was all right again, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and so without further parley, I left him. Maud received
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  Speaker 1: my report with obvious relief, and the sight of smoke,
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  Speaker 1: which later rose in the galley put her in a
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  Speaker 1: more cheerful mood. The next day and the next we
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  Speaker 1: saw the galley smoke rising, and sometimes we caught glimpses
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  Speaker 1: of him on the poop, but that was all. He
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  Speaker 1: made no attempt to come ashore. This re knew, for
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  Speaker 1: we still maintained our night watches. We were waiting for
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  Speaker 1: him to do something, to show his hand, so to say,
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  Speaker 1: and his inaction puzzled and worried us. A week of
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  Speaker 1: this passed by. We had no other interest than Wolf Larsen,
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  Speaker 1: and his presence weighed us down with an apprehension, which
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  Speaker 1: prevented us from doing any of the little things we
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  Speaker 1: had planned. But at the end of the week, the
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  Speaker 1: smoke ceased coming from the galley, and he no longer
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  Speaker 1: showed himself on the poop. I could see Maud's solicitude
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  Speaker 1: again growing, though she timidly and even proudly, I think
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  Speaker 1: foreboded a repetition of her request. After all, what censure
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  Speaker 1: could be put upon her? She was divinely altruistic, and
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  Speaker 1: she was a woman. Besides, I was myself aware of
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  Speaker 1: hurt at thought of this man whom I had tried
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  Speaker 1: to kill, dying alone with his fellow creatures so near.
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  Speaker 1: He was right. The code of my group was stronger
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  Speaker 1: than I. The fact that he had hands, feet, and
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  Speaker 1: a body shaped somewhat like mind constituted a claim which
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  Speaker 1: I could not ignore. So I did not wait a
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  Speaker 1: second time for Maude to send me. I discovered that
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  Speaker 1: we stood in need of condensed milk and marmalade, and
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  Speaker 1: announced that I was going aboard. I could see that
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  Speaker 1: she wavered. She even went so far as to murmur
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  Speaker 1: that they were non essentials and that my trip after
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  Speaker 1: them might be inexpedient. And as she had followed the
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  Speaker 1: trend of my silence, she now followed the trend of
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  Speaker 1: my speech. And she knew that I was going aboard,
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  Speaker 1: not because of condensed milk and marmalade, but because of
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  Speaker 1: her and her anxiety, which she knew she had failed
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  Speaker 1: to hide. I took off my shoes when I gained
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  Speaker 1: the forcastle head, and went noiselessly aft in my stocking feet.
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  Speaker 1: Nor did I call this time from the top of
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  Speaker 1: the companion away cautiously descending, I found the cabin deserted.
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  Speaker 1: The door to his stateroom was closed. At first I
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  Speaker 1: thought of knocking. Then I remembered my ostensible errand and
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  Speaker 1: resolved to carry it out carefully avoiding noise. I lifted
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  Speaker 1: the trap door in the floor and set it to
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  Speaker 1: one side. The slop chest, as well as the provisions,
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  Speaker 1: was stored in a lazarette, and I took advantage of
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to lay in a stock of underclothing. As
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  Speaker 1: I emerged from the lazarette, I heard sounds in Wolf
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  Speaker 1: Larsen's stateroom. I crouched and listened. The doorknob rattled furtively. Instinctively,
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  Speaker 1: I slunk back behind the table and drew and cocked
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  Speaker 1: my revolver. The door swung open, and he came forth.
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  Speaker 1: Never had I seen so profound a despair as that
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  Speaker 1: which I saw on his face, the face of Wolf Larsen,
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  Speaker 1: the fighter, the strong man, the indomitable one for all
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  Speaker 1: the world. Like a woman wringing her hands, he raised
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  Speaker 1: his clenched fists and groaned, one fist unclosed, and the
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  Speaker 1: open palms swept across his eyes, as though brushing away cobwebs, God, God.
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  Speaker 1: He groaned, and the clenched fists were raised again, to
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  Speaker 1: the infinite despair with which his throat vibrated. It was horrible.
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  Speaker 1: I was trembling all over, and I could feel the
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  Speaker 1: shivers running up and down my spine, and the sweat
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  Speaker 1: standing out on my forehead. Surely there can be little
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  Speaker 1: in this world more awful than the spectacle of a
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  Speaker 1: strong man in the moment when he is utterly weak
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  Speaker 1: and broken. But Wolf Larsen regained control of himself by
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  Speaker 1: an exertion of his remarkable will. And it was an exertion.
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  Speaker 1: His whole frame shook with his struggle. He resembled a
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  Speaker 1: man on the verge of a fit. His face strove
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  Speaker 1: to compose itself, writhing and twisting in the effort, till
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  Speaker 1: he broke down again. Once more. The clenched fists went upward,
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  Speaker 1: and he groaned. He caught his breath once or twice,
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  Speaker 1: and sobbed. Then he was successful. I could have thought
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  Speaker 1: him the old wolf Larsen, and yet there was in
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  Speaker 1: his movements a vague suggestion of weakness and indecision. He
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  Speaker 1: started for the companion way and stepped forward quite as
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  Speaker 1: I had been accustomed to see him do, and yet
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  Speaker 1: again in his very walk there seemed a suggestion of
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  Speaker 1: weakness and indecision. I was now concerned with fear for myself.
