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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36881-8.txt b/36881-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..353394f --- /dev/null +++ b/36881-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9790 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea Bride, by Ben Ames Williams + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sea Bride + +Author: Ben Ames Williams + +Release Date: July 28, 2011 [EBook #36881] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA BRIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Brian Sogard, Adam Styles and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Minor printer's errors corrected. + + + + + THE SEA BRIDE + + BY + BEN AMES WILLIAMS + + AUTHOR OF + ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + Published by Arrangement with The Macmillan Company + + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + BY BEN AMES WILLIAMS + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + + Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1919. + + + + +THE SEA BRIDE + + + + +I + + +They were to be married before the open fire, in the big living-room of +the old house on the hill. Upstairs, Bess Holt was helping Faith dress. +Faith sat before the old, veneered dressing table with its little mirror +tilting on the curved standards, and submitted quietly and happily to +Bess's ministrations. Bess was a chatterbox, and her tongue flew as +nimbly as the deft fingers that arranged Faith's veil. Faith was +content; her soft eyes resting on her own image in the little mirror +were like the eyes of one who dreams dreams and sees visions. She scarce +heard Bess at all.... + +Only once she turned and looked slowly about this low-ceiled old room +that had been her home: the high, soft bed, with its canopy resting on +the four tall posts; the frame of that canopy was split in one place; +she had wound it with wire to strengthen it. How many mornings, waking +pleasantly as day stole in the little windows, she had seen that twist +of wire first of all as her eyes opened. She used to look at it, and +dream a little, before she rose.... One window, with its white hangings, +was just at the foot of the bed. The cool, salt-laden winds from the sea +used to whisper in there and soothe her sleep. She had always loved the +sea. Would she always love it so, when there was nothing else but the +sea on every hand?... When she should have sailed away with big Noll +Wing.... + +The high chest of drawers, the little dressing table, the delicate +chairs.... These were all old and familiar friends--whom she was leaving +behind her. And she loved them, loved the ugly paper on the wall, loved +the old daguerreotypes above the chest of drawers, loved the crooked +sampler by the never-used fireplace. Loved them.... + +She smiled happily and confidently. She loved them ... but she loved big +Noll Wing better. She would not regret.... + +Below stairs, her father, Jem Kilcup, talked with Dr. Brant, the +minister. They spoke of wind and weather, as men do whose lives lie near +the sea. They spoke of oil, of ships, of tedious cruises when the seas +were bare of whales.... The minister marked the old harpoon that stood +in the corner by the fire, and Jem told how with that battered iron he +had struck his last whale, a dozen years before.... A good tale. The +whale fought hard, left Jem with a crushed chest that drove him from the +sea. Their talk wandered everywhere save where their thoughts were; they +did not speak of Faith, nor of Noll Wing. Jem could not bear to speak of +his girl who was going from his arms to another's; the minister +understood, and joined with him in a conspiracy of silence. Only, when +Bess came whispering down to say that Faith was ready, old Jem gripped +Dr. Brant's arm and whispered harshly into the minister's ear: "Marry +them tight, and marry them hard, and true, Doctor. By God...." + +Dr. Brant nodded. "No fear, my friend," he said. "Faith is a woman...." + +"Aye," said Jem hoarsely. "Aye; and she's made her bed. God help her." + +Things began to stir in the big house. Noll Wing was in the back room +with Henry Ham, who had sailed with him three voyages, and would back +him in this new venture. Young Roy Kilcup had found them there.... Old +Jem had a demijohn of cherry rum, thirty years unopened. He sent it in +to Noll.... And Noll Wing smacked his lips over it cheerfully, and +became more amiable than was his custom. Roy Kilcup caught him in this +mood and took quick vantage of it. When the three came in where Jem and +Dr. Brant were waiting, Roy crossed and gripped his father's arm. "I'm +going," he whispered. "Cap'n Wing will take me, as ship's boy. He's +promised, dad." + +Old Jem nodded. His children were leaving him; he was past protesting. + +"I'm ready," Roy told his father. "I'm going to pack, right after +they're married." He saw Dr. Brant smile, and whispered: "Be quick as +you can, sir." + +The minister touched the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "Quiet, Roy," he +said. "There's time...." + +People were gathering in the living-room from the other parts of the +house. They came by twos and threes. The men were awkward and uneasy, +and strove to be jocular; the women smiled with tears in their eyes. +When one woman surrenders herself to one man, all women weep. Bess +Holt, alone, did not weep. She was to play the organ; she sat down upon +the stool and spread her pretty, soft skirts about her, and looked back +over her shoulder to where Jem stood, in the hall, at the stair foot. He +was to sign to her when Faith was ready. Dr. Brant crossed and stood +beside the fireplace where the logs were laid, ready for the match. Noll +Wing and Henry Ham took stand with him. Ham, the mate, was a big man, +and an awkward one. His high collar irked him; his perilously shaven +chin moved restlessly back and forth in the effort to ease his tortured +throat. He coughed sepulchrally; and a woman giggled in the stillness, +and wept quietly into her handkerchief. + +Cap'n Noll Wing stood easily, squarely upon his spread legs. He, too, +was a big man; his chest swelled barrel-like; his arms stretched the +sleeves of his black coat. Cap'n Wing was seldom seen without a cap upon +his head. Some of those in that room discovered in this moment for the +first time that he was bald. The tight, white skin upon his skull +contrasted unpleasantly with the brown of his leather cheeks. The thick +hair about his ears was tinged with gray. Across his nose and his firm +cheeks, tiny veins drew lacy patterns of purple. Garnished in wedding +finery, he was nevertheless a man past middle life, and no mistaking. A +man almost as old as Jem Kilcup, and wedding Jem Kilcup's daughter. An +old man, but a man, for all that; stout, and strong, and full of sap. He +had the dignity of mastery; he had the bearing of a man accustomed to +command and be obeyed. Roy Kilcup watched this man with eyes of +worship. + +Bess, watching over her shoulder, saw old Jem look up the stairs, then +turn and nod awkwardly to her. She pressed the keys, the organ breathed, +the tones swelled forth and filled the room. Still, over her shoulder, +she watched the door, as did every other eye. They saw Faith appear +there, by her father's side; they saw her hand drop lightly on his arm. +Jem moved; his broad shoulders brushed the sides of the door. He brought +his daughter in, and turned with her upon his arm toward where Noll Wing +was waiting. + +Faith's eyes, as she came through the door, swept the room once before +they found the eyes of Cap'n Wing and rested there. That single glance +had shown her Dan'l Tobey, behind the others, near the window; and the +memory of Dan'l's face played before her as she moved toward where Noll +waited. Poor Dan'l. She pitied him as women do pity the lover they do +not love. She had been hard on Dan'l. Not her fault; but still the +truth. Hard on Dan'l Tobey.... And misery dwelt upon his countenance, so +that she could not forget, even while she went to meet Noll Wing before +the minister. + +Janie Cox dropped her handkerchief and dove for it desperately, as Faith +and Jem passed where she stood. Janie's swift movement was outrageously +conspicuous in that still room. Faith looked toward her, and saw poor +Janie crimson with embarrassment, and smiled at her comfortingly. + +When she looked forward again, she found herself at Noll Wing's side, +and Dr. Brant was already speaking.... + +When they made their responses, Noll in his heavy voice of a master, and +Faith in the level voice of a proud, sure woman, her eyes met his and +promised him things unutterable. It is this speaking of eyes to eyes +that is marriage; the words are of small account. Faith pledged herself +to Noll Wing when she opened her eyes to him and let him look into the +depths of her. A woman who loves wishes to give. Faith gave all herself +in that gift of her quiet, steady eyes. Cap'n Wing, before them, found +himself abashed. He was glad when the word was said, when the still room +stirred to life. He kissed Faith hurriedly; he was a little afraid of +her. Then the others pressed forward and separated them, and he was glad +enough to be thrust back, to be able to laugh, and jest, and grip the +hands of men. + +The women, and some of the men, kissed Faith as she stood there, hanging +on her father's arm. Her eyes flickered now and then toward Noll, her +Noll Wing now. But she could not always be watching him. Too many others +came to speak with her. Dan'l Tobey came; Dan'l with his round +moon-face, and his freckles, and his sandy hair.... Dan'l was only a +little older than herself; a chubby, strong young man.... Little more +than a boy, but a man, too.... Two cruises behind him.... He was going +out as second mate with Cap'n Wing, this afternoon. Faith knew Dan'l +loved her. She was pleasantly sorry, and at the same time secretly +glad. No woman is completely sorry that she is beloved. Faith told +herself she must help Dan'l get over it, on this cruise that was to +come. She must.... She decided, while she spoke to him, that she must +find a wife for Dan'l. What married woman is not a matchmaker? Faith had +now been a married woman for seven minutes by the tall clock a-ticking +in the corner.... + +Dan'l gave way to others; and Bess Holt cried in dismay, "Faith, the +fire was never lighted!" + +It was true. In the swift moments before Faith came downstairs, no one +had remembered to touch a match to the kindling under the smooth, white +birch logs in the great fireplace. When Faith saw this, she felt a +sudden, swift pang of disappointment at her heart. She loved a fire, an +open fire, merrily blazing.... She had always dreamed of being married +before this great fire in her father's home. She herself had chosen +these logs, and under her eye her brother Roy had borne them into the +house and laid them upon the small stuff and kindling she had prepared. +She had wanted that fire to spring to life as she and Noll were married; +she had thought of it as a symbol of the new life that was beginning for +Noll. She was terribly disappointed.... + +In that first pang, she looked helplessly about for Noll. She wanted +comfort pitifully.... But Noll was laughing in the doorway, talking with +old Jonathan Felt, the owner of his vessel. He had not heard, he did not +see her glance. Bess Holt cried: + +"Somebody light it quick. Roy Kilcup, give me a match. I'll light it +myself. Don't look, Faith! Oh, what a shame...." + +Roy knew how his sister had counted on that fire. "I'll bet Faith +doesn't feel as though she were really married," he laughed. "Not +without a fire going.... Do you, Faith? Better do it over, Dr. +Brant...." + +Some one said it was bad luck; a dozen voices cried the some one down. +Then, while they were all talking about it, round-faced Dan'l Tobey went +down on his knees and lighted the fire that was to have illumined +Faith's wedding. + +Faith, her hand at her throat, looked for Noll again; but he and old +Jonathan had gone out to that ancient demijohn of cherry rum.... Dan'l +was looking hungrily at her; hungry for thanks. She smiled at him. They +were all pressing around her again.... + +It was little Bess Holt who set them moving, at last, down to the wharf. +Bess was the stage manager that day; every one else was too busy with +his or her own concerns. She whisked Faith away upstairs to change her +dress, and scolded the others out of the house.... All save Jem Kilcup +and Roy. Roy had packing of his own to do; he was flying at it like a +terrier. Jem would stay as long as he might with Faith. Noll, and +Jonathan Felt, and Noll's officers went to play host at the wedding +supper on the decks of the _Sally Sims_.... + +Faith's luggage had already gone aboard. When she and Jem and Bess +reached the wharf, the others were at the tables, under the boathouse, +aft. They rose, and pledged Faith in lifted glasses.... Then Faith sat +down beside her husband, at the head of the board, and old Jem settled +morosely beside her. They ate and drank merrily. + +Faith was very happy, dreamily happy. She felt the big presence of her +husband at her side; and she lifted her head with pride in him, and in +this ship which he commanded. He was a man.... Once or twice she marked +her father's silence; and once she touched his knee with her hand +lightly, in comfort.... Cap'n Wing made a speech. They called on Jem, +but Jem was in no mind for chatter. They called on Faith; she rose, and +smiled at them, and said how happy she was, and touched her husband's +shoulder proudly.... + +Roy came, running, after a time.... And a little later, the tug whistled +from the stream, and Cap'n Wing looked overside, and stood up, and +lifted his hands. + +"Friends," he said jocosely, "I'd like to take you all along. Come if +you want. But--tide's in. Them as don't want to go along had best be +getting ashore." + +Thus it was ended; that wedding supper on the deck, in the late +afternoon, while the flags floated overhead, and the gulls screamed +across the refuse-dotted waters of the Harbor, and the tide whirled and +eddied about the piles. Thus it was ended; their chairs scraped upon the +deck; the boards that had been set upon boxes and trestles to make +tables and seats were thrust aside or overturned. They swept about +Faith, where she stood at her husband's side, arm linked in his, against +the rail.... + +Old Jem kissed her first of all, kissed her roundly, crushing her to +his breast; and she whispered, in his close embrace: "It's all right, +dad. Don't worry.... All right.... I'll bring you home...." + +He kissed her again, cutting short her promise. Kissed her, and thrust +her away, and stumped ashore, and went stockily off along the wharf and +out of sight, never looking back. A solitary figure; somewhat to be +pitied, for all his broad shoulders and his fine old head. + +The others in their turn, little Bess Holt last of all. Bess, now that +her tasks were done, had her turn at tears. She wept happily in Faith's +arms. Faith did not weep. She was too happy for even the happiest of +tears. She patted Bess's brown head, and linked arms with the girl while +Bess climbed to the wharf, and they kissed again, there.... + +Then every one waited, calling, laughing, crying, while the _Sally Sims_ +was torn loose from her moorings. Cap'n Wing was another man now; he was +never a man to leave his ship to another, Faith thought proudly. His +commands rang through the still air of late afternoon; his eye saw the +hawsers cast off, saw the tug take hold.... + +The _Sally Sims_ moved; she moved so slowly that at first one must watch +a fixed point upon the wharf to be sure she moved at all. Roy was +everywhere, afire with zeal in this new experience; his eyes were +dancing. Faith stood aft, a little way from her husband, calling to +those upon the wharf. The tug dragged the _Sally_ stern first into the +stream, headed her around.... + +Last calls, last cries.... The individual figures on the wharf's end +slowly merged into one mass, a mass variegated by the black garments of +the men, by the gayer fabrics which the women wore. This mass in turn, +as the _Sally_ slipped eastward toward the sea, became a dot of color +against the brown casks which piled the wharf. Faith took her eyes from +it to glance toward her husband; when she looked back it was hard to +discover the dot again. Presently it was gone.... + +Men were in the rigging, now, setting the big, square sails. The wind +began to tug at them. The voice of the mate, Mr. Ham, roared up to the +men in profane commands. Cap'n Wing stood stockily on wide-spread legs, +watching, joining his voice now and then to the uproar. + +The sea, presently, opened out before them, inviting them, offering all +its wide expanses to the _Sally Sims'_ blunt bow. The _Sally_ began to +lift and tilt awkwardly. The tug had long since dropped behind; they +shaped their course for where the night came up ahead of them.... They +sailed steadily eastward, into the gathering gloom.... + +Cap'n Wing bawled: "Mr. Tobey." And Dan'l came aft to where Faith stood +with her husband. He did not look at her, so that Faith was faintly +disquieted. The captain pointed to the litter of planks and boxes and +dishes and food where the wedding supper had been laid. Faith watched +dreamily, happily.... She had loved that last gathering with her +friends.... There was something sacred to her, in this moment, even in +the ugly débris that remained.... + +But not to Cap'n Wing. He said harshly, in his voice of a master: + +"Have that trash cleared up, Mr. Tobey. Sharp, now." + +"Trash?" Faith was faintly unhappy at the word. Dan'l bawled to the men, +and half a dozen of them came shuffling aft. She touched her husband's +arm. "I'm going below, now, Noll," she whispered. + +He nodded. "Get to bed," he said. "I'll be down." + +He had not looked at her; he was watching Dan'l and the men. Her own +eyes clouded.... Nevertheless, she turned to the cabin companion and +went below. + + + + +II + + +For two weeks Faith had been aboard the _Sally Sims_, making ready the +tiny quarters that were to be her home. When she came down into the +cabin now, it was with a sense of familiarity. The plain table, built +about the butt of the mizzenmast; the chairs; the swinging, whale-oil +lamps.... These were old friends, waiting to replace those other friends +she had left behind in her bedroom at home. She stood for a moment, at +the foot of the cabin companion, looking about her; and she smiled +faintly, her hand at her throat.... + +She was not lonely, not homesick, not sorry.... But her smile seemed to +appeal to these inanimate surroundings to be good to her. + +Then she crossed the cabin quietly, and went into the smaller +compartment across the stern which was used by Cap'n Wing for his books, +his instruments, his scant hours of leisure.... This ran almost entirely +across the stern of the ship; but it was little more than a corridor. +The captain's cabin was on the starboard side, opening off this +corridor-like compartment. There was scant room, aft, aboard the _Sally +Sims_. The four mates bunked two by two, in cabins opening off the main +cabin; the mate had no room to himself. And by the same token, there was +no possibility of giving Faith separate quarters. There were two bunks +in the captain's cabin, one above the other. The upper had been built +in, during the last two weeks. That was all.... + +Faith had not protested. She was content that Noll was hers; the rest +did not matter. She found a measure of glory in the thought that she +must endure some hardships to be at his side while her man did his work +in the world. She was, after the first pangs, glad that she must make a +tiny chest and a half a dozen nails serve her for wardrobe and +dressing-room; she was glad that she must sleep on a thing like a shelf +built into the wall, instead of her high, soft bed with the canopy at +home. She was glad--glad for life--glad for Noll--glad for +everything.... + +She began, quietly, to prepare herself for bed. And while she loosened +her heavy hair, and began the long, easy brushing that kept it so glossy +and smooth, her thoughts ran back over the swift, warm rapture of her +awakening love for Noll. Big Noll Wing.... Her husband, now.... She, his +bride.... + +She had always worshiped Noll, even while she was still a school girl, +her skirts short, her hair in a long, thick braid. Noll was a heroic +figure, a great man who appeared at intervals from the distances of +ocean, and moved majestically about the little world of the town, and +then was gone again. The man had had the gift of drama; his deeds held +that element which lifted them above mere exploits and made them +romance. When he was third mate of the old _Bertha_, a crazy Islander +tried to knife him, and fleshed his blade in Noll Wing's shoulder, from +behind. Noll had wrenched around and broken the man's neck with a twist +of his hands. He had always been a hard man with his hands; a strong +man, perhaps a brutal man. Faith, hearing only glorified whispers of +these matters, had dreamed of the strength of him. She saw this strength +not as a physical thing, but as a thing spiritual. No one man could rule +other men unless he ruled them by a superior moral strength, she knew. +She loved to think of Noll's strength.... Her breath had caught in +ecstasy of pain, that night he first held her close against his great +chest, till she thought her own ribs would crack.... + +Not Noll's strength alone was famous. He had been a great captain, a +great man for oil. His maiden voyage as skipper of his own ship made +that reputation for the man. He set sail, ran forthwith into a very sea +of whales, worked night and day, and returned in three days short of +three months with a cargo worth thirty-seven thousand dollars. A cargo +that other men took three years to harvest from the fat fields of the +sea; took three years to harvest, and then were like as not to boast of +the harvesting. Oh, Noll Wing was a master hand for sperm oil; a master +skipper as ever sailed the seas.... + +He came back thus, cruise after cruise, and the town watched his +footsteps with pride and envy; he walked the streets with head high; he +spoke harshly, in tones of command; he was, Faith thought, a man.... + +She remembered, this night, her first sight of him; her first remembered +sight. It was when her father came home from his last voyage, his chest +crushed, himself a helpless man who must lie abed long months before he +might regain a measure of his ancient strength again. His ship came in, +down at the wharves, at early dawn; and Faith and Roy, at home with +their mother, had known nothing of the matter till big Noll Wing came up +the hill, carrying Jem Kilcup in his arms as a baby is borne. Their +mother opened the door, and Noll bore Jem upstairs to the bed he was to +keep for so long.... And Faith and Roy, who had always seen in their +father the mightiest of men, as children do, marveled at Noll Wing with +wide eyes. Noll had carried their father in his arms.... + +Faith was eleven, then; Roy not much more than half as old. While Noll's +ship remained in port, she and Roy had stolen down often to the wharves +to catch a stolen sight of the great man; they had hid among the casks +to watch him; they had heard with awe his thundering commands.... And +then he sailed away. When he came again, Faith was thirteen; and she +tagged his heels, and he bought her candy, and took her on his knee and +played with her.... Those weeks of his stay were witchery to Faith. Her +mother died during that time, and Noll was her comforter.... The big man +could be gentle, in those days, and very kind.... + +He came next when Faith was sixteen; and the faint breath of bursting +womanhood within her made Faith shy. When a girl passes from childhood, +and feels for the first time the treasures of womanhood within herself, +she guards that treasure zealously, like a secret thing. Faith was +afraid of Noll; she avoided him; and when they met, her tongue was +tied.... He teased her, and she writhed in helpless misery.... + +Nineteen at his next coming; but young Dan'l Tobey, risen to be fourth +mate on that cruise with Noll, laid siege to her. She liked Dan'l; she +thought he was a pleasant boy.... But when she saw Noll, now and then, +she was silent before him; and Noll had no eyes to see what was in the +eyes of Faith. He was, at that time, in the tower of his strength; a +mighty man, with flooding pulses that drove him restlessly. He still +liked children; but Faith was no longer a child. She was a woman; and +Noll had never had more than casual use for women. He saw her, now and +then; nothing more.... + +Nevertheless this seeing was enough so that Dan'l Tobey had no chance at +all. Dan'l went so far as to beg her to marry him; but she shook her +head.... "Wait ..." she whispered. "No. No.... Wait...." + +"You mean--you will--some day?" he clamored. And she was frightened, and +cried out: + +"No, I don't mean anything, Dan'l. Please--don't ask me.... Wait...." + +He told her, doggedly, the day he sailed away, that he would ask her +again when he came home. And Faith, sure that she would never love +Dan'l, was so sorry for him that she kissed him good-by; kissed him on +the forehead.... The boy was blind; he read in that kiss an augury of +good, and went away with heart singing. He did not know the philosophy +of kisses. Let a girl permit a man to kiss her good-by--on cheek, or +forehead, or ear tip, or hand, or lip, or what you will--and there's +still a chance for him; but when she kisses him, sisterly, upon the +forehead, the poor chap is lost and has as well make up his mind to't, +Dan'l did not know, so went happily away.... + +Noll Wing, on that cruise, passed the great divide of life without +knowing it. Till then he had been a strong man, proud in his strength, +sufficient unto himself, alone without being either lonely or afraid; +but when he came home, there was stirring in him for the first time a +pang of loneliness.... This was the advance courier of age, come +suddenly upon him. + +He did not understand this; he was not even conscious of the change in +him. He left his ship, and climbed the hill to his own house where his +sister waited for him; and he submitted to her timid ministrations as he +had never submitted before. He found it, somehow, faintly pleasant.... A +woman, puttering about him.... But comfortable, just the same, he told +himself. A man gets tired of men.... + +He had never tired of men before, never tired of himself before. Now +there was something in him that was weary. He wanted comfort. He was +worn with Spartan living; he was sick of rough life. He hungered for +soft ways, for gentle things.... Some one to mend his socks.... Always +wearing full of holes.... Some one to talk to, on ship board, besides +the rough crew and the respectful officers.... + +This unrest was stirring in him when he went to see old Jem Kilcup, and +Faith opened the door to him, and bade him come in. + +He came in, tugging at his cap; and his eyes rested on her pleasantly. +She was tall, as women go; but not too tall. And she was rounded, and +strong, and firm. Her hair was thick, and soft; and her voice was low +and full. When she bade him good evening, her voice thrummed some cord +in the man. A pulse pricked faster in his throat.... + +He had come to see Jem; Jem was not at home. Faith told him this. In the +old days, he would have turned and stamped away. Now he hesitated; then +looked about for a chair, sat down. And Faith, who for the life of her +could not hold still her heart when Noll Wing was near, sat in a chair +that faced him, and they fell a-talking together. + +He talked, as men will do, of himself. Nothing could have pleased Faith +better. Nor Noll, for that matter.... He loved to talk of himself; and +for an hour they sat together, while his words bore her across the seven +seas, through the tumult of storm, through the bloody flurry of the +fighting whale, through the tense silence of a ship where sullen men +plan evil.... She trembled as she listened; not with fear for him, but +with pride in him. She was already as proud of Noll as though he +belonged to her. + +Thus began their strange courtship. It was scarce conscious, on either +side. Noll took comfort in coming to her, in talking to her, in watching +her.... His pulses stirred at watching her. And Faith made herself fair +for his coming, and made him welcome when he came.... + +She was his woman, heart and soul, from the beginning. As for Noll, he +found her company increasingly pleasant. She was a better listener than +a man; his tales were fresh and new to her. At the same time, knowing +him better, she began to mother him in her thoughts, as women will. She +began to mother him, and to guide him. Men need guiding, ever. Noll +might never have known what he wanted; but Faith was no weak girl. She +had the courage to reach out her hand for the thing that was dear to +her; she was not ashamed of her heart.... + +They came together by chance one night when the moon played hide and +seek with dark clouds in the sky; they met upon the street, as Faith +came home with Bess Holt; and Noll walked with them to Bess's house, and +then he and Faith went on together. She led him to talk of himself, as +ever. When they came to her gate, some sudden impulse of unaccustomed +modesty seized the man. He said hoarsely: + +"But pshaw, Faith.... You must be sick of my old yarns by now...." + +She was silent for a moment, there before him. Then she lifted her eyes, +smiling in the moonlight, and she quoted softly and provokingly: + + "'... She thank'd me, + And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, + I should but teach him how to tell my story, + And that would woo her....'" + +Noll Wing was no man of little reading. He understood, and cried out +hoarsely.... + +'Twas then, the moon providentially disappearing behind a cloud, that he +caught her and held her till her ribs were like to crack, while his lips +came fumbling down to find her own.... + +Afterward, Faith hid her eyes in shame, and scolded herself for +frowardness until he reassured her; she bade him, then, pay court in due +form, at her feet. He knelt before her, the big, strong man.... And her +eyes filled, and she knelt with him. + +It was in her heart that she was pledging herself sacredly, with this +man, forevermore. + + * * * * * + +Followed the swift days of preparation; a pleasant flurry, through which +Faith moved calmly, her thoughts far off. Old Jem Kilcup was wroth; he +knew Noll Wing, and tried to tell Faith something of this knowledge. But +she, proud and straight, would have none of it; she commanded old Jem +into silence, then teased him into smiles till he consented and bade her +take her man. + +Roy was immensely proud of her. When it was decided that she should go +away with Noll upon the _Sally Sims_, Roy begged to go. Begged +fruitlessly, at first; for Noll Wing, having won the thing he wanted, +was already beginning to wonder whether he really wanted it at all. But +in the end, he consented.... Roy was to go with his sister.... + +Bess Holt.... Those were wild days for Bess; wild days of constant, +fluttering excitement. She buzzed about Faith like a humming bird about +a flower; and Faith quietly gave herself to the current of the days. She +was so happy that even Dan'l Tobey could not cloud her eyes. There was +one hot hour with Dan'l, when he accused, and swore, and begged. But +Faith had strength in her, so that in the end she conquered him and +held him.... He was silenced; only his eyes still accused her.... + +So.... Marriage! It was done, now. Done.... She was away, with Noll, the +world and life before them.... Brave Noll; strong Noll.... She loved him +so.... + + * * * * * + +When he came down into the cabin, she was waiting for him. She had put +on a dressing-gown, a warm and woolly thing that she and Bess had made +of a heavy blanket, to protect her against the chill winds of the sea. +Her braids were upon her shoulders; her hair parted evenly above her +broad brow. Her eyes were steady and sweet and calm.... Noll, studying +her while his heart leaped, saw where the dressing-gown parted at her +throat a touch of white, a spray of broidered blossoms which Faith +herself had made, with every stitch a world of hope and dreams.... + +He took off his cap, and his coat and vest. He wore suspenders. When +Faith saw them, she shivered in spite of herself. They were such +hopelessly ugly things.... She lifted her eyes from them, came closer to +him. He took her roughly in his arms, and she lifted one arm and drew it +around his thick neck, and drew his face down. + +"Ah, Noll ..." she whispered proudly. + + + + +III + + +Faith Wing fitted easily into the life aboard the _Sally Sims_, as the +whaler worked eastward before starting on the long southward slant that +would bring her at last to her true hunting grounds. The mates saw her +daily as a pleasant figure in the life of the cabin; the boat-steerers +and the seamen and greenies caught glimpses of her, now and then, when +she sat on deck with sewing, or a book, or with idle hands and +thoughtful eyes. Faith, on her part, studied the men about her, and +watched over Noll, and gave herself to the task of being a good wife and +helpmate to him. + +The first weeks of the cruise were arduous ones, as they are apt to be +on a whaler; for of the whole crew, more than half were green hands +recruited from the gutters, the farms, the slums.... Weak men, in many +cases; rotted by wrong living; slack-muscled, jangle-nerved. Weak men +who must be made strong; for there is no place for weakness in a +whaler's crew. + +It was the task of the mates to make these weaklings into men. The +greenies must learn the rigging; they must learn their duties in +response to each command; they must be drilled to their parts in the +boats and prepared for the hunts that were to come. Your novice at sea +has never an easy time of it; he learns in a hard school, and this is +apt to be especially true upon a whaler. While the methods of the +officers differed according to the habit of the officer, they were never +gentle. + +Cap'n Wing watched over all this, took a hand here and there. And Faith, +quietly in the background, saw a new Noll, saw in each of the officers a +man she had never seen ashore. + +Noll was the master, the commander. When his voice bellowed along the +decks, even the greenest man leaped and desperately strove in his +efforts to obey. Noll was the dominant man; and Faith was pleasantly +afraid of him and his roaring tones.... She loved being afraid of +him.... + +There were four officers aboard the _Sally Sims_. These four, with +Roy--in his capacity of ship's boy--lived with Noll and Faith in the +main cabin. They were Faith's family. Big Henry Ham, the mate, was a man +of slow wit but quick fist; a man with a gift of stubbornness that +passed for mastery. The men of his watch, and especially the men of his +boat, feared him acutely. He taught them this fear in the first week of +the cruise, by the simple teachings of blows. Thereafter he relaxed this +chastisement, but held a clenched fist always over their cowering heads. +He had what passed for a philosophy of life, to justify this. When Faith +asked him, pleasantly, one day, whether it was necessary to strike the +men, he told her with ponderous condescension that no other measures +would suffice. + +"They've no proper brains at all, ma'am," he explained. "Their brains is +all in their faces; and when they don't jump at the word, your fist in +their mouth jumps them. And next time, they jump without it. That's the +whole thing of it, ma'am." + +And he added further: "They're children, ma'am." He smiled slyly. "When +you've babies of your own, you'll understand. Take the switch to 'em, +ma'am, till they learn what it is. Then they'll mind without, and +things'll go all smooth." + +He was, after a fashion, a Pecksniffian man, this Henry Ham. Faith did +not like him, but she found it hard not to respect him. He was, after +all, efficient. + +Dan'l Tobey, the second mate, was a man of another sort. Faith was +startled and somewhat amused to find what a difference there was between +Dan'l afloat and Dan'l ashore. Ashore, he was a round-faced, freckled, +sandy-haired boy with no guile in him; an impetuous, somewhat helpless +and inarticulate boy. Afloat, he was a man; reticent, speaking little, +speaking to the point when he spoke at all.... Shrewd, reading the +character of his men, playing upon them as a musician plays upon his +instruments. Of the five men in his boat, not one but might have whipped +him in a stand-up fight. Nevertheless, he ruled them. This one he +dominated by cutting and sarcastic words that left the man abashed and +helpless; that one he flattered; another he joked into quick +obedience.... The fourth, a surly giant who might have proved +unmanageable, he gave into the keeping of his boat-steerer, a big +Islander called Yella' Boy. He taught Yella' Boy to fear the man, +provoked a fight between them in which the giant was soundly whipped, +and thereafter used the one against the other and kept them both in +balance eternally. Dan'l had, Faith decided, more mental ability than +any man aboard--short of her Noll. He ruled by his wits; and this the +more surprised her because she had always thought Dan'l more than a +little stupid. She watched the unfolding of the new Dan'l with keenest +interest as the weeks dragged by. + +James Tichel, the third mate, was a thin little old man given to +occasional bursts of tigerish rage in which he was the match for any man +aboard. In his second week, he took the biggest man in his boat and beat +him into a helpless, clucking wreck of bruises. Thereafter, there was no +need for him to strike a second time. Faith wondered whether these rages +to which the little man gave way were genuine, whether he gave way +because he chose to do so. In the cabin, he was distinguished for a dry +and acid wit. Faith did not like him, even when she guessed the secret +fear of the little man that he was passing his usefulness, that he was +growing too old to serve. He told her, once, in a moment of confidence, +that he had sailed as third mate for fourteen years, and once as +second.... + +"But never as mate; nor as skipper, ma'am," he mourned. + +She tried to comfort him. "You will, some day," she told him. "Every +man's chance must come...." + +He chuckled acridly. "Aye--but what if he's dead afore it?" + +Willis Cox was fourth mate. He was a youngster; this his first cruise in +the cabin. He had been promoted from the fo'c's'le by Noll Wing on +Noll's last voyage. By the same token, he worshiped Noll as a demigod, +with the enthusiasm of youth; and a jealousy not unlike the jealousy of +women made him dislike Faith, at first, and resent her presence aboard. +No one could long dislike Faith, however. In the end, he included her in +his worship of Noll, and gave her all his loyalty. + +Roy, in these new surroundings, flourished. He was tireless, always +stirring about the ship or clambering in the rigging, drinking in new +impressions like a sponge. He and Faith, as is apt to be the case +between brother and sister, fought each other constantly, bickering and +striving back and forth. Faith had somewhat outgrown this way of +childhood; but Roy was still a boy, and Faith felt toward him at times +the exasperation which a mother feels toward a child. It came to pass, +in the early stages of the voyage, that Roy included Noll Wing in his +warfare against Faith; and he turned to Dan'l Tobey. Between Dan'l and +the boy, a strange friendship arose, so that Faith often saw them +talking together, Roy chattering while Dan'l listened flatteringly. +Faith, ashore, had liked Dan'l; she was a little afraid of the new man +he had become, since they sailed. Nevertheless, she was pleased that Roy +liked him.... + +All these men had been changed, in subtle ways, by their coming to sea. +Faith, during the first weeks, was profoundly puzzled and interested by +this transformation. There was a new strength in all of them, which she +marked and admired. At the same time, there were manifestations at which +she was disquieted. + +Noll Wing--her Noll--had changed with the rest. He had changed not only +in his every-day bearing, but in his relations with her. She was +troubled, from the very beginning, by these changes; and she was +troubled by her own reactions to them. + +Noll, for instance, liked to come down to his cabin in his times of +leisure and take off his coat and vest and open his shirt at the throat +and lie down. Sometimes he took off his shoes. Usually, at such times, +he went to sleep; and Faith, who sometimes read aloud to him, would stop +her reading when Noll began to snore, and look at her husband, and try +to convince herself he was good to look upon. She learned to know, line +by line, the slack folds of his cheeks when he lay thus, utterly +relaxed. The meandering of the little purple veins beneath his skin +fascinated her and held her eyes. There were little, stiff hairs in his +ears, and in his nostrils; and where his shirt was open at the throat +she could glimpse the dark growth upon his broad chest. His suspenders +pressed furrows in the soft, outer covering of flesh which padded the +muscles of his shoulders. He was, by habit, a cleanly man; but he was at +the same time full-fleshed and full-blooded, and there was always about +him a characteristic and not necessarily unpleasant odor of clean +perspiration. At times, as she sat beside him while he slept thus, Faith +tried to tell herself she liked this; at times it frankly revolted her, +so that she was ashamed of her own revolt.... + +She had worshiped the strength of Noll; she was in danger of discovering +that at too close range, that strength became grossness. + +The pitiless intimacies of their life together in the cabin of the +_Sally Sims_ were hard for Faith. They shared two small rooms; and Noll +must be up and down at all hours of day and night, when the weather was +bad, or the business of whaling engrossed him. Faith, without being +vain, had that reverence and respect for herself which goes by the name +of modesty. Her body was as sacred to her as her soul. The necessity +that they were under of dressing and undressing in a tiny room not eight +feet long was a steady torment to her.... + +She did not blame Noll for what unhappiness there was in these matters; +she blamed herself for over-sensitiveness, and tried to teach herself to +endure these things as a part of her task of sharing the rigors of +Noll's daily toil. But there were times when even the nakedness of +Noll's bald head revolted her. + +She had been, when she married, prepared for disillusionment. Faith was +not a child; she was a woman. She had the wisdom to know that no man is +a heroic figure in a night shirt.... But she was not prepared to +discover that Noll, who walked among men as a master, could fret at his +wife like a nervous woman. + +This fretful querulousness manifested itself more than once in the early +stages of the voyage. For Noll was growing old, and growing old a little +before his time because he had spent his life too freely. He was, at +times, as querulous as a complaining old man. Because he was apt to be +profane, in these moods, Faith tried to tell herself that they were the +stormy outbreaks of a strong man.... But she knew better. When Noll, +after they lost their second whale, growled to her: + +"Damn Tichel.... The man's losing his pith. You'd think a man like him +could strike a whale and not let it get away...." Faith knew this was no +mere outbreak against Tichel, but an out and out whine. + +She knew this, but would not admit it, even in her thoughts. + +Another matter troubled her. Noll Wing was a drinker. She had always +known that. It was a part of his strength, she thought, to be able to +drink strong liquor as a man should. But aboard ship she found that he +drank constantly, that there was always the sickly sweet smell of +alcohol about him.... And at times he drank to stupefaction, and slept, +log-like, while Faith lay wide-eyed and ashamed for him in the bunk +below his. She was sorry; but because she trusted in Noll's strength and +wisdom, she made no attempt to interfere. + +She had expected that marriage would shatter some of her illusions; and +when her expectations were fulfilled and far exceeded, she thrust her +unhappiness loyally behind her, and clung the closer to big Noll, +striving to lend her strength to him. + +More than once, when Noll fretted at her while others were about, she +saw Dan'l Tobey's eyes upon her; and at such times she took care to look +serene and proud. Dan'l must not so much as guess it, if Noll should +ever make her unhappy.... + +But.... Noll make her unhappy? The very thought was absurd. He was her +Noll; she was his. When they were wedded, she had given herself to him, +and taken him as a part of herself, utterly and without reservation. + +He might fail her high expectations in little things; she might fail +him. But for all that, they were one, one body and soul so long as they +both should live. + +She was as loyal to him, even in her thoughts, as to herself. For this +was Faith; she was Noll's forever. + +She thought that what she felt was hidden; but Dan'l Tobey had eyes to +see. And now and then, when in crafty ways he led big Noll to act +unworthily before her, he watched for the shadow that crossed her face, +and smiled in his own sly soul. + + + + +IV + + +There was, in Dan'l Tobey's boat, a little man named Mauger. It was he +whom Dan'l ruled by a superior tongue, deriding the man and scorching +him with jests that made Mauger crimson with shame for himself. Mauger +was a greenie; he was a product of the worst conditions of the city. He +was little and shrunken and thin, and his shoulders curled forward as +though to hug and shelter his weak chest. Nevertheless, there was a +rat-like spirit in the man, and a rat-like gleam in his black little +eyes. He was one of those men who inspire dislike, even when they strive +to win the liking of their fellows. The very fo'c's'le baited him. + +It was through Mauger that the first open clash between Cap'n Wing and +Faith, his wife, was brought to pass; and the thing happened in this +wise. + +Dan'l Tobey knew how to handle Mauger; and he kept the little man in a +continual ferment of helpless anger. When they were off in the boats +after a whale, or merely for the sake of boat drill, Dan'l gave all his +attention to Mauger, who rowed tub oar in Dan'l's boat. + +"Now if you'll not mind, Mauger," he would say, "just put your strength +into the stroke there. Just a trifle of it. Gently, you understand, for +we must not break the oars. But lean to it, Mauger. Lean to it, little +man." + +And Mauger strove till the veins stood out upon his narrow forehead, and +his black little eyes gleamed.... And within him boiled and boiled a +vast revolt, a hatred of Dan'l. Again and again, he was on the point of +an open outbreak; he cursed between his teeth, and slavered, and thought +of the bliss of sinking his nails in Dan'l's smooth throat.... The wrath +in the man gathered like a tempest.... + +But always Dan'l pricked the bubble of this wrath with some sly word +that left Mauger helpless and bewildered.... + +He set the man to scrub the decks, amidships, one day after an eighty +barrel bull whale had been tried out. There were other men at work, +scrubbing; but Dan'l gave all his attention to Mauger. He leaned against +the rail, and smiled cheerfully at the little man, and spoke +caustically.... + +"--not used to the scrub brush, Mauger. That's plain to see. But you'll +learn its little ways.... Give you time...." + +And.... "Lend a little weight to it on the thrust, little man. Put your +pith into it...." + +And.... "Here's a spot, here by my foot, that needs attention.... +Come.... No, yonder.... No, beyond that again.... So...." + +Or.... "See, now, how the Portugee there scrubs...." And when Mauger +looked toward the Portugee, Dan'l rasped: "Come.... Don't be looking up +from your tasks, little man. Attention, there...." + +This continued until Mauger, fretted and tormented and wild with the +fury of a helpless thing, was minded to rise and fling himself at +Dan'l's round, freckled face.... And in that final moment before the +outbreak must surely have come, Dan'l said pleasantly: + +"So.... That is nicely. Go below now, Mauger, and rest. Ye've worked +well...." + +And the kindliness of his tone robbed Mauger of all wrath, so that the +little man crept forward, and down to his bunk, and fairly sobbed there +with rage, and nerves, and general bewilderment. + +Dan'l was the man's master, fair.... + +This was one side of the matter; Cap'n Noll Wing was on the other side. + +Noll Wing had been harassed by the difficulties of the early weeks of +the cruise. It seemed to the man that the whole world combined to +torment him. He was, for one thing, a compound of rasping nerves; the +slightest mishap on the _Sally Sims_ preyed on his mind; the least +slackness on the part of the mates, the least error by the men sent him +into a futile storm of anger.... + +Even toward Faith, he blew hot, blew cold.... There were times when he +felt the steadfast love she gave him was like a burden hung about his +neck; and he wished he might cast it off, and wished he had never +married her, and wished ... a thousand things. These were the days when +the old strength of the man reasserted itself, when he held his head +high, and would have defied the world.... But there were other hours, +when he was spiritually bowed by the burdens of his task; and in these +hours it seemed to him Faith was his only reliance, his only support. +He leaned upon her as a man leans upon a staff. She was now a nagging +burden, now a peaceful haven of rest to which he could retreat from all +the world.... + +If he felt thus toward Faith, whom, in his way, the man did love, how +much more unstable was his attitude toward the men about him. In his +relations with them, he alternated between storming anger and querulous +complaint. Once, when they were hauling up to the mainhead a blanket +strip of blubber from a small cow whale, the tackle gave and let the +whole strip snap down like a smothering blanket of rubber.... The old +Noll Wing would have leaped into the resulting tangle and brought order +out of it with half a dozen sharp commands, with a curt blow.... This +time, he stood aft by the boat house and nagged at the mate, and cried: + +"Mr. Ham, will you please get that mess straightened out? In God's name, +why can't you men do things the right way? You...." He flung up his +hands like a hysterical woman. "By God, I wish I'd stayed ashore...." + +And he turned and went aft and sulkily down into the cabin, to fret at +Faith, while Mr. Ham and Dan'l Tobey brought order out of chaos, and +Dan'l smiled faintly at his own thoughts. + +Now it is a truth which every soldier knows, that a commanding officer +must command. When he begins to entreat, or to scold like a woman, or to +give any other indication of cracking nerves, the men under him conspire +maliciously to torment him, in the hope of provoking new outbreaks. It +is instinctive with them; they do it as naturally as small boys torment +a helpless dog. And it was so on the _Sally Sims_. The more frequently +Noll Wing forgot that he was master, the more persistently the men +harassed him. + +His officers saw the change in Noll, and tried to hide it or deny it as +their natures prompted. The mate, Mr. Ham, developed an unsuspected +loyalty, covering his chief's errors by his own strength; and young +Willis Cox backed him nobly. Dan'l Tobey, likewise, was always quick to +take hold of matters when they slipped from the captain's fingers; but +he did it a little ostentatiously.... Noll himself did not perceive this +ostentation; but the men saw, and understood. It was as though Dan'l +whispered over his shoulder to them: + +"See! The old man's failing. I have to handle you for him...." + +Once or twice Dan'l bungled some task in a fashion that provoked these +outbreaks; and whether or not this was mere chance, Faith was always +about on these occasions. For example, at dinner one day in the cabin, +Dan'l looked mournfully at the salt beef that was set before him, and +then began to eat it with such a look of resignation on his countenance +that Noll demanded: "What's wrong with the beef, Mr. Tobey?" + +Dan'l said pleasantly: "Nothing, sir. Nothing at all. It's very good +fare, and almighty well cooked, I'd say." + +Now it was not well cooked. Tinch, the cook, had been hurried, or +careless.... The junk he had brought down to the cabin was half raw, a +nauseous mass.... And Dan'l knew it, and so did Noll Wing. But Noll +might have taken no notice but for Dan'l, and Dan'l's tone.... + +As it was, he was forced to take notice. And so he bellowed for Tinch, +and when the cook came running, Noll lifted the platter and flung it, +with its greasy contents, at the man's head, roaring profanely.... + +Faith was at the table; she said nothing. But when Noll looked at her, +and saw the disappointment in her eyes--disappointment in him--he wished +to justify himself; and so complained: "Damned shame.... A man can't get +decent food out of that rascal.... If I wasn't a fool, Faith, I'd have +stayed ashore...." + +Faith thought she would have respected him more if, having given way to +his anger, he had stuck to his guns, instead of seeking thus weakly to +placate her. And Dan'l Tobey watched Faith, and was well content with +himself. + +It was Dan'l, in the end, who brought Mauger and Cap'n Wing together; +and if matters went beyond what he had intended, that was because chance +favored him. + +It was a day when Mauger took a turn at the awkward steering apparatus +of the _Sally Sims_. The _Sally's_ wheel was so arranged that when it +was twirled, it moved to and fro across the deck, dragging the tiller +with it. To steer was a trick that required learning; and in any sea, +the tiller bucked, and the wheel fought the steersman in eccentric and +amazing fashion. This antiquated arrangement was one of the curses of +many ships of the whaling fleet.... Mauger had never been able to get +the trick of it.... + +Dan'l's watch came on deck and Mauger took the wheel at a moment when +Cap'n Wing was below. Faith was with him. Dan'l knew the captain would +be entering the log, writing up his records of the cruise, reading.... +He also knew that if Noll Wing followed his custom, he would presently +come on deck. And he knew--he himself had had a hand in this--that Noll +had been drinking, that day, more than usual. + +That Faith came up with Noll, a little later, was chance; no more. Dan'l +had not counted on it. + +Mauger, then, was at the wheel. Dan'l leaned against the deckhouse +behind Mauger, and devoted himself amicably to the task of instructing +the man. His tone remained, throughout, even and calm; but there was a +bite in it which seared the very skin of Mauger's back. + +"You'll understand," said Dan'l cheerfully, "you are not rolling a hoop +in your home gutter, Mauger. You're too impetuous in your ways.... Be +gentle with her...." + +This when, the _Sally Sims_ having fallen off her set course, Mauger +brought her so far up into the wind that her sails flapped on the yards. +Dan'l chided him. + +"Not so strenuous, Mauger. A little turn, a spoke or two.... You +overswing your mark, little man. Stick her nose into it, and keep it +there...." + +The worst of it was, from Mauger's point of view, that he was trying +quite desperately to hold the _Sally's_ blunt bows where they belonged. +But there was a sea; the rollers pounded her high sides with an +overwhelming impact, and the awkward wheel put a constant strain on his +none-too-adequate arms and shoulders. When the _Sally_ swung off, and he +fought her back to her course, she was sure to swing too far the other +way; when he tried to ease her up to it, a following sea was sure to +catch him and thrust him still farther off the way he should go.... + +He fought the wheel as though it were a live thing, and the sweat burst +out on him, and his arms and shoulders ached; and all the time, Dan'l at +his back flogged him with gentle jeers, and seared him with caustic +words.... + +The rat-like little man had the temper of a rat. Dan'l knew this; he was +careful never to push Mauger too far. So, this afternoon, he brought the +man, little by little, to the boiling point, and held him there as +delicately in the balance as a chemist's scales.... With a word, he +might at any time have driven Mauger mad with fury; with a word he could +have reduced the helpless little man to smothering sobs. + +He had Mauger thus trembling and wild when Noll Wing came on deck, Faith +at his side. Dan'l looked at them shrewdly; he saw that Noll's face was +flushed, and that Noll's eyes were hot and angry. And--behind the back +of Mauger at the wheel--he nodded toward the little man, and caught +Noll's eyes, and raised his shoulders hopelessly, smiling.... It was as +if he said: + +"See what a hash the little man is making of his simple job. Is he not a +hopeless thing?" + +Noll caught Dan'l's glance; and while Mauger still quivered with the +memory of Dan'l's last word, Noll looked at the compass, and cuffed +Mauger on the ear and growled at him: + +"Get her on her course, you gutter dog...." + +Which was just enough to fill to overflowing Mauger's cup of wrath. The +little man abandoned the wheel.... Dan'l caught it before the _Sally_ +could fall away ... and Mauger sprang headlong, face black with wrath, +at Cap'n Wing. + +He was scarce a third Noll's size; but the fury of his attack was such +that for a moment Noll was staggered. Then the captain's fist swung +home, and the little man whirled in the air, and fell crushingly on head +and right shoulder, and rolled on the slanting deck like a bundle of +soiled old clothes.... Rolled and lay still.... + +Cap'n Noll Wing, big Noll, whom Faith loved, bellowed and leaped after +the little man. He was red with fury that Mauger had attacked him, red +with rage that Mauger had, for an instant, thrust him back. He swung his +heavy boot and drove it square into the face of the unconscious man. +Faith saw.... + +The toe of the captain's boot struck Mauger in the right eye-socket, as +he lay on his side. At the blow, for an instant, the man's eye literally +splashed out, bulging, on his temple.... + +Some women would have screamed; some would have flung themselves upon +Noll to drag him back. Faith did neither of these things. She stood for +an instant, her lips white.... Her sorrow and pity were not for Mauger, +who had suffered the blow.... They were for Noll, her Noll, her husband +whom she loved and wished to respect.... Sorrow and pity for Noll, who +had done this thing.... + +She turned quickly and went down into her cabin.... + +Noll came down, minutes later, after she had heard the feet of running +men, the voices of men upon the deck. He came down, found her in the +cabin which served as his office. She was standing, looking out one of +the windows in the stern.... + +He said thickly: "That damned rat won't try that on me again...." + +She turned, and her eyes held his. "That was a cowardly thing to do, +Noll, my husband," she said. + + + + +V + + +When Noll Wing kicked the unconscious man, and Faith slipped quietly +away and went below, the life of the _Sally Sims_ for an instant stood +still. Yella' Boy and Loum, two of the boat-steerers, were lounging at +the forward end of the boathouse, and saw. Dan'l Tobey, who had gripped +the wheel, saw. And three or four of the men, amidships, saw. For a +space they all stood still, watching, while Noll growled above his +victim, and Mauger, limp and senseless, rolled slackly back and forth +upon the deck with the motion of the vessel. + +Then Noll looked around, and saw them all watching him with steady, +hard, frightened eyes; and their silence irked him, so that he broke it +with a cry of his own. + +"You, Yella' Boy, sluice him off," he shouted. + +Yella' Boy grinned, showed his teeth with the amiability of his dark +race; and he took a canvas bucket and dropped it over the rail, and drew +it up filled with brine, and flung this callously in Mauger's horribly +crushed face. The water loosed the blood, washed it away in flecks and +gouts.... It bared the skin, and through this skin, from many little +slits and scratches like the cracks in a half-broken egg, more blood +trickled, spreading moistly. The salt burned.... Mauger groaned +hoarsely, slumped into unconsciousness again. + +"Douse him again," Noll Wing commanded. "The dog's shamming." He looked +around, saw Dan'l at the wheel. "You, Mr. Tobey, look to him," he +commanded. + +Dan'l was one of those men whose hands have a knack for healing. He knew +something of medicine; he had gone so far, upon a former cruise, as to +trim away a man's crushed fingers after an accident of the whale +fisheries had nipped them.... He hailed one of the men in the waist, +now, and gave the wheel to this man, and then crossed to where Mauger +lay and knelt beside him, and dabbed away the blood upon his face.... + +Cap'n Wing, leaning against the rail, his knuckles white with the grip +he had upon it, watched Dan'l, and swayed upon his feet.... And Yella' +Boy, with his bucket still half full of brine, stood by, and grinned, +and waited. + +Mauger came slowly back to life under Dan'l's ministrations; he groaned, +and he began to twitch, and kick.... And of a sudden he cried out, like +one suddenly waking from sleep. Then consciousness flooded him, and with +it came the agony he was enduring, and he howled.... And then his howls +grew weak and weaker till he was sobbing.... And Dan'l helped him to his +feet.... He had put a rough bandage about the man's head, and from +beneath this bandage, one of Mauger's eyes looked forth, blackly +gleaming, wild with the torment he endured. This eye fixed its gaze upon +Noll Wing.... + +Dan'l stepped a little nearer Noll, and said in a low voice: "His eye is +gone, sir. No good. It ought to be dimmed out.... Cleared away...." + +That shocked the liquor out of Noll; his face went white beneath the +brown; and Mauger heard, and suddenly he screamed again, and leveled a +shaking finger at Noll Wing, and cursed him shrilly.... Dan'l whirled +and bade him be silent; he signed to Yella' Boy, and the harpooner half +dragged, half carried Mauger forward. But as they went, Mauger, twisting +in the other's arms, shook his thin fist at Noll Wing and swore +terribly.... Cursed Noll, called death down upon him, vowed that he +would some day even the score.... + +Yella' Boy cuffed him and dragged him away.... And Dan'l watched Noll to +see what the captain would say. Noll said nothing. He took off his cap +and rubbed his bald head and looked for an instant like an old man; his +eyes shifted furtively from Dan'l to the cursing man.... + +Abruptly, he turned and went aft to the stern of the ship and stood +there by himself, thinking. He sought reassurance; he abused Mauger +under his breath, and told himself the little man had been well +served.... The _Sally_ fell away; he turned and cursed the new man at +the wheel, and got relief from the oath he spoke. It gave him a +blustering sort of courage.... He wished Dan'l Tobey would tell him he +had done right.... But Dan'l had gone forward to the fo'c's'le.... +Mauger was howling.... Noll thought Dan'l might be trimming away that +crushed eye.... And he shuddered. He was, suddenly, immensely lonely. He +wished with all his soul for support, for a word of comfort, a word of +reassurance.... + +He went down into the cabin, thinking to speak with Henry Ham. Mr. Ham +was always an apostle of violence.... But the mate was sleeping; Noll +could hear him snore. So was tigerish little James Tichel.... + +Noll went into the after cabin, and found Faith there. Her back was +turned, she was looking out of the stern windows. He wished she would +look at him, but she did not. So he said, his voice thick with anger, +and at the same time plaintive with hunger for a reassuring word.... + +"That damned rat won't try that again...." + +Then Faith turned and told him: "That was a cowardly thing to do, Noll, +my husband." + +He had come for comfort; he was ready to humble himself; he was a prey +to the instinct of wrong-doing man which bids him confess and be +forgiven.... But Faith's eyes accused him.... When a man's wife turns +against him.... He said, bitter with rage: + +"Keep your mouth shut, child. This is not a pink tea, aboard the _Sally +Sims_. You know nothing of what's necessary to handle rough men." + +Faith smiled a little wistfully. "I know it is never necessary to kick a +helpless man in the face," she said. + +He was so nearly mad with fury and shame and misery that he raised his +great fist as though he would have struck even Faith. "Mind your own +matters," he bade her harshly. "The dog struck me.... Where would the +ship be if I let that go? I should have killed him...." + +"Did you not?" Faith asked gently. "I thought he would be dead...." + +"No; hell, no!" Noll blustered. "You can't kill a snake. He'll be +poisonous as ever in a day...." + +"I saw ..." said Faith; she shuddered faintly. "I--think his eye is +gone." + +"Eye?" Noll echoed. "What's an eye? He's lucky to live. There's +skippers that would have killed him where he stood.... For what he +did...." + +Faith shook her head. "He's only a little man, weak, not used to sea +life. You are big, and strong, Noll.... My Noll.... There was no need of +kicking him." + +The man flung himself, then, into an insane burst of anger at her. He +hated the whole world, hated Faith most of all because she would not +soothe him and tell him never to mind.... He raved at her, gripped her +round shoulders and shook her, flung her away from him.... He was +mad.... + +And Faith, steadfastly watching him, though her soul trembled, prayed in +her heart that she might find the way to bring Noll back to manhood +again; she endured his curses; she endured his harsh grip upon her +shoulders.... She waited while he flooded her with abuse.... And at the +end, when he was quiet for lack of words to say, she went to him and +touched his arm. + +"Noll ..." she said. + +He jerked away from her. "What?" + +"Noll.... Look at me...." + +He obeyed, in spite of himself; and there was such depths of tenderness +and sorrow in her eyes that the man's heart melted in him. "It's not +Mauger I'm sorry for," she told him. "It's you, Noll.... That you should +be so cowardly, Noll...." + +His rage broke, then; he fell to fretting, whining.... She sat down; he +slumped like a child beside her. He told her he was tired, weary.... +That he was worried.... That his nerves had betrayed him.... That the +drink was in him.... "They're all trying to stir me," he complained. +"They take a joy in doing the thing wrong.... They're helpless, +slithering fools.... I lost myself, Faith...." + +He pleaded with her, desperately anxious to make her understand; and +Faith understood from the beginning, with the full wisdom of woman, yet +let him talk out all his unhappiness and remorse.... And because she +loved him, her arm was about him and his great head was drawn against +her breast long before he was done. She comforted him with touches of +her light hands upon his head; she soothed him with murmurs that were no +words at all.... + +The man reveled in this orgy of self-abasement. He groveled before her, +until she began to be faintly contemptuous, in her heart, at his +groveling. She bade him make an end of it.... + +"I was a coward, Faith," he cried. "You're right. I was a coward...." + +"You are a man, Noll," she told him. "Stronger than other men, and not +in your fists alone. That is why I love you so...." + +"I know, I know," he told her. "Oh, you're a wonder, Faith...." + +"You're a man. Always remember that," she said. + +He got up abruptly. He started toward the main cabin; and she asked: +"Where are you going, Noll?" + +"Forward," he said. "I've wronged Mauger...." He was drunk with this +new-found joy of abasing himself. "I'll tell the man so. I'll right +things with him...." + +And he added thoughtfully: "He cursed me. I don't want the man's hate. +I'll right things with him...." + +She smiled faintly, shook her head. "No, Noll...." + +He was stubborn. "Yes. Why not? I've...." + +She said thoughtfully: "Noll, you're the master of this ship. Old +Jonathan Felt put her in your charge. You are responsible for her.... +And that puts certain obligations on you, Noll. An obligation to be +wise, and to be prudent, and to be brave...." + +He came back and sat down beside her. She touched his knee. "You are +like a king, aboard here, Noll. And--the king can do no wrong. I would +not go to Mauger, if I were you. You made a mistake; but there is no +need you should humble yourself before the men. They would not +understand; they would only despise you, Noll." + +He said hotly: "Let them. They're sneaking, spineless things...." + +"Let them fear you; let them hate you," she told him. "But--never let +them forget you are master, Noll. Don't go to Mauger...." + +He had no real desire to go; he wished only to bask in her new-found +sympathy. And he yielded readily enough, at last.... + +The matter passed abruptly. She rose; he went up on deck; the _Sally +Sims_ went on her way. And for a day or two, Noll Wing, an old man, was +like a boy who has repented and been forgiven; he was offensively +virtuous, offensively good-natured. + +Mauger returned to his duties the second day. He wore a bandage across +his face; and when it was discarded a week later, the hollow socket +where his eye had been was revealed. His suffering had worked a terrible +change in the man; he had been morose and desperate, he was now too much +given to chuckling, as though at some secret jest of his own. He went +slyly about his tasks; he seemed to have a pride in his misfortune; when +he saw men shrink with distaste at sight of his scarred countenance, he +chuckled under his breath.... + +Dan'l Tobey had cut away the crushed eye-ball; the lids covered the +empty socket. In the upper lid, some maimed nerve persisted in living. +It twitched, now and then, in such a fashion that Mauger seemed to be +winking with that deep hollow in his face.... + +The man had a fascination, from the beginning, for Noll Wing. The +captain took an unholy joy in looking upon his handiwork; he shivered at +it, as a boy shivers at a tale of ghosts.... And he felt the gleaming +glance of Mauger's remaining eye like a threat. It followed him whenever +they were both on deck together; if he looked toward Mauger, he was sure +to catch the other watching him. + +Dan'l Tobey was cheerfully philosophical about the matter. "He can see +as well as ever, with what he has left," he told Noll one day. "And he +ought to count himself lucky. Your boot might have mashed his head +in.... And serve him right...." + +"Aye," said Noll, willing to be reassured. "He's lucky to live. The dog +must know that...." + +And he looked forward to where Mauger lounged amidships, beside the try +works, and saw the man's black eye watching him; and Mauger caught the +captain's glance, and chuckled unpleasantly, his face twisting. Noll +felt a quiver of horror, far within himself.... + +He began, even in the fortnight after the affair, to remember Mauger's +curses and threats as the man was borne away by Yella' Boy, that day. +Mauger had threatened to kill him, to cut his heart away.... The +meaningless cries of a delirious man, he told himself.... No doubt +Mauger had forgotten them before this. + +He tried, one day, the experiment of giving the one-eyed man an order. +Smoking his pipe, he spilled ashes on the spotless deck; and he bellowed +forward to Mauger to come aft, and when the man came, he pointed to the +smudge of ashes, and: + +"Clean that up," he said harshly. "Look sharp, now." + +Mauger chuckled. "Aye, sir," he said respectfully, and on hands and +knees at the captain's feet performed his task, looking up slyly into +Noll Wing's face as he did so. The lid that closed the empty eye-socket +twitched and seemed to wink.... + +That night, as they were preparing to sleep, Noll spoke of Mauger to +Faith. "He does his work better than ever," he said. + +She nodded. "Yes." And something in Noll's tone made her attentive. + +"Seems cheerful, too," said Noll. He hesitated. "I reckon he's forgot +his threat to stick a knife in me.... Don't you think he has?" + +Faith's eyes, watching her husband, clouded; for she read his tone. +Noll Wing, strong man and brave, could not hide his secret from her.... + +She understood that he was deathly afraid of the one-eyed +man. + + + + +VI + + +The _Sally Sims_ was in the South Atlantic on the day when Noll Wing +kicked out Mauger's eye. The life of the whaler went on, day by day, as +a background for the drama that was brewing. The men stood watch at the +mastheads, the _Sally_ plunged and waddled awkwardly southward; and now +and then a misty spout against the wide blue of the sea halted them, and +boats were lowered, and the whales were struck, and killed, and towed +alongside. Held fast there by the chain that was snubbed around the +fluke-chain bitt, they were hacked by the keen spades and cutting +knives, the great heads were cut off, and dragged aboard, and stripped +of every fleck of oily blubber; and the great bodies, while the spiral +blanket strips were torn away, rolled lumberingly over and over against +the bark's stout planks. Thereafter the tryworks roared, and the blubber +boiled, and the black and stinking smoke of burning oil hung over the +seas like a pall.... + +This smell of burning oil, the mark of the whaler, distressed Faith at +first. It sickened her; and the soot from the fires where the scrapple +of boiled blubber fed the flames settled over the ship, and penetrated +even to her own immaculate cabin. She disliked the smell; but the +gigantic toil of the cutting in and the roar of the tryworks had always +a fascination for her that compensated for the smell and the soot. She +rejoiced in strength, in the strong work of lusty men. To see a great +carcass almost as long as the _Sally_ lying helplessly against the rail +never failed to thrill her. For the men of the crew, it was all in the +day's work; stinking, sweating, perilous toil. For Faith it was a +tremendous spectacle. It intoxicated her; and in the same fashion it +affected Noll Wing, and Dan'l Tobey, and tigerish old Tichel. When there +were fish about, these men were subtly changed; their eyes shone, their +chests swelled, their muscles hardened; they stamped upon the deck with +stout legs, like a cavalry horse that scents the battle. They gave +themselves to the toil of killing whales and harvesting the blubber as +men give themselves to a debauch; and afterward, when the work was done, +they were apt to surrender to a lassitude such as follows a debauch. +There was keen, sensual joy in the running oil, the unctuous oil that +flowed everywhere upon the decks; they dabbed their hands in it; it +soaked their garments and their very skins drank it in. + +Young Roy Kilcup took fire, from the beginning, at these gigantic +spectacles. He wished to go out in the boats that struck the whales; but +he lacked the sinews of a man, he lacked the perfect muscular control of +manhood. He was still a boy, nimble as a monkey, but given to awkward +gestures and leaps and motions. He could not be trusted to sit tight in +a boat and handle his oar when a whale was leaping under the iron; and +so he was condemned to stay on the ship. + +But they could not deny him a part in the cutting in; and when that +work was afoot, he was everywhere, his eyes gleaming.... He slashed at +the blubber with a boarding knife; he minced it for the boiling; he +descended into the blubber room and helped stow the stuff there. Faith, +watching, loved his enthusiasm and his zeal.... + +After the matter of Mauger, things went smoothly for a space. The whales +came neither too fast nor too slow; they killed one or two, at intervals +of days; they cut them in; they tried them out, while the fires flared +through night and day and cast red shadows on the dark faces of the men, +and turned their broad, bared chests to gold. And when the blubber was +boiled, they cleaned ship, and idled on their way, and raised, in due +time, other whales.... + +Cap'n Wing chose to go west, instead of eastward past the tip of Africa +and up into the Indian Ocean. So they worked their painful way around +the Horn, fighting for inches day by day; and when the bleak fog did not +blanket them, Faith could see gaunt mountains of rock above the northern +rim of the sea. And once they passed a clipper, eastward bound. It swept +up on them, a tower of tugging canvas; it came abreast, slipped past, +and dwindled into a white dot upon the sea behind before night came down +and hid it from their eyes. In the morning, though they had idled with +no canvas pulling, through the night, the clipper was gone, and they +were alone again among the mountains that came down to the sea.... + +So they slid out at last into the South Pacific, and struck a little +north of west for the wide whaling grounds of the island-dotted South +Seas. And struck their whales.... + +The routine of their tasks.... But during this time, a change was +working in Noll Wing, which Faith, and Dan'l Tobey, and all who looked +might see. + +The matter of Mauger had been, in some measure, a milestone in Noll +Wing's life. He had struck men before; he had maimed them. He had killed +at least one man, in fair fight, when it was his life or the other's. +But because in those days his pulse was strong and his heart was young, +the matter had never preyed upon him. He had been able to go proudly on +his way, strong in his strength, sure of himself, serene and unafraid. +He was, in those days, a man. + +But this was different; this was the parting of the ways. Noll had spent +his great strength too swiftly. His muscles were as stout as ever; but +his heart was not. Drink was gnawing at him; old age was gnawing at him; +he was like an old wolf that by the might of tooth and fang has led the +pack for long.... He had seen strong men fail; he knew what failure +meant; and he could guess the slackening of his own great powers and +prevision the end of this slackening. The wolf dreads the day when a +young, strong wolf will drag him down; Noll dreaded the day when his +voice and his eye and his fist should fail to master the men. He had +been absolute so long, he could endure no less. He must rule, or he was +done.... + +At times, when he felt this failing of his own strong heart, he blamed +Faith for it, and fretted at her because she dragged him down. At other +times, he was ashamed, he was afraid of the eyes of the men; he fled to +her for comfort and for strength. He was a prey, too, to regretful +memories. The matter of Mauger, for instance.... He was, for all he +fought the feeling, tortured by remorse for what he had done to Mauger. + +And he was dreadfully afraid of the one-eyed man. + +At first, he half enjoyed this fear; it was a new sensation, and he +rolled in it like a horse in clover. But as the weeks passed, it nagged +at him so constantly that he became obsessed with it. Wherever he +turned, he saw the one-eyed man regarding him; and this steady scrutiny +of Mauger's one black eye was like a continual pin-prick. It twanged his +nerves.... He tried, for a time, to find relief in blustering; he roared +about the ship, bellowing his commands.... It comforted him to see men +jump to obey. But from the beginning, this was not utter comfort. He was +pursued by the chuckling, mirthless mirth of the one-eyed man. He +thought Mauger was like a scavenger bird that waits for a sick beast to +die. Mauger harassed him.... + +This change in Noll Wing reacted upon Faith. Because her life was so +close to his, she was forced to witness the manifestations which he hid +from the men; because her eyes were the eyes of a woman who loves, she +saw things which the men did not see. She saw the slow loosening of the +muscles of Noll's jaw; saw how his cheeks came to sag like jowls. She +saw the old, proud strength in his eyes weaken and fail; she saw his +eyes grow red and furtive.... Saw, too, how his whole body became +overcast with a thickening, flabby garment of fat, like a net that bound +his slothful limbs.... + +Noll's slow disintegration of soul had its effect upon Faith. She had +been, when she came to the _Sally Sims_ with him, little more than a +girl; she had been gay and laughing, but she had also been calm and +strong. As the weeks passed, Faith was less gay; her laugh rang more +seldom. But by the same token, the strength that dwelt in her seemed to +increase. While Noll weakened, she grew strong.... + +There were days when she was very lonely; she felt that the Noll she had +married was gone from her.... She was, for all her strength, a woman; +and a woman is always happiest when she can lean on other strength and +find comfort there.... But Noll.... Noll, by this, was not so strong of +soul as she.... + +She was lonely with another loneliness; with the loneliness of a +mother.... But Noll had told her, brutally, in the beginning, that there +was no place for a babe upon the _Sally Sims_. He overbore her, because +in such a matter she could not command him. The longing was too deep in +her for words. She could not lay it bare for even Noll to see.... + +Thus, in short, Faith was unhappy. Unhappy; yet she loved Noll, and her +heart clung to him, and yearned to strengthen and support the man, +yearned to bring back the valor she had loved in him.... There could +never be, so long as he should live, any man but Noll for her. + +Dan'l Tobey--poor Dan'l, if you will--could not understand this. Dan'l, +for all his round and simple countenance, and the engaging frankness of +his freckles and his hair, had an eye that could see into the heart of a +man. He had understanding; he could read men's moods; he could play +upon them, guide them without their guessing at his guidance. He managed +skillfully. He held the respect, even the affection of the bulk of the +crew; he had the liking of all the officers save Willis Cox, who +disliked him for a reason he could not put in words. He bent his efforts +to hold Roy Kilcup; and Roy worshiped him. He took care to please Noll +Wing, and Noll leaned upon Dan'l, and trusted him. Dan'l was the only +man on the ship who always applauded whatever Noll might do; and Noll, +hungry as an old man for praise, fed fat on Dan'l's applause.... + +Dan'l was wise; he was also crafty. He contrived, again and again, that +Noll should act unworthily in Faith's eyes. To this extent he understood +Faith; he understood her ideals, knew that she judged men by them, knew +that when Noll fell short of these ideals, Faith must in her heart +condemn him.... And he took care that Noll should fall short.... + +For one thing--a little matter, but at the same time a matter of vast +importance--he used the fact that big Noll did not eat prettily. Noll, +accustomed to the sea, having all his life been a hungry man among men, +was not careful of the niceties of the table. He ate quickly; he ate +loudly; he ate clumsily. Dan'l, somewhat gentler bred, understood this; +and at the meals in the cabin when Noll was particularly offensive, +Dan'l used to catch Faith into spirited conversation, as though to +distract her attention.... He did this in such a way that it seemed to +be mere loyalty to Noll; yet it served to create an atmosphere of +understanding between Dan'l and Faith, and it showed him in her eyes as +a loyal servant, without hiding the fact that big Noll was a gross man. + +When they were all on deck together, and Dan'l saw that burning sun or +splattering rain was unpleasant to Faith, he used to remedy the matter +by finding shelter for her; and in doing this he emphasized--by the +doing itself--the fact that Noll had failed to think of her. How much of +these things was, in the beginning, designed to win Faith from Noll it +is impossible to say. Dan'l delighted in the very doing; for he loved +Faith, had loved her for years, still loved her so intensely that there +were hours when he could have strangled Noll with his bare hands because +Noll possessed her. + +Dan'l loved Faith with a passion that gripped him, soul and body; yet it +was not an unholy thing. When he saw her unhappy, he wished to guard +her; when he saw that she was lonely, he wished to comfort her; when he +came upon her, once, at the stern, and saw that she had tears in her +eyes, it called for all his strength to refrain from taking her in his +arms and soothing her. He loved her, but there was nothing in his love +that could have soiled her. Dan'l was, in some fashion, a figure of +tragedy.... + +His heart burst from him, one day when they were two weeks in the South +Pacific. It was a hard, bitter day; one of those days when the sea is +unfriendly, when she torments a ship with thrusting billows, when she +racks planks and strains rigging, when she is perverse without being +dangerous. There was none of the joy of battle in enduring such a sea; +there was only irksome toil. It told on Noll Wing. His temper worked +under the strain. He was on deck through the afternoon; and the climax +came when Willis Cox's boat parted the lines that held its bow and fell +and dangled by the stern lines, slatting against the rail of the +_Sally_, and spilling the gear into the sea. With every lurch of the +sea, the boat was splintering; and before the men, driven by Dan'l and +Willis, could get the boat inboard again, it was as badly smashed as if +a whale's flukes had caught it square. Noll had raged while the men +toiled; when the boat was stowed, he strode toward Willis Cox and spun +the man around by a shoulder grip. + +"Your fault, you damned, careless skunk," he accused. "You're no more +fit for your job.... You're a...." + +Willis Cox was little more than a boy; he had a boy's sense of justice. +He was heart-broken by the accident, and he said soberly: "I'm sorry, +sir. It was my fault. You're right, sir." + +"Right?" Noll roared. "Of course I'm right. Do I need a shirking fourth +mate to tell me when I'm right or wrong? By...." His wrath overflowed in +a blow; and for all the fact that Noll was aging, his fist was stout. +The blow dropped Willis like the stroke of an ax. Noll himself filled a +bucket and sluiced the man, and drove him below with curses. + +Afterward, the reaction sent Noll to Faith in a rage at himself, at the +men, at the world, at her. Dan'l, in the main cabin, heard Noll swearing +at her.... And he set his teeth and went on deck because of the thing he +might do. He was still there, half an hour later, when Faith came +quietly up the companion. Night had fallen by then, the sea was +moderating. Faith passed him, where he stood by the galley; and he saw +her figure silhouetted against the gray gloom of the after rail. For a +moment he watched her, gripping himself.... He saw her shoulders stir, +as though she wept.... + +The man could not endure it. He was at her side in +three strides.... She faced him; and he could see her +eyes dark in the night as she looked at him. He stammered: + +"Faith! Faith! I'm so sorry...." + +She did not speak, because she could not trust her voice. She was +furiously ashamed of her own weakness, of the disloyalty of her thoughts +of Noll. She swallowed hard.... + +"He's a dog, Faith," Dan'l whispered. "Ah, Faith.... I love you. I love +you. I could kill him, I love you so...." + +Faith knew she must speak. She said quietly: "Dan'l.... That is not...." + +He caught her hand, with an eloquent grace that was strange to see in +the awkward, freckled man. He caught her hand to his lips and kissed it. +"I love you, Faith," he cried.... + +She freed her hand, rubbed at it where his lips had pressed it. Dan'l +was scarce breathing at all.... Fearful of what he had done, fearful of +what she might do or say.... + +She said simply: "Dan'l, my friend, I love Noll Wing with all my heart." + +And poor Dan'l knew, for all she spoke so simply, that there was no +part of her which was his. And he backed away from her a little, humbly, +until his figure was shadowed by the deckhouse. And then he turned and +went forward to the waist, and left Faith standing there. + +He found Mauger in the waist, and jeered at him good-naturedly until he +was himself again. Faith, after a little, went below. + +Noll was asleep in his bunk above hers. He lay on his back, one bare and +hairy arm hanging over the side of the bunk. He was snoring, and there +was the pungent smell of rum about him. + +Faith