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Chapter XXXI · A Drop in Infinity

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  Chapter thirty one of A Drop in Infinity. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  All librivas recordings are in the public domain. For more information ought to volunteer,
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  please visit LibriVox dot org. A Drop in Infinity by Gerald Grogan,
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  chapter thirty one. How much do you want to know? Began Goloway.
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  How you came to meet the Hubble Bubble the fiddleman, and where we met
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  him in the North Atlantic last summer, said Goloway. Is that all the
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  information you need? Perhaps you had better tell me the incidents leading up to
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  this singular meeting, I suggested, I do hope our mutual friend hasn't been
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  trifling with the Row Navy. Callaway looked perplexed. Suppose you know he began
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  finally, or at least I suppose you don't, so I might as well
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  tell you that Izovitch made himself emperor of Nother Russia and the Coalition last June.
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  I suppose the Revolution helped him, though they say it was mostly due
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  to secret work by the post Christian higher Moralists and the Brotherhood of the New
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  Ira Democrats, who imagine they would gain private ends by inviting him in.
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  They didn't we woke up to find Itsey in supreme control of far too much
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  territory, plugging competitors right and left. That's all, by the way.
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  However, I just mention it because of course it shut things up a bit
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  and changed the situation very suddenly changed it for the worse for us. That's
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  how I came to be in the North Atlantic, you see. I wanted
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  to see some of the fun and hang it all. I was a sailor.
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  They wouldn't hear of it at first, but finally some fellow decided it
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  would cheer the fleet up a bit and keep them from broodin over their arrears.
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  Funny thing, isn't it to think of our government not having the money
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  to pay its men. No wonder people are prophesying the end of the world.
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  A gaggle of geese drove wedgewise to the north. Somehow we all turned
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  to watch them dwindle and disappear against the background of the primeval forest. An
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  only grasshopper chirruped the world and to an end will come upperty umpty umpady um
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  droned an early bumble bee as it bobbed in and out of the flowers.
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  It's quiet here said Goloway. I was on board the Cherokee. He continued,
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  I was to join my ship at Vancouver, and they were smuggling me
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  out secretly, with Sir Herbert Tilsby Wilkins as in a guard and Captain Seppings
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  to keep a general eye on me. Captain Seppings was my old commander on
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  board the Infuriated. You know, we were caught in a fog of the
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  banks and a Japanese submarine torpedo at us in the night. The Infuriated was
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  torpedoed, I cried the Cherokee, of course, said Galway. I suppose
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  it was the Japanese that did it, for we saw them the next day.
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  They were hunting for me, but I hid in the stern sheets behind
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  the women's skirts. He colored slightly. Had to, you know, no
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  other alternative if I didn't want to be made a prisoner and leave the rest
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  of the tender mercies of the enemy. You're never sure where you are.
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  Nowadays they do such barbarious things. Seemed to have lost all the old ideas.
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  I wonder how they knew I was on board the Cherokee. He broke
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  off. Somebody must have split observed the ragged flapper sagely, I think,
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  shut up, said her sister. Let him tell you the yard his own
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  way. Who cares what you think? I think Tillywinks must have split pursued
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  the unquenchable Rag. I hate him. I would like to hear about the
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  sinking of the ship, I suggested. I fear Sir Herbert is out of
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  reach, so the question of his fidelity is not material. It was a
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  sort of bump in the night, remarked Raggs solemnly. She evidently considered her
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  turn had now come, and the voice of father saying unforgettable things in the
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  alleyway. When he had finished his devotions, we were hustled on deck and
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  our night gowns and left to finish dressing there. Of course, Patches had
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  disappeared, she always does when she is wanted not to, so Father went
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  below again to find her. He heard her hammering in the bathroom, and
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  the silly ass had locked the door and it wouldn't come unlocked, so Father
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  had to kick it in. By the time he got backs, that's Galway
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  had joined us. He belongs to me. The narrator was suppressed by her
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  elder sister. I was driven into one of the lifeboats by brute force,
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  continued galway peevishly. Luckily, however, Sir Herbert found there wasn't room for
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  himself. After he had coerced me, I asked him if the seppingses were
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  off, and he said yes, I'll get a place myself the next boat,
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  he said, everybody else is off. You see, Gwiney is rather
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  a pal of mine, so I naturally wanted to know. I don't think
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  she's born to be drowned. I but wanted to make sure. They began
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  to lower away, and just as we cleared the rail of the promenade deck,
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  I spotted her them under one of the electric lights, which hadn't gone
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  out yet. What a fat liar tilly wings is, I said, and
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  I naturally stood up and made a jump for it over the rail. Somebody
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  on the boat, imagine it was one of the ship's officers, shouted to
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  collar that man. But I had a happy thought. Want me, pipe,
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  I said, and I shabled off toward the steerage with my cap all
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  over my eyes. The officer, who seemed busy, said I could drown
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  and be blowed in that case. So I waited until the boat was out
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  of sight, nipped across to the starboard promenade deck, through the smoking room,
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  and joined the seppingses. You were rather sick with me, sir,
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  weren't you, grunted the captain. The next man to come proceeded Galway was
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  Decca. He had raided three women passengers from the second cabin, and they
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  were all carrying sample cases. The sample cases belonged to Decca. We found
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  them very useful afterwards, the silent American smiled. I guessed I might do
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  some business in the boats, he said slowly, which shows were all likely
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  to mean mistaken once in a while. They are good cigars, though you
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  wouldn't find an agent like me traveling for a firm. The don handled first
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  class stuff. Carry on, mister Galway. Decker wanted a conveyance for his
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  female friends and his cigars, said Galway. There were two extra boats on
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  either side of the hatch on the forward well deck. I think they stowed
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  them there at the last moment on account of the Cherokee carrying more than the
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  lawful number of passengers. She was quite a small ship, you know,
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  but everything seemed so upside down nowadays that it's largely a case of please yourself.
