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39 - Sea Wolf by Jack London · Sea Wolf

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  Speaker 1: In the public Domain of The Sea Wolf by Jack London,
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  Speaker 1: chapter thirty nine. The day came for our departure. There
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  Speaker 1: was no longer anything to detain us on in dever Island.
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  Speaker 1: The ghosts stumpy masts were in place. Her crazy sales
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  Speaker 1: bent all my handiwork was strong, none of it beautiful,
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  Speaker 1: but I knew it would work, and I felt myself
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  Speaker 1: a man of power as I looked at it. I
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  Speaker 1: did it. I did it with my own hands. I
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  Speaker 1: did it. I wanted to cry aloud, but Maud and
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  Speaker 1: I had a way of voicing each other's thoughts. And
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  Speaker 1: she said, as we prepared to hoist the mainsail, to think, Humphrey,
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  Speaker 1: you did it all with your own hands. But there
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  Speaker 1: were two other hands. I answered, two small hands. And
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  Speaker 1: don't say that was a phrase also of your father.
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  Speaker 1: She laughed and shook her head and held her hands
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  Speaker 1: up for inspection. I can never get them clean again,
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  Speaker 1: she wailed, nor soften the weather beat. Then dirt and
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  Speaker 1: weatherbeech shall be your garden of honor, I said, holding
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  Speaker 1: them in mine. In spite of my resolutions, I would
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  Speaker 1: have kissed the two dear hands, had she not swiftly
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  Speaker 1: withdrawn them. Our comradeship was becoming tremulous. I had mastered
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  Speaker 1: my love long and well, but now it was mastering
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  Speaker 1: me wilfully had it disobeyed and won my eyes to speech,
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  Speaker 1: and now it was winning my tongue, I and my lips,
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  Speaker 1: for they were mad this moment to kiss the two
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  Speaker 1: small hands which had toiled so faithfully and hard, And
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  Speaker 1: I too was mad. There was a cry in my being,
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  Speaker 1: like bugles calling me to her. And there was a
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  Speaker 1: wind blowing upon me which I could not resist, swaying
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  Speaker 1: the very body of me till I leaned towards her,
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  Speaker 1: all unconscious that I leaned, and she knew it. She
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  Speaker 1: could not but know it as she swiftly drew away
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  Speaker 1: her hands, and yet could not forbear one quick searching
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  Speaker 1: look before she turned away her eyes. By means of
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  Speaker 1: deck tackles, I had arranged to carry the halliards forward
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  Speaker 1: to the windlass, and now I hoisted the mainsail peek
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  Speaker 1: and throat at the same time. It was a clumsy way,
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  Speaker 1: but it did not take long, and soon the foresail
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  Speaker 1: as well was up and fluttering. We can never get
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  Speaker 1: that anchor up in this narrow place. Once it has
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  Speaker 1: left the bottom. I said, we should be on the
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  Speaker 1: rocks first. What can you do, she asked, slip it
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  Speaker 1: was my answer, And when I do, you must do
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  Speaker 1: your first work on the windlass. I shall have to
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  Speaker 1: run at once to the wheel, and at the same
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  Speaker 1: time you must be hoisting the jib. This maneuver of
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  Speaker 1: getting underway I had studied and worked out a score
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  Speaker 1: of times, and with the jib halure to the windlass,
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  Speaker 1: I knew Mud was capable of hoisting that most necessary sail.
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  Speaker 1: A brisk wind was blowing into the cove, and though
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  Speaker 1: the water was rapid, work was required to get us
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  Speaker 1: safely out. When I knocked the shackle bolt loose, the
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  Speaker 1: chain roared out through the hosshole and into the sea.
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  Speaker 1: I raced aft, putting the wheel up. The ghost seemed
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  Speaker 1: to start into life as she heeled to the first
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  Speaker 1: fill of her sails. The jib was rising as it filled.