undressed and went quietly to bed. + + + + +VII + + +"There is a tide in the affairs of men...." Their lives ebb and flow +like the tides; there are days, or months, or years when matters move +slackly, seem scarce to move at all. But always, in the end, the pulses +of the days beat up and up.... A moment comes when all life is +compressed in a single act, a single incident.... Thereafter the tide +falls away again, but the life of man is a different thing thereafter. + +Such a tide was beating to the flood aboard the _Sally Sims_. Faith felt +it; Dan'l felt it; even Noll Wing, through the fury of his increasing +impotence, felt that matters could not long go on in this wise. Noll +felt it less than the others, because the waxing tension of his nerves +was relieved by his occasional outbursts of tempestuous rage. But Faith +could find no vent for her unhappiness; she loved Noll, and she wept for +him.... Wept for the Noll she had married, who now was dying before her +eyes.... And Dan'l suffered, perhaps, more than Faith. He suffered +because he must not seem to suffer.... + +The thing could not go on, Dan'l thought; he told himself, in the night +watches when he was alone on deck, that he could not long endure the +torment of his longing. Thus far he had loved Faith utterly; his +half-unconscious efforts to discredit Noll were the result of no malice +toward Noll Wing, but only of love for Faith. But the denial of his +longing for the right to care for her was poisoning him; the man's soul +was brewing venom. The honorable fibers of his being were +disintegrating; his heart was rotting in the man. + +He was at the point where a little thing might have saved him; he was, +by the same token, at the point where a little thing could set him +forever upon the shameful paths of wrong. + +Noll passed, at this time, into a period of sloth. He gave up, bit by +bit, the vigorous habits of his life. He had been accustomed of old to +take the deck at morning, and keep it till dusk; and when need arose in +the night, he had always been quick to leap from his bunk and spring to +the spot where his strength was demanded. He had, in the past, loved to +take his own boat after the whales that were sighted; he had continued +to do this in the early stages of this cruise, leaving Eph Hitch, the +cooper; and Tinch, the cook; and Kellick, and a spare hand or so to keep +ship with Faith and Roy Kilcup. But when they came into the South Seas, +he gave this up; and for a month on end, he did not leave the ship. The +mates struck the whales, and killed them, and cut them in, while Noll +slept heavily in his cabin. + +He gave up, also, the practice of spending most of the day on deck. He +stayed below, reading a little, writing up the log, or sitting with +glazed eyes by the cabin table, a bottle in reach of his hand. He slept +much, heavily; and even when he was awake, he seemed sodden with the +sleep in which he soaked himself. + +He passed, during this time, through varying moods. There were days +when he sulked and spoke little; there were days when he swore and +raged; and there were other days when he followed at Faith's heels with +a pathetic cheerfulness, like an old dog that tries to drive its stiff +legs to the bounding leaps of puppy play. He was alternately dependent +upon her and fretful at her presence.... + +And always, day by day, he was haunted by the sight of the one-eyed man. +He burst out, to Faith, one night; he cried: + +"The man plans to knife me. I can see murder in his eye." + +Faith, who pitied Mauger and had tried to comfort him, shook her head. +"He's broken," she said. "He's but the shell of a man." + +"He follows me," Noll insisted. "I turned, on deck, an hour ago; and he +was just behind me, in the shadow...." + +Faith, seeking to rouse the old spirit in Noll, said gently: "There was +a man who tried to stab you once. And you killed him with your hands. +Surely you need not be fearful of Mauger." + +Noll brooded for a moment. "Eh, Faith," he said dolefully. "I was a hard +man, then. I've always been a hard man.... Wrong, Faith. I was always +wrong...." + +"You were a master," she told him. + +"By the fist. A master by the fist.... A hard man...." + +He fell to mourning over his own harsh life; he gave himself to futile, +ineffectual regrets.... He told over to Faith the tale of the blows he +had struck, the oaths, the kicks.... This habit of confession was +becoming a mania with him. And when Faith tried smilingly to woo him +from this mood, he called her hard.... He told her, one day, she was +un-Christian; and he got out a Bible, and began to read.... Thereafter +the mates found him in the cabin, day by day, with the Bible spread upon +his knees, and the whiskey within reach of his hand.... + +The disintegration of the master had its inevitable effect upon the +crew; they saw, they grinned with their tongues in their cheeks; they +winked slyly behind Noll's back. One day Noll called a man and bade him +scrub away a stain of oil upon the deck. The man went slackly at the +task. The captain said: "Come, sharp there...." And the man grinned and +spat over the side and asked impudently: + +"What's hurry?" + +Noll started to explain; but Henry Ham had heard, and the mate's fist +caught the man in the deep ribs, and the man made haste, thereafter. Ham +explained respectfully to the captain: + +"You can't talk to 'em, sir. Fist does it. Fist and boot. You know that, +well's me." + +Noll shook his head dolefully. "I've been a hard man in the past, Mr. +Ham," he admitted. "But I'll not strike a man again...." + +And the mate, who could not understand, chuckled uneasily as though it +were all a jest. "I will, for you, sir," he said. + +If Dan'l Tobey had been mate, and so minded, he could have kept the crew +alert and keen; but Dan'l had his own troubles, and he did not greatly +care what came to Noll and Noll's ship. So, Noll's hand slackening, the +men were left to Mr. Ham; and the mate, while fit for his job, was not +fit for Noll's. Matters went from bad to worse.... + +This growing slackness culminated in tragedy. Where matters of life and +death are a part of every day, safety lies in discipline; and discipline +was lax on the _Sally Sims_. On a day when the skies were ugly and the +wind was freshening, they sighted a lone bull whale, and the mate and +Willis Cox lowered for him while the ship worked upwind toward where the +creature lay. The boats, rowing, distanced the bark; the mate struck the +whale, and the creature fluked the boat so that its planks opened and it +sank till it was barely awash, and dipped the men in water to their +necks. Silva, the mate's harpooner, cut the line and let the whale run +free; and a moment later, Willis Cox's boat got fast when Loum +pitchpoled his great harpoon over thirty feet of water as the whale went +down.... + +The big bull began to run headlong, and the men in Willis's boat +balanced on the sides for a "Nantucket Sleigh-ride." The whale ran +straightaway, so tirelessly they could not haul up on the line.... The +weather thickened behind them and hid the _Sally_ as she stopped to pick +up the mate and his wrecked boat. Then a squall struck, and night came +swiftly down.... + +When Willis saw it was hopeless to think of killing the whale, he cut. +It was then full dark, and blowing. Some rain fell, but the flying spume +that the wind clipped from the wave tops kept the boat a quarter full +of sea water, no matter how desperately they bailed. Toward midnight, +the thirsty men wished to drink. + +A whaleboat is always provisioned against the emergency of being cast +adrift. Biscuits and water are stored in the lantern keg, with matches +and whatever else may be needful. The water is replenished now and then, +that it may be fresh.... + +When Willis opened the lantern keg, he found the water half gone, and so +brackish it was unfit to drink. A condition directly to be attributed to +the weakening of discipline aboard the _Sally_.... A serious matter, as +they knew all too well when the next day dawned bright and hot, with the +bark nowhere to be seen. Their thirst increased tormentingly; and on the +third day, when the searching _Sally_ found them, two men were dead in +the boat, and the other four were in little better case.... + +Willis had worked his boat toward an island northeast of the position +where he lost the _Sally_; Dan'l Tobey had guessed what Willis would do, +and had persuaded Noll to cruise that way. When they picked up the half +dead men, Noll decided to touch at the island for food and fresh water; +and they raised it in mid-morning of the second day. + +They had seen other lands since the cruise began. But these other lands +had been rocky and inhospitable.... The harsh tops, for the most part, +of mountains that rose from the sea's depths to break the surface of the +sea. Men dwelt on them, clinging like goats in the crannies of the +rocks.... But they were not inviting. This island was different. When +Faith, coming on deck at the cry, saw it blue-green against the horizon, +she caught her breath at the beauty of it; and while the _Sally_ worked +closer, she watched with wide eyes and leaping pulses. She felt, +vaguely, that it was the portal of a new world; it was lovely, inviting, +pleasant.... She was suddenly sick of the harsh salt of the sea, sick of +the stinking ship.... She wanted soft earth beneath her feet, trees +above her head, flowers within reach of her hand.... + +This island was fair and smiling; it seemed to promise her all the +things she most desired.... She sought Noll Wing. + +"Are you going ashore, Noll?" she asked. + +He was in one of his slothful moods, half asleep in the after cabin; and +he shook his great head. "No.... Mates will get what we need. We'll be +away by night." + +She hesitated. "I--want to go ashore," she said. "Won't you go with me?" + +"You can go," he agreed, readily enough. "Nobody there but some +niggers--and maybe a few whites, on the beach. Nothing to see...." + +"There's land," she told him, smiling. "And trees, and flowers.... Do +come." + +"You go along. I'm--tired, to-day." + +"I'd like it so much more if you came with me." + +He frowned at her, impatient at her insistence. "Stop the talk," he told +her harshly. "I'm not going. Go if you want to. But be still about it, +let a man rest.... I'm tired, Faith.... I'm getting old...." + +"You ought to look after getting the stuff for the ship," she reminded +him. "After all--you are responsible for her...." + +"Mr. Ham will do that, better than me," he said. "Go along." + +She went out, reluctantly, and sought the mate. His boat and James +Tichel's were to go ashore, leaving Dan'l in charge of the ship. He +grinned cheerfully at Faith's request, and bade his men rig a stool to +lower her into the boat. Faith protested, laughingly. "I can jump down, +as well as a man," she said; and he nodded assent and forgot her. + +She was in his boat when they put off presently; she sat astern, while +Mr. Ham stood above her, his legs spread to steady himself against the +movement of the boat, his weight on the long steering oar that he always +preferred to the tiller. The _Sally_ had dropped anchor a mile off +shore, and canoes were already spinning out to her. The island spread +before them, green and sparkling in the sun; and the white beach shone +like silver.... It was more than a coral island; there were two hills, a +mile or so inland; and the white-washed huts of a considerable village +shone against the trees. The canoes met them, whirled about them; the +black folk shouted and clamored and stared.... Mr. Ham waved to them, +talked to them in a queer and outlandish mixture of tongues, bade them +go on to the _Sally_.... "Mr. Tobey'll buy what they've got," he told +Faith, as the whaleboat drove ahead for the shore. + +James Tichel's boat was well astern of them, dragging a raft of floating +casks which would be filled with water and towed out to the _Sally_. He +was still far from shore when they drove up on the beach; and the men +jumped out into the shallow water and dragged the boat higher, so that +Faith, picking her way over the thwarts, could step ashore dry shod from +the bow. Her feet left scarce a mark upon the hard, white sand. + +Mr. Ham said to her: "You come up to the trees; you can be cool there +while we're at our business." + +But Faith shook her head. "I'm going to take a walk," she said. "I want +to get into the woods. How long will you be here?" + +He hesitated dubiously. "Guess it's all right if you do," he decided. +"The niggers are friendly.... Most of 'em talk English, in a way. Go +ahead." + +"How long have I?" Faith asked again. He said they would be ashore an +hour, perhaps more. "No matter, anyway," he told her. "Stay long as you +like. Do you want I should send a man with you?" + +Faith told him she was not afraid; he grinned. She turned southward +along the beach, away from the huddled village. The smooth sand was so +firm it jarred her feet, and she moved up into the shade of the trees, +and followed them for a space, eyes probing into the tangle beyond them, +lips smiling, every sense drinking in the smells of the land.... When +she came, presently, to a well-marked path that led into the jungle-like +undergrowth, she hesitated, then turned in. + +Within twenty steps, the trees closed about her, shutting away all sight +of the sea. For a little longer she could hear the long rollers pounding +on the beach; then that sound, too, became indistinct and dim.... It +was drowned in the thousand tiny noises of the brush about her. +Bird-notes, crackling of twigs, stirring of furry things. Once a little +creature of a sort she had never seen before, yet not unlike the +familiar and universal rabbit, hopped out of her path in a flurry of +excitement. + +She heard, presently, another sound ahead of her; a sound of running, +falling water; and when she pressed on eagerly, she came out upon the +bank of a clear stream that dropped in bright cascades from one deep, +cool pool to another. She guessed this stream must come down between the +hills she had seen from the ship.... It was all the things she had +unwittingly longed for during the months aboard the _Sally_. It was +cool, and clear, and gay, and chuckling; the sea was always so turbulent +and harsh. She followed the path that ran up the northern bank of the +stream, and each new pool seemed more inviting than the last.... She +wanted to wade into them, to feel the water on her shoulders and her +throat and her arms.... Her smooth skin had revolted endlessly against +the bite of the salt water in which she bathed aboard the _Sally_; it +yearned for this cool, crystal flood.... + +She put aside this desire. The path she was following was a well-beaten +trail. People must use it. They might come this way at any time.... She +wished, wistfully, that she might be sure no one would come.... And so +wishing, she pressed on, each new pool among the rocks wooing her +afresh, and urging her to its cool embrace.... + +She heard, in the wood ahead of her, an increasing clamor of falling +water, and guessed there might be a cascade there of larger proportions +than she had yet seen. The path left the stream for a little, winding to +round a tangle of thicker underbrush; and she hurried around this +tangle, her eyes hungry to see the tumbling water she could hear.... + +Hurrying thus, she came out suddenly upon the lip of the pool.... Broad, +and dark, and deep; its upper end walled by a sheet of plunging water +that fell in a mirror-like veil and churned the pool to misty foam. Her +eyes drank deep; they swung around the pool.... And then, she caught her +breath, and shrank back a little, and pressed her hand to her throat.... + +Upon a rock, not fifty feet from her, his back half turned as he poised +to dive, there stood a man. A white man, for all the skin of his whole +body was golden-brown from long exposure to the open air.... He poised +there like some wood god.... Faith had a strange feeling that she had +blundered into a secret temple of the woods; that this was the temple's +deity. She smiled faintly at her own fancy; smiled.... + +God has made nothing more beautiful than the human body, whether it be +man's or woman's. Faith thought, in the instant that she watched, that +this bronzed man of the woods was the most beautiful thing she had ever +seen.... She had no sense of shame in watching him; she had only joy in +the sheer beauty of him, golden-brown against the green. And when, even +as she first saw him, he leaped and swung, smooth and straight, high +through the air, and turned with arms like arrows to pierce the bosom of +the pool, she gasped a little, as one gasps on coming suddenly out upon +a mountain top, with the world outspread below.... Then he was gone, +with scarce a sound.... She saw for an instant the golden flash of him +in the pool's depths.... + +His brown head broke the water, far across the way.... And he shook back +his hair, and passed his hands across his face to clear his eyes.... His +eyes opened.... + +His eyes opened, and he saw her standing there.... + +There were seconds on end that they remained thus, each held by the +other's gaze. Faith could not, for her life, have stirred. The spell of +the place was upon her. The man, for all his astonishment, was the first +to find his tongue. He called softly across the water: + +"Good morning, woman...." + +His voice was so gentle, and at the same time so gay, that Faith was not +alarmed. She smiled.... + +"It's after noon," she said. "Good afternoon--man!" + + + + +VIII + + +When Faith answered him, the man's face broke in smiles; he told her +laughingly: "If you're so familiar with the habits of the sun, you must +be a real woman, and not a dream at all.... I'm awake.... I am, am I +not?" + +"I should think you would be," said Faith. "That water must be cold +enough to wake any one...." + +He shook his head. "No, indeed. Just pleasantly cool. Dip your hand in +it...." + +Something led her to obey him; she bent by the pool's sandy brink and +dabbled her fingers, while the man, a hundred feet away at the very foot +of the waterfall, held his place with the effortless ease of an +accustomed swimmer, and watched her. "Wasn't I right?" he challenged. + +She nodded. "It's delicious...." + +He said quickly: "You being here means that a ship is in, of course." + +"Yes." + +"What ship?" + +"The _Sally Sims_--whaler...." + +"The _Sally_! I know the _Sally_," the man cried. "Is Noll Wing still +captain?..." + +"Of course." + +His eyes were thoughtful. "I'm in luck, woman," he said. "Listen. Will +you do a thing for me?" + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"I've a sort of a home, up on the hill above us here.... Observatory.... +I've been waiting four months for a ship to come along, keeping a +lookout from the top there.... Missed the _Sally_, somehow.... Must have +come up after I came down...." + +"We made the island a little before noon," she said. + +He chuckled. "Ah, I was in my boudoir then.... I want to ship on the +_Sally_. Does she need men?" + +Her eyes clouded thoughtfully. "I--think so," she said. "They lost two, +three days ago." + +"What was it?" he asked quickly. "Fighting whale...." + +She shook, her head. "Boat got lost ... and they were short of water. +The jug wasn't fresh filled." + +The man whistled softly. "That doesn't sound like one of Noll Wing's +boats," he said. "Noll is a stickler on those things...." + +Faith bowed her head, tracing a pattern in the sand with her forefinger. +She said nothing. The man asked: "How long before they sail?" + +"They're going to wait for me," she said. + +His eyes lighted, and he chuckled. "Good. Now, listen.... If you'll be +so kind as to turn your back.... You see, I've been running wild here +for the past few months, and my clothes are all up at my place. I'll +trot up there and get them and come back here.... Get a few things that +I don't want to leave.... Will you turn your back?..." She had done so, +and she heard the water stir as he raced for the shore and landed. "I'm +going, now," he called. + +"How long will you be?" she asked. + +"Not over an hour," he told her. "About an hour." + +"I'm afraid some one may come along this path.... Will they?... Should I +hide from them?..." + +He laughed. "Bless you, this is my private path; it's officially taboo +to the natives, by special arrangement with the old witch doctor effect +that runs their affairs. There won't be a soul along.... I'll be back in +an hour...." + +"I'll wait," she agreed softly. There was a light of mischief in her +eyes. Still standing with her face down stream, she heard his bare feet +pad the earth of the path for a moment before the sound was lost in the +laughing of the waterfall.... A moment later, his shout: "I'm gone." + +She sat down quickly on the sand, smiling to herself, sure of what she +wished to do. She slipped off her shoes and her stockings with quick +fingers; and she gathered her skirts high about her thighs and stepped +with one foot and then another into the pleasant waters of the pool. +They rippled around her ankles; she went deeper.... The waters played +above her knees, while she balanced precariously in the swirling current +and gathered her skirts high.... + +The water was soothing as Heaven itself, after the salt.... But she was +not satisfied.... Merely wading.... She stood for a little, listening, +gathering courage, striving to pierce the shadows of the bush about her +with her eyes.... These first months of her marriage had driven a +measure of her youth out of Faith; they had been sober days, and days +more sober still were yet to come. But for this hour, a gay +irresponsibility flooded her; she waded ashore, singing under her +breath.... She began swiftly to loosen her skirt at the waist.... + + * * * * * + +When the man came trotting down the trail at last, shouting ahead to her +as he came, Faith was sitting demurely upon the sand, clothed and in her +right mind.... She was trying to appear unconscious of the fact that +around the back of her neck, and her pink little ears, wet tendrils of +hair were curling.... When he came in sight, she rose gravely to meet +him; and he looked at her with quick, keen eyes, and laughed.... She +turned red as a flame.... + +"I don't blame you," he said. "It's a beautiful pool...." + +She wanted to be angry with him; but she could not.... His laughter was +infectious; she smiled at him. "I--couldn't resist it," she said.... + +She was studying the man. He wore, now, the accustomed garments of a +seaman, the clothes which the men aboard the _Sally_ wore. Harsh and +awkward garments; yet they could not hide the graceful strength of the +man. He was not so big as Noll, she thought; not quite as big as even +Dan'l Tobey.... Yet there was such symmetry in his limbs and the breadth +of his shoulders that he seemed a well-bulked man. His cheeks were lean +and brown, and his lips met with a pleasant firmness.... A man +naturally gay, she thought; yet with strength in him.... + +They started down the path toward the sea together. He carried a +cloth-wrapped bundle, swinging in his hand. She looked at him sidewise; +asked: "Who are you? How do you come to be here?" + +"My name's Brander," he said. "I was third mate on the _Thomas Morgan_." + +She tried to remember a whaler by that name. "New Bedford?" she asked. + +"No.... Nantucketer." + +Faith looked at him curiously. "But--what happened? Was she lost?..." + +Brander's face was sober; he hesitated. "No, not lost," he said. He did +not seem minded to go on; and Faith asked again: + +"What happened?" + +He laughed uneasily. "I left them," he said, and again seemed to wish to +let the matter rest. But Faith would not. + +"Is there any reason, why you should not tell me all about it?" she +asked. + +"No." + +"Then tell me, please...." + +He threw up his free hand in a gesture of surrender. "All right," he +said.... + +They were following the narrow path down the stream's side toward the +sea. Faith was ahead, Brander on her heels. After a moment, he went +on.... + +"A man named Marks was the skipper of the _Thomas Morgan_. I shipped +aboard her as a seaman. I'd had one cruise before.... Not with him. I +shipped with him.... And I found out, within two days, that I'd made a +mistake. + +"Not that they were hard on me. I knew my job, after a fashion; and ... +they let me alone. But the men had a tough time of it. It was a tough +ship, through and through. Marks; and his mate.... Mate's name was +Trant, and I'd not like to meet that man on a dark night. There was +murder in him.... The sheer love of it.... He was the sort of man that +will catch a shark just for the fun of spiking the creature's jaws and +turning him loose again.... I was in Taku once.... Saw a little China +boy catch a dragon fly and tie a twig to its tail and let it go. The +twig overbalanced the dragon fly--It went straight up into the air, fast +as it could wing.... May be going yet.... That was the sort of trick +Trant would have liked. + +"Not that he ever actually killed a man on this cruise. Better if he +had, for the men. But he didn't. + +"A big fellow. Heavy fisted; but he wasn't satisfied with the fist. The +boot for him...." + +They were climbing a little knoll in the path; he fell silent while they +climbed; and Faith thought of Noll Wing and Mauger.... + +"Well," said Brander. "Well, you know how things drag along.... We +dragged along.... Then, one day, we touched.... We'd gone around into +the Japan Sea. Marks and Trant walked up to the second mate and took +him, between them, into a boat, and took him ashore.... They came back +without him. He was a man as big as Trant, but he had crossed Trant, +more than once.... Trant had a face that was cut to ribbons when he came +back aboard; but the other man did not come back at all. I never knew +what the particular quarrel was.... + +"They shoved the third mate up to the second, and put me in as third. I +said to myself: 'All right.... But don't go to sleep, Brander.' And I +didn't. It didn't pay.... I couldn't." + +He waved his hand as though to dismiss what followed with a word.... +Nevertheless, he went on: + +"There was a man in my boat.... He was called 'Lead-Foot' by every one, +because he was a slow-moving man. He was not good for much. He was very +much afraid of every one. Especially Trant. He was bigger than Trant, so +Trant took a certain satisfaction from abusing him. I decided to +interfere with this. I told this big coward who was in my boat to keep +out of Trant's way; and I told Trant, jokingly, one day, to leave my men +alone. He was huffed at that; growled at me." Brander chuckled. "So I +swelled up my chest like a fighting cock and told him to keep hands off. +Oh, I threw a great bluff, I can tell you. But Trant was not a coward. +He waited his time; and I knew he was waiting.... + +"And while he waited, he talked to the captain; and I could see them +both whispering together. They whispered about me. They did not like to +have me about; and once Marks threatened to put me back in the +fo'c's'le; but he changed his mind. + +"So matters were till we came past an island to the north of here, forty +or fifty miles. We made that island at dusk, and worked nearer it after +darkness had fallen. It came on cloudy and dark.... + +"I met Trant on the deck; and I said to him: 'Do we go ashore here?' He +grinned at me with his teeth and bade me wait till morning and see. And +that was enough for me. I knew what was coming. I thought I would hurry +it a little; but luck hurried it for me, in a way that worked out very +well. + +"This lead-footed man was at the wheel. When the anchor went down, he +started forward and brushed against Trant. Trant may have meant it to be +so. Anyway, Trant knocked the lead-foot flying, and went after him with +the boot, jumping, as lumbermen do. There happened to be a belaying pin +handy. So I took it and cracked Trant, and he dropped in mid-leap.... +Then Marks jumped me; and I managed to wriggle out from under him, and +he fell and banged his head. And he lay still; but Trant was up, by +then, and at me. + +"The lead-footed man was yelling in my ear. I told him to go overboard +and swim for it; and he did. And just then Trant got in the way of the +belaying pin again, and this time he did not seem to want to get up. + +"There was some confusion, you understand. I did not stay to straighten +things out. I went over, after Lead-Foot.... He could swim like a +porpoise. He was ahead of me, but half way in he met a shark, and came +clamoring back to me to be saved. So I got out of his way for fear he +would drag us both under, and then I kicked at the shark, and it went +about its business, and we swam on.... They were too busy sluicing the +Old Man and Trant to come after us in a boat.... They could have +knocked us in the head with an oar.... But they didn't.... + +"However, Lead-Foot took the shark so seriously that he swam too fast. +Or something of the sort.... Anyway, he keeled when we touched sand, and +I felt him and found that he was dead with heart failure or the like. I +didn't stop to work over him. I could hear Trant bellowing. He had come +to life; and a boat was racing after me. + +"So I went into the bush and stayed there till the _Thomas Morgan_ took +herself off. After that, not liking the island, which was low and +marshy, I borrowed a native canoe and came over here.... And I've been +here, since." + +They were within sound of the rollers on the beach when he finished. +Faith was silent for a little; then she asked: "Were there other white +men here? Why didn't you stay at the village?" + +"There was too much society there," said Brander, grinning amiably. "I'm +a solitary man, by nature. So I went up into the hills. Besides, I could +watch for ships, there.... I'd no notion of staying here indefinitely, +you understand...." + +Faith was filling out the gaps in his narrative from her own +understanding of the life aboard a whaler. She could guess what Brander +must have endured; she thought he had done well to come through it and +still smile.... She thought he was a man.... + +They could see the surf, through the thinning bush, when he said: "You +haven't told me how you happen to be aboard the _Sally Sims_...." + +Faith had almost forgotten, herself. She remembered, and something like +a chill of sorrow struck down upon her. But: "I am Noll Wing's wife," +she said. + +They came out, abruptly, into the white glare of the beach, Mr. Ham's +boat was drawn up, a quarter-mile away. Brander looked toward it, looked +at Faith. + +"Ah," he said quietly. "Then yonder is your husband's boat, waiting.... +Noll Wing is an able skipper...." + +Faith said nothing. They went on, side by side, toward Mr. Ham. + + + + +IX + + +When Mr. Ham, waiting by the boat with his men, saw Faith coming and saw +the stranger at her side, he came to meet them. His bearing was inclined +to truculence. Faith was ashore here in his charge; if this man had +disturbed her.... + +Faith reassured him. "I've a hand for you, Mr. Ham," she called. "You +need men." + +Mr. Ham stopped, ten paces from them, with legs spread wide. He looked +from Faith to Brander. Brander smiled in a friendly way. "Can you use +me?" he asked. "I know the work." + +Mr. Ham frowned thoughtfully. "What's this, ma'am?" he asked Faith. +"Who's that man?" + +Faith said quietly: "Ask him. I believe he wants to ship. I told him we +were short." + +The mate looked to Brander. His attitude toward Faith had been +deferential; toward Brander he assumed unconsciously the terrorizing +frown which he was accustomed to turn upon the men. "What do you want?" +he challenged. + +Brander said pleasantly: "To ship with you." + +"What are you doing here?" + +"I was third mate on the _Thomas Morgan_," said Brander. + +"Cap'n Marks?" Mr. Ham asked. + +"Yes." + +"We've no use for any o' Marks's mates aboard the _Sally_." + +Brander smiled. "I wasn't thinking of shipping as mate. Can you use a +hand?" + +"Where's the _Thomas Morgan_?" + +"On th' Solander Grounds, likely." + +"How come you're not with her?" + +"I left them, hereabouts." + +"Left them?" + +"Yes." + +"They've not the name of letting men go." + +"They had no choice. They were--otherwise engaged when I took my leave." + +"That's a slovenly ship," said Mr. Ham. + +"One reason why I'm not on her now." + +The mate frowned. "I'm not saying it's not in your favor that you got +away from them.... And we do need men." He added hastily: "Men; not +officers." + +"That suits me." + +Mr. Ham looked around. Faith stood a little at one side, listening +quietly. The _Sally_ rocked on the swells outside.... "Well, come +aboard," said the mate. "See what the Old Man says." + +Brander nodded. "Thanks, sir," he said. He adopted, easily and without +abasement, the attitude of a fo'mast hand toward the officer, and went +ahead of the mate and Faith to stow his bundle in the boat. The other +men waiting there questioned him; but they all fell silent as Mr. Ham +and Faith came to where the boat waited. + +Tichel had already taken the water casks out to the whaler. The men took +the whaleboat and dragged it down to the water. When it was half afloat, +Faith and the mate got in. The men shoved off, wading till the water was +deep enough for them to clamber aboard and snatch their oars and push +out through the rollers.... They worked desperately for a little, till +they were clear of the turbulent waters of the beach; then settled to +their work.... + +Brander sat amidships, his bundle at his feet, lending a hand now and +then on the oar of the man who faced him. Once he looked toward Faith; +she met his eyes.... Neither spoke, neither smiled.... The island was +receding behind them; Brander turned to watch it. They drew alongside +the _Sally_. + +Dan'l Tobey was at the rail to receive them. The mate stood in the +tossing boat and lifted Faith easily to Dan'l at the rail; he swung her +aboard. Mr. Ham followed; then Brander; then the men. The mate saw to +the unloading of the boat, saw it safely stowed. Then turned to Brander, +"Come and see the Old Man," he said. + +Dan'l Tobey heard. "He's asleep," he told Mr. Ham. "Who is this?" + +The mate said: "He wants to ship. Says he was on the _Thomas Morgan_." + +Dan'l looked at Brander. Mr. Ham added: "The captain's wife found him in +the bush." + +Dan'l drawled: "Beach comber.... Eh?" + +Brander said respectfully: "No, sir. I lived on the hill, there.... The +highest one. You can make out my place with the glass...." + +"He was third mate on the _Thomas Morgan_," said Mr. Ham. + +"We don't need an officer," Dan'l suggested. Brander sensed the fact +that Dan'l disliked him; he wondered at it. + +"I'm asking to ship as a seaman, sir," he said. + +Mr. Ham looked at Dan'l. "Best speak to the captain?" he asked. + +"Oh, set him ashore," Dan'l suggested. "He's a troublemaker. Too wise +for the fo'c's'le...." He looked to Brander insolently. "Can't you see +he's a man of education, Mr. Ham? What would he want to ship before the +mast for?" + +Mr. Ham looked puzzled. "How about it?" he asked Brander sharply. +Brander smiled. + +"I did it, in the beginning, for sport," he said. "Now I'm doing it to +get home. If you need a man.... If not, I'll go ashore...." + +Faith, standing by, said quietly: "Ship him, Mr. Ham." Her words were +not a request; they were a command. Dan'l looked at her swiftly, +shrewdly. Mr. Ham obeyed, with the instant instinct of obedience to that +tone.... + +It was not till days later that Faith wondered why she had spoken; +wondered why she had ventured to command.... And wondered why Mr. Ham +obeyed.... It gave her, somehow, a sense of power.... He had obeyed her, +as he would have obeyed Noll, her husband.... + +At the moment, however, having spoken, she went below.... She went +quickly, a little confused. She found Noll asleep, as Dan'l had said; +and she did not wake him. The _Sally_ got to sea.... The island fell +into the sea behind them. Before it was fully gone, Faith, with the +captain's glass, had searched that highest hill from the windows of the +after cabin; she discerned a little clearing, a rude hut.... Brander's +home.... + +She watched it for a space; then put the glass aside with thoughtful +eyes. + +Brander's coming, in ways that could hardly be defined, eased the +tension aboard the _Sally_. When the man went forward to stow his +belongings in the fo'c's'le, he found the men surly.... Quarrelsome.... +They looked at him sidewise.... They covertly inspected him.... + +The men of a whaler's crew are a polyglot lot, picked up from the +gutters and the depths. There were good men aboard the _Sally_, strong +men, who knew their work.... Some of them had served Noll Wing before; +some had made more than one voyage on the ships of old Jonathan Felt. +There was loyalty in these men, and a pride in their tasks.... But there +were others who were slack; and there were others who were evil.... The +green hands had been made over into able seamen, according to a whaler's +standard; and some of them had become men in the process, and some had +become something less than men. Yet they all knew their work, and did +it.... + +But they were, when Brander came among them, surly and ugly. In the days +that followed, tending strictly to his own work, he nevertheless found +time to study them.... A man with a tongue naturally gay, and a smile +that inspired friendship, he began to jest with them.... And little by +little, they responded.... Their surliness passed.... + +The officers felt the change. Willis Cox, still half sick from the +ordeal that had killed two of his men, took Brander into his boat. +Brander was only a year or two older than Willis, but he was vastly more +mature.... He knew men, and he knew the work of the ship; and Willis +liked him. He let Brander have his way with the other men, and his +liking for the newcomer led him to speak of it in the cabin, at supper +one night. "He's a good man," he said. "The men like him." + +Dan'l Tobey said pleasantly: "He's after your berth, Will. Best watch +him." + +Willis said honestly: "He knows more about the work than I do. I don't +blame him. But--he keeps where he belongs...." + +"He will ... till he sees his chance," Dan'l agreed. "Don't let him get +away from you." + +Old James Tichel grinned malignantly. "Nor don't let him get in my way, +Mr. Cox," he said, showing his teeth. "I do not like the cut of him." + +The mate looked at Cap'n Noll Wing; but Noll was eating, he seemed not +to have heard. Faith, at her husband's side, said nothing. So Mr. Ham +kept out of the discussion. Only he wondered--he was not a discerning +man--why Dan'l disliked the newcomer. Brander seemed to Mr. Ham to be a +lucky find; they had needed a man, they had found a first-rater. That +was his view of the matter. + +Brander's coming had worked like a leaven among the men. That was patent +to every one.... But this was not necessarily a good thing. A dominant +man in the fo'c's'le is, if the man be evil, a dangerous matter. The +officers rule their men by virtue of the fact that the men are not +united. Union among the men against the officers breeds mutiny.... Dan'l +said as much, now. + +"He'll get the men after him like sheep," he said angrily. "Then--look +out." + +"We can handle that," said Mr. Ham. + +Dan'l grinned. "Aye, that's what is always said--till it is too late to +handle them. The man ought to have been left on the beach, where he +belonged." + +Faith said quietly: "I spoke for him. It seems to me he does his work." + +Dan'l looked up quickly, a retort on his lips; but he remembered himself +in time. "I'm wrong," he said frankly. "Brander is a good man. No doubt +the whole matter will turn out all right...." + +Cap'n Wing, finishing his dinner, said fretfully: "There's too much talk +of this man. I'm sick of it. Keep an eye on him, Mr. Ham. If he looks +sidewise, clip him. But don't talk so much...." + +The mate nodded seriously. "I'll watch him, sir." + +Dan'l said: "I've no right to talk against him, sir. No doubt he's all +right." + +Noll shook his great head like a horse that is harassed by a fly. "I +tell you I want no more words about him, Mr. Tobey. Be still." He got +up and stalked into his cabin. Faith followed him. The officers, one by +one, went on deck. Willis, there, came to Dan'l. + +"You really think he means trouble, Mr. Tobey?" + +Dan'l smiled. "If he were in my boat, I'd keep an eye peeled," he said. + +Young Willis Cox set his jaw. "By God, I will that," he swore. + +Dan'l pointed forward; and Willis looked and saw Brander talking with +Mauger, the one-eyed man, by the lee rail. "Mark that," said Dan'l. +"They're a chummy pair, those two." + +Willis frowned. "That's queer, too," he said. "Mauger--he's not much of +a man. Why should Brander take up with him, anyhow?" + +Dan'l smiled, sidewise. "Does Mauger--Is Mauger the captain's man?" he +asked. + +"No. Hates him like death and hell." + +"And Brander plays up to him...." + +"Because Mauger hates the Old Man. Is that it?" Willis asked anxiously. + +"I'm saying no word," protested Dan'l Tobey. "See for yourself, Will." + + + + +X + + +Roy Kilcup was another who did not like Brander. This was in part a +consequence of his position on the _Sally_, in part the result of Dan'l +Tobey's skillful tongue. Dan'l saw the tendency in Roy, and capitalized +it. + +Roy lived in the cabin, where his duties as ship's boy kept him for most +of the time. It was true that in pay he ranked below the men, that he +was of small account in the general scheme of work aboard the whaler; +but he lived in the cabin, he was of the select, and to that extent he +was set apart from the men. Also, he was the brother of the captain's +wife, and that gave him prestige. + +There was no great harm in Roy, but he was at that age where boys +worship men, and not always the best men. Also, he was at what might be +called the cocky age. He felt that the fact of his living in the cabin +made him superior to the men who hived in the fo'c's'le; and this +feeling showed itself in his attitude toward them. He liked to order +them around.... They were for the most part willing to obey him in the +minor matters with which he concerned himself. + +Roy saw, as soon as any one, that Brander was a man above the average. +The day Brander was found on the island, he had gone ashore with Mr. +Tichel, and roved through the little native village, and returned to the +ship with the third mate before Faith appeared. Faith had suggested +that he go with her, but the boy scorned the notion of poking through +the woods.... He was thus back on the ship when Brander appeared.... But +he heard Dan'l Tobey object to the man, and he took his cue from Dan'l. +He disliked Brander. + +This dislike was accentuated by a small thing which happened in the +second week Brander was on the _Sally_. They had killed a whale and cut +it in; and because the weather was bad, it had been a task for all +hands. The men were tired; but after the job was done, the regular +watches were resumed.... Dan'l Tobey's watch, which included Brander, +took first turn at scrubbing up; and when they went off and the other +watch came on, Roy was forward, fishing over the bow. He saw the tired +men trooping forward and dropping into the fo'c's'le; and he hailed +Brander. + +"You, Brander," he called, in his shrill, boy's voice. "Get my other +line, from the starboard rail, under the boathouse. Look sharp, now!" + +Now Roy had no right in the world to give orders, except as a messenger +of authority, and Brander knew this. So Brander said amiably: "Sorry, +youngster. I'm tired. Your legs are spry as mine...." + +And he descended into the fo'c's'le with no further word, while Roy's +face blazed with humiliation, and the men who had heard laughed under +their breath. Some boys would have stormed, beaten out their strength in +futile efforts to compel Brander to do their bidding; Roy had cooler +blood in him. He fell abruptly silent; he went on with his fishing.... +But he did not forget.... + +He told Dan'l Tobey about it. Dan'l was his confidant, in this as in +other things. And Dan'l comforted him. + +"Best forget it, Roy," he said. "No good in going to the Old Man. The +man was right.... He didn't have to do it...." + +"There was no reason why he should be impertinent," Roy blazed. "He +holds himself too high." + +"Well, I'll not say he does not," Dan'l agreed. "Same time, it never +hurts to wait." And he added, a little uncomfortably, as though he were +unwilling to make the suggestion: "Besides, your sister shipped the man. +She'd have the say, in any trouble." + +"I guess not," Roy stoutly boasted. "I guess she's nothing but a woman. +I guess Noll Wing is the boss around here." + +"Sure," said Dan'l. "Sure. But--let's wait a bit." + +This pleased Roy; it had a mysteriously ominous sound. He waited; and he +fell into the way of watching Brander, spying on the man, keeping the +newcomer constantly under his eye. Brander marked this at once, smiled +good-humoredly.... + +Brander and Faith saw very little of each other in those days; they +exchanged no words whatever, save on one day when Brander had the wheel +and Faith nodded to him and bade him good morning. For the rest, the +convention of the deck kept Brander forward of the tryworks; and Faith +never went forward. But now and then their eyes met, across the length +of the _Sally_; and one night at the cutting in, she heard Brander +singing a chanty to inspire the men as they tugged at the capstan +bars.... He sang well, a clear voice and a true one. In the shadows of +the after deck, she listened thoughtfully. + +Dan'l came upon her there, when he paused for a moment in his work. He +saw her before she saw him, saw her face illumined by the light of the +flare in the rigging above the tryworks. And for a moment he stood, +watching; and the man's lip twisted.... + +That moment was a turning point in Dan'l Tobey's life. Before, there had +been a measure of good in the man; he had loved Faith well and +decently.... His capacity for mischief had been curbed. But in those +seconds while he studied Faith's countenance as she listened to +Brander's singing, he saw something that curdled the venom in the man. +When he stepped nearer, and she heard him, he was a different Dan'l.... +The stocky, round-faced, freckled, sandy young man had become a power +for evil.... He was to use this power thenceforward without scruple.... + +Faith smiled at him; he said pleasantly: "The man sings well." + +"Yes," Faith agreed. "I like it." + +Then Dan'l turned back to his tasks, and Faith slipped down into the +cabin where Noll was, and offered to read aloud to her husband. Noll +sleepily agreed; he went to sleep, presently, while she read. When she +saw he was asleep, she dropped her book in her lap and studied the +sleeping man; and suddenly her eyes filled, so that she went down on +her knees beside him, and laid her arms gently about his shoulders, and +whispered pleadingly: + +"Oh, Noll, Noll...." + + * * * * * + +Roy Kilcup, coming up from the cabin one day, saw Dan'l Tobey strike a +man. He saw this at the moment his head rose above the companion. Dan'l +and the man were amidships, and Dan'l cuffed him and drove him forward. + +Dan'l was not given to blows; he seldom needed to use them. So Roy was +curious. He went forward along the deck, and touched Dan'l's elbow, and +pointed after the cuffed man and asked huskily: + +"What's the matter? What did he do?" + +Dan'l had not seen Roy coming. He took a moment to think before he +answered; then he said in a fashion that indicated his unwillingness to +tell the truth: + +"Oh--nothing. He was spitting on the deck." + +Now a whaler is, when she is doing her work, a dirty craft; she is never +overly clean at best. But it is never permitted, on a ship that pretends +to decency, to spit upon the deck. Any man who did that on the _Sally_ +would have been punished with the utmost rigor; and Roy knew this as +well as Dan'l. And Dan'l knew that Roy knew. Roy grinned youthfully, +protested: + +"Oh, say, what's the secret about? What did he do?" + +Dan'l smiled in a way that admitted his misstatement; he shook his head. +"Nothing," he said. + +Roy looked angry. "Keep it to yourself if you want to." He had known +Dan'l all his life, and had no awe of him. "Don't tell if you don't want +to. If it's a secret, I guess I can keep still about it as well as any +one." + +Dan'l looked sorrowful. "Just forget it, Roy," he said. "It doesn't +matter." + +Roy flamed at him. "All right.... Keep it to yourself." + +And Dan'l yielded reluctantly. "Well, if you've got to know," he said, +"I'll tell you.... He was laughing at Brander's story of why Faith +brought him aboard the ship here." + +Roy's cheeks began to burn. "Brander.... What did Brander say?" + +Dan'l shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't hear. He wasn't here at +the time. Probably didn't say anything. Probably the men just made it +up. The fo'c's'le is a dirty place, you know, Roy. Dirty men.... And +dirty talk...." + +Roy said hotly: "By God, I won't have them talking about my sister...." + +"I felt the same way," Dan'l agreed. "But--you can't do anything." + +"What did Brander say? The sneak...." + +"I don't know that he said anything," Dan'l insisted. "Probably not. I +just heard this man snickering, and telling two others something.... +Heard him name Brander, and your sister.... So I struck in. The others +were just listening. They got out of the way. I asked this man what he +said; and he wouldn't tell me, so I hit him a clip and told him to keep +his tongue still...." + +Roy whirled to look forward. The deck was all but empty, but Brander and +another man were by the knight's heads, talking casually together. Roy +said under his breath: "I'm going to...." + +Dan'l caught his arm. "Wait...." + +Roy shook loose. "No. This is my family affair, Dan'l. Let me alone...." +He started forward. Dan'l hesitated; then he drew back, turned aft, +stopped, watched.... He took a malicious pleasure in seeing what would +happen. + +Brander had seen Roy coming; he was watching the boy, and smiling a +little. The other man's back was turned. Roy strode forward, head up, +eyes blazing; he kept on till he was face to face with Brander; he +stopped, and his hands trembled. + +"You, Brander," he said thickly. "You keep your tongue off my...." + +Brander moved like a flash of light. He swung Roy to him, swung the boy +around, pinned his arms with one of his own, clapped his hand over Roy's +mouth.... He lifted the boy easily and carried him, thus pinned and +gagged, aft as far as the tryworks. The other man stared in +astonishment; Dan'l took a step nearer the two. The others were out of +easy hearing when Brander stopped. Still holding Roy's mouth he said +quietly: + +"Don't lose your head, youngster. You'll only do harm. Speak quietly. +What do you want to say?" + +He released Roy and stepped back; and again Roy showed that he was more +than a boy. He did not spring at Brander; he did not curse; he did not +weep. He stood, straight as a wire, and his eyes were blazing. His +voice, when he found it, was husky and low, so that none but Brander +could hear. + +"I don't know what you're saying about my sister," said Roy. "Whatever +it is, it's not true. If you say it again, I'll kill you." + +Brander's eyes shadowed unhappily. He asked: "Why do you think I have +said anything?" + +"No matter," said Roy harshly. "I know. Keep your tongue between your +lips, or I'll shoot you like a yellow dog. That's all...." + +He swung abruptly, and went aft so quickly that Brander made no move to +stop him. Dan'l came quietly across the waist of the ship as Brander +took a step after Roy. "Get forward, Brander," he said. + +Brander nodded pleasantly; he said: "Yes, sir." + +And he went back to the forward deck, his eyes troubled. He fought, that +afternoon, with one of the hands, and whipped the man soundly. Dan'l +Tobey reported this in the cabin that evening; and Mr. Ham frowned and +said: + +"He'd best learn we'll do all the fist work that's done aboard here." + +Dan'l smiled. "He was an officer once," he reminded the mate. "It's a +habit hard to break." + +Big Noll was there; he seemed not to listen. His attitude toward the new +man was still in doubt. Dan'l Tobey was wondering about it; and so was +Faith. It was to be decided, two days later, in a fashion peculiarly +dramatic. + +Mauger, the one-eyed man, had an increasing hold on the imagination of +Noll Wing. The captain encountered the other wherever he went; and he +never encountered Mauger without an uneasy feeling that was half dread, +half remorse. He could not bear to look at Mauger's face, with the +dreadful hollow covered by the twitching lid; and Mauger sensed this and +put himself in the captain's path whenever he had the opportunity. Noll +wished he could be rid of the one-eyed man; and in his moments of rage, +he thought murderously of Mauger. But for the most part, he feared and +dreaded the other, and shivered at the little man's malicious and +incessant chuckling. + +Again and again he spoke to Faith of Mauger, voicing his fear, wishing +that she might reassure him; till Faith wearied of it, and would say no +more. He spoke of his dread to Mr. Ham, who thought he was joking and +laughed at him harshly. Mr. Ham lacked imagination. + +Brander, as has been said, was friendly with Mauger. He was sorry for +the little man; and he found in Mauger a singularly persistent spirit of +cheer which he liked. He was, for that matter, a friend of all the men +in the fo'c's'le, but because Mauger was marked by the cabin, his +friendship for Mauger was more frequently noted. Dan'l had seen it, had +pointed it out to Willis Cox.... + +Cap'n Wing came on deck one afternoon, a few minutes before the masthead +man sighted a pod of whales to the southward. The captain was more +cheerful than he had been for days; he was filled with something like +the vigor of his more youthful days. There was a joyful turbulence in +him, like the exuberance of an athlete.... He stamped the deck, striding +back and forth.... + +When the whales were sighted, the men sprang to the boats. Mauger, +since Willis Cox's tragic experience, had been put in the fourth mate's +boat with Brander, to fill the empty places there. Brander and Mauger +were side by side in their positions as they prepared the boat for +lowering. But the whales were still well away, the _Sally_ could cruise +nearer them, and Noll Wing did not at once give the signal to lower. He +stalked along the deck.... + +As he passed where Mauger stood, he marked that the line in the after +tub was out of coil a little. That might mean danger, when the whale was +struck and the line whistled like a snake as it ran. Noll Wing stopped +and swore sulphurously and bade Mr. Cox put his boat in order. Willis +snapped: "Mauger, stow that line." + +Mauger reached for the tub, but his single eye had not yet learned +accurately to judge distance; he fumbled; and Brander, at his side, saw +his fumbling, and reached out and coiled the line with a single +motion.... + +Noll Wing saw; and he barked: + +"Brander!" + +Brander looked around. "Yes, sir." + +"When a man can't do his own work here, we don't want him. Keep your +hands off Mauger's tasks." + +Brander said respectfully: "I helped him without thinking, sir. Thought +the thing was to do the work, no matter who...." + +Noll Wing stepped toward him; and his eyes were blazing, not so much +with anger as with sheer exuberance of strength. He roared: "Don't talk +back to me, you...." + +And struck. + +Now Noll Wing was proud of his fists, and proud of his eye; and for +fifteen years he had not failed to down his man with a single blow. But +when he struck at Brander, a curious thing happened.... + +Brander's head moved a little to one side, his shoulders shifted.... And +Noll's big fist shot over Brander's right shoulder. The captain's weight +threw him forward; Brander stepped under Noll's arm. The two men met, +face to face, their eyes not six inches apart. Noll's were blazing +ferociously; but in Brander's a blue light flickered and played.... + +The men waited, not breathing; the officers stepped a little nearer. +Dan'l Tobey licked his lips. This would be the end of Brander.... It was +not etiquette to dodge the Old Man's blows.... + +But, amazingly, after seconds of silence, Noll Wing's grim face relaxed; +he chuckled.... He laughed aloud, and clapped Brander on the shoulder. +"Good man.... Good man!" + +Mr. Ham called: "We'll gally the sparm...." + +And Noll turned, and waved his hand. "Right," he said. "Lower away, +boats...." + +The lean craft struck the water, the men dropped in, the chase was on. + + + + +XI + + +When the boats left the _Sally_, Mr. Ham's in the lead as of right, +Faith came from the after deck to where Noll stood by the rail and +touched his arm. He turned and looked down at her.... He was already +regretting what had happened. His recognition of Brander's courage had +been the last flame of nobility from the man's soul; he was to go down, +thereafter, into lower and lower depths.... He was already regretful and +ashamed.... + +Faith touched his arm; he looked down and saw pride and happiness in her +eyes; and with the curious lack of logic of the male, he was the more +ashamed of what he had done because she was proud of him for it. She +said softly: + +"That was fine, Noll." + +"Fine--hell!" he said hoarsely. "I ought to have smashed him." + +Faith smiled; she shook her head.... Her hand rested on his arm; and as +he turned to look after the departing boats, she leaned a little against +him. He mumbled: "Fool.... That's what I was. I ought to have smashed +him. Now he--every man aboard--they'll think they can pull it on me...." +His big fists clenched. "By God, I'll show 'em. I'll string him up for a +licking, time he gets back." + +"I was--very proud," she said. "If you had struck him, I should have +been ashamed." + +"That's the woman of it," he jeered. "Damn it, Faith; you can't run a +whaler with kisses...." + +She studied his countenance. He was flushed, nervous, his lips +moving.... He took off his cap to wipe his forehead; and his bald head +and his gray hair and the slack muscles of his cheeks reminded her again +that he was an old, an aging man.... She felt infinitely sorry for him; +she patted his arm comfortingly. + +He shook her off. "Yes, by God," he swore. "When he gets back, I'll tie +him up and give him the rope.... Show the dog...." + +Roy had come up behind them; neither had heard him. The boy cried: +"That's right, sir. The man thinks he's running the _Sally_, sir. You've +got to handle him." + +Faith said: "Roy, be still." + +He flamed at her: "You don't know what you're talking about, Sis. You're +just a girl." + +Noll said impatiently: "Don't have one of your rows, now. I'm sick of +'em. Roy, go down in the cabin and stay there...." + +"I can't see the boats from there," the boy complained. Noll turned on +him; and Roy backed away and disappeared. Noll watched the boats, +dwindling into specks across the sea.... Beyond he could see, now and +then, the white spouts of the whales. Once a great fluke was lazily +upreared.... Faith watched beside him. + + * * * * * + +Whether, in the normal course of things, Noll would have carried out +his threat to whip Brander cannot be known. Chance, the dark chance of +the whale-fisheries, intervened. + +Tragedy always hangs above a whaling vessel. This must be so when six +men in a puny boat with slivers of iron and steel go out to slay a +creature with the strength of six hundred men. When matters go well, +they strike their whale, the harpoon makes him fast, he runs out his +strength, they haul alongside and prod him with the lance, he dies.... +But there are so many ways in which matters may go wrong. The sea is +herself a treacherous hussy, when she consorts with the wind, and +becomes drunk with his caresses. Under his touch she swells and breaks +tempestuously; she writhes and flings herself about.... Her least wave +can, if it chooses, smash the thin sides of a whaleboat and rob the men +in it of their strength and shelter; her gentlest tussle with her +consort wind can overwhelm them.... + +And if the sea be merciful, there remain her creatures. She is the wide, +blue pasture of the whale; a touch of his flukes, a crunch of his jaw, a +roll of his great bulk is enough to crush out the lives of a score of +men. If he had wit to match his size, he would be invulnerable; as it +is, men with their wits for weapons can strike and kill him in the +waters that are his own. It is rare to encounter a fighting whale, a +creature that deliberately sets itself to destroy the attacking boats; +the tragedies of the whale-fisheries are more often mere incidents, +slight mischances, matters of small importance to the whale.... + +A little, little thing and men die. + +This day, the day when Brander faced Noll Wing and went unscathed, was +bright and fair, with a gentle turbulent wind, and a dancing sea. It was +warm upon the waters; the sun burned down upon them and its glare and +its heat were reflected from them.... The skin of men's faces was +scorched by it. The men, tugging at the oars in the boats, sweated and +strove; the perspiration streamed down their cheeks, trickled along the +straining cords of their necks, slid down their broad chests.... Their +shirts clung to them wetly; they welcomed the flying spray that lashed +them now and then. + +The pod of whales was perhaps five miles from the _Sally_ when the boats +were lowered; but the wind was favoring, and its pressure upon the sail +helped them on for a space. When half the distance was covered, the oars +were discarded as the boats swung around with the wind almost dead +astern, and headed straight for the whales' lay. Before they reached the +basking, sporting creatures, the whales sounded; and it was necessary +for the men to lie upon their oars and wait for a full half hour before +the first spout showed the cachalots were back from their browsing in +the ocean caves below. The boats swung around and headed toward them, +sails pulling.... + +Mr. Ham's boat was in the lead; for that is the right of the mate. The +others were closely bunched behind him; and as they drew near the pod, +they separated somewhat, so that each might strike a whale. Dan'l Tobey +went southward, where a lone bull lay with the waves breaking over his +black bulk. Willis Cox and Tichel swung to the north of the mate, into +the thick of the pod. + +The mate marked down his whale; a fat cow that would yield full seventy +barrels. He was steering; Silva, the harpooner, stood in the bow, knee +braced, ready with his irons. The men amidships prepared to bring down +mast and sail at the word, and stow them safely away so that they might +not hinder the battle that would come. The boat drove smoothly on.... +Mr. Ham, looking north and south, saw that the others were drawing up +abreast of him, so that they would strike the whales at about the same +time. He thought comfortably that with a little luck they would kill two +whales, or perhaps three. That each boat should kill was too much to be +hoped for. + +Then he gave his attention to his own prey. They slipped up on the +basking cow from almost dead astern, slid alongside her; and Mr. Ham +swung hard on the steering oar. The boat came into the wind; he +bellowed: + +"Now, Silva; give her iron." + +The harpooner moved quick as light, for all the power of the thrust he +put behind his stroke. He sank his first iron; snatched his second, +drove it home as the whale stirred.... Threw overboard the loose line +coiled forward.... The whale ran. + +The sail came fluttering down, mast and all; and the four men amidships +rolled it awkwardly, stowed it along the gunwale.... Silva and the mate, +at the same time, were changing places in the boat. Silva, the +harpooning done, would now come into his proper function as +boat-steerer. It is the task of the mates to kill the whales. The boat, +half smothered in canvas, with Silva and Mr. Ham passing from end to +end, and the whale line already running out through the chock in the +bow, was a picture of confusion thrice confounded. + +In this confusion, anything was possible; anything might happen. What +did happen was humiliating and ridiculous. + +When Silva struck home the harpoons, he flung overboard a length of line +coiled by his knee. This slack line would allow the whale to run free +while the sail was coming down and he and the mate were changing places. +He threw it overboard--and failed to mark that one loop of it caught on +the point of one of the spare irons in the rack with the lances, at the +bow. He leaped for the stern, groped past Mr. Ham amidships.... + +The whale was running. As Mr. Ham reached the bow, the line drew taut. +That loop which had caught across the point of the harpoon was +straightened like a flash. + +Now a harpoon is shaped, not like an arrow, but like a slanting blade. +It has a single barb; and the forward side of this barb is razor-sharp. +This razor edge cuts into the blubber and flesh; then the shank of the +barb grips and holds. But the edge that will cut blubber will also cut +hemp.... + +The loop of whale line was dragged firmly back along this three-inch +blade; it cut through as though a knife had done the trick, and the +whale was gone with two irons and thirty fathoms of line. Mr. Ham and +his boat bobbed placidly upon the water; and Mr. Ham looked, saw what +had happened, and spoke sulphurously. Then looked about to see what +might be done. + +It was too late to think of getting fast to another whale. The pod was +gallied; the great creatures were fleeing. After them went James Tichel +in his boat, the spray sluicing up from her bows. Tichel was fast; the +whale was running with him.... Mr. Ham looked from Tichel for the other +boats. He saw Dan'l Tobey in distress. A whale had risen gently under +them, opening the seams of their craft; and they were half full of water +and sinking. They had cut. + +Willis Cox had hold of a whale; and this one had sounded. Ham saw Willis +in the bow, watching the line that went straight down from the chock +into the water. This line was running out like a whip-lash, though +Willis put on it all the strain it would bear without dragging the +boat's bow under. It ran down and down.... + +Mr. Ham rowed across; and Willis called to him: "Big fellow. But he's +taken one tub." + +"Give him to me," Mr. Ham said. + +Willis shook his head. "I'd like to handle him. Get me the line from Mr. +Tobey's boat. He's mine." + +Mr. Ham grinned. "All right; if you're minded to work...." He swung +quickly to where Dan'l and his men floated to their waists in water, the +boat under them. "Takin' a swim?" he asked, grinning. + +Dan'l nodded. "Just that. You cut, I see. Why was that, now?" + +Mr. Ham stopped grinning and looked angry. "Pass over your tubs," he +ordered; and Dan'l's men obeyed. Mr. Ham took the fresh line to +Willis.... + +He was no more than just in time. "The black devil's still going," +Willis said. "Second tub's all but gone...." + +"Bound for hell, more'n like," Mr. Ham agreed. "Hold him." + +Dan'l's line was running out by this time; for Willis had worked +quickly.... And still the whale went down.... Mr. Ham stood by, +waiting.... The line ran out steadily; the whale showed no signs of +rising. The bow of Willis's boat was held down within inches of the +water by the strain he kept upon the line. One tub was emptied; he began +to look anxious.... And the whale kept going down. + +Mr. Ham said abruptly: "There.... Pass over your line. He'll be gone on +you, first you know." + +Willis looked at the smoking line.... And reluctantly, he surrendered. +With no more than seconds to spare, the end of his line was made fast to +the cut end of Mr. Ham's, and the whale continued to go down. He had +taken all the line of two boats--and wanted more. + +"He's hungry," Mr. Ham grinned, watching the running rope. "Gone down +for supper, likely." + +And a moment later, his eyes lighting: + +"There.... Getting tired.... Or struck bottom, maybe." + +They could all see that the line had slackened. The bow of Mr. Ham's +boat rode at a normal level; the line hung loose. And the mate turned +around and bellowed to his men: + +"Haul in." + +They began to take in the line, hand over hand; it fell in a wide coil +amidships, overlapping the sides, spreading.... A coil that grew and +grew. They worked like mad.... The only way to kill a whale is to pull +up on him until your boat rides against his very flank. All the line +this creature had stolen must be recovered, before he could be slain.... +They toiled with racing hands.... + +Mr. Ham began to look anxiously over the bow, down into the blue water +from which the line came up. "He's near due," he said. + +It is one of the curious and fatal habits of a sounding whale to rise +near the spot where he went down. It is as though the creatures followed +a well-known path into the depths and up again. This is not always true; +often a whale that has sounded will take it into his mind to run, will +set off at a double-pace. But in most cases, the whale comes up near +where he disappeared.... The men knew this. Dan'l Tobey, in his sinking +boat, worked away from the neighborhood to give the mate room. So did +Willis. And Mr. Ham, leaning one knee on the bow, peering down into the +water, his lance ready in his hand, waited for the whale to rise.... + +The line came in.... The nerves of each man tautened.... Mr. Ham said, +over his shoulder: "Silva, you coil t'line. Rest of you get in your +oars. Hold ready...." + +He heard the men obey, knew they were ready to maneuver at his +command.... The whale was coming up slowly; the line was still slack, +but the creature should have breached long before.... + +The mate thought he detected a light pull on the line; it seemed to draw +backward, underneath the boat; and he said softly: + +"Pull her around." + +The oars dipped; the boat swung slowly on a pivot.... The line now ran +straight down.... + +Abruptly, Mr. Ham, bending above the water, thought he saw a black bulk +far down and down.... A bulk that seemed to rise.... He watched.... + +It was ahead of the boat; it became more plainly visible.... He waved +his hand, pointing: "There ..." he said. "There...." + +Deep in the water, that black bulk swiftly moved; it darted to one side, +circling, rising.... Mr. Ham saw a flash of white, a huge black head, a +sword-like, saw-toothed jaw.... The big man towered; he flung his left +hand up and back in a tremendous gesture. + +"Starn.... Oh, starn all!" he cried. + +The oars bent like bows under the fierce thrust of the men as they +backed water.... The boat slid back.... But not in time.... + +Willis Cox, and the men in his boat, saw the long, narrow under jaw of +the cachalot--a dozen feet long, with the curving teeth of a tiger set +along it--slide up from the water, above the bow of the boat. The bow +lifted as the whale's upper jaw, toothless, rose under it.... The +creature was on its back, biting.... The boat rolled sidewise, the men +were tumbling out.... + +But that narrow jaw sheared down resistlessly. Through the stout sides +of the boat, crumpling and splintering ribs and planking.... Through +the boat.... And clamped shut as the jaws closed across the thick body +of the mate.... They saw the mate's body swell as a toy balloon swells +under a child's foot.... Then horribly it relaxed and fell away and was +lost in a smother of bloody foam.... + + * * * * * + +Loum, Willis's boat-steerer, swung them alongside the rolling whale. It +was Brander who caught a loop of the loose line; and while the creature +lay quietly, apparently content with what it had done, they hauled +close, and Willis--the boy's face was white, but his hand was +steady--drove home his lance, and drew it forth, and plunged it in, +again and yet again.... + +The whale seemed to have exhausted its strength. Having killed, it died +easily enough. Spout crimsoned, flukes beat in a last flurry, then the +great black bulk was still.... + +They picked up the men who had been spilled from the mate's boat. Not a +man hurt, of them all, save only Mr. Ham. + +Him they never found; no part of him. The sea took him. No doubt, Faith +thought that night, he would have wished his rough life thus to end. + + + + +XII + + +Mr. Ham was dead and gone. Faith was surprised to find, in the next few +days, how much she missed him. The mate had been harsh, brutal to the +men, ready with his fist.... Yet somehow she found in her heart a deep +affection for the man. He was so amiably stupid, so stupidly good of +heart. His philosophy of life had been the philosophy of blows; he +believed men, like children, were best ruled for their own good by the +heavy hand of a master. And he acted on that belief, with the best will +in the world. But there had never been any malice in his blows; he +frowned and glared and struck from principle; he was at heart a simple +man, and a gentle one.... Not the stuff of a leader; never the man to +take command of a masterless ship. Nevertheless, a man of a certain rude +and simple strength of soul.... + +Faith was sorry he was gone; she felt they could have better spared +another man.... Almost any other, save Noll Wing. + +She did not at once perceive the true nature of the change which Mr. +Ham's death must bring about aboard the _Sally_. In the balancing of man +and man which had made for a precarious stability there, Mr. Ham had +taken a passive, but nevertheless important part. Now he was gone; the +balance was disturbed. But neither Faith nor the others at once +perceived this; none of them saw that Dan'l Tobey as second mate, and +Dan'l Tobey as first mate, with only a step between him and the command, +were very different matters.... Not even Dan'l, in the beginning.... + +They were all too busy, for one thing; there were the whales to be cut +in--for James Tichel had killed and towed his booty back to the _Sally_ +an hour after Mr. Ham died. Tichel's whale, and the one that had killed +Mr. Ham, would give the whole ship work for days; feverish work, hard +and engrossing. Cap'n Wing, who had leaned upon Mr. Ham in the past, +perforce took charge of this work, and the strain of it wearied him. He +no longer had the abounding vitality which it demanded.... It wearied +him; and what with the death of the mate, and the rush of this work and +his own weariness, he altogether forgot his threat to have the man, +Brander, whipped in the rigging. He forgot Brander, tried to drive the +men at their tasks, and eventually gave up in a stormy outbreak of +impatience and left the matter in the hands of Dan'l Tobey. + +Dan'l went about the business of cutting in and boiling the blubber in a +deep abstraction; he was considering the problem raised by the death of +Mr. Ham, which none of the others--save, perhaps, Faith--had yet +perceived. + +This problem was simple; yet it had possibilities of trouble. Mr. Ham +was gone; Dan'l automatically became first officer; old James Tichel +ranked as second, Willis as third.... But the place of fourth mate was +left empty.... It would have to be filled. The _Sally_ could not go on +about her business with one boat's crew forever idle. There would have +to be a new officer. + +Dan'l was troubled by the problem, for the obvious reason that Brander +was the only man aboard with an officer's training; that Brander was the +obvious choice. Dan'l did not want Brander in the cabin; he had seen too +much in Faith's eyes that night when she heard Brander sing by the +capstan.... He had eyes to see, and he had seen. And there was boiling +in Dan'l a storm of hatred for Brander. He was filled with a rancor +unspeakable.... + +No one spoke of this necessity for choosing another officer until the +last bit of blubber from the two whales had been boiled; the last drop +of oil stowed in the casks; the last fleck of soot scoured from the +decks. Then it was old Tichel who opened the matter. It was at dinner in +the cabin that he spoke. Cap'n Wing was there, and Faith, and Dan'l, and +Roy. Willis Cox was on deck; Mr. Ham's chair was vacant. Old Tichel +looked at it, and he looked at Noll Wing, and he said: + +"Who's to set there, cap'n?" He pointed toward the empty chair as he +spoke. It was at Cap'n Wing's right hand, where Mr. Ham had been +accustomed to sit. Dan'l Tobey had not yet preëmpted it. Dan'l was +always a discreet man. + +Cap'n Wing looked across at Tichel. "Mr. Tobey, o' course," he said. + +Tichel nodded. "Natural. I mean--who's goin' to be the new officer? Or +don't you figure to hev one?" + +Noll had been drinking that day; he was befuddled; his brain was thick. +He waved one of his big hands from side to side as though to brush +Tichel away. "Leave it to me," he said harshly. "I don't call for any +pointers, Mr. Tichel. Leave it to me...." + +James Tichel nodded again; he got up and wiped his mouth with the back +of his hand and went on deck.... Dan'l and Roy, Faith and Noll Wing, +were left together. Dan'l wondered whether it was time for him to speak; +he studied Noll's lowered countenance, decided to hold his tongue.... He +followed Tichel to the deck. + +Noll said nothing of the matter all that day. At night, when they were +going to bed, Faith asked him: "Who have you decided to promote to be an +officer, Noll?" + +He said harshly: "You heard what I told Tichel? Leave it to me." + +"Of course," she agreed. "I just wanted to know. Of course...." She +hesitated, seemed about to speak, then held her peace. Brander was the +only man aboard who had the training; Noll must see that, give him time. + +Faith wanted to see Brander in the cabin. She admitted this to herself, +quite frankly; she did not even ask whether there was anything shameful +in this desire of hers. She knew there was not.... The girl had come to +have an almost reverential regard for the welfare of the _Sally_; for +the prosperity of the cruise. It was her husband's charge; the +responsibility lay on him. She wanted matters to go well; she wanted +Noll to keep unstained his ancient record.... Brander, she knew, would +help him. Brander was a man, an able officer, skillful and courageous; a +good man to have at one's back in any battle.... She was beginning to +see that Noll would need a friend before this cruise was done; she +wanted Brander on Noll's side. + +It may be that there was mingled with this desire a wish that Brander +might have the place that was due him; but there was nothing in her +thoughts of the man that Noll might not have known. + +She watched Noll, next day; and more than once she caught him watching +where Brander aided with some routine task, or talked with the men. +There was trouble in Noll's eyes; and because she had come to understand +her husband very fully, Faith could guess this trouble. Noll was torn +between respect for Brander, and fear of him.... + +Brander, that day of Mr. Ham's death, had faced Noll unafraid; Noll knew +he was no coward. But by the same token, he had sworn to have Brander +whipped, and had not done so. He recognized the strength and courage in +the man; and at the same time he hated Brander as we hate those we have +wronged. Brander was not afraid of Noll; and for that reason, if for no +other, Noll was afraid of Brander. In the old days, when he walked in +his strength, Noll Wing had feared no man, had asked no man's fear. His +own fist had sufficed him. But now, when his heart was growing old in +his breast, he was the lone wolf.... He must inspire fear, or be himself +afraid.... He was afraid of Brander. + +Afraid of Brander.... But Noll was no fool. No man who is a fool can +long master other men as Noll had mastered them. He set himself to +consider the matter of Brander, and decide what was to be done. + +That night, when dark had fallen, and the _Sally Sims_ was idling on a +slowly stirring sea, Noll called the mates into the cabin. Faith and Roy +were on deck together; and Roy, with a boy's curiosity, stole to the top +of the cabin companion to listen to what passed. Faith paid him little +attention; she was astern, watching the phosphorescent sparks that +glowed and vanished in the disturbed water on the _Sally's_ wake. The +whaler was scarce moving at all; there was no foam on the water behind +her; but the little swirls and eddies were outlined in fire.... + +Noll looked around the table at the other mates; and he said heavily: + +"We've got to have a new officer." + +They knew that as well as he; the statement called for no reply. Only +Dan'l Tobey said: "Yes, sir.... And a man we know, and can count on." + +Noll raised his big head and looked at Dan'l bleakly. "Mr. Tobey," he +said, "you know the men. Who is there that measures up to our wants, +d'you think?" + +Dan'l started to speak; then he hesitated, changed his mind.... Said at +last: "I'm senior officer here, sir. But--I've not the experience that +Mr. Tichel has, for instance. Perhaps he has some one in mind." + +Noll nodded. "All right, Mr. Tichel. If you have, say out." + +James Tichel grinned faintly. "I have. But you'll not mind me, so no +matter." + +"Out with it, any fashion," Noll insisted. + +"Silva, then," said Tichel. "Silva!" He looked from one of them to +another. Noll's face was set in opposition; Dan'l's was neutral; Willis +Cox was obviously amazed. "Silva," said old Tichel, for the third time. +"He's a Portugee.... All right. But he's a good man; he knows the boat; +he's worked with Mr. Ham. And he can take the boat and make a harpooner +out of one or the other of two men in her...." He stopped, unused to +such an outbreak. "That's my say, leastwise," he finished. + +For a moment, no one spoke. Then Noll looked toward Dan'l again. "Now, +Mr. Tobey," he said. + +Dan'l leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I've nothing +against Silva," he said quietly. "He's a good man. The best man in the +crew, I'm thinking.... But.... + +"The man I have in mind is Roy Kilcup. No less." + +Noll's eyes widened; and old Tichel snapped: "He's never been in a +boat." + +"I know the boy," Dan'l insisted. "I'll undertake to teach him all he +needs know in a week. He knows boats; he has guts and heart.... All he +needs to know is whales...." + +"Aye," said Willis Cox scornfully. "Aye, that's all. But who does know +them?" + +Dan'l smiled. "You might well enough ask, Mr. Cox." + +Willis flushed painfully. "He's just a kid," he protested. + +"You were almost three months older when you struck your first whale, if +I mind right," said Dan'l pleasantly. + +Big Noll Wing interrupted harshly: "That's enough. Silva and Roy. Who +would you have, Mr. Cox?" + +"Only one man aboard," said Willis. + +"That's who.... I've no mind for conundrums." + +"Brander," said Cox. "Brander!" + +Noll seemed to slump a little in his chair; he smiled wearily. Dan'l +Tobey thought the captain had never looked so old. His big fist on the +table moved a little from side to side, then was still. In the silence, +they all heard the voice of Roy Kilcup, from the deck above, crying to +Faith in a trembling whisper: + +"Dan'l wants to make me mate, Sis! He wants to make me mate...." + +His voice was so tremulous, so obviously the voice of a boy, that every +man of them save Dan'l Tobey smiled. Noll said slowly: "He's over +youthful yet, Dan'l. Teach him the trade.... Happen, some day, we'll +see...." + +Dan'l was betrayed by anger into indiscretion. "Over youthful, that may +be," he exclaimed. "But not a Portugee; and not a beach comber...." + +Noll held up his big hand, silencing Dan'l. And he looked from man to +man; and he said slowly, as an old man speaks: "I've no liking for +Brander. He dared me to my face, t'other day. But there's this.... + +"He holds the crew. They like him. And he's a man; and he knows the job; +and he does not know how to be afraid. Also, he has a right to the +place. If we don't give it to him, he might well enough make a bit +trouble for us. Leastwise, that's the seeming of it to me...." + +Dan'l said harshly: "I never heard that Noll Wing feared any man." + +Noll smiled. "Age brings wisdom, Dan'l. I'm learning to fear.... So...." + + * * * * * + +Dan'l Tobey found Brander on the fore deck, ten minutes later. Brander +was smoking, with two of the men. Dan'l touched his shoulder; Brander +stepped aside. The two men faced each other in the darkness for a +moment; and it was as though an electric spark of hostility passed +between them. Their eyes clashed.... + +Then Dan'l said pleasantly: "Get your traps and come aft to the cabin, +Brander." + +Brander chuckled softly; he tapped out his pipe in his palm and tossed +the glowing ember over the rail. "Thank you, Mr. Tobey," he said. "I'm +pleased to accept your kind invitation." + +There was a mocking light in his eye that Dan'l, even in the dark, could +see. Another man might have struck; but Dan'l was never one for blows. +He turned on his heel and went aft; and Brander dropped into the +fo'c's'le to collect his belongings. + + + + +XIII + + +Thus Brander came into the cabin. He and Willis Cox shared a small +compartment off the main cabin; while Dan'l and tigerish old Tichel +shared another. The four mates, Roy, Noll Wing, and Faith all lived in a +space not much more than twenty-five feet square. This intimacy that +could not be escaped served to intensify the clash of man and man. +Brander and Dan'l Tobey became, within the week, open and avowed +enemies. + +They made no great show of their enmity, but each understood. Dan'l, by +virtue of his position as mate, gradually gathered into his own hands +the authority that old Noll Wing was letting slip; he assumed many of +the small prerogatives of the captain; and he took advantage of his +strength to give Brander irksome tasks, to make his work unnecessarily +hard. Noll saw nothing. He had fallen into something like a stupor; he +was rotting at the heart, like a great log that lies prone in the +forest. He played with his authority; he had days when he liked to fancy +that he was the Noll of old; but most of the time he spent in the cabin +below, sleeping, or perhaps drinking, or reading the Bible and +maundering over his own past sins. A wholesome interest in the Bible is +a good thing for any man; but Noll's interest was not wholesome. He was +morbidly absorbed in the Book; he read it and mourned to think how +wicked he had been. He complained to Faith as though she were to blame +for his ancient crimes. + +It came to pass that he flooded Faith, little by little, with the +details of his own misdemeanors. His own orgy of self-depreciation led +him to decide that he was not worthy of her; he told her so; and when +Faith sought to hearten him, the man--to prove his point--recited the +tale of the hot blood of his youth. He told her the women he had known, +so that Faith was sickened; and he begged her to forgive him, and she +did. She forgave without rancor.... It was characteristic of Faith that +she held no anger against Noll because he was not what she thought him. +She had married him, eyes open.... He was her husband; she was his. She +set herself to serve him, to protect him against himself, with all the +loyalty that was in her. And more than all, she set herself to uphold +Noll as the master of his ship. He must bring the _Sally_ home with +bursting casks; that was Faith's creed and prayer. He must fight the +good fight; he must meet his responsibility; he must be master.... + +She worked to this end unceasingly; and on the whole her efforts were +without avail. Noll steadily degenerated.... His strength fled from him. + +Faith was so concerned with Noll that she gave little heed to the +hostility between Dan'l Tobey and Brander. These two fought their fight +without her interference. And this struggle between them was a curious +thing. On Dan'l's side, it was a constant and persistent effort to +harass Brander and discredit him; on Brander's side, it was a +good-natured opposition to this effort. When Dan'l gave Brander two +men's work to do, Brander smiled--and did it. When Dan'l blamed Brander +for what was another's fault, or no fault of any man, Brander silently +and cheerfully took the blame. Now and then he looked at Dan'l with a +blue flash of anger in his eyes; but for the most part he was +good-humored; he seemed amused by Dan'l, nothing more. + +Dan'l chose, one day, to take Brander to task at dinner in the cabin. +Noll and Faith were there, and the four mates. Brander, as was his duty, +came down last; he sat at the foot of the board. The _Sally_ was +cruising idly, watching for a spout. Brander and Willis Cox had been on +deck before dinner. There was little for either of them to do, save +watch for any chance of harm, or wait for word of a whale. + +When Brander came down, he caught Faith's eye from the foot of the +companion ladder, and Faith nodded and said: "Good morning." Brander +smiled. Dan'l