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17 - Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham · Moon and Sixpence

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Speaker 1: Chapters forty six, forty seven, and forty eight of The
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Speaker 1: Moon and Sixpence. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Barry Eads.
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Speaker 1: The Moon and Sixpence by William Somerset Maum chapter forty
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Speaker 1: six had not been into heaty long before I met
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Speaker 1: Captain Nicholls. He came in one morning when I was
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Speaker 1: having breakfast on the terrace of the hotel, and introduced himself.
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Speaker 1: He had heard that I was interested in Charles Strickland,
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Speaker 1: and announced that he was come to have a talk
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Speaker 1: about him. They are as fond of gossip in Tahiti
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Speaker 1: as in an English village, and one or two inquiries
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Speaker 1: I made for pictures by Strickland had been quickly spread.
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Speaker 1: I asked the stranger if he had breakfasted. Yes, I
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Speaker 1: have my coffee early, he answered, but I don't mind
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Speaker 1: having a drop of whiskey, I called the Chinese boy.
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Speaker 1: You don't think it's too early, said the Captain. You
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Speaker 1: and your liver must decide that between you. I replied,
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Speaker 1: I'm practically a teetotaler, he said, as he poured himself
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Speaker 1: out a good half tumbler of Canadian club. When he smiled,
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Speaker 1: he showed broken and discolored teeth. He was a very
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Speaker 1: lean man, of no more than average height, with gray
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Speaker 1: hair cut short and a stubbly gray mustache. He had
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Speaker 1: not shaved for a couple of days. His face was
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Speaker 1: deeply lined, burned brown by long exposure to the sun,
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Speaker 1: and he had a pair of small blue eyes which
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Speaker 1: were astonishingly shifty. They moved quickly following my smallest gesture,
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Speaker 1: and they gave him the look of a very thorough rogue.
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Speaker 1: But at the moment he was all heartiness and good fellowship.
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Speaker 1: He was dressed in a bedraggled suit of khaki, and
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Speaker 1: his hands would have been all the better for a wash.
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Speaker 1: I knew Strickland well, he said, as he leaned back
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Speaker 1: in his chair and lit the cigar I had offered him.
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Speaker 1: It's through me. He came out to the islands. Where
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Speaker 1: did you meet him? I asked, in Marseilles. What were
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Speaker 1: you doing there? He gave me an ingratiating smile. Well,
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Speaker 1: I guess I was on the beach. My friend's appearance
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Speaker 1: suggested that he was now in the same predicament, and
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Speaker 1: I prepared myself to cultivate an agreeable acquaintance. The society
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Speaker 1: of beechcombers always repays the small pains you need be
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Speaker 1: at to enjoy it. They are easy of approach and
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Speaker 1: affable in conversation. They seldom put on airs, and the
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Speaker 1: offer of a drink is a sure way to their hearts.
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Speaker 1: You need no laborious steps to enter upon familiarity with them,
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Speaker 1: and you can earn not only their confidence but their
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Speaker 1: gratitude by turning an attentive ear to their discourse. They
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Speaker 1: look upon conversation as the great pleasure of life, thereby
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Speaker 1: proving the excellence of their civilization. And for the most
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Speaker 1: part they are entertaining talkers. The extent of their experience
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Speaker 1: is pleasantly balanced by the fertility of their imagination. It
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Speaker 1: cannot be said that they are without guile, but they
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Speaker 1: have a tolerant respect for the law when the law
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Speaker 1: is supported by strength. It is hazardous to play poker
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Speaker 1: with them, but their ingenuity adds a peculiar excitement to
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Speaker 1: the best game in the world. I came to know
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Speaker 1: Captain Nicholls very well before I left Tahiti, and I
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Speaker 1: am the richer for his acquaintance. I do not consider
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Speaker 1: that the cigars and whisky he consumed at my expense.
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Speaker 1: He always refused cocktail, since he was practically a teetotaler,
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Speaker 1: and the few dollars browed with a civil air of
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Speaker 1: conferring a favor upon me that passed from my pocket
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Speaker 1: to his were in any way equivalent to the entertainment
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Speaker 1: he afforded me. I remained his debtor. I should be
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Speaker 1: sorry if my conscience, insisting on a rigid attention to
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Speaker 1: the matter in hand, forced me to dismiss him in
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Speaker 1: a couple of lines. I do not know why Captain
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Speaker 1: Nicholls first left England. It was a matter upon which
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Speaker 1: he was reticent, and with persons of his kind, a
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Speaker 1: direct question is never very discreet. He hinted at undeserved misfortune,
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Speaker 1: and there is no doubt that he looked upon himself
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Speaker 1: as the victim of injustice. My fancy played with the
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Speaker 1: various forms of fraud and violence, and I agreed with
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Speaker 1: him sympathetically when he remarked that the authorities in the
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Speaker 1: old country were so damned technical. But it was nice
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Speaker 1: to see that any unpleasantness he had endured in his
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Speaker 1: native land had not impaired his ardent patriotism. He frequently
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Speaker 1: declared that England was the finest country in the world, Sir,
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Speaker 1: and he felt a lively superiority over Americans, Colonials, Dagoes,
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Speaker 1: Dutchmen and Kanakas. But I do not think he was
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Speaker 1: a happy man. He suffered from dyspepsia, and he might
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Speaker 1: often be seen sucking a tablet of pepsin in the morning.