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  Speaker 1: The Ghost's bouse swung off and I had to put
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  Speaker 1: the wheel down a few spokes and steady her. I
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  Speaker 1: had devised an automatic jib sheet which passed the jib
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  Speaker 1: across of itself, so there was no need for Maud
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  Speaker 1: to attend to that but she was still hoisting the
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  Speaker 1: jib when I put the wheel hard. Now it was
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  Speaker 1: a moment of anxiety, for the ghost was rushing directly
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  Speaker 1: upon the beach, a stone strow distant. But she swung
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  Speaker 1: obediently on her heel into the wind. There was a
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  Speaker 1: great fluttering and flapping of canvas and reef points most
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  Speaker 1: welcome to my ears. Then she filled away on the
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  Speaker 1: other tack. Maud had finished her task and come aft,
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  Speaker 1: where she stood beside me, a small cap perched on
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  Speaker 1: her windblown hair, Her cheeks flushed from exertion, her eyes
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  Speaker 1: wide and bright with the excitement, her nostrils quivering to
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  Speaker 1: the rush and bite of the fresh salt air. Her
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  Speaker 1: brown eyes were like a startled tear's. There was a wild,
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  Speaker 1: keen look in them I had never seen before, and
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  Speaker 1: her lips parted and her breath suspended as the ghosts,
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  Speaker 1: charging upon the wall of rock at the entrance to
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  Speaker 1: the inner cove, swept into the wind and filled away
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  Speaker 1: into safe water. My first mate's berth on the ceiling
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  Speaker 1: grounds stood me in good stead, and I cleared the
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  Speaker 1: inner cove and laid a long tack along the shore
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  Speaker 1: of the outer cove. Once again about, and the ghosts
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  Speaker 1: headed out to open sea. She had now caught the
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  Speaker 1: bosom breathing of the ocean, and was herself abreath with
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  Speaker 1: the rhythm of it as she smoothly mounted and slipped
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  Speaker 1: down the each broad backed wave. The day had been
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  Speaker 1: dull and overcast, but the sun now burst through the
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  Speaker 1: clouds a welcome moment, and shone upon the curving beach
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  Speaker 1: where together we had dared the lords of the Harem
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  Speaker 1: and slain the Hollis chicken. All in Devor Island brightened
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  Speaker 1: under the sun. Even the grim southwestern promontory showed less grim,
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  Speaker 1: And here and there where the sea spray wet its surface,
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  Speaker 1: highlights flashed and dazzled in the sun. I shall always
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  Speaker 1: think of it with pride, I said to Maud. She
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  Speaker 1: threw her head back in a queenly way, but said, dear, dear,
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  Speaker 1: in dever Island, I shall always love it. And I
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  Speaker 1: I said quickly, it seems our eyes must meet in
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  Speaker 1: a great understanding. And yet loath they struggled away and
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  Speaker 1: did not meet. There was a silence I might almost
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  Speaker 1: call awkward, till I broke it, saying, see those black
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  Speaker 1: clouds toward remember I told you last night. The barometer
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  Speaker 1: was falling, and the sun is gone, she said, her
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  Speaker 1: eyes still fixed upon our island, where we had proved
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  Speaker 1: our mastery over matter and attained to the truest comradeship
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  Speaker 1: that may fall to man and woman. And it's slack
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  Speaker 1: off the sheets for Japan, I cried, gaily, A fair
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  Speaker 1: wind and a flowing sheet, you know, or however it
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  Speaker 1: goes lashing the wheel. I ran forward ease the four
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  Speaker 1: main sheets, took in on the boom tackles, and trimmed
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  Speaker 1: everything for the quartering breeze, which was ours. It was
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  Speaker 1: a fresh breeze, very fresh. But I resolved to run
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  Speaker 1: as long as I dared. Unfortunately, when running free, it
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  Speaker 1: is impossible to lash the wheel, so I faced an
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  Speaker 1: all night watch. Maud insisted on relieving me. That proved
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  Speaker 1: she had not the strength to steer in a heavy sea,
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  Speaker 1: even if she could have gained the wisdom on such
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  Speaker 1: short notice. She appeared quite heartbroken over the discovery, but
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  Speaker 1: recovered her spirits by coiling down tackles and halliards and
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  Speaker 1: all stray ropes. Then there were meals to be cooked
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  Speaker 1: in the galley beds, to make wolf larsened to be
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  Speaker 1: attended upon, and she finished the day with a grand
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  Speaker 1: house cleaning, attack upon the cabin and steerage. All night
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  Speaker 1: I steered without relief, the wind slowly and steadily increasing
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  Speaker 1: and the sea rising. At five in the morning, Maud
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  Speaker 1: brought me hot coffee and biscuits she had baked, and
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  Speaker 1: at seven a substantial and piping hot breakfast put new
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  Speaker 1: lift into me. Throughout the day, and as slowly and
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  Speaker 1: steadily as ever the wind increased, it impressed one with
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  Speaker 1: its sullen determination to blow and blow harder and keep
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  Speaker 1: on blowing. And still the ghosts foamed along, racing off
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  Speaker 1: the miles till I was certain she was making at
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  Speaker 1: least eleven knots. It was too good to lose. But
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  Speaker 1: by nightfall I was exhausted, though in splendid physical trim,
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  Speaker 1: a thirty six hour trick at the wheel was the
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  Speaker 1: limit of my endurance. Besides, Maud begged me to heave too,
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  Speaker 1: and I knew if the wind and sea increased at
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  Speaker 1: the same rate during the night, that it would soon
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  Speaker 1: be impossible to heave too. So it was twilight deepened
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  Speaker 1: gladly and at the same time reluctantly I brought the
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  Speaker 1: ghost up on the wind, but I had not reckoned
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  Speaker 1: upon the colossal task the reefing of the three sails
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  Speaker 1: meant for one man. While running away from the wind,
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  Speaker 1: I had not appreciated its force. But when we ceased
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  Speaker 1: to run, I learned, to my sorrow, and well nigh
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  Speaker 1: to my despair, how fiercely it was really blowing. The
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  Speaker 1: wind balked my every effort, ripping the canvas out of
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  Speaker 1: my hands, and in an instant undoing what I had gained.