looked at Faith; and he looked at Brander; and he gripped +his chair to hold back a hot word that would have ruined him. Brander +sat down at the foot of the table. Noll seemed scarce to know he had +come, and Faith nodded to Brander to pass his plate. Brander did so, and +Faith served him. The plate went back to Brander. + +Dan'l said slowly: "Mr. Brander, the main hatch was not fast when I came +down. Did you secure it?" + +Brander looked up quickly, smiled. "No, sir," he said. "I...." + +"Why not?" Dan'l demanded acidly. "Are you waiting for a squall to tear +it off?" + +Willis Cox said: "I had it made fast, sir. Before Mr. Brander came on +deck." + +Dan'l crimsoned in spite of himself; old Tichel grinned unpleasantly. +Brander smiled; and Faith looked at Dan'l and waited for his word of +acknowledgment. Dan'l saw her eyes.... He said to Brander: "Then, of +course, you couldn't make it fast. Why didn't you say so--since it was +done before you came on deck?" + +Brander said soberly: "Sorry, sir." But his eyes were twinkling. What +use to explain; Dan'l could not be in a worse light. And Dan'l knew it. +He said hotly: + +"What is so funny?..." + +Noll Wing rumbled from the head of the table, where he had seemed +concerned only with his food: "Let be. Let be. The thing is done. That's +all that's needful, Mr. Tobey." + +And Dan'l got hold of himself; he said respectfully: "Right, sir." + +The matter dropped there.... A small thing; but an incident very typical +of the tension which was growing in the cabin of the _Sally Sims_. +Dan'l, jaundiced by his own hatred of Brander, by his disordered passion +for Faith, was not good company. Save Roy, all those in the cabin +avoided him. Roy was fiercely loyal to Dan'l; and he hated Brander the +more because Brander had been given the mate's berth to which Roy +himself had foolishly aspired. That was Dan'l's doing, that aspiration; +he had taken care to tell Roy that he had proposed Roy's name. "Brander +does not belong in the cabin," he told Roy. "He is rag tag and bob tail, +from God knows where. If I'd been Noll Wing, you would be fourth mate +to-day...." + +He fed Roy's sense of wrong; for the boy might some day prove a useful +tool. Dan'l was full of venom in those days; but he had not yet formed +his ultimate plan. + +He still loved Faith, with some faint traces of the old decency. He knew +in his heart that she would never love him; yet he would never be +content till he got this from her own lips. The inevitable happened one +evening when a new moon's thin crescent faintly lighted the dark seas. +Noll had gone early to a sodden sleep; Faith was not sleepy and went on +deck. Dan'l, from his cabin, heard her go; he arose and followed her.... + +There was little wind; the sea was flat; the _Sally_ scarcely stirred. +Dan'l told the man at the wheel to leave her and go forward; he made the +wheel fast and let the _Sally_ go her own gait. Her canvas was all +stowed; her yards were bare. When the man was gone, Dan'l turned to the +after rail, where Faith was sitting. The man's mouth was hot and dry, +and his pulse was pounding. He came to her; Faith said softly: + +"Hello, Dan'l...." + +Dan'l mumbled huskily.... "... Faith!" He stood beside her, and they +looked out across the water, where the starlight played. Dan'l was +trembling, and Faith felt the trouble in the man, as she had felt it for +weeks.... She and Dan'l had been boy and girl together; she was +infinitely sorry for him.... + +In the end, while he stood rigidly beside her, she laid her hand on his +arm. "Dan'l," she said, "I wish--you would get over being so unhappy." + +He looked at her through the dark; his voice was like a croak. +"Unhappy ..." he repeated. + +"It's not good for you, Dan'l," said Faith gently. "Unhappiness is--it's +like a poison. It burns...." + +"Aye?" said Dan'l. "That's true, Faith. It burns...." + +"Why not forget it?" she urged. "You're actually growing thin on it, +Dan'l. Your face is lined...." + +Dan'l tried to laugh. "One thing," he said, "the ship's on my hands, +now. Noll Wing--he's aging. He's an old man, Faith." + +Faith turned her head away from him quickly; she bit her lip in the +darkness. Dan'l repeated: "The _Sally's_ on my hands, Faith. I'm +master--without the name of it." + +She said quietly: "Noll Wing is master here, Dan'l. Never think he is +not." + +Dan'l turned abruptly away; he stood with his back to her. And as he +stood there, the jealousy of Brander and all the rancor that was +poisoning the man gave way for a moment to his tenderness for Faith. He +swung back sharply, gripped her shoulders.... "Faith," he said harshly, +"Noll is master. So be it. But, Faith--I may still love you. I do. +Nothing on earth can stop it. It's all there is in me, Faith. You.... +You.... I would worship you; he kicks you with every word, as he kicks a +dog. Faith.... Faith...." + +She faced him squarely. "Dan'l, you are wrong. You are wrong to tell me +this--to speak so.... It is not--manly, Dan'l." + +The reproach in her voice made him shrink; it fired him. He caught her, +cried: "By God...." He would have swept her into his arms.... + +Brander said, from the top of the companion: "Mr. Tobey, shall I set a +man at the wheel?... There's wind coming...." + +Dan'l cursed. "Hell!" He flung loose from Faith, he whirled on +Brander.... The two men faced each other tensely, Dan'l crouching with +bared teeth, Brander erect.... The starlight showed a little smile on +his face. Abruptly, Dan'l straightened.... + +"Set a man at the wheel--and be damned, Brander!" he said. + +And he brushed past the fourth mate without a glance, and went below. +Brander called through the darkness to a knot of men on the deck, +forward. One came aft.... + +Faith still stood by the rail; Brander paid her no heed. The man took +the wheel.... Brander leaned against the forward end of the deckhouse. +After a little, Faith stirred, came to the companion to go below. At its +top, she paused. + +"Good night, Mr. Brander," she said. + +"Good night," he called pleasantly. + +She went below. Dan'l, writhing in his bunk below old Tichel, who snored +above him, heard her cross the cabin and go into Noll's. And the nails +on his fingers bit his palms. + + * * * * * + +The second day after, Dan'l came down into the cabin to find Noll. +"Would you mind coming on deck for a moment, sir?" he asked. + +Noll was reading; he looked up resentfully. "What now, Mr. Tobey? Can't +you handle the ship?" + +"I want you to see a thing...." There was a hint of evil in Dan'l's +tone. Faith was there, heard, wondered.... Noll looked at the mate; +bestirred himself.... + +They went on deck together; and Dan'l pointed forward. + +Brander was there, by the tryworks. Facing him, grouped about him, were +four of the crew. Mauger was among them. Brander was talking; and the +men were laughing at what he said. One of the men looked aft and saw +Dan'l and Noll Wing watching them; and the man's face sobered instantly +and he backed away from the group. Brander turned around and saw the +captain. Noll called to him: + +"Come aft, Mr. Brander." + +Brander came, without haste, yet quickly. Noll and Dan'l waited for him +in silence; they kept silent when he faced them. He met Noll Wing's +sullen and angry eyes. His own were unashamed and unafraid. "What is it, +sir?" he asked at last. + +Noll lowered his big head like a bull. "What was your talk with the men, +there?" he demanded. + +Brander smiled. "The man Hatch tripped on a coil of line and fell. That +minded me of a thing that happened on the _Thomas Morgan_, and I told +them of it. A fat greeny caught his foot in the rigging and dove thirty +feet overside into the sea.... It was a comical thing, sir. And they +laughed at it." + +"I do not want my mates consorting with the crew," said Noll sulkily; +and there was more complaint than accusation in his voice. Brander said: + +"It does no harm to be friendly with the men. Liking is as good a handle +as fear, to hold them with." + +Old Noll tried to beat down Brander's eyes with his own; but his own +were the first to shift. He shrank, the vigor of his anger passed, he +was an old man again. "Damn it, if you'd rather be forward, go there and +stay," he fretted. "Do you want to go back to the fo'c's'le, man?" + +Brander said respectfully: "No, sir. I'll do as you say." + +"For God's sake, do," Noll whined. He turned back to the cabin, brushed +Dan'l. "And you, Mr. Tobey. Don't bother me with such matters." + +Dan'l looked at Brander, eyes glinting. "I thought it important, sir," +he said. + +Noll grunted and went below. Dan'l, with a triumphant grin at Brander, +followed him. Faith was in the main cabin; she looked at the two +seriously. "What was it, Noll?" she asked. + +Noll shook his head fretfully; he stumped past her toward his own cabin. +"The man Brander, currying favor forward," he said. "I put a bee in his +bonnet." + +Dan'l said: "He meant no harm, sir. I'm sure of it...." + +Noll whirled on him. "Then why did you run to me?" + +"So that you might set him right, and put an end to't," said Dan'l. +"He's a bit too friendly with the men.... It was time he was told...." + +"Oh, aye," said Noll wearily. "Come, Faith...." + +The door of the after cabin shut behind them; and Dan'l, left alone, +smiled at his own thoughts and was content. + + + + +XIV + + +There was one circumstance that counted against Brander in the eyes of +James Tichel, of Mr. Cox, and of some of the crew. This was the fact +that for close on a month after he was made an officer, the _Sally Sims_ +sighted not one loose whale. + +There were fish all about them. During the interval, they sighted three +other whaling craft, and stopped to gam with them. Two of the three were +cutting in when the _Sally_ sighted them; the third had just finished +trying out the blubber of a ninety barrel bull. But the _Sally_ sighted +not so much as a spout. And old Tichel, who had the superstitions of the +sea in his blood, began to look sidewise at Brander, and whisper that he +was a Jonah.... + +That new moon in whose light Dan'l tried to plead with Faith was another +ill omen. Noll Wing, coming on deck the first night the moon appeared, +saw it first over his left shoulder when Faith called to him to look. He +swung his head to the left.... Saw the moon.... And old Tichel's cry was +too late to stop him. Faith laughed at the second mate; Noll grumbled at +him. But Tichel clung to his doubts; and Willis Cox was converted to +them by the indisputable fact that the _Sally_ sighted no whales. + +The men on a whaling vessel have an interest in the cruise. They are not +paid for the work they do, for the time they spend.... They are paid +according to the earnings of the vessel. Their salary, or wage, is +called a "lay." This ranges from the captain's lay down to that of the +greeny. The captain's is a twelfth; or at least this was Noll Wing's +lay. The greenies on the _Sally Sims_ were on a hundred and +seventy-fifth lay. Which, being interpreted, means that out of every +twelve barrels of oil which the _Sally_ brought home, one belonged to +the captain; and out of every hundred and seventy-five, one belonged to +each of the green hands. The captain got one in twelve, the mate one in +eighteen; the second mate got one in twenty-eight, and so the shares ran +down the scale. The lays were so arranged that out of every hundred and +seventy-five barrels, some fifty-five went to the officers and crew, +while the remainder went to the owner to pay the expenses of the voyage +and give him his profits.... Three per cent., or six, or a hundred, as +the luck of the cruise might decide.... The crew were sure of their +money, such as it was, before the owner got his; for it was the custom +of old Jonathan Felt to pay off his men at the current price of oil +before figuring his own profit or loss. + +The effect of this arrangement was to give the mates and the men an +incentive to harder effort. The effect was to make them acutely +interested in the success of the cruise. And by the same token, the ill +luck which now beset the _Sally_ tended to fret their tempers and set +them growling about their tasks.... + +Some blamed Brander; some blamed Noll Wing; some blamed their luck.... + +Brander felt the strain as much as any of them. He was, in addition, an +untried man; he had not yet had his chance to strike a whale, and that +is the final test of a whaler's officers. When he was taken into the +cabin and given a boat, he was forced to be content with the poorest +material aboard. That is the fourth mate's luck. He had Mauger, the +one-eyed man; he had Loum as his harpooner; and he had to fill out his +crew three others who were weak hands at the oars and slack at every +task. + +He set himself to whipping this crew into shape; and in the luckless +days when the _Sally_ idled with double watches at the mastheads, he +used to take his boat off and push the men to their work, training +steadily, fighting to put pith into them. He was not a man given to the +use of his fists; neither had his tongue the acid bite of Dan'l Tobey's. +But he had a way of railing at the men good-naturedly, abusing them with +a smile, that made them laugh and tug the harder at their oars; he won +from them more than they had ever given before.... And he inspired in +them a distinct loyalty which gave birth, in time, to a pride in their +boat which pleased Brander, and promised well. + +Mauger, in particular, was Brander's shadow and slave. The one-eyed man, +who had been turned into a chuckling and harmless nonentity by the +captain's blow and kick, found Brander kindly. And he repaid this +kindliness with a devotion that was marked by every man aboard.... This +devotion was marked, above all, by Noll Wing. And Noll, in whom fear of +the one-eyed man was growing like a cancer, dreaded Brander all the more +because of it. + +Noll and Faith were playing cribbage in the after cabin one night; and +the door into the main cabin was open. Faith sat on the seat across the +stern, and Noll was in a chair, his back to the door, his knees +supporting the board they used as a table. Brander came down from the +deck with word that one of the men had cut himself with his clasp knife; +he wanted to go to the medicine chest in the after cabin for materials +to care for the wound. The sea was turbulent; the _Sally_ was rocking on +it; the rigging was creaking and the timbers of the old craft groaned +aloud. This tumult drowned the noise of Brander's footsteps as he came +down the ladder and across the main cabin. When he appeared in the +doorway behind Noll, Faith saw him. Noll neither saw nor heard till +Brander said quietly: + +"Sorry to bother you, sir...." + +Noll, whose nerves were shaky, whirled up from his chair; the board slid +from his knees, the cards were spilled.... His face was ghastly with +fright; and when he saw Brander, this fright turned to rage. + +"Damn you, Brander," he cried. "Don't you sneak up on me like that +again...." + +Brander said respectfully: "I'm sorry. I should have...." + +"What do you want?" Noll barked. "Get out of here. Get out of my sight. +Don't stand there gawping...." + +"I want to get some...." + +"I don't give a damn what you want," Noll cried. "Get up on deck, where +you belong. Sharp...." + +Brander stood his ground. "One of my men has cut his hand," he said. "I +want some stuff to fix it up." + +Noll wavered.... He threw up his hands. "All right. Get what you +want.... I can't get rid of you any other way. But don't come sneaking +up behind me again. I don't like it, Mr. Brander." + +Brander made no reply; he crossed to the medicine chest and found what +he needed. Faith had picked up the fallen board, the cards.... She said +quietly: "Sit down, Noll. We'll deal that hand over again...." + +Big Noll sat down, watching Brander sidewise. When Brander was gone, +Faith asked: "Why were you startled?" + +"I don't like that man," Noll said. "He's too thick with Mauger for me. +Mauger'll stick a knife in me, some night.... He will, Faith." + +Faith shook her head. "Don't be foolish, Noll. Mauger's not worth being +afraid of." + +Noll laughed mirthlessly. "I tell you, there's murder in that man," he +protested. "And Brander's with him.... I've a mind...." + +"It's your crib," said Faith, and played a card. "Three." + +Noll mechanically took up the game; but Faith, watching, saw that his +eyes were furtively alert for half an hour thereafter. + + * * * * * + +On the twenty-fifth day after the death of Mr. Ham, at about ten o'clock +on a warm and lazy morning, the man at the foremast head gave tongue to +the long hail of the whale-fisheries.... + +"Blo-o-o-o-w! Ah-h-h-h-h blo-o-o-o-o-o-w!" + +The droning cry swept down through the singing rigging, swept the decks +of the _Sally_, penetrated into the fo'c's'le, dropped into the cabin +and brought Dan'l Tobey and Noll Wing from sleep there to the deck. +Faith was already there, sewing in her rocking chair aft by the wheel. +When Dan'l reached the deck, he saw her standing with her sewing +gathered in her hands, the gold thimble gleaming on her middle finger, +watching Brander. Brander was half way up the main rigging, glass +leveled to the southward. + +Noll Wing bellowed to the masthead man: "Where away?..." And the man +swept a hand to point. Noll climbed up toward Brander, shouting to Mr. +Tobey to bring the _Sally_ around toward where the whale had been +sighted. The men from the mastheads and the fo'c's'le and all about the +deck jumped to their places at the boats to wait the command to lower. +Brander took the glass from his eye as Noll's weight pulled at the +rigging below him, and looked down at the captain, and started to speak; +then he changed his mind and waited, glass in hand, while Noll +scrutinized the far horizon.... + +Noll saw a black speck there, and focused his glass, and stared.... He +watched for a spout, watched for minutes on end. None came.... The black +speck seemed to rise a little, sluggishly, with the swell.... He looked +up to Brander. + +"D'you make a spout?" he asked. + +Brander shook his head. "No, sir." + +Noll looked again, and Brander leveled his glass once more. The _Sally_ +was making that way, now; the speck was almost dead ahead of them, far +on the sea. Tiny bits of white were stirring over the black thing, like +bits of paper in the wind.... Noll asked at last: "What do you make of +it, Mr. Brander? A boat.... Or a derelict...." + +"I make it a dead whale," said Brander. + +"No whale," Noll argued. "Rides too high." + +"It will be rotten," Brander insisted. "Swollen.... Full of putrid gas." + +They watched a while longer, neither speaking. The light wind that urged +them on was failing; the _Sally_ slackened her pace, bit by bit; but her +own momentum and some casual drift of the surface water still sent her +toward the floating speck. It bulked larger in their glasses. + +They were within a mile of it before Noll Wing shut his glass. "Aye, +dead whale," he said disgustedly, and began to descend from the rigging. +Brander dropped lightly after him. Noll stumped past the men at their +stations by the boats till he came to Dan'l Tobey. "Dead whale," he told +Dan'l. "Let it be." + +Brander, at Noll's heels, asked: "Do we lower?" + +Noll shook his head. "No," he said sharply. The disappointment, coming +on the heels of the hope that had been roused, had made him fretful and +angry. Brander said: + +"I was thinking...." + +Noll turned on him querulously. "Some ships have truck with carrion and +dog meat," he snarled. "Not the _Sally_. I'll not play buzzard." + +Brander smiled. "It's not pleasant, I know.... But, aboard the _Thomas +Morgan_, we got a bit of ambergris out of such a whale.... This one was +lean, you saw.... It died of a sickness. That's the kind...." + +Dan'l Tobey said, with a grin: "A man'd think you like the smell of it, +Brander." + +"Ambergris is fool's talk," Noll growled. "I've heard tell of it for +thirty year, and never saw a lump bigger than a man's thumb. Fool's +talk, Mr. Brander. Let be...." + +He turned away; and Brander and Dan'l stood together, watching as the +_Sally_ drifted nearer and nearer the dead whale. They could see the +feasting sea birds hovering; they caught once or twice the flash of a +leaping body as sharks tore at the carcass. Here and there the blubber +showed white where great chunks had been ripped away. They watched, and +drifted nearer; and so there came to them presently the smell of it. An +unspeakable smell.... + +The men caught it first, in the bow; Dan'l and Brander heard their first +cries of disgust before the slowly drifting air brought them the odor. +But five minutes later, it had engulfed the ship, penetrated even into +the cabin. Noll got it; he stuck his head up out of the companion and +bellowed: + +"Mr. Tobey, get the _Sally_ out o' range of that." + +Dan'l said: "Not a breath of wind, sir." He went toward the companion, +as Noll stepped out on deck; and he grinned with malicious inspiration, +"Mr. Brander likes the smell of it, sir.... Why not send him off to tow +it out of range?" + +Noll nodded fretfully. "All right, all right. Send him...." + +Dan'l gave the order. Brander assented briskly. "I'll take a boarding +knife with me, if you don't object, sir," he said. + +Dan'l chuckled. He was enjoying himself. "I'd suggest a clothespin, Mr. +Brander," he said; and he stood aft and watched Brander and his men drop +their boat and put away and row toward the lean carcass of the dead +whale, a quarter mile away. The jeers of the seamen forward pursued +them. + +Dan'l got his glass to enjoy watching Brander and his crew tow the whale +out of the _Sally's_ neighborhood. The men worked hard; and Dan'l said +to Cap'n Wing: "They're in haste to be through, you'll see, sir." Once +the tow was under way, it moved swiftly. Men on the _Sally_ breathed +again.... + +They saw, after a time, that Brander and his men had stopped rowing and +brought their boat alongside the whale; and Dan'l's glass revealed +Brander digging and hacking at the carcass with the boarding knife.... + +Brander came back alongside in due time; and long before he reached the +_Sally_, Dan'l could see the exultation in the fourth mate's eyes. As +they slid past the bow, Brander's men taunted those who had jeered at +them. They were like men who have turned the tables on their +enemies.... + +Dan'l was uneasy.... The boat slid into position, the men hooked on the +tackles, then climbed aboard.... They swung on the falls, the boat rose +into its cradle.... And Brander turned to Dan'l and said pleasantly: + +"It was worth the smell, Mr. Tobey." + +He pointed into the boat; and Dan'l looked and saw three huge chunks of +black and waxy stuff--black, with yellowish tints showing through--and +he smelled a faint and musky fragrance. And he looked at Brander. "What +is it?" he asked. "What do you think you've found?" + +"Ambergris," said Brander. "Three big chunks, four little ones. Close to +three hundred pounds...." + +One-eyed Mauger chuckled at Brander's back. "And worth three hundred a +pound," he cackled. "Worth the smell, Mr. Tobey!" + + + + +XV + + +Brander's find, laid tenderly upon the deck, studied by Noll Wing and +the officers on their knees, set the _Sally_ buzzing with the clack of +tongues. + +There was a romance in the stuff itself that caught attention. It came +from the rotting carcass of the greatest thing that lives; it came from +the heart of a vast stench.... Yet itself smelled faintly and fragrantly +of musk, and had the power of multiplying any other perfume a thousand +fold. Not a man on the _Sally_ had ever seen a bit larger than a +cartridge, before; they studied it, handled it, marveled at it. + +Cap'n Wing stood up stiffly from bending over the stuff at last; he +looked at Brander. "It's ugly enough," he said. "You're sure it's the +stuff you think?" + +Brander nodded. "Yes, sir, quite sure." + +"What's it worth?" Cap'n Wing asked. + +"Hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a pound--price changes." + +Noll looked at the waxy stuff again. "It don't look it," he said. "How +much is there of it?" + +"Close to three hundred pounds...." + +Noll's lips moved with the computation. He said, in a voice that was +hushed in spite of himself: "Close to ninety thousand dollars...." + +Brander smiled. "That's the maximum, of course." + +Dan'l Tobey said: "You've done the rest of us a service, Mr. Brander." + +Brander looked at him; and an imp of mischief gleamed in his eye. He +said quietly: "The rest of you. I was sent out to remove the carcass, +not to dissect it. The digging for this was my private enterprise, Mr. +Tobey." + +Old James Tichel gasped under his breath. Dan'l started to speak, then +looked to Noll. They all looked toward Cap'n Noll Wing.... It was for +him to deal with Brander's claim.... They looked to Noll; and big Noll +stared at the precious stuff on the deck, and at Brander.... And he said +nothing. + +Brander smiled. He called Mauger to come aft and help him, and he +proceeded with the utmost care to clean the lumps of ambergris of the +filth that clung to them. He paid no further heed to the men about him. +Noll went below; and Faith, who had listened without speaking, followed +him. Dan'l and old Tichel got together by the after rail and talked in +whispers. Willis Cox stood, watching.... The young man's eyes were wide +and his cheeks were white. These seven ugly lumps of something like +hard, dirty yellow soap were worth more than the whole cruise of the +_Sally_ might be expected to pay.... They caught Willis's imagination; +he could not take his eyes from them. + +Brander had Mauger fetch whale oil; he washed the lumps in this as +tenderly as a mother bathes a child. The black washed away, they became +an even, dull yellow in his hands.... Here and there, bits of white +stuff like bones showed in them.... Bits of the bones of the gigantic +squid on which the cachalot feeds. Their faint, persistent odor spread +around them.... + +When the cleaning was done, Mauger fetched steelyards and they weighed +the lumps, slinging each with care.... The larger ones were so heavy +that they had to make the scales fast to the rigging.... The largest +weighed seventy-four pounds and a fraction; the next was sixty-one; the +third, forty-eight. The four smaller lumps, weighed together, tipped the +beam at nineteen pounds.... The seven totaled two hundred and two +pounds.... + +Mauger was disappointed at that; he complained: "I took 'em to weigh +three hundred, anyways...." + +Brander looked at Willis. "Two hundred isn't to be laughed at! Eh, Mr. +Cox?" + +Willis said hoarsely: "That must be the biggest find of ambergris ever +was." + +Brander shook his head. "The _Watchman_, out o' Nantucket, brought back +eight hundred pounds, in '58. I've heard so, anyways." + +Willis had nothing to say to that; he went aft to join Tichel and Dan'l +Tobey and tell them the weight of the stuff.... Brander sent for Eph +Hitch, the cooper.... He showed him the ambergris.... + +"Fix me up a cask," he said. "Big enough to hold all that.... We'll stow +it dry...." + +Eph scratched his head. He spat over the rail. "Fix you up a cask?" he +repeated. "Oh, aye." He emphasized the pronoun; and Brander's eyes +twinkled. + +They packed the ambergris away in the captain's storeroom; the +compartment at the bottom of the _Sally_, under the cabin, in the very +stern. It rested there among the barrels and casks of food and the +general supplies.... There was no access to this place save through the +cabin itself; it was not connected with the after hold where water and +general stores and gear were stowed away. Brander suggested putting it +there; he came to Noll Wing with his request, and because Dan'l Tobey +was with Noll, Brander framed his question in a personal form. + +"I'd like to stow this below us here," he said. "Best it be out of reach +of the men." + +Dan'l scowled; Noll looked up heavily, met Brander's eyes. In the end, +he nodded. "Where you like," he said sulkily. "Don't bother me." + +Brander smiled; and the cask was hidden away below.... + +But it was not forgotten; it could not be forgotten. From its hiding +place, the ambergris made its influence felt all over the vessel. It was +like dynamite in its potentialities for mischief. The mates could not +forget it; the boat-steerers in the steerage discussed it over and over; +the men forward in the fo'c's'le argued about it endlessly. + +It was a rich treasure, worth as much as the whole cruise was like to be +worth in oil; and it was all in one lump.... That is to say, it was no +more than a heavy burden for a strong man. Two men could have carried +it.... + +A thousand acres of well-tilled farm land are worth a great deal of +money; but this form of riches is not one to catch the imagination. +Wealth becomes more fascinating as it becomes more compact. Coal is more +treasured than an equal value of earth; lead is more treasured than +coal; and men will die for a nugget of gold that is worth no more than +the unconsidered riches which lie all about them. Great value in small +compass sets men by the ears.... + +Every man aboard the _Sally_ had a direct and personal interest in +Brander's find of ambergris. And the matter of their debate was this: +was the ambergris the property of the _Sally_, a fruit of the voyage; or +was it Brander's? If it was a part of the profits of the cruise, they +would all share in it. If it was Brander's, they would not.... + +Brander--and this word had gone around the ship--had spoken of it as his +own. For which some condemned and hated him; some praised and chose to +flatter him. If the worth of the stuff was divided between them all, +Noll Wing and Dan'l Tobey would have the lion's share, and the men +forward would have no more than the price of a debauch. If it were +Brander's alone, they might beg or steal a larger share from him. +Or--and not a few had this thought--they might seize the whole treasure +and make off with it.... + +The possibilities were infinite; the potentialities for trouble were +enormous. + +This new tension aboard the _Sally_ came to a head in the cabin; the +very air there was charged with it. Dan'l and old Tichel were against +Brander from the first; Cox was inclined to support him. Dan'l sought to +sound Noll Wing and learn his attitude.... + +He said to Noll casually, one day: "The 'gris will make this a fat +cruise, sir." + +Noll nodded. "Oh, aye.... No doubt!" + +Dan'l looked away. "Of course, Brander doesn't intend to claim it +all.... To push his claim...." + +"Ye think not?" Noll asked anxiously. + +"No," said Dan'l. "He knows he can't.... It's a part of the takings of +the _Sally_...." + +Noll wagged his head dolefully: "Aye, but will the man see it that way?" + +"He'll have to." + +The captain looked up at Dan'l cautiously. "Did you mark the greed in +the one eye of Mauger when they came aboard?" he asked. "Mauger sets +store by the stuff...." + +Dan'l snorted. "Mauger! Pshaw!" + +Noll shifted uneasily in his chair. "Just the same," he said, "Mauger +holds a grudge against me.... He but waits his chance for a knife in my +back.... And Brander is his friend, you'll mind." + +"You're not afraid of the two of them.... There's no need. I'll +undertake to see to that...." + +"You're a strong man, Dan'l," said old Noll. "A strong, youthful man.... +But I'm getting old. Eh, Dan'l...." His voice broke with his pity of +himself. "Eh, Dan'l, I've sailed the sea too long...." + +Dan'l said, with some scorn in his tone: "Nevertheless, you're not +afraid...." + +Then Faith opened the door from the after cabin; and Dan'l checked his +word. Faith looked from Dan'l to her husband, and her eyes hardened as +she looked to Dan'l again. "You'll not be saying Noll Wing is afraid +of--anything, Dan'l," she said mildly. + +"I'm telling him," said Dan'l, "that he should not permit Brander to +claim the ambergris for himself." + +Faith smiled a little. "You think Brander means to do that?" + +"He has done it," said Dan'l stubbornly. "He claimed it in the +beginning; he speaks of what he will do with it.... He speaks of it as +his own." + +"I think," said Faith, "that something has robbed you of discernment, +Dan'l. Why do you hate Brander? Is he not a good officer?... A man?" + +Dan'l might have spoken, but Brander himself dropped down the ladder +from the deck just then; and Dan'l stood silently for a moment, +watching.... + +Brander looked at Faith, and spoke to her, and to the others. Then he +went into his own cabin and closed the door. They all knew the thinness +of the cabin walls; what they might say, Brander could hear distinctly. +Dan'l turned without a word, and went on deck. + +He met Tichel there, and told him what had passed. Tichel grinned +angrily.... "Aye," said the old man. "He comes and Jonahs us, so we +sight no whale for a month on end.... And then is wishful to hold the +prize that the _Sally's_ boat found." His teeth set; his fist rose.... +And Dan'l nodded his agreement. + +"We'll see that he does not, in the end," he said. + +"Aye," said Tichel. "Aye, we'll see t'that." + +Roy Kilcup was a partisan of Dan'l's, in this as in all things; and Roy +alone faced Brander on the matter. He asked the fourth mate +straightforwardly: "Look here, do you claim that ambergris is yours?" + +Brander smiled at the boy. "Why, youngster?" he asked. + +"Because I want to know," said Roy. "That's why!" + +"Well," Brander chuckled, "others want to know. They're not sleeping +well of nights, for wanting...." + +"Do you, or don't you?" Roy insisted. + +Brander leaned toward him and whispered amiably: "I'll tell you, the day +we touch at home," he promised. "Now--run along." + + * * * * * + +Thus they were all concerned; but Noll Wing took the matter harder than +any, because Mauger, whom he feared, was concerned in it. His worry over +it gave him one sleepless night; he rose in that night and found the +whiskey.... And for the first time in all his life, Noll Wing drank +himself into a stupor. + +He had always been a steady drinker; he had often been inflamed with +liquor. But his stomach was strong; he could carry it; he had never +debauched himself. + +This time, he became like a log, and Faith found him, when she woke in +the morning, unclean with his own vomitings, sodden and helpless as a +snoring log. He lay thus two days.... And he woke at last with a scream +of fright, and swore that Mauger was at him with a knife, so that Dan'l +and Willis Cox had to hold the man quiet till the hallucination passed. + + + + +XVI + + +Faith and Brander had not, in this time, spoken a word together since +they met Mr. Ham upon the beach after Brander joined Faith by the island +pool. In the beginning, Brander was forward, and a gulf separated +them.... Not to mention forty feet of deck. Faith stayed aft; Brander +stayed forward. Afterward, when Brander came into the cabin, there was +still a gulf.... They met at table; they encountered each other, now and +then, in the cabin or on deck. But Brander had his work to do, and did +it; and Faith was much with Noll. + +In the bush, by the pool, Faith had forgotten Noll Wing for a little +space; and in the forgetting, she and Brander had become friends very +quickly.... His question, as they reached the beach, made her remember +Noll; and her answer to that question, when she told him she was Noll's +wife, had reared a wall between them. Brander was a man; too much of a +man to forget that she was Noll's wife.... He did not forget. + +In the _Sally_, after Brander came aft, Faith was toward him as she was +toward the other mates.... With this difference. She had known them +since the beginning of the voyage; she had known two of them--Dan'l and +Willis Cox--since they were boys. They were ticketed in her thoughts; +they were old friends, but they could never be anything more. Therefore +she talked often with them, as she did with Tichel, and as she had done +with Mr. Ham. She forgot they were men, remembering only that they were +friends.... + +Brander, on the other hand, was a newcomer, a stranger.... When a woman +meets a strange man, or when a man meets a strange woman, there is an +instant and usually unconscious testing and questioning. This is more +lively in the woman than in the man; she is more apt to put it into +words in her thoughts, more apt to ask herself: "Could I love him?" For +a man does not ask this question at all until he has begun to love; a +woman, consciously or unconsciously, asks it at once.... And until this +question is answered; until the inner thing that is sex has made +decision, a woman is reticent and slow to accept the communion of even +casual conversation.... + +Faith, almost unconsciously, avoided Brander. She spoke with him; but +there was a bar in her words. She saw him; but her eyes put a wall +between them. She thought of him; but she hid her thoughts from herself. +And Brander felt this, and respected it.... There was between them an +unspoken conspiracy of silence; an unspoken agreement that held them +apart.... + +This agreement was broken, and broken by Faith, on an afternoon some ten +days after the finding of the ambergris. The day was fair; the wind was +no more than normal.... No whales had yet been sighted by the _Sally_, +and her decks were clear of oil. Mr. Tichel's watch had the ship; but +Tichel himself, old man that he was, had stayed below and was asleep in +his cabin. Dan'l was asleep there, also; and Noll Wing dozed in the +after cabin. Willis Cox was reading, under the boathouse; and two of +the harpooners played idly at some game of cards in the lee of the rail +beside him. Brander and the man at the wheel had the after deck to +themselves when Faith came up from the cabin.... + +Roy was with her; but the boy went forward at once and climbed the +rigging to the masthead, to stand watch with the men there. He loved to +perch high above the decks, with the sea spread out like a blue saucer +below him. He teased Faith to go with him; but Faith shook her head. +There was always a certain physical indolence about Faith that +contrasted with the vigor of her habits of thought and speech; she liked +to sit quietly and read, or sew, or think, and she cared nothing at all +for such riotous exertion as Roy liked. + +"No, Roy," she told her brother. "You go if you like. I'll stay down +here." + +"Come on, Sis," he teased. "I guess you're afraid.... You never could +even climb a tree without squealing.... Come on." + +She laughed softly. "No. I don't like to do hard things--like that." + +"I won't let you fall," he promised. + +"Some day, maybe.... Run along, Roy." + +The boy went away resentfully; a little more resentfully because Brander +had heard her refusal. He looked back from the fore rigging, and saw +Faith standing near Brander.... And for a moment he was minded to go +back and join them; but the dwindling line of the ropes above him lured +him on. He climbed, lost himself among the great bosoms of the sails, +stopped to ride a yard like a horse and exult when it pitched and +rolled.... Climbed, at last, to the masthead perch where the lookouts +stood in their hoops with their eyes sweeping the wide circle of the +seas.... + +And Faith and Brander were together. Save for the man at the wheel, whom +neither of them heeded, they were alone. Brander was at the after rail +when she appeared; he nodded to her, and smiled. She stood near him, +hands on the rail, looking out across the sea astern. The wind tugged at +her, played with the soft hair about her brow, whipped her cheeks to +fire.... + +She did not look at Brander, but Brander looked at her. The man liked +what he saw; he liked not so much the beauty of her, as the strength and +poise that lay in her face. Her broad, low brow.... Her straight, fine +nose.... Her sweetly molded lips, and rounding chin.... Strength there, +and calm, and power.... Beauty, too; more than one woman's measure of +beauty, perhaps. But above all, strength. That was what Brander saw. + +It was no new thing for the man to study Faith's countenance. It was +firm-fastened in his thoughts; he could conjure it up at will, and it +appeared before him, many times, without his volition. Faith's eyes were +blue, and they were large, and Brander could never forget them. The eye +of a man or of a woman is a thing almost alive; it seems to have a soul +of its own. Stand at one side, unobserved, and watch the eyes of your +friend; you will feel that you are watching some living personality +apart from the friend you know. It is like watching a wild thing which +is hiding in the forest. The eye is so alert, so infinitely alert, so +quick to swing to right or left at any sound.... + +Women's eyes differ as much as women themselves. Faith's eyes were like +Faith herself; there was no fear or uncertainty in them; and there was +no coquettishness, no seduction. They were level and calm and perfectly +assured; and Brander thought that to look into them was like taking a +strong man's hand. He thought Faith as fine a thing as woman can be.... + +Brander made sure that Faith did not see him studying her thus; +nevertheless, Faith must have felt his scrutiny. She was conscious of an +unaccountable diffidence; and when she spoke to him at last, without +looking toward him, her voice was so low he scarcely heard at all. She +said some idle thing about the beauty of the sea.... + +Brander smiled. The sky was so clear, and the heavens were so blue that +sky and heaven seemed to be cousins or sisters, hands clasping at the +far horizon. He said amiably: "Always think--looking off into the blue +on a day like this is like looking deep into blue eyes.... There seems +to be a soul off there, something hidden, out of sight.... But you can +feel it looking back at you." + +Faith was so surprised that she looked up at him quickly, sidewise; and +she smiled, her cheeks a little flushed. "I never felt--just that," she +said. "But--did you ever look at a hill, so far away it is just a deep +blue shape against the sky? Blue's a beautiful color to look at, I +think." + +He nodded. "From my hill," he said, "I used to be able to see an island +northwest of the one where I was.... Barely see it. Just a line laid +down along the sea.... A line of blue." + +She said nothing in reply to this; and he said no more. They were thus +silent for a little before Faith asked: "Tell me.... You've never had a +chance.... How did you live, there? Wasn't it lonely? Or ... were there +others?..." + +He laughed. "I wasn't lonely, in the least," he explained. "The old +devil-devil doctor of the village struck up an acquaintance with me.... +He knew whites; and I was the only one there at the time. He used to +come and talk to me, and say charms over my garden.... I had a little +compass on my watch chain, and I gave it to him, and the old heathen was +my slave for life. So I arranged with him to have my path taboo--you +remember I told you.... And he was the only company I ever had." + +"You had a--garden?" + +"Yes. Good one. I put up a house, about six feet square--big enough for +me, and no more--and I trimmed down some trees around there; and there +was a little brook, and a shallow basin in the side of the hill where +rich soil had been collecting for a good many centuries, I suppose. I +think if I had planted pebbles there, it would have grown bowlders for +me. It did grow all I wanted." + +She was thoughtful for a little, looked at him once. "Why did you ever +ship as a whaler?" she asked. "You don't look like the men that ship in +the fo'c's'le." + +He laughed. "I know it. Maybe because I like the sea. My home was in +sight of it; a high old farm up in Maine, five miles inland. I used to +sit out on the hill there and watch the night come up from the east and +blanket the water; and when there was a surf I could hear it; and when I +could, I went down and got acquainted with the water, swimming, or +poking around in an old dory.... It was bound to get me in the end. My +father sent me to school.... He wanted me to be a doctor. But after two +years of it, I begged off.... And he let me go." + +She nodded. "I know--a little--how you feel. I've always loved the smell +of the sea at home, and the sight of it.... But...." She grimaced +harshly. "I'm getting a bit tired of salt water, all the time.... I want +to get ashore." + +"Sure," Brander chuckled. "And when you've been a month ashore, you'll +be hungry for the sea again. It's like a drug; you get used to it, and +you can't do without it." + +She looked at him. "Do you think so?" + +"I know it. Wait and see." + +After a little, she spoke of the ill luck that had pursued the _Sally_. +"Isn't it unusual to go almost six weeks without getting a whale?" + +"No, not necessarily," he told her. "You may kill every other day for a +year, and not see a fish for three months after. The whale seems to come +and go, in some waters...." + +"These?" she asked. + +He nodded. "It's uncertain, here. We're working over now into better +hunting grounds. The _Sally's_ done well, thus far, anyway. Almost a +thousand barrels, and not out a year. I've heard of ships that came home +with empty casks." + +She looked at him curiously. "I think you know more about the work than +most men aboard," she said. "Yet you've not had the experience...." + +"I've picked it up at games, read it, guessed it," he said pleasantly. +"They know more about the practical end than I. I haven't been tried out +yet, you know." + +She smiled. "Mr. Tichel says you're a Jonah," she told him. "I think he +would be in favor of throwing you overboard." + +He laughed cheerfully. She added: "I hope you're not one. I'm anxious +that Cap'n Wing should make a big record on this cruise. It's my first +with him, you know...." + +His eyes were sober; but he said: "We'll fill the casks, all right. I +wouldn't worry." + +She looked toward him and said: "Yes, we will." There was an immense +amount of quiet certainty and determination in her voice. Brander looked +at her for an instant, then turned to give some direction to the man at +the wheel. The _Sally_ heeled awkwardly to the thrust of the wind, and +battered at the sea with her blunt bows. The rigging creaked and tugged. +Willis Cox, under the boathouse, had dropped his book in his lap and was +dozing in his chair; the two harpooners had gone below. Forward, Faith +could see two or three men sprawled on the deck, asleep.... The warm, +afternoon wind seemed slumber laden; the _Sally Sims_ herself was like +a ship that walked in her sleep. A hush hung over them all, so that +Faith and Brander unconsciously lowered their voices. + +Faith asked casually: "Why is it that you and Mr. Tobey do not like each +other?" + +If he was surprised at the question, Brander did not show it. He said +frankly: "I've no dislike for Mr. Tobey. He's an able officer. He knows +his business." + +"He does not like you," Faith said. "Why not?" + +Brander smiled. "It may be," he admitted, "that Mr. Tobey is lacking in +a sense of humor. I've a way of laughing at things.... Mr. Trant, on the +_Thomas Morgan_, used to curse me for grinning so much of the time. +Perhaps Mr. Tobey...." + +He did not finish the sentence; he seemed to consider it unnecessary, or +unwise.... Faith said nothing.... They stood together, eyes off across +the water, balancing unconsciously to the motion of the ship. Their +shoulders were almost brushing.... Brander felt the light contact on his +coat; and he moved away a little, inconspicuously.... + +She turned at last toward the companion; but after one step, stopped and +looked back at him. "I think," she said, "that Mr. Tobey believes you +mean to claim that find of ambergris belongs to you." + +Brander smiled, and nodded. "I know he does. There's no harm in puzzling +Mr. Tobey." + +"There may be harm--for you--in his believing that," she said; and for a +moment Brander's level eyes met hers, and she saw a flame in his. He +said quietly: + +"I'm not particularly concerned...." + +She bowed her head, to hide her eyes; and she went below so quickly it +was as though she fled from him. + + + + +XVII + + +Faith had assured herself, from the beginning, that Brander had no real +intention of claiming the ambergris was his personal booty. He was too +sensible for that, she felt; and he was not greedy.... + +She had been sure; but like all women, she wished to be reassured. She +had given Brander the chance to reassure her, speaking of the 'gris and +of Dan'l Tobey's suspicions in the matter. It would have been so easy +for Brander to laugh and say: "You know I have no such idea. It belongs +to the _Sally_, of course...." That would have settled the thing, once +and for all.... + +But Brander had not been frank and forthright. He had only said: +"There's no harm in puzzling Mr. Tobey...." And when she had suggested +that there might be harm for Brander in his attitude, his eyes had +hardened with something like defiance in them.... He had said he was not +worried as to what Dan'l might think or do. He thus remained as much of +a puzzle to Faith as ever.... If he had deliberately planned to steal a +place in her thoughts, he could have taken no better means. Faith, with +her growing sense of responsibility for the _Sally_, for the success of +the voyage, for the good renown of Noll Wing, was acutely concerned when +anything threatened that success. The ambergris was properly a part of +the _Sally's_ takings.... Brander must see it so. Did he mean to push +his claim, to make trouble?... + +She tried to find her answer to this question in Brander's face; she +began to study him daily.... She perceived the strength of the man, and +his poise and assurance. Brander was very sure of himself and of his +capabilities, without in the least overrating them. He knew himself for +a man; he bore himself as a man.... Faith respected him; without her +realizing it, this respect and liking grew. + +Unconsciously, Brander was ranked now and then in her thoughts beside +her husband, Noll Wing; she compared the two men without willing to make +the comparison. And in the process, she studied Noll Wing more closely +than she had ever studied him before. It was at this time that she first +marked the fact that Noll was shrinking, wasting the flesh from his +bones. His skin was becoming loose; it sagged. His great chest was +drawing in between his shoulders; his shoulders slumped forward. Also +Faith saw, without understanding, that the great cords of his neck were +beginning to stand out under the loose skin, that hollows were forming +about them. The man's bull neck was melting away.... Faith saw, though +she did not fully understand; she knew that Noll was aging, nothing +more.... + +She was drawn to Noll, at this discovery, by a vast tenderness; but this +tenderness was impersonal. She thought it a recrudescence of her old, +strong love for the man; it was in fact only such a feeling as she might +have had for a sick or wounded beast. She pitied Noll profoundly; she +tried to make him happy, and comfortable. She sought, now and then, to +woo him to cheerfulness and mirth; but Noll was shrinking, day by day, +into a more confirmed habit of complaint; he whined constantly, where in +the old days he would have stormed and commanded. And he resented +Faith's attentions, resented her very presence about him. One day she +went herself into the galley and prepared a dish she thought would +please him; when she told him what she had done, he exclaimed: + +"God's sake, Faith, quit fussing over me. I got along more'n twenty year +without a woman...." + +Faith would not let herself feel the hurt of this.... But even while she +watched over Noll, Brander more and more possessed her thoughts. Her +recognition of this fact led her to be the more attentive to Noll, as +though to recompense him for the thing he was losing.... She had never +so poured out herself upon him. + +It was inevitable that this developing change in Faith should be marked +by those in the cabin. Dan'l saw it, and Brander saw it.... Brander saw +it, and at first his pulse leaped and pounded and his eyes shone with +his thoughts.... On deck, about his duties, he carried the memory of her +eyes always with him. Her eyes as she had looked at him, that day, and +many days before. Questioning, a little wistful.... A little +wondering.... + +But Brander was a strong man; and he put a grip upon himself. He was +drawn to Faith; he knew that if he let himself go, he would be caught in +a whirlwind of passion for her. But he did not choose to let himself go; +and by the same token, he took care to have no part in what might be +taking place in Faith herself. He knew that he might have played upon +her awakened interest in him; he knew that it would be worth life itself +to see more plainly that which he had glimpsed in her eyes; +nevertheless, he put the thing away from him. When she was about, he +became reticent, curt, abrupt.... He took refuge in an arrogance of +tone, an absorption in his work. He began to drive his men.... + +Dan'l Tobey saw. Dan'l had eyes to see; and it was inevitable that he +should discover the first hints of change in Faith. For he watched her +jealously; and he watched Brander as he had watched him from the +beginning. Dan'l saw Faith and Brander drawing together, day by day; and +though he hated Brander the more for it, he was content to sit still and +wait.... He counted upon their working Brander's own destruction between +them, in the end; and Dan'l was in a destructive mood in those days. He +hated the strength of Brander, the loyalty of Faith, the age of old Noll +Wing, and the youth of Roy.... He was become, through overmuch brooding, +a walking vessel of hate; it spilled out of him with every word, keep +his voice as amiable as he might. He hated them all.... + +But he was careful to hide his resentment against Roy; he cultivated the +boy, he worked little by little to debase Roy's standards of life, and +he looked forward vaguely to a day when he might have use for the lad. +Dan'l had no definite plan at this time save to destroy.... But for all +his absorption in Faith, he had not failed to see that Noll Wing's +strength was going out of him. If Noll were to die, Dan'l would be +master of the _Sally_ and those aboard her.... + +Dan'l never lost sight of this possibility; he kept it well in mind; and +he laid, little by little, the foundations upon which in that day he +might build his strength. Roy was one of these foundations.... + +Dan'l saw one obstacle in his path, even with Noll gone. The men +forward, and some of the under officers, were hotly loyal to Noll Wing; +and by the same token they looked upon Faith with eyes of awed +affection. Faith had that in her which commanded the respect of men; and +Dan'l knew that the roughest man in the crew would fight to protect +Faith, against himself or any other. He never forgot this.... + +When Roy Kilcup, last of them all, marked Faith's interest in Brander, +the boy unwittingly gave Dan'l a chance to strike a blow at the men's +trust in the captain's wife. + +Roy, though he might quarrel with her most desperately, was at his heart +devoted to Faith, and wild with his pride in her. He marked a look in +her eyes one day; and it disturbed him. Dan'l found the boy on deck, +staring out across the water, his eyes clouded with perplexity and +doubt. Roy was aft; there was one of the men at the wheel. Dan'l glanced +toward this man.... One of his own boat crew, by name Slatter, with a +sly eye and a black tongue.... Dan'l spoke to him in passing, some +command to keep the _Sally_ steady against the pressure of the wind, and +stopped beside Roy, dropping his hand on the boy's shoulder. + +"Hello, Roy," he said amiably. + +Roy looked up at him, nodded. Dan'l caught a glimpse of the shadow in +his eyes and asked in a friendly tone: "What's wrong? You're worried +about something...." + +Roy shook his head. "No." + +Dan'l laughed. "Shucks! You can't fool any one with that, Roy. If you +don't want to talk...." + +Roy hesitated; he studied Dan'l for a moment. "Dan'l," he said, "you've +known Faith and me all our lives. I guess I can talk to you if I can to +anybody. And I've got to talk to somebody, Dan'l." + +Dan'l nodded soberly. "I'm here to be talked to. What's the matter, +Roy?" + +The boy asked abruptly: "Dan'l--have you noticed the way Faith looks at +Brander?" + +Dan'l had been half prepared for the question; nevertheless his fingers +dug into his palms. He remained silent for a minute, thinking.... His +thoughts raced.... And his eyes fell on foul-tongued Slatter, at the +wheel.... There was a piece of luck; an instrument ready to his hand. +Dan'l still hesitated for a space; his brows twisting.... Then the man +threw all decency behind him, and flung himself at last into the paths +toward which his feet had been tending. He moved to one side, so that +Roy, facing him, must also face the man at the wheel; so that Roy's +words would come to Slatter's ears. And Dan'l was very sure that Slatter +would take care to hear.... + +For another moment he did not speak; then he laughed harshly; and he +asked: "What do you mean, Roy?" + +Roy repeated: "I mean the way Faith looks at Brander all the time. +Looking at him.... A queer way...." + +Dan'l Tobey seemed to be embarrassed; he looked to right and left, and +he said huskily: "Shucks--I guess you've got too much imagination, Roy." + +Roy shook his head. "No, I haven't, either, I've been watching her.... +She looks at him, and her eyes get kind of misty like.... And if you say +something to her, sometimes she doesn't hear you at all." + +"She's got a right to think," Dan'l chuckled. "You talk too much, +anyway, Roy.... No wonder she don't listen to you." His tone was +good-natured. Roy fell silent for a moment, studying Dan'l's face; and +Dan'l looked confused. Roy said sharply: + +"Dan'l, haven't you seen, yourself, what I mean? Haven't you, Dan'l?" + +Dan'l turned his head away; he would not meet Roy's eyes. Roy cried: "I +knew you saw it.... Everybody must see...." + +Dan'l said sternly: "Roy, you'd best not see too much. It don't pay. +There's times when it's wise to see little and say nothing. If it was +me, I'd say this was one of the times." + +"That's all right," Roy admitted. "But I can talk to you...." He added +suddenly: "Dan'l, Noll Wing is too old for Faith. She ought to have +married you, Dan'l." + +Children have a disconcerting way of sticking a word like a knife into +our secret hearts; they see so clearly, and they have not yet learned to +pretend they do not see. Roy, for all his eighteen years, was still as +much child as man; and Dan'l winced. "Land, Roy," he protested. "Get +that out of your head. Faith and me understand...." + +Roy turned his back, looking aft. Dan'l glanced toward Slatter at the +wheel. Slatter's back was toward them; but Dan'l could have sworn the +man's ears were visibly pricking to miss no word. And Dan'l's eyes +burned unpleasantly. A woman's strongest armor is her innocence. If +Faith were tarnished in the eyes of the men in the fo'c's'le, she would +have few defenders there.... The roughest man will honor a good woman; +but he looks upon one who is soiled with contemptuous or greedy eyes. +Dan'l was willing, for his own ends, that the fo'c's'le should think +evil of Faith Wing. + +While they stood thus, Brander came on deck, and spoke for a minute with +Dan'l, then went slowly forward. Because he and Dan'l clashed so +sharply, Brander had fallen into the way of spending much time amidships +with the harpooners, or forward with the crew.... Dan'l's place was +aft.... Roy watched Brander now as he spoke to the mate, watched him +walk away. When Brander was gone, Dan'l looked toward Roy. Roy said +quietly: + +"Dan'l, if Brander tries to--to do anything to my sister, I'm going to +kill him." + +Dan'l said nothing; and Roy moved abruptly past him and went below.... + +He was not seeking Faith; but he came upon her there, in the main cabin. +She was at the table, with a book, and paper and pen; and he stopped to +look over her shoulder, and saw that she was making calculations.... +Latitude and longitude.... He asked: "What are you doing?" + +She looked up at him. "Studying navigation, Roy. Don't you want to?" + +He stared at her. "What are you doing it for?" + +"Because I want to. Besides.... It's a good thing to be able to find out +where you are, on a world as big as this.... Don't you think?" + +He flung himself into a chair across from her. "Look here, Faith.... Why +do you keep looking at Brander? All the time?" + +Faith was startled; she was startled not so much at what Roy said, as at +what his words revealed to her. Nevertheless her voice was steady and +quiet as she asked: "What do you mean, Roy?" + +"The way you look at Brander. He's not fit for you to talk to.... To +look at.... Anything. He's not fit to be around you...." + +She laughed at him. "How do I look at Mr. Brander, Roy?" she asked. + +"Why--like...." Roy groped for words; Faith was suddenly afraid of what +he might say. She interrupted him. + +"Don't be silly, Roy. Go away.... Don't bother me.... I'm busy with +this, Roy." + +He said: "You...." But she bent over her book; she paid him no attention +for a moment. Roy, sitting opposite, studied the top of her head, and +thought.... There was an expression in his eyes as though he were trying +to remember something familiar that evaded him. In the silence, they +could hear Cap'n Wing snoring in his cabin; they could hear old Tichel +stir in his bunk at the other side of the ship; they could hear the +muffled murmur of the voices of the harpooners, in the steerage. And all +about them the timbers that were the fabric of the _Sally_ creaked and +groaned as they yielded to the tug of the seas. Roy still stared with a +puzzled frown at the top of Faith's brown head.... Faith did not look up +from her book.... + +Suddenly Roy cried, in a low voice: "Faith! I know...." And, all in a +burst: "You look at Brander just like you used to look at Noll Wing when +we were kids...." + +Faith went white; and she rose to her feet so swiftly that the book was +overturned on the table, the loose sheets of paper fluttered, the pen +rolled across to the edge of the table and fell and stuck on its point +in the cabin floor.... + +With a motion swift as light, forgetting book and paper and pen, Faith +slipped across, into the after cabin. She shut the door in Roy's face, +and he heard her slip the catch upon it. + +Roy stared at the closed door; then he went abstractedly around the +table and pulled the pen loose from the floor. The steel point was +twisted, spoiled. + + + + +XVIII + + +The _Sally_ came, abruptly, into a sea that was full of whales. At +nightfall they had not smelled oil for weeks; at dawn there were spouts +on three quarters of the horizon; and thereafter for more than a month +there were never three successive days when they did not sight whales. + +This turn of the luck brought three things to pass: Roy Kilcup had his +first chance in the boats during the chase; Brander killed his first +whale as an officer of the _Sally_; and Noll Wing killed the last +cachalot that was ever to feel his lance. + +Dan'l Tobey had promised Roy, at the time when Brander was promoted to +be mate, that he would give the boy a chance in his boat. He put Roy on +the after thwart, under his own eye, and Roy leaned to the oar and +pulled with all his might, and bit his lip to hold back the sobbing of +his breath. The boy came of whaling stock; his father and his father's +father had been men of the sea. And he did not turn white when the +boat's bow slid at last alongside a slumbering black mass, and the keen +harpoons chocked home. + +That first experience of Roy's was a mild one. The whale, a fairish +bull, showed no fight whatever. He took the irons as a baby takes +soothing sirup; and he lay still while they pulled alongside and prodded +him with a lance. At the last, when his spout was a crimson fountain, +he gave one gigantic forward leap; but he was dead not ten fathoms from +the spot where he lay when the first harpoon went home; and thereafter +there was only the long toil of towing the monster back to the ship for +the cutting in. + +A small affair, without excitement; yet big for Roy. It worked a change +in the boy. He came back to the ship no longer a boy, but the makings of +a man. He spoke loftily to Faith; and he brushed shoulders with the men +on equal terms and was proud to do so, altogether forgetting the days +when he had liked to think himself their superior, and to order them +around. Dan'l catered to the new mood in the boy; he told Cap'n Wing in +Roy's hearing that the youngster would make a whaleman.... That he had +never seen any one so cool at the striking of his first whale.... Roy +swelled visibly. + +Brander's initiation as an officer of the _Sally_ came at the same time; +and a bit of luck made it possible for the fourth mate to prove his +mettle. When they sighted spouts in three quarters, that morning, the +mate had chosen to go after a lone bull; old Tichel and Brander attacked +a small pod to the eastward; and Willis Cox went north to try for a fish +there. + +Brander gave Tichel right of way, since the old man was his superior +officer; and they came upon the pod with a matter of seconds to choose +between them. The whales were disappointingly small; nevertheless Tichel +attacked the largest, and Brander took the one that fell to him. His +irons went home a moment after Tichel's; his whale leaped into the +first blind struggle, not fleeing, but fighting to shake off the iron. + +Now it is customary, among whalemen, to wait till this first flurry has +passed, to allow the whale to run out his own strength, and then to pull +in for the finishing stroke. But Brander was ambitious; the whale was +small.... He changed places with Loum, and shouted orders to his men to +haul in the loose coils of line that had been thrown over with the +irons. The whale was circling, rolling, striking with its flukes; it had +not seen them, gave them no heed, but the very blindness of its +struggles made them a greater menace. + +They drew in on the whale; and Loum at the steering oar swung Brander +against the monster's flank. Brander got home his lance in three thrusts +before they were forced to draw clear to avoid the whale's renewed +struggles. But those three were enough; the spout crimsoned; he loosed +and backed away from the final flurry, and the whale was dead ten +minutes from the time when the first iron went home. + +That was exploit enough to prove Brander's ability; his quick kill +marked him as a man who knew his job. He could have afforded to be +content; but when his whale was fin out, and he looked around, he was in +time to see trouble come upon James Tichel. + +The whale Tichel struck had sounded; and just after Brander killed, it +breached before his eyes, under the very bows of Tichel's boat. Brander +saw the black column of its body rise up and up from the sea; it seemed +to ascend endlessly.... Then toppled, and slowly fell, and struck the +water so resoundingly that for a moment the whale and Tichel's boat were +hidden alike. Tichel was dodging desperately to get clear; but the +wallowing whale rolled toward him, over him, smothering his craft.... +Brander, when the tossing and tormented water quieted, saw the bobbing +heads of the men, and the boat just awash, and the gear floating all +around.... + +The whale showed no immediate disposition to run; it was rolling in a +frenzy, bending double as though to tear at its own wounds.... Brander +stuck a marking waif in his own whale, drove his men to their oars, cut +across to see that Tichel and the others were kept afloat by the boat, +and then managed to pick up one of the floating tubs of line, to which +the whale was still attached. The rest was easy enough; the whale fought +its strength away, and Brander made his kill. + +Willis Cox had failed to get fast; the whales he sought to attack took +fright as he approached them, and his game got away with a white slash +across the blubber where Long Jim's desperate cast of the harpoon had +gone wild. So Willis rowed to join Brander, and picked up Tichel and his +men, and took their boat and Tichel's whale which Brander had killed, in +tow. Brander took the other; they worked back to the _Sally_. When they +got back to the ship, Noll Wing clapped Brander on the shoulder and +applauded him. The excitement of the sudden chase, after the weeks of +idling, had put life into Noll. His cheeks were flushed; his eyes were +shining; he had the look of his old self once more.... + +Two whales at a time is as much as any whaler cares to handle; the +_Sally_ had three. A blow of any violence would have made it impossible +for them to cut in even one of the carcasses before the steady heat of +the southern seas rendered them unfit; but no squall came. The luck of +the _Sally_ had turned, and turned in earnest. The men welcomed the hard +work after their long idleness; they toiled at the windlass and the +gangway with the heartiest will. They raised chants as they walked the +blanket pieces up to the main head or slacked them down the deck to be +cut and stowed in the blubber room below the main hatch. The +intoxication of the toil took possession of them; they went at it +singing and exultant and afire; and even Noll caught the spirit of the +day from them. Youth flooded back into the man; his shoulders +straightened; his chest seemed to swell before their eyes. Faith, +watching him, thought he was like the man she had loved.... She was, for +a time, very happy.... + +The fever of it got into Noll's blood; and when they killed another +whale the third day after, he swore that at the next chance he would +himself lower for the chase. He fed on the thought.... Faith, fearful +for him, ventured to protest; her first thought was ever that on Noll's +safety depended the safety of the _Sally_, that Noll's first duty was to +bring the _Sally Sims_ safely home again. She told Noll this; told him +his place was with the ship. + +"The _Sally_ is your charge," she said. "You ought not to risk +yourself.... Take chances...." + +He laughed at her tempestuously. "By God," he cried, "I was never a man +to send men where I was afeared to go. So let be, Faith. You coddle me +like a child; and I am not a child at all. Let be." + +Faith surrendered helplessly; but she hoped he would forget, would not +keep his word. He might have forgotten as she hoped; he was sinking back +into his old lassitude when the masthead men sighted the next whale; but +Dan'l sought Noll out and said anxiously: + +"Best think better of it, sir. This looks like a big whale; a hard +customer." + +Noll had so nearly forgotten that he asked: "Think better of what, man?" + +Dan'l smiled, as though he were pleased. "I thought you meant to lower," +he said. "You do well to change your mind. Stay aboard here; leave us to +handle him." + +Which was like a goad to Noll, as Dan'l must have known it would be. The +captain laughed angrily, and thrust Dan'l aside, and took the mate's own +boat with Roy on the after thwart, and lowered. Faith was anxious; she +found chance to say to Brander, as the other boats were striking the +water: "Look after him, Mr. Brander." And Brander nodded reassuringly. + +Dan'l climbed into the rigging to watch the battle; he scarce took his +glass from his eye. What he hoped for, whether he thought chance and the +whale might wipe Noll from his path, only Dan'l knew. + +This whale, as it chanced, was sighted at early morning; and this was as +well. A big bull, the creature lay quietly, just awash, while the +captain's boat came upon it from behind. He stirred not at all till Noll +Wing swung hard on the long steering oar and brought them in against +the black side and bellowed to Silva: + +"Let go! Let go the irons!" + +Silva knew his work as well as any man; and he got both harpoons home to +the hitches, and threw the line clear as the bull leaped bodily forward +and upward, half out of the water, and whirled in a smothering turmoil +of spray and tortured foam to escape the blades that bit him. Noll swung +them out of his way, shouted to Silva: + +"Aft, now! Let me be at him, man...." + +And Silva came stumbling back across the thwarts to take the steering +oar, while Noll went forward and chose his lance and braced himself in +the bow. + +The whale, his first torment dulled, had stopped his struggle and lay +still, swinging slowly around in the water. It was as though he looked +about to discover what it was that had attacked him; and old Tichel--the +other boats were standing by in a half circle about Noll and the +whale--bawled across the water: + +"'Ware, sir. He's looking for you." + +Noll heard and waved his hand defiantly; and at the same time, the whale +saw Noll's boat and charged it. + +The whale, as has been said, would be invulnerable if his wit but +matched his bulk. It does not. Furthermore, the average whale will not +fight at all, but runs; and it is his efforts to escape that blindly +cause the damage, and even the tragedies of the fisheries. But when he +does attack, he attacks almost always in the same way. The sperm whale, +the cachalot, trusts to his jaw; he bites; and his enemy is not the men +in the boat, but the boat itself. Perhaps he cannot see the men; his +eye is small and set far back on either side of his great head. +Certainly, when once a boat is smashed, it is rare for a whale to +deliberately try to destroy the men in the water. The sperm whale tries +to bite; the right whale--it is from him your whalebone comes--strikes +with his vast flukes. He will lie quietly in the water and brush his +flukes back and forth across the surface, feeling for his enemy. If his +flukes touch a floating tub, an oar, a man, they coil up like an +enormous spring, and slap down with a blow that crushes utterly whatever +they may strike. The whalemen have a proverb: "'Ware the sperm whale's +jaw, and the right whale's flukes." And there is more truth than poetry +in that. + +When a sperm whale destroys a boat with his flukes, it is probably +accident; but he bites with malice prepense and pernicious. The whale +which Noll had struck set out to catch Noll's boat and smash it in his +jaws. + +His very eagerness was, for a long time, his destruction. The whale was +bulky; a full hundred feet long, and accordingly unwieldy. A man on foot +can, if he be sufficiently quick, dodge a bull in an open field; by the +same token, a thirty-foot whaleboat, flat-bottomed, answering like magic +to the very thought of the men who handle her, can dodge a +hundred-barrel bull whale. Noll's boat dodged; the men used their oars +at Noll's command, and Silva in the stern swung her around as on a pivot +with a single sweep. The whale surged past, the water boiling away from +its huge head. + +Surged past, and turned to charge again.... This time, as it passed, +Noll touched the creature with his lance, but the prick of it was no +more than the dart in the neck of a fighting bull. It goaded the whale, +and nothing more. He charged with fury; his very fury was their safety. + +Noll struck the whale at a little after nine o'clock in the morning. At +noon, the vast beast was still fighting, with no sign of weariness. It +charged back and forth, back and forth; and the men swung the boat out +of his way; and their muscles strained, their teeth ground together, the +sweat poured from them with their efforts. They were intoxicated with +the battle. Noll, in the bow, bellowed and shouted his defiance; the men +yelled at every stroke; they shook their fists at the whale as he raged +past them. And Silva, astern, snatching them again and again from the +jaws of destruction, grinned between tight lips, and plied his oar, and +cried to Noll to strike. + +At a little after noon, the whale swung past Noll with such momentum +that he was carried out to the rim of the circle in which the fight was +staged, and saw Tichel's boat there. Any boat was fair game to the +monster; and Tichel had grown careless with watching the breath-taking +struggle. He had forgotten his own peril; he expected the whale to turn +back on Noll again.... + +It did not; it swung for him, and its jaws sheared through the very +waist of his boat, so that the two halves fell away on either side of +the vast head. The men had time to jump clear; there was no man +hurt--save for the strangling of the salt water--and the whale seemed to +feel himself the victor, for he lay still as though to rest upon his +laurels. + +Willis Cox was nearest; he drove his boat that way, and stood in the +bow, with lance in hand to strike. But Noll, hauling up desperately on +the line, bellowed to him: "Let be, Willis. He's mine." And Willis +sheered off. + +Then the whale felt the tug of the line, and whirled once more to the +battle. Willis picked up Tichel and his men, towed the halves of the +boat away, back to the ship.... The _Sally_ was standing by, a mile from +the battle. Such whales as this could sink the _Sally_ herself with a +battering blow in the flank. It was dangerous to come too near. Willis +put Tichel and his men aboard, and went back to wait and be ready to +answer any command from Noll. + +The fifth hour of the battle was beginning.... The whale was tireless; +and Noll, in the bow of his boat, seemed as untired as the beast he +fought. But his men, even Silva, were wearying behind him. It was this +weariness that presently gave the whale his chance. He charged, and +Silva's thrust on the long oar was a shade too late. The boat slipped +out of reach of the crashing jaws; but the driving flukes caught it and +it was overturned. The gear flew out.... + +Noll, in the bow, clung to the gunwale for an instant as the boat was +overthrown. Long enough to wrench out the pin that held the line in the +boat's bow. Silva, astern, would have cut; his hatchet was ready. But +Noll shouted: "No, by God! Let be...." + +Then they were all in the water, tumbling in the surges thrown back by +the passage of the monster.... And the whale drove by, turned, saw no +boat upon the water, thought victory was come.... + +Brander, at this time, was a quarter-mile away. When the boat went +over, he yelled to his men: "Pull.... Oh, pull!" And they bent their +stout oars with the first hot tug; fresh men, untired, hungry these +hours past for a chance at the battle. Brander started toward where lay +the capsized boat, the swimming men.... + +And Noll Wing lifted a commanding arm and beckoned him to make all +speed. Brander urged his men: "Spring hard! Spring.... Hard. Now, on!" + +A whaleboat is as speedy as any craft short of a racing shell; and +Brander's men knew their work. They cut across the vision of the loafing +whale; and the beast turned upon this new attacker with undiminished +vigor. + +Brander's eyes narrowed as he judged their distance from the drifting +boat; he swerved a little to meet the coming whale head on. The whale +plowed at him; they met fifty yards to one side of the spot where the +boat was floating; and as they met, Brander dodged past the whale's very +jaw, and slid astern of him. Before the whale could turn, he was +alongside the capsized boat, dragging Noll over his own gunwale. + +He dragged Noll in; and he saw then that the captain held in his hand a +loop of the line that was fast to the whale. And Brander grinned with +delighted appreciation. Noll straightened, brushed Brander back out of +the way without regarding him, passed the line to the men in Brander's +boat. "Haul in," he roared. "Get that stowed aboard here. By God, we'll +get that whale...." + +They worked like mad, coiling the slack line in the waist, while Noll +fitted it into the crotch and pinned it there. The whale was back at +them, by then; they dodged again. And this time, as the creature swung +past, Loum--Brander's boat-steerer--brought them in close against the +monster's flank before dodging out to evade the smashing flukes. In that +instant, Noll saw his chance, and drove home his lance to half its +length. + +It was the first fair wound the whale had taken; a wound not fatal, not +even serious. Nevertheless, it seemed to take the fight out of the +beast. He sulked for a moment, then began--for the first time in more +than five hours' fighting--to run. + +The line whipped out through the crotch in the bow; the men tailed on to +it, and let it go as slowly as might be, while Loum swung the steering +oar to keep them in the creature's track. Noll, in the bow, was like a +man glorified; his cap was tugged tight about his head; he had flung +away his coat, and his shirt was open half way to the waist. The spray +lashed him; his wet garments clung to his great torso. His right hand +held the lance, point upward, butt in the bottom of the boat; his left +rested on the line that quivered to the tugging of the whale. His knee +was braced on the bow.... A heroic figure, a figure of strength +magnificent, he was like a statue as the whaleboat sliced the waves; and +his lips smiled, and his eyes were keen and grim. The line slipped out +through the burning fingers of the men; the whale raced on. + +Abruptly Noll snapped over his shoulder: "Haul in, Mr. Brander," And +Brander, at Noll's back, gave the word to the men; and they began to +take back the line they had given the whale in the beginning. It came in +slowly, stubbornly.... But it came. They drew up on the whale that fled +before them. They drew up till the smashing strokes of the flukes as the +creature swam no more than cleared their bow. Drew up there, and sheered +out under the thrust of Loum's long oar, and still drew on.... They were +abreast of the flukes; they swung in ahead of them.... They slid, +suddenly, against the whale's very side. + +The end came with curious abruptness. The whale, at the touch of the +boat against his side, rolled a little away from them so that his belly +was half exposed. The "life" of a whale, that mass of centering blood +vessels which the lance must find, lies low. Noll knew where it lay; and +as the whale thus rolled, he saw his mark.... He drove the lean lance +hard; drove it so hard there was no time to pull it out for a second +thrust. Nor any need. It was snatched from his hands as the whale rolled +back toward them. Loum's oar swung; they loosed line and shot away at a +tangent to the whale's course. And Noll cried exultantly, hands flung +high: "Let me, let me, be. He's done!" + +They saw, within a matter of seconds, that he was right. The whale +stopped; he slowly turned; he lay quiet for an instant as though +counting his hurts. The misty white of his spout was reddened by a +crimson tint; it became a crimson flood. It roared out of the spout +hole, driven by the monster's panting breath.... And the whale turned +slowly on his side a little, began to swim. + +A tiny trout, hooked through the head and thrown back into the pool, +will sometimes race in desperate circles, battering helplessly against +the bank, the bottom of the pool, the sunken logs.... Thus this +monstrous creature now swam; a circle that centered about the boat where +Noll and the others watched; that tore the water and flung it in on +them. Faster and faster, till it seemed his great heart must burst with +his own labors. And at the end, flung half clear of the water, threw his +vast bulk forward, surged idly ahead, slowly.... Was still. + +Noll cried: "Fin out, by God. He's dead...." + +A big whale, as big as most whalemen ever see, the biggest Noll himself +had ever slain. A fitting thing; for old Noll Wing had driven his last +lance. He was tired; he showed it when Brander gave the whale to Willis +for towing back to the ship, and raced for the _Sally_ with Noll panting +in the bow. The fire was dying in the captain's eyes; he pulled +Brander's coat about his great shoulders and huddled into it. He scarce +moved when they reached the _Sally_. Brander helped him aboard. Dan'l +Tobey cried: "A great fight, sir. Six hours; and two stove boats.... But +you killed." + +Noll wagged his old head, looked around for Faith, leaned heavily upon +her arm. + +"Take me down, Faith," he said. "Take me down. For I am very tired." + + + + +XIX + + +One-eyed Mauger sought out Brander three days later. Brander had been +decent to him from the beginning; and Mauger, who had been changed from +a venomous and evil thing into a cacklingly cheerful nonentity by Noll +Wing's blow and kick, repaid Brander with a devotion almost inhuman. He +sought out Brander three days later.... That is to say, he made +occasion, during the work of scrubbing up after Noll's last whale, to +come to Brander's feet; and while he toiled at the planking of the deck +there, he looked up at the fourth mate and nodded significantly. + +Brander understood the one-eyed man; he asked: "What's wrong, Mauger?" +His tone was friendly. + +Mauger chuckled mirthlessly, deprecatingly. "Don't want you should git +mad," he protested. + +Brander shook his head, his eyes sobering. "Of course not. What is it?" + +"There's chatter, forward," said Mauger. "They're talking dirt." + +Brander's voice fell. "Who?" + +"Slatter was th' first. Others now. Dirt." + +Brander looked about the deck; there was no one within hearing. He asked +quietly: "What kind of dirt?" + +Mauger looked up and grinned unhappily and apologetically. "You know," +he said. "You and--her...." + +Brander's eyes hardened; he said, under his breath: "Thanks, Mauger." +And he walked away from where the one-eyed man was scrubbing. Mauger +rose on his knees to look after the fourth mate with something like +worship in his eyes. + +Brander went aft with his problem. A real problem. Faith besmirched.... +He would have cut off his right hand to prevent it; but cutting off his +right hand would have done no good whatever. He would have fought the +whole crew of the _Sally_, single-handed; but that would have done even +less good than the other. You cannot permanently gag a man by jamming +your fist in his mouth. And Brander knew it; so that while he boiled +with anger and disgust, he held himself in check, and tried to consider +what should be done.... + +Must do something.... No easy task to determine what that something was +to be. + +Brander considered the members of the crew; the fo'm'st hands. Slatter +he knew; an evil man. Others there were like him, either from weakness +or sheer malignant festering of the soul. But there were some who were +men, some who were decent.... Some who would fight the foul talk, wisely +or unwisely as the case might be; some who had eyes to see the goodness +of Faith, and hearts to trust her.... + +Brander's task was to help these men. He could not himself go into the +fo'c's'le and strike; to do so would only spread the filth of words +abroad. But--one thing he could do. He saw the way.... + +Avoid Faith.... That would not be easy, since their lives must lie in +the cabin. Avoid Faith, avoid speaking to her save in the most casual +way, avoid being alone with her. That much he must do; and something +more. The crew would be spying on them now, watching, whispering. He +must give them no food for whispers; he must go further. He must give +them proof that their whispers were ill-founded. He must.... + +It was this word of Mauger's that led Brander to a determination which +was to threaten him with ruin in the end; it was this word of Mauger's +that determined Brander to give himself to the crew. To keep some of +them always near him, always in sight of him; to force them, if he +could, to see for themselves that he had little talk with Faith and few +words with her. That was what Brander planned to do. He worked out the +details carefully. When he was on deck, he must keep in their sight; and +he must keep himself on deck every hour of the day save when he went +below for meals. He decided to do more; the nights were warm and +pleasant. He had a hammock swung under the boathouse, and planned to +sleep there; he laid open his whole life to their prying eyes. Let them +see for themselves.... + +He was satisfied with this arrangement, at last. It was the best that +could be done; he put it into action at once, and he saw within three +days' time that Slatter and the others had noticed, and were wondering +and questioning. + +The men were puzzled; the cabin was puzzled. And no one was more puzzled +by Brander's new way of life than Dan'l Tobey. He was puzzled, but he +was at the same time elated. For he perceived that Brander had given him +a weapon, a handle to take hold of. And Dan'l was not slow to take +advantage of it. + +They were working westward at the time, killing whales as they went. +Ahead was the Bay of Islands, and Port Russell. Southward, the Solander +Rock, and the Solander Grounds, where all the big bull whales of the +seven seas have a way of flocking as men flock to their clubs. A cow is +seldom or never seen there; the bulls are slain by scores. Toward this +hunting ground, as famous for its whales as it was infamous for its ugly +weather, the _Sally Sims_ was working. They would touch at Port Russell +on the way.... + +Three days before they were like to make the Port, Dan'l made an +occasion to have words with Noll Wing. Noll was on deck, Faith and the +officers--save Brander, who was with Mauger forward--were all below. +There was a group of men by the tryworks; and Dan'l strolled that way. +He moved inconspicuously, approaching them on the opposite side of the +ship; and when he came near, he stopped and seemed to listen. Noll, aft, +was paying him little attention though Dan'l made sure that the captain +saw. + +Slatter was among the group of men; Dan'l scattered them, angrily, and +drove them forward. When they were gone, he went aft again; and as he +had expected, Noll asked: + +"What was that, Dan'l?" + +Dan'l smiled and said it was nothing that mattered; and his tone +suggested that it mattered a great deal. Noll sternly bade him speak, +and Dan'l said reluctantly: + +"It was but the foolish talk of idle men, sir. I bade them keep their +tongues still." + +"What manner of foolish talk?" + +Dan'l would not meet Noll's eyes. "Why, lies," he said. "Chatter." + +Noll said heavily: "I'm not a man to be put off, Dan'l. Speak up, man." + +Dan'l frowned sorrowfully: "It was just their talk about Mr. Brander and +Faith, sir. Lies, as I told you. They shut up when I spoke to them." + +"What talk of Brander and my wife?" Noll asked slowly. + +Dan'l shook his head. "You can guess it for yourself, sir. The men have +nothing better to do than chatter and gossip like old women. They've had +no work for three days. We need another whale to shut their mouths." + +"What talk?" Noll repeated. + +Dan'l smiled. "I think too well of Faith and of Brander to say it for +you," he insisted. + +Noll fell silent, his brows lowering for a space; then he waved his +great hand harshly. "Bosh," he said. "Foolishness." + +Dan'l nodded. "Of course. Nevertheless, I...." He fell silent; and Noll +looked at him acutely. + +"You--what?" he asked. + +"I don't blame Mr. Brander, you understand," said Dan'l. "But--it's in +my mind that--being with the crew as much as he is--he should put a stop +to it." + +Noll's eyes ranged the deck. Brander was amidships now; and Mauger was +still with him. Mauger was scraping at the rail, cleaning away some +traces of soot from the last trying out, under Brander's eye. They were +talking together; and Noll frowned and looked at Dan'l and asked: + +"You think Mr. Brander is too much with the crew?" + +Dan'l shook his head. "No, not too much. It's as well for an officer to +be on good terms with the men. Leastwise, some think so. I was never one +to do it. But--no, not too much. Nevertheless, he's much with them." + +Noll thought for a while, his brows lowering; and he said harshly, at +the end: "That matter of Faith is trash. Their clacking tongues should +be dragged out...." + +Dan'l nodded. "Aye; but that would not stop them. You know the men, +sir." And he added: "Still it seems Brander should be able to hush +them." And after a moment more: "You mark, he's all but deserted us in +the cabin. He sticks much with the men of late." + +Noll's face contracted. He touched Dan'l's arm. "I've seen that he is +much with Mauger," he agreed. "And Mauger...." His muscles twitched; and +he said under his breath: "Mauger's whetting his knife for me, Dan'l. +I'm watchful of that man." + +"He has a slinking eye," said Dan'l. "But I make no doubt he's harmless +enough, sir. I'd not fear him...." + +Noll said stoutly: "I'm not a hand to fear any man, Dan'l. +Nevertheless, that twitching eye of his frets me...." He shuddered and +gripped Dan'l's arm the tighter. "I should not have kicked the man, +Dan'l. I've been a hard man; too hard.... An evil man, in my day. I +doubt the Lord has raised up Mauger to destroy me." + +Dan'l laughed. "Pshaw, sir.... Even the Lord would have small use for a +thing like Mauger." He waited for a moment thoughtfully. "Any case," he +said. "If you were minded, you could drop him ashore at Port Russell and +be rid of him." + +Noll moved abruptly. "Eh," he said. "I had not thought of that." He +seemed to shrink from the thought.... "But it may be he is meant to be +about me.... I'd not go against the Lord, Dan'l...." + +Dan'l looked sidewise at the captain; and there was something like +contempt in his eyes. He said slowly: "If it was me, I'd set the man +quietly ashore...." + +He turned away, left Noll to think of the matter.... + + * * * * * + +Dan'l wondered, all that day, whether Noll would act; but toward +nightfall they raised a spout, and killed as dark came upon them. That +held them, for cutting in and trying out, three days where they lay; and +they killed once more before they made the Bay of Islands. They were +touching at Port Russell for water and fresh vegetables; they put in +there.... + +When the anchor went down, Noll sent for Brander to come down to him in +the cabin. They had anchored at nightfall, and would not go ashore till +morning. Noll sent for Brander; and when Brander came, Noll looked at +him furtively.... + +Brander saw the captain had been drinking; Noll's hands shook, and his +fingers and his tongue were unsteady. The muscles of his face twitched; +and there was a Bible open in his lap and a bottle beside him. Brander +held his eyes steady, masked what he felt. Noll beckoned with a crooked +finger. + +"Come 'ere," he said huskily. + +Brander faced him. They were in the after cabin; and Noll sat still. +"We're staying here a day," he said. + +Brander nodded. "Wood and stores, sir, I suppose." + +Noll nodded heavily. "Oh, aye.... But, something else, Mr. Brander. I'm +goin' leave here that man in your boat. Mauger...." + +Brander's lips tightened faintly; he held his voice. "Mauger?" he +echoed. "Why? What's wrong with him?" + +"Don' want him around any more," said Noll slowly. + +"Why not?" Brander insisted. + +Noll's lips twitched with the play of his nerves, and he poured a drink +and lifted it to his mouth with unsteady fingers. He set down the glass, +spilling a little of the liquor; and he wiped his mouth with the back of +his hand. "I had 'casion to discipline Mauger," he said, with awkward +dignity, his head wagging. "I had 'casion to discipline Mauger. An' now +he's got a knife for me. He's goin' kill me. I ought kill him; put the +man shore, 'stead of that." + +Brander smiled reassuringly. "Mauger's harmless, sir. And he does his +work." + +Noll shook his head. "I know 'im. He's a murd'rer. I'm goin' put him +ashore." + +The fourth mate hesitated; then he said quietly: "All right. If he goes, +I go too." + +Noll's head jerked back as though he had been struck; and his red eyes +widened and narrowed again as he peered at Brander, and he hesitated +unsteadily. "Wha's that?" he asked. "Wha's that you say?" + +"I say I'll go if he goes." + +Noll's head drooped and swayed wearily; but after a moment he asked: +"Wha' for?" + +"The man shipped for the cruise," said Brander. "He does his work. I'll +not be a party to putting him ashore--dumping him in this God-forsaken +hole." + +Noll raised a hand. "Don' speak of God," he said reprovingly. "You don' +understand Him, Mr. Brander." Brander said nothing; and Noll's hand +dropped and he whined: "Man can't do what he wants on his own ship...." + +Brander said: "Do as you like, sir. I think you should let him stay. He +means no harm...." + +Noll waved his hand. "Oh, a'right," he agreed. "Say no more 'bout it at +all. Let be. Keep'm; keep'm, Mr. Brander. But lis'en." He eyed Brander +shrewdly. "Lis'en. I know one thing. He's goin' to knife me some night. +I know. He's a murd'rer. And you're defending him.... Pr'tecting him. +Birds of a feather flock t'gether, Mr. Brander." The captain got +unsteadily to his feet, raised a threatening hand. "When he kills me; +just r'member. My blood's on your own head, sir." + +Brander hesitated; his heart revolted. His impulse was to leave the +ship, take Mauger, trust his luck.... But he thought of Faith. This man, +her husband, was dying.... He could see that. And when he was gone, +there would be trouble aboard the _Sally_. Faith herself meant trouble; +the ambergris in the captain's storeroom meant more trouble.... Brander +knew it might well be that Faith would need him in that day.... He could +not leave her.... + +He said quietly: "I take that responsibility, sir." + +Noll was slumped in his chair again. "Go 'way," he said, and waved his +hand. "Go 'way." + + * * * * * + +That night, in the small hours, Noll screamed in a way that woke the +ship; he had come out of drunken slumber, desperate with a vivid +hallucination that appalled him.... + +He thought that Mauger was at him with a sheath knife, and that Brander +was at Mauger's back. Faith and Dan'l fought to soothe him; Faith in her +loose dressing-gown, her hair in its thick braid.... Dan'l had more eyes +for Faith than for Noll. He had never seen her thus before; never seen +her so beautiful; never seen her, he thought, so desperately to be +desired.... His lips were wet at the sight of her.... + +Noll's terror racked and tore at the man; it seemed to rip the very +flesh from his bones. When it passed, at last, and he fell asleep again, +he was wasted like a corpse. + +Dan'l, looking at Noll and at Faith, wished Noll were a corpse indeed. + + + + +XX + + +A change was coming to pass in Faith at this time. As the strength +flowed out of Noll, it seemed to flow into her. As Noll weakened, Faith +was growing strong. + +She had never lacked a calm strength of her own; the strength of a good +woman. But she was acquiring now the strength and resolution of a man. +At first, this was unconscious; the spectacle of Noll's degeneration +moved her by the force of contrast. But for a long time she clung to the +picture of the Noll of the past, clung to the hope that the captain +would become again the man she had married. And so long as she did this, +she made herself a part of him, his support.... She merged herself in +him, thought of herself only as his helpmate.... She had always tried to +stimulate his pride and strength; she had tried to lead him to reassume +the domination of the _Sally_ and all aboard her. And in the days before +Noll went out to kill his whale, she thought for a time she had +succeeded. + +But when Noll came back to her that day, exhausted by the struggle, the +fire gone out of him, Faith perceived that he was a weak vessel, +cracking and breaking before her eyes. + +Noll was gone; he was no longer a man. His hands and his heart had not +the force needed to enable him to command the _Sally_, to make the +voyage successful, to bring the bark safely back to port in the end. +Faith saw this; but she refused to consider the chance of failure. She +had married Noll when he was at the height of his apparent strength; the +signs of his disintegration were not yet apparent. They had swept upon +him suddenly.... But she would not have it said of him, when he was +gone, that he had sailed the seas too long; that he had failed at last, +and shamefully.... + +She had come to look upon the success of this last voyage of Noll's as a +sacred charge; and when Noll's shoulders weakened, she prepared +deliberately to take the burden on her own. The _Sally_ must come safely +home, with filled casks for old Jonathan Felt; she must come safely +home, no matter what happened to Noll--or to herself. The prosperity of +the _Sally Sims_ was almost a religion to Faith.... + +She had begun to study navigation more to pass the long and dreary days +than from any other motive; she applied herself to it now more ardently. +And she began, at the same time, to study the men about her; to weigh +them; to consider their fitness for the responsibilities that must fall +upon them. The fo'm'st hands, and particularly the mates, she weighed in +the balance. The mates, and above all Dan'l Tobey. For if Noll were to +go, Dan'l, by all the ancient laws of the sea, would become master of +the ship; and their destinies would lie in his hands.... + +Short of the Solander Grounds, they struck good whaling, and lingered +for a time; and day by day the tuns and casks were filled, and the +_Sally_ sank lower in the water with her increasing load. They were +two-thirds full, and not yet two years out. Good whaling.... At dinner +in the cabin one day, Dan'l Tobey said to Faith: + +"You've brought us good luck, Faith, by coming along, this cruise. We +never did much better, since I've been with Cap'n Wing." + +Faith looked to Noll. Noll was eating slowly, paying them no attention. +Silence was falling upon the captain in those days, like a foreshadowing +of the great silence into which he would presently depart. He said +nothing; so Faith said: "Yes. We've done well.... I'm glad." + +Old James Tichel looked slyly from face to face. "And the 'gris, stowed +below us here, will make it a fine fat cruise for old Jonathan Felt when +we come home," he chuckled. + +At the mention of the ambergris, a little silence fell. Brander was at +the table, Brander and the others. Dan'l and Willis Cox and young Roy +Kilcup looked at Brander, as though expecting him to speak. He said +nothing, and old Tichel, gnawing at his food, chuckled again, as though +pleased with what he had said. + +The ambergris, so rich a treasure in so small a bulk, had never been +forgotten for a minute by any man in the cabin; nor by Faith. But they +had not spoken of it of late; there was nothing to be said, and there +was danger in the saying. It was as well that it be forgotten until they +were home again.... There were too many chances for trouble in the +stuff.... + +When Brander did not speak, however, Dan'l gently prodded him. He said +to Tichel: "You're forgetting that Mr. Brander claims it for his own." + +Tichel chuckled again. "Oh, aye, I was forgetting that small matter," he +agreed. "My memory is very short at times." + +Still Brander said nothing. Dan'l looked toward him. "I'll be warrant +Mr. Brander does not forget," he said. + +Brander looked toward Dan'l, and he smiled amiably. "Thank you," he told +the mate. "Keep me reminded. It had all but slipped from my mind." + +There was so much hostility in the air, in the slow words of the men, +that Faith said quietly: "We'll be on the Solander, soon. I'm looking +forward to that, Dan'l. You've seen the Rock?" + +She hoped to change them to another topic; but Dan'l brought it smoothly +back again. "Yes," he said. "Yes.... Last cruise, the _Betty Howe_, out +of Port Russell, picked up a sizable chunk of 'gris not a week before we +touched the grounds. That brought two-sixty to the pound, I heard." + +"How much was it?" Willis Cox asked; and Dan'l looked to Willis and said +amiably: + +"Fifteen pound or so. No more than a thimbleful to what we've got.... +That is to say, to what Mr. Brander's got, below here." + +Brander had finished eating; he rose to go on deck. But Roy Kilcup could +no longer hold his tongue. He got to his feet in Brander's path, +demanded sharply: + +"Do you honestly mean to claim that for your own, Mr. Brander? Are you +so much of a hog?" + +Brander looked down at the boy; and he smiled. "I'll give you your +share, now, if it will stop your worrying, youngster," he said. + +"I want to know what you're going to do," Roy insisted. "Are you going +to stick to your claim?" + +"Others want to know," said Brander, and stepped to one side to pass +Roy. Roy would have spoken again; but Noll said heavily from the head of +the table: + +"Roy, let be." + +That put a moment's silence upon them all. In this silence, Brander went +on his way to the deck. Roy stared after him for a moment, then sat down +in his place. His face was sullen and angry.... No one spoke of the +matter again; but Dan'l saw that Faith was thoughtful. Faith was +puzzling over Brander, trying to fathom the man.... She was troubled and +uneasy.... Dan'l saw that Noll had lifted his heavy head and was +watching her. + +Afterward, Dan'l went with Noll into the after cabin. Faith had gone on +deck; and she and Willis Cox were talking together, by the wheel, with +Roy. Brander, as usual, had taken himself to the waist where he was +under the eye of the crew. His harpooner, Loum, was with him. Mauger +hung within sound of his voice like an adoring dog. + +Dan'l, in the after cabin with Noll, made up the log. Noll sat heavily +on the seat, half asleep. He got up, while Dan'l was still writing, and +got his bottle. It was almost empty; and he cursed at that, and Dan'l +looked up and said: + +"Sit down, sir. Give that to me. I'll fill it up again." + +Noll accepted the offer without speaking, and gave Dan'l the key to his +storeroom, where there was a cask of whiskey, and another of rum. Dan'l +came back presently with the bottle filled.... His eyes were shining +with an evil inspiration, but he said nothing for a little. When his +work on the log was done, however, he looked across to Noll, and after a +little, as though answering a spoken question, said: + +"I wouldn't worry about him, sir." + +Noll looked at him dully. "About who, Dan'l?" + +"Brander. I saw you watching him...." + +Noll dropped his head. "I don't like the man." + +"He's a good officer." + +"Oh, aye...." + +"I doubt if he means trouble over the 'gris." + +Noll waved a hand fretfully. "He's too much with the crew, Mr. Tobey." + +Dan'l shook his head. "I doubt it. That's one way to handle men--Be one +of them. They'll do anything for him, sir." + +Noll's eyes narrowed with the shrewdness of a drunken man. "That's the +worst part of it. Will they do anything for me, Dan'l? Or for you?" + +Dan'l said reluctantly: "Well, sir, maybe they'd jump quicker for him." + +"And that's not reassuring," said Noll. "Is it, now?" + +"It wouldn't be, if he meant wrong. I don't think he does. Any case, he +knows the 'gris is not his, in the end...." And he added: "You're +concerned over Faith and him--the way they are when they're together. +But there's no need, sir. Faith is loyal...." + +Noll looked at the mate, and he frowned. "How are they, when they're +together?" + +"I thought you had marked it for yourself.... I meant nothing." + +"Nothing? You meant something. You've seen something. What is it you've +seen, Dan'l?" + +Dan'l protested. "Why, nothing at all. There's no harm in their being +friends. He's a young man, strong, with wisdom in his head; and she's +young, too. It's natural that young folk should be friendly." + +Noll's head sank upon his chest; he said dully: "Aye, and you're +thinking I'm old." + +"No, sir," Dan'l cried. "Not that. You're not so old as you think, sir. +Not so old but what you might strike, if there was need. I only meant it +was to be expected that they should be drawn together, like. Faith's +young...." + +Noll's eyes were reddening angrily. "Speak out, man," he exclaimed. +"Don't shilly-shally with your tongue. If there's harm afoot, by God, I +can take a hand. What's in your mind?" + +"Why, nothing at all. No harm in the world, sir.... I was only meaning +to reassure you. I thought you had seen her eyes when she looked at the +man...." + +"Her eyes?" + +"Aye." + +"What's in her eyes?" + +Dan'l frowned uncomfortably. "Why--friendship, if you like. Liking, +perhaps. Nothing more, I'll swear. I know Faith too well...." + +Noll said heavily: "I'll watch her eyes, Dan'l." + +Dan'l said with apparent anxiety: "You should not concern yourself, +Cap'n Wing. It's but the fancy of youth for youth.... I...." + +Noll came to his feet with sudden rage in him. "Have done, Dan'l. I...." + +They both heard, then, Faith's step in the main cabin; and their eyes +met and burned. And Dan'l got up quietly, and closed the log, and as +Faith came in, he went out and closed the door behind him. Closed the +door and crossed to the companion as though to go on deck; but he +lingered there, listening.... + +Listened; but there was little for him to hear. When the door closed +behind him, Faith had turned to her own cabin, hers and Noll's. Noll sat +down, his eyes sullen.... He watched her through the open door to the +cabin where their bunks were. She turned after a moment and came out to +him; and he got to his feet with a rush of anger, and stared at her, so +that she stood still.... + +He said hoarsely: "Faith.... By God...." + +His words failed, then, before the steady light in her eyes. She was +wondering, questioning him.... She met his eyes so fairly that the soul +of the man cowered and shrank. The strength of rage went from him. He +drew back. + +"What is it, Noll?" she asked. "Why are you--angry?" + +He lifted a clenched hand over his head; it trembled there for an +instant, then came slowly down. He wrenched open the door to the main +cabin, and went out and left her standing there.... + +Faith watched him go; perplexity in her eyes. Dan'l joined him, and they +went on deck together. + + + + +XXI + + +They came to the Solander Grounds with matters still in this wise. +Brander much with the crew; Noll Wing rotting in his chair in the cabin; +Faith gaining strength of soul with every day; Dan'l playing upon Noll, +upon Roy, upon all those about him to his own ends.... + +The Solander received them roughly; they passed the tall Solander Rock +and cruised to the westward, keeping it in sight. There was another +whaling ship, almost hull down, north of them, and the smoke that +clouded her told the _Sally_ she had her trypots going. Dan'l Tobey was +handling the vessel; and he chose to work up that way. But before they +were near the other craft, the masthead men sighted whales.... Spouts +all about, blossoming like flowers upon the blue water. Noll had +regained a little of his strength when they came upon the Grounds; he +took the ship, and bade Dan'l and the other mates lower and single out a +lone whale.... + +"They'll all be bulls, hereabouts," he said. "Big ones, too.... And +we'll take one at a spell and be thankful for that...." + +The whale was, as Noll had predicted, a bull. Dan'l made the kill, a +ridiculously easy one. The vast creature lifted a little in the water at +the first iron; he swam slowly southward; but there was no fight in him +when they pulled up and thrust home the lance. The lance thrusts seemed +to take out of him what small spirit of resistance there had been in the +beginning; and when his spout crimsoned, he lay absolutely still, and +thus died.... + +An hour after lowering, the whale was alongside the _Sally_; a monstrous +creature, not far short of the colossus Cap'n Wing had slain. He was +made fast to the fluke-chain bitt, and the cutting in began +forthwith.... That, too, on Noll Wing's order. "Fair weather never +sticks, hereabouts," he said. "Work while there's working seas." + +Now the first part of cutting in a whale is to work off the head; and +that is no small task. For the whale has no neck at all, unless a +certain crease in his thick blubber may be called a neck. The spades of +the mates, keen-edged, and mounted on long poles with which they jab +downward from the cutting stage, chock into the blubber and draw a deep +cut along the chosen line.... The carcass is laboriously turned, the +process is repeated.... Thus on, till at last the huge mass can be torn +free.... + +Before the work on this whale was half done, it became apparent that a +gale was brewing. Cross swells, angling together at the mouth of Foveaux +Straits, kicked up a drunken sea that made the _Sally_ pitch and roll at +the same time; a combination not relished by any man. Nevertheless, the +head was got off and hauled alongside for cutting up.... + +This work had taken the better part of the night; and with the dawn, +there arose a whine in the wind that sang a constant, high note in the +taut rigging. With the _Sally_ pitching and rolling drunkenly, the +fifteen ton junk was got off the head and hoisted aboard, while every +strand of rigging creaked and protested at the terrible strain. The +blubber was coming in; but the wind was increasing.... + +In the end, the _Sally_ had to let go what remained of her catch and run +for it, losing thereby the huge "case" full of spermaceti, and a full +half of the blubber. But it was time.... The wind was still +increasing.... The _Sally_ scudded like a yacht before it.... + +They ran into Port William for shelter, and Noll Wing swore at his ill +luck, and when the ship was anchored, went sulkily below.... Dan'l drove +the men to their tasks.... + +The weeks that followed were repetitions of this first experience, with +such capricious modifications as the gales and the sea chose to arrange. +They killed many big whales; some they lost altogether, and some they +lost in part, and some few they harvested. They fell into the way of +running for port with their kill as soon as the whale was alongside, +rather than risk the storms in the open.... It was hard and steady work +for all hands; and as the men had grumbled at ill luck when they sighted +no whales, so now they grumbled because their luck was overgood. The +deck of the _Sally_ was filled with morose and sullen faces.... + +Dan'l found them easy working, ready for his hands; and by a word +dropped now and then through these busy times, he led them in the way he +wished them to go.... He never let them forget, for one thing, the +ambergris beneath the cabin. When they grumbled, he reminded them it +was there as a rich reward for all their labors.... And he reminded +them, at the same time, that Brander claimed it.... Neither did he let +the men forget that which he wished them to believe of Faith and +Brander. By indirections; by words with Roy which he took care they +should overhear; by reproofs for chance-caught words, he kept the matter +alive in their minds, so that they began to look at Faith sidewise when +she appeared upon the after deck.... + +Brander was not blind to this; and if he had been blind, Mauger's one +eye would have seen for him. He knew the matter in the minds of the men; +but he could not be sure that Dan'l was putting it there.... Could not +be sure; nevertheless, he spoke to Dan'l of it one day.... It was the +first time since Brander came aboard that he and Dan'l had had more than +passing word. + +Brander made an opportunity to take the mate aside; and he held Dan'l's +eyes with his own and said steadily: "Mr. Tobey, there's ugly talk among +the men aboard here that should be put a stop to...." + +Dan'l looked surprised; he asked what Brander meant. Brander said +openly: "They're coupling my name with that of the captain's wife. +You've heard them. It should be ended." + +Dan'l said amiably: "I know. It's very bad. But that is a thing you +can't stop from the after deck, Mr. Brander." + +Brander said: "That's true. So what do you think should be done in the +matter?" + +The mate waved his hand. "It's not my affair, Mr. Brander. It's not me +whose name is coupled with Faith's. You know that, yourself." + +Brander nodded. "Suppose," he said, "suppose I go forward again.... I'll +make some occasion to commit a fault: Cap'n Wing can send me forward and +put Silva, or another, in my place." + +Dan'l looked at Brander sharply; and he shook his head. "The men would +be saying, then, that it was because of this matter you were put out of +the cabin." + +"I suppose so." + +"It is very sure." + +"What would you suggest?" Brander asked, his eyes holding Dan'l's. Dan'l +seemed to weigh the matter. + +"How if you were to leave the ship completely?" he inquired. + +Brander's eyes narrowed; and Dan'l, in spite of himself, turned away his +head. If Brander left the ship.... There was no other man aboard whom he +need fear when the time should come.... If Brander but left the ship.... + +Brander's eyes narrowed; he studied Dan'l; and after a little he laughed +harshly, and nodded his head as though assured of something which he had +doubted before. "No," he said. "No. I'll not leave the _Sally_...." He +could never do that; there might come the day when Faith would have to +look to him.... "No; I'll stick aboard here...." + +Dan'l's hopes had leaped so high; they fell so low.... But he hid his +chagrin. "You are right," he said. "That is a deal to ask, just to stop +the idle chatter of the men. Stay.... Best stay.... It will be +forgotten." + +Brander turned abruptly away, to crush down a sudden flood of anger that +had clenched his fists. He knew Dan'l, now, beyond doubt. He had guessed +the mate's eagerness to be rid of him.... Dan'l should not have his way +in this so easily.... + +Dan'l's own eyes had been opened by this talk with Brander. The mate's +heart had not yet formed his full design; he was working evil without +any further plan than to bring harm and ruin.... But Brander's +suggestion, the possibility that Brander might leave the ship, had +revealed to Dan'l in a single flash how matters would lie in his two +hands if Brander were gone. Noll Wing was nothing; old Tichel he could +swing; Willis Cox was a boy; the crew were sheep. Only Brander stood out +against him; only Brander must be beaten down to clear his path. With +Brander gone.... + +Dan'l set himself this task; to eliminate Brander. He thought of many +plans, a little mishap in the whaling, a kinked line, a flying spade, an +ugly mischance.... But these could not be arranged; he could only hope +for the luck of them. Hope for the luck.... But that need not prevent +him working to help out the fates. Not openly; he could not do that +without setting Brander on guard. And Brander on guard was doubly to be +feared. Dan'l remembered an ancient phrase, the advice of an old +philosopher to a rebellious soul, he thought. "When you strike at a +king, you must kill him...." It was so with Brander; he must be +destroyed at a blow.... Utterly.... + +Noll was a tool that might serve; Noll would strike, if he could be +roused to the full measure of wrath. Dan'l worked with Noll discreetly, +in hidden words, appearing always to defend Brander.... Brander and +Faith meant no harm.... They were friends, no more.... Dan'l assured +Noll of this, again and again; and he took care that his assurances +should not convince. Noll stormed at him one night: + +"Why must you always be defending Faith? Why do you stand by her?" + +And Dan'l said humbly: "I've always known Faith, sir. I don't want to +see her do anything.... That is, I don't want to see you harsh with her, +sir." + +And Noll fell into a brooding silence that pleased Dan'l mightily.... +But still he did not strike at Brander.... + +Dan'l reminded the captain that Brander still gave much time to the +crew; he played on that string.... Still hoping Noll might be roused to +overwhelming rage. But Dan'l's poisoned soul was losing its gift of +seeing into the hearts of men; the old Noll would have reacted to his +words as he hoped. This new Noll was another matter; this Noll, aging +and rotting with drink, was led by Dan'l's talk to hate Brander--and to +fear him. His fear of Brander and of the one-eyed man obsessed even his +sober mind. He would never dare seek to crush Brander openly; Faith he +might strike, but not the man. + +In the end, even Dan'l perceived this; he cast about for a new +instrument, and found it in the man, Slatter. + +Slatter had crossed Brander's path, to his sorrow. The loose-tongued man +dropped some word of Faith which Brander heard, and Brander +remembered.... He made pretext of Slatter's next small failure at the +work to beat the man into a bleeding pulp.... No word of Faith in this; +he thrashed Slatter for idling at the windlass when a blanket strip was +being hoisted, and for impudence.... And Slatter was his enemy +thereafter. Dan'l saw, and understood.... And he cultivated Slatter; he +tended the man's hurts, and gave him covert sympathy for the beating he +had taken.... And Slatter, emboldened, harshly swore that he would end +Brander for it, give him half a chance. + +Dan'l said hastily, and quietly: "Don't talk such matters, man. There's +more than you aboard ship would do that if they dared. I'm not saying +even Noll Wing would not smile to see Brander gone.... No matter +why...." + +"I know why," Slatter swore. "Every man forrad knows the why of +that...." + +"Well, then you'll not blame Noll," said Dan'l. "I'm thinking he'd fair +kiss the man that had a hand in ending Brander, if it was not done too +open. But there's none aboard would dare it...." + +"By God, let me get him forrad, right, and I'll...." + +"Quiet," said Dan'l. "Here's the man himself...." + +Here was his tool; Dan'l waited only the occasion. There was a way to +make that. + +A whaler's crew are for the most part scum; harmless enough when they're +held in hand.... Harmless enough so long as they're kept in fear. But +alcohol drives fear out of a man. And there was whiskey and rum in the +captain's storeroom, aft.... + +It was one of the duties of Roy, as ship's boy, to fetch up stores from +this room at command; he was accustomed to fill Noll Wing's bottles now +and then. Dan'l saw he might use Roy; and he did so without scruple. +"I've need for liquor, Roy," he told the lad. "But I'd not ask Noll.... +He's jealous of the stuff, as you know. So when next you're down, fill a +jug.... Fetch it up to me." + +He said it so casually that Roy agreed without question. The boy was +pleased to serve Dan'l.... Dan'l held him, he had captured Roy, heart +and soul. Roy gave him the jug full of liquor next morning, Slatter had +it by nightfall, and that without Dan'l's appearing in the matter. +Slatter came aft to take the wheel, and Dan'l saw to it the jug was in +his sight and at hand.... Slatter carried it forward with him.... He +passed Dan'l in the waist; and Dan'l looked at the jug and laughed and +said: + +"Man, that looks like liquor." + +Slatter grinned uneasily. "Oil for the fo'c's'le lamp," he said. + +Dan'l wagged his head. "See that that's so," he said. "If any ructions +start in the fo'c's'le, I'll send Brander forward to quiet you. You'll +not be wanting Brander to lay hand on you again." + +Slatter's eyes shifted hungrily; he went on his way with quick feet, +and Dan'l watched him go, and his eyes set hard. + +That was at dusk. Toward ten that night, when Brander was in his hammock +under the boathouse, one of the men howled, forward, and there was the +sound of scuffling in the fo'c's'le. Dan'l was aft, waiting.... He +called to Brander: + +"Go forward and put a stop to that yammering, Mr. Brander." + +Brander slid out of his hammock, assented quietly, and started forward +along the deck. Dan'l watched his dark figure in the night until it was +lost in the waist of the _Sally_.... He waited a moment.... Brander must +be at the fo'c's'le scuttle by now.... + +Came cries, blows, a tumultuous outbreak. The _Sally_ rang with the +storm of battle. Then, abruptly, quiet.... + +At that sudden-falling quiet, Dan'l turned pale in spite of himself; he +licked his lips. The thing was done.... + +He ran forward, virtuously ready to take a hand. + + + + +XXII + + +When Brander, at Dan'l's command, went forward to quiet the men in the +fo'c's'le, he found two or three of the crew on deck about the scuttle, +watching the tumult below.... When they heard him and saw him, they +backed away. The light from the fo'c's'le lamp dimly illumined their +faces; and Brander thought there was something murderous and at the same +time furtive in their eyes. + +More than that, he caught the smell of alcohol.... So there was whiskey +loose below him. + +A man boiled up the ladder past him to the deck, saw him and slid away +into the dark. Another.... Six or eight were still fighting below. + +Brander had that sixth sense which men must have who would command other +men; he felt, now, the peril in the air. His duty was down there among +those fighting men; to get down, he would ordinarily have used the +ladder. But to do so would be to engage his hands and his feet, and he +might well have need of both these members.... He put his hands on the +edge of the fo'c's'le scuttle and dropped lightly to the floor of the +fo'c's'le, without touching the ladder. He landed on his toes, poised, +ready.... + +The narrow, crowded, triangular den was thick with the smell of hot men, +of whiskey, of burning oil; the air was heavy with smoke. A single +swinging lamp lighted the place.... Beneath this lamp, four or five men +were involved in a battle from which legs and arms were waved awkwardly +as their owners struggled. Two other men crouched at opposite sides of +the fo'c's'le.... Watching.... One was Mauger; the other Slatter. +Brander cried: + +"Drop it, now...." + +The character of the struggle changed; the fighting men straightened.... +Then some one hit the lamp and sent it whirling into darkness; and at +the same moment, Brander heard Slatter scream murderously.... He slipped +to one side, backed into a corner, held hands before him, ready to meet +an attack.... + +Slatter's charge, if he were attacking Brander, should have carried the +man past the mate's hiding place. But Brander, in the dark, heard a +thump of two bodies together, and heard Slatter bellowing profanity, and +heard heels thumping upon the floor. Then two or three men made a rush +up the ladder to the deck.... Another.... Brander stepped forward, +tripped over a whirling leg, and dropped upon a smother of two bodies +which writhed beneath him. An arm was flying; he gripped for it and +felt the prick of a knife in his wrist. So.... Death in the air, +then.... + +He dragged that arm down to his face and bit at the wrist and the back +of the hand, till he felt the knife drop from the man's fingers.... The +three of them were writhing and striking and kicking and strangling.... +But the knife was gone.... So much the better. He began to fumble with +his right hand, seeking marks for his fists.... He did not strike +blindly, but when he struck, his blows went home.... On some one's ribs, +and back, and once on the neck at the base of the ear.... + +They were fighting in silence now.... All had passed so quickly that it +was still scarce more than seconds since Brander dropped into the +fo'c's'le. Their bodies thumped the planking resonantly; they struggled +in a fashion that shook the ship. They were gasping and choking for +breath.... + +Some one screamed terribly in Brander's very ear, and a hand that was +gripping his neck relaxed and fell away. The bodies of the fighting men +were for an instant still; and in that instant's silence, some one +asked: + +"You all right, Mr. Brander?" + +Brander knew the voice. Mauger's. He said: "Yes...." + +Mauger squirmed out from under Brander.... "What hit Slatter?" he asked +sharply. "Did you get him?..." + +Brander got up, and the body of Slatter fell away from him limply. It +was about that time that Dan'l reached the fo'c's'le scuttle above, and +looked down into the darkness. He saw nothing; and he called: + +"Mr. Brander?" + +Brander said quietly: "Yes, sir, all right." + +"What's wrong, here?" + +"Slatter tried to knife me," said Brander. + +"Have you got him?" + +"I don't know. He's still. Strike a light, if you please...." + +Dan'l was already half way down the ladder; but even before his sulphur +match scratched, Brander's nostrils told him what had happened. They +brought him a smell.... Unmistakable.... Appalling.... The smell of +blood.... + +He was on his knees beside Slatter's body when Dan'l bent over him with +the flickering match. They saw Slatter doubled forward over his own +legs, and Brander explained swiftly: "I had a full-Nelson.... I was +forcing him over that way when he yelled...." + +He lifted Slatter's body; and they saw the hilt of a knife that was +stuck downward, deep into his right thigh. Dan'l cried: + +"You've killed him." + +And one-eyed Mauger interrupted loyally: "No, he didn't. Didn't...." + +Dan'l looked at the one-eyed man. "How do you know?" + +"I did. I stuck the knife in him...." + +Brander looked at Mauger, and he touched the little man's shoulder. +"You're a liar, little friend," he said, and smiled. And he turned to +Dan'l. "I bit the knife out of his hand," he said. "Out of Slatter's.... +It fell against my chest and slid down.... It must have dropped between +his body and his legs, and his own body, bending forward, drove it in." + +Dan'l smiled unpleasantly. "All right; but Mauger says he did it." + +Brander shook his head. "He didn't. For a good reason. He was flat on +the floor, and I was kneeling on his back, between him and Slatter, +when Slatter yelled and quit fighting...." + +Dan'l groped for the whale-oil lamp and lighted it and bent to look at +the knife. "How did it kill him, there?" he demanded. + +"Struck the big thigh artery," said Brander. "It must have...." + +Then Noll Wing's voice came to them from the scuttle. "What's wrong, +below?" And his big bulk slid down the ladder.... + + * * * * * + +Brander's explanation was the one that went down in the log, in the end. +Noll wrote it himself, in the irregular and straggling characters which +his trembling fingers formed. And that was Faith's doing; for Dan'l did +not believe, or affected not to believe, and Noll was too shaken by the +tragedy to know what he believed. + +Dan'l and Noll and Faith talked it over between them, in the after +cabin, the next morning. Faith had slept through the disturbance of the +night before; but when she heard of it in the morning it absorbed her. +She went on deck and found Brander and made him tell her what had +happened. He described the outbreak in the fo'c's'le; he told how, when +he went forward, he smelled liquor on the men.... How he dropped through +the fo'c's'le scuttle, and some one knocked the lamp from its hanging, +and Slatter rushed him. + +"Mauger saw what the man meant," he said. "He jumped on him from the +side; and then I took a hand; and we had it for a while, in a heap on +the floor." + +The other men in the fo'c's'le had fled to the deck, leaving Slatter to +do his own work. "I made him let go of the knife," Brander explained, +"and after we had banged around for a while, I got him from behind, my +arms under his, my hands clasped behind his neck. I bent him over, +forward.... He was trying to get hold of my throat, over his +shoulder.... And he yelled and let go...." + +Faith's eyes were troubled. "You say the men had been drinking?" + +"Yes." + +"Where did they get it?" + +Brander shook his head; he waited for her to speak. She said: "Let me +talk to Mauger." + +He sent the one-eyed man to her, and took himself away.... Mauger told +his story volubly. The little man had added a cubit to his stature by +his exploit; he had done heroically, and knew it, and was proud.... He +told, straightforwardly, how Brander dropped down into the +fo'c's'le.... "Slatter had fixed it with a man to knock out the light," +he explained. "I heard them whispering. I was watching.... I saw Slatter +had a knife. So when he jumped for Mr. Brander, I tripped him, and he +fell over me, and then Mr. Brander grabbed him...." The little man +chuckled at the joke on himself. "They fit all over me, ma'am," he said, +"They done a double shuffle up and down my backbone, right." + +Faith smiled at him and told him he did well. "But where did the men get +liquor?" she asked. + +Mauger grinned and backed away. "I dunno, ma'am.... Did they have +any?..." + +She said steadily: "Mauger, where did the men get the liquor?" + +The man squirmed, but he stood still under her eyes; he tried to avoid +her.... But in the end he came nearer, looking backward and from side to +side. Came nearer, and whispered at last.... + +"Slatter brought a jug forward after his go at the wheel, ma'am." + +"Slatter?" Faith echoed softly.... "Slatter.... All right, Mauger. +And--don't talk too much, forward...." + +The man escaped eagerly. He had been willing enough to talk about +Slatter's knife and his own good deed; but this other was another +matter. Whiskey in the fo'c's'le.... + +This was in the early morning, before the whole story had spread to +every man. Faith went quickly below, and asked his keys from Noll, and +went into the storeroom. Found nothing there to guide her.... But while +she was there, Tinch, the cook, came down to get coffee.... She studied +the man thoughtfully.... + +"Tinch," she said, finger pressing her cheek, "I left a jug down +here.... It's gone. Have you seen it anywhere?" + +Tinch, a tall, lean man with a bald head, looked at her stupidly, and +ran a thin finger through his straggly locks and thought. "Waal, now, +ma'am," he said at last, "I rec'lect I see Roy fetch a jug up out o' +here, yist'day." + +"Roy?" she asked. "What was he down here for?" + +"Come down to...." He looked at her, and was suddenly confused with fear +he had played Judas. "Waal, now, ma'am," he drawled, "I cal'late you'd +best ask the boy that there." + +She nodded at once. "Of course.... Thank you, Tinch." + +So Faith had this matter in her mind when Dan'l came down to find Noll, +in mid-morning, and ask what was to be done about the tragedy. Noll said +fretfully: "Slide Slatter over t'side, Mr. Tobey. Do I have to look +after everything aboard this ship?" + +Dan'l nodded. "Hitch is fixing for that," he said. "What I mean is, how +about Mauger? He says he done it." + +Noll said sullenly: "Well, if he says he done it, he done it." + +"That's what I say," Dan'l agreed. "Only thing is, Brander stands up for +him. So what do you aim t'do?" + +"Brander stands up for him...." + +"Says he couldn't ha' done it, any ways." + +Noll threw up his fist angrily. "Damn it, Mr. Tobey; don't run to me +with this. Find out what happened.... Then tell me. That's the thing.... +My God, this ship is.... God's sake, Mr. Tobey, be a man." + +Dan'l said steadily: "All right; I say Mauger did it." + +Noll's cheeks turned pale and his eyes narrowed on the mate. "Stuck the +knife in him?" + +"Yes." + +The captain's hands tapped his knees. "How did he know to stick it in +the man's leg so neat? Most men would ha' struck for the back.... The +man knows the uses of a knife, Mr. Tobey." + +Dan'l nodded. "Oh, aye...." + +Noll looked furtively toward the door. "I've allus said he'd a knife for +me.... He'll be on my back, one day...." He was trembling, and he poured +a drink and swallowed it. Faith, sitting near him, looked up, looked at +Dan'l, then bent her head over her book again. Dan'l said: + +"I think it's wise to put him in irons." + +Noll roared: "Then do it, Mr. Tobey. Don't come whining to me with your +little matters. I'm an old man, Dan'l.... I'm weary and old.... Settle +such things.... That's the business of a mate, Mr. Tobey...." + +Faith said quietly, without looking up: "Why make so much talk? Mr. +Brander has explained what happened." + +The men were silent for an instant, surprised and uneasy. Dan'l looked +at the captain; Noll's head was bent. Dan'l ventured to say: + +"You think Mr. Brander is right?" + +"Of course." + +Dan'l suggested awkwardly: "You--think he's telling truth?" + +Faith nodded. "Any one can see that...." + +Dan'l laughed mirthlessly, "Then we'd best write.... We'd best let Mr. +Brander write his story in the log, sir." + +Faith looked at Dan'l steadily; then she turned to her husband. "Noll," +she said, "you write the log. I'll tell you what to write." + +He looked up at her stupidly, not understanding. She got up and opened +the log book and gave him a pen. He protested: "Faith, wait...." + +She touched his shoulder lightly with her hand, silencing him. "Write +this," she said; and when Noll took the pen, she dictated: "Some one +gave the men liquor this day; they were drinking in the fo'c's'le. When +Mr. Brander went forward to quiet them...." She saw Noll had fallen +behind with his writing, and waited a moment, then repeated more slowly: +"When Mr. Brander went forward to quiet them, Slatter attacked him with +a knife. In the struggle, Slatter dropped the knife, and a moment later +fell on it, dying from the wound." + +She repeated the last sentence a second time, so that Noll got it word +for word; and then she took the log from him, and blotted it, and put it +away. Dan'l Tobey protested: + +"Aren't you saying anything about Mauger?" + +Faith smiled quietly. "Thank you for reminding me," She opened the log +again, bade Noll write, said slowly: "The man Mauger saved Mr. Brander's +life by tripping Slatter as he charged." Dan'l grimaced as she +finished.... + +"Now," said Faith, "Slatter was not important; at least he is no longer +important. But there is one thing, Noll, that you must stop.... The +whiskey that went forward...." + +Noll looked at her slowly, frowning as though he sought to understand; +Dan'l said: + +"That was probably Slatter, stole it. The men say so...." + +"He took it forward," Faith agreed. "But he did not get it from the +stores. He could not." She hesitated, her lips white; then she set them +firmly. "Dan'l, fetch Roy here," she said. + +Dan'l was so surprised that for an instant he did not stir. "Roy?" he +repeated. "What's he...." + +Faith looked to her husband. "Will you tell him to bring Roy?" she +asked. + +Noll asked heavily: "What's the boy.... Go along, Dan'l. Fetch him." + +Dan'l got up at once, and went out, closing the door behind him. They +heard him go on deck.... A minute later, he was back with Roy at his +heels, and Faith saw her brother's face was white. She asked quickly: + +"Roy, why did you steal a jug of whiskey from the stores?" + +Roy cried, on the instant: "That's a lie." + +Faith studied him. He expected accusation, questioning. Instead she +nodded. "All right." + +"Who says I stole whiskey?" Roy demanded. + +"I," Faith told him. + +"Who.... Somebody lied to you...." + +"No." + +Roy was near tears with bafflement. "Why.... What makes you...." + +Faith asked quietly: "Don't you want to tell?" + +"It's a lie, I say." + +She looked to her husband; and Noll saw they were all waiting on him, +and he tried to rise to the occasion. "By God, Roy.... What did you go +and do that for? God's sake, can't a man have a ship without a pack of +thieves on her? Mr. Tobey, you...." He wavered, his eyes swung +helplessly to Faith. He seemed to ask her to speak for him; and she said +to Dan'l: + +"Take him on deck, Dan'l. Till Cap'n Wing decides...." + +Roy insisted. "I tell you, I didn't...." + +But Dan'l Tobey hushed him. Dan'l was getting his first glimpse of the +new Faith; and he was afraid of her. He took Roy's arm, led him out and +away.... Faith and Noll were left alone. + +At noon that day, at Noll Wing's profane command, Roy was put in irons +and locked in the after 'tween decks to stay a week on bread and water. +The boy cursed Faith to her face for that; and Faith went to her cabin, +and dropped on her knees and prayed. + +But she kept a steady face for the men, and in particular she kept a +steady eye for Dan'l Tobey. She knew Dan'l, now.... Dan'l had warned +Roy, before bringing him to the cabin. He must have warned the boy, for +Roy was prepared for the accusation. He must have warned the boy, +therefore he must have known what Faith would assert.... + +And Faith knew enough of Dan'l's ascendancy over Roy to be sure the mate +had prompted her brother's theft. + +She must watch Dan'l, fight him. And ... she thanked God for Brander. +There was a man, a man on her side.... She was not to fight alone. + +She dreamed of Brander that night. He was battling for her, in her +dream, against shadowy and unseen things. And in her dream, she thought +he was her husband. + + + + +XXIII + + +An unrest seized Noll Wing; an unrest that was like fear. He assumed, by +small degrees, the aspect of a hunted man. It was as though the death of +Slatter prefigured to him what his own end would be. His nerves betrayed +him; he could not bear to have any man approach him from behind, and he +struck out, nervously, at Willis Cox one day when Willis spoke from one +side, where Noll had not seen him standing. + +The continual storms of the Solander irked him; the racking work of +whaling, when it was necessary to run to port with each kill, fretted +the flesh from his bones. They lost a whale one day, in a sudden squall +that developed into a gale and swept them far to the southward; and when +the weather moderated, and Dan'l Tobey started to work back to the +Grounds again, Noll would have none of it. + +"Set your course t'the east'ard," he commanded. "I'm fed up with the +Solander. We'll hit the islands again...." + +Dan'l protested that there was nowhere such whaling as the Solander +offered; but Noll would not be persuaded. He resented the attempt to +argue with him. "No, by God," he swore. "A pity if a man can't have his +way. Hell with the Solander, Dan'l. I'm sick o' storms, and cold. Get +north t'where it's warm again...." + +So they did as he insisted, and ran into slack times once more. The men +at first exulted in their new leisure; they were well enough content to +kill a whale and loaf a week before another kill. Then they began to be +impatient with inaction; discontent arose among them. They remembered +the ambergris; and their talk was that they need stay out no longer, +that the voyage was already a success, that they had a right to expect +to head for home. + +Brander, ever among them as he had promised himself he would be, worked +against this discontent. He tried to hearten them; they gave him half +attention, and some measure of liking.... But their sulking held and +grew upon them. + +There was as much ill feeling aft as forward. Roy, released from his +irons long before, had not spoken to Faith since his release. He hated +his sister with that hatred which sometimes arises between blood kin, +and which is more violent than any other. Let lovers quarrel; let +brothers clash; let son and father, or mother and daughter, or brother +and sister go asunder, and there is no bitterness to equal the +bitterness between them. It is as though the strength of their former +affection served to intensify their hate. It is like the hatred of a +woman scorned; she is able to hate the more, because she once has loved. + +Roy hated Faith; and with the ingenuity of youth, he found out ways to +torment her. He perceived that Faith must always love him, he perceived +that her thoughts hovered over him as do the thoughts of a mother; and +he took pleasure in agonizing her with his own misdeeds. He lied for +the pleasure of lying; he swore roundly; and once, under Dan'l's gentle +guidance, he pilfered rum and drank himself into the likeness of a +beast. When Faith chided him for that, he told her with drunken good +nature that she was to blame; that she had driven him to it. Faith's +sense of justice was strong; she was too level of head to condemn +herself; nevertheless, she was made miserable by what the boy had +done.... Yet she led Noll to punish him for this theft, more sternly +than before; and afterward, she had Roy sent forward to take his place +among the men, and the cabin was forbidden ground to him thereafter. + +Noll was wax in Faith's hands in these days. His fear, growing upon him, +had shaken all the fiber out of the man. He could be swayed by Dan'l, by +old Tichel, by Faith, by almost any one.... Save in a single matter. He +was drinking steadily, now; and drinking more than ever before. He was +never sober, never without the traces of his liquor in his eyes and his +loose lips and slack muscles. And they could not sway him in this +matter. He would not be denied the liquor that he craved. + +Faith tried to win it away from him; she tried to strengthen the man's +own will to fight the enemy that was destroying him. She tried to fan to +life the ancient flame of pride.... But there was no grain of strength +left in Noll for her to work on. He waved her away, and filled his +glass.... + +She might have destroyed what liquor remained aboard the _Sally_; but +she would not. That would not cure; it would only put off the end. At +their first port, Noll would get what he wanted.... And there were +islands all about them; he could reach land within a matter of +twenty-four hours, or forty-eight, at any time. She fought to help Noll +help himself; she would not do more. Noll was a man, not a baby desiring +the fire which must be kept beyond its reach. He knew his enemy, and he +embraced it knowingly. + +Faith never felt more keenly the fact of her marriage to Noll than in +those last days of his life. She never thought of herself apart from +him; and when he debauched himself, she felt soiled as though she were +herself degraded. Nevertheless, she clung to him with all her soul; +clung to him, lived the vows she had given him.... There were other +times, after that first, when she dreamed of Brander.... But she could +not curb her dreams.... He was much in them; but waking, she put the man +away from her. She was Noll's; Noll was hers. Inescapable.... + +Brander avoided her. His heart was sick; she possessed it utterly. But +he gave no sign; he never relaxed the grip in which he held himself. Now +and then, on deck, when Noll swore at her, or whined, or fretted, +Brander had to swing away and put the thing behind him. But he did it; +he was strong enough to do this; he was almost strong enough to keep his +thoughts from Faith. Almost.... But not quite.... She dwelt always with +him; he was sick with sorrow, and pity, and yearning for the right to +cherish her. + +They spoke when they had to, in cabin or on deck; but they were never +alone, and they avoided each the other as they would have shunned a +precipice.... + +Save for one day, a single day.... A day when Faith called Brander to +her on the deck and spoke to him.... A single day, that would have been, +but for the strength of Faith, the bloody destruction of them both. + +This incident was the climax of two trains of events, extending over +days.... Extending, in the one case, back to that first day when Dan'l +had roused the brand of jealousy in Noll to flame. Dan'l had never let +that flame die out. He fanned it constantly; and when he saw in Faith's +eyes, after the matter of Roy's first theft of the whiskey, that she had +guessed his part in it, he threw himself more hotly into his intrigue. +He kept at Noll's side whenever it was possible; he whispered.... + +He spoke openly of Brander's fondness for the men, of Brander's habit of +talking with them so constantly. Faith heard him strike this vein, again +and again.... He harped upon it to Noll, seeming to defend Brander at +the same time that he accused.... He played upon the strain until even +Faith's belief in Brander was shaken. There was always the matter of the +ambergris. Brander might have ended it with a word, but he would not +give Dan'l Tobey that satisfaction. He would not say, forthright, that +the 'gris belonged to the _Sally_.... And Dan'l magnified this matter, +and many others.... Until even Faith found it hard not to doubt the +fourth mate.... She caught herself, more than once, watching him when he +laughed and talked with the men. Was there need of that? Why did he do +it? She could find no answer.... + +Noll feared Brander more and more; and Dan'l covertly taunted the +captain with this fear. He roused Noll, time on time, to flagging gusts +of rage; but always these passed in words.... And Noll fell back into +his lethargy of drink again. Dan'l began to fear there was not enough +man left in Noll to act.... He turned his guns on Faith, accusing her as +he accused Brander.... + +But words were light things. Noll, moved though he might be, had in his +heart a trust in Faith which Dan'l found it hard to shake. He might +never have shaken it, had not luck favored him.... And this luck came to +pass on the day Faith sought speech with Brander. + +That move, on Faith's part, was the result of an increasing peril in the +fo'c's'le. The men were getting drink again. + +This began one day when a fo'm'st hand came aft to take the wheel and +old Tichel smelled the liquor on him, and saw that the man's feet were +unsteady, and flew into one of his tigerish fits of rage.... He drove +the man forward with blows and kicks; and he came aft with his teeth +bared and flamed to Noll Wing, and men were sent for and questioned. +Three of them had been drinking. They were badly frightened; they were +sullen; nevertheless, in the end, under old Tichel's fist, one of them +said he had found a quart bottle, filled with whiskey, in his bunk the +night before.... Tichel accused him of stealing it; the man stuck to his +tale and could not be shaken. + +The men could not come at the stores through the cabin; there was +always an officer about the deck or below. Tichel thought they might +have cut through from the after 'tween decks, and the stores were +shifted in an effort to find such a secret entrance to the captain's +stores. But none was found; there was no way.... + +Three days later, there was whiskey forward again. Found, as before, in +a bunk.... Two men drunk, rope's endings at the rail.... But no solution +to the mystery. + +Two days after that, the same thing; four days later, a repetition. And +so on, at intervals of days, for a month on end. The whiskey dribbled +forward a quart at a time; the men drank it.... And never a trace to the +manner of the theft. + +In the end, Roy Kilcup found a bottle in his bunk, and drank the bulk of +it himself, so that he was deathly sick and like to die. Faith, +tormented beyond endurance, looking everywhere for help, chose at last +to appeal to Brander. + +Brander had the deck, that day. Willis Cox and Tichel were sleeping.... +Dan'l was in the main cabin, alone; Noll in the after cabin, stupid with +drink. Roy had been sick all the night before, with Willis Cox and +Tichel working over him, counting the pounding heart-beats, wetting the +boy's head, working the poison out of him. Roy was forward, in his bunk, +now, still sodden. + +Faith came from the after cabin, passed Dan'l and went up on deck. +Something purposeful in her face caught Dan'l's attention; and he went +to the foot of the cabin companion and listened. He heard her call +softly: + +"Mr. Brander." + +Dan'l thought he knew where Brander would be. In the waist of the +_Sally_, no doubt. There was a man at the wheel. Faith did not wish this +man to hear what she had to say. So she met Brander just forward of the +cabin skylight by the boathouse; and Dan'l, straining his ears, could +hear. + +Faith said: "Mr. Brander, I'm going to ask you to help me." + +Brander told her: "I'd like to. What is it you want done?" + +"It's--Roy. I'm desperately worried, Mr. Brander." + +"He's all right, Mr. Cox tells me. He'll be well enough in a few +hours...." + +"It's not just--this drunkenness, Mr. Brander. It's--more. My +brother's.... He is in my charge, in a way. Father bade me take care of +him. And he's--taking the wrong path." + +Brander said quietly: "Yes." + +Dan'l looked toward the after cabin, thought of bringing Noll to +hear.... But there was no harm in this that they were saying; no +harm.... Rather, good.... He listened; and Faith said steadily: + +"My husband is not--not the man he was, Mr. Brander. Mr. Tobey.... I +can't trust him. I've got to come to you...." + +Dan'l decided, desperately, to bring Noll and risk it, trust to his luck +and to his tongue to twist their words.... He went softly across to the +after cabin and shook Noll's shoulder; and when the captain opened his +eyes, Dan'l whispered: + +"Come, Noll Wing. You've got to hear this...." + +Noll sat up stupidly. "What? Hear what?... What's that you say?" + +Dan'l said: "Faith and Brander are together, on deck, whispering...." He +banged his clenched fist into his open hand. "By God, sir.... I've grown +up with Faith; I like her.... But I can't stand by and see them do this +to you...." + +"What are they about?" Noll asked, his face flushing. He was on his +feet. Dan'l gripped his arm.... + +"I heard her promise him you would soon be gone, sir.... That you were +sick.... That you...." + +Noll strode into the cabin; Dan'l whispered: "Quiet! Come...." He led +him to the foot of the companion-stair, bade him listen. + +And it was then the malicious gods played into Dan'l's evil hands; for +as they listened, Faith was saying.... "Try to make him like you.... But +be careful. He doesn't, now.... If he guessed...." + +Brander said something which they could not hear; a single word; and +Faith cried: + +"You can. You're a man. He can't help admiring you in the end. I--" She +hesitated, said helplessly: "I'm putting myself into your hands...." + +Dan'l had wit to seize his fortune; he cried out: "By God, sir...." + +But there was no need of spur to Noll Wing now. The captain had reached +the deck with a single rush, Dan'l at his heels.... Faith and Brander +sprang apart before their eyes; and because the innocent have always +the appearance of the guilty, there was guilt in every line of these two +now. + +Noll Wing, confronting them, had in that moment the stature of a man; he +was erect and strong, his eyes were level and cold. He looked from Faith +to Brander, and he said: + +"Brander, be gone. Faith, come below." + +Brander took a step forward. Faith said quickly to him: "No." And she +smiled at him as he halted in obedience. + +Then she turned to her husband, passed him, went down into the cabin. +And Noll, with a last glance at Brander, descended on her heels. + +Dan'l, left facing the fourth mate, grinned triumphantly; and for an +instant he saw death in Brander's eyes, so that his mirth was frozen.... +Then Brander turned away. + + + + +XXIV + + +Faith went down into the main cabin, crossed and entered the cabin +across the stern, turned there to await her husband. He followed her +slowly; he came in, and shut the door behind him. The man was +controlling himself; nevertheless, he thrust this door shut with a force +that shook the thin partition between the cabins.... And he snapped the +bolt that held it closed. + +Then he turned and looked at Faith. There was a furious strength in his +countenance at that moment; but it was like the strength of a maniac. +His lips twitched tensely; his eyes moved like the eyes of a man who is +dizzy from too much turning on his own heels.... They jerked away from +Faith, returned to her, jerked away again.... All without any movement +of Noll's head. And as the man's eyes wavered and wrenched back to her +thus, the pupils contracted and narrowed in an effort to focus upon her. +For the rest, he was flushed, brick red.... His whole face seemed to +swell. + +He was inhuman; there was an ape-like and animal fury in the man as he +looked at his wife.... + +Abruptly, he jerked up his hands and pressed them against his face and +turned away; it was as though he thrust himself away with this pressure +of his hands. He turned his back on her, and went to his desk, and +unlocked a drawer. Faith knew the drawer; she was not surprised when he +drew out of it a revolver. + +Bending over the desk, with this weapon in his hand, Noll Wing made sure +every chamber was loaded.... He paid her no attention. Faith watched him +for an instant; then she turned to the bench that ran across the stern +and picked up from it a bit of sewing, embroidery.... She sat down +composedly on the bench, crossed her knees in the comfortable attitude +of relaxation which women like to assume. One foot rested on the floor; +the other swayed back and forth, as though beating time, a few inches +above the floor. It is impossible for the average man to cross his knees +in this fashion, just as it is impossible for a woman to throw a ball. +Sitting thus, Faith began to sew. She was outlining the petal of an +embroidered flower; and she gave this work her whole attention. + +She did not look up at Noll. The man finished his examination of the +weapon; he turned it in his hand; he lifted it and leveled it at Faith. +Still Faith did not look up; she seemed completely unconcerned. Noll +said harshly: + +"Faith!" + +She looked up then, met his eyes fairly, smiled a little. "What is it, +Noll?" + +"I'm going to kill you," he said, with stiff lips. + +"All right," she said, and bent her head above her sewing once more, +disregarding him. + +Noll was stupefied.... This was not surprise; it was the helplessness +which courage inspires in a coward. For Noll was a coward in those last +days.... His face twisted; his hand was shaking.... He stared over the +revolver barrel at Faith's brown head. Her hair was parted in the +middle, drawn back about her face. The white line of skin where the hair +was parted fascinated him; he could not take his eyes from it. The +revolver muzzle lowered without his being conscious of this fact; the +weapon hung in his hand.... His eyes were fixed on Faith's head, on the +part in her hair.... She wore an old, tortoise comb, stuck downward into +the hair at the back of her head, its top projecting upward.... A +singular, old-fashioned little ornament.... There was a silver mounting +on it; and the light glistened on this silver, and caught Noll's eye, +and held it.... + +Faith continued her quiet sewing. And Noll's tense muscles, little by +little, relaxed.... His fingers loosed their grip on the revolver butt; +it dropped to the floor with a clatter. The sound seemed to rouse Noll; +he strode toward Faith. "By God," he cried. "You'll...." He swung down a +hand and gathered the fabric of her work between harsh fingers. Her +needle was in the midst of a stitch; it pricked him.... He did not feel +the tiny wound. He would have snatched the stuff out of her hands.... He +felt as though it were defending her.... + +But when his hand swept down between hers and caught the bit of +embroidery, Faith looked up at him again, and she caught his eyes. That +halted him; he stood for an instant motionless, bending above her, their +faces not six inches apart.... Then the man jerked his hand away.... He +released his grip on the bit of fancy work; but the needle was deep in +his finger, so that he pulled it out of the cloth. The thread followed +it; when his quick movement drew the thread to full length, the fabric +was jerked out of Faith's unresisting hands. It dangled by the thread +from the needle that stuck in Noll's finger; and he saw it, and jerked +the needle out with a quick, spasmodic gesture, and flung it to one +side. He did not look at it; he was looking, still, at Faith. + +"Put that away," he said hoarsely. + +Faith smiled, glanced toward the bit of white upon the floor. "I'm +afraid there's blood on it," she said. + +"Blood ..." he repeated, under his breath. "Blood...." She folded her +hands quietly upon her knee, waiting. + +"I want to talk to you," he said. + +She nodded. "All right. Do." + +His wrath boiled through his lips chokingly. "You ..." he stammered. +"You and Brander...." + +Her eyes, upon his, hardened. She said nothing; but this hardening of +her eyes was like a defiance. He flung his hands above his head. "By +God, you're shameless," he choked. "You're shameless.... A shameless +woman.... And him.... I took him out of a hell hole.... And he takes +you.... I'll break him in two with my hands." + +She said nothing; he flung into an insanity of words. He cursed her +unspeakably, with every evil phrase he had learned in close to thirty +years of the sea. He accused her of unnamable things.... His face +swelled with his fury, the veins bulged upon his forehead, his eyes were +covered with a dry film. His mouth filled with saliva, that splattered +with the venom of his words.... It ran down his chin, so that he brushed +it away with the back of his hand.... He was uncontrolled, save in one +thing. Something made him hush his voice; he whispered harshly and +chokingly.... What he said could scarce have been heard in the main +cabin, six feet away from them.... + +The man was slavering; there were flecks of foam upon his lips.... And +Faith watched him in a curious detachment, as though he were something +outside the world, below it, beyond it.... She scarce heard his words at +all; she was looking at the man's naked soul.... It was so inexpressibly +revolting that she had no feeling that this soul had once been wedded to +hers; she could not have believed this if she had tried. This was no +man, but a beast.... There could be nothing between them. She had +married Noll Wing; not the body of him, nor the face of him, but the +soul within the man. And this was not Noll Wing's soul she saw.... That +was dead; this horrible thing had bred festeringly in the carrion.... + +Humanity has an immense capacity for rising to an emergency. The human +heart sustains a grief that should kill; it throws this grief aside and +is--save for a hidden scar--as gay as it was in the beginning. Man meets +peril or death, meets them unafraid.... If he had considered these +emergencies in the calm and security of his home, his hair would have +crawled with terror at the thought of them. The imagination can conjure +dreadful things; the heart and soul and body of man can endure +catastrophes beyond imagining. There is no load too heavy for this +immortally designed fabric of flesh and blood and bone to bear. There +is a psychological phenomenon that might be called the duplication of +personality. A soldier in battle becomes two men. One of these men is +convulsed with lust for blood; he screams, he shoots, he stabs, he +kills. The other is calm and serene; he watches the doings of his other +self, considers them with calm mind, plans perilous combinations in the +twinkling of an eye.... The soldier contains within himself a general +who plans, and an army which executes the plan.... + +It was so with Faith. She shrank in spirit and heart before Noll's +horrible outpouring; yet was she at the same time steady and +undisturbed. There was a numbness upon her; a numbness that killed +suffering and at the same time stimulated thought.... She was able to +perceive the very depths of Noll; she looked, at the same time, into her +own depths.... She heard him accuse her of foul passion for Brander; she +knew, instead, that she loved Brander completely.... She had never known +her love for Brander before; Noll showed it to her, dragged it out where +she could see it beyond mistaking.... And even in that moment she +welcomed this love; welcomed it, and saw that it was honest, and +wholesome, and splendid, and clean.... She welcomed it, so that she +smiled.... + +Her smile struck Noll like a blow in the face, stunning and sobering +him. He flung out his hands. + +"Come!" he commanded. "What do you say? Say something? Say...." + +"What?" she asked. "What shall I say?" + +"Is it true? Damn you.... Damn you.... Is it true?" + +"Could I say anything you would believe?" + +"No, by God! You're dirty and false as hell. You...." He struck his +hands together helplessly. "Nothing," he cried. "Nothing! Nothing you +can say.... Dirty as hell...." + +Yet his eyes still besought her to speak; she touched the bench beside +her. "Sit down, Noll," she said gently. + +The man towered above her, hands upraised. His fingers twisted and +writhed and clenched as though upon a soft throat that he gripped. His +features worked terribly.... And then, before her eyes, a change came +upon him. The tense muscles of his fury sagged; the blood ebbed from his +veins, so that they flattened; the black flush faded on his cheeks.... +He opened his mouth and screamed once, a vast and stricken scream of a +beast in pain. It was like the scream of a frightened, anguished +horse.... It rang along the length of the _Sally_, so that the men +forward shrank and looked over their shoulders, and every man aboard the +ship was still.... + +He screamed, and then his great body shrank and collapsed and tottered +and fell.... He dropped upon his knees, at her feet. He flung his head +in her lap, his arms about her waist, clinging as a drowning man might +cling to a rock. His cap dropped off; she saw his bald old head +there.... He sobbed like a child, his great shoulders twitching and +heaving.... His face was pressed upon her clasped hands; she felt his +tears upon her wrists, felt the slaverings of his sobbing mouth upon her +fingers.... + +He cried softly: "Eh, Faith.... Faith.... Don't you turn against me, +now. I'm old, Faith...." And again: "I'm old, Faith.... Dying, Faith.... +Don't leave me.... Don't turn against me now." + +She bent above him, filled with an infinite pity and sorrow. This was +the wreck of her love; she no longer loved him, but her heart was filled +with sorrow.... She bent forward and laid her smooth cheek against the +smooth parchment of his bald old head. She loosed her hands, and drew +them out from beneath his face, and laid them on his shoulders, stroking +him gently. + +"There, Noll.... There ..." she murmured. Foolish words, meaningless, +like the comforting sounds of an inarticulate animal.... Yet he +understood. There were no words for what was in her heart; she could +only whisper: "There.... There.... There...." And gently touch his +shoulders, and his head. + +"They're all against me, Faith," he told her, over and over. "All +against me. Even you...." + +"No, no, Noll. There...." + +"You love him.... You love him." + +"No, Noll. No...." She lied, not to deceive her husband, but to comfort +him. Her eyes, above Noll's head, seemed to ask her love's pardon for +the lie. "No, Noll.... You're my husband." + +His arms tightened about her waist; his great chest pressed against her +knees. "You're mine," he begged. "You're mine. Don't go away from me." + +"No. Never.... Never, forever." + +He raised his face from her lap at last; and she saw that it was sunken +like the countenance of one long dead. Cadaverous.... He cried, in utter +self-abasement. "Eh, Faith. I don't deserve you. I'm an old, helpless +man...." + +She smiled at him. "I married you, Noll." + +"I'm no good. They're laughing at me...." + +Her eyes heartened him. "Master them. Command them. You are the master, +Noll." + +"I can't.... There's no strength in me...." + +"It's there. Master them, Noll." + +"I can't hold myself, Faith. Not even myself. I'm rotted with whiskey, +and years, and strife...." + +"Master yourself, Noll." + +"Faith, Faith.... It's too late. I'm gone. I can't." + +"You can," she said. She spoke the two words quietly; yet somehow they +gave him of her strength, so that his head lifted higher, and the +muscles took form beneath his slack cheeks. He stared into her eyes, as +though he were drinking her soul through them; his chest swelled as +though virtue were going into him. They sat thus, minutes on end.... He +got to his feet. His eyes cleared, with the tempestuous and short-lived +fire of age in their depths. He swore: + +"By God, Faith. I will. I'll command.... Myself and them." + +"You can," she said again. "You can. So--do, Noll." + +He turned away from her, looking about with new eyes.... She smiled +sadly; she knew him too well, now.... She was not surprised when his +first act was to go to the lockfast and get his bottle, and drink.... He +smacked his lips, chuckled at her. + +"By God, Faith, I'll show these dogs," he cried, and flung open the +door. She heard him go out and climb up to the deck.... She sat where he +had left her.... + +Sat there, and knew her love for Brander. In those minutes while she +remained where Noll had seen her last, she listened to the singing of +new voices in her heart. Brander was before her, in her eyes, in her +thoughts.... He possessed her, in that moment, more completely than Noll +had ever done. She gave herself to him completely, without reluctance +and without faintest reservation. No need to see him, no need to tell +him. She knew, he must know.... She never asked whether he loved her; +she had always known that. Known it without admitting the knowledge, +even in her thoughts. She loved him, body and heart and soul; her eyes +yearned for his, her tongue to tell him what her heart was singing, her +arms to embrace him.... + +She got up, at last, a little wearily.... It was only a matter of +minutes that she sat there, looking within herself. When she listened, +now, she could hear Noll's voice, on deck, roaring in the old way.... +Once she heard Brander answer him, from somewhere amidships. Again she +caught the murmur of Dan'l Tobey's tones.... + +Brander was her love; but Noll.... Noll was her husband, she his wife. +And Faith passed her hand across her eyes as though to wipe away these +visions she had looked upon. Noll was her husband; her vows were his. +She was his, and would be.... Nothing he could do would make her less +his; he was in her keeping, his life and hers could never take diverging +paths. He was her charge, to strengthen, and guide, and support; his +tasks were hers, his responsibilities were her responsibilities, his +burdens must rest upon her shoulders.... + +But she did not deceive herself. Old Noll was dead, old Noll Wing who +had mastered men for year on year. That Noll was dead; the Noll who +lived was a weakling. But she was a part of the living Noll; and she was +no weakling. So.... + +Her lips set faintly. Love Brander though she did, there was no place +for him in her life. Her life was Noll; her life belonged to Noll. Noll +was failing; his flesh might live, but his soul was dead and his +strength was gone. His tasks fell upon her. + +Quite simply, in that moment, Faith promised herself that whatever +happened, the _Sally Sims_ should come safe home again; that no man +should ever say Noll Wing had failed in the end; that no man should ever +make a jest of Noll's old renown. And if Noll could not manage these +things for himself, she would.... + +She began, suddenly, to cry; she locked herself in her cabin and wept +bitterly for hours.... But afterward, bathing her eyes, freshening +herself to meet Noll's eyes, she looked into the mirror, and smiled and +lifted her head. "You can do it, Faith," she told herself. "You can do +it, full as well as he." + +And then, more seriously: "You must, Faith Wing. You must bring the +_Sally_ home." + +When she stepped out into the after cabin, she saw the revolver still on +the floor where Noll had left it. She picked it up to return it to its +proper drawer.... + +But on second thought, she changed her mind, and took it and hid it in +her bunk. + + + + +XXV + + +A curious lull settled down upon the _Sally Sims_ during the days after +Noll's open accusation of Faith, and his collapse before her steady +courage. There was an apathy in the air; they saw few whales, lowered +for them without zeal, missed more than one that should have been +killed.... There was a silence upon the ship, like the hush of listening +men who wait to hear an expected call. This paralysis gripped every soul +aboard--save Noll Wing alone. + +Noll, in those last days, stalked his deck like a parody of the man he +once had been. Faith had put a fictitious courage in the man; he thought +himself once more the master, as in the past. His heels pounded the +planks; his head was high; his voice roared.... But there was a tremor +in his stride; there was a trembling about the poise of him; there was a +cracking quaver in his voice. He was like a child who plays at being a +man.... They humored him; the men and the mates seemed to enter into a +conspiracy to humor him. They leaped to his bidding; they shrank from +his curses as though desperate with fear.... And Noll was so delighted +with all this that he was perpetually good-natured, jovial.... + +He was, of course, drinking heavily and steadily; but the drink seemed +to hearten him and give him strength. Certainly it made him lenient; for +on three occasions when the men found a bottle, forward, and befuddled +themselves with it, Noll only laughed as though at a capital jest. Noll +laughed.... But Faith wondered and was distressed and watched to see how +the liquor was being stolen. She was disturbed and alarmed; but Noll +laughed at her fears. + +"A little of it never hurt a man," he told her boastfully. "Look at me, +to see that. Let be, Faith. Let be." + +When she protested, he overrode her; and to show his own certainty of +himself, he did a thing that Noll sober would never have done. He had +the rum drawn from the barrel in his storeroom and served out to the +men, a ration daily.... It amused him to see the men half fuddled with +it. He forced it on them; and once, while Faith watched hopelessly, he +commanded a hulking Cape Verder--the biggest man in the fo'c's'le--to +drink a bout with him. They took glass for glass, till the other was +helpless as a log; and Noll vaunted his own prowess in the matter. + +Dan'l Tobey contented himself with the progress of these matters; he no +longer stuck a finger in the pie. Noll was going; that was plain to any +seeing eye. The captain grew weaker every day; his skin yellowed and +parched, and the lower lids of his eyes sagged down and revealed the +flaming red of their inner surface. These sagging lower lids made +crescent-shaped pockets which were forever filled with rheumy fluid.... +Noll was an ugly thing; and his perpetual mirth, his cackling laughter +were the more horrible.... He was a laughing corpse; dissolution was +upon him. But he kept himself so steeped with alcohol he did not feel +its pangs. + +Faith could do nothing; Brander could do nothing. Between these two, no +further word had passed. But there was no need. Meeting face to face on +deck, the day after Noll surprised them, their eyes met in a long and +steady glance.... Their eyes met and spoke; and after that there was no +need of words between them. There was a pledging of vows in that glance; +there was also a renunciation. Both saw, both understood.... Faith +thought she knew Brander to the depths.... + +Neither, in that moment, knew that Dan'l Tobey was at hand; but the mate +had seen, and he had understood. He saw, slipped away, held his peace, +considered. + +Brander was fighting for Roy, to fulfill his pledge to Faith. He had set +himself to win the boy's confidence and esteem; he applied himself to +this with all the strength there was in him. Yet he was careful; he did +not force the issue; he did not harass Roy with his attentions.... He +held off, let Roy see for himself, think.... There were days when he +thought he made some progress; there were days when he thought the +effort was a hopeless one. Nevertheless, he persisted.... + +Noll Wing's good will, in those days, extended even to Brander. He +offered Brander a drink one day.... Brander refused, and Noll +insisted.... And was still refused. Noll said hotly, querulously: + +"Come, Brander.... Don't be stiff, man. It will warm you, do you +good.... You're needing warming. You're over cold and calm." + +Brander shook his head, smiling. "Thanks; no, sir." + +"Damn it, man," Noll complained. "Are you too proud to drink with the +skipper?" + +Brander refused again; and Noll's brows gathered suspiciously. "Why +not?" + +"My wish, sir," + +"Ye've a grudge against me. I remember.... You stick with Mauger...." + +"No, sir." + +Noll flung out his hand. "Be off. Your sour face is too ugly for me to +look at. Mauger's none so particular.... He'll drink with me." + +It was true; Mauger had more than once accepted drink from Noll. Noll, +at these times, watched the one-eyed man furtively, almost appealingly. +It was as though he sought to placate him and make a friend of him. +Mauger had a weak head; he was not one to stand much liquor. It dizzied +him; and this amused Noll.... This day, after Brander had refused him, +Noll sent for Mauger and made the one-eyed man tipsy, and laughed at the +jest of it. + +Then, one day, this state of affairs came abruptly to an end. Noll went +down into the storeroom to fill his bottle; and the spigot on the +whiskey barrel gasped and failed. The whiskey was gone. + +Now Noll had given of the rum to the crew; he had exhausted that. But +the whiskey he kept jealously. He knew there should be more.... Much +more than this.... Gallons, at the least.... He turned the handle of +the spigot again, tipped the barrel, unable to understand.... His bottle +was half full.... But no more came.... + +He frowned, puzzled his heavy head, tried to understand.... He came +stumbling up out of the storeroom at last, with the half-filled bottle +in his hand.... And the man's face was white. He sought Faith, held the +bottle out to her. + +"I say ..." he stammered. "It's gone.... Gone, by God...." + +Faith asked sharply: "What is it, Noll?" + +"The whiskey's gone." + +Faith cried: "Thank God!" + +He stared at her thickly. "Eh? You had a hand in it.... You've stole it +away...." + +"No." + +He looked at her and knew she spoke the truth. He shook his head.... +"Some hound ..." he whispered. "They've stole it...." + +She questioned him; he had the shrewdness which occasionally +characterizes the alcoholic. He had kept some count of the whiskey used +during the cruise; he had himself handled the barrel two weeks before. +It was then a quarter full. The thefts that had appeared in the +fo'c's'le could not account for the rest. There was still a considerable +amount that had been stolen, that had not yet appeared. "It's aboard +here, by God," he swore at last. "They've got it hid away. You, +Faith...." + +She shook her head. He said placatingly: "No, you'd not do that trick. +Not rob an old man.... I've got to