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  Just as the lights went out, MC tavish and three other men ran
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  out below us and began to strip the tar paoling off one of the boats.
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  They were in the deuce of a hurry and cursing like blazes, so
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  he looked as if there wasn't much time left. It seems we'd been overlooked,
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  said Captain Seppings. Let's get in here. We went down and lent
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  a hand with the boat. It was easy work launching her, for the
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  deck was almost flushed with the water by this time. The last thing I
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  remembers the skipper cursing at us from the bridge and telling us to get a
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  move on. We were shouting to find out if anybody else had been left
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  aboard, but he seemed the only one. We just pushed off in time,
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  and we heard the splash as he hopped in himself. I think he
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  was picked up all right. Then we managed to lose the other boats in
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  the fog and met mister Jasper Smith alias than Hubble Bubble I suggested next day,
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  said Goalway in the morning, it was thicker than ever and a submarine
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  sploshed up under our bows. A chap lieutenant came out of the conning tower
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  and made kind inquiry for me. I've told you already where I was at
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  the moment. Ragg said I was in one of the big boats. And
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  she wept she can when she wants to, and said they were all frightened
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  and would like to be taken on board the submarine. Johnny, smart of
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  her. Don't you think they couldn't imagine we were concealing anybody with all the
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  women howling to go on the submarine. Emily, that's patches nearly gave the
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  show away burst in the ragged one again, but Mother played up like a
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  good'un, and so did Decca. Father is quite hopeless. We had to
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  explain that he was one of the stewards, a little weak in the head,
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  and that he'd been drinking. We said we were rather afraid of him.
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  He you bluffed them anyhow, smiled Deca. The Jap lieutenant was real
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  vexed that he couldn't be of assistance eccegencies of war. He said, it
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  was we escaped from the Yellow peril, continued Galway hurriedly, for the captain
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  was looking unhappy at the memory of the slur on his character, and we
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  continued in the fog for half that day. Then we heard a bell and
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  presently ran down the sound. It was coming from that yawl over there.
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  There was only one man on board except you know who, and he was
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  totally melancholy chimes to keep the press boats from running him down, he said,
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  in a fog that might well have suffocated a London Metropolitan policeman. When
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  he had satisfied himself we weren't journalists, he said, we might come on
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  board. You tell the rest, sir, he broke off. You saw
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  more of it than I did, extraordinary fellow began. Captain Sappings said he
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  was glad to meet us, for we were all on the eve of beholding
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  great events. Thought he was tight from his manner. Then he pitched my
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  wife's bag overboard before I could prevent him, and I was naturally annoyed.
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  I asked him what the devil he meant by it, But the chap only
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  smiled, and by jove, he was starting to sling the girl's things up
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  after it. If I hadn't knocked him down. I asked him what the
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  blazes he meant by jettisoning my wife's private property. And we had a bit
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  of a discussion. Of course, I made it pretty plain to him that
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  I was not the man to stand any more of his tricks. He'd then
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  unlocked the cabin door and went below. I was following him, but he'd
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  motioned me back one moment, please, he said, and I will show
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  you rather a remarkable thing. He paused a sort of wheel he had lashed
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  down on the table, and he took a fiddle out of one of the
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  lockers. I'll have to be nippy, he said, or the fog will
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  damp the strings. You may believe me or not, as you please,
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  bar eat my hat. If that rascal friend of yours didn't come up on
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  deck again and perform what I can only describe as a miracle, a miracle,
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  what sort of miracle, Captain seppings? I was trying not to smile.