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  Speaker 1: By ten minutes of severest struggle. At eight o'clock I
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  Speaker 1: had succeeded only in putting the second reef into the foresail.
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  Speaker 1: At eleven o'clock I was no farther along. Blood dripped
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  Speaker 1: from every finger, and while the nails were broken to
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  Speaker 1: the quick from pain and sheer exhaustion, I wept in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness, secretly so that Maud should not know. Then,
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  Speaker 1: in desperation, I abandoned the attempt to reef the mainsail
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  Speaker 1: and resolved to try the experiment of heaving two under
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  Speaker 1: the close reef foresail. Three hours more were required to
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  Speaker 1: gasket the mainsail and jib, and at two in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: nearly dead, the life almost buffeted and worked out of me.
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  Speaker 1: I had barely sufficient consciousness to know the experiment was
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  Speaker 1: a success. The close reefed foresail worked. The ghosts clung
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  Speaker 1: on close to the wind and betrayed no inclination to
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  Speaker 1: fall off broadside to the truugh. I was famished, but
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  Speaker 1: Maud tried vainly to get me to eat. I dozed
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  Speaker 1: with my mouth full of food. I would fall asleep
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  Speaker 1: in the act of carrying food to me my mouth,
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  Speaker 1: and wakened and torment to find the act yet uncompleted.
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  Speaker 1: So sleepily helpless was I that she was compelled to
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  Speaker 1: hold me in my chair to prevent me being flung
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  Speaker 1: to the floor by the violent pitching of the schooner
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  Speaker 1: of the passage from the galley to the cabin. I
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  Speaker 1: knew nothing. It was a sleepwalker, Maud guided and supported.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, I was aware of nothing till I awoke.
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  Speaker 1: How long after I could not imagine in my bunk
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  Speaker 1: with my boots off, it was dark. I was stiff
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  Speaker 1: and lame, and I cried out with pain when the
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  Speaker 1: bedclothes touched my poor finger. Ends morning had evidently not come,
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  Speaker 1: so I closed my eyes and went to sleep again.
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  Speaker 1: I did not know it, but I had slept the
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  Speaker 1: clock around and it was night again once more. I
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  Speaker 1: woke troubled because I could sleep no better. I struck
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  Speaker 1: a match and looked at my watch at mark midnight,
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  Speaker 1: and I had not left the deck until three. I
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  Speaker 1: should have been puzzled. I not guessed the solution. No
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  Speaker 1: wonder I was sleeping brokenly. I had slept twenty one hours.
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  Speaker 1: I listened for a while to the behavior of the ghosts,
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  Speaker 1: to the pounding of the seas and the muffled roar
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  Speaker 1: of the wind on deck, and then turned over on
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  Speaker 1: my side and slept peacefully until morning. When I arose
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  Speaker 1: at seven, I saw no sign of Maud and concluded
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  Speaker 1: she was in the galley preparing breakfast. On deck, I
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  Speaker 1: found the ghost doing splendidly under her patch of canvas,
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  Speaker 1: But in the galley, though a fire was burning a
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  Speaker 1: water boiling, I found no Maud. I discovered her in
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  Speaker 1: the steerage by Wolf Larsen's bunk. I looked at him,
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  Speaker 1: the man who had been hurled down from the topmost
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  Speaker 1: pitch of life to be buried alive and be worse
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  Speaker 1: than dead. There seemed a relaxation of his expressionless face,
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  Speaker 1: which was new. Mud looked at me and I understood
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  Speaker 1: his life flickered out in the storm, I said, but
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  Speaker 1: he still lives, she answered, infinite faith in her voice.