have it, Faith...." His eyes +suddenly flickered with panic. "It's life, Faith. Life. I've got to have +it, I say...." + +He was right, she knew. There must still be a hidden store of the liquor +aboard the _Sally_.... To be doled out to the men by the thief in his +own good time.... And Faith knew enough of such matters to understand +that Noll, without the ration of alcohol to which he was accustomed, +would suffer torment, would be like a madman.... The stuff must be +found.... + +Noll was already trembling at the prospect of deprivation; he hugged to +his breast the scant store that remained to him.... And of a sudden, as +though afraid even this would be stolen, he tipped the bottle to his +lips. He gulped greedily.... Before Faith could interfere, the last of +it was gone.... + +That fierce draught put some strength and courage back into him; he +stamped his feet. "I'll make them give it up, by God," he swore. +"Watch...." + +He started for the deck; and Faith, afraid for him, followed quietly +behind. Passing through the main cabin, he roared to the officers who +were asleep in their bunks: "On deck, all hands.... On deck, all +hands...." They leaped out to obey him, not knowing what to expect. He +reached the deck, still bellowing: "On deck, all. On deck, every man of +you...." Brander was amidships; and he called: "Rout out the dogs, Mr. +Brander. Fetch them aft." + +The men came; they tumbled up from the fo'c's'le; they slid down from +the mastheads.... Harpooners, mates, under officers grouped themselves +by the captain; the crew faced him in a huddled group. He cursed them, +man by man, for thieving dogs. "Now," he swore at last. "Now some one o' +you has got the stuff hid away. Out with it; or I'll cut the heart out +of you." + +He paused, looking about him with flickering, reddened eyes. No man +stirred, but Dan'l Tobey asked: + +"What's wrong, Cap'n Wing?" + +Noll told him, told them all, profanely. Somewhere there was hidden a +store of whiskey; he meant to have it. If the thief gave it up, so much +the better. He would get off with a rope's ending. If he persisted in +silence, he would die.... Noll vowed that by all the oaths he knew. + +The men stirred; they looked at their neighbors.... And then their eyes +fastened on the captain, with a curious intentness. They licked their +lips; and Faith thought they were enjoying this spectacle of Noll's weak +rage.... She thought they were like dogs of a pack, with hungry eyes, +watching the futile anger of a dying man.... She was afraid of them for +an instant; then she was afraid of no man in the world.... She stood by +Noll Wing's side, proud and level-eyed. + +When Noll got no answer, his cackling fury waxed. He swore every man of +them should be tied up and flogged unless the guilty spoke. They scowled +at that; and one of them said sullenly: + +"It's no man forra'd a-doing this, sir.... Look aft, at them that had +the chance." + +The word seemed to focus the sullen hate among the men; they growled +like beasts, and surged a step forward. Brander, from the captain's +side, moved toward them and lashed at him who had spoken with a swift +fist, so that the man fell and lay still as a log. Brander looked down +at the still man, faced the others. "Be silent," he said quietly. +"Unless you've a word to say to the captain about what he wants. And get +back.... Back into the waist; and stay...." + +They gave back before him; and Dan'l said softly from Brander's back: +"They mind you well, Mr. Brander. You've a rare control of them." The +words were innocent enough, but the tone was accusation. Brander faced +the mate, and Dan'l grinned malignantly.... + +Noll passed abruptly from threats to pleadings; he tried to cloak his +pleading under a mask of fellowship; he spoke to the men as to friends, +beseeching them to yield what he wanted. They remained silent; and his +mask fell off, and he abased himself before them with his words, so that +old Tichel and Willis Cox were sickened, and Dan'l was pleased. Brander +made no sign; he stood loyally at the captain's side; and Faith was on +Noll's other hand.... + +She was studying the faces of the men and of the officers, seeking for a +shadow of guilt. The men were sullen; but there was no shame in their +eyes. There was nothing furtive--save in the countenance of Mauger. The +one-eyed man had ever a furtive look; the twitching of his closed eye +irresistibly suggested a malignant wink. Faith watched him; she saw his +eyes were fixed on Brander.... In spite of herself, a cold pang of +doubt touched her.... Mauger had reason to hate Noll Wing.... Had he?... + +She put the thought away, to study Dan'l Tobey. But Dan'l, though he was +obviously content with matters, had no trace of guilt or fear in his +demeanor. He was perfectly assured, almost triumphant. Faith thought he +could not appear so if he were the thief.... Not Dan'l; not Willis Cox, +nor Tichel.... Not Brander; she would not have it so.... + +Yet she could not keep her eyes away from Mauger's leering, chuckling, +furtive countenance. + +Abruptly, she touched Noll's arm. The captain was near a collapse.... He +was pleading helplessly, so that some of the men were beginning to grin. +Faith touched his arm; she said quietly: + +"Noll, do not beg. You are master." + +He caught himself together with a terrific effort.... He turned and +stumbled away down into the cabin, Faith after him. Dan'l came down a +little later, respectful.... "Why not put into port somewhere, sir?" he +suggested. "Get what you want...." + +Noll clutched at that desperately.... "Aye, quick, Mr. Tobey. What's +nearest?" + +Dan'l named the nearest island where they were like to find a trading +post; Noll nodded. "Put for it, Dan'l. All sail on. For God's sake, +quickly, man!" + +Ten minutes later, the _Sally_ heeled to a new tack.... And Noll, with +Faith, below in the cabin, bit at his nails, and tried to hold himself, +and stifle the appetite that was tearing him. His passion and pleading +had burned out the effects of the drink he had taken; his body agonized +for more.... + +By nightfall, Noll was shaking with an ague. He would not sleep that +night. And toward dawn, a brewing gale caught the _Sally_.... + +She fought that storm till noon, giving way before it; and in the cabin +Noll passed from tremors to paroxysms of fright. He gnawed at his own +flesh; and hallucinations began to prey upon him. Faith fought him, bade +him lie down, tried to soothe him. She knew the danger of his enforced +abstinence; she gave him a draught that should have compelled sleep; but +after an hour he woke with a scream, and clutched at her shoulders with +fingers that bit the flesh, and flung her away from him, and cowered in +the most distant corner, hands before him, shrieking: + +"Back, Mauger! Get away.... You devil! Mauger, get back.... Eh, man, get +away.... By God, I'll ... I never meant the kick, man.... Let be.... My +God, let be...." + +She called softly: "It's Faith, Noll. It's Faith, Faith.... Not +Mauger...." + +He recognized her, and ran and caught her and swung her around before +him and besought her to keep Mauger and his knife away. She told him, +over and over: "He's not here, Noll. He's not here. It's Faith...." + +He cried: "Look at his knife...." He pointed horribly. "His knife.... +It's red, now.... Look at the knife. Kill him, Faith.... Drive him +away...." + +She held him against her breast as she would have held a child. Brander +came to the door, with Willis Cox. She called to them: "Stay away.... +He's mine. I'll tend him." Noll saw them, and screamed at Brander: + +"There! Him! There's a knife in his sleeve...." + +Brander slipped out of sight; she managed to quiet Noll for a space; but +he broke out again: "Mauger! He's coming, Faith.... There...." And then, +to the man he thought he saw: "Mauger! Get back, man. Let be.... God's +sake...." + +Then he wept whisperingly to Faith: "See his eye! Down on his cheek.... +Hanging.... Make him put it back--where it belongs.... Mauger, man...." + +Bit by bit she wooed him back to sanity, or the semblance of it. He was +quiet when Dan'l Tobey came down; and when he saw Dan'l, Noll demanded: + +"Are we making it, Dan'l? Are we near there?..." + +Dan'l shook his head. "Not with this gale, sir.... We're going away...." + +Noll came to his feet, cat-like. "By God, you're all cowards. I'll bring +her in. I'll bring her in, I say...." He shook Faith away, went up to +the deck with Dan'l at his heels. The _Sally_, riding high as whalers +do, was reasonably dry; but she was fighting desperately in the gale, +racking her rigging. The wind seemed to clear Noll's head; he looked +about, aloft.... Bellowed an order to get sail on her.... + +Faith protested: "Noll, she'll never stand...." + +He brushed her away with clenched fist. She took shelter in a corner by +the deckhouse, ten feet from him..... And Noll Wing took the ship, and +under his hand the _Sally_ did miracles.... + +That fight with the storm was a thing men still talk about; they say it +was an inhuman and a marvelous thing. Noll stood aft, legs braced, +scorning a hand hold. His voice rang through the singing wind to the +remotest corner of the _Sally_, and the highest spar. Regardless of wind +and sea, he crowded on sail, and brought her around to the course he +wished to take, and drove her into it.... Time and time again, during +that afternoon and that long night, every sane man aboard thought her +very masts must be torn out of her. Three times a sail did go; but Noll +would never slacken. On the after deck, he raved like a madman, but his +commands were seamanly.... A miracle of seamanship, stark madness.... +But madness that succeeded. The _Sally_ drove into the gale, she fought +as madly as Noll himself was fighting.... And Noll, aft, screamed +through the night and drove them on. + +Faith never left her post, so near him. No man aboard had sleep that +night. No man dared sleep, lest death find him in his dreams. Willis Cox +and Tichel came to Noll more than once, beseeching.... But he drove them +away. Dan'l never interfered with the captain; it seemed there was a +madness on him, too. And Brander and Dan'l Tobey between them were +Noll's right hand and his left, driving the men to the tasks Noll set +them, holding them sternly in hand.... + +They could only guess how far they had come through the darkness. An +hour before daylight, Dan'l stopped to gasp to Faith: "We're near there, +I'm thinking. If we're not nearer the bottom...." Brander took more +practical steps; he found Mauger, and set the one-eyed man well forward, +and bade him watch and listen for first sign of land. Mauger nodded +chucklingly; he gripped a hold on the taut lines, and set his one eye +into the darkness, and tuned his ear to the storm.... + +The wind, by this time, was moderating; even Faith could feel a +slackening of the pressure of it that had torn at her garments the night +through. She was weak with fighting it; nevertheless she held her post. +And the steady thrust of the gale slowly modified and gave way.... The +first hints of light showed in the skies.... They caught glimpses of +scudding clouds, low overhead.... But the worst was passed; and every +man knew it. Noll, still standing like a colossus at his post, knew it; +and he shook his fist at the skies and the sea, and he cursed the wind +and dared it.... Faith could see him, dimly, in the coming light.... +Head bare, eyes frantic, cheeks sunken.... An enormous, but a wasted +figure of a man.... + +The very waters about them were quieting somewhat.... Their nerves and +their muscles relaxed; they were straining their eyes to see into the +dimness of the coming day.... + +It was Mauger, in the bows, who caught first hint of danger. He saw that +they drove abruptly from long-rolling swells into quieter waters.... He +stared off to windward, looking to see what had broken the force of the +seas.... Saw nothing; but thought he heard a rumbling roar there.... +Looked forward, where the less turbulent waters were piling ahead of +them.... + +Looked forward, and glimpsed a line of white that lived and never died; +and he turned and streamed a warning aft.... Ran, to carry the word +himself.... Screaming as he ran.... + +Brander, amidships, heard him and shouted to Noll Wing; but Noll did not +hear. The captain was intoxicated with the long battle; he was delirious +with the cry of tortured nerves and starved body.... He did not hear. +Mauger flashed past Brander as he ran.... The one-eyed man's screams +were inarticulate now.... Too late, in any case.... + +Noll saw Mauger coming; and he put up his hands; and his eyes glared. He +shrieked with overwhelming terror.... Mauger flung on. Then the +_Sally's_ bows drove on the solid sand; Mauger sprawled; men everywhere +fell headlong. Noll was thrown back against the after rail.... + +Mauger rolled over and over where he fell; and it chanced that his +sheath knife dropped out in the fall, and touched his hand. He had it in +his fingers when he scrambled to his feet, still intent on bearing his +warning. He had the knife in his hand, he leaped toward the wheel.... He +did not realize it was too late to swerve the _Sally_.... Toward the +wheel, knife in hand, forgetting knife and Noll Wing.... + +To Noll's eyes, Mauger must have looked like a charging fiend; he saw +the knife. He screamed again, and turned and flung himself in desperate +flight but over the after rail. + +He was instantly gone. Perhaps the undertow, perhaps some creature of +the sea, perhaps the fates that had hung over him struck then. But those +aboard the _Sally Sims_ were never to see Noll Wing, nor Noll's dead +body, again. + + + + +XXVI + + +Dawn came abruptly; a lowering dawn, with gray and greasy clouds racing +past so low they seemed to scrape and tear themselves upon the tips of +the masts. No sun showed; there was no light in the sky. The dawn was +evidenced only by a lessening of the blackness of the night. They could +see; there was no fog, but a steady rain sprang up, and clouded objects +at a little distance.... + +This rain had one good effect; it beat down the turbulence of the waves. +Faith, from the bow, could see that they had grounded upon a sandy beach +which spread like a crescent to right and left. The tips of the crescent +were rocky points which sheltered the _Sally_ from the force of the +seas. She was not pounding upon the sand; she lay where she had struck, +heeled a little to one side.... There were breakers about her and ahead +of her upon the sand; but these were not dangerous. They were caused by +the reflex tumult of the waters, stirred up in this sheltered bay in +sympathy with the storm outside. + +That gale was dying, now. Above them the wind still raced and played +with the flying clouds; but there was no pressure of it upon what little +canvas the _Sally_ still flew. They were at peace.... + +At peace. Faith, studying the position of the _Sally_, was herself at +peace. This was her first reaction to her husband's death; she was at +peace. Noll was gone, Noll Wing whom she had loved and married.... Poor +Noll; she pitied him; she was conscious of a still-living affection for +him.... There was no hate in her; there was little sorrow.... He was +gone; but life had burdened him too long. He was well rid of it, she +thought.... Well rid of his tormented flesh; well rid of the terror +which had pursued him.... + +When Noll went over the stern, Dan'l Tobey appeared from nowhere, and +saw Mauger with the knife in his hand, standing paralyzed with horror. +Dan'l fell upon Mauger, fists flying.... He downed the little man, +dropped on him with both knees, gripped for his throat.... Then Brander, +coming from the waist of the ship on Mauger's heels, caught Dan'l by the +collar and jerked him to his feet. Dan'l's hands, clenched on Mauger's +throat, lifted the little man a foot from the deck before they let go to +grip for Brander. The men clustered aft; old Tichel's teeth bared.... In +another moment, there would have been a death-battle astir upon the +littered decks. + +But Faith cried through the gloom: "Dan'l. Mr. Brander. Drop it. Stand +away." + +There was a command in her clear tones which Dan'l must have obeyed; and +Brander did as she bade instinctively. The two still faced each other, +heads forward, shoulders lowered.... Behind Brander, Mauger crawled to +his feet, choking and fumbling at his throat. Faith said to Dan'l: + +"It was not the fault of Mauger, Dan'l." + +"He had a knife...." + +"He fell," she said. "I saw. He fell when she struck; his knife dropped +from its sheath.... He picked it up.... That was all." + +"All?" Dan'l protested. "He drove Noll Wing to death." + +She shook her head. "No.... Noll's own terrors. Noll was mad...." + +"What was he doing aft, then? He'd no place here...." + +Brander explained: "I had him forward, watching for breakers. He saw +them, and yelled, and when no one heard he raced to give the word...." + +Faith nodded. "Yes; he was gripping for the wheel to swing it down, even +when Noll...." + +Dan'l swung to Brander. "You're over quick to come between me and the +men, Mr. Brander," he said harshly. "Best mend that." + +"I'll not see Mauger smashed for no fault," Brander told him steadily. +Dan'l took a step nearer the other. + +"You'll understand, I'm master here, now." + +There was battle in Brander's eyes. Men's blood was hot that morning.... +But Faith stepped between. "Dan'l. Noll's gone. First thing is to get +the _Sally_ free." + +Dan'l still eyed Brander for a moment; then he drew back, swung away, +looked around. The island they had struck was barely visible through the +drifting rain.... He said: "This is not where we headed." + +"You know this place?" + +"No." + +"Then we'll get clear as quick as may be." + +He smiled sneeringly: "I'm thinking we're here to stay, Faith. +Leastwise, the _Sally_...." + +"The _Sally_ does not stay here," Faith told him sternly. "She floats; +she fills her casks; she goes safely home to Jonathan Felt," she said. +"Mark that, Dan'l. That's the way of it, and nothing else." + +Dan'l said sullenly: "You're not over concerned for Noll's going." + +"He's gone," said Faith. "An end to that. But the _Sally_ was his +charge; she's my charge now. I mean to see her safe." + +"Your charge?" Dan'l echoed. "It's in my mind that when the captain +dies, the mate succeeds." + +"You take his place, if I choose," Faith told him. + +He met her eyes, tried to look her down. Mauger had slipped away; old +Tichel, and Willis Cox, and Brander were standing by. "You take his +place, if I choose," Faith repeated. And Dan'l looked from her to the +faces of the officers.... + +There was a weakness in Dan'l's villainy; he could destroy, he could +undermine trust, seduce a boy, kill honor.... But he lacked constructive +ability. He had known for months that this moment must come, this moment +when Noll was gone, and the ship and all the treasures aboard her should +lie ready to his hand. Yet he had made no plan for this crisis; he did +not know what he meant to do. Even now, by open battle he might have +won, carried the day. Old Tichel was certainly for him; perhaps Willis, +too. And Roy.... And many of the men.... A blow, a fight, and the day +might have been his.... + +But Dan'l was never a hand for strife where guile might do as well; he +was not by nature a man of battle. Also ... Faith was within his reach, +now; Noll was gone; there was no barrier between them; he need not anger +her, so long as there was a chance to win by gentler ways.... Gentler +ways, guileful.... He nodded in abrupt assent. + +"All right," he said. "You were Noll's wife; your interest is a fair +one.... I'll work with you, Faith...." + +Faith was content with that for the moment. "We'll get the _Sally_ +away," she said. + +Dan'l smiled. "And--how?..." + +"Get out a kedge; we'll try to warp her off when the tide comes in." + +He chuckled. "Oh, aye.... We'll try." + +"Do," said Faith; and she turned and went below. Went below, and wept a +little for pity of old Noll, and then dried her eyes and strengthened +her heart for the task before her.... To bring Noll's ship safely +home.... + + * * * * * + +It was mid-tide when the _Sally_ struck; and this was in some measure +fortunate, because the ebbing waters left her free of the rollers that +might have driven her hard and fast upon the sand. They broke against +her stern, but with no great force behind them. At the slack on the ebb, +the men could wade about her bows, to their waist in the water.... They +got the kedge out, astern, and carried a whale line about the capstan; +and when the tide came quietly in again, they waited for the flood, then +strove at the bars to warp her free.... + +When she did not stir, though the men strove till their veins were like +to burst, some cursed despairingly; but Faith did not. Nor Dan'l. Dan'l +was quiet, watching, smiling at his thoughts.... He let Faith have her +way. Before the next tide, they had rigged the cutting-in tackle to give +a stouter pull at the kedge; but this time the whale line parted and +lashed along the decks, and more than one man was struck and bruised and +cut by it.... + +Dan'l said then: "You see, we're here to stay. Best thing is to lower +and make for the nearest port." + +"Leave the ship?" Faith asked. + +"Yes. What else?" + +"No. We'll not leave her." + +He smiled. "What, then?" + +"It's a week past full moon," she said. "There'll be higher tides on the +new moon.... Still higher on the next full. We'll float her, one time or +another." + +Dan'l chuckled. "An easterly'll drive her high and dry, 'fore then." + +Faith's eyes blazed. "I tell you, Dan'l, we stick with the _Sally_; and +we get her safe away.... Are you afraid to stick?" + +He laughed, outright, pleasantly. "Pshaw, Faith.... You know I'm not +afraid." He could be likeable when he tried; she liked him, faintly, in +that moment. She gripped his hand. + +"Good, Dan'l. We'll manage it, in the end...." + +So they settled for the waiting; and Dan'l put the men to work repairing +the harm the storm had done the _Sally_. Her rigging was strained; it +had parted here and there. She had lost some canvas. Willis Cox's boat +had been carried away.... They rove new rigging, spread new sails, +replaced Willis's boat with one of the spares.... There was work for all +hands for a month, to put the _Sally_ in shape again. + +One thing favored them. The _Sally_, for all her clumsy lines, was +staunch; and the shock when, she drove her bow upon the sand had opened +never a seam. She was leaking no more than a sweet ship will. They found +a cask or two of oil that had burst in the hold; and there was some +confusion among the stores.... But these were small matters, easily set +right.... + +The new moon was due on the fifth day after they struck. On the fourth, +another bottle of whiskey appeared in the fo'c's'le, and two men were +drunk. Dan'l had the men whipped.... Faith made no objection to this; +but she watched the faces of the others.... Watched the officers, and +Brander in particular, and Mauger.... Brander, since that morning of +Noll's death, had avoided her more strictly.... He and Dan'l did not +speak, save when they must. She saw the man was keeping a guard upon +himself; and she puzzled over this. She could not know that Brander was +afire with joy at the new hope that was awakening in him; afire with a +vision of her.... He fought against this, held himself in check; and she +saw only that he was morose and still and that he avoided her eye.... + +The high tides of the new moon failed to float them; and there was +growling forward. Dan'l said, openly, that he believed they would never +go free. The men heard; and the superstitions of the sea began to play +about the fo'c's'le. There was unrest; the men felt approaching the +possible liberation from ship's discipline when they abandoned the +_Sally_. They remembered the ambergris beneath the cabin. There was a +fortune.... They could take no oil with them; but they could take that +when the time should come to leave the ship. Plenty of room in one boat +for it and half a dozen men besides.... They fretted at the waiting, +called it hopeless, as Dan'l did.... The barrier between officers and +men was somewhat lowered; more than one of the men spoke to Brander of +the ambergris. Did he claim it for his own?... + +Faith, one day, heard a man talking to Brander amidships; she caught +only a word or two. One of these words was "'Gris." She saw that the man +was asking Brander a question; she saw that on Brander's answer, the man +grinned with greed in his eyes, and turned away to whisper to two of his +fellows.... + +She wondered what Brander had said to him, why Brander had not silenced +the man. And she watched Brander the closer, her heart sickening with a +fear she would not name.... + +They had landed before this and explored their island.... Low and flat +and no more than a mile or two in extent, it had fruit a-plenty, and a +spring of good water.... But none dwelt anywhere upon it. It soon palled +upon them; they stuck by the ship; and the days held clear and fine and +the nights were warm, and the crescent moon above them flattened, night +by night, till it was no longer a crescent, but half a circle of silver +radiance that touched the beach and the trees and the sea with magic +fingers.... + +That night, with the fall tides still a week away, Roy Kilcup came into +the waist and looked aft. There was no officer in sight at the moment +save old Tichel, and Roy hailed him softly.... Tichel went forward to +where the boy stood; they whispered together. Then Tichel went with Roy +toward the fo'c's'le.... + +Faith was in her cabin; Dan'l was in the main cabin; and Willis and +Brander were playing cribbage near him when the outcry forward roused +them. A man yelled.... They were on deck in tumbling haste; and Faith +was at their heels.... + +Came Tichel, dragging Mauger by the collar. His right hand gripped +Mauger; his left held a bottle. He shook the one-eyed man till Mauger's +teeth rattled; and he brandished the bottle. "Caught the pig," he cried +furiously. "Here he is. With this hid under his blanket...." + +Mauger protested: "I never put it there...." Tichel cuffed him into +silence. Dan'l asked sharply: + +"What's that, Mr. Tichel?" + +"Whiskey, Mr. Tobey. He took it forward and hid it in his bunk...." + +Faith said: "Tell the whole of it, Mr. Tichel. What happened?" She +looked from Tichel to Brander. Brander was standing stiffly; she thought +his face was white. Mauger hung in Tichel's grip. + +Old Tichel had given a promise to Roy; Roy had begged him not to tell +that the boy had spied. Tichel said now: + +"I saw him go forra'd, with something under his coat. Never thought for +a minute; then it come to me what it might be. I took after him. Rest +of the men were on deck, sleeping.... It's hot, below, you'll mind. I +dropped down quietly. Mauger, here, was in his bunk. I routed him out, +and rummaged, and there you are, ma'am." He shook the bottle +triumphantly. + +Faith asked the one-eyed man: "Where did you get it, Mauger?" + +"Never knowed it was there," Mauger swore. "Honest t'the Lord, +ma'am...." + +Tichel slapped his face stunningly.... Faith said: "No more of that, Mr. +Tichel. Dan'l, what do you think?" + +Dan'l lifted his hand, with a glance at Brander. "Why--nothing! +Somebody's been doing it; him as well as another." + +"Willis," Faith asked. "What's your notion?" + +"I guess Mauger done it." + +"Brander?" + +Brander lifted his head and met her eyes. "Other men have found whiskey +in their bunks without knowing how it got there," he said. "I believe +Mauger." + +Old Tichel snarled: "I'm saying I saw him take it aft." He dropped +Mauger and took a fierce step toward Brander. "Ye think I'd lie?" + +"I think you're mistaken," Brander said evenly. Tichel leaped at him; +Brander gripped the other's arms at the elbow, held him. Faith, said +sharply: + +"Enough of that. We'll end this thing, to-night. Mr. Tobey, get +lanterns, lights, search the ship till you find the rest of this stuff." +She took the whiskey bottle, opened it, and poured its contents over +the rail. "Search it out," she said. "Be about it." + +Save Dan'l Tobey, the officers stood stock still, as though not +understanding. Dan'l acted as quickly as though he had expected the +order. He sent Silva, the harpooner, to get the fo'm'st hands together +forward and keep them there under his eye. He sent Tichel and Yella' Boy +into the main hold; Willis and Long Jim into the after 'tween decks. +Brander and Eph Hitch were to search the cabin and the captain's +storeroom; and Faith went down with them to give them the keys.... Loum, +Kellick, and Tinch, the cook, were put to rummaging about the after deck +and amidships.... + +There was no need of lights upon the deck itself; the moon bathed the +_Sally_ in its rays, and one might have read by them without undue +effort. Below, the whale-oil lanterns went to and fro.... Brander and +Hitch made short work of their task; and they came on deck with Faith. +Dan'l sent Brander to rummage through the steerage where the harpooners +slept; and at Faith's suggestion, Hitch and Loum went aloft to the +mastheads to make sure there was no secret cache there.... They were an +hour or more at their search of the _Sally_; and at the end of that time +they were no wiser than they were before. Faith had gone below before +the end; she came on deck as Tichel and Yella' Boy reported nothing +found below. She asked Dan'l: + +"Have you found anything?" + +"No." + +"Where have you looked?" + +Dan'l said: "Everywhere aboard her, Faith. The stuff's well hidden, +sure...." + +Faith said quietly: "If it's not on the _Sally_, it's near her. Search +the boats, Mr. Tobey." + +Dan'l nodded. "But it'd not be in them," he said. "That's sure enough." + +"It's nowhere else, you say. Try...." + +Willis Cox and Brander turned toward where their boats hung by the rail; +and Faith called quietly: "Willis, Mr. Brander. Let Mr. Tobey do the +searching." + +Willis stopped readily enough; Brander--forewarned, perhaps, by some +instinctive fear--hesitated; she spoke to him again. "Mr. Brander." + +He stood still where he was. Dan'l was looking through his own boat at +the moment. He passed to old Tichel's; to that of Willis Cox. Brander's +came last. He flashed his lantern in it as he had in the others, studied +it from bow to stern, opened the stern locker beneath the cuddy +boards.... + +There was a jug there; a jug that in the other boats had contained +water. He pulled the stopper and smelled.... + +"By God, Faith, it's here!" he cried. + + + + +XXVII + + +The closer the bond between man and man, or between man and woman, the +easier it is to embroil them, one with another. It is hard for an +outsider to provoke a quarrel between strangers, or between casual +acquaintances; but it is not hard for a crafty man to make dissension +between friends; and almost any one may, if he chooses, bring about +discord between lovers. And this is a strange and a contradictory thing. + +When Dan'l found the whiskey in Brander's boat, and came toward Faith +with the open jug in his hands, Faith stood with a white face, looking +steadily at Brander, and not at Dan'l at all. Brander had made one move +when Dan'l lifted the jug; he had stepped quickly toward the boat, but +Faith spoke quietly to him, and he stopped, and looked at her.... + +Dan'l was watching the two of them. Mauger saw a chance, and as the mate +passed where the one-eyed man crouched, Mauger leaped at him to snatch +the whiskey away. Tichel caught Mauger from behind, and held him.... + +The little man had had the best intentions in the world; but this +movement on his part completed the evidence of Brander's guilt; for +Mauger was Brander's man, loyal as a dog, and Faith knew it. She thought +quickly, remembering the past days, remembering Mauger's furtive air +and Brander's aloofness, and his support of Mauger against Tichel.... +She was sure, before Dan'l reached her with the jug, that Mauger and +Brander were guilty as Judas.... That Brander was guilty as Judas.... +She scarce considered Mauger at all. + +Dan'l handed her the jug, and she smelled at it. Whiskey, beyond a +doubt. She took it to the rail and poured it overside as she had poured +the contents of the bottle. Then came slowly back and handed the empty +jug to Brander. + +"This is yours," she said. "You had best rinse it and fill it with water +and put it in your boat again." + +The moon was bright upon them as they stood on the deck. He could see +her face, he could see her eyes; and he saw that she thought him guilty. +His soul sickened with the bitterness of it; and his lips twisted in a +smile. + +"Very well," he said. + +She looked at him, a little wistfully. "You're not denying it's yours?" + +He shook his head. "No." If she believed, let her believe. He was +furious with her.... + +"Why did you do it?" she asked. + +He said nothing; and she looked up at him a moment more, and then turned +to Mauger. "Why did you do it?" she asked the little man. + +Mauger squinted sidewise at Brander. Mauger was Brander's man; and all +his loyalty was to Brander. Brander chose not to speak, not to deny the +charge she laid against them.... All right; if Brander could keep +silent, so could he. If Brander would not deny, neither would he. He +grinned at Faith; and the closed lids that covered his empty eye-socket +seemed to wink; but he said nothing at all. + +Dan'l Tobey chuckled at Brander. "Eh, Brander, I'm ashamed for ye," he +said. "Such an example t'the crew." + +Brander held silent. He was waiting for Faith to speak.... + +When neither Brander nor Mauger would answer her, Faith turned her back +on them all and went to the after rail and stood there alone, +thinking.... She knew Dan'l would wait on her word.... What was she to +do? She needed Brander; she would need him more and more.... Dan'l was +never to be trusted; she must have a man at her back.... Brander.... In +spite of her belief that he had done this thieving, she trusted him.... +And loved him.... Loved him so that as she stood there with her back to +them all, the tears rolled down her cheeks, and her nails dug at her +palms.... Why had he done this? Why did he not deny? Protest? Defend +himself? She loved him so much that she hated him. If he had offended +against herself alone, she might have forgiven.... But by stealing +whiskey and giving it to the crew he was striking at the welfare of the +_Sally Sims_ herself.... And the _Sally_ was dearer to Faith just now +than herself. + +He had struck at the _Sally_; she set her lips and brushed the tears +from her cheeks and turned back to them. "Mr. Tobey," she said. "Put +Mr. Brander in irons, below. Give Mauger a whipping and send him +forward." She hesitated a moment, glanced at Willis. "If you'll come +down to the cabin with me," she said, "I'll give you the irons." + +Willis stepped toward her; and with no further glance for Brander, she +turned and went below. + + * * * * * + +They had been two weeks hard and fast on the sand; there was another +week ahead of them. An easterly storm would cement them into the sand +beyond any help; and the men looked for it daily.... For the rest, there +was little to do. The _Sally_ was in shape again, ready to be off if she +had the chance.... The men, with black faces, loafed about the fore deck +and whispered man to man; and Dan'l went among them now and then, and +talked much with Roy, and some with the others.... Roy was elated in +those days; the boy went about with shining eyes and triumphant lips. +Every other face among the crew was morose save his.... + +Dan'l was not morose. He was overly cheerful in those days. He spoke in +louder tones than was his custom; and there was no caustic bite to his +tongue. But his eyes were narrower, and more furtive.... And once or +twice Faith saw him turn away from a word with some of the crew and +catch sight of her watching him, and flush uneasily.... + +But Faith scarce heeded; she was sick with sorrow, and sick with +anxiety.... The tides were rising higher every day; she watched for the +hour when they should lift the _Sally_.... And at each high tide, she +made the men stand to the capstan bars, and fight in desperate efforts +to fetch the _Sally_ free. The day before the night of the full of the +moon, she had them fetch up casks from the hold and lower them overside +and raft them there.... Cask after cask, as many as the men could handle +during the day, so that the _Sally_ was lighter at nightfall than she +had ever been before. + +The tide was at the flood that night at nine; and for half an hour +before, and for a full hour after the waters had begun to ebb, every man +of them strove to stir the _Sally_.... And strove fruitlessly; for the +ship seemed fast-bedded in the sand, beyond moving. At ten o'clock, +Faith left the deck and went sick-heartedly below.... + +At half past ten, Dan'l knocked on the door of the after cabin, and she +bade him come in. He opened the door, shut it behind him, looked at her +with his cap in his hands for a space, then sat down on the seat beside +the desk where she was sitting. + +"Eh, Faith," he said, "we're stuck." + +For a moment, she did not answer; then she lifted her head and looked at +him. "There's a high tide to-morrow night; comes a bit higher than it is +on the flood," she said. "We'll get out more casks to-morrow, and +to-morrow night we'll float her." + +Dan'l shook his head slowly. "You're brave, Faith, and strong.... But +the sea's stronger. I've sailed them long enough to know." + +She said steadfastly: "The _Sally Sims_ has got to come free. It's in my +mind to get her off if we have to take every stick out of her and lift +her off ourselves...." + +"If we could do it, I'd be with you," he told her. "But we can't, +Faith." + +"We will," she said. + +He smiled, studied her for a moment, then leaned toward her, resting his +hands on the desk. "Faith," he said softly, "you're a wonderful, brave +woman." + +She looked at him with a weary flicker of lips and eyes that might have +passed for a smile. "It's not that I'm brave, Dan'l," she said. "It's +just that I'll not let Noll Wing's ship rot here when it should be bound +home t'the other side of the world." + +"Noll Wing's ship?" he echoed. "Eh, Faith, but Noll Wing is dead and +gone." + +She nodded. "Yes." + +"He's dead and gone, Faith," he repeated swiftly. "He's dead, and +gone.... And but for Noll Wing, Faith, you'd have loved me, three year +ago." + +She looked up, then, and studied him, and she said softly: "You'll mind, +Dan'l, that Noll Wing is not but three weeks dead.... Even now." + +"Three weeks dead!" he cried. "Have I not seen? He's been a dead man +this year past; a dead man that walked and talked and swore.... But dead +this year past. You've been a widow for a year, Faith...." + +She shook her head. "So long as the _Sally_ lies here on the sand," she +said, "I'm not Noll Wing's widow; I'm his wife. It was his job to bring +her home; and so it is my job, too. And will be, till she's fast to the +wharf at home." + +"Then you'll die his wife, Faith; for the _Sally_'ll never stir from +here." + +"If she never does," said Faith, "I'll die Noll Wing's wife, as you +say." + +He cried breathlessly: "What was Noll Wing that you should cling to him +so, Faith?" + +"He was the man I loved," she said. + +His face blackened, and his fist banged the desk. "Aye; and but for him +you'd have loved me. Loved me...." + +"I never told you that, Dan'l." + +"But 'twas true. I could see. You'd have loved me, Faith...." + +"Dan'l," she said slowly, "I'm in no mind to talk so much of love, this +night." + +The man sat back in silence for a space, not looking at her; nor did she +look at him. In the end, however, he shaped his words afresh. "Faith," +he said softly, "we were boy and girl together, you and I. Grew up +together, played together.... I loved you before you were more than a +girl. Before you ever saw Noll Wing. Can you remember?" + +He was striving with all his might to win her; and Faith said gently: +"Yes, Dan'l. I remember." + +"When I sailed away, last cruise but one, you kissed me, Faith. Do you +mind?" + +She looked at him in honest surprise. "I kissed you, Dan'l?" + +"Yes. On the forehead...." + +She shook her head. "I don't remember ... at all." + +If he had been wholly wise, he would have known that her not remembering +was the end of him; but Dan'l in that moment was not even a little wise. +He was playing for a big stake; Faith was never so lovely in his eyes; +and there was desperation in him. He was blind with the heat of his own +desire.... He cried now: + +"You do remember. You're pretending, Faith. You could not forget. You +loved me then; and, Faith, you love me now." + +She shook her head. "No, Dan'l. Have done." + +"I love you, Faith; you love me, now." + +"No." + +He leaned very close to her. "You do not know; you're not listening to +your heart. I know more of your heart than you know, Faith...." + +"No, no, no, Dan'l," she said insistently. + +He flamed at her in sudden fury: "If it's not me, it's Brander.... Him +that you...." + +"Brander?" she cried, in a passion. "Brander? The thief that's lying now +in the irons I put upon him? Him? Him you say I love?" + +The very force of her anger should have told him the truth; but he was +so blind that it served only to rejoice him. "I knew it," he cried. "I +knew it. So you love me, Faith?..." + +"Must a woman always be loving?" she demanded wearily. + +"Aye, Faith. It's the nature of them.... Always to be loving.... Some +one. With you, Faith, it's me. Listen and see...." + +"Dan'l," she said steadily, "what's the end of all this? What's the end +of it all? What would you have me do?" + +"Love me," he told her. + +"What else?" + +"See the truth," he said. "Understand that the _Sally_ is lost.... Fast +aground, here, to rot her bones away.... See that it's hopeless and +wild to stick by her. We'll get out the boats. You and I and Roy and a +man or two will take one; the others may have the other craft. It's not +fifty miles to..." + +"Leave the _Sally_?" she demanded. + +"Yes." + +"I'll not talk with you, Dan'l. I'll never do that." + +"There's th' ambergris," he reminded her. "We'll take that. It will +recompense old Jonathan for his _Sally_ and her oil." + +Her word was so sharp that it checked him; he was up on his feet, +bending above her, pouring out his pleadings.... But she threw him into +silence with that last word; and the red flush of passion in his face +blackened to something worse, and his tongue thickened with the heat in +him. He bent a little nearer, while her eyes met his steadily; and his +hands dropped and gripped her arms above the elbows. She came to her +feet, facing him.... + +"Dan'l," she said warningly. + +"If you'll not go because you will, you'll go because you must," he told +her huskily and harshly. "Go because you must.... Whine at my feet afore +I'm through with you. Beg me to marry you in th' end...." + +If she had been able to hold still, to hold his eyes with hers, she +might have mastered him even then; for in any match of courage against +courage, she was the stronger. But the horror of him overwhelmed her; +she tried to wrench away. The struggle of her fired him.... In a battle +of strength and strength she had no chance. He swung her against his +chest, and she flung her head back that her lips might escape him. He +laughed. His lips were dry and twitching as she fought to be away from +him; he held her for an instant, held her striving body against his own +to revel in its struggles.... + +He had her thus in his arms, forcing her back, crushing her, when the +door flung open and Roy Kilcup stood there. The boy cried in desperate +warning: + +"Dan'l, Brander is...." + +Then he comprehended that which he saw; and he screamed with the fury of +an animal, and flung himself at Dan'l, tearing at the man with his +strength of a boy. + + + + +XXVIII + + +Dan'l had laid his plans well; he had felt sure of success; but he had +not counted on trouble with Faith. He thought, after their failure to +float the _Sally_, she would be crushed and ready to fall into his arms; +ready at least to yield to his advice and come away and leave the _Sally +Sims_ where she lay. + +After that, Dan'l counted on separating the crew by losing the other +boats. The ambergris would be in his; he would master the men with +him.... Faith and the treasure would be his.... + +Brander was to stay in the _Sally_, ironed in the after 'tween decks. +Dan'l thought Brander was destroyed by the evidence of his thieving; he +no longer feared the man. + +Not all the crew would go with him when he left the ship. Old Tichel had +refused. "I've waited all my days to be cap'n of a craft," Tichel +declared. "With you gone, I'm master o' the _Sally_, I'll stay and get +the feeling of it." And Dan'l was willing to let him stay. Willis Cox +agreed to do as Faith decided. Long Jim, the harpooner, was loyal to +Tichel. Loum, Dan'l did not trust. The man might stay with Brander if he +chose. + +But Dan'l had on his side Kellick, the steward; and Yella' Boy, and +Silva, and four seamen from forward, and seven of those who had shipped +as green hands. Silva hated Brander no less than Dan'l, for Brander had +been given the mate's berth that Silva claimed.... Silva was Dan'l's +right-hand man in his plans. + +And Roy, of course, was Dan'l's, to do with as he chose. + +Mauger got some whisperings of all this in the fo'c's'le. There was no +effort to keep it secret from him; no effort to keep the matter secret +at all. Dan'l had said openly that if the _Sally_ did not float, he was +for deserting her; those might come with him who chose. Save Mauger, +there were none openly against him. Tichel would stay, Willis waited on +Faith's word, but the rest held off and swung neither one way nor +another. + +All of which Mauger, with infinite stealth, told Brander, sneaking down +into the after 'tween decks at peril of his skin, night after night; and +Brander, fast-ironed there, and taking his calamities very +philosophically, praised the little man. "Keep your eyes open," he said. +"Bring me any word you get. Warn me in full time. And--find me a good, +keen file." + +Mauger fetched the file, pilfering it from the tool chest of Eph Hitch, +the cooper. Brander worked patiently at his bonds, submitting without +protest to his captivity. + +That night of the full moon, after they had failed to float the _Sally_, +Dan'l called Silva and bade him prepare two boats. "Get food and water +into them," he said. "Plenty. Make them ready. Tell the rest of them to +lower if they've a mind. I'm for leaving." + +Silva grinned his understanding. He asked a question. Dan'l said: "I'm +going down, now, to convince her. She'll come, no fear." + +He went below and left Silva to prepare the boats. Old Tichel was on +deck, but Willis had gone below. Tichel did not molest Silva. Discipline +had evaporated on the _Sally_; it was every man for himself. Those who +were for leaving ship were hotly impatient; and one boat full of men +lowered and drew slowly away toward the mouth of the cove where the +_Sally_ lay. There was no wind; the sea was glassy; and their oars +stirred the water into sparkling showers like jewels. Kellick and Yella' +Boy and four seamen were in that boat. Five of the green hands and +Tinch, the cook, caught the infection, and dumped food into another and +water, and followed.... + +Silva got his boat overside. He had with him two men, men of his +choosing who had signed as green hands but were stalwarts now. He saw +that the boat was ready, then stood in her by the rail, waiting for +Dan'l to come with Faith. Roy was on the after deck, where he would join +them. + +The men in the two boats that had already put off were lying on their +oars, half a mile away, watching the _Sally_. In all their minds was the +thought of the ambergris. They had no notion of leaving that behind; and +they did not mean to be tricked of their share in it. Silva could see +the boats idly drifting.... + +Mauger had slipped down to Brander with the word. "Two boats gone +a'ready," he said. "Silva waiting for Dan'l Tobey, now." + +"Where's Faith?" Brander asked. + +"In the cabin. Mr. Tobey went to her. He've not come up, yet." + +Brander considered. "Fetch a handspike," he said; and Mauger crawled on +deck and returned with it, and Brander pried open the irons he had filed +apart. He stood up and shook himself to ease the ache of his muscles. +"Now," he said, "let's go see...." + +He climbed up on deck, Mauger at his heels, and started aft. Roy saw him +coming, and Silva, from the rail, marked his movements and watched. Roy +dropped into the cabin to warn Dan'l; Brander leaped to follow him. +Silva spoke to his two men, and plunged up to the deck and darted after +Brander. + +Brander was at the foot of the companion ladder in the cabin when Roy +threw open the door of the after cabin to shout his warning; he saw, as +Roy saw, Dan'l gripping Faith and struggling with her. He heard Roy's +cry.... Leaped that way.... + +Roy was before him. Roy, grown into a man in that moment. Dan'l had told +him they would leave the ship, told him nothing more. Roy hated his +sister, and Dan'l knew this, and feared no trouble from the boy. But he +forgot that a boy's hate is not over strong. When Roy saw Faith in +Dan'l's arms, helplessly fighting against his kisses, he leaped to +protect her as though there had never been harsh words between them. Roy +was on Faith's side, thenceforward. + +The boy gripped Dan'l from behind; and for an instant more Dan'l clung +to Faith. His encircling arm tightened about her so that she thought her +ribs would crack; and when he flung her away, she was breathless and +sick to nausea, and she fell on the floor and lay there, retching and +gasping for breath. Dan'l flung her away, and swung on Roy. + +"You young fool," he swore, "I'll kill you, now." + +Roy was helpless before him. Dan'l held him by the throat, his fingers +sinking home, Roy beat and tore at the man helplessly for a space, then +his face blackened, and his eyes bulged, and Dan'l flung him away. + +Brander might have helped him, but for the fact that three men dropped +on him from the companion hatch and bore him smothering to the deck. The +three were Silva and his allies. Silva had a knife; and Mauger had felt +it, on the deck above. The one-eyed man lay there now, twisting and +clutching at a hole in his side. Silva was first down on Brander; and he +struck at Brander's neck as he leaped. But Brander had time to dodge to +one side, so that Silva hit him on the hip and bore him down. Then the +other two were upon him.... + +This sudden tumult in the cabin rang through the _Sally_. The night was +still; the noise could be heard even by the boats that drifted half a +mile away. Its abrupt outbreak was unsettling; it jangled taut nerves. +The two remaining seamen and Long Jim, Loum, and Eph Hitch lost courage, +raced for a boat, dropped it to the water and pulled off to see what was +to come. Tichel, who was on deck, ran to try to stop them; but Loum +struck out blindly and threw the mate off-balance for an instant that +was long enough to let them get away. + +The desertion of these last men left on the _Sally_ only the four +officers, Roy, Mauger, Silva, and Silva's two men. Faith was still +helpless, so was Roy, and Mauger had dragged himself upright against the +bulwarks and stripped up his shirt to investigate his wound. It was +bleeding profusely, but he found he could breathe without difficulty, +and told himself shrewdly that he would come out all right. + +Of men able to fight aboard the _Sally_, there were left Dan'l, Silva, +and the two seamen on one side, against Brander and Tichel and Cox. The +attitude of Tichel and Cox was in some sort uncertain. But the problem +was quickly settled.... + +Dan'l, dropping Faith and flinging Roy aside, had charged into the main +cabin to finish Brander; but Brander was so inextricably involved in his +struggle with his three antagonists that Dan'l got no immediate chance +at him. He was shifting around the twisting tangle of men, watching, +when Willis came out of his cabin in a single leap.... Willis had been +asleep; he was in shirt and trousers, his belt tight-girthed. He stared +stupidly, not understanding. + +Dan'l, balked of his chance at Brander, took Willis for fair game. If he +thought at all, it was to remember that Willis was loyal to Faith. He +attacked before Willis was fully awake, and bore the other man back into +the cabin from which Willis had come. He bent Willis against the bunks +so that for an instant it seemed the man's back would snap; but +desperation gave Willis the strength to fling himself away.... They +whirled into the cabin, still fighting. Dan'l was drunk with his own +rage by now.... He had thrown himself into a debauch of battle; and he +proved, this night, that he could fight when he chose.... + +He rocked Willis at last with a left-hand blow in the ribs, so that the +younger man dropped his arms to hug his bruised body; and Dan'l drove +home his fist to the other's jaw. The blow smacked loudly; and Willis +went down without a sound, his jaw broken.... + +If old Tichel had come down the companion ladder a minute sooner, he +might have saved Willis; and he and Willis between them might have +overcome Dan'l. But he was too late for that; he was in time to see +Willis fall; and before he could speak, Dan'l Tobey had attacked him. + +Dan'l was pure maniac now; he did not stop to ask whether Tichel were +friend or foe. And Tichel, old man though he was, was never one to +refuse a battle. He met Dan'l's charge with the tigerish venom that +characterized him in his rages; he leaped and was fairly in the air when +Dan'l struck him. But Dan'l's greater weight and the impetus of his +charge were too much for old Tichel. In the flash of a second, Dan'l had +him by the throat, down, banging his head against the floor till the +skin of his scalp was crushed and the blood flowed, and Tichel at last +lay still.... + +Dan'l got up, choking for breath, his chin down on his chest. There was +blood on him; his shirt was torn; his hair was wild. The mild, round +face of the man was distorted by wrinkles of passion. His lip was +bruised by a blow, and it puffed out in a surly, drunken way.... He +stood there, tottering, looking with blinking eyes at the heap of men +fighting at one side of the cabin.... Brander was in that heap +somewhere. It was still less than thirty seconds since Dan'l had smashed +Willis's jaw. Dan'l stepped unsteadily toward the heap of men and +peered down at them and laid hands on them to pull them away.... They +were too closely intertwined.... + +He backed off and looked around for a weapon. In a corner of the cabin +he saw something that might serve.... The head of a killing lance.... A +bar of metal three or four feet long, flattened at one end like the +blade of a putty knife, and ground to the keenest edge.... In the +whale-fisheries, it would be mounted on a staff; but there was no staff +in it now. He picked the thing up, and balanced it in his hands, and +walked gingerly back toward the striving knot of men. + + * * * * * + +When Brander dropped down into the cabin and through the open door saw +Faith in Dan'l's arms, he was for an instant paralyzed.... Then, as rage +surged up in him, he sensed the danger above him, and dodged to one side +as Silva leaped down from the deck. Silva struck against Brander's hip, +his knife slitting the air. Brander was thrown headlong, and Silva flung +after him. Brander rolled on his back, catching Silva in the stomach +with both feet, as the other two men dropped across his body. + +He had put little force into his kick at Silva, so that the man was +unhurt. Brander gripped one of the men who had fallen on him, and +whirled him under. At the same time, the other man attached himself to +Brander's neck, his right arm about Brander's neck to choke him. Brander +wedged his chin down and gripped this arm between his chin and his +breast, holding it off a little from his throat. Then Silva came at him +from the left side, and Brander's left hand flung out and gripped +Silva's knife wrist.... + +Brander was past the first flush of anger; he was cool, now, as he was +always cool in danger. Save Silva, the men against him were unarmed. At +least, neither made any effort to use a weapon. Therefore Brander flung +the one man out of his arms, and gave his attention to Silva. He was +just in time. Silva had shifted the knife to his other hand. Brander +grabbed for it, and the blade slid along his fingers, barely scratching +them.... Then he had the hand that held it; and he dragged it down and +wrenched it over, and across, and the fingers opened and the knife fell. +Brander groped for it, Silva swarming over him. He got the knife, but +knew he could not use it, so he threw it with the half of his arm which +was free. Crushed down by the man atop him, he saw that it slid across +the floor and flew into the after cabin. He thought Silva had not seen +it go.... + +Brander had not marked Dan'l when the man came first to crouch above +them. Dan'l was at Willis when Brander threw the knife. That weapon +being gone, Brander turned his attention to the man who had his throat. +He worked as coolly as though this man was his only antagonist; and +while he held off the others with his left hand and his knees, his right +went up over his shoulder and found the face of the man who choked him. +This groping hand of his came down against the man's face from above. +His palm rested against the cheek of his antagonist; and his fingers +groped under the other's jaw bone and clenched around it, biting far +into the soft flesh at the bottom of the mouth. He got a grip on this +that would hold; and the man screamed, and Brander jerked him up, and +over his shoulder.... The man slid helplessly tearing at Brander's +clenched fingers. Brander, at this time, was sitting up, with Silva at +his left, arms gripping, fists striking, and the other at the right. The +man whose jaw he had came down in Brander's lap, and he brought his +right knee up with all his force against the other's head and the man +became a dead weight across his legs. Brander wriggled free of him, +thought calmly that one of the three was gone and only two remained, and +turned his attention to the others. + +He had been forced to let them have their will of him for the seconds +required to deal with the man who had choked him. They had him down, +now, on his back on the cabin floor. One on either side.... He got a +left-hand grip on the seaman; he set his right hand on Silva's arm and +his fingers clenched on Silva's biceps. He flung them off a little, +freeing himself, so that he might have fought to his feet.... + +But when he thrust these two back, thus to right and left, and started +to sit up, he saw above him Dan'l. Dan'l, an insane light in his eyes, +the whaling lance poised in the thrusting position. It flickered +downward like a shaft of light.... + +Brander wrenched with all his strength at Silva; he swung Silva up and +over his own body just in time to intercept the lance. It slid in +between two ribs, an inch from Silva's backbone, and pierced him through +to the sternum.... It struck obliquely, cut half way into the mingled +cartilage and bone.... Then the soft iron of the shaft "elbowed" at +right angles, and Dan'l had to twist and fight to pull it free. Silva, +of course, was as dead as dead. Blood poured out of his mouth in +Brander's very face.... He flung the corpse aside, rolling after it to +be on his feet before Dan'l should strike again. But the remaining +seaman was in his path, grappled him, held him for an instant +motionless. Dan'l had had no chance to straighten the lance; he lifted +it like a hoe to bring it down on Brander's back. + +Then Faith called, from the door of the after cabin: + +"Dan'l! Have done!" + +Dan'l looked and saw her, weak, trembling, gripping the doorsill with +her left hand. In her right was a revolver. + +He leaped toward her, roaring; and Faith waited till he was within six +feet of her, then shot him carefully through the knee. He fell on his +face at her feet, howling. + +At the same time, Brander got home a blow that silenced his last +antagonist, and a great quiet settled down upon the _Sally Sims_. + + + + +XXIX + + +What shadows remained, Roy was able to clear away. Roy, who had hated +Brander, and who had hated Faith, yet in whom lived a strain of true +blood that could not but answer to these two in the end. The evil in +Dan'l had been writ in his face for any man to see, when Roy found him +clutching Faith; and Roy was not blind. + +The boy abased himself; he was pitifully ashamed. Still hoarse from the +choking Dan'l had given him, he told how he had stolen the whiskey at +the man's bidding.... A little at first; a ten-gallon keg in the end.... +Told how he had himself filled Brander's boat jug with the liquor, and +hidden a bottle in Mauger's bunk, and lied to old Tichel in the matter. +Told the whole tale, and made his peace with them, while Faith and +Brander watched each other over the boy's sobbing head with eloquent +eyes.... + + +For the rest; Silva was dead, and they buried him in the sand of the +beach. Mauger had a shallow knife slit along his ribs; Willis Cox had a +broken jaw. The others had suffered nothing worse than bruises, save +only Dan'l Tobey. Dan'l's knee was smashed and splintered, and he lay in +a stupor in the cabin, Willis watching beside him. + +Those who had fled to the boats came shamedly back at last; and Faith +and Brander met them at the rail, and Faith spoke to them. They had done +wrong, she told them; but there was a chance of wiping out the score by +bending to the toil she set them. They were already sick of +adventuring; they swarmed aboard like homesick boys. She and Brander +told them what to do, and drove them to it.... + +Before that day was gone, they had half her load out of the _Sally_; and +at full tide that night, with every hand tugging at a line or breasting +a capstan bar, they hauled her off. She slid an inch, two inches, +four.... She moved a foot, three feet.... They freed her, by sheer power +of their determination that she must come free. They dragged her full +ten feet before the suction of the sand beneath her keel began to slack, +and ten feet more before she floated free.... Then the boats lowered, +and towed her safe off shore, and anchored her there. + +After that, three days to get the casks inboard again and stowed below. +Three days in which Dan'l Tobey passed from suffering to delirium. +Brander had tended his wound as best he could; but the bone was +splintered and the flesh was shattered, and there came an hour when the +flesh about the wound turned green and black. It gave off a horrible +fetid odor of decay. + +Brander told Faith: "He's got to lose either leg or life." + +She did not ask him if he were sure; she knew him well enough, now, +never to doubt him again. But Dan'l, in an interval of lucidity, had +heard; and he croaked: + +"Take it off, Brander. Take it off. Get the ax, man." + +Brander bent over the man. "I'll do my best for you." + +Dan'l grinned with the old jeer in his eyes. "Aye, I've no doubt, Mr. +Brander. Go at it, man." + +They had not so much as a vial of morphia to deaden the pain; but Dan'l +slumped into delirium at the first stroke of the knife Brander had +whetted to a razor keenness. His body twitched in the grip of Willis Cox +and Loum.... Faith helped Brander tie the arteries; Roy stood by to give +what aid he could.... + +When it was done, Faith said the _Sally_ would lie at anchor till Dan'l +died or mended; and in two weeks Brander told her the man would live. +She nodded. + +"Then we'll go out and fill our casks," she said, "and then for home." + +Brander looked at her with shining eyes. "Aye, fill our casks," he +agreed, as though it were the most natural thing in the world to stick +to that task till it was done. They put to sea. + +Dan'l was going to live; but the man was broken. He was not to quit his +bunk through the months of the homeward cruise; he was wasted by the +fury of his own passions, by the shock of his crippling injury.... He +had aged; there was no longer any strength in the man. So old Tichel +came into his own at last; he became the titular master of the ship, and +Faith was content to let him hold the reins, so long as he did as she +desired. Willis Cox yielded precedence to Brander; Brander was mate. +When they sighted whales, all three of them lowered, while Faith kept +ship. Their work had been nearly done before Noll died; they lacked less +than a dozen whales to fill. Young Roy, to his vast content, was allowed +to take out a boat and kill one of that last dozen, while Brander in his +boat lay watchfully by. + +Came a day, when the trying out was done, that Brander went to Faith. +"We're bung up," he said. "The last cask's sweating full." + +Faith nodded happily, and swung to Mr. Tichel. "Then let's for home," +she said. + + * * * * * + +For the rest, the matter tells itself. They hauled in to the nearest +island port and overhauled and recoopered the water casks, and took on +wood and water for the five months' homeward way. They stocked with +potatoes and vegetables. The crow's nests came down, and to'gallant +masts were set to carry canvas on the passage. The gear was stripped +from the whaleboats and stowed away, and two of the boats were lashed +atop the boathouse, with the spares. The rigging had a touch of tar, the +hull and spars took a lick of paint, the wood-work shone with +scraping.... + +So, to sea. The first day out saw the dismantling of the tryworks; and +broken bricks flew overside for half that day, all hands joining in the +sport of it. Then a clean deck, and a stout northwest wind behind them, +and the long easterly stretch to the Horn was begun.... + +That homeward cruise was a pleasant time for Faith and Brander. They +were much together, speaking little, speaking not at all of +themselves.... Save once, Faith said, smiling at him shyly: + +"I knew you hadn't done it, even when I told them to put you in +irons...." + +He nodded. "I knew you knew." + +They both understood; their eyes said what their lips were not yet +ready to say. There was a reticence upon them. Faith, on the deck of her +husband's ship, felt still the shadow of Noll Wing in her life.... +Brander felt its presence. It made neither of them unhappy; they +respected it. Faith was never ashamed of Noll. He had been a man.... She +had loved him; she was proud that he had loved her.... + +Day by day they were together, on deck or below, while the winds worked +for them and the stars in their courses watched over them. Through the +chill of southern waters as they rounded the Cape.... Cap'n Tichel +looking back at it, waved his hand in valedictory; and Faith asked: +"What are you thinking, Mr. Tichel?" + +"Saying good-by to old Cape Stiff there," he chuckled. "I'll not come +this way again." + +"Yes, you will," she told him. "You're captain of your own ship, now.... +And will be, next cruise." + +He shook his head. "I know when I'm well off, young lady. Old Tichel's +ready to stick ashore, now...." + +She left him, staring back across the dull, cold sea.... He stood there +stiffly till the night came down upon the waters. + +After that, they struck warmer winds, with a pleasant ocean all about, +and the scud of spray sweet upon their cheeks, and the _Sally_ fat with +oil beneath their feet. A happy time, when Faith and Brander, with never +a word and never a touch of hand, grew close as man and woman can +grow.... + +Never a cloud in the skies from their last kill to the day they picked +up the tug that shunted them alongside their wharf at home. + + * * * * * + +There are many things that never get into the log. Faith had no vengeful +heart toward Dan'l; the man had reaped what he sowed. With the _Sally_, +Noll Wing's ship, safe home again, she was willing to forget what had +passed. She told Dan'l so. Silva was dead; the others were but +instruments. The matter was done.... + +Dan'l, possessed by a creeping apathy, nodded his thanks to her and +turned away his head. The man was dying where he lay; he would not long +survive. + +Old Jem Kilcup was at the wharf to hug Faith against his broad chest. An +older Jem than when she went away; but a glad Jem to see her home again. +Jonathan Felt was with him, asking anxiously for Noll. When Faith told +them Noll was gone, old Jonathan fell sorrowfully silent. The whole town +would mourn Noll; he had been one of its heroes.... + +Faith said proudly: "He's dead, sir. But this was his fattest cruise. He +never brought home better than he's sent, now." + +"You're full?" asked Jonathan. + +"Aye, every cask.... And more," said Faith. And told him of the +ambergris. She gave Brander so much credit for that, and for other +things, that Jonathan hooked his arm in that of the young man, and +walked with him thus when they all went to the office to hear Cap'n +Tichel make his report. + +Jem sat there, listening, proud eyes on Faith, while Tichel told the +story; and Faith listened, and looked now and then at Brander, where he +stood in the shadows by the window. In the end, Tichel said +straightforwardly that he was content with what life had brought him, +that he was through with the sea. But he pointed toward Brander. + +"There's a man'll beat Noll Wing's best for you," he said. + +Jonathan got up, spry little old figure, and crossed to grip Brander by +the hand. "You'll take out a ship o' mine?" he asked; and Brander +hesitated, and his eyes crossed to meet Faith's, as though to ask +permission. Faith nodded faintly; and Brander said: + +"Yes, sir, if you like." + +"I do like," said Jonathan briskly. "I do like; so that's settled and +done." + +Afterward, Tichel and Willis went back to the ship. Jem, with Faith on +his arm, were to go up the hill to Faith's old home. They stopped +outside Jonathan's door to say good-by to Brander for a little while. +Faith was free of the load of responsibility that she had taken on her +shoulders; she had put Noll Wing's ship behind her. She looked up at him +with eyes that offered everything. + +Brander said quietly: "I've much to say to you that's never been said. +Will you let me come to your home this night for the saying?" + +Faith looked up at her father, looked to Brander again, and smiled, + +"Do come," she said. + + +THE END + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + * * * * * + + + + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +ZANE GREY'S NOVELS + + THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS + + A New York society girl buys a ranch which becomes the center of + frontier warfare. Her loyal superintendent rescues her when she is + captured by bandits. A surprising climax brings the story to a + delightful close. + + THE RAINBOW TRAIL + + The story of a young clergyman who becomes a wanderer in the great + western uplands--until at last love and faith awake. + + DESERT GOLD + + The story describes the recent uprising along the border, and ends + with the finding of the gold which two prospectors had willed to the + girl who is the story's heroine. + + RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE + + A picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago when Mormon + authority ruled. The prosecution of Jane Withersteen is the theme of + the story. + + THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN + + This is the record of a trip which the author took with Buffalo + Jones, known as the preserver of the American bison, across the + Arizona desert and of a hunt in "that wonderful country of deep + canons and giant pines." + + THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT + + A lovely girl, who has been reared among Mormons, learns to love a + young New Englander. The Mormon religion, however, demands that the + girl shall become the second wife of one of the Mormons--Well, + that's the problem of this great story. + + THE SHORT STOP + + The young hero, tiring of his factory grind, starts out to win fame + and fortune as a professional ball player. His hard knocks at the + start are followed by such success as clean sportsmanship, courage + and honesty ought to win. + + BETTY ZANE + + This story tells of the bravery and heroism of Betty, the beautiful + young sister of old Colonel Zane, one of the bravest pioneers. + + THE LONE STAR RANGER + + After killing a man in self defense, Buck Duane becomes an outlaw + along the Texas border. In a camp on the Mexican side of the river, + he finds a young girl held prisoner, and in attempting to rescue + her, brings down upon himself the wrath of her captors and + henceforth is hunted on one side by honest men, on the other by + outlaws. + + THE BORDER LEGION + + Joan Randle, in a spirit of anger, sent Jim Cleve out to a lawless + Western mining camp to prove his mettle. Then realizing that she + loved him--she followed him out. On her way, she is captured by a + bandit band, and trouble begins when she shoots Kells, the + leader--and nurses him to health again. Here enters another, + romance--when Joan, disguised as an outlaw, observes Jim, in the + throes of dissipation. A gold strike, a thrilling robbery--gambling + and gun play carry you along breathlessly. + + THE LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS. + By Helen Cody Wetmore and Zane Grey + + The life story of Colonel William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill," as told + by his sister and Zane Grey. It begins with his boyhood in Iowa and + his first encounter with an Indian. We see "Bill" as a pony express + rider, then near Fort Sumter as Chief of the Scouts, and later + engaged in the most dangerous Indian campaigns. There is also a very + interesting account of the travels of "The Wild West" Show. No + character in public life makes a stronger appeal to the imagination + of America than "Buffalo Bill," whose daring and bravery made him + famous. + + +STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER + + MICHAEL O'HALLORAN. Illustrated by Frances Rogers. + + Michael is a quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern + Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also + assumes the responsibility of leading the entire rural community + upward and onward. + + LADDIE. Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer. + + This is a bright, cheery tale with the scenes laid in Indiana. The + story is told by Little Sister, the youngest member of a large + family, but it is concerned not so much with childish doings as with + the love affairs of older members of the family. Chief among them is + that of Laddie and the Princess, an English girl who has come to + live in the neighborhood and about whose family there hangs a + mystery. + + THE HARVESTER. Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs. + + "The Harvester," is a man of the woods and fields, and if the book + had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would be + notable. But when the Girl comes to his "Medicine Woods," there + begins a romance of the rarest idyllic quality. + + FRECKLES. Illustrated. + + Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in + which he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the + great Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him + succumbs to the charm of his engaging personality; and his + love-story with "The Angel" are full of real sentiment. + + A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. Illustrated. + + The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable type + of the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and + kindness towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the + sheer beauty of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins + from barren and unpromising surroundings those rewards of high + courage. + + AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. Illustrations in colors. + + The scene of this charming love story is laid in Central Indiana. + The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self-sacrificing + love. The novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of + nature, and its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all. + + THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL. Profusely illustrated. + + A love ideal of the Cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy + and humor. + + +THE NOVELS OF MARY ROBERTS RINEHART + + DANGEROUS DAYS. + + A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and + stirring appeal. + + THE AMAZING INTERLUDE. Illustrations by The Kinneys. + + The story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an + interlude--amazing, romantic. + + LOVE STORIES. + + This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love + affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness. + + "K." Illustrated. + + K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where + beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse. + The joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and + sympathetic appreciation. + + THE MAN IN LOWER TEN. Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy. + + An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of + the "Man in Lower Ten." + + WHEN A MAN MARRIES. Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker. + + A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his + aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the family + income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young man + met the situation is entertainingly told. + + THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph. + + The occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong + on the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure is + announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing + interest. + + THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.) + + Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly + realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young ambitious + doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with + world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love and + slender means. + + +BOOTH TARKINGTON'S NOVELS + + SEVENTEEN. Illustrated by Arthur William Brown. + + No one but the creator of Penrod could have portrayed the immortal + young people of this story. Its humor is irresistible and + reminiscent of the time when the reader was Seventeen. + + PENROD. Illustrated by Gordon Grant. + + This is a picture of a boy's heart, full of the lovable, humorous, + tragic things which are locked secrets to most older folks. It is a + finished, exquisite work. + + PENROD AND SAM. Illustrated by Worth Brehm. + + Like "Penrod" and "Seventeen," this book contains some remarkable + phases of real boyhood and some of the best stories of juvenile + prankishness that have ever been written. + + THE TURMOIL. Illustrated by C. E. Chambers. + + Bibbs Sheridan is a dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts against + his father's plans for him to be a servitor of big business. The + love of a fine girl turns Bibbs' life from failure to success. + + THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA. Frontispiece. + + A story of love and politics,--more especially a picture of a + country editor's life in Indiana, but the charm of the book lies in + the love interest. + + THE FLIRT. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood. + + The "Flirt," the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl's + engagement, drives one man to suicide, causes the murder of another, + leads another to lose his fortune, and in the end marries a stupid + and unpromising suitor, leaving the really worthy one to marry her + sister. + + +KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES + + SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street. + + The California Redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful + story of sisterly devotion and sacrifice. + + POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs. + + A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the Years" + and "The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving pictures. + + JOSSELYN'S WIFE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + + The story of a beautiful woman who fought a bitter fight for + happiness and love. + + MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles E. Chambers. + + The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions. + + THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers. + + An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a + second marriage. + + THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + + A sympathetic portrayal of the quest of a normal girl, obscure and + lonely, for the happiness of life. + + SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes. + + Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through + sheer determination to the better things for which her soul + hungered? + + MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + + A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of + every girl's life, and some dreams which came true. + + +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE + + KAZAN + + The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn + between the call of the human and his wild mate. + + BAREE, SON OF KAZAN + + The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he + played in the lives of a man and a woman. + + THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM + + The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his + battle with Captain Plum. + + THE DANGER TRAIL + + A tale of snow, of love, of Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the + North. + + THE HUNTED WOMAN + + A tale of the "end of the line," and of a great fight in the "valley + of gold" for a woman. + + THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH + + The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is + blended with the courtly atmosphere of France. + + THE GRIZZLY KING + + The story of Thor, the big grizzly who lived in a valley where man + had never come. + + ISOBEL + + A love story of the Far North. + + THE WOLF HUNTERS + + A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness. + + THE GOLD HUNTERS + + The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds. + + THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE + + Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women. + + BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY + + A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made + from this book. + + +RALPH CONNOR'S STORIES OF THE NORTHWEST + + THE SKY PILOT IN NO MAN'S LAND + + The clean-hearted, strong-limbed man of the West leaves his hills + and forests to fight the battle for freedom in the old world. + + BLACK ROCK + + A story of strong men in the mountains of the West. + + THE SKY PILOT + + A story of cowboy life, abounding in the freshest humor, the truest + tenderness and the finest courage. + + THE PROSPECTOR + + A tale of the foothills and of the man who came to them to lend a + hand to the lonely men and women who needed a protector. + + THE MAN FROM GLENGARRY + + This narrative brings us into contact with elemental and volcanic + human nature and with a hero whose power breathes from every word. + + GLENGARRY SCHOOL DAYS + + In this rough country of Glengarry, Ralph Connor has found human + nature in the rough. + + THE DOCTOR + + The story of a "preacher-doctor" whom big men and reckless men loved + for his unselfish life among them. + + THE FOREIGNER + + A tale of the Saskatchewan and of a "foreigner" who made a brave and + winning fight for manhood and love. + + CORPORAL CAMERON + + This splendid type of the upright, out-of-door man about which Ralph + Connor builds all his stories, appears again in this book. + + +THE NOVELS OF GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL LUTZ + + THE BEST MAN + + Through a strange series of adventures a young man finds himself + propelled up the aisle of a church and married to a strange girl. + + A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS + + On her way West the heroine steps off by mistake at a lonely + watertank into a maze of thrilling events. + + THE ENCHANTED BARN + + Every member of the family will enjoy this spirited chronicle of a + young girl's resourcefulness and pluck, and the secret of the + "enchanted" barn. + + THE WITNESS + + The fascinating story of the enormous change an incident wrought in + a man's life. + + MARCIA SCHUYLER + + A picture of ideal girlhood set in the time of full skirts and poke + bonnets. + + LO, MICHAEL! + + A story of unfailing appeal to all who love and understand boys. + + THE MAN OF THE DESERT + + An intensely moving love story of a man of the desert and a girl of + the East pictured against the background of the Far West. + + PHOEBE DEANE + + A tense and charming love story, told with a grace and a fervor with + which only Mrs. Lutz could tell it. + + DAWN OF THE MORNING + + A romance of the last century with all of its old-fashioned charm. A + companion volume to "Marcia Schuyler" and "Phoebe Deane." + + +"STORM COUNTRY" BOOKS BY GRACE MILLER WHITE + + JUDY OF ROGUES' HARBOR + + Judy's untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things, her faith in + life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith and + sincerity catch at your heart strings. This book has all of the + mystery and tense action of the other Storm Country books. + + TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY + + It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary Pickford made + her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon a + temperament such as hers--a temperament that makes a woman an angel + or an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves--is + the theme of the story. + + THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY + + The sequel to "Tess of the Storm Country," with the same wild + background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters--tempestuous, + passionate, brooding. Tess learns the "secret" of her birth and + finds happiness and love through her boundless faith in life. + + FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING + + A haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to + readers of "Tess of the Storm Country." + + ROSE O' PARADISE + + "Jinny" Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate + yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, a + crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of power + and glory and tenderness. + + +ELEANOR H. PORTER'S NOVELS + + JUST DAVID + + The tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to fill in the + hearts of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left. + + THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING + + A compelling romance of love and marriage. + + OH, MONEY! MONEY! + + Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions of his + relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000, and then as plain + John Smith comes among them to watch the result of his experiment. + + SIX STAR RANCH + + A wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer on Six + Star Ranch. + + DAWN + + The story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through the gulf of + despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to the + service of blind soldiers. + + ACROSS THE YEARS + + Short stories of our own kind and of our own people. Contains some + of the best writing Mrs. Porter has done. + + THE TANGLED THREADS + + In these stories we find the concentrated charm and tenderness of + all her other books. + + THE TIE THAT BINDS + + Intensely human stories told with Mrs. Porter's wonderful talent for + warm and vivid character drawing. + + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea Bride, by Ben Ames Williams + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA BRIDE *** + +***** This file should be named 36881-8.txt or 36881-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/8/36881/ + +Produced by Brian Sogard, Adam Styles and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sea Bride + +Author: Ben Ames Williams + +Release Date: July 28, 2011 [EBook #36881] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA BRIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Brian Sogard, Adam Styles and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + <p> </p> + <p class="center"><b>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</b> Minor printer's errors corrected.