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  He er played his confounded fiddle, explained the Captain and the er fog.
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  The fog cleared, extraordinary sudden thing. We gave a lurch, gave
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  a lurch, extraordinary thing, found ourselves drifting before light breeze from nor Nor
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  east, bright sunshine X. My theory is fellow hypnotize us remarkable thing what
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  but wouldn't account for the joggle broke in the red. Mc tavish ames watching
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  the water, and the swallows had checkered their own contrary ways. For by
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  the whisney smirch of fog on the horizon. When we won free, it
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  was that sudden that was shot, ye, he continued, am or month
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  we were in the thick and choking fog, and the next we were a
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  laying upon the vastly deep. Captain Seppings scowled at the interruption, but his
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  wife laid her hand on his arm. Mc tavish took out the tail.
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  We scout the horizon, he said, for the sixto vessel of either boats,
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  But Sawney, saying it was as bare as the fore indoor things when
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  the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, remainded that then
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  that there wasnay particular eting whereby ye could differentiate that this was not the same
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  sea. It was mere on the name of rentiation than a reducible hypothesis.
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  This McTavish person, I afterwards found, had once held ecclesiastical ambitions. He
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  was a fisherman by upbringing, and most other things by subsequent vagary of fortune.
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  The wind being eastily, he continued, We made sail for Saint John's
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  Newfoundland, the captain being unanimously elected commander. We were too astonded to trakeed
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  on the linea deeck, for so I judged him to be told deckard years
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  to Cray didn't bring it back on us. He scarrels, meaning the fog,
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  and he made his though to seize him. The man brought his wheel
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  on deck and was burrowed at it with sparks flying Away's hold your peace,
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  he says, proactomist, And with that he tacks the lake with his bow
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  and yon fiddle strings, and before you could say knife, he's vanished on
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  dull than air. A man called Korch that signed the stern sheets marks a
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  sign of the cross. An sways he glory be to God. He's bursted,
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  interrupted the ragged flapper joyfully. But whither search was a kisse or no,
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  continued mc tavish. We beheld him nevermore, But there was the letter
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  he wrote, ye on the cabin table and a maid. Now he told
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  the captain it would beat their advantage to head strach for England and search for
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  John Thorpe. He'll be more explicit than I've the time for, he says,
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  and with that he came on deck and vanished. Though we ant dulling,
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  Ye, we met seal for Newfoundland. It appears they did not find
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  Newfoundland, although they overshot the supposed sight of Saint John's by something over a
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  hundred miles. Then arose strong winds from the northwest, before which they were
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  swept, suffering many hardships. For over three weeks. There was nothing on
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  board but harm and water biscuits, said the rugged flapper. And besides that
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  we caught fish. Sometimes we felt horribly blue when the food began to give
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  out and the water, said missus Sippings softly. What with the missing land
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  and the number of whales we saw? Although we were being driven further south
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  every day, George, we were bewitched. You can imagine, mister Thorpe,
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  what misery it was with thirteen people in one small boat. I am
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  afraid the unlucky number was our undoing. However, the gales seemed to blow
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  themselves out at last, and the wind went round to the south again.
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  We had been driven so far off our course by this time that George decided
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  on trying for the Azores, otherwise we must die of thirst, rather like
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  looking for a needle in a haystack, remarked to the captain grimly. But
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  only chance left no sexton or chronometer. Apparently your friend navigated without em and
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  only the vaguest idea as to the latitude kept close. Hauled on the starboard
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  tack four days and then saw bush floating, and Kiok swore he saw a
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  land bird fly over. The vessel came about on the chance the bush had
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  got adrift off the Azores and was following the current as it would. Water
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  was all gone by then, and it was only a question of a day
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  or two before hum. He choked and patted the patch emily on the shoulder.
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  We sailed all day on the port tack, said Galway, taking out
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  the recital again, and it was jolly dry work. Then I suggested hauling
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  up into the wind a point or two. I don't know why, but
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  Koch and myself always seemed to be seeing the loom of the land to southward.
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  Nobody else believed us at first. We saw it all the way along
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  the horizon, and our idea was that we were probably too far south.