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Speaker 1: His a tite was poor, but this affliction alone would
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Speaker 1: hardly have impaired his spirits. He had a greater cause
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Speaker 1: of discontent with life than this. Eight years before he
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Speaker 1: had rashly married a wife. There are men whom a
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Speaker 1: merciful providence has undoubtedly ordained to a single life, but who,
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Speaker 1: from wilfulness or through circumstances they could not cope with,
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Speaker 1: have flown in the face of its decrees. There is
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Speaker 1: no object more deserving of pity than the married bachelor.
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Speaker 1: Of such was Captain Nicholls. I met his wife. She
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Speaker 1: was a woman of twenty eight. I should think, though,
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Speaker 1: of a type whose age is always doubtful, for she
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Speaker 1: can not have looked different when she was twenty, and
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Speaker 1: at forty would look no older. She gave me an
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Speaker 1: impression of extraordinary tightness. Her plain face, with its narrow lips,
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Speaker 1: was tight, her skin was stretched tightly over her bones.
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Speaker 1: Her smile was tight, her hair was tight, her clothes
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Speaker 1: were tight, and the white drill she wore had all
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Speaker 1: the effect of black bombasing. I could not imagine why
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Speaker 1: Captain Nicholls had married her, and having married her, why
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Speaker 1: he had not deserted her. Perhaps he had often, and
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Speaker 1: his melancholy arose from the fact that he could never succeed,
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Speaker 1: however far he went, and in howsoever secret a place
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Speaker 1: he hid himself. I felt sure that Missus Nicholls, inexorable
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Speaker 1: as fate and remorseless as conscience, would presently rejoin him.
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Speaker 1: He could as little escape her as the cause can
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Speaker 1: escape the effect. The rogue, like the artist and perhaps
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Speaker 1: the gentleman, belongs to no class. He is not embarrassed
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Speaker 1: by the sans gene of the hobo, nor put out
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Speaker 1: of countenance by the etiquette of the prince. But Missus
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Speaker 1: Nicholls belonged to the well defined class of late become vocal,
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Speaker 1: which is known as the lower middle. Her father in
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Speaker 1: fact was a policeman. I am certain that he was
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Speaker 1: an efficient one. I do not know what her hold
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Speaker 1: was on the Captain, but I do not think it
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Speaker 1: was love. I never heard her speak, but it may
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Speaker 1: be that in private she had a copious conversation. At
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Speaker 1: any rate, Captain Nicholls was frightened to death of her. Sometimes,
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Speaker 1: sitting with me on the terrace of the hotel, he
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Speaker 1: would become conscious that she was walking in the road outside.
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Speaker 1: She did not call him, She gave no sign that
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Speaker 1: she was aware of his existence. She merely walked up
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Speaker 1: and down composedly. Then a strange uneasiness would seize the Captain.
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Speaker 1: He would look at his watch and sigh, well, I
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Speaker 1: must be off, he said. Neither wit nor whiskey could
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Speaker 1: detain him. Then, Yet he was a man who had
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Speaker 1: faced undaunted hurricane and typhoon, and would not have hesitated
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Speaker 1: to fight a dozen unarmed niggers with nothing but a
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Speaker 1: revolver to help him. Sometimes Missus Nicholls would send her daughter,
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Speaker 1: a pale faced, sullen child of seven, to the hotel.
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Speaker 1: Mother wants you, she said, in a whining tone. Very well,
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Speaker 1: my dear, said Captain Nicholls. He rose to his feet
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Speaker 1: at once and accompanied his daughter along the road. I
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Speaker 1: suppose it was a very pretty example of the triumph
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Speaker 1: of spirit over matter, and so my digression as at
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Speaker 1: least the advantage of a moral so ends Chapter forty six,
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Speaker 1: Chapter forty seven. I have tried to put some connection
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Speaker 1: into the various things Captain Nicholls told me about Strickland,
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Speaker 1: and here set them down in the best order I can.
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Speaker 1: They made one another's acquaintance during the latter part of
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Speaker 1: the winter following my last meeting with Strickland in Paris.
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Speaker 1: How he had passed the intervening months I do not know,
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Speaker 1: but life must have been very hard for Captain Nicholls
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Speaker 1: saw him first in the Asodenuis. There was a strike
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Speaker 1: at Marseilles at the time, and Strickland, having come to
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Speaker 1: the end of his resources, had apparently found it impossible
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Speaker 1: to earn the small sum he needed to keep body
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Speaker 1: and soul together. The essel Denui is a large stone
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Speaker 1: building where pauper and vagabond may get a bed for
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Speaker 1: a week, provided their papers are in order and they
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Speaker 1: can persuade the friars in charge that they are working men.
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Speaker 1: Captain Nicholls noticed Strickland for his size and his singular
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Speaker 1: appearance among the crowd that waited for the doors to open.