</p> + <p> </p> + <p> </p> + + <div class="figcenter c1"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="401" height="600" alt="" + title="" /></div> + + + <h1>THE SEA BRIDE</h1> + + <p> </p> + <h4>BY</h4> + + <h3>BEN AMES WILLIAMS</h3> + + <p> </p> + <h5>AUTHOR OF</h5> + + <h4>ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT</h4> + + <p> </p> + <div class="figcenter"><img src="images/image1.jpg" width="66" height="64" alt="" + title="" /></div> + <p> </p> + + <h3>G R O S S E T & D U N L A P</h3> + + <h4>PUBLISHERS NEW YORK</h4> + + <p class="center">Published by Arrangement with The Macmillan Company</p> + + <p> </p> + <p> </p> + + <h6>COPYRIGHT, 1919<br /> + BY BEN AMES WILLIAMS<br /> + <br /> + COPYRIGHT, 1919<br /> + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</h6> + + <h6>Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1919.</h6> + <hr class="c2" /> + + + <h2><a name="THE_SEA_BRIDE" id="THE_SEA_BRIDE"></a>THE SEA BRIDE</h2> + <hr class="c2" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h2> + + <p>They were to be married before the open fire, in the big living-room of the old + house on the hill. Upstairs, Bess Holt was helping Faith dress. Faith sat before the + old, veneered dressing table with its little mirror tilting on the curved standards, + and submitted quietly and happily to Bess's ministrations. Bess was a chatterbox, and + her tongue flew as nimbly as the deft fingers that arranged Faith's veil. Faith was + content; her soft eyes resting on her own image in the little mirror were like the eyes + of one who dreams dreams and sees visions. She scarce heard Bess at all....</p> + + <p>Only once she turned and looked slowly about this low-ceiled old room that had been + her home: the high, soft bed, with its canopy resting on the four tall posts; the frame + of that canopy was split in one place; she had wound it with wire to strengthen it. How + many mornings, waking pleasantly as day stole in the little windows, she had seen that + twist of wire first of all as her eyes opened. She used to look at it, and dream a + little, before she rose.... One window, with its white hangings, was just at the foot + of the bed. The cool, salt-laden winds from the sea used to whisper in there and soothe + her sleep. She had always loved the sea. Would she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>always love it so, when there was + nothing else but the sea on every hand?... When she should have sailed away with big + Noll Wing....</p> + + <p>The high chest of drawers, the little dressing table, the delicate chairs.... These + were all old and familiar friends—whom she was leaving behind her. And she loved + them, loved the ugly paper on the wall, loved the old daguerreotypes above the chest of + drawers, loved the crooked sampler by the never-used fireplace. Loved them....</p> + + <p>She smiled happily and confidently. She loved them ... but she loved big Noll Wing + better. She would not regret....</p> + + <p>Below stairs, her father, Jem Kilcup, talked with Dr. Brant, the minister. They + spoke of wind and weather, as men do whose lives lie near the sea. They spoke of oil, + of ships, of tedious cruises when the seas were bare of whales.... The minister marked + the old harpoon that stood in the corner by the fire, and Jem told how with that + battered iron he had struck his last whale, a dozen years before.... A good tale. The + whale fought hard, left Jem with a crushed chest that drove him from the sea. Their + talk wandered everywhere save where their thoughts were; they did not speak of Faith, + nor of Noll Wing. Jem could not bear to speak of his girl who was going from his arms + to another's; the minister understood, and joined with him in a conspiracy of silence. + Only, when Bess came whispering down to say that. Faith was ready, old Jem gripped Dr. + Brant's arm and whispered harshly into the minister's ear: "Marry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> them tight, and marry + them hard, and true, Doctor. By God...."</p> + + <p>Dr. Brant nodded. "No fear, my friend," he said. "Faith is a woman...."</p> + + <p>"Aye," said Jem hoarsely. "Aye; and she's made her bed. God help her."</p> + + <p>Things began to stir in the big house. Noll Wing was in the back room with Henry + Ham, who had sailed with him three voyages, and would back him in this new venture. + Young Roy Kilcup had found them there.... Old Jem had a demijohn of cherry rum, thirty + years unopened. He sent it in to Noll.... And Noll Wing smacked his lips over it + cheerfully, and became more amiable than was his custom. Roy Kilcup caught him in this + mood and took quick vantage of it. When the three came in where Jem and Dr. Brant were + waiting, Roy crossed and gripped his father's arm. "I'm going," he whispered. "Cap'n + Wing will take me, as ship's boy. He's promised, dad."</p> + + <p>Old Jem nodded. His children were leaving him; he was past protesting.</p> + + <p>"I'm ready," Roy told his father. "I'm going to pack, right after they're married." + He saw Dr. Brant smile, and whispered: "Be quick as you can, sir."</p> + + <p>The minister touched the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "Quiet, Roy," he said. + "There's time...."</p> + + <p>People were gathering in the living-room from the other parts of the house. They + came by twos and threes. The men were awkward and uneasy, and strove to be jocular; the + women smiled with tears in their eyes. When<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> one woman surrenders herself to one man, + all women weep. Bess Holt, alone, did not weep. She was to play the organ; she sat down + upon the stool and spread her pretty, soft skirts about her, and looked back over her + shoulder to where Jem stood, in the hall, at the stair foot. He was to sign to her when + Faith was ready. Dr. Brant crossed and stood beside the fireplace where the logs were + laid, ready for the match. Noll Wing and Henry Ham took stand with him. Ham, the mate, + was a big man, and an awkward one. His high collar irked him; his perilously shaven + chin moved restlessly back and forth in the effort to ease his tortured throat. He + coughed sepulchrally; and a woman giggled in the stillness, and wept quietly into her + handkerchief.</p> + + <p>Cap'n Noll Wing stood easily, squarely upon his spread legs. He, too, was a big man; + his chest swelled barrel-like; his arms stretched the sleeves of his black coat. Cap'n + Wing was seldom seen without a cap upon his head. Some of those in that room discovered + in this moment for the first time that he was bald. The tight, white skin upon his + skull contrasted unpleasantly with the brown of his leather cheeks. The thick hair + about his ears was tinged with gray. Across his nose and his firm cheeks, tiny veins + drew lacy patterns of purple. Garnished in wedding finery, he was nevertheless a man + past middle life, and no mistaking. A man almost as old as Jem Kilcup, and wedding Jem + Kilcup's daughter. An old man, but a man, for all that; stout, and strong, and full of + sap. He had the dignity of mastery; he had the bearing of a man accustomed to command + and be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> obeyed. Roy Kilcup watched this man with eyes of worship.</p> + + <p>Bess, watching over her shoulder, saw old Jem look up the stairs, then turn and nod + awkwardly to her. She pressed the keys, the organ breathed, the tones swelled forth and + filled the room. Still, over her shoulder, she watched the door, as did every other + eye. They saw Faith appear there, by her father's side; they saw her hand drop lightly + on his arm. Jem moved; his broad shoulders brushed the sides of the door. He brought + his daughter in, and turned with her upon his arm toward where Noll Wing was + waiting.</p> + + <p>Faith's eyes, as she came through the door, swept the room once before they found + the eyes of Cap'n Wing and rested there. That single glance had shown her Dan'l Tobey, + behind the others, near the window; and the memory of Dan'l's face played before her as + she moved toward where Noll waited. Poor Dan'l. She pitied him as women do pity the + lover they do not love. She had been hard on Dan'l. Not her fault; but still the truth. + Hard on Dan'l Tobey.... And misery dwelt upon his countenance, so that she could not + forget, even while she went to meet Noll Wing before the minister.</p> + + <p>Janie Cox dropped her handkerchief and dove for it desperately, as Faith and Jem + passed where she stood. Janie's swift movement was outrageously conspicuous in that + still room. Faith looked toward her, and saw poor Janie crimson with embarrassment, and + smiled at her comfortingly.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>When she looked forward again, she found herself at Noll Wing's side, and Dr. Brant + was already speaking....</p> + + <p>When they made their responses, Noll in his heavy voice of a master, and Faith in + the level voice of a proud, sure woman, her eyes met his and promised him things + unutterable. It is this speaking of eyes to eyes that is marriage; the words are of + small account. Faith pledged herself to Noll Wing when she opened her eyes to him and + let him look into the depths of her. A woman who loves wishes to give. Faith gave all + herself in that gift of her quiet, steady eyes. Cap'n Wing, before them, found himself + abashed. He was glad when the word was said, when the still room stirred to life. He + kissed Faith hurriedly; he was a little afraid of her. Then the others pressed forward + and separated them, and he was glad enough to be thrust back, to be able to laugh, and + jest, and grip the hands of men.</p> + + <p>The women, and some of the men, kissed Faith as she stood there, hanging on her + father's arm. Her eyes flickered now and then toward Noll, her Noll Wing now. But she + could not always be watching him. Too many others came to speak with her. Dan'l Tobey + came; Dan'l with his round moon-face, and his freckles, and his sandy hair.... Dan'l + was only a little older than herself; a chubby, strong young man.... Little more than a + boy, but a man, too.... Two cruises behind him.... He was going out as second mate with + Cap'n Wing, this afternoon. Faith knew Dan'l loved her. She was pleas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>antly sorry, and + at the same time secretly glad. No woman is completely sorry that she is beloved. Faith + told herself she must help Dan'l get over it, on this cruise that was to come. She + must.... She decided, while she spoke to him, that she must find a wife for Dan'l. What + married woman is not a matchmaker? Faith had now been a married woman for seven minutes + by the tall clock a-ticking in the corner....</p> + + <p>Dan'l gave way to others; and Bess Holt cried in dismay, "Faith, the fire was never + lighted!"</p> + + <p>It was true. In the swift moments before Faith came downstairs, no one had + remembered to touch a match to the kindling under the smooth, white birch logs in the + great fireplace. When Faith saw this, she felt a sudden, swift pang of disappointment + at her heart. She loved a fire, an open fire, merrily blazing.... She had always + dreamed of being married before this great fire in her father's home. She herself had + chosen these logs, and under her eye her brother Roy had borne them into the house and + laid them upon the small stuff and kindling she had prepared. She had wanted that fire + to spring to life as she and Noll were married; she had thought of it as a symbol of + the new life that was beginning for Noll. She was terribly disappointed....</p> + + <p>In that first pang, she looked helplessly about for Noll. She wanted comfort + pitifully.... But Noll was laughing in the doorway, talking with old Jonathan Felt, the + owner of his vessel. He had not heard, he did not see her glance. Bess Holt cried:</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>"Somebody light it quick. Roy Kilcup, give me a match. I'll light it myself. Don't + look, Faith! Oh, what a shame...."</p> + + <p>Roy knew how his sister had counted on that fire. "I'll bet Faith doesn't feel as + though she were really married," he laughed. "Not without a fire going.... Do you, + Faith? Better do it over, Dr. Brant...."</p> + + <p>Some one said it was bad luck; a dozen voices cried the some one down. Then, while + they were all talking about it, round-faced Dan'l Tobey went down on his knees and + lighted the fire that was to have illumined Faith's wedding.</p> + + <p>Faith, her hand at her throat, looked for Noll again; but he and old Jonathan had + gone out to that ancient demijohn of cherry rum.... Dan'l was looking hungrily at her; + hungry for thanks. She smiled at him. They were all pressing around her again....</p> + + <p>It was little Bess Holt who set them moving, at last, down to the wharf. Bess was + the stage manager that day; every one else was too busy with his or her own concerns. + She whisked Faith away upstairs to change her dress, and scolded the others out of the + house.... All save Jem Kilcup and Roy. Roy had packing of his own to do; he was flying + at it like a terrier. Jem would stay as long as he might with Faith. Noll, and Jonathan + Felt, and Noll's officers went to play host at the wedding supper on the decks of the + <i>Sally Sims</i>....</p> + + <p>Faith's luggage had already gone aboard. When she and Jem and Bess reached the + wharf, the others were at the tables, under the boathouse, aft. They rose, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> pledged + Faith in lifted glasses.... Then Faith sat down beside her husband, at the head of the + board, and old Jem settled morosely beside her. They ate and drank merrily.</p> + + <p>Faith was very happy, dreamily happy. She felt the big presence of her husband at + her side; and she lifted her head with pride in him, and in this ship which he + commanded. He was a man.... Once or twice she marked her father's silence; and once she + touched his knee with her hand lightly, in comfort.... Cap'n Wing made a speech. They + called on Jem, but Jem was in no mind for chatter. They called on Faith; she rose, and + smiled at them, and said how happy she was, and touched her husband's shoulder + proudly....</p> + + <p>Roy came, running, after a time.... And a little later, the tug whistled from the + stream, and Cap'n Wing looked overside, and stood up, and lifted his hands.</p> + + <p>"Friends," he said jocosely, "I'd like to take you all along. Come if you want. + But—tide's in. Them as don't want to go along had best be getting ashore."</p> + + <p>Thus it was ended; that wedding supper on the deck, in the late afternoon, while the + flags floated overhead, and the gulls screamed across the refuse-dotted waters of the + Harbor, and the tide whirled and eddied about the piles. Thus it was ended; their + chairs scraped upon the deck; the boards that had been set upon boxes and trestles to + make tables and seats were thrust aside or overturned. They swept about Faith, where + she stood at her husband's side, arm linked in his, against the rail....</p> + + <p>Old Jem kissed her first of all, kissed her roundly, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>crushing her to his breast; and + she whispered, in his close embrace: "It's all right, dad. Don't worry.... All + right.... I'll bring you home...."</p> + + <p>He kissed her again, cutting short her promise. Kissed her, and thrust her away, and + stumped ashore, and went stockily off along the wharf and out of sight, never looking + back. A solitary figure; somewhat to be pitied, for all his broad shoulders and his + fine old head.</p> + + <p>The others in their turn, little Bess Holt last of all. Bess, now that her tasks + were done, had her turn at tears. She wept happily in Faith's arms. Faith did not weep. + She was too happy for even the happiest of tears. She patted Bess's brown head, and + linked arms with the girl while Bess climbed to the wharf, and they kissed again, + there....</p> + + <p>Then every one waited, calling, laughing, crying, while the <i>Sally Sims</i> was + torn loose from her moorings. Cap'n Wing was another man now; he was never a man to + leave his ship to another, Faith thought proudly. His commands rang through the still + air of late afternoon; his eye saw the hawsers cast off, saw the tug take hold....</p> + + <p>The <i>Sally Sims</i> moved; she moved so slowly that at first one must watch a + fixed point upon the wharf to be sure she moved at all. Roy was everywhere, afire with + zeal in this new experience; his eyes were dancing. Faith stood aft, a little way from + her husband, calling to those upon the wharf. The tug dragged the <i>Sally</i> stern + first into the stream, headed her around....</p> + + <p>Last calls, last cries.... The individual figures on the wharf's end slowly merged + into one mass, a mass varie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>gated by the black garments of the men, by the gayer fabrics + which the women wore. This mass in turn, as the <i>Sally</i> slipped eastward toward + the sea, became a dot of color against the brown casks which piled the wharf. Faith + took her eyes from it to glance toward her husband; when she looked back it was hard to + discover the dot again. Presently it was gone....</p> + + <p>Men were in the rigging, now, setting the big, square sails. The wind began to tug + at them. The voice of the mate, Mr. Ham, roared up to the men in profane commands. + Cap'n Wing stood stockily on wide-spread legs, watching, joining his voice now and then + to the uproar.</p> + + <p>The sea, presently, opened out before them, inviting them, offering all its wide + expanses to the <i>Sally Sims'</i> blunt bow. The <i>Sally</i> began to lift and tilt + awkwardly. The tug had long since dropped behind; they shaped their course for where + the night came up ahead of them.... They sailed steadily eastward, into the gathering + gloom....</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing bawled: "Mr. Tobey." And Dan'l came aft to where Faith stood with her + husband. He did not look at her, so that Faith was faintly disquieted. The captain + pointed to the litter of planks and boxes and dishes and food where the wedding supper + had been laid. Faith watched dreamily, happily.... She had loved that last gathering + with her friends.... There was something sacred to her, in this moment, even in the + ugly débris that remained....</p> + + <p>But not to Cap'n Wing. He said harshly, in his voice of a master:</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>"Have that trash cleared up, Mr. Tobey. Sharp, now."</p> + + <p>"Trash?" Faith was faintly unhappy at the word. Dan'l bawled to the men, and half a + dozen of them came shuffling aft. She touched her husband's arm. "I'm going below, now, + Noll," she whispered.</p> + + <p>He nodded. "Get to bed," he said. "I'll be down."</p> + + <p>He had not looked at her; he was watching Dan'l and the men. Her own eyes + clouded.... Nevertheless, she turned to the cabin companion and went below.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + + <p>For two weeks Faith had been aboard the <i>Sally Sims</i>, making ready the tiny + quarters that were to be her home. When she came down into the cabin now, it was with a + sense of familiarity. The plain table, built about the butt of the mizzenmast; the + chairs; the swinging, whale-oil lamps.... These were old friends, waiting to replace + those other friends she had left behind in her bedroom at home. She stood for a moment, + at the foot of the cabin companion, looking about her; and she smiled faintly, her hand + at her throat....</p> + + <p>She was not lonely, not homesick, not sorry.... But her smile seemed to appeal to + these inanimate surroundings to be good to her.</p> + + <p>Then she crossed the cabin quietly, and went into the smaller compartment across the + stern which was used by Cap'n Wing for his books, his instruments, his scant hours of + leisure.... This ran almost entirely across the stern of the ship; but it was little + more than a corridor. The captain's cabin was on the starboard side, opening off this + corridor-like compartment. There was scant room, aft, aboard the <i>Sally Sims</i>. The + four mates bunked two by two, in cabins opening off the main cabin; the mate had no + room to himself. And by the same token, there was no possibility of giving Faith + separate quarters. There were two bunks in the captain's cabin, one above the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>other. + The upper had been built in, during the last two weeks. That was all....</p> + + <p>Faith had not protested. She was content that Noll was hers; the rest did not + matter. She found a measure of glory in the thought that she must endure some hardships + to be at his side while her man did his work in the world. She was, after the first + pangs, glad that she must make a tiny chest and a half a dozen nails serve her for + wardrobe and dressing-room; she was glad that she must sleep on a thing like a shelf + built into the wall, instead of her high, soft bed with the canopy at home. She was + glad—glad for life—glad for Noll—glad for everything....</p> + + <p>She began, quietly, to prepare herself for bed. And while she loosened her heavy + hair, and began the long, easy brushing that kept it so glossy and smooth, her thoughts + ran back over the swift, warm rapture of her awakening love for Noll. Big Noll Wing.... + Her husband, now.... She, his bride....</p> + + <p>She had always worshiped Noll, even while she was still a school girl, her skirts + short, her hair in a long, thick braid. Noll was a heroic figure, a great man who + appeared at intervals from the distances of ocean, and moved majestically about the + little world of the town, and then was gone again. The man had had the gift of drama; + his deeds held that element which lifted them above mere exploits and made them + romance. When he was third mate of the old <i>Bertha</i>, a crazy Islander tried to + knife him, and fleshed his blade in Noll Wing's shoulder, from behind. Noll had + wrenched around and broken the man's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>neck with a twist of his hands. He had always been + a hard man with his hands; a strong man, perhaps a brutal man. Faith, hearing only + glorified whispers of these matters, had dreamed of the strength of him. She saw this + strength not as a physical thing, but as a thing spiritual. No one man could rule other + men unless he ruled them by a superior moral strength, she knew. She loved to think of + Noll's strength.... Her breath had caught in ecstasy of pain, that night he first held + her close against his great chest, till she thought her own ribs would crack....</p> + + <p>Not Noll's strength alone was famous. He had been a great captain, a great man for + oil. His maiden voyage as skipper of his own ship made that reputation for the man. He + set sail, ran forthwith into a very sea of whales, worked night and day, and returned + in three days short of three months with a cargo worth thirty-seven thousand dollars. A + cargo that other men took three years to harvest from the fat fields of the sea; took + three years to harvest, and then were like as not to boast of the harvesting. Oh, Noll + Wing was a master hand for sperm oil; a master skipper as ever sailed the seas....</p> + + <p>He came back thus, cruise after cruise, and the town watched his footsteps with + pride and envy; he walked the streets with head high; he spoke harshly, in tones of + command; he was, Faith thought, a man....</p> + + <p>She remembered, this night, her first sight of him; her first remembered sight. It + was when her father came home from his last voyage, his chest crushed, himself a + helpless man who must lie abed long months before he might re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>gain a measure of his + ancient strength again. His ship came in, down at the wharves, at early dawn; and Faith + and Roy, at home with their mother, had known nothing of the matter till big Noll Wing + came up the hill, carrying Jem Kilcup in his arms as a baby is borne. Their mother + opened the door, and Noll bore Jem upstairs to the bed he was to keep for so long.... + And Faith and Roy, who had always seen in their father the mightiest of men, as + children do, marveled at Noll Wing with wide eyes. Noll had carried their father in his + arms....</p> + + <p>Faith was eleven, then; Roy not much more than half as old. While Noll's ship + remained in port, she and Roy had stolen down often to the wharves to catch a stolen + sight of the great man; they had hid among the casks to watch him; they had heard with + awe his thundering commands.... And then he sailed away. When he came again, Faith was + thirteen; and she tagged his heels, and he bought her candy, and took her on his knee + and played with her.... Those weeks of his stay were witchery to Faith. Her mother died + during that time, and Noll was her comforter.... The big man could be gentle, in those + days, and very kind....</p> + + <p>He came next when Faith was sixteen; and the faint breath of bursting womanhood + within her made Faith shy. When a girl passes from childhood, and feels for the first + time the treasures of womanhood within herself, she guards that treasure zealously, + like a secret thing. Faith was afraid of Noll; she avoided him; and when they met, her + tongue was tied.... He teased her, and she writhed in helpless misery....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>Nineteen at his next coming; but young Dan'l Tobey, risen to be fourth mate on that + cruise with Noll, laid siege to her. She liked Dan'l; she thought he was a pleasant + boy.... But when she saw Noll, now and then, she was silent before him; and Noll had no + eyes to see what was in the eyes of Faith. He was, at that time, in the tower of his + strength; a mighty man, with flooding pulses that drove him restlessly. He still liked + children; but Faith was no longer a child. She was a woman; and Noll had never had more + than casual use for women. He saw her, now and then; nothing more....</p> + + <p>Nevertheless this seeing was enough so that Dan'l Tobey had no chance at all. Dan'l + went so far as to beg her to marry him; but she shook her head.... "Wait ..." she + whispered. "No. No.... Wait...."</p> + + <p>"You mean—you will—some day?" he clamored. And she was frightened, and + cried out:</p> + + <p>"No, I don't mean anything, Dan'l. Please—don't ask me.... Wait...."</p> + + <p>He told her, doggedly, the day he sailed away, that he would ask her again when he + came home. And Faith, sure that she would never love Dan'l, was so sorry for him that + she kissed him good-by; kissed him on the forehead.... The boy was blind; he read in + that kiss an augury of good, and went away with heart singing. He did not know the + philosophy of kisses. Let a girl permit a man to kiss her good-by—on cheek, or + forehead, or ear tip, or hand, or lip, or what you will—and there's still a + chance for him; but when she kisses him, sisterly, upon the forehead, the poor chap is + lost and has as well make <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>up his mind to't, Dan'l did not know, so went happily + away....</p> + + <p>Noll Wing, on that cruise, passed the great divide of life without knowing it. Till + then he had been a strong man, proud in his strength, sufficient unto himself, alone + without being either lonely or afraid; but when he came home, there was stirring in him + for the first time a pang of loneliness.... This was the advance courier of age, come + suddenly upon him.</p> + + <p>He did not understand this; he was not even conscious of the change in him. He left + his ship, and climbed the hill to his own house where his sister waited for him; and he + submitted to her timid ministrations as he had never submitted before. He found it, + somehow, faintly pleasant.... A woman, puttering about him.... But comfortable, just + the same, he told himself. A man gets tired of men....</p> + + <p>He had never tired of men before, never tired of himself before. Now there was + something in him that was weary. He wanted comfort. He was worn with Spartan living; he + was sick of rough life. He hungered for soft ways, for gentle things.... Some one to + mend his socks.... Always wearing full of holes.... Some one to talk to, on ship board, + besides the rough crew and the respectful officers....</p> + + <p>This unrest was stirring in him when he went to see old Jem Kilcup, and Faith opened + the door to him, and bade him come in.</p> + + <p>He came in, tugging at his cap; and his eyes rested on her pleasantly. She was tall, + as women go; but not too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>tall. And she was rounded, and strong, and firm. Her hair was + thick, and soft; and her voice was low and full. When she bade him good evening, her + voice thrummed some cord in the man. A pulse pricked faster in his throat....</p> + + <p>He had come to see Jem; Jem was not at home. Faith told him this. In the old days, + he would have turned and stamped away. Now he hesitated; then looked about for a chair, + sat down. And Faith, who for the life of her could not hold still her heart when Noll + Wing was near, sat in a chair that faced him, and they fell a-talking together.</p> + + <p>He talked, as men will do, of himself. Nothing could have pleased Faith better. Nor + Noll, for that matter.... He loved to talk of himself; and for an hour they sat + together, while his words bore her across the seven seas, through the tumult of storm, + through the bloody flurry of the fighting whale, through the tense silence of a ship + where sullen men plan evil.... She trembled as she listened; not with fear for him, but + with pride in him. She was already as proud of Noll as though he belonged to her.</p> + + <p>Thus began their strange courtship. It was scarce conscious, on either side. Noll + took comfort in coming to her, in talking to her, in watching her.... His pulses + stirred at watching her. And Faith made herself fair for his coming, and made him + welcome when he came....</p> + + <p>She was his woman, heart and soul, from the beginning. As for Noll, he found her + company increasingly pleasant. She was a better listener than a man; his tales were + fresh <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>and new to her. At the same time, knowing him better, she began to mother him in + her thoughts, as women will. She began to mother him, and to guide him. Men need + guiding, ever. Noll might never have known what he wanted; but Faith was no weak girl. + She had the courage to reach out her hand for the thing that was dear to her; she was + not ashamed of her heart....</p> + + <p>They came together by chance one night when the moon played hide and seek with dark + clouds in the sky; they met upon the street, as Faith came home with Bess Holt; and + Noll walked with them to Bess's house, and then he and Faith went on together. She led + him to talk of himself, as ever. When they came to her gate, some sudden impulse of + unaccustomed modesty seized the man. He said hoarsely:</p> + + <p>"But pshaw, Faith.... You must be sick of my old yarns by now...."</p> + + <p>She was silent for a moment, there before him. Then she lifted her eyes, smiling in + the moonlight, and she quoted softly and provokingly:</p> + + <p class="blockquot"> + <span style="margin-left: 8em;">"'... She thank'd me,</span><br /> + And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her,<br /> + I should but teach him how to tell my story,<br /> + And that would woo her....'"</p> + + <p>Noll Wing was no man of little reading. He understood, and cried out + hoarsely....</p> + + <p>'Twas then, the moon providentially disappearing behind a cloud, that he caught her + and held her till her ribs were like to crack, while his lips came fumbling down to + find her own....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>Afterward, Faith hid her eyes in shame, and scolded herself for frowardness until he + reassured her; she bade him, then, pay court in due form, at her feet. He knelt before + her, the big, strong man.... And her eyes filled, and she knelt with him.</p> + + <p>It was in her heart that she was pledging herself sacredly, with this man, + forevermore.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Followed the swift days of preparation; a pleasant flurry, through which Faith moved + calmly, her thoughts far off. Old Jem Kilcup was wroth; he knew Noll Wing, and tried to + tell Faith something of this knowledge. But she, proud and straight, would have none of + it; she commanded old Jem into silence, then teased him into smiles till he consented + and bade her take her man.</p> + + <p>Roy was immensely proud of her. When it was decided that she should go away with + Noll upon the <i>Sally Sims</i>, Roy begged to go. Begged fruitlessly, at first; for + Noll Wing, having won the thing he wanted, was already beginning to wonder whether he + really wanted it at all. But in the end, he consented.... Roy was to go with his + sister....</p> + + <p>Bess Holt.... Those were wild days for Bess; wild days of constant, fluttering + excitement. She buzzed about Faith like a humming bird about a flower; and Faith + quietly gave herself to the current of the days. She was so happy that even Dan'l Tobey + could not cloud her eyes. There was one hot hour with Dan'l, when he accused, and + swore, and begged. But Faith had strength in her, so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>that in the end she conquered him + and held him.... He was silenced; only his eyes still accused her....</p> + + <p>So.... Marriage! It was done, now. Done.... She was away, with Noll, the world and + life before them.... Brave Noll; strong Noll.... She loved him so....</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>When he came down into the cabin, she was waiting for him. She had put on a + dressing-gown, a warm and woolly thing that she and Bess had made of a heavy blanket, + to protect her against the chill winds of the sea. Her braids were upon her shoulders; + her hair parted evenly above her broad brow. Her eyes were steady and sweet and + calm.... Noll, studying her while his heart leaped, saw where the dressing-gown parted + at her throat a touch of white, a spray of broidered blossoms which Faith herself had + made, with every stitch a world of hope and dreams....</p> + + <p>He took off his cap, and his coat and vest. He wore suspenders. When Faith saw them, + she shivered in spite of herself. They were such hopelessly ugly things.... She lifted + her eyes from them, came closer to him. He took her roughly in his arms, and she lifted + one arm and drew it around his thick neck, and drew his face down.</p> + + <p>"Ah, Noll ..." she whispered proudly.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + + <p>Faith Wing fitted easily into the life aboard the <i>Sally Sims</i>, as the whaler + worked eastward before starting on the long southward slant that would bring her at + last to her true hunting grounds. The mates saw her daily as a pleasant figure in the + life of the cabin; the boat-steerers and the seamen and greenies caught glimpses of + her, now and then, when she sat on deck with sewing, or a book, or with idle hands and + thoughtful eyes. Faith, on her part, studied the men about her, and watched over Noll, + and gave herself to the task of being a good wife and helpmate to him.</p> + + <p>The first weeks of the cruise were arduous ones, as they are apt to be on a whaler; + for of the whole crew, more than half were green hands recruited from the gutters, the + farms, the slums.... Weak men, in many cases; rotted by wrong living; slack-muscled, + jangle-nerved. Weak men who must be made strong; for there is no place for weakness in + a whaler's crew.</p> + + <p>It was the task of the mates to make these weaklings into men. The greenies must + learn the rigging; they must learn their duties in response to each command; they must + be drilled to their parts in the boats and prepared for the hunts that were to come. + Your novice at sea has never an easy time of it; he learns in a hard school, and this + is apt to be especially true upon a whaler. While the meth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>ods of the officers differed + according to the habit of the officer, they were never gentle.</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing watched over all this, took a hand here and there. And Faith, quietly in + the background, saw a new Noll, saw in each of the officers a man she had never seen + ashore.</p> + + <p>Noll was the master, the commander. When his voice bellowed along the decks, even + the greenest man leaped and desperately strove in his efforts to obey. Noll was the + dominant man; and Faith was pleasantly afraid of him and his roaring tones.... She + loved being afraid of him....</p> + + <p>There were four officers aboard the <i>Sally Sims</i>. These four, with Roy—in + his capacity of ship's boy—lived with Noll and Faith in the main cabin. They were + Faith's family. Big Henry Ham, the mate, was a man of slow wit but quick fist; a man + with a gift of stubbornness that passed for mastery. The men of his watch, and + especially the men of his boat, feared him acutely. He taught them this fear in the + first week of the cruise, by the simple teachings of blows. Thereafter he relaxed this + chastisement, but held a clenched fist always over their cowering heads. He had what + passed for a philosophy of life, to justify this. When Faith asked him, pleasantly, one + day, whether it was necessary to strike the men, he told her with ponderous + condescension that no other measures would suffice.</p> + + <p>"They've no proper brains at all, ma'am," he explained. "Their brains is all in + their faces; and when they don't jump at the word, your fist in their mouth jumps them. + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>And next time, they jump without it. That's the whole thing of it, ma'am."</p> + + <p>And he added further: "They're children, ma'am." He smiled slyly. "When you've + babies of your own, you'll understand. Take the switch to 'em, ma'am, till they learn + what it is. Then they'll mind without, and things'll go all smooth."</p> + + <p>He was, after a fashion, a Pecksniffian man, this Henry Ham. Faith did not like him, + but she found it hard not to respect him. He was, after all, efficient.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey, the second mate, was a man of another sort. Faith was startled and + somewhat amused to find what a difference there was between Dan'l afloat and Dan'l + ashore. Ashore, he was a round-faced, freckled, sandy-haired boy with no guile in him; + an impetuous, somewhat helpless and inarticulate boy. Afloat, he was a man; reticent, + speaking little, speaking to the point when he spoke at all.... Shrewd, reading the + character of his men, playing upon them as a musician plays upon his instruments. Of + the five men in his boat, not one but might have whipped him in a stand-up fight. + Nevertheless, he ruled them. This one he dominated by cutting and sarcastic words that + left the man abashed and helpless; that one he flattered; another he joked into quick + obedience.... The fourth, a surly giant who might have proved unmanageable, he gave + into the keeping of his boat-steerer, a big Islander called Yella' Boy. He taught + Yella' Boy to fear the man, provoked a fight between them in which the giant was + soundly whipped, and thereafter used the one against the other and kept them both <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>in + balance eternally. Dan'l had, Faith decided, more mental ability than any man + aboard—short of her Noll. He ruled by his wits; and this the more surprised her + because she had always thought Dan'l more than a little stupid. She watched the + unfolding of the new Dan'l with keenest interest as the weeks dragged by.</p> + + <p>James Tichel, the third mate, was a thin little old man given to occasional bursts + of tigerish rage in which he was the match for any man aboard. In his second week, he + took the biggest man in his boat and beat him into a helpless, clucking wreck of + bruises. Thereafter, there was no need for him to strike a second time. Faith wondered + whether these rages to which the little man gave way were genuine, whether he gave way + because he chose to do so. In the cabin, he was distinguished for a dry and acid wit. + Faith did not like him, even when she guessed the secret fear of the little man that he + was passing his usefulness, that he was growing too old to serve. He told her, once, in + a moment of confidence, that he had sailed as third mate for fourteen years, and once + as second....</p> + + <p>"But never as mate; nor as skipper, ma'am," he mourned.</p> + + <p>She tried to comfort him. "You will, some day," she told him. "Every man's chance + must come...."</p> + + <p>He chuckled acridly. "Aye—but what if he's dead afore it?"</p> + + <p>Willis Cox was fourth mate. He was a youngster; this his first cruise in the cabin. + He had been promoted from the fo'c's'le by Noll Wing on Noll's last voyage. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>By the same + token, he worshiped Noll as a demigod, with the enthusiasm of youth; and a jealousy not + unlike the jealousy of women made him dislike Faith, at first, and resent her presence + aboard. No one could long dislike Faith, however. In the end, he included her in his + worship of Noll, and gave her all his loyalty.</p> + + <p>Roy, in these new surroundings, flourished. He was tireless, always stirring about + the ship or clambering in the rigging, drinking in new impressions like a sponge. He + and Faith, as is apt to be the case between brother and sister, fought each other + constantly, bickering and striving back and forth. Faith had somewhat outgrown this way + of childhood; but Roy was still a boy, and Faith felt toward him at times the + exasperation which a mother feels toward a child. It came to pass, in the early stages + of the voyage, that Roy included Noll Wing in his warfare against Faith; and he turned + to Dan'l Tobey. Between Dan'l and the boy, a strange friendship arose, so that Faith + often saw them talking together, Roy chattering while Dan'l listened flatteringly. + Faith, ashore, had liked Dan'l; she was a little afraid of the new man he had become, + since they sailed. Nevertheless, she was pleased that Roy liked him....</p> + + <p>All these men had been changed, in subtle ways, by their coming to sea. Faith, + during the first weeks, was profoundly puzzled and interested by this transformation. + There was a new strength in all of them, which she marked and admired. At the same + time, there were manifestations at which she was disquieted.</p> + + <p>Noll Wing—her Noll—had changed with the rest. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>He had changed not only in + his every-day bearing, but in his relations with her. She was troubled, from the very + beginning, by these changes; and she was troubled by her own reactions to them.</p> + + <p>Noll, for instance, liked to come down to his cabin in his times of leisure and take + off his coat and vest and open his shirt at the throat and lie down. Sometimes he took + off his shoes. Usually, at such times, he went to sleep; and Faith, who sometimes read + aloud to him, would stop her reading when Noll began to snore, and look at her husband, + and try to convince herself he was good to look upon. She learned to know, line by + line, the slack folds of his cheeks when he lay thus, utterly relaxed. The meandering + of the little purple veins beneath his skin fascinated her and held her eyes. There + were little, stiff hairs in his ears, and in his nostrils; and where his shirt was open + at the throat she could glimpse the dark growth upon his broad chest. His suspenders + pressed furrows in the soft, outer covering of flesh which padded the muscles of his + shoulders. He was, by habit, a cleanly man; but he was at the same time full-fleshed + and full-blooded, and there was always about him a characteristic and not necessarily + unpleasant odor of clean perspiration. At times, as she sat beside him while he slept + thus, Faith tried to tell herself she liked this; at times it frankly revolted her, so + that she was ashamed of her own revolt....</p> + + <p>She had worshiped the strength of Noll; she was in danger of discovering that at too + close range, that strength became grossness.</p> + + <p>The pitiless intimacies of their life together in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>cabin of the <i>Sally Sims</i> + were hard for Faith. They shared two small rooms; and Noll must be up and down at all + hours of day and night, when the weather was bad, or the business of whaling engrossed + him. Faith, without being vain, had that reverence and respect for herself which goes + by the name of modesty. Her body was as sacred to her as her soul. The necessity that + they were under of dressing and undressing in a tiny room not eight feet long was a + steady torment to her....</p> + + <p>She did not blame Noll for what unhappiness there was in these matters; she blamed + herself for over-sensitiveness, and tried to teach herself to endure these things as a + part of her task of sharing the rigors of Noll's daily toil. But there were times when + even the nakedness of Noll's bald head revolted her.</p> + + <p>She had been, when she married, prepared for disillusionment. Faith was not a child; + she was a woman. She had the wisdom to know that no man is a heroic figure in a night + shirt.... But she was not prepared to discover that Noll, who walked among men as a + master, could fret at his wife like a nervous woman.</p> + + <p>This fretful querulousness manifested itself more than once in the early stages of + the voyage. For Noll was growing old, and growing old a little before his time because + he had spent his life too freely. He was, at times, as querulous as a complaining old + man. Because he was apt to be profane, in these moods, Faith tried to tell herself that + they were the stormy outbreaks of a strong man.... But she knew better. When Noll, + after they lost their second whale, growled to her:</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>"Damn Tichel.... The man's losing his pith. You'd think a man like him could strike + a whale and not let it get away...." Faith knew this was no mere outbreak against + Tichel, but an out and out whine.</p> + + <p>She knew this, but would not admit it, even in her thoughts.</p> + + <p>Another matter troubled her. Noll Wing was a drinker. She had always known that. It + was a part of his strength, she thought, to be able to drink strong liquor as a man + should. But aboard ship she found that he drank constantly, that there was always the + sickly sweet smell of alcohol about him.... And at times he drank to stupefaction, and + slept, log-like, while Faith lay wide-eyed and ashamed for him in the bunk below his. + She was sorry; but because she trusted in Noll's strength and wisdom, she made no + attempt to interfere.</p> + + <p>She had expected that marriage would shatter some of her illusions; and when her + expectations were fulfilled and far exceeded, she thrust her unhappiness loyally behind + her, and clung the closer to big Noll, striving to lend her strength to him.</p> + + <p>More than once, when Noll fretted at her while others were about, she saw Dan'l + Tobey's eyes upon her; and at such times she took care to look serene and proud. Dan'l + must not so much as guess it, if Noll should ever make her unhappy....</p> + + <p>But.... Noll make her unhappy? The very thought was absurd. He was her Noll; she was + his. When they were wedded, she had given herself to him, and taken him as a part of + herself, utterly and without reservation.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>He might fail her high expectations in little things; she might fail him. But for + all that, they were one, one body and soul so long as they both should live.</p> + + <p>She was as loyal to him, even in her thoughts, as to herself. For this was Faith; + she was Noll's forever.</p> + + <p>She thought that what she felt was hidden; but Dan'l Tobey had eyes to see. And now + and then, when in crafty ways he led big Noll to act unworthily before her, he watched + for the shadow that crossed her face, and smiled in his own sly soul.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + + <p>There was, in Dan'l Tobey's boat, a little man named Mauger. It was he whom Dan'l + ruled by a superior tongue, deriding the man and scorching him with jests that made + Mauger crimson with shame for himself. Mauger was a greenie; he was a product of the + worst conditions of the city. He was little and shrunken and thin, and his shoulders + curled forward as though to hug and shelter his weak chest. Nevertheless, there was a + rat-like spirit in the man, and a rat-like gleam in his black little eyes. He was one + of those men who inspire dislike, even when they strive to win the liking of their + fellows. The very fo'c's'le baited him.</p> + + <p>It was through Mauger that the first open clash between Cap'n Wing and Faith, his + wife, was brought to pass; and the thing happened in this wise.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey knew how to handle Mauger; and he kept the little man in a continual + ferment of helpless anger. When they were off in the boats after a whale, or merely for + the sake of boat drill, Dan'l gave all his attention to Mauger, who rowed tub oar in + Dan'l's boat.</p> + + <p>"Now if you'll not mind, Mauger," he would say, "just put your strength into the + stroke there. Just a trifle of it. Gently, you understand, for we must not break the + oars. But lean to it, Mauger. Lean to it, little man."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>And Mauger strove till the veins stood out upon his narrow forehead, and his black + little eyes gleamed.... And within him boiled and boiled a vast revolt, a hatred of + Dan'l. Again and again, he was on the point of an open outbreak; he cursed between his + teeth, and slavered, and thought of the bliss of sinking his nails in Dan'l's smooth + throat.... The wrath in the man gathered like a tempest....</p> + + <p>But always Dan'l pricked the bubble of this wrath with some sly word that left + Mauger helpless and bewildered....</p> + + <p>He set the man to scrub the decks, amidships, one day after an eighty barrel bull + whale had been tried out. There were other men at work, scrubbing; but Dan'l gave all + his attention to Mauger. He leaned against the rail, and smiled cheerfully at the + little man, and spoke caustically....</p> + + <p>"—not used to the scrub brush, Mauger. That's plain to see. But you'll learn + its little ways.... Give you time...."</p> + + <p>And.... "Lend a little weight to it on the thrust, little man. Put your pith into + it...."</p> + + <p>And.... "Here's a spot, here by my foot, that needs attention.... Come.... No, + yonder.... No, beyond that again.... So...."</p> + + <p>Or.... "See, now, how the Portugee there scrubs...." And when Mauger looked toward + the Portugee, Dan'l rasped: "Come.... Don't be looking up from your tasks, little man. + Attention, there...."</p> + + <p>This continued until Mauger, fretted and tormented and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>wild with the fury of a + helpless thing, was minded to rise and fling himself at Dan'l's round, freckled + face.... And in that final moment before the outbreak must surely have come, Dan'l said + pleasantly:</p> + + <p>"So.... That is nicely. Go below now, Mauger, and rest. Ye've worked well...."</p> + + <p>And the kindliness of his tone robbed Mauger of all wrath, so that the little man + crept forward, and down to his bunk, and fairly sobbed there with rage, and nerves, and + general bewilderment.</p> + + <p>Dan'l was the man's master, fair....</p> + + <p>This was one side of the matter; Cap'n Noll Wing was on the other side.</p> + + <p>Noll Wing had been harassed by the difficulties of the early weeks of the cruise. It + seemed to the man that the whole world combined to torment him. He was, for one thing, + a compound of rasping nerves; the slightest mishap on the <i>Sally Sims</i> preyed on + his mind; the least slackness on the part of the mates, the least error by the men sent + him into a futile storm of anger....</p> + + <p>Even toward Faith, he blew hot, blew cold.... There were times when he felt the + steadfast love she gave him was like a burden hung about his neck; and he wished he + might cast it off, and wished he had never married her, and wished ... a thousand + things. These were the days when the old strength of the man reasserted itself, when he + held his head high, and would have defied the world.... But there were other hours, + when he was spiritually bowed by the burdens of his task; and in these hours it seemed + to him Faith was his only reliance, his only sup<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>port. He leaned upon her as a man leans + upon a staff. She was now a nagging burden, now a peaceful haven of rest to which he + could retreat from all the world....</p> + + <p>If he felt thus toward Faith, whom, in his way, the man did love, how much more + unstable was his attitude toward the men about him. In his relations with them, he + alternated between storming anger and querulous complaint. Once, when they were hauling + up to the mainhead a blanket strip of blubber from a small cow whale, the tackle gave + and let the whole strip snap down like a smothering blanket of rubber.... The old Noll + Wing would have leaped into the resulting tangle and brought order out of it with half + a dozen sharp commands, with a curt blow.... This time, he stood aft by the boat house + and nagged at the mate, and cried:</p> + + <p>"Mr. Ham, will you please get that mess straightened out? In God's name, why can't + you men do things the right way? You...." He flung up his hands like a hysterical + woman. "By God, I wish I'd stayed ashore...."</p> + + <p>And he turned and went aft and sulkily down into the cabin, to fret at Faith, while + Mr. Ham and Dan'l Tobey brought order out of chaos, and Dan'l smiled faintly at his own + thoughts.</p> + + <p>Now it is a truth which every soldier knows, that a commanding officer must command. + When he begins to entreat, or to scold like a woman, or to give any other indication of + cracking nerves, the men under him conspire maliciously to torment him, in the hope of + provoking new outbreaks. It is instinctive with them; they do it as nat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>urally as small + boys torment a helpless dog. And it was so on the <i>Sally Sims</i>. The more + frequently Noll Wing forgot that he was master, the more persistently the men harassed + him.</p> + + <p>His officers saw the change in Noll, and tried to hide it or deny it as their + natures prompted. The mate, Mr. Ham, developed an unsuspected loyalty, covering his + chief's errors by his own strength; and young Willis Cox backed him nobly. Dan'l Tobey, + likewise, was always quick to take hold of matters when they slipped from the captain's + fingers; but he did it a little ostentatiously.... Noll himself did not perceive this + ostentation; but the men saw, and understood. It was as though Dan'l whispered over his + shoulder to them:</p> + + <p>"See! The old man's failing. I have to handle you for him...."</p> + + <p>Once or twice Dan'l bungled some task in a fashion that provoked these outbreaks; + and whether or not this was mere chance, Faith was always about on these occasions. For + example, at dinner one day in the cabin, Dan'l looked mournfully at the salt beef that + was set before him, and then began to eat it with such a look of resignation on his + countenance that Noll demanded: "What's wrong with the beef, Mr. Tobey?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l said pleasantly: "Nothing, sir. Nothing at all. It's very good fare, and + almighty well cooked, I'd say."</p> + + <p>Now it was not well cooked. Tinch, the cook, had been hurried, or careless.... The + junk he had brought down to the cabin was half raw, a nauseous mass.... And <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>Dan'l knew + it, and so did Noll Wing. But Noll might have taken no notice but for Dan'l, and + Dan'l's tone....</p> + + <p>As it was, he was forced to take notice. And so he bellowed for Tinch, and when the + cook came running, Noll lifted the platter and flung it, with its greasy contents, at + the man's head, roaring profanely....</p> + + <p>Faith was at the table; she said nothing. But when Noll looked at her, and saw the + disappointment in her eyes—disappointment in him—he wished to justify + himself; and so complained: "Damned shame.... A man can't get decent food out of that + rascal.... If I wasn't a fool, Faith, I'd have stayed ashore...."</p> + + <p>Faith thought she would have respected him more if, having given way to his anger, + he had stuck to his guns, instead of seeking thus weakly to placate her. And Dan'l + Tobey watched Faith, and was well content with himself.</p> + + <p>It was Dan'l, in the end, who brought Mauger and Cap'n Wing together; and if matters + went beyond what he had intended, that was because chance favored him.</p> + + <p>It was a day when Mauger took a turn at the awkward steering apparatus of the + <i>Sally Sims</i>. The <i>Sally's</i> wheel was so arranged that when it was twirled, + it moved to and fro across the deck, dragging the tiller with it. To steer was a trick + that required learning; and in any sea, the tiller bucked, and the wheel fought the + steersman in eccentric and amazing fashion. This antiquated arrangement was one of the + curses of many ships of the whaling fleet.... Mauger had never been able to get the + trick of it....</p> + + <p>Dan'l's watch came on deck and Mauger took the wheel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>at a moment when Cap'n Wing was + below. Faith was with him. Dan'l knew the captain would be entering the log, writing up + his records of the cruise, reading.... He also knew that if Noll Wing followed his + custom, he would presently come on deck. And he knew—he himself had had a hand in + this—that Noll had been drinking, that day, more than usual.</p> + + <p>That Faith came up with Noll, a little later, was chance; no more. Dan'l had not + counted on it.</p> + + <p>Mauger, then, was at the wheel. Dan'l leaned against the deckhouse behind Mauger, + and devoted himself amicably to the task of instructing the man. His tone remained, + throughout, even and calm; but there was a bite in it which seared the very skin of + Mauger's back.</p> + + <p>"You'll understand," said Dan'l cheerfully, "you are not rolling a hoop in your home + gutter, Mauger. You're too impetuous in your ways.... Be gentle with her...."</p> + + <p>This when, the <i>Sally Sims</i> having fallen off her set course, Mauger brought + her so far up into the wind that her sails flapped on the yards. Dan'l chided him.</p> + + <p>"Not so strenuous, Mauger. A little turn, a spoke or two.... You overswing your + mark, little man. Stick her nose into it, and keep it there...."</p> + + <p>The worst of it was, from Mauger's point of view, that he was trying quite + desperately to hold the <i>Sally's</i> blunt bows where they belonged. But there was a + sea; the rollers pounded her high sides with an overwhelming impact, and the awkward + wheel put a constant strain on his none-too-adequate arms and shoulders. When the + <i>Sally</i> swung off, and he fought her back to her course, she was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>sure to swing too + far the other way; when he tried to ease her up to it, a following sea was sure to + catch him and thrust him still farther off the way he should go....</p> + + <p>He fought the wheel as though it were a live thing, and the sweat burst out on him, + and his arms and shoulders ached; and all the time, Dan'l at his back flogged him with + gentle jeers, and seared him with caustic words....</p> + + <p>The rat-like little man had the temper of a rat. Dan'l knew this; he was careful + never to push Mauger too far. So, this afternoon, he brought the man, little by little, + to the boiling point, and held him there as delicately in the balance as a chemist's + scales.... With a word, he might at any time have driven Mauger mad with fury; with a + word he could have reduced the helpless little man to smothering sobs.</p> + + <p>He had Mauger thus trembling and wild when Noll Wing came on deck, Faith at his + side. Dan'l looked at them shrewdly; he saw that Noll's face was flushed, and that + Noll's eyes were hot and angry. And—behind the back of Mauger at the + wheel—he nodded toward the little man, and caught Noll's eyes, and raised his + shoulders hopelessly, smiling.... It was as if he said:</p> + + <p>"See what a hash the little man is making of his simple job. Is he not a hopeless + thing?"</p> + + <p>Noll caught Dan'l's glance; and while Mauger still quivered with the memory of + Dan'l's last word, Noll looked at the compass, and cuffed Mauger on the ear and growled + at him:</p> + + <p>"Get her on her course, you gutter dog...."</p> + + <p>Which was just enough to fill to overflowing Mauger's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>cup of wrath. The little man + abandoned the wheel.... Dan'l caught it before the <i>Sally</i> could fall away ... and + Mauger sprang headlong, face black with wrath, at Cap'n Wing.</p> + + <p>He was scarce a third Noll's size; but the fury of his attack was such that for a + moment Noll was staggered. Then the captain's fist swung home, and the little man + whirled in the air, and fell crushingly on head and right shoulder, and rolled on the + slanting deck like a bundle of soiled old clothes.... Rolled and lay still....</p> + + <p>Cap'n Noll Wing, big Noll, whom Faith loved, bellowed and leaped after the little + man. He was red with fury that Mauger had attacked him, red with rage that Mauger had, + for an instant, thrust him back. He swung his heavy boot and drove it square into the + face of the unconscious man. Faith saw....</p> + + <p>The toe of the captain's boot struck Mauger in the right eye-socket, as he lay on + his side. At the blow, for an instant, the man's eye literally splashed out, bulging, + on his temple....</p> + + <p>Some women would have screamed; some would have flung themselves upon Noll to drag + him back. Faith did neither of these things. She stood for an instant, her lips + white.... Her sorrow and pity were not for Mauger, who had suffered the blow.... They + were for Noll, her Noll, her husband whom she loved and wished to respect.... Sorrow + and pity for Noll, who had done this thing....</p> + + <p>She turned quickly and went down into her cabin....</p> + + <p>Noll came down, minutes later, after she had heard the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>feet of running men, the + voices of men upon the deck. He came down, found her in the cabin which served as his + office. She was standing, looking out one of the windows in the stern....</p> + + <p>He said thickly: "That damned rat won't try that on me again...."</p> + + <p>She turned, and her eyes held his. "That was a cowardly thing to do, Noll, my + husband," she said.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + + <p>When Noll Wing kicked the unconscious man, and Faith slipped quietly away and went + below, the life of the <i>Sally Sims</i> for an instant stood still. Yella' Boy and + Loum, two of the boat-steerers, were lounging at the forward end of the boathouse, and + saw. Dan'l Tobey, who had gripped the wheel, saw. And three or four of the men, + amidships, saw. For a space they all stood still, watching, while Noll growled above + his victim, and Mauger, limp and senseless, rolled slackly back and forth upon the deck + with the motion of the vessel.</p> + + <p>Then Noll looked around, and saw them all watching him with steady, hard, frightened + eyes; and their silence irked him, so that he broke it with a cry of his own.</p> + + <p>"You, Yella' Boy, sluice him off," he shouted.</p> + + <p>Yella' Boy grinned, showed his teeth with the amiability of his dark race; and he + took a canvas bucket and dropped it over the rail, and drew it up filled with brine, + and flung this callously in Mauger's horribly crushed face. The water loosed the blood, + washed it away in flecks and gouts.... It bared the skin, and through this skin, from + many little slits and scratches like the cracks in a half-broken egg, more blood + trickled, spreading moistly. The salt burned.... Mauger groaned hoarsely, slumped into + unconsciousness again.</p> + + <p>"Douse him again," Noll Wing commanded. "The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>dog's shamming." He looked around, saw + Dan'l at the wheel. "You, Mr. Tobey, look to him," he commanded.</p> + + <p>Dan'l was one of those men whose hands have a knack for healing. He knew something + of medicine; he had gone so far, upon a former cruise, as to trim away a man's crushed + fingers after an accident of the whale fisheries had nipped them.... He hailed one of + the men in the waist, now, and gave the wheel to this man, and then crossed to where + Mauger lay and knelt beside him, and dabbed away the blood upon his face....</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing, leaning against the rail, his knuckles white with the grip he had upon + it, watched Dan'l, and swayed upon his feet.... And Yella' Boy, with his bucket still + half full of brine, stood by, and grinned, and waited.</p> + + <p>Mauger came slowly back to life under Dan'l's ministrations; he groaned, and he + began to twitch, and kick.... And of a sudden he cried out, like one suddenly waking + from sleep. Then consciousness flooded him, and with it came the agony he was enduring, + and he howled.... And then his howls grew weak and weaker till he was sobbing.... And + Dan'l helped him to his feet.... He had put a rough bandage about the man's head, and + from beneath this bandage, one of Mauger's eyes looked forth, blackly gleaming, wild + with the torment he endured. This eye fixed its gaze upon Noll Wing....</p> + + <p>Dan'l stepped a little nearer Noll, and said in a low voice: "His eye is gone, sir. + No good. It ought to be dimmed out.... Cleared away...."</p> + + <p>That shocked the liquor out of Noll; his face went white beneath the brown; and + Mauger heard, and suddenly he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>screamed again, and leveled a shaking finger at Noll + Wing, and cursed him shrilly.... Dan'l whirled and bade him be silent; he signed to + Yella' Boy, and the harpooner half dragged, half carried Mauger forward. But as they + went, Mauger, twisting in the other's arms, shook his thin fist at Noll Wing and swore + terribly.... Cursed Noll, called death down upon him, vowed that he would some day even + the score....</p> + + <p>Yella' Boy cuffed him and dragged him away.... And Dan'l watched Noll to see what + the captain would say. Noll said nothing. He took off his cap and rubbed his bald head + and looked for an instant like an old man; his eyes shifted furtively from Dan'l to the + cursing man....</p> + + <p>Abruptly, he turned and went aft to the stern of the ship and stood there by + himself, thinking. He sought reassurance; he abused Mauger under his breath, and told + himself the little man had been well served.... The <i>Sally</i> fell away; he turned + and cursed the new man at the wheel, and got relief from the oath he spoke. It gave him + a blustering sort of courage.... He wished Dan'l Tobey would tell him he had done + right.... But Dan'l had gone forward to the fo'c's'le.... Mauger was howling.... Noll + thought Dan'l might be trimming away that crushed eye.... And he shuddered. He was, + suddenly, immensely lonely. He wished with all his soul for support, for a word of + comfort, a word of reassurance....</p> + + <p>He went down into the cabin, thinking to speak with Henry Ham. Mr. Ham was always an + apostle of violence.... But the mate was sleeping; Noll could hear him snore. So was + tigerish little James Tichel....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>Noll went into the after cabin, and found Faith there. Her back was turned, she was + looking out of the stern windows. He wished she would look at him, but she did not. So + he said, his voice thick with anger, and at the same time plaintive with hunger for a + reassuring word....</p> + + <p>"That damned rat won't try that again...."</p> + + <p>Then Faith turned and told him: "That was a cowardly thing to do, Noll, my + husband."</p> + + <p>He had come for comfort; he was ready to humble himself; he was a prey to the + instinct of wrong-doing man which bids him confess and be forgiven.... But Faith's eyes + accused him.... When a man's wife turns against him.... He said, bitter with rage:</p> + + <p>"Keep your mouth shut, child. This is not a pink tea, aboard the <i>Sally Sims</i>. + You know nothing of what's necessary to handle rough men."</p> + + <p>Faith smiled a little wistfully. "I know it is never necessary to kick a helpless + man in the face," she said.</p> + + <p>He was so nearly mad with fury and shame and misery that he raised his great fist as + though he would have struck even Faith. "Mind your own matters," he bade her harshly. + "The dog struck me.... Where would the ship be if I let that go? I should have killed + him...."</p> + + <p>"Did you not?" Faith asked gently. "I thought he would be dead...."</p> + + <p>"No; hell, no!" Noll blustered. "You can't kill a snake. He'll be poisonous as ever + in a day...."</p> + + <p>"I saw ..." said Faith; she shuddered faintly. "I—think his eye is gone."</p> + + <p>"Eye?" Noll echoed. "What's an eye? He's lucky <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>to live. There's skippers that would + have killed him where he stood.... For what he did...."</p> + + <p>Faith shook her head. "He's only a little man, weak, not used to sea life. You are + big, and strong, Noll.... My Noll.... There was no need of kicking him."</p> + + <p>The man flung himself, then, into an insane burst of anger at her. He hated the + whole world, hated Faith most of all because she would not soothe him and tell him + never to mind.... He raved at her, gripped her round shoulders and shook her, flung her + away from him.... He was mad....</p> + + <p>And Faith, steadfastly watching him, though her soul trembled, prayed in her heart + that she might find the way to bring Noll back to manhood again; she endured his + curses; she endured his harsh grip upon her shoulders.... She waited while he flooded + her with abuse.... And at the end, when he was quiet for lack of words to say, she went + to him and touched his arm.</p> + + <p>"Noll ..." she said.</p> + + <p>He jerked away from her. "What?"</p> + + <p>"Noll.... Look at me...."</p> + + <p>He obeyed, in spite of himself; and there was such depths of tenderness and sorrow + in her eyes that the man's heart melted in him. "It's not Mauger I'm sorry for," she + told him. "It's you, Noll.... That you should be so cowardly, Noll...."</p> + + <p>His rage broke, then; he fell to fretting, whining.... She sat down; he slumped like + a child beside her. He told her he was tired, weary.... That he was worried.... That + his nerves had betrayed him.... That the drink <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>was in him.... "They're all trying to + stir me," he complained. "They take a joy in doing the thing wrong.... They're + helpless, slithering fools.... I lost myself, Faith...."</p> + + <p>He pleaded with her, desperately anxious to make her understand; and Faith + understood from the beginning, with the full wisdom of woman, yet let him talk out all + his unhappiness and remorse.... And because she loved him, her arm was about him and + his great head was drawn against her breast long before he was done. She comforted him + with touches of her light hands upon his head; she soothed him with murmurs that were + no words at all....</p> + + <p>The man reveled in this orgy of self-abasement. He groveled before her, until she + began to be faintly contemptuous, in her heart, at his groveling. She bade him make an + end of it....</p> + + <p>"I was a coward, Faith," he cried. "You're right. I was a coward...."</p> + + <p>"You are a man, Noll," she told him. "Stronger than other men, and not in your fists + alone. That is why I love you so...."</p> + + <p>"I know, I know," he told her. "Oh, you're a wonder, Faith...."</p> + + <p>"You're a man. Always remember that," she said.</p> + + <p>He got up abruptly. He started toward the main cabin; and she asked: "Where are you + going, Noll?"</p> + + <p>"Forward," he said. "I've wronged Mauger...." He was drunk with this new-found joy + of abasing himself. "I'll tell the man so. I'll right things with him...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>And he added thoughtfully: "He cursed me. I don't want the man's hate. I'll right + things with him...."</p> + + <p>She smiled faintly, shook her head. "No, Noll...."</p> + + <p>He was stubborn. "Yes. Why not? I've...."</p> + + <p>She said thoughtfully: "Noll, you're the master of this ship. Old Jonathan Felt put + her in your charge. You are responsible for her.... And that puts certain obligations + on you, Noll. An obligation to be wise, and to be prudent, and to be brave...."</p> + + <p>He came back and sat down beside her. She touched his knee. "You are like a king, + aboard here, Noll. And—the king can do no wrong. I would not go to Mauger, if I + were you. You made a mistake; but there is no need you should humble yourself before + the men. They would not understand; they would only despise you, Noll."</p> + + <p>He said hotly: "Let them. They're sneaking, spineless things...."</p> + + <p>"Let them fear you; let them hate you," she told him. "But—never let them + forget you are master, Noll. Don't go to Mauger...."</p> + + <p>He had no real desire to go; he wished only to bask in her new-found sympathy. And + he yielded readily enough, at last....</p> + + <p>The matter passed abruptly. She rose; he went up on deck; the <i>Sally Sims</i> went + on her way. And for a day or two, Noll Wing, an old man, was like a boy who has + repented and been forgiven; he was offensively virtuous, offensively good-natured.</p> + + <p>Mauger returned to his duties the second day. He wore a bandage across his face; and + when it was discarded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>a week later, the hollow socket where his eye had been was + revealed. His suffering had worked a terrible change in the man; he had been morose and + desperate, he was now too much given to chuckling, as though at some secret jest of his + own. He went slyly about his tasks; he seemed to have a pride in his misfortune; when + he saw men shrink with distaste at sight of his scarred countenance, he chuckled under + his breath....</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey had cut away the crushed eye-ball; the lids covered the empty socket. In + the upper lid, some maimed nerve persisted in living. It twitched, now and then, in + such a fashion that Mauger seemed to be winking with that deep hollow in his + face....</p> + + <p>The man had a fascination, from the beginning, for Noll Wing. The captain took an + unholy joy in looking upon his handiwork; he shivered at it, as a boy shivers at a tale + of ghosts.... And he felt the gleaming glance of Mauger's remaining eye like a threat. + It followed him whenever they were both on deck together; if he looked toward Mauger, + he was sure to catch the other watching him.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey was cheerfully philosophical about the matter. "He can see as well as + ever, with what he has left," he told Noll one day. "And he ought to count himself + lucky. Your boot might have mashed his head in.... And serve him right...."</p> + + <p>"Aye," said Noll, willing to be reassured. "He's lucky to live. The dog must know + that...."</p> + + <p>And he looked forward to where Mauger lounged amidships, beside the try works, and + saw the man's black eye <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>watching him; and Mauger caught the captain's glance, and + chuckled unpleasantly, his face twisting. Noll felt a quiver of horror, far within + himself....</p> + + <p>He began, even in the fortnight after the affair, to remember Mauger's curses and + threats as the man was borne away by Yella' Boy, that day. Mauger had threatened to + kill him, to cut his heart away.... The meaningless cries of a delirious man, he told + himself.... No doubt Mauger had forgotten them before this.</p> + + <p>He tried, one day, the experiment of giving the one-eyed man an order. Smoking his + pipe, he spilled ashes on the spotless deck; and he bellowed forward to Mauger to come + aft, and when the man came, he pointed to the smudge of ashes, and:</p> + + <p>"Clean that up," he said harshly. "Look sharp, now."</p> + + <p>Mauger chuckled. "Aye, sir," he said respectfully, and on hands and knees at the + captain's feet performed his task, looking up slyly into Noll Wing's face as he did so. + The lid that closed the empty eye-socket twitched and seemed to wink....</p> + + <p>That night, as they were preparing to sleep, Noll spoke of Mauger to Faith. "He does + his work better than ever," he said.</p> + + <p>She nodded. "Yes." And something in Noll's tone made her attentive.</p> + + <p>"Seems cheerful, too," said Noll. He hesitated. "I reckon he's forgot his threat to + stick a knife in me.... Don't you think he has?"</p> + + <p>Faith's eyes, watching her husband, clouded; for she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>read his tone. Noll Wing, + strong man and brave, could not hide his secret from her....</p> + + <p>She understood that he was deathly afraid of the one-eyed man.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + + <p>The <i>Sally Sims</i> was in the South Atlantic on the day when Noll Wing kicked out + Mauger's eye. The life of the whaler went on, day by day, as a background for the drama + that was brewing. The men stood watch at the mastheads, the <i>Sally</i> plunged and + waddled awkwardly southward; and now and then a misty spout against the wide blue of + the sea halted them, and boats were lowered, and the whales were struck, and killed, + and towed alongside. Held fast there by the chain that was snubbed around the + fluke-chain bitt, they were hacked by the keen spades and cutting knives, the great + heads were cut off, and dragged aboard, and stripped of every fleck of oily blubber; + and the great bodies, while the spiral blanket strips were torn away, rolled + lumberingly over and over against the bark's stout planks. Thereafter the tryworks + roared, and the blubber boiled, and the black and stinking smoke of burning oil hung + over the seas like a pall....</p> + + <p>This smell of burning oil, the mark of the whaler, distressed Faith at first. It + sickened her; and the soot from the fires where the scrapple of boiled blubber fed the + flames settled over the ship, and penetrated even to her own immaculate cabin. She + disliked the smell; but the gigantic toil of the cutting in and the roar of the + tryworks had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>always a fascination for her that compensated for the smell and the soot. + She rejoiced in strength, in the strong work of lusty men. To see a great carcass + almost as long as the <i>Sally</i> lying helplessly against the rail never failed to + thrill her. For the men of the crew, it was all in the day's work; stinking, sweating, + perilous toil. For Faith it was a tremendous spectacle. It intoxicated her; and in the + same fashion it affected Noll Wing, and Dan'l Tobey, and tigerish old Tichel. When + there were fish about, these men were subtly changed; their eyes shone, their chests + swelled, their muscles hardened; they stamped upon the deck with stout legs, like a + cavalry horse that scents the battle. They gave themselves to the toil of killing + whales and harvesting the blubber as men give themselves to a debauch; and afterward, + when the work was done, they were apt to surrender to a lassitude such as follows a + debauch. There was keen, sensual joy in the running oil, the unctuous oil that flowed + everywhere upon the decks; they dabbed their hands in it; it soaked their garments and + their very skins drank it in.</p> + + <p>Young Roy Kilcup took fire, from the beginning, at these gigantic spectacles. He + wished to go out in the boats that struck the whales; but he lacked the sinews of a + man, he lacked the perfect muscular control of manhood. He was still a boy, nimble as a + monkey, but given to awkward gestures and leaps and motions. He could not be trusted to + sit tight in a boat and handle his oar when a whale was leaping under the iron; and so + he was condemned to stay on the ship.</p> + + <p>But they could not deny him a part in the cutting in; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>and when that work was afoot, + he was everywhere, his eyes gleaming.... He slashed at the blubber with a boarding + knife; he minced it for the boiling; he descended into the blubber room and helped stow + the stuff there. Faith, watching, loved his enthusiasm and his zeal....</p> + + <p>After the matter of Mauger, things went smoothly for a space. The whales came + neither too fast nor too slow; they killed one or two, at intervals of days; they cut + them in; they tried them out, while the fires flared through night and day and cast red + shadows on the dark faces of the men, and turned their broad, bared chests to gold. And + when the blubber was boiled, they cleaned ship, and idled on their way, and raised, in + due time, other whales....</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing chose to go west, instead of eastward past the tip of Africa and up into + the Indian Ocean. So they worked their painful way around the Horn, fighting for inches + day by day; and when the bleak fog did not blanket them, Faith could see gaunt + mountains of rock above the northern rim of the sea. And once they passed a clipper, + eastward bound. It swept up on them, a tower of tugging canvas; it came abreast, + slipped past, and dwindled into a white dot upon the sea behind before night came down + and hid it from their eyes. In the morning, though they had idled with no canvas + pulling, through the night, the clipper was gone, and they were alone again among the + mountains that came down to the sea....</p> + + <p>So they slid out at last into the South Pacific, and struck a little north of west + for the wide whaling grounds of the island-dotted South Seas. And struck their + whales....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>The routine of their tasks.... But during this time, a change was working in Noll + Wing, which Faith, and Dan'l Tobey, and all who looked might see.</p> + + <p>The matter of Mauger had been, in some measure, a milestone in Noll Wing's life. He + had struck men before; he had maimed them. He had killed at least one man, in fair + fight, when it was his life or the other's. But because in those days his pulse was + strong and his heart was young, the matter had never preyed upon him. He had been able + to go proudly on his way, strong in his strength, sure of himself, serene and unafraid. + He was, in those days, a man.</p> + + <p>But this was different; this was the parting of the ways. Noll had spent his great + strength too swiftly. His muscles were as stout as ever; but his heart was not. Drink + was gnawing at him; old age was gnawing at him; he was like an old wolf that by the + might of tooth and fang has led the pack for long.... He had seen strong men fail; he + knew what failure meant; and he could guess the slackening of his own great powers and + prevision the end of this slackening. The wolf dreads the day when a young, strong wolf + will drag him down; Noll dreaded the day when his voice and his eye and his fist should + fail to master the men. He had been absolute so long, he could endure no less. He must + rule, or he was done....</p> + + <p>At times, when he felt this failing of his own strong heart, he blamed Faith for it, + and fretted at her because she dragged him down. At other times, he was ashamed, he was + afraid of the eyes of the men; he fled to her for comfort and for strength. He was a + prey, too, to regret<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>ful memories. The matter of Mauger, for instance.... He was, for + all he fought the feeling, tortured by remorse for what he had done to Mauger.</p> + + <p>And he was dreadfully afraid of the one-eyed man.</p> + + <p>At first, he half enjoyed this fear; it was a new sensation, and he rolled in it + like a horse in clover. But as the weeks passed, it nagged at him so constantly that he + became obsessed with it. Wherever he turned, he saw the one-eyed man regarding him; and + this steady scrutiny of Mauger's one black eye was like a continual pin-prick. It + twanged his nerves.... He tried, for a time, to find relief in blustering; he roared + about the ship, bellowing his commands.... It comforted him to see men jump to obey. + But from the beginning, this was not utter comfort. He was pursued by the chuckling, + mirthless mirth of the one-eyed man. He thought Mauger was like a scavenger bird that + waits for a sick beast to die. Mauger harassed him....</p> + + <p>This change in Noll Wing reacted upon Faith. Because her life was so close to his, + she was forced to witness the manifestations which he hid from the men; because her + eyes were the eyes of a woman who loves, she saw things which the men did not see. She + saw the slow loosening of the muscles of Noll's jaw; saw how his cheeks came to sag + like jowls. She saw the old, proud strength in his eyes weaken and fail; she saw his + eyes grow red and furtive.... Saw, too, how his whole body became overcast with a + thickening, flabby garment of fat, like a net that bound his slothful limbs....</p> + + <p>Noll's slow disintegration of soul had its effect upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>Faith. She had been, when she + came to the <i>Sally Sims</i> with him, little more than a girl; she had been gay and + laughing, but she had also been calm and strong. As the weeks passed, Faith was less + gay; her laugh rang more seldom. But by the same token, the strength that dwelt in her + seemed to increase. While Noll weakened, she grew strong....</p> + + <p>There were days when she was very lonely; she felt that the Noll she had married was + gone from her.... She was, for all her strength, a woman; and a woman is always + happiest when she can lean on other strength and find comfort there.... But Noll.... + Noll, by this, was not so strong of soul as she....</p> + + <p>She was lonely with another loneliness; with the loneliness of a mother.... But Noll + had told her, brutally, in the beginning, that there was no place for a babe upon the + <i>Sally Sims</i>. He overbore her, because in such a matter she could not command him. + The longing was too deep in her for words. She could not lay it bare for even Noll to + see....</p> + + <p>Thus, in short, Faith was unhappy. Unhappy; yet she loved Noll, and her heart clung + to him, and yearned to strengthen and support the man, yearned to bring back the valor + she had loved in him.... There could never be, so long as he should live, any man but + Noll for her.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey—poor Dan'l, if you will—could not understand this. Dan'l, + for all his round and simple countenance, and the engaging frankness of his freckles + and his hair, had an eye that could see into the heart of a man. He had understanding; + he could read men's moods; he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>could play upon them, guide them without their guessing + at his guidance. He managed skillfully. He held the respect, even the affection of the + bulk of the crew; he had the liking of all the officers save Willis Cox, who disliked + him for a reason he could not put in words. He bent his efforts to hold Roy Kilcup; and + Roy worshiped him. He took care to please Noll Wing, and Noll leaned upon Dan'l, and + trusted him. Dan'l was the only man on the ship who always applauded whatever Noll + might do; and Noll, hungry as an old man for praise, fed fat on Dan'l's + applause....</p> + + <p>Dan'l was wise; he was also crafty. He contrived, again and again, that Noll should + act unworthily in Faith's eyes. To this extent he understood Faith; he understood her + ideals, knew that she judged men by them, knew that when Noll fell short of these + ideals, Faith must in her heart condemn him.... And he took care that Noll should fall + short....