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  Speaker 1: The open trap lay directly in his path, and his
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  Speaker 1: discovery of it would lead instantly to his discovery of me.
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  Speaker 1: I was angry with myself for being cut in so
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  Speaker 1: cowardly a position crouching on the floor. There was yet time.
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  Speaker 1: I rose swiftly to my feet, and I know, quite
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  Speaker 1: unconsciously assumed a defiant attitude. He took no notice of me,
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  Speaker 1: nor did he notice the open trap. Before I could
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  Speaker 1: grasp the situation or act, he had walked right into
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  Speaker 1: the trap. One foot was descending into the opening, while
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  Speaker 1: the other foot was just on the verge of beginning
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  Speaker 1: the uplift. But when the descending foot missed the solid
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  Speaker 1: flooring and felt vacancy beneath, it was the old wolf
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  Speaker 1: Larsen and the tiger muscles that made the falling body
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  Speaker 1: spring across the opening even as it fell, so that
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  Speaker 1: he struck on his chest and stomach with arms outstretched,
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  Speaker 1: on the floor of the opposite side. The next instant
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  Speaker 1: he had drawn up his legs and rolled clear. But
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  Speaker 1: he rolled into my marmalade and underclothes and against the
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  Speaker 1: trap door. The expression on his face was one of
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  Speaker 1: complete comprehension. But before I could guess what he had comprehended,
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  Speaker 1: he had dropped the trap door into place, closing the lazarette.
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  Speaker 1: Then I understood he thought he had me inside. Also,
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  Speaker 1: he was blind, blind as a bat. I watched him,
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  Speaker 1: breathing carefully so that he should not hear me. He
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  Speaker 1: stepped quickly to his stateroom. I saw his hand miss
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  Speaker 1: the doorknob by an inch. Quickly fumble for it and
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  Speaker 1: find it. This was my chance. I tiptoed across the
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  Speaker 1: cabin and to the top of the stairs. He came back,
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  Speaker 1: dragging a heavy sea chest, which he deposited on top
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  Speaker 1: of the trap. Not content with this, he fetched a
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  Speaker 1: second chest and placed it on top of the first.
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  Speaker 1: Then he gathered up the marmalade and underclothes and put
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  Speaker 1: them on the table. When he started up the companionway,
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  Speaker 1: I retreated silent, rolling over on top of the cabin.
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  Speaker 1: He shoved the slide part way back and rested his
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  Speaker 1: arms on it, his body still in the companion way.
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  Speaker 1: His attitude was of one looking forward the length of
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  Speaker 1: the schooner, or staring rather, for his eyes were fixed
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  Speaker 1: and unblinking. I was only five feet away and directly
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  Speaker 1: in what should have been his line of vision. It
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  Speaker 1: was uncanny. I felt myself a ghost. What of my invisibility?
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  Speaker 1: I waved my hand back and forth, of course, without effect.
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  Speaker 1: But when the moving shadow fell across his face, I
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  Speaker 1: saw at once that he was susceptible to the impression.
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  Speaker 1: His face became more expectant and tense as he tried
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  Speaker 1: to analyze and identify the impression. He knew that he
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  Speaker 1: had responded to something from without, that his sensibility had
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  Speaker 1: been touched by a changing something in his environment, but
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  Speaker 1: what it was he could not discover. I ceased waving
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  Speaker 1: my hand so that the shadow remained stationary. He slowly
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  Speaker 1: moved his head back and forth under it, and turned
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  Speaker 1: from side to side, now in the sunshine, now in
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  Speaker 1: the shade, feeling the shadow as it were, testing it
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  Speaker 1: by sensation. I too, was busy trying to reason out
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  Speaker 1: how he was aware of the existence of so intangible
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  Speaker 1: a thing as a shadow. If it were his eyeballs
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  Speaker 1: only that were affected, or if his optic nerve were
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  Speaker 1: not wholly destroyed. The explanation was simple. If otherwise, then
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  Speaker 1: the only conclusion I could reach was that the sensitive
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  Speaker 1: skin recognized the difference of temperature between shade and sunshine.
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  Speaker 1: Or perhaps who can tell, it was that fabled sixth
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  Speaker 1: sense which conveyed to him the loom and feel of
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  Speaker 1: an object close at hand. Giving over his attempt to
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  Speaker 1: determine the shadow, he stepped on deck and started forward,
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  Speaker 1: walking with a swiftness and confidence which surprised me. And
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  Speaker 1: still there was that hint of the feebleness of the
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  Speaker 1: blind in his walk. I knew it now for what
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  Speaker 1: it was. To my amused chagrin. He discovered my shoes
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  Speaker 1: on the forcastle head and brought them back with him
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  Speaker 1: to the galley. I watched him build the fire and
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  Speaker 1: set about cooking food for himself. Then I stole into
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  Speaker 1: the cabin from my marmalade, and underclose slipped back past
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  Speaker 1: the galley and climbed down to the beach to deliver
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  Speaker 1: my barefoot report. End of chapter thirty three