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  In any case, Captain Seppings pointed out that if it was land we were
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  seeing. It must be a bally continent. But I said, if Newfoundland
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  had disappeared, how were we to know what had happened elsewhere? Anyway,
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  just for luck, we ordered our course a bit to the south. Just
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  when it was getting dark. Gwennye, that's Rags, you know, said
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  he was going to pray for a lighthouse to crop up. But seems to
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  me if there was one already, we would see it. Anyhow, What
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  was there one, I asked, Not exactly a lighthouse, grinned Galway,
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  but I have to make we saw a light as soon as it got dark,
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  cheered us up. No end, you saw a light, I cried,
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  Well would be a better word. He glanced at Gwennie, who was
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  bridling with visible pride at the successful issue of her supplications. A sort of
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  pulsating glow on the southern sky. Sometimes it died down, and sometimes it
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  would flash up quite brightly. During some of the flashes, we imagined we
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  could make out mountains, and that made us more cheerful. Still, although
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  thirsty, I wanted to wait Rags to show her, but Captain Seppings said,
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  better not until we were sure one way or another. I could hear
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  her talking in her sleep through the skylight. I was dreaming about rivers,
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  explained the ragged flapper. Golloway gulped. The morning broke very clear, he
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  said, and it was land all right. Then it clouded over and began
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  to rain. But we didn't mind that, Hugh. But we didn't,
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  said Decca. And I was kept busy all the morning, wetting cloths for
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  rags and patches, said Galway. Everything that would catch water was on deck
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  to get the drops. But the rain stopped before we had half got rid
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  of our thirsts. But then the cloud lifted and we could see the land
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  again. The wind fell light, and we didn't make it that day.
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  We held on until we heard breakers in the dark, and so had to
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  lie too. The breeze was still off shore, what there was of it,
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  and there were no more lights. It was jolly funny lying there and
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  listening to the surf. It was a warm night and the stars were shining
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  now. And then we thought we could see the beach, but it was
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  pretty dark to make things out. We could smell the fruit and flowers and
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  so forth, rum sort of smell. There were no lights, just black
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  darkness and the sound of the surf. Just before dawn, Kiyok came to
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  me. Kieork was on my watch. He used to be a blue jacket
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  and was wounded at Halsingfiord. He said, there's a break in the sound,
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  mister Galway. The way you'd say it was a harbor against us,
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  or the mouth of a river. But it's not wide enough for that,
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  and it may be a cable's length from one side to the other. I
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  have the lead, sir. I listened, and sure enough the beggar was
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  right. Perhaps i'd better wait the captain. I said he'd not, thank
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  ye, said Kiok. I had the lead, he would not, I
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  said, indeed, said Kiok, it's little harm we'd take, sir.
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  In the light ere there is, and it's off shore. If we were
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  in there now and save at anchor, wouldn't we be knowing what happened and
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  whether it's Hell or Galway we brought up against. And indeed, Sir,
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  he said, the tongue that's in me would make a fly paper jealous by
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  the dint of the thirst I have. God knows it's one great hell of
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  a drink I'm needing. And the wind blowing light off sure and me with
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  the lead. I have it in my hand, sir, well, we
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  didn't wait, the captain continued gorway had he laughed. Kiok crawled out on
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  the bowsprit with the lead, and Deca kept to look out for possible rocks.
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  I ran her straight for the shore until I heard the breakers on either
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  side of me, and then Deka sang out hard a port and I just
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  put my helm over in time to prevent her bumping a big pinnacle. That
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  frightened me a bit, but I let her fall away into the wind,
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  and almost immediately we found ourselves in smoother water. The sound of the so
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  stopped, as if the soft pedal had gone on suddenly, and instead we
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  heard the noise of a waterfall and the croaking of frogs. I knew by
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  that we had got inside the harbor and dropped anchor in about four fathoms of
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  water on a sandy bottom and a vice. Kiok dessert before the captain woke
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  up. He said he was going to dessert long enough to sample the waterfall,
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  so he slipped into the dinghy with an empty breaker and found a stream
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  running out on the beach. I didn't rouse the other watch. You did
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  not said Captain Seppings, you infernal rascals. I'd have only done my duty
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  if I had your keel hauled. All three try to run my ship ashore
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  for a drink of water. Pump my word. It was Gwennye calling for
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  it in her sleep, Sir. I I e facted the matter. I
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  sneaked in to the ladies quarters and gave her some to quieten her. She
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  never woke up, just swallowed it. How vastly improper, shuddered missus Seppings.
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  Gwennye. Shall hear of this when I catch her alone? I never
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  knew, complained the ragged flapper. Do you kiss me? She inquired brightly.
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  Query roared her mother and elder sister in Unison. Well he was an
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  ass if he didn't, said Gwenne. End of Chapter thirty one, read
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  by Tim Row in London, twenty twenty three.