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Speaker 1: They waited listlessly, some walking to and fro, some leaning
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Speaker 1: against the wall, and others seated on the kerb with
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Speaker 1: their feet and the gutter. And when they filed into
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Speaker 1: the office, he heard the monk who read his papers
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Speaker 1: address him in English, but he did not have a
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Speaker 1: chance to speak to him, since as he entered the
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Speaker 1: common room a monk came in with a huge bible
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Speaker 1: in his arms, mounted a pulpit which was at the
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Speaker 1: end of the room, and began the service which the
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Speaker 1: wretched outcast had to endure as the price of their lodging.
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Speaker 1: He and Strickland were assigned to different rooms, and when
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Speaker 1: thrown out of bed at five in the morning by
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Speaker 1: a stalwart monk, he had made his bed and washed
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Speaker 1: his face, Strickland had already disappeared. Captain Nicholls wandered about
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Speaker 1: the streets for an hour of bitter cold, and then
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Speaker 1: made his way to the place Victor Jaloeu, where the
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Speaker 1: sailormen are wont to congregate. Dozing against the pedestal of
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Speaker 1: a statue, he saw Strickland again, he gave him a
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Speaker 1: kick to awaken him. Come and have breakfast, mate, he said,
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Speaker 1: go to hell, answered Strickland, I recognize my friend's limited vocabulary,
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Speaker 1: and I prepared to regard Captain Nicholls as a trustworthy witness. Busted,
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Speaker 1: asked the captain, blast you, answered Strickland, Come along with me.
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Speaker 1: I'll get you some breakfast. After a moment's hesitation, Strickland
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Speaker 1: scrambled to his feet, and together they went to the
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Speaker 1: bouchete de Pont, where the hungry are given a wedge
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Speaker 1: of bread, which they must eat there and then, for
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Speaker 1: it is forbidden to take it away. And then to
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Speaker 1: the Couyelle de soup, where for a week, at eleven
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Speaker 1: and four you may get a bowl of fis salt soup.
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Speaker 1: The two buildings are placed far apart, so that only
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Speaker 1: the starving should be tempted to make use of them.
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Speaker 1: So they had breakfast, and so began the queer companionship
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Speaker 1: of Charles Strickland and Captain Nichols. They must have spent
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Speaker 1: something like four months at Marseilles in one another's society.
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Speaker 1: Their career was devoid of adventure, if by adventure you
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Speaker 1: mean unexpected or thrilling incident, for their days were occupied
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Speaker 1: in the pursuit of enough money to get a night's
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Speaker 1: lodging and such food as would stay the pangs of hunger.
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Speaker 1: But I wish I could give here the pictures, colored
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Speaker 1: and racy, which Captain nicholls vivid narrative offered to the imagination.
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Speaker 1: His account of their discoveries in the low life of
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Speaker 1: a seaport town would have made a charming book, And
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Speaker 1: in the various characters that came their way, the student
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Speaker 1: might easily have found matter for a very complete dictionary
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Speaker 1: of rogues. But I must content myself with a few paragraphs.
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Speaker 1: I received the impression of a life intense and brutal, savage,
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Speaker 1: multicolored and vivacious. It made the Marseilles that I knew
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Speaker 1: jesticulating and sonny, with its comfortable hotels and its restaurants,
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Speaker 1: crowded with the well to do, tame and commonplace. I
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Speaker 1: envied men who had seen with their own eyes the
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Speaker 1: sights that Captain Nichols described. When the doors of the
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Speaker 1: Asildanui were closed to them, Strickland and Captain Nicholls sought
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Speaker 1: the hospitality of tough Bill. This was the master of
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Speaker 1: a sailor's boarding house, a huge mulatto with a heavy fist,
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Speaker 1: who gave the stranded mariner food and shelter till he
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Speaker 1: found him a berth. They lived with him a month,
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Speaker 1: sleeping with a dozen others Swedes, Negroes, Brazilians on the
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Speaker 1: floor of the two bare rooms in his house, which
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Speaker 1: he assigned to his charges. And every day they went
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Speaker 1: with him to the place Victor Jlou, whither came ship's
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Speaker 1: captains in search of a man. He was married to
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Speaker 1: an American woman, obese and slatternly fallen to this past
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Speaker 1: by heaven knows what process of degradation, and every day
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Speaker 1: the boarders took it in turns to help her with
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Speaker 1: the housework. Captain Nicholls looked upon it as a smart
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Speaker 1: piece of work on Strickland's part, that he had got
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Speaker 1: out of this by painting a portrait of tough Bill.
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Speaker 1: Tough Bill not only paid for the canvas, colors and brushes,
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Speaker 1: but gave Strickland a pound of smuggled tobacco into the bargain.
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Speaker 1: For all I know, this picture may still adorn the
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Speaker 1: parlor of the tumbled down little house somewhere near the
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Speaker 1: Quaidalla Joliette, and I suppose it could now be sold
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Speaker 1: for fifteen hundred pounds. Strickland's idea was to ship on
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Speaker 1: some vessel bound for Australia or New Zealand, and from
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Speaker 1: there make his way to Samoa or Tahiti. I do
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Speaker 1: not know how he had come upon the notion of
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Speaker 1: going to the South Seas, though I remember that his
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Speaker 1: imagination had long been haunted by an island all green
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Speaker 1: and sunny, encircled by a sea more blue than is
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Speaker 1: found in northern latitudes. I I suppose that he clung
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Speaker 1: to Captain Nicholls because he was acquainted with those parts.