</p> + + <p>For one thing—a little matter, but at the same time a matter of vast + importance—he used the fact that big Noll did not eat prettily. Noll, accustomed + to the sea, having all his life been a hungry man among men, was not careful of the + niceties of the table. He ate quickly; he ate loudly; he ate clumsily. Dan'l, somewhat + gentler bred, understood this; and at the meals in the cabin when Noll was particularly + offensive, Dan'l used to catch Faith into spirited conversation, as though to distract + her attention.... He did this in such a way that it seemed to be mere loyalty to Noll; + yet it served to create an atmosphere of understanding between Dan'l and Faith, and it + showed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>him in her eyes as a loyal servant, without hiding the fact that big Noll was a + gross man.</p> + + <p>When they were all on deck together, and Dan'l saw that burning sun or splattering + rain was unpleasant to Faith, he used to remedy the matter by finding shelter for her; + and in doing this he emphasized—by the doing itself—the fact that Noll had + failed to think of her. How much of these things was, in the beginning, designed to win + Faith from Noll it is impossible to say. Dan'l delighted in the very doing; for he + loved Faith, had loved her for years, still loved her so intensely that there were + hours when he could have strangled Noll with his bare hands because Noll possessed + her.</p> + + <p>Dan'l loved Faith with a passion that gripped him, soul and body; yet it was not an + unholy thing. When he saw her unhappy, he wished to guard her; when he saw that she was + lonely, he wished to comfort her; when he came upon her, once, at the stern, and saw + that she had tears in her eyes, it called for all his strength to refrain from taking + her in his arms and soothing her. He loved her, but there was nothing in his love that + could have soiled her. Dan'l was, in some fashion, a figure of tragedy....</p> + + <p>His heart burst from him, one day when they were two weeks in the South Pacific. It + was a hard, bitter day; one of those days when the sea is unfriendly, when she torments + a ship with thrusting billows, when she racks planks and strains rigging, when she is + perverse without being dangerous. There was none of the joy of battle in enduring such + a sea; there was only irksome toil. It told on Noll Wing. His temper worked under the + strain. He was on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>deck through the afternoon; and the climax came when Willis Cox's + boat parted the lines that held its bow and fell and dangled by the stern lines, + slatting against the rail of the <i>Sally</i>, and spilling the gear into the sea. With + every lurch of the sea, the boat was splintering; and before the men, driven by Dan'l + and Willis, could get the boat inboard again, it was as badly smashed as if a whale's + flukes had caught it square. Noll had raged while the men toiled; when the boat was + stowed, he strode toward Willis Cox and spun the man around by a shoulder grip.</p> + + <p>"Your fault, you damned, careless skunk," he accused. "You're no more fit for your + job.... You're a...."</p> + + <p>Willis Cox was little more than a boy; he had a boy's sense of justice. He was + heart-broken by the accident, and he said soberly: "I'm sorry, sir. It was my fault. + You're right, sir."</p> + + <p>"Right?" Noll roared. "Of course I'm right. Do I need a shirking fourth mate to tell + me when I'm right or wrong? By...." His wrath overflowed in a blow; and for all the + fact that Noll was aging, his fist was stout. The blow dropped Willis like the stroke + of an ax. Noll himself filled a bucket and sluiced the man, and drove him below with + curses.</p> + + <p>Afterward, the reaction sent Noll to Faith in a rage at himself, at the men, at the + world, at her. Dan'l, in the main cabin, heard Noll swearing at her.... And he set his + teeth and went on deck because of the thing he might do. He was still there, half an + hour later, when Faith came quietly up the companion. Night had fallen by then, the sea + was moderating. Faith passed him, where he stood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>by the galley; and he saw her figure + silhouetted against the gray gloom of the after rail. For a moment he watched her, + gripping himself.... He saw her shoulders stir, as though she wept....</p> + + <p>The man could not endure it. He was at her side in three strides.... She faced him; + and he could see her eyes dark in the night as she looked at him. He stammered:</p> + + <p>"Faith! Faith! I'm so sorry...."</p> + + <p>She did not speak, because she could not trust her voice. She was furiously ashamed + of her own weakness, of the disloyalty of her thoughts of Noll. She swallowed + hard....</p> + + <p>"He's a dog, Faith," Dan'l whispered. "Ah, Faith.... I love you. I love you. I could + kill him, I love you so...."</p> + + <p>Faith knew she must speak. She said quietly: "Dan'l.... That is not...."</p> + + <p>He caught her hand, with an eloquent grace that was strange to see in the awkward, + freckled man. He caught her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I love you, Faith," he + cried....</p> + + <p>She freed her hand, rubbed at it where his lips had pressed it. Dan'l was scarce + breathing at all.... Fearful of what he had done, fearful of what she might do or + say....</p> + + <p>She said simply: "Dan'l, my friend, I love Noll Wing with all my heart."</p> + + <p>And poor Dan'l knew, for all she spoke so simply, that there was no part of her + which was his. And he backed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>away from her a little, humbly, until his figure was + shadowed by the deckhouse. And then he turned and went forward to the waist, and left + Faith standing there.</p> + + <p>He found Mauger in the waist, and jeered at him good-naturedly until he was himself + again. Faith, after a little, went below.</p> + + <p>Noll was asleep in his bunk above hers. He lay on his back, one bare and hairy arm + hanging over the side of the bunk. He was snoring, and there was the pungent smell of + rum about him.</p> + + <p>Faith undressed and went quietly to bed.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + + <p>"There is a tide in the affairs of men...." Their lives ebb and flow like the tides; + there are days, or months, or years when matters move slackly, seem scarce to move at + all. But always, in the end, the pulses of the days beat up and up.... A moment comes + when all life is compressed in a single act, a single incident.... Thereafter the tide + falls away again, but the life of man is a different thing thereafter.</p> + + <p>Such a tide was beating to the flood aboard the <i>Sally Sims</i>. Faith felt it; + Dan'l felt it; even Noll Wing, through the fury of his increasing impotence, felt that + matters could not long go on in this wise. Noll felt it less than the others, because + the waxing tension of his nerves was relieved by his occasional outbursts of + tempestuous rage. But Faith could find no vent for her unhappiness; she loved Noll, and + she wept for him.... Wept for the Noll she had married, who now was dying before her + eyes.... And Dan'l suffered, perhaps, more than Faith. He suffered because he must not + seem to suffer....</p> + + <p>The thing could not go on, Dan'l thought; he told himself, in the night watches when + he was alone on deck, that he could not long endure the torment of his longing. Thus + far he had loved Faith utterly; his half-unconscious efforts to discredit Noll were the + result of no malice toward Noll Wing, but only of love for Faith. But the denial of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>his + longing for the right to care for her was poisoning him; the man's soul was brewing + venom. The honorable fibers of his being were disintegrating; his heart was rotting in + the man.</p> + + <p>He was at the point where a little thing might have saved him; he was, by the same + token, at the point where a little thing could set him forever upon the shameful paths + of wrong.</p> + + <p>Noll passed, at this time, into a period of sloth. He gave up, bit by bit, the + vigorous habits of his life. He had been accustomed of old to take the deck at morning, + and keep it till dusk; and when need arose in the night, he had always been quick to + leap from his bunk and spring to the spot where his strength was demanded. He had, in + the past, loved to take his own boat after the whales that were sighted; he had + continued to do this in the early stages of this cruise, leaving Eph Hitch, the cooper; + and Tinch, the cook; and Kellick, and a spare hand or so to keep ship with Faith and + Roy Kilcup. But when they came into the South Seas, he gave this up; and for a month on + end, he did not leave the ship. The mates struck the whales, and killed them, and cut + them in, while Noll slept heavily in his cabin.</p> + + <p>He gave up, also, the practice of spending most of the day on deck. He stayed below, + reading a little, writing up the log, or sitting with glazed eyes by the cabin table, a + bottle in reach of his hand. He slept much, heavily; and even when he was awake, he + seemed sodden with the sleep in which he soaked himself.</p> + + <p>He passed, during this time, through varying moods. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>There were days when he sulked + and spoke little; there were days when he swore and raged; and there were other days + when he followed at Faith's heels with a pathetic cheerfulness, like an old dog that + tries to drive its stiff legs to the bounding leaps of puppy play. He was alternately + dependent upon her and fretful at her presence....</p> + + <p>And always, day by day, he was haunted by the sight of the one-eyed man. He burst + out, to Faith, one night; he cried:</p> + + <p>"The man plans to knife me. I can see murder in his eye."</p> + + <p>Faith, who pitied Mauger and had tried to comfort him, shook her head. "He's + broken," she said. "He's but the shell of a man."</p> + + <p>"He follows me," Noll insisted. "I turned, on deck, an hour ago; and he was just + behind me, in the shadow...."</p> + + <p>Faith, seeking to rouse the old spirit in Noll, said gently: "There was a man who + tried to stab you once. And you killed him with your hands. Surely you need not be + fearful of Mauger."</p> + + <p>Noll brooded for a moment. "Eh, Faith," he said dolefully. "I was a hard man, then. + I've always been a hard man.... Wrong, Faith. I was always wrong...."</p> + + <p>"You were a master," she told him.</p> + + <p>"By the fist. A master by the fist.... A hard man...."</p> + + <p>He fell to mourning over his own harsh life; he gave himself to futile, ineffectual + regrets.... He told over to Faith the tale of the blows he had struck, the oaths, the + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>kicks.... This habit of confession was becoming a mania with him. And when Faith tried + smilingly to woo him from this mood, he called her hard.... He told her, one day, she + was un-Christian; and he got out a Bible, and began to read.... Thereafter the mates + found him in the cabin, day by day, with the Bible spread upon his knees, and the + whiskey within reach of his hand....</p> + + <p>The disintegration of the master had its inevitable effect upon the crew; they saw, + they grinned with their tongues in their cheeks; they winked slyly behind Noll's back. + One day Noll called a man and bade him scrub away a stain of oil upon the deck. The man + went slackly at the task. The captain said: "Come, sharp there...." And the man grinned + and spat over the side and asked impudently:</p> + + <p>"What's hurry?"</p> + + <p>Noll started to explain; but Henry Ham had heard, and the mate's fist caught the man + in the deep ribs, and the man made haste, thereafter. Ham explained respectfully to the + captain:</p> + + <p>"You can't talk to 'em, sir. Fist does it. Fist and boot. You know that, well's + me."</p> + + <p>Noll shook his head dolefully. "I've been a hard man in the past, Mr. Ham," he + admitted. "But I'll not strike a man again...."</p> + + <p>And the mate, who could not understand, chuckled uneasily as though it were all a + jest. "I will, for you, sir," he said.</p> + + <p>If Dan'l Tobey had been mate, and so minded, he could have kept the crew alert and + keen; but Dan'l had his own <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>troubles, and he did not greatly care what came to Noll and + Noll's ship. So, Noll's hand slackening, the men were left to Mr. Ham; and the mate, + while fit for his job, was not fit for Noll's. Matters went from bad to worse....</p> + + <p>This growing slackness culminated in tragedy. Where matters of life and death are a + part of every day, safety lies in discipline; and discipline was lax on the <i>Sally + Sims</i>. On a day when the skies were ugly and the wind was freshening, they sighted a + lone bull whale, and the mate and Willis Cox lowered for him while the ship worked + upwind toward where the creature lay. The boats, rowing, distanced the bark; the mate + struck the whale, and the creature fluked the boat so that its planks opened and it + sank till it was barely awash, and dipped the men in water to their necks. Silva, the + mate's harpooner, cut the line and let the whale run free; and a moment later, Willis + Cox's boat got fast when Loum pitchpoled his great harpoon over thirty feet of water as + the whale went down....</p> + + <p>The big bull began to run headlong, and the men in Willis's boat balanced on the + sides for a "Nantucket Sleigh-ride." The whale ran straightaway, so tirelessly they + could not haul up on the line.... The weather thickened behind them and hid the + <i>Sally</i> as she stopped to pick up the mate and his wrecked boat. Then a squall + struck, and night came swiftly down....</p> + + <p>When Willis saw it was hopeless to think of killing the whale, he cut. It was then + full dark, and blowing. Some rain fell, but the flying spume that the wind clipped from + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>the wave tops kept the boat a quarter full of sea water, no matter how desperately they + bailed. Toward midnight, the thirsty men wished to drink.</p> + + <p>A whaleboat is always provisioned against the emergency of being cast adrift. + Biscuits and water are stored in the lantern keg, with matches and whatever else may be + needful. The water is replenished now and then, that it may be fresh....</p> + + <p>When Willis opened the lantern keg, he found the water half gone, and so brackish it + was unfit to drink. A condition directly to be attributed to the weakening of + discipline aboard the <i>Sally</i>.... A serious matter, as they knew all too well when + the next day dawned bright and hot, with the bark nowhere to be seen. Their thirst + increased tormentingly; and on the third day, when the searching <i>Sally</i> found + them, two men were dead in the boat, and the other four were in little better + case....</p> + + <p>Willis had worked his boat toward an island northeast of the position where he lost + the <i>Sally</i>; Dan'l Tobey had guessed what Willis would do, and had persuaded Noll + to cruise that way. When they picked up the half dead men, Noll decided to touch at the + island for food and fresh water; and they raised it in mid-morning of the second + day.</p> + + <p>They had seen other lands since the cruise began. But these other lands had been + rocky and inhospitable.... The harsh tops, for the most part, of mountains that rose + from the sea's depths to break the surface of the sea. Men dwelt on them, clinging like + goats in the crannies of the rocks.... But they were not inviting. This island <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>was + different. When Faith, coming on deck at the cry, saw it blue-green against the + horizon, she caught her breath at the beauty of it; and while the <i>Sally</i> worked + closer, she watched with wide eyes and leaping pulses. She felt, vaguely, that it was + the portal of a new world; it was lovely, inviting, pleasant.... She was suddenly sick + of the harsh salt of the sea, sick of the stinking ship.... She wanted soft earth + beneath her feet, trees above her head, flowers within reach of her hand....</p> + + <p>This island was fair and smiling; it seemed to promise her all the things she most + desired.... She sought Noll Wing.</p> + + <p>"Are you going ashore, Noll?" she asked.</p> + + <p>He was in one of his slothful moods, half asleep in the after cabin; and he shook + his great head. "No.... Mates will get what we need. We'll be away by night."</p> + + <p>She hesitated. "I—want to go ashore," she said. "Won't you go with me?"</p> + + <p>"You can go," he agreed, readily enough. "Nobody there but some niggers—and + maybe a few whites, on the beach. Nothing to see...."</p> + + <p>"There's land," she told him, smiling. "And trees, and flowers.... Do come."</p> + + <p>"You go along. I'm—tired, to-day."</p> + + <p>"I'd like it so much more if you came with me."</p> + + <p>He frowned at her, impatient at her insistence. "Stop the talk," he told her + harshly. "I'm not going. Go if you want to. But be still about it, let a man rest.... + I'm tired, Faith.... I'm getting old...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>"You ought to look after getting the stuff for the ship," she reminded him. "After + all—you are responsible for her...."</p> + + <p>"Mr. Ham will do that, better than me," he said. "Go along."</p> + + <p>She went out, reluctantly, and sought the mate. His boat and James Tichel's were to + go ashore, leaving Dan'l in charge of the ship. He grinned cheerfully at Faith's + request, and bade his men rig a stool to lower her into the boat. Faith protested, + laughingly. "I can jump down, as well as a man," she said; and he nodded assent and + forgot her.</p> + + <p>She was in his boat when they put off presently; she sat astern, while Mr. Ham stood + above her, his legs spread to steady himself against the movement of the boat, his + weight on the long steering oar that he always preferred to the tiller. The + <i>Sally</i> had dropped anchor a mile off shore, and canoes were already spinning out + to her. The island spread before them, green and sparkling in the sun; and the white + beach shone like silver.... It was more than a coral island; there were two hills, a + mile or so inland; and the white-washed huts of a considerable village shone against + the trees. The canoes met them, whirled about them; the black folk shouted and clamored + and stared.... Mr. Ham waved to them, talked to them in a queer and outlandish mixture + of tongues, bade them go on to the <i>Sally</i>.... "Mr. Tobey'll buy what they've + got," he told Faith, as the whaleboat drove ahead for the shore.</p> + + <p>James Tichel's boat was well astern of them, dragging a raft of floating casks which + would be filled with water <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>and towed out to the <i>Sally</i>. He was still far from + shore when they drove up on the beach; and the men jumped out into the shallow water + and dragged the boat higher, so that Faith, picking her way over the thwarts, could + step ashore dry shod from the bow. Her feet left scarce a mark upon the hard, white + sand.</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham said to her: "You come up to the trees; you can be cool there while we're at + our business."</p> + + <p>But Faith shook her head. "I'm going to take a walk," she said. "I want to get into + the woods. How long will you be here?"</p> + + <p>He hesitated dubiously. "Guess it's all right if you do," he decided. "The niggers + are friendly.... Most of 'em talk English, in a way. Go ahead."</p> + + <p>"How long have I?" Faith asked again. He said they would be ashore an hour, perhaps + more. "No matter, anyway," he told her. "Stay long as you like. Do you want I should + send a man with you?"</p> + + <p>Faith told him she was not afraid; he grinned. She turned southward along the beach, + away from the huddled village. The smooth sand was so firm it jarred her feet, and she + moved up into the shade of the trees, and followed them for a space, eyes probing into + the tangle beyond them, lips smiling, every sense drinking in the smells of the + land.... When she came, presently, to a well-marked path that led into the jungle-like + undergrowth, she hesitated, then turned in.</p> + + <p>Within twenty steps, the trees closed about her, shutting away all sight of the sea. + For a little longer she could hear the long rollers pounding on the beach; then that + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>sound, too, became indistinct and dim.... It was drowned in the thousand tiny noises of + the brush about her. Bird-notes, crackling of twigs, stirring of furry things. Once a + little creature of a sort she had never seen before, yet not unlike the familiar and + universal rabbit, hopped out of her path in a flurry of excitement.</p> + + <p>She heard, presently, another sound ahead of her; a sound of running, falling water; + and when she pressed on eagerly, she came out upon the bank of a clear stream that + dropped in bright cascades from one deep, cool pool to another. She guessed this stream + must come down between the hills she had seen from the ship.... It was all the things + she had unwittingly longed for during the months aboard the <i>Sally</i>. It was cool, + and clear, and gay, and chuckling; the sea was always so turbulent and harsh. She + followed the path that ran up the northern bank of the stream, and each new pool seemed + more inviting than the last.... She wanted to wade into them, to feel the water on her + shoulders and her throat and her arms.... Her smooth skin had revolted endlessly + against the bite of the salt water in which she bathed aboard the <i>Sally</i>; it + yearned for this cool, crystal flood....</p> + + <p>She put aside this desire. The path she was following was a well-beaten trail. + People must use it. They might come this way at any time.... She wished, wistfully, + that she might be sure no one would come.... And so wishing, she pressed on, each new + pool among the rocks wooing her afresh, and urging her to its cool embrace....</p> + + <p>She heard, in the wood ahead of her, an increasing clamor of falling water, and + guessed there might be a cas<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>cade there of larger proportions than she had yet seen. The + path left the stream for a little, winding to round a tangle of thicker underbrush; and + she hurried around this tangle, her eyes hungry to see the tumbling water she could + hear....</p> + + <p>Hurrying thus, she came out suddenly upon the lip of the pool.... Broad, and dark, + and deep; its upper end walled by a sheet of plunging water that fell in a mirror-like + veil and churned the pool to misty foam. Her eyes drank deep; they swung around the + pool.... And then, she caught her breath, and shrank back a little, and pressed her + hand to her throat....</p> + + <p>Upon a rock, not fifty feet from her, his back half turned as he poised to dive, + there stood a man. A white man, for all the skin of his whole body was golden-brown + from long exposure to the open air.... He poised there like some wood god.... Faith had + a strange feeling that she had blundered into a secret temple of the woods; that this + was the temple's deity. She smiled faintly at her own fancy; smiled....</p> + + <p>God has made nothing more beautiful than the human body, whether it be man's or + woman's. Faith thought, in the instant that she watched, that this bronzed man of the + woods was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.... She had no sense of shame in + watching him; she had only joy in the sheer beauty of him, golden-brown against the + green. And when, even as she first saw him, he leaped and swung, smooth and straight, + high through the air, and turned with arms like arrows to pierce the bosom of the pool, + she gasped a little, as one gasps on coming suddenly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>out upon a mountain top, with the + world outspread below.... Then he was gone, with scarce a sound.... She saw for an + instant the golden flash of him in the pool's depths....</p> + + <p>His brown head broke the water, far across the way.... And he shook back his hair, + and passed his hands across his face to clear his eyes.... His eyes opened....</p> + + <p>His eyes opened, and he saw her standing there....</p> + + <p>There were seconds on end that they remained thus, each held by the other's gaze. + Faith could not, for her life, have stirred. The spell of the place was upon her. The + man, for all his astonishment, was the first to find his tongue. He called softly + across the water:</p> + + <p>"Good morning, woman...."</p> + + <p>His voice was so gentle, and at the same time so gay, that Faith was not alarmed. + She smiled....</p> + + <p>"It's after noon," she said. "Good afternoon—man!"</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + + <p>When Faith answered him, the man's face broke in smiles; he told her laughingly: "If + you're so familiar with the habits of the sun, you must be a real woman, and not a + dream at all.... I'm awake.... I am, am I not?"</p> + + <p>"I should think you would be," said Faith. "That water must be cold enough to wake + any one...."</p> + + <p>He shook his head. "No, indeed. Just pleasantly cool. Dip your hand in it...."</p> + + <p>Something led her to obey him; she bent by the pool's sandy brink and dabbled her + fingers, while the man, a hundred feet away at the very foot of the waterfall, held his + place with the effortless ease of an accustomed swimmer, and watched her. "Wasn't I + right?" he challenged.</p> + + <p>She nodded. "It's delicious...."</p> + + <p>He said quickly: "You being here means that a ship is in, of course."</p> + + <p>"Yes."</p> + + <p>"What ship?"</p> + + <p>"The <i>Sally Sims</i>—whaler...."</p> + + <p>"The <i>Sally</i>! I know the <i>Sally</i>," the man cried. "Is Noll Wing still + captain?..."</p> + + <p>"Of course."</p> + + <p>His eyes were thoughtful. "I'm in luck, woman," he said. "Listen. Will you do a + thing for me?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>"What do you want me to do?"</p> + + <p>"I've a sort of a home, up on the hill above us here.... Observatory.... I've been + waiting four months for a ship to come along, keeping a lookout from the top there.... + Missed the <i>Sally</i>, somehow.... Must have come up after I came down...."</p> + + <p>"We made the island a little before noon," she said.</p> + + <p>He chuckled. "Ah, I was in my boudoir then.... I want to ship on the <i>Sally</i>. + Does she need men?"</p> + + <p>Her eyes clouded thoughtfully. "I—think so," she said. "They lost two, three + days ago."</p> + + <p>"What was it?" he asked quickly. "Fighting whale...."</p> + + <p>She shook, her head. "Boat got lost ... and they were short of water. The jug wasn't + fresh filled."</p> + + <p>The man whistled softly. "That doesn't sound like one of Noll Wing's boats," he + said. "Noll is a stickler on those things...."</p> + + <p>Faith bowed her head, tracing a pattern in the sand with her forefinger. She said + nothing. The man asked: "How long before they sail?"</p> + + <p>"They're going to wait for me," she said.</p> + + <p>His eyes lighted, and he chuckled. "Good. Now, listen.... If you'll be so kind as to + turn your back.... You see, I've been running wild here for the past few months, and my + clothes are all up at my place. I'll trot up there and get them and come back here.... + Get a few things that I don't want to leave.... Will you turn your back?..." She had + done so, and she heard the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>water stir as he raced for the shore and landed. "I'm going, + now," he called.</p> + + <p>"How long will you be?" she asked.</p> + + <p>"Not over an hour," he told her. "About an hour."</p> + + <p>"I'm afraid some one may come along this path.... Will they?... Should I hide from + them?..."</p> + + <p>He laughed. "Bless you, this is my private path; it's officially taboo to the + natives, by special arrangement with the old witch doctor effect that runs their + affairs. There won't be a soul along.... I'll be back in an hour...."</p> + + <p>"I'll wait," she agreed softly. There was a light of mischief in her eyes. Still + standing with her face down stream, she heard his bare feet pad the earth of the path + for a moment before the sound was lost in the laughing of the waterfall.... A moment + later, his shout: "I'm gone."</p> + + <p>She sat down quickly on the sand, smiling to herself, sure of what she wished to do. + She slipped off her shoes and her stockings with quick fingers; and she gathered her + skirts high about her thighs and stepped with one foot and then another into the + pleasant waters of the pool. They rippled around her ankles; she went deeper.... The + waters played above her knees, while she balanced precariously in the swirling current + and gathered her skirts high....</p> + + <p>The water was soothing as Heaven itself, after the salt.... But she was not + satisfied.... Merely wading.... She stood for a little, listening, gathering courage, + striv<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>ing to pierce the shadows of the bush about her with her eyes.... These first + months of her marriage had driven a measure of her youth out of Faith; they had been + sober days, and days more sober still were yet to come. But for this hour, a gay + irresponsibility flooded her; she waded ashore, singing under her breath.... She began + swiftly to loosen her skirt at the waist....</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>When the man came trotting down the trail at last, shouting ahead to her as he came, + Faith was sitting demurely upon the sand, clothed and in her right mind.... She was + trying to appear unconscious of the fact that around the back of her neck, and her pink + little ears, wet tendrils of hair were curling.... When he came in sight, she rose + gravely to meet him; and he looked at her with quick, keen eyes, and laughed.... She + turned red as a flame....</p> + + <p>"I don't blame you," he said. "It's a beautiful pool...."</p> + + <p>She wanted to be angry with him; but she could not.... His laughter was infectious; + she smiled at him. "I—couldn't resist it," she said....</p> + + <p>She was studying the man. He wore, now, the accustomed garments of a seaman, the + clothes which the men aboard the <i>Sally</i> wore. Harsh and awkward garments; yet + they could not hide the graceful strength of the man. He was not so big as Noll, she + thought; not quite as big as even Dan'l Tobey.... Yet there was such symmetry in his + limbs and the breadth of his shoulders that he seemed a well-bulked man. His cheeks + were lean and brown, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>his lips met with a pleasant firmness.... A man naturally gay, + she thought; yet with strength in him....</p> + + <p>They started down the path toward the sea together. He carried a cloth-wrapped + bundle, swinging in his hand. She looked at him sidewise; asked: "Who are you? How do + you come to be here?"</p> + + <p>"My name's Brander," he said. "I was third mate on the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>."</p> + + <p>She tried to remember a whaler by that name. "New Bedford?" she asked.</p> + + <p>"No.... Nantucketer."</p> + + <p>Faith looked at him curiously. "But—what happened? Was she lost?..."</p> + + <p>Brander's face was sober; he hesitated. "No, not lost," he said. He did not seem + minded to go on; and Faith asked again:</p> + + <p>"What happened?"</p> + + <p>He laughed uneasily. "I left them," he said, and again seemed to wish to let the + matter rest. But Faith would not.</p> + + <p>"Is there any reason, why you should not tell me all about it?" she asked.</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Then tell me, please...."</p> + + <p>He threw up his free hand in a gesture of surrender. "All right," he said....</p> + + <p>They were following the narrow path down the stream's side toward the sea. Faith was + ahead, Brander on her heels. After a moment, he went on....</p> + + <p>"A man named Marks was the skipper of the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>. I shipped aboard her + as a seaman. I'd had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>one cruise before.... Not with him. I shipped with him.... And I + found out, within two days, that I'd made a mistake.</p> + + <p>"Not that they were hard on me. I knew my job, after a fashion; and ... they let me + alone. But the men had a tough time of it. It was a tough ship, through and through. + Marks; and his mate.... Mate's name was Trant, and I'd not like to meet that man on a + dark night. There was murder in him.... The sheer love of it.... He was the sort of man + that will catch a shark just for the fun of spiking the creature's jaws and turning him + loose again.... I was in Taku once.... Saw a little China boy catch a dragon fly and + tie a twig to its tail and let it go. The twig overbalanced the dragon fly—It + went straight up into the air, fast as it could wing.... May be going yet.... That was + the sort of trick Trant would have liked.</p> + + <p>"Not that he ever actually killed a man on this cruise. Better if he had, for the + men. But he didn't.</p> + + <p>"A big fellow. Heavy fisted; but he wasn't satisfied with the fist. The boot for + him...."</p> + + <p>They were climbing a little knoll in the path; he fell silent while they climbed; + and Faith thought of Noll Wing and Mauger....</p> + + <p>"Well," said Brander. "Well, you know how things drag along.... We dragged along.... + Then, one day, we touched.... We'd gone around into the Japan Sea. Marks and Trant + walked up to the second mate and took him, between them, into a boat, and took him + ashore.... They came back without him. He was a man as big as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>Trant, but he had crossed + Trant, more than once.... Trant had a face that was cut to ribbons when he came back + aboard; but the other man did not come back at all. I never knew what the particular + quarrel was....</p> + + <p>"They shoved the third mate up to the second, and put me in as third. I said to + myself: 'All right.... But don't go to sleep, Brander.' And I didn't. It didn't pay.... + I couldn't."</p> + + <p>He waved his hand as though to dismiss what followed with a word.... Nevertheless, + he went on:</p> + + <p>"There was a man in my boat.... He was called 'Lead-Foot' by every one, because he + was a slow-moving man. He was not good for much. He was very much afraid of every one. + Especially Trant. He was bigger than Trant, so Trant took a certain satisfaction from + abusing him. I decided to interfere with this. I told this big coward who was in my + boat to keep out of Trant's way; and I told Trant, jokingly, one day, to leave my men + alone. He was huffed at that; growled at me." Brander chuckled. "So I swelled up my + chest like a fighting cock and told him to keep hands off. Oh, I threw a great bluff, I + can tell you. But Trant was not a coward. He waited his time; and I knew he was + waiting....</p> + + <p>"And while he waited, he talked to the captain; and I could see them both whispering + together. They whispered about me. They did not like to have me about; and once Marks + threatened to put me back in the fo'c's'le; but he changed his mind.</p> + + <p>"So matters were till we came past an island to the north of here, forty or fifty + miles. We made that island <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>at dusk, and worked nearer it after darkness had fallen. It + came on cloudy and dark....</p> + + <p>"I met Trant on the deck; and I said to him: 'Do we go ashore here?' He grinned at + me with his teeth and bade me wait till morning and see. And that was enough for me. I + knew what was coming. I thought I would hurry it a little; but luck hurried it for me, + in a way that worked out very well.</p> + + <p>"This lead-footed man was at the wheel. When the anchor went down, he started + forward and brushed against Trant. Trant may have meant it to be so. Anyway, Trant + knocked the lead-foot flying, and went after him with the boot, jumping, as lumbermen + do. There happened to be a belaying pin handy. So I took it and cracked Trant, and he + dropped in mid-leap.... Then Marks jumped me; and I managed to wriggle out from under + him, and he fell and banged his head. And he lay still; but Trant was up, by then, and + at me.</p> + + <p>"The lead-footed man was yelling in my ear. I told him to go overboard and swim for + it; and he did. And just then Trant got in the way of the belaying pin again, and this + time he did not seem to want to get up.</p> + + <p>"There was some confusion, you understand. I did not stay to straighten things out. + I went over, after Lead-Foot.... He could swim like a porpoise. He was ahead of me, but + half way in he met a shark, and came clamoring back to me to be saved. So I got out of + his way for fear he would drag us both under, and then I kicked at the shark, and it + went about its business, and we swam on.... They were too busy sluicing the Old Man and + Trant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>to come after us in a boat.... They could have knocked us in the head with an + oar.... But they didn't....</p> + + <p>"However, Lead-Foot took the shark so seriously that he swam too fast. Or something + of the sort.... Anyway, he keeled when we touched sand, and I felt him and found that + he was dead with heart failure or the like. I didn't stop to work over him. I could + hear Trant bellowing. He had come to life; and a boat was racing after me.</p> + + <p>"So I went into the bush and stayed there till the <i>Thomas Morgan</i> took herself + off. After that, not liking the island, which was low and marshy, I borrowed a native + canoe and came over here.... And I've been here, since."</p> + + <p>They were within sound of the rollers on the beach when he finished. Faith was + silent for a little; then she asked: "Were there other white men here? Why didn't you + stay at the village?"</p> + + <p>"There was too much society there," said Brander, grinning amiably. "I'm a solitary + man, by nature. So I went up into the hills. Besides, I could watch for ships, + there.... I'd no notion of staying here indefinitely, you understand...."</p> + + <p>Faith was filling out the gaps in his narrative from her own understanding of the + life aboard a whaler. She could guess what Brander must have endured; she thought he + had done well to come through it and still smile.... She thought he was a man....</p> + + <p>They could see the surf, through the thinning bush, when he said: "You haven't told + me how you happen to be aboard the <i>Sally Sims</i>...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>Faith had almost forgotten, + herself. She remembered, and something like a chill of sorrow struck down upon her. + But: "I am Noll Wing's wife," she said.</p> + + <p>They came out, abruptly, into the white glare of the beach, Mr. Ham's boat was drawn + up, a quarter-mile away. Brander looked toward it, looked at Faith.</p> + + <p>"Ah," he said quietly. "Then yonder is your husband's boat, waiting.... Noll Wing is + an able skipper...."</p> + + <p>Faith said nothing. They went on, side by side, toward Mr. Ham.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + + <p>When Mr. Ham, waiting by the boat with his men, saw Faith coming and saw the + stranger at her side, he came to meet them. His bearing was inclined to truculence. + Faith was ashore here in his charge; if this man had disturbed her....</p> + + <p>Faith reassured him. "I've a hand for you, Mr. Ham," she called. "You need men."</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham stopped, ten paces from them, with legs spread wide. He looked from Faith to + Brander. Brander smiled in a friendly way. "Can you use me?" he asked. "I know the + work."</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham frowned thoughtfully. "What's this, ma'am?" he asked Faith. "Who's that + man?"</p> + + <p>Faith said quietly: "Ask him. I believe he wants to ship. I told him we were + short."</p> + + <p>The mate looked to Brander. His attitude toward Faith had been deferential; toward + Brander he assumed unconsciously the terrorizing frown which he was accustomed to turn + upon the men. "What do you want?" he challenged.</p> + + <p>Brander said pleasantly: "To ship with you."</p> + + <p>"What are you doing here?"</p> + + <p>"I was third mate on the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>," said Brander.</p> + + <p>"Cap'n Marks?" Mr. Ham asked.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>"Yes."</p> + + <p>"We've no use for any o' Marks's mates aboard the <i>Sally</i>."</p> + + <p>Brander smiled. "I wasn't thinking of shipping as mate. Can you use a hand?"</p> + + <p>"Where's the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>?"</p> + + <p>"On th' Solander Grounds, likely."</p> + + <p>"How come you're not with her?"</p> + + <p>"I left them, hereabouts."</p> + + <p>"Left them?"</p> + + <p>"Yes."</p> + + <p>"They've not the name of letting men go."</p> + + <p>"They had no choice. They were—otherwise engaged when I took my leave."</p> + + <p>"That's a slovenly ship," said Mr. Ham.</p> + + <p>"One reason why I'm not on her now."</p> + + <p>The mate frowned. "I'm not saying it's not in your favor that you got away from + them.... And we do need men." He added hastily: "Men; not officers."</p> + + <p>"That suits me."</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham looked around. Faith stood a little at one side, listening quietly. The + <i>Sally</i> rocked on the swells outside.... "Well, come aboard," said the mate. "See + what the Old Man says."</p> + + <p>Brander nodded. "Thanks, sir," he said. He adopted, easily and without abasement, + the attitude of a fo'mast hand toward the officer, and went ahead of the mate and Faith + to stow his bundle in the boat. The other men waiting there questioned him; but they + all fell silent as Mr. Ham and Faith came to where the boat waited.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>Tichel had already taken the water casks out to the whaler. The men took the + whaleboat and dragged it down to the water. When it was half afloat, Faith and the mate + got in. The men shoved off, wading till the water was deep enough for them to clamber + aboard and snatch their oars and push out through the rollers.... They worked + desperately for a little, till they were clear of the turbulent waters of the beach; + then settled to their work....</p> + + <p>Brander sat amidships, his bundle at his feet, lending a hand now and then on the + oar of the man who faced him. Once he looked toward Faith; she met his eyes.... Neither + spoke, neither smiled.... The island was receding behind them; Brander turned to watch + it. They drew alongside the <i>Sally</i>.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey was at the rail to receive them. The mate stood in the tossing boat and + lifted Faith easily to Dan'l at the rail; he swung her aboard. Mr. Ham followed; then + Brander; then the men. The mate saw to the unloading of the boat, saw it safely stowed. + Then turned to Brander, "Come and see the Old Man," he said.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey heard. "He's asleep," he told Mr. Ham. "Who is this?"</p> + + <p>The mate said: "He wants to ship. Says he was on the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked at Brander. Mr. Ham added: "The captain's wife found him in the + bush."</p> + + <p>Dan'l drawled: "Beach comber.... Eh?"</p> + + <p>Brander said respectfully: "No, sir. I lived on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>hill, there.... The highest one. + You can make out my place with the glass...."</p> + + <p>"He was third mate on the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>," said Mr. Ham.</p> + + <p>"We don't need an officer," Dan'l suggested. Brander sensed the fact that Dan'l + disliked him; he wondered at it.</p> + + <p>"I'm asking to ship as a seaman, sir," he said.</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham looked at Dan'l. "Best speak to the captain?" he asked.</p> + + <p>"Oh, set him ashore," Dan'l suggested. "He's a troublemaker. Too wise for the + fo'c's'le...." He looked to Brander insolently. "Can't you see he's a man of education, + Mr. Ham? What would he want to ship before the mast for?"</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham looked puzzled. "How about it?" he asked Brander sharply. Brander + smiled.</p> + + <p>"I did it, in the beginning, for sport," he said. "Now I'm doing it to get home. If + you need a man.... If not, I'll go ashore...."</p> + + <p>Faith, standing by, said quietly: "Ship him, Mr. Ham." Her words were not a request; + they were a command. Dan'l looked at her swiftly, shrewdly. Mr. Ham obeyed, with the + instant instinct of obedience to that tone....</p> + + <p>It was not till days later that Faith wondered why she had spoken; wondered why she + had ventured to command.... And wondered why Mr. Ham obeyed.... It gave her, somehow, a + sense of power.... He had obeyed her, as he would have obeyed Noll, her husband....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>At the moment, however, having spoken, she went below.... She went quickly, a little + confused. She found Noll asleep, as Dan'l had said; and she did not wake him. The + <i>Sally</i> got to sea.... The island fell into the sea behind them. Before it was + fully gone, Faith, with the captain's glass, had searched that highest hill from the + windows of the after cabin; she discerned a little clearing, a rude hut.... Brander's + home....</p> + + <p>She watched it for a space; then put the glass aside with thoughtful eyes.</p> + + <p>Brander's coming, in ways that could hardly be defined, eased the tension aboard the + <i>Sally</i>. When the man went forward to stow his belongings in the fo'c's'le, he + found the men surly.... Quarrelsome.... They looked at him sidewise.... They covertly + inspected him....</p> + + <p>The men of a whaler's crew are a polyglot lot, picked up from the gutters and the + depths. There were good men aboard the <i>Sally</i>, strong men, who knew their + work.... Some of them had served Noll Wing before; some had made more than one voyage + on the ships of old Jonathan Felt. There was loyalty in these men, and a pride in their + tasks.... But there were others who were slack; and there were others who were evil.... + The green hands had been made over into able seamen, according to a whaler's standard; + and some of them had become men in the process, and some had become something less than + men. Yet they all knew their work, and did it....</p> + + <p>But they were, when Brander came among them, surly and ugly. In the days that + followed, tending strictly to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>his own work, he nevertheless found time to study + them.... A man with a tongue naturally gay, and a smile that inspired friendship, he + began to jest with them.... And little by little, they responded.... Their surliness + passed....</p> + + <p>The officers felt the change. Willis Cox, still half sick from the ordeal that had + killed two of his men, took Brander into his boat. Brander was only a year or two older + than Willis, but he was vastly more mature.... He knew men, and he knew the work of the + ship; and Willis liked him. He let Brander have his way with the other men, and his + liking for the newcomer led him to speak of it in the cabin, at supper one night. "He's + a good man," he said. "The men like him."</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey said pleasantly: "He's after your berth, Will. Best watch him."</p> + + <p>Willis said honestly: "He knows more about the work than I do. I don't blame him. + But—he keeps where he belongs...."</p> + + <p>"He will ... till he sees his chance," Dan'l agreed. "Don't let him get away from + you."</p> + + <p>Old James Tichel grinned malignantly. "Nor don't let him get in my way, Mr. Cox," he + said, showing his teeth. "I do not like the cut of him."</p> + + <p>The mate looked at Cap'n Noll Wing; but Noll was eating, he seemed not to have + heard. Faith, at her husband's side, said nothing. So Mr. Ham kept out of the + discussion. Only he wondered—he was not a discerning man—why Dan'l disliked + the newcomer. Brander seemed to Mr. Ham to be a lucky find; they had needed a man, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>they + had found a first-rater. That was his view of the matter.</p> + + <p>Brander's coming had worked like a leaven among the men. That was patent to every + one.... But this was not necessarily a good thing. A dominant man in the fo'c's'le is, + if the man be evil, a dangerous matter. The officers rule their men by virtue of the + fact that the men are not united. Union among the men against the officers breeds + mutiny.... Dan'l said as much, now.</p> + + <p>"He'll get the men after him like sheep," he said angrily. "Then—look + out."</p> + + <p>"We can handle that," said Mr. Ham.</p> + + <p>Dan'l grinned. "Aye, that's what is always said—till it is too late to handle + them. The man ought to have been left on the beach, where he belonged."</p> + + <p>Faith said quietly: "I spoke for him. It seems to me he does his work."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked up quickly, a retort on his lips; but he remembered himself in time. + "I'm wrong," he said frankly. "Brander is a good man. No doubt the whole matter will + turn out all right...."</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing, finishing his dinner, said fretfully: "There's too much talk of this + man. I'm sick of it. Keep an eye on him, Mr. Ham. If he looks sidewise, clip him. But + don't talk so much...."</p> + + <p>The mate nodded seriously. "I'll watch him, sir."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said: "I've no right to talk against him, sir. No doubt he's all right."</p> + + <p>Noll shook his great head like a horse that is harassed by a fly. "I tell you I want + no more words about him, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>Mr. Tobey. Be still." He got up and stalked into his cabin. + Faith followed him. The officers, one by one, went on deck. Willis, there, came to + Dan'l.</p> + + <p>"You really think he means trouble, Mr. Tobey?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled. "If he were in my boat, I'd keep an eye peeled," he said.</p> + + <p>Young Willis Cox set his jaw. "By God, I will that," he swore.</p> + + <p>Dan'l pointed forward; and Willis looked and saw Brander talking with Mauger, the + one-eyed man, by the lee rail. "Mark that," said Dan'l. "They're a chummy pair, those + two."</p> + + <p>Willis frowned. "That's queer, too," he said. "Mauger—he's not much of a man. + Why should Brander take up with him, anyhow?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled, sidewise. "Does Mauger—Is Mauger the captain's man?" he + asked.</p> + + <p>"No. Hates him like death and hell."</p> + + <p>"And Brander plays up to him...."</p> + + <p>"Because Mauger hates the Old Man. Is that it?" Willis asked anxiously.</p> + + <p>"I'm saying no word," protested Dan'l Tobey. "See for yourself, Will."</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + + <p>Roy Kilcup was another who did not like Brander. This was in part a consequence of + his position on the <i>Sally</i>, in part the result of Dan'l Tobey's skillful tongue. + Dan'l saw the tendency in Roy, and capitalized it.</p> + + <p>Roy lived in the cabin, where his duties as ship's boy kept him for most of the + time. It was true that in pay he ranked below the men, that he was of small account in + the general scheme of work aboard the whaler; but he lived in the cabin, he was of the + select, and to that extent he was set apart from the men. Also, he was the brother of + the captain's wife, and that gave him prestige.</p> + + <p>There was no great harm in Roy, but he was at that age where boys worship men, and + not always the best men. Also, he was at what might be called the cocky age. He felt + that the fact of his living in the cabin made him superior to the men who hived in the + fo'c's'le; and this feeling showed itself in his attitude toward them. He liked to + order them around.... They were for the most part willing to obey him in the minor + matters with which he concerned himself.</p> + + <p>Roy saw, as soon as any one, that Brander was a man above the average. The day + Brander was found on the island, he had gone ashore with Mr. Tichel, and roved through + the little native village, and returned to the ship <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>with the third mate before Faith + appeared. Faith had suggested that he go with her, but the boy scorned the notion of + poking through the woods.... He was thus back on the ship when Brander appeared.... But + he heard Dan'l Tobey object to the man, and he took his cue from Dan'l. He disliked + Brander.</p> + + <p>This dislike was accentuated by a small thing which happened in the second week + Brander was on the <i>Sally</i>. They had killed a whale and cut it in; and because the + weather was bad, it had been a task for all hands. The men were tired; but after the + job was done, the regular watches were resumed.... Dan'l Tobey's watch, which included + Brander, took first turn at scrubbing up; and when they went off and the other watch + came on, Roy was forward, fishing over the bow. He saw the tired men trooping forward + and dropping into the fo'c's'le; and he hailed Brander.</p> + + <p>"You, Brander," he called, in his shrill, boy's voice. "Get my other line, from the + starboard rail, under the boathouse. Look sharp, now!"</p> + + <p>Now Roy had no right in the world to give orders, except as a messenger of + authority, and Brander knew this. So Brander said amiably: "Sorry, youngster. I'm + tired. Your legs are spry as mine...."</p> + + <p>And he descended into the fo'c's'le with no further word, while Roy's face blazed + with humiliation, and the men who had heard laughed under their breath. Some boys would + have stormed, beaten out their strength in futile efforts to compel Brander to do their + bidding; Roy had cooler blood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>in him. He fell abruptly silent; he went on with his + fishing.... But he did not forget....</p> + + <p>He told Dan'l Tobey about it. Dan'l was his confidant, in this as in other things. + And Dan'l comforted him.</p> + + <p>"Best forget it, Roy," he said. "No good in going to the Old Man. The man was + right.... He didn't have to do it...."</p> + + <p>"There was no reason why he should be impertinent," Roy blazed. "He holds himself + too high."</p> + + <p>"Well, I'll not say he does not," Dan'l agreed. "Same time, it never hurts to wait." + And he added, a little uncomfortably, as though he were unwilling to make the + suggestion: "Besides, your sister shipped the man. She'd have the say, in any + trouble."</p> + + <p>"I guess not," Roy stoutly boasted. "I guess she's nothing but a woman. I guess Noll + Wing is the boss around here."</p> + + <p>"Sure," said Dan'l. "Sure. But—let's wait a bit."</p> + + <p>This pleased Roy; it had a mysteriously ominous sound. He waited; and he fell into + the way of watching Brander, spying on the man, keeping the newcomer constantly under + his eye. Brander marked this at once, smiled good-humoredly....</p> + + <p>Brander and Faith saw very little of each other in those days; they exchanged no + words whatever, save on one day when Brander had the wheel and Faith nodded to him and + bade him good morning. For the rest, the convention of the deck kept Brander forward of + the tryworks; and Faith never went forward. But now and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>then their eyes met, across the + length of the <i>Sally</i>; and one night at the cutting in, she heard Brander singing + a chanty to inspire the men as they tugged at the capstan bars.... He sang well, a + clear voice and a true one. In the shadows of the after deck, she listened + thoughtfully.</p> + + <p>Dan'l came upon her there, when he paused for a moment in his work. He saw her + before she saw him, saw her face illumined by the light of the flare in the rigging + above the tryworks. And for a moment he stood, watching; and the man's lip + twisted....</p> + + <p>That moment was a turning point in Dan'l Tobey's life. Before, there had been a + measure of good in the man; he had loved Faith well and decently.... His capacity for + mischief had been curbed. But in those seconds while he studied Faith's countenance as + she listened to Brander's singing, he saw something that curdled the venom in the man. + When he stepped nearer, and she heard him, he was a different Dan'l.... The stocky, + round-faced, freckled, sandy young man had become a power for evil.... He was to use + this power thenceforward without scruple....</p> + + <p>Faith smiled at him; he said pleasantly: "The man sings well."</p> + + <p>"Yes," Faith agreed. "I like it."</p> + + <p>Then Dan'l turned back to his tasks, and Faith slipped down into the cabin where + Noll was, and offered to read aloud to her husband. Noll sleepily agreed; he went to + sleep, presently, while she read. When she saw he was asleep, she dropped her book in + her lap and studied the sleeping man; and suddenly her eyes filled, so that she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>went + down on her knees beside him, and laid her arms gently about his shoulders, and + whispered pleadingly:</p> + + <p>"Oh, Noll, Noll...."</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Roy Kilcup, coming up from the cabin one day, saw Dan'l Tobey strike a man. He saw + this at the moment his head rose above the companion. Dan'l and the man were amidships, + and Dan'l cuffed him and drove him forward.</p> + + <p>Dan'l was not given to blows; he seldom needed to use them. So Roy was curious. He + went forward along the deck, and touched Dan'l's elbow, and pointed after the cuffed + man and asked huskily:</p> + + <p>"What's the matter? What did he do?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l had not seen Roy coming. He took a moment to think before he answered; then he + said in a fashion that indicated his unwillingness to tell the truth:</p> + + <p>"Oh—nothing. He was spitting on the deck."</p> + + <p>Now a whaler is, when she is doing her work, a dirty craft; she is never overly + clean at best. But it is never permitted, on a ship that pretends to decency, to spit + upon the deck. Any man who did that on the <i>Sally</i> would have been punished with + the utmost rigor; and Roy knew this as well as Dan'l. And Dan'l knew that Roy knew. Roy + grinned youthfully, protested:</p> + + <p>"Oh, say, what's the secret about? What did he do?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled in a way that admitted his misstatement; he shook his head. "Nothing," + he said.</p> + + <p>Roy looked angry. "Keep it to yourself if you want <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>to." He had known Dan'l all his + life, and had no awe of him. "Don't tell if you don't want to. If it's a secret, I + guess I can keep still about it as well as any one."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked sorrowful. "Just forget it, Roy," he said. "It doesn't matter."</p> + + <p>Roy flamed at him. "All right.... Keep it to yourself."</p> + + <p>And Dan'l yielded reluctantly. "Well, if you've got to know," he said, "I'll tell + you.... He was laughing at Brander's story of why Faith brought him aboard the ship + here."</p> + + <p>Roy's cheeks began to burn. "Brander.... What did Brander say?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't hear. He wasn't here at the time. + Probably didn't say anything. Probably the men just made it up. The fo'c's'le is a + dirty place, you know, Roy. Dirty men.... And dirty talk...."</p> + + <p>Roy said hotly: "By God, I won't have them talking about my sister...."</p> + + <p>"I felt the same way," Dan'l agreed. "But—you can't do anything."</p> + + <p>"What did Brander say? The sneak...."</p> + + <p>"I don't know that he said anything," Dan'l insisted. "Probably not. I just heard + this man snickering, and telling two others something.... Heard him name Brander, and + your sister.... So I struck in. The others were just listening. They got out of the + way. I asked this man what he said; and he wouldn't tell me, so I hit him a clip and + told him to keep his tongue still...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>Roy whirled to look forward. The deck was all but empty, but Brander and another man + were by the knight's heads, talking casually together. Roy said under his breath: "I'm + going to...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l caught his arm. "Wait...."</p> + + <p>Roy shook loose. "No. This is my family affair, Dan'l. Let me alone...." He started + forward. Dan'l hesitated; then he drew back, turned aft, stopped, watched.... He took a + malicious pleasure in seeing what would happen.</p> + + <p>Brander had seen Roy coming; he was watching the boy, and smiling a little. The + other man's back was turned. Roy strode forward, head up, eyes blazing; he kept on till + he was face to face with Brander; he stopped, and his hands trembled.</p> + + <p>"You, Brander," he said thickly. "You keep your tongue off my...."</p> + + <p>Brander moved like a flash of light. He swung Roy to him, swung the boy around, + pinned his arms with one of his own, clapped his hand over Roy's mouth.... He lifted + the boy easily and carried him, thus pinned and gagged, aft as far as the tryworks. The + other man stared in astonishment; Dan'l took a step nearer the two. The others were out + of easy hearing when Brander stopped. Still holding Roy's mouth he said quietly:</p> + + <p>"Don't lose your head, youngster. You'll only do harm. Speak quietly. What do you + want to say?"</p> + + <p>He released Roy and stepped back; and again Roy showed that he was more than a boy. + He did not spring at Brander; he did not curse; he did not weep. He stood, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>straight as + a wire, and his eyes were blazing. His voice, when he found it, was husky and low, so + that none but Brander could hear.</p> + + <p>"I don't know what you're saying about my sister," said Roy. "Whatever it is, it's + not true. If you say it again, I'll kill you."</p> + + <p>Brander's eyes shadowed unhappily. He asked: "Why do you think I have said + anything?"</p> + + <p>"No matter," said Roy harshly. "I know. Keep your tongue between your lips, or I'll + shoot you like a yellow dog. That's all...."</p> + + <p>He swung abruptly, and went aft so quickly that Brander made no move to stop him. + Dan'l came quietly across the waist of the ship as Brander took a step after Roy. "Get + forward, Brander," he said.</p> + + <p>Brander nodded pleasantly; he said: "Yes, sir."</p> + + <p>And he went back to the forward deck, his eyes troubled. He fought, that afternoon, + with one of the hands, and whipped the man soundly. Dan'l Tobey reported this in the + cabin that evening; and Mr. Ham frowned and said:</p> + + <p>"He'd best learn we'll do all the fist work that's done aboard here."</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled. "He was an officer once," he reminded the mate. "It's a habit hard to + break."</p> + + <p>Big Noll was there; he seemed not to listen. His attitude toward the new man was + still in doubt. Dan'l Tobey was wondering about it; and so was Faith. It was to be + decided, two days later, in a fashion peculiarly dramatic.</p> + + <p>Mauger, the one-eyed man, had an increasing hold on the imagination of Noll Wing. + The captain encountered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>the other wherever he went; and he never encountered Mauger + without an uneasy feeling that was half dread, half remorse. He could not bear to look + at Mauger's face, with the dreadful hollow covered by the twitching lid; and Mauger + sensed this and put himself in the captain's path whenever he had the opportunity. Noll + wished he could be rid of the one-eyed man; and in his moments of rage, he thought + murderously of Mauger. But for the most part, he feared and dreaded the other, and + shivered at the little man's malicious and incessant chuckling.</p> + + <p>Again and again he spoke to Faith of Mauger, voicing his fear, wishing that she + might reassure him; till Faith wearied of it, and would say no more. He spoke of his + dread to Mr. Ham, who thought he was joking and laughed at him harshly. Mr. Ham lacked + imagination.</p> + + <p>Brander, as has been said, was friendly with Mauger. He was sorry for the little + man; and he found in Mauger a singularly persistent spirit of cheer which he liked. He + was, for that matter, a friend of all the men in the fo'c's'le, but because Mauger was + marked by the cabin, his friendship for Mauger was more frequently noted. Dan'l had + seen it, had pointed it out to Willis Cox....</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing came on deck one afternoon, a few minutes before the masthead man sighted + a pod of whales to the southward. The captain was more cheerful than he had been for + days; he was filled with something like the vigor of his more youthful days. There was + a joyful turbulence in him, like the exuberance of an athlete.... He stamped the deck, + striding back and forth....</p> + + <p>When the whales were sighted, the men sprang to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>boats. Mauger, since Willis + Cox's tragic experience, had been put in the fourth mate's boat with Brander, to fill + the empty places there. Brander and Mauger were side by side in their positions as they + prepared the boat for lowering. But the whales were still well away, the <i>Sally</i> + could cruise nearer them, and Noll Wing did not at once give the signal to lower. He + stalked along the deck....</p> + + <p>As he passed where Mauger stood, he marked that the line in the after tub was out of + coil a little. That might mean danger, when the whale was struck and the line whistled + like a snake as it ran. Noll Wing stopped and swore sulphurously and bade Mr. Cox put + his boat in order. Willis snapped: "Mauger, stow that line."</p> + + <p>Mauger reached for the tub, but his single eye had not yet learned accurately to + judge distance; he fumbled; and Brander, at his side, saw his fumbling, and reached out + and coiled the line with a single motion....</p> + + <p>Noll Wing saw; and he barked:</p> + + <p>"Brander!"</p> + + <p>Brander looked around. "Yes, sir."</p> + + <p>"When a man can't do his own work here, we don't want him. Keep your hands off + Mauger's tasks."</p> + + <p>Brander said respectfully: "I helped him without thinking, sir. Thought the thing + was to do the work, no matter who...."</p> + + <p>Noll Wing stepped toward him; and his eyes were blazing, not so much with anger as + with sheer exuberance of strength. He roared: "Don't talk back to me, you...."</p> + + <p>And struck.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>Now Noll Wing was proud of his fists, and proud of his eye; and for fifteen years he + had not failed to down his man with a single blow. But when he struck at Brander, a + curious thing happened....</p> + + <p>Brander's head moved a little to one side, his shoulders shifted.... And Noll's big + fist shot over Brander's right shoulder. The captain's weight threw him forward; + Brander stepped under Noll's arm. The two men met, face to face, their eyes not six + inches apart. Noll's were blazing ferociously; but in Brander's a blue light flickered + and played....</p> + + <p>The men waited, not breathing; the officers stepped a little nearer. Dan'l Tobey + licked his lips. This would be the end of Brander.... It was not etiquette to dodge the + Old Man's blows....</p> + + <p>But, amazingly, after seconds of silence, Noll Wing's grim face relaxed; he + chuckled.... He laughed aloud, and clapped Brander on the shoulder. "Good man.... Good + man!"</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham called: "We'll gally the sparm...."</p> + + <p>And Noll turned, and waved his hand. "Right," he said. "Lower away, boats...."</p> + + <p>The lean craft struck the water, the men dropped in, the chase was on.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + + <p>When the boats left the <i>Sally</i>, Mr. Ham's in the lead as of right, Faith came + from the after deck to where Noll stood by the rail and touched his arm. He turned and + looked down at her.... He was already regretting what had happened. His recognition of + Brander's courage had been the last flame of nobility from the man's soul; he was to go + down, thereafter, into lower and lower depths.... He was already regretful and + ashamed....</p> + + <p>Faith touched his arm; he looked down and saw pride and happiness in her eyes; and + with the curious lack of logic of the male, he was the more ashamed of what he had done + because she was proud of him for it. She said softly:</p> + + <p>"That was fine, Noll."</p> + + <p>"Fine—hell!" he said hoarsely. "I ought to have smashed him."</p> + + <p>Faith smiled; she shook her head.... Her hand rested on his arm; and as he turned to + look after the departing boats, she leaned a little against him. He mumbled: "Fool.... + That's what I was. I ought to have smashed him. Now he—every man + aboard—they'll think they can pull it on me...." His big fists clenched. "By God, + I'll show 'em. I'll string him up for a licking, time he gets back."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>"I was—very proud," she said. "If you had struck him, I should have been + ashamed."</p> + + <p>"That's the woman of it," he jeered. "Damn it, Faith; you can't run a whaler with + kisses...."</p> + + <p>She studied his countenance. He was flushed, nervous, his lips moving.... He took + off his cap to wipe his forehead; and his bald head and his gray hair and the slack + muscles of his cheeks reminded her again that he was an old, an aging man.... She felt + infinitely sorry for him; she patted his arm comfortingly.</p> + + <p>He shook her off. "Yes, by God," he swore. "When he gets back, I'll tie him up and + give him the rope.... Show the dog...."</p> + + <p>Roy had come up behind them; neither had heard him. The boy cried: "That's right, + sir. The man thinks he's running the <i>Sally</i>, sir. You've got to handle him."</p> + + <p>Faith said: "Roy, be still."</p> + + <p>He flamed at her: "You don't know what you're talking about, Sis. You're just a + girl."</p> + + <p>Noll said impatiently: "Don't have one of your rows, now. I'm sick of 'em. Roy, go + down in the cabin and stay there...."</p> + + <p>"I can't see the boats from there," the boy complained. Noll turned on him; and Roy + backed away and disappeared. Noll watched the boats, dwindling into specks across the + sea.... Beyond he could see, now and then, the white spouts of the whales. Once a great + fluke was lazily upreared.... Faith watched beside him.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Whether, in the normal course of things, Noll would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>have carried out his threat to + whip Brander cannot be known. Chance, the dark chance of the whale-fisheries, + intervened.</p> + + <p>Tragedy always hangs above a whaling vessel. This must be so when six men in a puny + boat with slivers of iron and steel go out to slay a creature with the strength of six + hundred men. When matters go well, they strike their whale, the harpoon makes him fast, + he runs out his strength, they haul alongside and prod him with the lance, he dies.... + But there are so many ways in which matters may go wrong. The sea is herself a + treacherous hussy, when she consorts with the wind, and becomes drunk with his + caresses. Under his touch she swells and breaks tempestuously; she writhes and flings + herself about.... Her least wave can, if it chooses, smash the thin sides of a + whaleboat and rob the men in it of their strength and shelter; her gentlest tussle with + her consort wind can overwhelm them....</p> + + <p>And if the sea be merciful, there remain her creatures. She is the wide, blue + pasture of the whale; a touch of his flukes, a crunch of his jaw, a roll of his great + bulk is enough to crush out the lives of a score of men. If he had wit to match his + size, he would be invulnerable; as it is, men with their wits for weapons can strike + and kill him in the waters that are his own. It is rare to encounter a fighting whale, + a creature that deliberately sets itself to destroy the attacking boats; the tragedies + of the whale-fisheries are more often mere incidents, slight mischances, matters of + small importance to the whale....</p> + + <p>A little, little thing and men die.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>This day, the day when Brander faced Noll Wing and went unscathed, was bright and + fair, with a gentle turbulent wind, and a dancing sea. It was warm upon the waters; the + sun burned down upon them and its glare and its heat were reflected from them.... The + skin of men's faces was scorched by it. The men, tugging at the oars in the boats, + sweated and strove; the perspiration streamed down their cheeks, trickled along the + straining cords of their necks, slid down their broad chests.... Their shirts clung to + them wetly; they welcomed the flying spray that lashed them now and then.</p> + + <p>The pod of whales was perhaps five miles from the <i>Sally</i> when the boats were + lowered; but the wind was favoring, and its pressure upon the sail helped them on for a + space. When half the distance was covered, the oars were discarded as the boats swung + around with the wind almost dead astern, and headed straight for the whales' lay. + Before they reached the basking, sporting creatures, the whales sounded; and it was + necessary for the men to lie upon their oars and wait for a full half hour before the + first spout showed the cachalots were back from their browsing in the ocean caves + below. The boats swung around and headed toward them, sails pulling....</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham's boat was in the lead; for that is the right of the mate. The others were + closely bunched behind him; and as they drew near the pod, they separated somewhat, so + that each might strike a whale. Dan'l Tobey went southward, where a lone bull lay with + the waves breaking over his black bulk. Willis Cox and Tichel swung to the north of the + mate, into the thick of the pod.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>The mate marked down his whale; a fat cow that would yield full seventy barrels. He + was steering; Silva, the harpooner, stood in the bow, knee braced, ready with his + irons. The men amidships prepared to bring down mast and sail at the word, and stow + them safely away so that they might not hinder the battle that would come. The boat + drove smoothly on.... Mr. Ham, looking north and south, saw that the others were + drawing up abreast of him, so that they would strike the whales at about the same time. + He thought comfortably that with a little luck they would kill two whales, or perhaps + three. That each boat should kill was too much to be hoped for.</p> + + <p>Then he gave his attention to his own prey. They slipped up on the basking cow from + almost dead astern, slid alongside her; and Mr. Ham swung hard on the steering oar. The + boat came into the wind; he bellowed:</p> + + <p>"Now, Silva; give her iron."</p> + + <p>The harpooner moved quick as light, for all the power of the thrust he put behind + his stroke. He sank his first iron; snatched his second, drove it home as the whale + stirred.... Threw overboard the loose line coiled forward.... The whale ran.</p> + + <p>The sail came fluttering down, mast and all; and the four men amidships rolled it + awkwardly, stowed it along the gunwale.... Silva and the mate, at the same time, were + changing places in the boat. Silva, the harpooning done, would now come into his proper + function as boat-steerer. It is the task of the mates to kill the whales. The boat, + half smothered in canvas, with Silva and Mr. Ham passing from end to end, and the whale + line already <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>running out through the chock in the bow, was a picture of confusion + thrice confounded.</p> + + <p>In this confusion, anything was possible; anything might happen. What did happen was + humiliating and ridiculous.</p> + + <p>When Silva struck home the harpoons, he flung overboard a length of line coiled by + his knee. This slack line would allow the whale to run free while the sail was coming + down and he and the mate were changing places. He threw it overboard—and failed + to mark that one loop of it caught on the point of one of the spare irons in the rack + with the lances, at the bow. He leaped for the stern, groped past Mr. Ham + amidships....</p> + + <p>The whale was running. As Mr. Ham reached the bow, the line drew taut. That loop + which had caught across the point of the harpoon was straightened like a flash.</p> + + <p>Now a harpoon is shaped, not like an arrow, but like a slanting blade. It has a + single barb; and the forward side of this barb is razor-sharp. This razor edge cuts + into the blubber and flesh; then the shank of the barb grips and holds. But the edge + that will cut blubber will also cut hemp....</p> + + <p>The loop of whale line was dragged firmly back along this three-inch blade; it cut + through as though a knife had done the trick, and the whale was gone with two irons and + thirty fathoms of line. Mr. Ham and his boat bobbed placidly upon the water; and Mr. + Ham looked, saw what had happened, and spoke sulphurously. Then looked about to see + what might be done.</p> + + <p>It was too late to think of getting fast to another whale. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>The pod was gallied; the + great creatures were fleeing. After them went James Tichel in his boat, the spray + sluicing up from her bows. Tichel was fast; the whale was running with him.... Mr. Ham + looked from Tichel for the other boats. He saw Dan'l Tobey in distress. A whale had + risen gently under them, opening the seams of their craft; and they were half full of + water and sinking. They had cut.</p> + + <p>Willis Cox had hold of a whale; and this one had sounded. Ham saw Willis in the bow, + watching the line that went straight down from the chock into the water. This line was + running out like a whip-lash, though Willis put on it all the strain it would bear + without dragging the boat's bow under. It ran down and down....</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham rowed across; and Willis called to him: "Big fellow. But he's taken one + tub."</p> + + <p>"Give him to me," Mr. Ham said.</p> + + <p>Willis shook his head. "I'd like to handle him. Get me the line from Mr. Tobey's + boat. He's mine."</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham grinned. "All right; if you're minded to work...." He swung quickly to where + Dan'l and his men floated to their waists in water, the boat under them. "Takin' a + swim?" he asked, grinning.</p> + + <p>Dan'l nodded. "Just that. You cut, I see. Why was that, now?"</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham stopped grinning and looked angry. "Pass over your tubs," he ordered; and + Dan'l's men obeyed. Mr. Ham took the fresh line to Willis....</p> + + <p>He was no more than just in time. "The black <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>devil's still going," Willis said. + "Second tub's all but gone...."</p> + + <p>"Bound for hell, more'n like," Mr. Ham agreed. "Hold him."</p> + + <p>Dan'l's line was running out by this time; for Willis had worked quickly.... And + still the whale went down.... Mr. Ham stood by, waiting.... The line ran out steadily; + the whale showed no signs of rising. The bow of Willis's boat was held down within + inches of the water by the strain he kept upon the line. One tub was emptied; he began + to look anxious.... And the whale kept going down.</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham said abruptly: "There.... Pass over your line. He'll be gone on you, first + you know."</p> + + <p>Willis looked at the smoking line.... And reluctantly, he surrendered. With no more + than seconds to spare, the end of his line was made fast to the cut end of Mr. Ham's, + and the whale continued to go down. He had taken all the line of two boats—and + wanted more.</p> + + <p>"He's hungry," Mr. Ham grinned, watching the running rope. "Gone down for supper, + likely."</p> + + <p>And a moment later, his eyes lighting:</p> + + <p>"There.... Getting tired.... Or struck bottom, maybe."</p> + + <p>They could all see that the line had slackened. The bow of Mr. Ham's boat rode at a + normal level; the line hung loose. And the mate turned around and bellowed to his + men:</p> + + <p>"Haul in."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>They began to take in the line, hand over hand; it fell in a wide coil amidships, + overlapping the sides, spreading.... A coil that grew and grew. They worked like + mad.... The only way to kill a whale is to pull up on him until your boat rides against + his very flank. All the line this creature had stolen must be recovered, before he + could be slain.... They toiled with racing hands....</p> + + <p>Mr. Ham began to look anxiously over the bow, down into the blue water from which + the line came up. "He's near due," he said.</p> + + <p>It is one of the curious and fatal habits of a sounding whale to rise near the spot + where he went down. It is as though the creatures followed a well-known path into the + depths and up again. This is not always true; often a whale that has sounded will take + it into his mind to run, will set off at a double-pace. But in most cases, the whale + comes up near where he disappeared.... The men knew this. Dan'l Tobey, in his sinking + boat, worked away from the neighborhood to give the mate room. So did Willis. And Mr. + Ham, leaning one knee on the bow, peering down into the water, his lance ready in his + hand, waited for the whale to rise....</p> + + <p>The line came in.... The nerves of each man tautened.... Mr. Ham said, over his + shoulder: "Silva, you coil t'line. Rest of you get in your oars. Hold ready...."</p> + + <p>He heard the men obey, knew they were ready to maneuver at his command.... The whale + was coming up slowly; the line was still slack, but the creature should have breached + long before....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>The mate thought he detected a light pull on the line; it seemed to draw backward, + underneath the boat; and he said softly:</p> + + <p>"Pull her around."</p> + + <p>The oars dipped; the boat swung slowly on a pivot.... The line now ran straight + down....</p> + + <p>Abruptly, Mr. Ham, bending above the water, thought he saw a black bulk far down and + down.... A bulk that seemed to rise.... He watched....</p> + + <p>It was ahead of the boat; it became more plainly visible.... He waved his hand, + pointing: "There ..." he said. "There...."</p> + + <p>Deep in the water, that black bulk swiftly moved; it darted to one side, circling, + rising.... Mr. Ham saw a flash of white, a huge black head, a sword-like, saw-toothed + jaw.... The big man towered; he flung his left hand up and back in a tremendous + gesture.</p> + + <p>"Starn.... Oh, starn all!" he cried.</p> + + <p>The oars bent like bows under the fierce thrust of the men as they backed water.... + The boat slid back.... But not in time....</p> + + <p>Willis Cox, and the men in his boat, saw the long, narrow under jaw of the + cachalot—a dozen feet long, with the curving teeth of a tiger set along + it—slide up from the water, above the bow of the boat. The bow lifted as the + whale's upper jaw, toothless, rose under it.... The creature was on its back, + biting.... The boat rolled sidewise, the men were tumbling out....</p> + + <p>But that narrow jaw sheared down resistlessly. Through the stout sides of the boat, + crumpling and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>splintering ribs and planking.... Through the boat.... And clamped shut + as the jaws closed across the thick body of the mate.... They saw the mate's body swell + as a toy balloon swells under a child's foot.... Then horribly it relaxed and fell away + and was lost in a smother of bloody foam....</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Loum, Willis's boat-steerer, swung them alongside the rolling whale. It was Brander + who caught a loop of the loose line; and while the creature lay quietly, apparently + content with what it had done, they hauled close, and Willis—the boy's face was + white, but his hand was steady—drove home his lance, and drew it forth, and + plunged it in, again and yet again....</p> + + <p>The whale seemed to have exhausted its strength. Having killed, it died easily + enough. Spout crimsoned, flukes beat in a last flurry, then the great black bulk was + still....</p> + + <p>They picked up the men who had been spilled from the mate's boat. Not a man hurt, of + them all, save only Mr. Ham.</p> + + <p>Him they never found; no part of him. The sea took him. No doubt, Faith thought that + night, he would have wished his rough life thus to end.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + + <p>Mr. Ham was dead and gone. Faith was surprised to find, in the next few days, how + much she missed him. The mate had been harsh, brutal to the men, ready with his + fist.... Yet somehow she found in her heart a deep affection for the man. He was so + amiably stupid, so stupidly good of heart. His philosophy of life had been the + philosophy of blows; he believed men, like children, were best ruled for their own good + by the heavy hand of a master. And he acted on that belief, with the best will in the + world. But there had never been any malice in his blows; he frowned and glared and + struck from principle; he was at heart a simple man, and a gentle one.... Not the stuff + of a leader; never the man to take command of a masterless ship. Nevertheless, a man of + a certain rude and simple strength of soul....</p> + + <p>Faith was sorry he was gone; she felt they could have better spared another man.... + Almost any other, save Noll Wing.</p> + + <p>She did not at once perceive the true nature of the change which Mr. Ham's death + must bring about aboard the <i>Sally</i>. In the balancing of man and man which had + made for a precarious stability there, Mr. Ham had taken a passive, but nevertheless + important part. Now he was gone; the balance was disturbed. But neither Faith nor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>the + others at once perceived this; none of them saw that Dan'l Tobey as second mate, and + Dan'l Tobey as first mate, with only a step between him and the command, were very + different matters.... Not even Dan'l, in the beginning....</p> + + <p>They were all too busy, for one thing; there were the whales to be cut in—for + James Tichel had killed and towed his booty back to the <i>Sally</i> an hour after Mr. + Ham died. Tichel's whale, and the one that had killed Mr. Ham, would give the whole + ship work for days; feverish work, hard and engrossing. Cap'n Wing, who had leaned upon + Mr. Ham in the past, perforce took charge of this work, and the strain of it wearied + him. He no longer had the abounding vitality which it demanded.... It wearied him; and + what with the death of the mate, and the rush of this work and his own weariness, he + altogether forgot his threat to have the man, Brander, whipped in the rigging. He + forgot Brander, tried to drive the men at their tasks, and eventually gave up in a + stormy outbreak of impatience and left the matter in the hands of Dan'l Tobey.</p> + + <p>Dan'l went about the business of cutting in and boiling the blubber in a deep + abstraction; he was considering the problem raised by the death of Mr. Ham, which none + of the others—save, perhaps, Faith—had yet perceived.</p> + + <p>This problem was simple; yet it had possibilities of trouble. Mr. Ham was gone; + Dan'l automatically became first officer; old James Tichel ranked as second, Willis as + third.... But the place of fourth mate was left empty.... It would have to be filled. + The <i>Sally</i> could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>not go on about her business with one boat's crew forever idle. + There would have to be a new officer.