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  Speaker 1: He had too great strength, yes, she said, but now
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  Speaker 1: it no longer shackles him. He is a free spirit.
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  Speaker 1: He is a free spirit, surely, I answered, and taking
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  Speaker 1: her hand, I let her on deck. The storm broke
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  Speaker 1: that night, which is to say that it diminished as
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  Speaker 1: slowly as it had arisen. After breakfast. Next morning, when
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  Speaker 1: I had hoisted Wolf Larsen's body on deck ready for burial,
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  Speaker 1: it was still blowing heavily, and a large sea was running.
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  Speaker 1: The deck was continually awash with the sea, which came inboard,
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  Speaker 1: over the rail and through the scuppers. The wind smote
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  Speaker 1: the schooner with a sudden gust, and she heeled over
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  Speaker 1: till her lee rail was buried. The roar in a
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  Speaker 1: rigging rising and pitched to a shriek. We stood in
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  Speaker 1: the water to our knees as I bared my head.
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  Speaker 1: I remember only one part of the service, I said,
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  Speaker 1: and that is, and the bodies shall be cast into
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  Speaker 1: the sea. Maud looked at me, surprised and shocked. But
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of something I had seen before was strong
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  Speaker 1: upon me, impelling me to give service to Wolf Larsen,
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  Speaker 1: as Wolf Larsen had once given service to another man.
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  Speaker 1: I lifted the end of the hatch cover, and the
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  Speaker 1: canvas shrouded bodies slipped feet first into the sea. The
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  Speaker 1: weight of iron dragged it down. It was gone, good Bye, Lucifer,
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  Speaker 1: proud spirit. Maud whispered so low that it was drowned
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  Speaker 1: by the shouting of the wind. But I saw the
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  Speaker 1: movement of her lips and knew. As we clung to
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  Speaker 1: the lee rail and worked our way aft, I happened
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  Speaker 1: to glance to leeward. The ghost at the moment was
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  Speaker 1: up tossed on a sea, and I caught a clear
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  Speaker 1: view of a small steamship two or three miles away,
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  Speaker 1: rolling and pitching head on to the sea as it
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  Speaker 1: steamed toward us. It was painted black, and from the
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  Speaker 1: talk of the hunters of their poaching exploits, I recognized
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  Speaker 1: it as a United States revenue cutter. I pointed it
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  Speaker 1: out to Maud and hurriedly led her aft to the
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  Speaker 1: safety of the poop. I started to rush below to
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  Speaker 1: the flag locker. Then remembered that rigging the ghost, I
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  Speaker 1: had forgotten to make provision for a flag halliard. We
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  Speaker 1: need no distress signal, Maud said, they have only to
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  Speaker 1: see us. We are saved, I said, soberly and solemnly,
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  Speaker 1: And then, in an exuberance of joy, I hardly know
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  Speaker 1: whether to be glad or not, I looked at her.
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  Speaker 1: Our eyes were not loath to meet. We leaned toward
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  Speaker 1: each other, and before I knew it, my arms were
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  Speaker 1: about her. Need I I asked, and she answered, there
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  Speaker 1: is no need, though the telling of it would be sweet,
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  Speaker 1: so sweet. Her lips met the press of mine, and
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  Speaker 1: by what strange trick of the imagination I know not.
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  Speaker 1: The scene in the cabin of the Ghost flashed upon
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  Speaker 1: me when she had pressed her fingers lightly on my lips,
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  Speaker 1: and said, hush, hush, my woman, my one small woman,
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  Speaker 1: I said, my free hand, petting her shoulder in the
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  Speaker 1: way all lovers know, though never learn at school, My man,
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  Speaker 1: she said, looking at me for an instant with tremulous
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  Speaker 1: lids which fluttered down and veiled her eyes as she
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  Speaker 1: snuggled her head against my breast with a happy little sigh.
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  Speaker 1: I looked toward the cutter. It was very close. A
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  Speaker 1: boat was being lowered. One kiss, dear Love, I whispered,
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  Speaker 1: One kiss more before they come and rescue us from ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: She completed with a most adorable smile, whimsical as I
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  Speaker 1: had never seen it, For it was whimsical with love.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter thirty nine, recording by Nick Bolka. End
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  Speaker 1: of The Seawelf