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Speaker 1: And it was Captain Nicholls who persuaded him that he
14:07
Speaker 1: would be more comfortable in Tahiti. You see Tahite's French,
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Speaker 1: he explained to me. And the French aren't so damned technical.
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Speaker 1: I thought I saw his point. Strickland had no papers,
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Speaker 1: but that was not a matter to disconcert tough Bill.
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Speaker 1: When he saw a prophet, he took the first month's
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Speaker 1: wages of the sailor, for whom he found a berth,
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Speaker 1: and he provided Strickland with those of an English stoker
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Speaker 1: who had providentially died on his hands. But both Captain
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Speaker 1: Nicholls and Strickland were bound east, and it chanced that
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Speaker 1: the only opportunities for signing on were with ships sailing west.
14:43
Speaker 1: Twice Strickland refused a berth on tramps sailing for the
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Speaker 1: United States, and once on a collier going to Newcastle.
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Speaker 1: Tough Bill had no patience with an obstinacy which could
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Speaker 1: only result in loss to himself, and on the last
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Speaker 1: occasion he flung both Strickland and care Captain Nichols out
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Speaker 1: of his house without more ado. They found themselves once
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Speaker 1: more adrift. Tough Bill's fare was seldom extravagant, and you
15:09
Speaker 1: rose from his table almost as hungry as you sat down,
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Speaker 1: But for some days they had good reason to regret it.
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Speaker 1: They learned what hunger was. The Coolie de soup and
15:19
Speaker 1: the azeldnui were both closed to them, and their only
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Speaker 1: sustenance was the wedge of bread, which the bouchey du
15:26
Speaker 1: pond provided. They slept where they could, sometimes in an
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Speaker 1: empty truck on a siding near the station, sometimes in
15:33
Speaker 1: a cart behind a warehouse, but it was bitterly cold,
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Speaker 1: and after an hour or two of uneasy dozing, they
15:40
Speaker 1: would tramp the streets again. What they felt the lack
15:43
Speaker 1: of most bitterly was tobacco, and Captain Nichols, for his part,
15:47
Speaker 1: could not do without it. He took to hunting the
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Speaker 1: can of beer for cigarette ends, and the butt end
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Speaker 1: of cigars which the promenaders of the night before had
15:56
Speaker 1: thrown away. I've tasted worse smoking mixtures in a pipe,
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Speaker 1: he added, with a philosophic shrug of his shoulders. As
16:03
Speaker 1: he took a couple of cigars from the case, I
16:06
Speaker 1: offered him, putting one in his mouth and the other
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Speaker 1: in his pocket. Now and then they made a bit
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Speaker 1: of money. Sometimes a mail steamer would come in and
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Speaker 1: Captain Nicholls, having scraped acquaintance with the time keeper, would
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Speaker 1: succeed in getting the pair of them a job at
16:21
Speaker 1: Steve Adoors. When it was an English boat, they would
16:24
Speaker 1: dodge into the forecastle and get a hearty breakfast from
16:27
Speaker 1: the crew. They took the risk of running against one
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Speaker 1: of the ship's officers and being hustled down the gangway
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Speaker 1: with the toe of a boot to speed their going.
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Speaker 1: There's no harm in a kick in the hide quarters
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Speaker 1: when your belly's full said Captain Nicholls, And personally I
16:43
Speaker 1: never take it in bad part, and officers got to
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Speaker 1: think about discipline. I had a lively picture of Captain
16:49
Speaker 1: Nicholls flying headlong down a narrow gangway before the uplifted
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Speaker 1: boot of an angry mate, and like a true Englishman,
16:57
Speaker 1: rejoicing in the spirit of the mercantile marine. There were
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Speaker 1: often odd jobs to be got about the fish market.
17:04
Speaker 1: Once they each of them earned a franc by loading
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Speaker 1: trucks with innumerable boxes of oranges that had been dumped
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Speaker 1: down on the quay. One day they had a stroke
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Speaker 1: of luck. One of the boarding masters got a contract
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Speaker 1: to paint a tramp that had come in from Madagascar
17:19
Speaker 1: round the Cape of Good Hope, and they spent several
17:22
Speaker 1: days on a plank hanging over the side, covering the
17:25
Speaker 1: rusty hull with paint. It was a situation that must
17:28
Speaker 1: have appealed to strickland sardonic humor. I asked Captain Nicholls
17:33
Speaker 1: how he bore himself during these hardships. Never knew him
17:36
Speaker 1: to say a cross word, answered the Captain. He'd be
17:40
Speaker 1: a bit surly sometimes, But when we hadn't had a
17:42
Speaker 1: bite since morning, and we hadn't even got the price
17:45
Speaker 1: of a lie down at the chinks, he'd be as
17:48
Speaker 1: lively as a cricket. I was not surprised at this.
17:51
Speaker 1: Strickland was just the man to rise superior to circumstances
17:55
Speaker 1: when they were such as to occasion despondency in most.
17:59
Speaker 1: But whether this was due to equanimity of soul or
18:02
Speaker 1: to contradictoriness, it would be difficult to say. The Chink's
18:06
Speaker 1: Head was a name the beach combers gave to a
18:08
Speaker 1: wretched inn off the Rubutri, kept by a one eyed chinaman,
18:13
Speaker 1: where for six sous you could sleep in a cot
18:16
Speaker 1: and for three on the floor. Here they made friends
18:19
Speaker 1: with others in as desperate condition as themselves, And when
18:23
Speaker 1: they were penniless and the night was bitter cold, they
18:25
Speaker 1: were glad to borrow from any one who had earned
18:28
Speaker 1: a stray frank during the day the price of a
18:30
Speaker 1: roof over their heads. They were not niggardly these tramps,
18:34
Speaker 1: and he who had money did not hesitate to share
18:37
Speaker 1: it among the rest. They belonged to all the countries
18:40
Speaker 1: in the world, but this was no bar to good fellowship,
18:43
Speaker 1: for they felt themselves free men of a country whose
18:46
Speaker 1: frontiers include them all the great country of Cocaine. But
18:50
Speaker 1: I guess Strickland was an ugly customer when he was roused,
18:53
Speaker 1: said Captain Nicholls reflectively. One day we ran into tough
18:57
Speaker 1: Bill in the place and he asked Charles for the
19:00
Speaker 1: papers he'd given him. You'd better come and take them
19:03
Speaker 1: if you want them, says Charlie. He was a powerful fellow,
19:06
Speaker 1: tough Bill, but he didn't quite like the look of Charley,
19:09
Speaker 1: so he began cursing him. He called him pretty near
19:13
Speaker 1: every name he could lay hands on, And when tough
19:15
Speaker 1: Bill began cursing, it was worth listening to him. Well,
19:19
Speaker 1: Charlie stuck it for a bit. Then he stepped forward
19:22
Speaker 1: and he just said, get out, you bloody swine. It
19:25
Speaker 1: wasn't so much what he said, but the way he
19:28
Speaker 1: said it. Tough Bill never spoke another word. You could
19:31
Speaker 1: see him go yellow, and he walked away as if
19:34
Speaker 1: he'd remembered he had a date. Strickland, according to Captain Nicholls,
19:38
Speaker 1: did not use exactly the words I have given, But
19:41
Speaker 1: since this book is meant for family reading, I have
19:44
Speaker 1: thought it better, at the expense of truth, to put
19:47
Speaker 1: into his mouth expressions familiar to the domestic circle. Now,
19:51
Speaker 1: tough Bill was not the man to put up with
19:53
Speaker 1: humiliation at the hands of a common sailor. His power
19:57
Speaker 1: depended on his prestige, and first won one, then another
20:01
Speaker 1: of the sailors who lived in his house told them
20:04
Speaker 1: that he had sworn to do Strickland. In one night,
20:07
Speaker 1: Captain Nichols and Strickland were sitting in one of the
20:10
Speaker 1: bars of the Rue Brutree. The Rue Buttrie is a
20:13
Speaker 1: narrow street of one storied houses, each house consisting of
20:17
Speaker 1: but one room. They are like the booze in a
20:20
Speaker 1: crowded fair, or the cages of animals in a circus.
20:23
Speaker 1: At every door you see a woman. Some lean lazily
20:27
Speaker 1: against the side posts, humming to themselves or calling to
20:30
Speaker 1: the passer by in a raucous voice, and some listlessly read.
20:35
Speaker 1: They are French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese colored. Some are fat
20:40
Speaker 1: and some are thin. And under the thick paint on
20:42
Speaker 1: their faces, the heavy smears on their eyebrows and the
20:45
Speaker 1: scarlet of their lips, you see the lines of age
20:48
Speaker 1: and the scars of dissipation. Some wear black shifts and
20:53
Speaker 1: flesh colored stockings, some with curly hair dyed yellow, are
20:57
Speaker 1: dressed like little girls in short muslin frocks. Through the
21:00
Speaker 1: open door you see a red tiled floor, a large
21:03
Speaker 1: wooden bed, and on a deal table, a ewer and
21:07
Speaker 1: a basin. A motley. Crowd saunters along the streets, less
21:12
Speaker 1: scars off a p and o, blond Northmen from a
21:15
Speaker 1: Swedish bark, Japanese from a man of war, English sailors, Spaniards,
21:20
Speaker 1: pleasant looking fellows from a French cruiser, negroes off an
21:24
Speaker 1: American tramp. By day it is merely sordid, but at night,
21:28
Speaker 1: lit only by the lamps in the little huts, the
21:31
Speaker 1: street has a sinister beauty. The hideous lust that pervades
21:35
Speaker 1: the air is oppressive and horrible, and yet there is
21:38
Speaker 1: something mysterious in the sight which haunts and troubles you.
21:42
Speaker 1: You feel, I know not what primitive force which repels
21:45
Speaker 1: and yet fascinates you. Here all the decencies of civilization
21:49
Speaker 1: are swept away, and you feel that men are face
21:52
Speaker 1: to face with a somber reality. There is an atmosphere
21:56
Speaker 1: that is at once intense and tragic. In the bar
22:00
Speaker 1: in which Strickland and Nichols sat, a mechanical piano was
22:03
Speaker 1: loudly grinding out dance music round the room. People were
22:07
Speaker 1: sitting at table. Here half a dozen sailors uproariously drunk.
22:11
Speaker 1: There a group of soldiers, and in the middle crowded together,
22:15
Speaker 1: couples were dancing. Bearded sailors with brown faces and large,
22:19
Speaker 1: horny hands clasped their partners in a tight embrace. The
22:23
Speaker 1: women wore nothing but a shift. Now and then two
22:26
Speaker 1: sailors would get up and dance together. The noise was deafening.
22:30
Speaker 1: People were singing, shouting, laughing, and when a man gave
22:34
Speaker 1: a long kiss to the girl sitting on his knees,
22:36
Speaker 1: cat calls from the English sailors increased the din The
22:40
Speaker 1: air was heavy with the dust beaten up by the
22:42
Speaker 1: heavy boots of the men, and gray with smoke. It
22:45
Speaker 1: was very hot. Behind the bar was seated a woman
22:49
Speaker 1: nursing her baby. The waiter and undersized youth with a flat,
22:53
Speaker 1: spody face hurried to and fro, carrying a tray laden
22:57
Speaker 1: with glasses of beer. In a little while while tough Bill,
23:01
Speaker 1: accompanied by two huge negroes, came in, and it was
23:04
Speaker 1: easy to see that he was already three parts drunk.
23:08
Speaker 1: He was looking for trouble. He lurched against a table
23:11
Speaker 1: at which three soldiers were sitting and knocked over a
23:14
Speaker 1: glass of beer. There was an angry altercation, and the
23:17
Speaker 1: owner of the bar stepped forward and ordered tough Bill
23:20
Speaker 1: to go. He was a hefty fellow in the habit
23:23
Speaker 1: of standing no nonsense from his customers, and tough Bill hesitated.
23:27
Speaker 1: The landlord was not a man he cared to tackle,
23:30
Speaker 1: for the police were on his side, and with an oath,
23:33
Speaker 1: he turned on his heel. Suddenly he caught sight of Strickland.
23:37
Speaker 1: He rolled up to him. He did not speak. He
23:40
Speaker 1: gathered the spittle in his mouth and spat full in
23:43
Speaker 1: Strickland's face. Strickland seized his glass and flung it at him.
23:48
Speaker 1: The dancers stopped suddenly still, there was an instant of
23:51
Speaker 1: complete silence. But when tough Bill threw himself on Strickland,
23:55
Speaker 1: the lust of battle seized them all, and in a
23:57
Speaker 1: moment there was a confused scrimmage. Tables were overturned, glasses
24:02
Speaker 1: crashed to the ground. There was a hellish row. The
24:06
Speaker 1: women scattered to the door and behind the bar. Passers
24:09
Speaker 1: by surged in from the street. You heard curses in
24:12
Speaker 1: every tongue. The sound of blows cries, and in the
24:15
Speaker 1: middle of the room a dozen men were fighting with
24:18
Speaker 1: all their might. On a sudden, the police rushed in,
24:21
Speaker 1: and everyone who could made for the door. When the
24:24
Speaker 1: bar was more or less cleared, Tough Bill was lying
24:27
Speaker 1: insensible on the floor with a great gash in his head.
24:30
Speaker 1: Captain Nicholls dragged Strickland, bleeding from a wound in his arm,
24:34
Speaker 1: his clothes in rags, into the street. His own face
24:37
Speaker 1: was covered with blood from a blow on the nose.
24:40
Speaker 1: I guess you'd better get out of Marseilles before Tough
24:43
Speaker 1: Bill comes out of hospital, he said to Strickland, when
24:45
Speaker 1: they had got back to the Chink's Head and were
24:47
Speaker 1: cleaning themselves. This beats cock fighting, said Strickland. I could
24:52
Speaker 1: see his sardonic smile. Captain Nicholls was anxious. He knew
24:57
Speaker 1: Tough Bill's vindictiveness. Strickland had down the Mulatto twice, and
25:02
Speaker 1: the Mulatto sober was a man to be reckoned with.
25:05
Speaker 1: He would bide his time stealthily. He would be in
25:08
Speaker 1: no hurry. But one night Strickland would get a knife
25:11
Speaker 1: thrust in his back, and in a day or two,
25:14
Speaker 1: the corpse of a nameless beech comber would be fished
25:17
Speaker 1: out of the dirty water of the harbor. Nicholls went
25:20
Speaker 1: next evening to tuff Bill's house and made inquiries. He
25:24
Speaker 1: was in hospital still, but his wife, who had been
25:27
Speaker 1: to see him, said he was swearing hard to kill
25:29
Speaker 1: Strickland when they let him out. A week passed. That's
25:33
Speaker 1: what I always say, reflected Captain Nicholls. When you heard
25:37
Speaker 1: a man hurt him bad, it gives you a bit
25:39
Speaker 1: of time to look about and think what she'll do next.
25:43
Speaker 1: Then Strickland had a bit of luck. A ship bound
25:46
Speaker 1: for Australia had sent to the sailor's home for a
25:49
Speaker 1: stoker in place of one who had thrown himself overboard
25:52
Speaker 1: off Gibraltar in an attack of delirium treatments. You doubled
25:56
Speaker 1: down to the harbor, my lad, said the captain to Strickland,
25:59
Speaker 1: and signed on you've got your papers. Strickland set off
26:03
Speaker 1: at once, and that was the last Captain Nicholls saw
26:06
Speaker 1: of him. The ship was only in port for six hours,
26:09
Speaker 1: and in the evening Captain Nicholls watched the vanishing smoke
26:12
Speaker 1: from her funnels as she plowed east through the wintry sea.
26:17
Speaker 1: I have narrated all this as best I could, because
26:20
Speaker 1: I liked the contrast of these episodes with the life
26:23
Speaker 1: that I had seen Strickland live in Ashley Gardens, when
26:26
Speaker 1: he was occupied with stocks and shares. But I am
26:29
Speaker 1: aware that Captain Nicholls was an outrageous liar, and I
26:32
Speaker 1: dare say there is not a word of truth in
26:35
Speaker 1: anything he told me. I should not be surprised to
26:38
Speaker 1: learn that he had never seen Strickland in his life,
26:41
Speaker 1: and owed his knowledge of Marseilles to the pages of
26:44
Speaker 1: a magazine. So ends Chapter forty seven. Chapter forty eight.
26:52
Speaker 1: It is here that I purposed to end my book.
26:55
Speaker 1: My first idea was to begin it with the account
26:57
Speaker 1: of Strickland's last years in Tahiti and with his horrible death,
27:01
Speaker 1: and then go back and relate what I knew of
27:03
Speaker 1: his beginnings. This I meant to do not from wilfulness,
27:08
Speaker 1: but because I wished to leave Strickland setting out with
27:11
Speaker 1: I know not what fancies in his lonely soul for
27:14
Speaker 1: the unknown islands which fired his imagination. I liked the
27:18
Speaker 1: picture of him starting at the age of forty seven,
27:21
Speaker 1: when most men have already settled comfortably in a groove
27:24
Speaker 1: for a new world. I saw him the sea, gray
27:28
Speaker 1: under the mistral and foam flecked, watching the vanishing coast
27:32
Speaker 1: of France, which he was destined never to see again.
27:35
Speaker 1: And I thought there was something gallant in his bearing
27:38
Speaker 1: and dauntless in his soul. I wished so to end
27:41
Speaker 1: on a note of hope. It seemed to emphasize the
27:44
Speaker 1: unconquerable spirit of man. But I could not manage it.
27:48
Speaker 1: Somehow I could not get into my story, and after
27:51
Speaker 1: trying once or twice, I had to give it up.
27:54
Speaker 1: I started from the beginning in the usual way and
27:57
Speaker 1: made up my mind. I could only tell what I
27:59
Speaker 1: knew of strict Glenn's life in the order in which
28:02
Speaker 1: I learnt. The facts. Those that I have now are fragmentary.
28:06
Speaker 1: I am in the position of a biologist who, from
28:08
Speaker 1: a single bone must reconstruct not only the appearance of
28:12
Speaker 1: an extinct animal, but its habits. Strickland made no particular
28:16
Speaker 1: impression on the people who came in contact with him
28:19
Speaker 1: in Tahiti. To them, he was no more than a
28:22
Speaker 1: beech comber in constant need of money, remarkable only for
28:26
Speaker 1: the peculiarity that he painted pictures which seemed to them absurd.
28:31
Speaker 1: And it was not till he had been dead for
28:33
Speaker 1: some years, and agents came from the dealers in Paris
28:36
Speaker 1: and Berlin to look for any pictures which might still
28:39
Speaker 1: remain on the island, that they had any idea that
28:42
Speaker 1: among them had dwelt a man of consequence. They remembered
28:46
Speaker 1: then that they could have bought for a song canvasses
28:49
Speaker 1: which now were worth large sums, and they could not
28:52
Speaker 1: forgive themselves for the opportunity which had escaped them. There
28:56
Speaker 1: was a Jewish trader called Cohen, who had come by
28:59
Speaker 1: one of Strickland pictures in a singular way. He was
29:02
Speaker 1: a little old Frenchman with soft kind eyes and a
29:05
Speaker 1: pleasant smile, half trader and half seaman, who owned a
29:09
Speaker 1: cutter in which he wandered boldly among the palmatu and
29:12
Speaker 1: the Marcus Ohs, taking out trade goods and bringing back
29:16
Speaker 1: copper shell and pearls. I went to see him because
29:19
Speaker 1: I was told he had a large black pearl which
29:22
Speaker 1: he was willing to sell cheaply, And when I discovered
29:25
Speaker 1: that it was beyond my means, I began to talk
29:28
Speaker 1: to him about Strickland. He had known him well. You see.
29:32
Speaker 1: I was interested in him because he was a painter.
29:34
Speaker 1: He told me we don't get many painters in the islands,
29:38
Speaker 1: and I was sorry for him because he was such
29:40
Speaker 1: a bad one. I gave him his first job. I
29:44
Speaker 1: had a plantation on the peninsula and I wanted a
29:47
Speaker 1: white overseer. You never get any work out of the
29:50
Speaker 1: natives unless you have a white man over them. I
29:53
Speaker 1: said to him, you'll have plenty of time for painting,
29:56
Speaker 1: and you can earn a bit of money. I knew
29:59
Speaker 1: he was starving, but I offered him good wages. I
30:02
Speaker 1: can't imagine that he was a very satisfactory overseer, I said, smiling.
30:08
Speaker 1: I made allowances. I have always had a sympathy for artists.
30:12
Speaker 1: It is in our blood, you know. But he only
30:14
Speaker 1: remained a few months. When he had enough money to
30:17
Speaker 1: buy paints and canvasses, he left me. The place had
30:20
Speaker 1: got hold of him by then and he wanted to
30:23
Speaker 1: get away into the bush. But I continued to see him.
30:26
Speaker 1: Now and then he would turn up and Pappa Tee
30:29
Speaker 1: every few months and stay a little while. He'd get
30:32
Speaker 1: money out of some one or other, and then disappear again.
30:35
Speaker 1: It was on one of these visits that he came
30:37
Speaker 1: to me and asked for the loan of two hundred francs.
30:41
Speaker 1: He looked as if he hadn't had a meal for
30:43
Speaker 1: a week, and I hadn't the heart to refuse him.
30:46
Speaker 1: Of course, I never expected to see my money again. Well,
30:50
Speaker 1: a year later he came to see me once more,
30:52
Speaker 1: and he brought a picture with him. He did not
30:55
Speaker 1: mention the money he owed me, but he said, here
30:58
Speaker 1: is a picture of your plantation that I've painted for you.
31:01
Speaker 1: I looked at it. I did not know what to say,
31:04
Speaker 1: but of course I thanked him, And when he had
31:06
Speaker 1: gone away, I showed it to my wife. What was
31:09
Speaker 1: it like? I asked, Do not ask me. I could
31:12
Speaker 1: not make head or tail of it. I never saw
31:15
Speaker 1: such a thing in my life. What shall we do
31:17
Speaker 1: with it? I said to my wife. We can never
31:20
Speaker 1: hang it up. She said, people would laugh at us.
31:24
Speaker 1: So she took it into an attic and put it
31:26
Speaker 1: away with all sorts of rubbish. For my wife can
31:28
Speaker 1: never throw anything away. It is her mania. Then imagine
31:33
Speaker 1: to yourself. Just before the war, my brother wrote to
31:36
Speaker 1: me from Paris and said, do you know anything about
31:39
Speaker 1: an English painter who lived in Tahiti. It appears that
31:42
Speaker 1: he was a genius, and his pictures fetch large prices.
31:46
Speaker 1: See if you can lay your hands on anything and
31:49
Speaker 1: send it to me, there's money to be made. So
31:51
Speaker 1: I said to my wife, what about that picture that
31:54
Speaker 1: Strickland gave me? Is it possible that it is still
31:57
Speaker 1: in the attic? Without doubt, she answered, for you know
32:00
Speaker 1: that I never throw anything away. It is my mania.
32:04
Speaker 1: We went up to the attic, and there, among I
32:07
Speaker 1: know not what rubbish that had been gathered during the
32:09
Speaker 1: thirty years we have inhabited that house was the picture.
32:13
Speaker 1: I looked at it again, and I said, who would
32:15
Speaker 1: have thought that the overseer of my plantation on the
32:18
Speaker 1: peninsula to whom I lent two hundred francs had genius?
32:23
Speaker 1: Do you see anything in the picture? No, she said,
32:26
Speaker 1: it does not resemble the plantation. And I have never
32:29
Speaker 1: seen cocoanuts with blue leaves, but they are mad in Paris.
32:33
Speaker 1: And it may be that your brother will be able
32:35
Speaker 1: to sell it for the two hundred francs you lent. Strickland. Well,
32:39
Speaker 1: we packed it up and we sent it to my brother,
32:41
Speaker 1: and at last I received a letter from him. What
32:44
Speaker 1: do you think? He said. I received your picture, he said,
32:48
Speaker 1: and I confess I thought it was a joke that
32:50
Speaker 1: you had played on me. I would not have given
32:53
Speaker 1: the cost of postage for the picture. I was half
32:56
Speaker 1: afraid to show it to the gentleman who had spoken
32:58
Speaker 1: to me about it. Imagine my surprise when he said
33:01
Speaker 1: it was a masterpiece and offered me thirty thousand francs.
33:06
Speaker 1: I dare say he would have paid more, but frankly,
33:09
Speaker 1: I was so taken aback that I lost my head.
33:11
Speaker 1: I accepted the offer before I was able to collect myself.
33:15
Speaker 1: Then Monsieur Cohan said an admirable thing. I wish that
33:19
Speaker 1: poor Strickland had been still alive. I wonder what he
33:22
Speaker 1: would have said when I gave him twenty nine thousand,
33:25
Speaker 1: eight hundred francs for his picture. So ends Chapter forty eight.