</p> + + <p>Dan'l was troubled by the problem, for the obvious reason that Brander was the only + man aboard with an officer's training; that Brander was the obvious choice. Dan'l did + not want Brander in the cabin; he had seen too much in Faith's eyes that night when she + heard Brander sing by the capstan.... He had eyes to see, and he had seen. And there + was boiling in Dan'l a storm of hatred for Brander. He was filled with a rancor + unspeakable....</p> + + <p>No one spoke of this necessity for choosing another officer until the last bit of + blubber from the two whales had been boiled; the last drop of oil stowed in the casks; + the last fleck of soot scoured from the decks. Then it was old Tichel who opened the + matter. It was at dinner in the cabin that he spoke. Cap'n Wing was there, and Faith, + and Dan'l, and Roy. Willis Cox was on deck; Mr. Ham's chair was vacant. Old Tichel + looked at it, and he looked at Noll Wing, and he said:</p> + + <p>"Who's to set there, cap'n?" He pointed toward the empty chair as he spoke. It was + at Cap'n Wing's right hand, where Mr. Ham had been accustomed to sit. Dan'l Tobey had + not yet preëmpted it. Dan'l was always a discreet man.</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing looked across at Tichel. "Mr. Tobey, o' course," he said.</p> + + <p>Tichel nodded. "Natural. I mean—who's goin' to be the new officer? Or don't + you figure to hev one?"</p> + + <p>Noll had been drinking that day; he was befuddled; his brain was thick. He waved one + of his big hands from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>side to side as though to brush Tichel away. "Leave it to me," he + said harshly. "I don't call for any pointers, Mr. Tichel. Leave it to me...."</p> + + <p>James Tichel nodded again; he got up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand + and went on deck.... Dan'l and Roy, Faith and Noll Wing, were left together. Dan'l + wondered whether it was time for him to speak; he studied Noll's lowered countenance, + decided to hold his tongue.... He followed Tichel to the deck.</p> + + <p>Noll said nothing of the matter all that day. At night, when they were going to bed, + Faith asked him: "Who have you decided to promote to be an officer, Noll?"</p> + + <p>He said harshly: "You heard what I told Tichel? Leave it to me."</p> + + <p>"Of course," she agreed. "I just wanted to know. Of course...." She hesitated, + seemed about to speak, then held her peace. Brander was the only man aboard who had the + training; Noll must see that, give him time.</p> + + <p>Faith wanted to see Brander in the cabin. She admitted this to herself, quite + frankly; she did not even ask whether there was anything shameful in this desire of + hers. She knew there was not.... The girl had come to have an almost reverential regard + for the welfare of the <i>Sally</i>; for the prosperity of the cruise. It was her + husband's charge; the responsibility lay on him. She wanted matters to go well; she + wanted Noll to keep unstained his ancient record.... Brander, she knew, would help him. + Brander was a man, an able officer, skillful and courageous; a good man to have at + one's back in any battle.... She was beginning to see that Noll would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>need a friend + before this cruise was done; she wanted Brander on Noll's side.</p> + + <p>It may be that there was mingled with this desire a wish that Brander might have the + place that was due him; but there was nothing in her thoughts of the man that Noll + might not have known.</p> + + <p>She watched Noll, next day; and more than once she caught him watching where Brander + aided with some routine task, or talked with the men. There was trouble in Noll's eyes; + and because she had come to understand her husband very fully, Faith could guess this + trouble. Noll was torn between respect for Brander, and fear of him....</p> + + <p>Brander, that day of Mr. Ham's death, had faced Noll unafraid; Noll knew he was no + coward. But by the same token, he had sworn to have Brander whipped, and had not done + so. He recognized the strength and courage in the man; and at the same time he hated + Brander as we hate those we have wronged. Brander was not afraid of Noll; and for that + reason, if for no other, Noll was afraid of Brander. In the old days, when he walked in + his strength, Noll Wing had feared no man, had asked no man's fear. His own fist had + sufficed him. But now, when his heart was growing old in his breast, he was the lone + wolf.... He must inspire fear, or be himself afraid.... He was afraid of Brander.</p> + + <p>Afraid of Brander.... But Noll was no fool. No man who is a fool can long master + other men as Noll had mastered them. He set himself to consider the matter of Brander, + and decide what was to be done.</p> + + <p>That night, when dark had fallen, and the <i>Sally Sims</i> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>was idling on a slowly + stirring sea, Noll called the mates into the cabin. Faith and Roy were on deck + together; and Roy, with a boy's curiosity, stole to the top of the cabin companion to + listen to what passed. Faith paid him little attention; she was astern, watching the + phosphorescent sparks that glowed and vanished in the disturbed water on the + <i>Sally's</i> wake. The whaler was scarce moving at all; there was no foam on the + water behind her; but the little swirls and eddies were outlined in fire....</p> + + <p>Noll looked around the table at the other mates; and he said heavily:</p> + + <p>"We've got to have a new officer."</p> + + <p>They knew that as well as he; the statement called for no reply. Only Dan'l Tobey + said: "Yes, sir.... And a man we know, and can count on."</p> + + <p>Noll raised his big head and looked at Dan'l bleakly. "Mr. Tobey," he said, "you + know the men. Who is there that measures up to our wants, d'you think?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l started to speak; then he hesitated, changed his mind.... Said at last: "I'm + senior officer here, sir. But—I've not the experience that Mr. Tichel has, for + instance. Perhaps he has some one in mind."</p> + + <p>Noll nodded. "All right, Mr. Tichel. If you have, say out."</p> + + <p>James Tichel grinned faintly. "I have. But you'll not mind me, so no matter."</p> + + <p>"Out with it, any fashion," Noll insisted.</p> + + <p>"Silva, then," said Tichel. "Silva!" He looked from one of them to another. Noll's + face was set in opposition; Dan'l's was neutral; Willis Cox was obviously <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>amazed. + "Silva," said old Tichel, for the third time. "He's a Portugee.... All right. But he's + a good man; he knows the boat; he's worked with Mr. Ham. And he can take the boat and + make a harpooner out of one or the other of two men in her...." He stopped, unused to + such an outbreak. "That's my say, leastwise," he finished.</p> + + <p>For a moment, no one spoke. Then Noll looked toward Dan'l again. "Now, Mr. Tobey," + he said.</p> + + <p>Dan'l leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I've nothing against Silva," + he said quietly. "He's a good man. The best man in the crew, I'm thinking.... + But....</p> + + <p>"The man I have in mind is Roy Kilcup. No less."</p> + + <p>Noll's eyes widened; and old Tichel snapped: "He's never been in a boat."</p> + + <p>"I know the boy," Dan'l insisted. "I'll undertake to teach him all he needs know in + a week. He knows boats; he has guts and heart.... All he needs to know is + whales...."</p> + + <p>"Aye," said Willis Cox scornfully. "Aye, that's all. But who does know them?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled. "You might well enough ask, Mr. Cox."</p> + + <p>Willis flushed painfully. "He's just a kid," he protested.</p> + + <p>"You were almost three months older when you struck your first whale, if I mind + right," said Dan'l pleasantly.</p> + + <p>Big Noll Wing interrupted harshly: "That's enough. Silva and Roy. Who would you + have, Mr. Cox?"</p> + + <p>"Only one man aboard," said Willis.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>"That's who.... I've no mind for conundrums."</p> + + <p>"Brander," said Cox. "Brander!"</p> + + <p>Noll seemed to slump a little in his chair; he smiled wearily. Dan'l Tobey thought + the captain had never looked so old. His big fist on the table moved a little from side + to side, then was still. In the silence, they all heard the voice of Roy Kilcup, from + the deck above, crying to Faith in a trembling whisper:</p> + + <p>"Dan'l wants to make me mate, Sis! He wants to make me mate...."</p> + + <p>His voice was so tremulous, so obviously the voice of a boy, that every man of them + save Dan'l Tobey smiled. Noll said slowly: "He's over youthful yet, Dan'l. Teach him + the trade.... Happen, some day, we'll see...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l was betrayed by anger into indiscretion. "Over youthful, that may be," he + exclaimed. "But not a Portugee; and not a beach comber...."</p> + + <p>Noll held up his big hand, silencing Dan'l. And he looked from man to man; and he + said slowly, as an old man speaks: "I've no liking for Brander. He dared me to my face, + t'other day. But there's this....</p> + + <p>"He holds the crew. They like him. And he's a man; and he knows the job; and he does + not know how to be afraid. Also, he has a right to the place. If we don't give it to + him, he might well enough make a bit trouble for us. Leastwise, that's the seeming of + it to me...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said harshly: "I never heard that Noll Wing feared any man."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>Noll smiled. "Age brings wisdom, Dan'l. I'm learning to fear.... So...."</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey found Brander on the fore deck, ten minutes later. Brander was smoking, + with two of the men. Dan'l touched his shoulder; Brander stepped aside. The two men + faced each other in the darkness for a moment; and it was as though an electric spark + of hostility passed between them. Their eyes clashed....</p> + + <p>Then Dan'l said pleasantly: "Get your traps and come aft to the cabin, Brander."</p> + + <p>Brander chuckled softly; he tapped out his pipe in his palm and tossed the glowing + ember over the rail. "Thank you, Mr. Tobey," he said. "I'm pleased to accept your kind + invitation."</p> + + <p>There was a mocking light in his eye that Dan'l, even in the dark, could see. + Another man might have struck; but Dan'l was never one for blows. He turned on his heel + and went aft; and Brander dropped into the fo'c's'le to collect his belongings.</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + + <p>Thus Brander came into the cabin. He and Willis Cox shared a small compartment off + the main cabin; while Dan'l and tigerish old Tichel shared another. The four mates, + Roy, Noll Wing, and Faith all lived in a space not much more than twenty-five feet + square. This intimacy that could not be escaped served to intensify the clash of man + and man. Brander and Dan'l Tobey became, within the week, open and avowed enemies.</p> + + <p>They made no great show of their enmity, but each understood. Dan'l, by virtue of + his position as mate, gradually gathered into his own hands the authority that old Noll + Wing was letting slip; he assumed many of the small prerogatives of the captain; and he + took advantage of his strength to give Brander irksome tasks, to make his work + unnecessarily hard. Noll saw nothing. He had fallen into something like a stupor; he + was rotting at the heart, like a great log that lies prone in the forest. He played + with his authority; he had days when he liked to fancy that he was the Noll of old; but + most of the time he spent in the cabin below, sleeping, or perhaps drinking, or reading + the Bible and maundering over his own past sins. A wholesome interest in the Bible is a + good thing for any man; but Noll's interest was not wholesome. He was morbidly absorbed + in the Book; he read it and mourned to think how wicked he had been. He complained to + Faith as though she were to blame for his ancient crimes.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>It came to pass that he flooded Faith, little by little, with the details of his own + misdemeanors. His own orgy of self-depreciation led him to decide that he was not + worthy of her; he told her so; and when Faith sought to hearten him, the man—to + prove his point—recited the tale of the hot blood of his youth. He told her the + women he had known, so that Faith was sickened; and he begged her to forgive him, and + she did. She forgave without rancor.... It was characteristic of Faith that she held no + anger against Noll because he was not what she thought him. She had married him, eyes + open.... He was her husband; she was his. She set herself to serve him, to protect him + against himself, with all the loyalty that was in her. And more than all, she set + herself to uphold Noll as the master of his ship. He must bring the <i>Sally</i> home + with bursting casks; that was Faith's creed and prayer. He must fight the good fight; + he must meet his responsibility; he must be master....</p> + + <p>She worked to this end unceasingly; and on the whole her efforts were without avail. + Noll steadily degenerated.... His strength fled from him.</p> + + <p>Faith was so concerned with Noll that she gave little heed to the hostility between + Dan'l Tobey and Brander. These two fought their fight without her interference. And + this struggle between them was a curious thing. On Dan'l's side, it was a constant and + persistent effort to harass Brander and discredit him; on Brander's side, it was a + good-natured opposition to this effort. When Dan'l gave Brander two men's work to do, + Brander smiled—and did it. When Dan'l blamed Brander for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>what was another's + fault, or no fault of any man, Brander silently and cheerfully took the blame. Now and + then he looked at Dan'l with a blue flash of anger in his eyes; but for the most part + he was good-humored; he seemed amused by Dan'l, nothing more.</p> + + <p>Dan'l chose, one day, to take Brander to task at dinner in the cabin. Noll and Faith + were there, and the four mates. Brander, as was his duty, came down last; he sat at the + foot of the board. The <i>Sally</i> was cruising idly, watching for a spout. Brander + and Willis Cox had been on deck before dinner. There was little for either of them to + do, save watch for any chance of harm, or wait for word of a whale.</p> + + <p>When Brander came down, he caught Faith's eye from the foot of the companion ladder, + and Faith nodded and said: "Good morning." Brander smiled. Dan'l looked at Faith; and + he looked at Brander; and he gripped his chair to hold back a hot word that would have + ruined him. Brander sat down at the foot of the table. Noll seemed scarce to know he + had come, and Faith nodded to Brander to pass his plate. Brander did so, and Faith + served him. The plate went back to Brander.</p> + + <p>Dan'l said slowly: "Mr. Brander, the main hatch was not fast when I came down. Did + you secure it?"</p> + + <p>Brander looked up quickly, smiled. "No, sir," he said. "I...."</p> + + <p>"Why not?" Dan'l demanded acidly. "Are you waiting for a squall to tear it off?"</p> + + <p>Willis Cox said: "I had it made fast, sir. Before Mr. Brander came on deck."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>Dan'l crimsoned in spite of himself; old Tichel grinned unpleasantly. Brander + smiled; and Faith looked at Dan'l and waited for his word of acknowledgment. Dan'l saw + her eyes.... He said to Brander: "Then, of course, you couldn't make it fast. Why + didn't you say so—since it was done before you came on deck?"</p> + + <p>Brander said soberly: "Sorry, sir." But his eyes were twinkling. What use to + explain; Dan'l could not be in a worse light. And Dan'l knew it. He said hotly:</p> + + <p>"What is so funny?..."</p> + + <p>Noll Wing rumbled from the head of the table, where he had seemed concerned only + with his food: "Let be. Let be. The thing is done. That's all that's needful, Mr. + Tobey."</p> + + <p>And Dan'l got hold of himself; he said respectfully: "Right, sir."</p> + + <p>The matter dropped there.... A small thing; but an incident very typical of the + tension which was growing in the cabin of the <i>Sally Sims</i>. Dan'l, jaundiced by + his own hatred of Brander, by his disordered passion for Faith, was not good company. + Save Roy, all those in the cabin avoided him. Roy was fiercely loyal to Dan'l; and he + hated Brander the more because Brander had been given the mate's berth to which Roy + himself had foolishly aspired. That was Dan'l's doing, that aspiration; he had taken + care to tell Roy that he had proposed Roy's name. "Brander does not belong in the + cabin," he told Roy. "He is rag tag and bob tail, from God knows where. If I'd been + Noll Wing, you would be fourth mate to-day...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>He fed Roy's sense of wrong; for the boy might some day prove a useful tool. Dan'l + was full of venom in those days; but he had not yet formed his ultimate plan.</p> + + <p>He still loved Faith, with some faint traces of the old decency. He knew in his + heart that she would never love him; yet he would never be content till he got this + from her own lips. The inevitable happened one evening when a new moon's thin crescent + faintly lighted the dark seas. Noll had gone early to a sodden sleep; Faith was not + sleepy and went on deck. Dan'l, from his cabin, heard her go; he arose and followed + her....</p> + + <p>There was little wind; the sea was flat; the <i>Sally</i> scarcely stirred. Dan'l + told the man at the wheel to leave her and go forward; he made the wheel fast and let + the <i>Sally</i> go her own gait. Her canvas was all stowed; her yards were bare. When + the man was gone, Dan'l turned to the after rail, where Faith was sitting. The man's + mouth was hot and dry, and his pulse was pounding. He came to her; Faith said + softly:</p> + + <p>"Hello, Dan'l...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l mumbled huskily.... "... Faith!" He stood beside her, and they looked out + across the water, where the starlight played. Dan'l was trembling, and Faith felt the + trouble in the man, as she had felt it for weeks.... She and Dan'l had been boy and + girl together; she was infinitely sorry for him....</p> + + <p>In the end, while he stood rigidly beside her, she laid her hand on his arm. + "Dan'l," she said, "I wish—you would get over being so unhappy."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>He looked at her through the dark; his voice was like a croak. "Unhappy ..." he + repeated.</p> + + <p>"It's not good for you, Dan'l," said Faith gently. "Unhappiness is—it's like a + poison. It burns...."</p> + + <p>"Aye?" said Dan'l. "That's true, Faith. It burns...."</p> + + <p>"Why not forget it?" she urged. "You're actually growing thin on it, Dan'l. Your + face is lined...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l tried to laugh. "One thing," he said, "the ship's on my hands, now. Noll + Wing—he's aging. He's an old man, Faith."</p> + + <p>Faith turned her head away from him quickly; she bit her lip in the darkness. Dan'l + repeated: "The <i>Sally's</i> on my hands, Faith. I'm master—without the name of + it."</p> + + <p>She said quietly: "Noll Wing is master here, Dan'l. Never think he is not."</p> + + <p>Dan'l turned abruptly away; he stood with his back to her. And as he stood there, + the jealousy of Brander and all the rancor that was poisoning the man gave way for a + moment to his tenderness for Faith. He swung back sharply, gripped her shoulders.... + "Faith," he said harshly, "Noll is master. So be it. But, Faith—I may still love + you. I do. Nothing on earth can stop it. It's all there is in me, Faith. You.... + You.... I would worship you; he kicks you with every word, as he kicks a dog. Faith.... + Faith...."</p> + + <p>She faced him squarely. "Dan'l, you are wrong. You are wrong to tell me + this—to speak so.... It is not—manly, Dan'l."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>The reproach in her voice made him shrink; it fired him. He caught her, cried: "By + God...." He would have swept her into his arms....</p> + + <p>Brander said, from the top of the companion: "Mr. Tobey, shall I set a man at the + wheel?... There's wind coming...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l cursed. "Hell!" He flung loose from Faith, he whirled on Brander.... The two + men faced each other tensely, Dan'l crouching with bared teeth, Brander erect.... The + starlight showed a little smile on his face. Abruptly, Dan'l straightened....</p> + + <p>"Set a man at the wheel—and be damned, Brander!" he said.</p> + + <p>And he brushed past the fourth mate without a glance, and went below. Brander called + through the darkness to a knot of men on the deck, forward. One came aft....</p> + + <p>Faith still stood by the rail; Brander paid her no heed. The man took the wheel.... + Brander leaned against the forward end of the deckhouse. After a little, Faith stirred, + came to the companion to go below. At its top, she paused.</p> + + <p>"Good night, Mr. Brander," she said.</p> + + <p>"Good night," he called pleasantly.</p> + + <p>She went below. Dan'l, writhing in his bunk below old Tichel, who snored above him, + heard her cross the cabin and go into Noll's. And the nails on his fingers bit his + palms.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>The second day after, Dan'l came down into the cabin <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>to find Noll. "Would you mind + coming on deck for a moment, sir?" he asked.</p> + + <p>Noll was reading; he looked up resentfully. "What now, Mr. Tobey? Can't you handle + the ship?"</p> + + <p>"I want you to see a thing...." There was a hint of evil in Dan'l's tone. Faith was + there, heard, wondered.... Noll looked at the mate; bestirred himself....</p> + + <p>They went on deck together; and Dan'l pointed forward.</p> + + <p>Brander was there, by the tryworks. Facing him, grouped about him, were four of the + crew. Mauger was among them. Brander was talking; and the men were laughing at what he + said. One of the men looked aft and saw Dan'l and Noll Wing watching them; and the + man's face sobered instantly and he backed away from the group. Brander turned around + and saw the captain. Noll called to him:</p> + + <p>"Come aft, Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>Brander came, without haste, yet quickly. Noll and Dan'l waited for him in silence; + they kept silent when he faced them. He met Noll Wing's sullen and angry eyes. His own + were unashamed and unafraid. "What is it, sir?" he asked at last.</p> + + <p>Noll lowered his big head like a bull. "What was your talk with the men, there?" he + demanded.</p> + + <p>Brander smiled. "The man Hatch tripped on a coil of line and fell. That minded me of + a thing that happened on the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>, and I told them of it. A fat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>greeny + caught his foot in the rigging and dove thirty feet overside into the sea.... It was a + comical thing, sir. And they laughed at it."</p> + + <p>"I do not want my mates consorting with the crew," said Noll sulkily; and there was + more complaint than accusation in his voice. Brander said:</p> + + <p>"It does no harm to be friendly with the men. Liking is as good a handle as fear, to + hold them with."</p> + + <p>Old Noll tried to beat down Brander's eyes with his own; but his own were the first + to shift. He shrank, the vigor of his anger passed, he was an old man again. "Damn it, + if you'd rather be forward, go there and stay," he fretted. "Do you want to go back to + the fo'c's'le, man?"</p> + + <p>Brander said respectfully: "No, sir. I'll do as you say."</p> + + <p>"For God's sake, do," Noll whined. He turned back to the cabin, brushed Dan'l. "And + you, Mr. Tobey. Don't bother me with such matters."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked at Brander, eyes glinting. "I thought it important, sir," he said.</p> + + <p>Noll grunted and went below. Dan'l, with a triumphant grin at Brander, followed him. + Faith was in the main cabin; she looked at the two seriously. "What was it, Noll?" she + asked.</p> + + <p>Noll shook his head fretfully; he stumped past her toward his own cabin. "The man + Brander, currying favor forward," he said. "I put a bee in his bonnet."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said: "He meant no harm, sir. I'm sure of it...."</p> + + <p>Noll whirled on him. "Then why did you run to me?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>"So that you might set him right, and put an end to't," said Dan'l. "He's a bit too + friendly with the men.... It was time he was told...."</p> + + <p>"Oh, aye," said Noll wearily. "Come, Faith...."</p> + + <p>The door of the after cabin shut behind them; and Dan'l, left alone, smiled at his + own thoughts and was content.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + + <h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + + <p>There was one circumstance that counted against Brander in the eyes of James Tichel, + of Mr. Cox, and of some of the crew. This was the fact that for close on a month after + he was made an officer, the <i>Sally Sims</i> sighted not one loose whale.</p> + + <p>There were fish all about them. During the interval, they sighted three other + whaling craft, and stopped to gam with them. Two of the three were cutting in when the + <i>Sally</i> sighted them; the third had just finished trying out the blubber of a + ninety barrel bull. But the <i>Sally</i> sighted not so much as a spout. And old + Tichel, who had the superstitions of the sea in his blood, began to look sidewise at + Brander, and whisper that he was a Jonah....</p> + + <p>That new moon in whose light Dan'l tried to plead with Faith was another ill omen. + Noll Wing, coming on deck the first night the moon appeared, saw it first over his left + shoulder when Faith called to him to look. He swung his head to the left.... Saw the + moon.... And old Tichel's cry was too late to stop him. Faith laughed at the second + mate; Noll grumbled at him. But Tichel clung to his doubts; and Willis Cox was + converted to them by the indisputable fact that the <i>Sally</i> sighted no whales.</p> + + <p>The men on a whaling vessel have an interest in the cruise. They are not paid for + the work they do, for the time they spend.... They are paid according to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>the earnings + of the vessel. Their salary, or wage, is called a "lay." This ranges from the captain's + lay down to that of the greeny. The captain's is a twelfth; or at least this was Noll + Wing's lay. The greenies on the <i>Sally Sims</i> were on a hundred and seventy-fifth + lay. Which, being interpreted, means that out of every twelve barrels of oil which the + <i>Sally</i> brought home, one belonged to the captain; and out of every hundred and + seventy-five, one belonged to each of the green hands. The captain got one in twelve, + the mate one in eighteen; the second mate got one in twenty-eight, and so the shares + ran down the scale. The lays were so arranged that out of every hundred and + seventy-five barrels, some fifty-five went to the officers and crew, while the + remainder went to the owner to pay the expenses of the voyage and give him his + profits.... Three per cent., or six, or a hundred, as the luck of the cruise might + decide.... The crew were sure of their money, such as it was, before the owner got his; + for it was the custom of old Jonathan Felt to pay off his men at the current price of + oil before figuring his own profit or loss.</p> + + <p>The effect of this arrangement was to give the mates and the men an incentive to + harder effort. The effect was to make them acutely interested in the success of the + cruise. And by the same token, the ill luck which now beset the <i>Sally</i> tended to + fret their tempers and set them growling about their tasks....</p> + + <p>Some blamed Brander; some blamed Noll Wing; some blamed their luck....</p> + + <p>Brander felt the strain as much as any of them. He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>was, in addition, an untried man; + he had not yet had his chance to strike a whale, and that is the final test of a + whaler's officers. When he was taken into the cabin and given a boat, he was forced to + be content with the poorest material aboard. That is the fourth mate's luck. He had + Mauger, the one-eyed man; he had Loum as his harpooner; and he had to fill out his crew + three others who were weak hands at the oars and slack at every task.</p> + + <p>He set himself to whipping this crew into shape; and in the luckless days when the + <i>Sally</i> idled with double watches at the mastheads, he used to take his boat off + and push the men to their work, training steadily, fighting to put pith into them. He + was not a man given to the use of his fists; neither had his tongue the acid bite of + Dan'l Tobey's. But he had a way of railing at the men good-naturedly, abusing them with + a smile, that made them laugh and tug the harder at their oars; he won from them more + than they had ever given before.... And he inspired in them a distinct loyalty which + gave birth, in time, to a pride in their boat which pleased Brander, and promised + well.</p> + + <p>Mauger, in particular, was Brander's shadow and slave. The one-eyed man, who had + been turned into a chuckling and harmless nonentity by the captain's blow and kick, + found Brander kindly. And he repaid this kindliness with a devotion that was marked by + every man aboard.... This devotion was marked, above all, by Noll Wing. And Noll, in + whom fear of the one-eyed man was growing like a cancer, dreaded Brander all the more + because of it.</p> + + <p>Noll and Faith were playing cribbage in the after cabin <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>one night; and the door into + the main cabin was open. Faith sat on the seat across the stern, and Noll was in a + chair, his back to the door, his knees supporting the board they used as a table. + Brander came down from the deck with word that one of the men had cut himself with his + clasp knife; he wanted to go to the medicine chest in the after cabin for materials to + care for the wound. The sea was turbulent; the <i>Sally</i> was rocking on it; the + rigging was creaking and the timbers of the old craft groaned aloud. This tumult + drowned the noise of Brander's footsteps as he came down the ladder and across the main + cabin. When he appeared in the doorway behind Noll, Faith saw him. Noll neither saw nor + heard till Brander said quietly:</p> + + <p>"Sorry to bother you, sir...."</p> + + <p>Noll, whose nerves were shaky, whirled up from his chair; the board slid from his + knees, the cards were spilled.... His face was ghastly with fright; and when he saw + Brander, this fright turned to rage.</p> + + <p>"Damn you, Brander," he cried. "Don't you sneak up on me like that again...."</p> + + <p>Brander said respectfully: "I'm sorry. I should have...."</p> + + <p>"What do you want?" Noll barked. "Get out of here. Get out of my sight. Don't stand + there gawping...."</p> + + <p>"I want to get some...."</p> + + <p>"I don't give a damn what you want," Noll cried. "Get up on deck, where you belong. + Sharp...."</p> + + <p>Brander stood his ground. "One of my men has cut his hand," he said. "I want some + stuff to fix it up."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>Noll wavered.... He threw up his hands. "All right. Get what you want.... I can't + get rid of you any other way. But don't come sneaking up behind me again. I don't like + it, Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>Brander made no reply; he crossed to the medicine chest and found what he needed. + Faith had picked up the fallen board, the cards.... She said quietly: "Sit down, Noll. + We'll deal that hand over again...."</p> + + <p>Big Noll sat down, watching Brander sidewise. When Brander was gone, Faith asked: + "Why were you startled?"</p> + + <p>"I don't like that man," Noll said. "He's too thick with Mauger for me. Mauger'll + stick a knife in me, some night.... He will, Faith."</p> + + <p>Faith shook her head. "Don't be foolish, Noll. Mauger's not worth being afraid + of."</p> + + <p>Noll laughed mirthlessly. "I tell you, there's murder in that man," he protested. + "And Brander's with him.... I've a mind...."</p> + + <p>"It's your crib," said Faith, and played a card. "Three."</p> + + <p>Noll mechanically took up the game; but Faith, watching, saw that his eyes were + furtively alert for half an hour thereafter.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>On the twenty-fifth day after the death of Mr. Ham, at about ten o'clock on a warm + and lazy morning, the man at the foremast head gave tongue to the long hail of the + whale-fisheries....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>"Blo-o-o-o-w! Ah-h-h-h-h blo-o-o-o-o-o-w!"</p> + + <p>The droning cry swept down through the singing rigging, swept the decks of the + <i>Sally</i>, penetrated into the fo'c's'le, dropped into the cabin and brought Dan'l + Tobey and Noll Wing from sleep there to the deck. Faith was already there, sewing in + her rocking chair aft by the wheel. When Dan'l reached the deck, he saw her standing + with her sewing gathered in her hands, the gold thimble gleaming on her middle finger, + watching Brander. Brander was half way up the main rigging, glass leveled to the + southward.</p> + + <p>Noll Wing bellowed to the masthead man: "Where away?..." And the man swept a hand to + point. Noll climbed up toward Brander, shouting to Mr. Tobey to bring the <i>Sally</i> + around toward where the whale had been sighted. The men from the mastheads and the + fo'c's'le and all about the deck jumped to their places at the boats to wait the + command to lower. Brander took the glass from his eye as Noll's weight pulled at the + rigging below him, and looked down at the captain, and started to speak; then he + changed his mind and waited, glass in hand, while Noll scrutinized the far + horizon....</p> + + <p>Noll saw a black speck there, and focused his glass, and stared.... He watched for a + spout, watched for minutes on end. None came.... The black speck seemed to rise a + little, sluggishly, with the swell.... He looked up to Brander.</p> + + <p>"D'you make a spout?" he asked.</p> + + <p>Brander shook his head. "No, sir."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>Noll looked again, and Brander leveled his glass once more. The <i>Sally</i> was + making that way, now; the speck was almost dead ahead of them, far on the sea. Tiny + bits of white were stirring over the black thing, like bits of paper in the wind.... + Noll asked at last: "What do you make of it, Mr. Brander? A boat.... Or a + derelict...."</p> + + <p>"I make it a dead whale," said Brander.</p> + + <p>"No whale," Noll argued. "Rides too high."</p> + + <p>"It will be rotten," Brander insisted. "Swollen.... Full of putrid gas."</p> + + <p>They watched a while longer, neither speaking. The light wind that urged them on was + failing; the <i>Sally</i> slackened her pace, bit by bit; but her own momentum and some + casual drift of the surface water still sent her toward the floating speck. It bulked + larger in their glasses.</p> + + <p>They were within a mile of it before Noll Wing shut his glass. "Aye, dead whale," he + said disgustedly, and began to descend from the rigging. Brander dropped lightly after + him. Noll stumped past the men at their stations by the boats till he came to Dan'l + Tobey. "Dead whale," he told Dan'l. "Let it be."</p> + + <p>Brander, at Noll's heels, asked: "Do we lower?"</p> + + <p>Noll shook his head. "No," he said sharply. The disappointment, coming on the heels + of the hope that had been roused, had made him fretful and angry. Brander said:</p> + + <p>"I was thinking...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>Noll turned on him querulously. "Some ships have truck with carrion and dog meat," + he snarled. "Not the <i>Sally</i>. I'll not play buzzard."</p> + + <p>Brander smiled. "It's not pleasant, I know.... But, aboard the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>, + we got a bit of ambergris out of such a whale.... This one was lean, you saw.... It + died of a sickness. That's the kind...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey said, with a grin: "A man'd think you like the smell of it, + Brander."</p> + + <p>"Ambergris is fool's talk," Noll growled. "I've heard tell of it for thirty year, + and never saw a lump bigger than a man's thumb. Fool's talk, Mr. Brander. Let + be...."</p> + + <p>He turned away; and Brander and Dan'l stood together, watching as the <i>Sally</i> + drifted nearer and nearer the dead whale. They could see the feasting sea birds + hovering; they caught once or twice the flash of a leaping body as sharks tore at the + carcass. Here and there the blubber showed white where great chunks had been ripped + away. They watched, and drifted nearer; and so there came to them presently the smell + of it. An unspeakable smell....</p> + + <p>The men caught it first, in the bow; Dan'l and Brander heard their first cries of + disgust before the slowly drifting air brought them the odor. But five minutes later, + it had engulfed the ship, penetrated even into the cabin. Noll got it; he stuck his + head up out of the companion and bellowed:</p> + + <p>"Mr. Tobey, get the <i>Sally</i> out o' range of that."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said: "Not a breath of wind, sir." He went toward the companion, as Noll + stepped out on deck; and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>he grinned with malicious inspiration, "Mr. Brander likes the + smell of it, sir.... Why not send him off to tow it out of range?"</p> + + <p>Noll nodded fretfully. "All right, all right. Send him...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l gave the order. Brander assented briskly. "I'll take a boarding knife with me, + if you don't object, sir," he said.</p> + + <p>Dan'l chuckled. He was enjoying himself. "I'd suggest a clothespin, Mr. Brander," he + said; and he stood aft and watched Brander and his men drop their boat and put away and + row toward the lean carcass of the dead whale, a quarter mile away. The jeers of the + seamen forward pursued them.</p> + + <p>Dan'l got his glass to enjoy watching Brander and his crew tow the whale out of the + <i>Sally's</i> neighborhood. The men worked hard; and Dan'l said to Cap'n Wing: + "They're in haste to be through, you'll see, sir." Once the tow was under way, it moved + swiftly. Men on the <i>Sally</i> breathed again....</p> + + <p>They saw, after a time, that Brander and his men had stopped rowing and brought + their boat alongside the whale; and Dan'l's glass revealed Brander digging and hacking + at the carcass with the boarding knife....</p> + + <p>Brander came back alongside in due time; and long before he reached the + <i>Sally</i>, Dan'l could see the exultation in the fourth mate's eyes. As they slid + past the bow, Brander's men taunted those who had jeered at them. They were like men + who have turned the tables on their enemies....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>Dan'l was uneasy.... The boat slid into position, the men hooked on the tackles, + then climbed aboard.... They swung on the falls, the boat rose into its cradle.... And + Brander turned to Dan'l and said pleasantly:</p> + + <p>"It was worth the smell, Mr. Tobey."</p> + + <p>He pointed into the boat; and Dan'l looked and saw three huge chunks of black and + waxy stuff—black, with yellowish tints showing through—and he smelled a + faint and musky fragrance. And he looked at Brander. "What is it?" he asked. "What do + you think you've found?"</p> + + <p>"Ambergris," said Brander. "Three big chunks, four little ones. Close to three + hundred pounds...."</p> + + <p>One-eyed Mauger chuckled at Brander's back. "And worth three hundred a pound," he + cackled. "Worth the smell, Mr. Tobey!"</p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + + <p>Brander's find, laid tenderly upon the deck, studied by Noll Wing and the officers + on their knees, set the <i>Sally</i> buzzing with the clack of tongues.</p> + + <p>There was a romance in the stuff itself that caught attention. It came from the + rotting carcass of the greatest thing that lives; it came from the heart of a vast + stench.... Yet itself smelled faintly and fragrantly of musk, and had the power of + multiplying any other perfume a thousand fold. Not a man on the <i>Sally</i> had ever + seen a bit larger than a cartridge, before; they studied it, handled it, marveled at + it.</p> + + <p>Cap'n Wing stood up stiffly from bending over the stuff at last; he looked at + Brander. "It's ugly enough," he said. "You're sure it's the stuff you think?"</p> + + <p>Brander nodded. "Yes, sir, quite sure."</p> + + <p>"What's it worth?" Cap'n Wing asked.</p> + + <p>"Hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a pound—price changes."</p> + + <p>Noll looked at the waxy stuff again. "It don't look it," he said. "How much is there + of it?"</p> + + <p>"Close to three hundred pounds...."</p> + + <p>Noll's lips moved with the computation. He said, in a voice that was hushed in spite + of himself: "Close to ninety thousand dollars...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Brander smiled. "That's the maximum, of course."</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey said: "You've done the rest of us a service, Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>Brander looked at him; and an imp of mischief gleamed in his eye. He said quietly: + "The rest of you. I was sent out to remove the carcass, not to dissect it. The digging + for this was my private enterprise, Mr. Tobey."</p> + + <p>Old James Tichel gasped under his breath. Dan'l started to speak, then looked to + Noll. They all looked toward Cap'n Noll Wing.... It was for him to deal with Brander's + claim.... They looked to Noll; and big Noll stared at the precious stuff on the deck, + and at Brander.... And he said nothing.</p> + + <p>Brander smiled. He called Mauger to come aft and help him, and he proceeded with the + utmost care to clean the lumps of ambergris of the filth that clung to them. He paid no + further heed to the men about him. Noll went below; and Faith, who had listened without + speaking, followed him. Dan'l and old Tichel got together by the after rail and talked + in whispers. Willis Cox stood, watching.... The young man's eyes were wide and his + cheeks were white. These seven ugly lumps of something like hard, dirty yellow soap + were worth more than the whole cruise of the <i>Sally</i> might be expected to pay.... + They caught Willis's imagination; he could not take his eyes from them.</p> + + <p>Brander had Mauger fetch whale oil; he washed the lumps in this as tenderly as a + mother bathes a child. The black washed away, they became an even, dull yellow in his + hands.... Here and there, bits of white stuff like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>bones showed in them.... Bits of the + bones of the gigantic squid on which the cachalot feeds. Their faint, persistent odor + spread around them....</p> + + <p>When the cleaning was done, Mauger fetched steelyards and they weighed the lumps, + slinging each with care.... The larger ones were so heavy that they had to make the + scales fast to the rigging.... The largest weighed seventy-four pounds and a fraction; + the next was sixty-one; the third, forty-eight. The four smaller lumps, weighed + together, tipped the beam at nineteen pounds.... The seven totaled two hundred and two + pounds....</p> + + <p>Mauger was disappointed at that; he complained: "I took 'em to weigh three hundred, + anyways...."</p> + + <p>Brander looked at Willis. "Two hundred isn't to be laughed at! Eh, Mr. Cox?"</p> + + <p>Willis said hoarsely: "That must be the biggest find of ambergris ever was."</p> + + <p>Brander shook his head. "The <i>Watchman</i>, out o' Nantucket, brought back eight + hundred pounds, in '58. I've heard so, anyways."</p> + + <p>Willis had nothing to say to that; he went aft to join Tichel and Dan'l Tobey and + tell them the weight of the stuff.... Brander sent for Eph Hitch, the cooper.... He + showed him the ambergris....</p> + + <p>"Fix me up a cask," he said. "Big enough to hold all that.... We'll stow it + dry...."</p> + + <p>Eph scratched his head. He spat over the rail. "Fix you up a cask?" he repeated. + "Oh, aye." He emphasized the pronoun; and Brander's eyes twinkled.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>They packed the ambergris away in the captain's storeroom; the compartment at the + bottom of the <i>Sally</i>, under the cabin, in the very stern. It rested there among + the barrels and casks of food and the general supplies.... There was no access to this + place save through the cabin itself; it was not connected with the after hold where + water and general stores and gear were stowed away. Brander suggested putting it there; + he came to Noll Wing with his request, and because Dan'l Tobey was with Noll, Brander + framed his question in a personal form.</p> + + <p>"I'd like to stow this below us here," he said. "Best it be out of reach of the + men."</p> + + <p>Dan'l scowled; Noll looked up heavily, met Brander's eyes. In the end, he nodded. + "Where you like," he said sulkily. "Don't bother me."</p> + + <p>Brander smiled; and the cask was hidden away below....</p> + + <p>But it was not forgotten; it could not be forgotten. From its hiding place, the + ambergris made its influence felt all over the vessel. It was like dynamite in its + potentialities for mischief. The mates could not forget it; the boat-steerers in the + steerage discussed it over and over; the men forward in the fo'c's'le argued about it + endlessly.</p> + + <p>It was a rich treasure, worth as much as the whole cruise was like to be worth in + oil; and it was all in one lump.... That is to say, it was no more than a heavy burden + for a strong man. Two men could have carried it....</p> + + <p>A thousand acres of well-tilled farm land are worth a great deal of money; but this + form of riches is not one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>to catch the imagination. Wealth becomes more fascinating as + it becomes more compact. Coal is more treasured than an equal value of earth; lead is + more treasured than coal; and men will die for a nugget of gold that is worth no more + than the unconsidered riches which lie all about them. Great value in small compass + sets men by the ears....</p> + + <p>Every man aboard the <i>Sally</i> had a direct and personal interest in Brander's + find of ambergris. And the matter of their debate was this: was the ambergris the + property of the <i>Sally</i>, a fruit of the voyage; or was it Brander's? If it was a + part of the profits of the cruise, they would all share in it. If it was Brander's, + they would not....</p> + + <p>Brander—and this word had gone around the ship—had spoken of it as his + own. For which some condemned and hated him; some praised and chose to flatter him. If + the worth of the stuff was divided between them all, Noll Wing and Dan'l Tobey would + have the lion's share, and the men forward would have no more than the price of a + debauch. If it were Brander's alone, they might beg or steal a larger share from him. + Or—and not a few had this thought—they might seize the whole treasure and + make off with it....</p> + + <p>The possibilities were infinite; the potentialities for trouble were enormous.</p> + + <p>This new tension aboard the <i>Sally</i> came to a head in the cabin; the very air + there was charged with it. Dan'l and old Tichel were against Brander from the first; + Cox was inclined to support him. Dan'l sought to sound Noll Wing and learn his + attitude....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>He said to Noll casually, one day: "The 'gris will make this a fat cruise, sir."</p> + + <p>Noll nodded. "Oh, aye.... No doubt!"</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked away. "Of course, Brander doesn't intend to claim it all.... To push + his claim...."</p> + + <p>"Ye think not?" Noll asked anxiously.</p> + + <p>"No," said Dan'l. "He knows he can't.... It's a part of the takings of the + <i>Sally</i>...."</p> + + <p>Noll wagged his head dolefully: "Aye, but will the man see it that way?"</p> + + <p>"He'll have to."</p> + + <p>The captain looked up at Dan'l cautiously. "Did you mark the greed in the one eye of + Mauger when they came aboard?" he asked. "Mauger sets store by the stuff...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l snorted. "Mauger! Pshaw!"</p> + + <p>Noll shifted uneasily in his chair. "Just the same," he said, "Mauger holds a grudge + against me.... He but waits his chance for a knife in my back.... And Brander is his + friend, you'll mind."</p> + + <p>"You're not afraid of the two of them.... There's no need. I'll undertake to see to + that...."</p> + + <p>"You're a strong man, Dan'l," said old Noll. "A strong, youthful man.... But I'm + getting old. Eh, Dan'l...." His voice broke with his pity of himself. "Eh, Dan'l, I've + sailed the sea too long...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said, with some scorn in his tone: "Nevertheless, you're not afraid...."</p> + + <p>Then Faith opened the door from the after cabin; and Dan'l checked his word. Faith + looked from Dan'l to her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>husband, and her eyes hardened as she looked to Dan'l again. + "You'll not be saying Noll Wing is afraid of—anything, Dan'l," she said + mildly.</p> + + <p>"I'm telling him," said Dan'l, "that he should not permit Brander to claim the + ambergris for himself."</p> + + <p>Faith smiled a little. "You think Brander means to do that?"</p> + + <p>"He has done it," said Dan'l stubbornly. "He claimed it in the beginning; he speaks + of what he will do with it.... He speaks of it as his own."</p> + + <p>"I think," said Faith, "that something has robbed you of discernment, Dan'l. Why do + you hate Brander? Is he not a good officer?... A man?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l might have spoken, but Brander himself dropped down the ladder from the deck + just then; and Dan'l stood silently for a moment, watching....</p> + + <p>Brander looked at Faith, and spoke to her, and to the others. Then he went into his + own cabin and closed the door. They all knew the thinness of the cabin walls; what they + might say, Brander could hear distinctly. Dan'l turned without a word, and went on + deck.</p> + + <p>He met Tichel there, and told him what had passed. Tichel grinned angrily.... "Aye," + said the old man. "He comes and Jonahs us, so we sight no whale for a month on end.... + And then is wishful to hold the prize that the <i>Sally's</i> boat found." His teeth + set; his fist rose.... And Dan'l nodded his agreement.</p> + + <p>"We'll see that he does not, in the end," he said.</p> + + <p>"Aye," said Tichel. "Aye, we'll see t'that."</p> + + <p>Roy Kilcup was a partisan of Dan'l's, in this as in all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>things; and Roy alone faced + Brander on the matter. He asked the fourth mate straightforwardly: "Look here, do you + claim that ambergris is yours?"</p> + + <p>Brander smiled at the boy. "Why, youngster?" he asked.</p> + + <p>"Because I want to know," said Roy. "That's why!"</p> + + <p>"Well," Brander chuckled, "others want to know. They're not sleeping well of nights, + for wanting...."</p> + + <p>"Do you, or don't you?" Roy insisted.</p> + + <p>Brander leaned toward him and whispered amiably: "I'll tell you, the day we touch at + home," he promised. "Now—run along."</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Thus they were all concerned; but Noll Wing took the matter harder than any, because + Mauger, whom he feared, was concerned in it. His worry over it gave him one sleepless + night; he rose in that night and found the whiskey.... And for the first time in all + his life, Noll Wing drank himself into a stupor.</p> + + <p>He had always been a steady drinker; he had often been inflamed with liquor. But his + stomach was strong; he could carry it; he had never debauched himself.</p> + + <p>This time, he became like a log, and Faith found him, when she woke in the morning, + unclean with his own vomitings, sodden and helpless as a snoring log. He lay thus two + days.... And he woke at last with a scream of fright, and swore that Mauger was at him + with a knife, so that Dan'l and Willis Cox had to hold the man quiet till the + hallucination passed.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + <hr class="c3" /> + + <h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + + <p>Faith and Brander had not, in this time, spoken a word together since they met Mr. + Ham upon the beach after Brander joined Faith by the island pool. In the beginning, + Brander was forward, and a gulf separated them.... Not to mention forty feet of deck. + Faith stayed aft; Brander stayed forward. Afterward, when Brander came into the cabin, + there was still a gulf.... They met at table; they encountered each other, now and + then, in the cabin or on deck. But Brander had his work to do, and did it; and Faith + was much with Noll.</p> + + <p>In the bush, by the pool, Faith had forgotten Noll Wing for a little space; and in + the forgetting, she and Brander had become friends very quickly.... His question, as + they reached the beach, made her remember Noll; and her answer to that question, when + she told him she was Noll's wife, had reared a wall between them. Brander was a man; + too much of a man to forget that she was Noll's wife.... He did not forget.</p> + + <p>In the <i>Sally</i>, after Brander came aft, Faith was toward him as she was toward + the other mates.... With this difference. She had known them since the beginning of the + voyage; she had known two of them—Dan'l and Willis Cox—since they were + boys. They were ticketed in her thoughts; they were old friends, but they could never + be anything more. Therefore she talked often with them, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>she did with Tichel, and as + she had done with Mr. Ham. She forgot they were men, remembering only that they were + friends....</p> + + <p>Brander, on the other hand, was a newcomer, a stranger.... When a woman meets a + strange man, or when a man meets a strange woman, there is an instant and usually + unconscious testing and questioning. This is more lively in the woman than in the man; + she is more apt to put it into words in her thoughts, more apt to ask herself: "Could I + love him?" For a man does not ask this question at all until he has begun to love; a + woman, consciously or unconsciously, asks it at once.... And until this question is + answered; until the inner thing that is sex has made decision, a woman is reticent and + slow to accept the communion of even casual conversation....</p> + + <p>Faith, almost unconsciously, avoided Brander. She spoke with him; but there was a + bar in her words. She saw him; but her eyes put a wall between them. She thought of + him; but she hid her thoughts from herself. And Brander felt this, and respected it.... + There was between them an unspoken conspiracy of silence; an unspoken agreement that + held them apart....</p> + + <p>This agreement was broken, and broken by Faith, on an afternoon some ten days after + the finding of the ambergris. The day was fair; the wind was no more than normal.... No + whales had yet been sighted by the <i>Sally</i>, and her decks were clear of oil. Mr. + Tichel's watch had the ship; but Tichel himself, old man that he was, had stayed below + and was asleep in his cabin. Dan'l was asleep there, also; and Noll Wing dozed in the + after cabin. Willis Cox was reading, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>under the boathouse; and two of the harpooners + played idly at some game of cards in the lee of the rail beside him. Brander and the + man at the wheel had the after deck to themselves when Faith came up from the + cabin....</p> + + <p>Roy was with her; but the boy went forward at once and climbed the rigging to the + masthead, to stand watch with the men there. He loved to perch high above the decks, + with the sea spread out like a blue saucer below him. He teased Faith to go with him; + but Faith shook her head. There was always a certain physical indolence about Faith + that contrasted with the vigor of her habits of thought and speech; she liked to sit + quietly and read, or sew, or think, and she cared nothing at all for such riotous + exertion as Roy liked.</p> + + <p>"No, Roy," she told her brother. "You go if you like. I'll stay down here."</p> + + <p>"Come on, Sis," he teased. "I guess you're afraid.... You never could even climb a + tree without squealing.... Come on."</p> + + <p>She laughed softly. "No. I don't like to do hard things—like that."</p> + + <p>"I won't let you fall," he promised.</p> + + <p>"Some day, maybe.... Run along, Roy."</p> + + <p>The boy went away resentfully; a little more resentfully because Brander had heard + her refusal. He looked back from the fore rigging, and saw Faith standing near + Brander.... And for a moment he was minded to go back and join them; but the dwindling + line of the ropes above him lured him on. He climbed, lost himself among the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>great + bosoms of the sails, stopped to ride a yard like a horse and exult when it pitched and + rolled.... Climbed, at last, to the masthead perch where the lookouts stood in their + hoops with their eyes sweeping the wide circle of the seas....</p> + + <p>And Faith and Brander were together. Save for the man at the wheel, whom neither of + them heeded, they were alone. Brander was at the after rail when she appeared; he + nodded to her, and smiled. She stood near him, hands on the rail, looking out across + the sea astern. The wind tugged at her, played with the soft hair about her brow, + whipped her cheeks to fire....</p> + + <p>She did not look at Brander, but Brander looked at her. The man liked what he saw; + he liked not so much the beauty of her, as the strength and poise that lay in her face. + Her broad, low brow.... Her straight, fine nose.... Her sweetly molded lips, and + rounding chin.... Strength there, and calm, and power.... Beauty, too; more than one + woman's measure of beauty, perhaps. But above all, strength. That was what Brander + saw.</p> + + <p>It was no new thing for the man to study Faith's countenance. It was firm-fastened + in his thoughts; he could conjure it up at will, and it appeared before him, many + times, without his volition. Faith's eyes were blue, and they were large, and Brander + could never forget them. The eye of a man or of a woman is a thing almost alive; it + seems to have a soul of its own. Stand at one side, unobserved, and watch the eyes of + your friend; you will feel that you are watching some living personality apart from the + friend you know. It is like watching a wild <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>thing which is hiding in the forest. The + eye is so alert, so infinitely alert, so quick to swing to right or left at any + sound....</p> + + <p>Women's eyes differ as much as women themselves. Faith's eyes were like Faith + herself; there was no fear or uncertainty in them; and there was no coquettishness, no + seduction. They were level and calm and perfectly assured; and Brander thought that to + look into them was like taking a strong man's hand. He thought Faith as fine a thing as + woman can be....</p> + + <p>Brander made sure that Faith did not see him studying her thus; nevertheless, Faith + must have felt his scrutiny. She was conscious of an unaccountable diffidence; and when + she spoke to him at last, without looking toward him, her voice was so low he scarcely + heard at all. She said some idle thing about the beauty of the sea....</p> + + <p>Brander smiled. The sky was so clear, and the heavens were so blue that sky and + heaven seemed to be cousins or sisters, hands clasping at the far horizon. He said + amiably: "Always think—looking off into the blue on a day like this is like + looking deep into blue eyes.... There seems to be a soul off there, something hidden, + out of sight.... But you can feel it looking back at you."</p> + + <p>Faith was so surprised that she looked up at him quickly, sidewise; and she smiled, + her cheeks a little flushed. "I never felt—just that," she said. "But—did + you ever look at a hill, so far away it is just a deep blue shape against the sky? + Blue's a beautiful color to look at, I think."</p> + + <p>He nodded. "From my hill," he said, "I used to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>able to see an island northwest of + the one where I was.... Barely see it. Just a line laid down along the sea.... A line + of blue."</p> + + <p>She said nothing in reply to this; and he said no more. They were thus silent for a + little before Faith asked: "Tell me.... You've never had a chance.... How did you live, + there? Wasn't it lonely? Or ... were there others?..."</p> + + <p>He laughed. "I wasn't lonely, in the least," he explained. "The old devil-devil + doctor of the village struck up an acquaintance with me.... He knew whites; and I was + the only one there at the time. He used to come and talk to me, and say charms over my + garden.... I had a little compass on my watch chain, and I gave it to him, and the old + heathen was my slave for life. So I arranged with him to have my path taboo—you + remember I told you.... And he was the only company I ever had."</p> + + <p>"You had a—garden?"</p> + + <p>"Yes. Good one. I put up a house, about six feet square—big enough for me, and + no more—and I trimmed down some trees around there; and there was a little brook, + and a shallow basin in the side of the hill where rich soil had been collecting for a + good many centuries, I suppose. I think if I had planted pebbles there, it would have + grown bowlders for me. It did grow all I wanted."</p> + + <p>She was thoughtful for a little, looked at him once. "Why did you ever ship as a + whaler?" she asked. "You don't look like the men that ship in the fo'c's'le."</p> + + <p>He laughed. "I know it. Maybe because I like the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>sea. My home was in sight of it; a + high old farm up in Maine, five miles inland. I used to sit out on the hill there and + watch the night come up from the east and blanket the water; and when there was a surf + I could hear it; and when I could, I went down and got acquainted with the water, + swimming, or poking around in an old dory.... It was bound to get me in the end. My + father sent me to school.... He wanted me to be a doctor. But after two years of it, I + begged off.... And he let me go."</p> + + <p>She nodded. "I know—a little—how you feel. I've always loved the smell + of the sea at home, and the sight of it.... But...." She grimaced harshly. "I'm getting + a bit tired of salt water, all the time.... I want to get ashore."</p> + + <p>"Sure," Brander chuckled. "And when you've been a month ashore, you'll be hungry for + the sea again. It's like a drug; you get used to it, and you can't do without it."</p> + + <p>She looked at him. "Do you think so?"</p> + + <p>"I know it. Wait and see."</p> + + <p>After a little, she spoke of the ill luck that had pursued the <i>Sally</i>. "Isn't + it unusual to go almost six weeks without getting a whale?"</p> + + <p>"No, not necessarily," he told her. "You may kill every other day for a year, and + not see a fish for three months after. The whale seems to come and go, in some + waters...."</p> + + <p>"These?" she asked.</p> + + <p>He nodded. "It's uncertain, here. We're working over now into better hunting + grounds. The <i>Sally's</i> done <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>well, thus far, anyway. Almost a thousand barrels, and + not out a year. I've heard of ships that came home with empty casks."</p> + + <p>She looked at him curiously. "I think you know more about the work than most men + aboard," she said. "Yet you've not had the experience...."</p> + + <p>"I've picked it up at games, read it, guessed it," he said pleasantly. "They know + more about the practical end than I. I haven't been tried out yet, you know."</p> + + <p>She smiled. "Mr. Tichel says you're a Jonah," she told him. "I think he would be in + favor of throwing you overboard."</p> + + <p>He laughed cheerfully. She added: "I hope you're not one. I'm anxious that Cap'n + Wing should make a big record on this cruise. It's my first with him, you know...."</p> + + <p>His eyes were sober; but he said: "We'll fill the casks, all right. I wouldn't + worry."</p> + + <p>She looked toward him and said: "Yes, we will." There was an immense amount of quiet + certainty and determination in her voice. Brander looked at her for an instant, then + turned to give some direction to the man at the wheel. The <i>Sally</i> heeled + awkwardly to the thrust of the wind, and battered at the sea with her blunt bows. The + rigging creaked and tugged. Willis Cox, under the boathouse, had dropped his book in + his lap and was dozing in his chair; the two harpooners had gone below. Forward, Faith + could see two or three men sprawled on the deck, asleep.... The warm, afternoon wind + seemed slumber laden; the <i>Sally Sims</i> herself was like <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>a ship that walked in her + sleep. A hush hung over them all, so that Faith and Brander unconsciously lowered their + voices.</p> + + <p>Faith asked casually: "Why is it that you and Mr. Tobey do not like each other?"</p> + + <p>If he was surprised at the question, Brander did not show it. He said frankly: "I've + no dislike for Mr. Tobey. He's an able officer. He knows his business."</p> + + <p>"He does not like you," Faith said. "Why not?"</p> + + <p>Brander smiled. "It may be," he admitted, "that Mr. Tobey is lacking in a sense of + humor. I've a way of laughing at things.... Mr. Trant, on the <i>Thomas Morgan</i>, + used to curse me for grinning so much of the time. Perhaps Mr. Tobey...."</p> + + <p>He did not finish the sentence; he seemed to consider it unnecessary, or unwise.... + Faith said nothing.... They stood together, eyes off across the water, balancing + unconsciously to the motion of the ship. Their shoulders were almost brushing.... + Brander felt the light contact on his coat; and he moved away a little, + inconspicuously....</p> + + <p>She turned at last toward the companion; but after one step, stopped and looked back + at him. "I think," she said, "that Mr. Tobey believes you mean to claim that find of + ambergris belongs to you."</p> + + <p>Brander smiled, and nodded. "I know he does. There's no harm in puzzling Mr. + Tobey."</p> + + <p>"There may be harm—for you—in his believing that," she said; and for a + moment Brander's level eyes met hers, and she saw a flame in his. He said quietly:</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>"I'm not particularly concerned...."</p> + + <p>She bowed her head, to hide her eyes; and she went below so quickly it was as though + she fled from him.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + + <p>Faith had assured herself, from the beginning, that Brander had no real intention of + claiming the ambergris was his personal booty. He was too sensible for that, she felt; + and he was not greedy....</p> + + <p>She had been sure; but like all women, she wished to be reassured. She had given + Brander the chance to reassure her, speaking of the 'gris and of Dan'l Tobey's + suspicions in the matter. It would have been so easy for Brander to laugh and say: "You + know I have no such idea. It belongs to the <i>Sally</i>, of course...." That would + have settled the thing, once and for all....</p> + + <p>But Brander had not been frank and forthright. He had only said: "There's no harm in + puzzling Mr. Tobey...." And when she had suggested that there might be harm for Brander + in his attitude, his eyes had hardened with something like defiance in them.... He had + said he was not worried as to what Dan'l might think or do. He thus remained as much of + a puzzle to Faith as ever.... If he had deliberately planned to steal a place in her + thoughts, he could have taken no better means. Faith, with her growing sense of + responsibility for the <i>Sally</i>, for the success of the voyage, for the good renown + of Noll Wing, was acutely concerned when anything threatened that success. The + ambergris was properly a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>part of the <i>Sally's</i> takings.... Brander must see it so. + Did he mean to push his claim, to make trouble?...</p> + + <p>She tried to find her answer to this question in Brander's face; she began to study + him daily.... She perceived the strength of the man, and his poise and assurance. + Brander was very sure of himself and of his capabilities, without in the least + overrating them. He knew himself for a man; he bore himself as a man.... Faith + respected him; without her realizing it, this respect and liking grew.</p> + + <p>Unconsciously, Brander was ranked now and then in her thoughts beside her husband, + Noll Wing; she compared the two men without willing to make the comparison. And in the + process, she studied Noll Wing more closely than she had ever studied him before. It + was at this time that she first marked the fact that Noll was shrinking, wasting the + flesh from his bones. His skin was becoming loose; it sagged. His great chest was + drawing in between his shoulders; his shoulders slumped forward. Also Faith saw, + without understanding, that the great cords of his neck were beginning to stand out + under the loose skin, that hollows were forming about them. The man's bull neck was + melting away.... Faith saw, though she did not fully understand; she knew that Noll was + aging, nothing more....</p> + + <p>She was drawn to Noll, at this discovery, by a vast tenderness; but this tenderness + was impersonal. She thought it a recrudescence of her old, strong love for the man; it + was in fact only such a feeling as she might have had for a sick or wounded beast. She + pitied Noll profoundly; she tried to make him happy, and comfortable. She sought, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>now + and then, to woo him to cheerfulness and mirth; but Noll was shrinking, day by day, + into a more confirmed habit of complaint; he whined constantly, where in the old days + he would have stormed and commanded. And he resented Faith's attentions, resented her + very presence about him. One day she went herself into the galley and prepared a dish + she thought would please him; when she told him what she had done, he exclaimed:</p> + + <p>"God's sake, Faith, quit fussing over me. I got along more'n twenty year without a + woman...."</p> + + <p>Faith would not let herself feel the hurt of this.... But even while she watched + over Noll, Brander more and more possessed her thoughts. Her recognition of this fact + led her to be the more attentive to Noll, as though to recompense him for the thing he + was losing.... She had never so poured out herself upon him.</p> + + <p>It was inevitable that this developing change in Faith should be marked by those in + the cabin. Dan'l saw it, and Brander saw it.... Brander saw it, and at first his pulse + leaped and pounded and his eyes shone with his thoughts.... On deck, about his duties, + he carried the memory of her eyes always with him. Her eyes as she had looked at him, + that day, and many days before. Questioning, a little wistful.... A little + wondering....</p> + + <p>But Brander was a strong man; and he put a grip upon himself. He was drawn to Faith; + he knew that if he let himself go, he would be caught in a whirlwind of passion for + her. But he did not choose to let himself go; and by the same token, he took care to + have no part in what might be taking place in Faith herself. He knew that he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>might have + played upon her awakened interest in him; he knew that it would be worth life itself to + see more plainly that which he had glimpsed in her eyes; nevertheless, he put the thing + away from him. When she was about, he became reticent, curt, abrupt.... He took refuge + in an arrogance of tone, an absorption in his work. He began to drive his men....</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey saw. Dan'l had eyes to see; and it was inevitable that he should + discover the first hints of change in Faith. For he watched her jealously; and he + watched Brander as he had watched him from the beginning. Dan'l saw Faith and Brander + drawing together, day by day; and though he hated Brander the more for it, he was + content to sit still and wait.... He counted upon their working Brander's own + destruction between them, in the end; and Dan'l was in a destructive mood in those + days. He hated the strength of Brander, the loyalty of Faith, the age of old Noll Wing, + and the youth of Roy.... He was become, through overmuch brooding, a walking vessel of + hate; it spilled out of him with every word, keep his voice as amiable as he might. He + hated them all....</p> + + <p>But he was careful to hide his resentment against Roy; he cultivated the boy, he + worked little by little to debase Roy's standards of life, and he looked forward + vaguely to a day when he might have use for the lad. Dan'l had no definite plan at this + time save to destroy.... But for all his absorption in Faith, he had not failed to see + that Noll Wing's strength was going out of him. If Noll were to die, Dan'l would be + master of the <i>Sally</i> and those aboard her....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>Dan'l never lost sight of this possibility; he kept it well in mind; and he laid, + little by little, the foundations upon which in that day he might build his strength. + Roy was one of these foundations....</p> + + <p>Dan'l saw one obstacle in his path, even with Noll gone. The men forward, and some + of the under officers, were hotly loyal to Noll Wing; and by the same token they looked + upon Faith with eyes of awed affection. Faith had that in her which commanded the + respect of men; and Dan'l knew that the roughest man in the crew would fight to protect + Faith, against himself or any other. He never forgot this....</p> + + <p>When Roy Kilcup, last of them all, marked Faith's interest in Brander, the boy + unwittingly gave Dan'l a chance to strike a blow at the men's trust in the captain's + wife.</p> + + <p>Roy, though he might quarrel with her most desperately, was at his heart devoted to + Faith, and wild with his pride in her. He marked a look in her eyes one day; and it + disturbed him. Dan'l found the boy on deck, staring out across the water, his eyes + clouded with perplexity and doubt. Roy was aft; there was one of the men at the wheel. + Dan'l glanced toward this man.... One of his own boat crew, by name Slatter, with a sly + eye and a black tongue.... Dan'l spoke to him in passing, some command to keep the + <i>Sally</i> steady against the pressure of the wind, and stopped beside Roy, dropping + his hand on the boy's shoulder.</p> + + <p>"Hello, Roy," he said amiably.</p> + + <p>Roy looked up at him, nodded. Dan'l caught a glimpse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>of the shadow in his eyes and + asked in a friendly tone: "What's wrong? You're worried about something...."</p> + + <p>Roy shook his head. "No."</p> + + <p>Dan'l laughed. "Shucks! You can't fool any one with that, Roy. If you don't want to + talk...."</p> + + <p>Roy hesitated; he studied Dan'l for a moment. "Dan'l," he said, "you've known Faith + and me all our lives. I guess I can talk to you if I can to anybody. And I've got to + talk to somebody, Dan'l."</p> + + <p>Dan'l nodded soberly. "I'm here to be talked to. What's the matter, Roy?"</p> + + <p>The boy asked abruptly: "Dan'l—have you noticed the way Faith looks at + Brander?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l had been half prepared for the question; nevertheless his fingers dug into his + palms. He remained silent for a minute, thinking.... His thoughts raced.... And his + eyes fell on foul-tongued Slatter, at the wheel.... There was a piece of luck; an + instrument ready to his hand. Dan'l still hesitated for a space; his brows twisting.... + Then the man threw all decency behind him, and flung himself at last into the paths + toward which his feet had been tending. He moved to one side, so that Roy, facing him, + must also face the man at the wheel; so that Roy's words would come to Slatter's ears. + And Dan'l was very sure that Slatter would take care to hear....</p> + + <p>For another moment he did not speak; then he laughed harshly; and he asked: "What do + you mean, Roy?"</p> + + <p>Roy repeated: "I mean the way Faith looks at Brander all the time. Looking at + him.... A queer way...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>Dan'l Tobey seemed to be embarrassed; he looked to right and left, and he said + huskily: "Shucks—I guess you've got too much imagination, Roy."</p> + + <p>Roy shook his head. "No, I haven't, either, I've been watching her.... She looks at + him, and her eyes get kind of misty like.... And if you say something to her, sometimes + she doesn't hear you at all."</p> + + <p>"She's got a right to think," Dan'l chuckled. "You talk too much, anyway, Roy.... No + wonder she don't listen to you." His tone was good-natured. Roy fell silent for a + moment, studying Dan'l's face; and Dan'l looked confused. Roy said sharply:</p> + + <p>"Dan'l, haven't you seen, yourself, what I mean? Haven't you, Dan'l?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l turned his head away; he would not meet Roy's eyes. Roy cried: "I knew you saw + it.... Everybody must see...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said sternly: "Roy, you'd best not see too much. It don't pay. There's times + when it's wise to see little and say nothing. If it was me, I'd say this was one of the + times."</p> + + <p>"That's all right," Roy admitted. "But I can talk to you...." He added suddenly: + "Dan'l, Noll Wing is too old for Faith. She ought to have married you, Dan'l."</p> + + <p>Children have a disconcerting way of sticking a word like a knife into our secret + hearts; they see so clearly, and they have not yet learned to pretend they do not see. + Roy, for all his eighteen years, was still as much child as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>man; and Dan'l winced. + "Land, Roy," he protested. "Get that out of your head. Faith and me understand...."</p> + + <p>Roy turned his back, looking aft. Dan'l glanced toward Slatter at the wheel. + Slatter's back was toward them; but Dan'l could have sworn the man's ears were visibly + pricking to miss no word. And Dan'l's eyes burned unpleasantly. A woman's strongest + armor is her innocence. If Faith were tarnished in the eyes of the men in the + fo'c's'le, she would have few defenders there.... The roughest man will honor a good + woman; but he looks upon one who is soiled with contemptuous or greedy eyes. Dan'l was + willing, for his own ends, that the fo'c's'le should think evil of Faith Wing.</p> + + <p>While they stood thus, Brander came on deck, and spoke for a minute with Dan'l, then + went slowly forward. Because he and Dan'l clashed so sharply, Brander had fallen into + the way of spending much time amidships with the harpooners, or forward with the + crew.... Dan'l's place was aft.... Roy watched Brander now as he spoke to the mate, + watched him walk away. When Brander was gone, Dan'l looked toward Roy. Roy said + quietly:</p> + + <p>"Dan'l, if Brander tries to—to do anything to my sister, I'm going to kill + him."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said nothing; and Roy moved abruptly past him and went below....</p> + + <p>He was not seeking Faith; but he came upon her there, in the main cabin. She was at + the table, with a book, and paper and pen; and he stopped to look over her shoulder, + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>and saw that she was making calculations.... Latitude and longitude.... He asked: "What + are you doing?"</p> + + <p>She looked up at him. "Studying navigation, Roy. Don't you want to?"</p> + + <p>He stared at her. "What are you doing it for?"</p> + + <p>"Because I want to. Besides.... It's a good thing to be able to find out where you + are, on a world as big as this.... Don't you think?"</p> + + <p>He flung himself into a chair across from her. "Look here, Faith.... Why do you keep + looking at Brander? All the time?"</p> + + <p>Faith was startled; she was startled not so much at what Roy said, as at what his + words revealed to her. Nevertheless her voice was steady and quiet as she asked: "What + do you mean, Roy?"</p> + + <p>"The way you look at Brander. He's not fit for you to talk to.... To look at.... + Anything. He's not fit to be around you...."</p> + + <p>She laughed at him. "How do I look at Mr. Brander, Roy?" she asked.</p> + + <p>"Why—like...." Roy groped for words; Faith was suddenly afraid of what he + might say. She interrupted him.</p> + + <p>"Don't be silly, Roy. Go away.... Don't bother me.... I'm busy with this, Roy."</p> + + <p>He said: "You...." But she bent over her book; she paid him no attention for a + moment. Roy, sitting opposite, studied the top of her head, and thought.... There was + an expression in his eyes as though he were trying to remember something familiar that + evaded him. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>In the silence, they could hear Cap'n Wing snoring in his cabin; they could + hear old Tichel stir in his bunk at the other side of the ship; they could hear the + muffled murmur of the voices of the harpooners, in the steerage. And all about them the + timbers that were the fabric of the <i>Sally</i> creaked and groaned as they yielded to + the tug of the seas. Roy still stared with a puzzled frown at the top of Faith's brown + head.... Faith did not look up from her book....</p> + + <p>Suddenly Roy cried, in a low voice: "Faith! I know...." And, all in a burst: "You + look at Brander just like you used to look at Noll Wing when we were kids...."</p> + + <p>Faith went white; and she rose to her feet so swiftly that the book was overturned + on the table, the loose sheets of paper fluttered, the pen rolled across to the edge of + the table and fell and stuck on its point in the cabin floor....</p> + + <p>With a motion swift as light, forgetting book and paper and pen, Faith slipped + across, into the after cabin. She shut the door in Roy's face, and he heard her slip + the catch upon it.</p> + + <p>Roy stared at the closed door; then he went abstractedly around the table and pulled + the pen loose from the floor. The steel point was twisted, spoiled.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + + <p>The <i>Sally</i> came, abruptly, into a sea that was full of whales. At nightfall + they had not smelled oil for weeks; at dawn there were spouts on three quarters of the + horizon; and thereafter for more than a month there were never three successive days + when they did not sight whales.</p> + + <p>This turn of the luck brought three things to pass: Roy Kilcup had his first chance + in the boats during the chase; Brander killed his first whale as an officer of the + <i>Sally</i>; and Noll Wing killed the last cachalot that was ever to feel his + lance.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey had promised Roy, at the time when Brander was promoted to be mate, that + he would give the boy a chance in his boat. He put Roy on the after thwart, under his + own eye, and Roy leaned to the oar and pulled with all his might, and bit his lip to + hold back the sobbing of his breath. The boy came of whaling stock; his father and his + father's father had been men of the sea. And he did not turn white when the boat's bow + slid at last alongside a slumbering black mass, and the keen harpoons chocked home.</p> + + <p>That first experience of Roy's was a mild one. The whale, a fairish bull, showed no + fight whatever. He took the irons as a baby takes soothing sirup; and he lay still + while they pulled alongside and prodded him with a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>lance. At the last, when his spout + was a crimson fountain, he gave one gigantic forward leap; but he was dead not ten + fathoms from the spot where he lay when the first harpoon went home; and thereafter + there was only the long toil of towing the monster back to the ship for the cutting + in.</p> + + <p>A small affair, without excitement; yet big for Roy. It worked a change in the boy. + He came back to the ship no longer a boy, but the makings of a man. He spoke loftily to + Faith; and he brushed shoulders with the men on equal terms and was proud to do so, + altogether forgetting the days when he had liked to think himself their superior, and + to order them around. Dan'l catered to the new mood in the boy; he told Cap'n Wing in + Roy's hearing that the youngster would make a whaleman.... That he had never seen any + one so cool at the striking of his first whale.... Roy swelled visibly.</p> + + <p>Brander's initiation as an officer of the <i>Sally</i> came at the same time; and a + bit of luck made it possible for the fourth mate to prove his mettle. When they sighted + spouts in three quarters, that morning, the mate had chosen to go after a lone bull; + old Tichel and Brander attacked a small pod to the eastward; and Willis Cox went north + to try for a fish there.</p> + + <p>Brander gave Tichel right of way, since the old man was his superior officer; and + they came upon the pod with a matter of seconds to choose between them. The whales were + disappointingly small; nevertheless Tichel attacked the largest, and Brander took the + one that fell to him. His irons went home a moment after Tichel's; his whale <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>leaped + into the first blind struggle, not fleeing, but fighting to shake off the iron.</p> + + <p>Now it is customary, among whalemen, to wait till this first flurry has passed, to + allow the whale to run out his own strength, and then to pull in for the finishing + stroke. But Brander was ambitious; the whale was small.... He changed places with Loum, + and shouted orders to his men to haul in the loose coils of line that had been thrown + over with the irons. The whale was circling, rolling, striking with its flukes; it had + not seen them, gave them no heed, but the very blindness of its struggles made them a + greater menace.</p> + + <p>They drew in on the whale; and Loum at the steering oar swung Brander against the + monster's flank. Brander got home his lance in three thrusts before they were forced to + draw clear to avoid the whale's renewed struggles. But those three were enough; the + spout crimsoned; he loosed and backed away from the final flurry, and the whale was + dead ten minutes from the time when the first iron went home.</p> + + <p>That was exploit enough to prove Brander's ability; his quick kill marked him as a + man who knew his job. He could have afforded to be content; but when his whale was fin + out, and he looked around, he was in time to see trouble come upon James Tichel.</p> + + <p>The whale Tichel struck had sounded; and just after Brander killed, it breached + before his eyes, under the very bows of Tichel's boat. Brander saw the black column of + its body rise up and up from the sea; it seemed to ascend endlessly.... Then toppled, + and slowly fell, and struck <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>the water so resoundingly that for a moment the whale and + Tichel's boat were hidden alike. Tichel was dodging desperately to get clear; but the + wallowing whale rolled toward him, over him, smothering his craft.... Brander, when the + tossing and tormented water quieted, saw the bobbing heads of the men, and the boat + just awash, and the gear floating all around....</p> + + <p>The whale showed no immediate disposition to run; it was rolling in a frenzy, + bending double as though to tear at its own wounds.... Brander stuck a marking waif in + his own whale, drove his men to their oars, cut across to see that Tichel and the + others were kept afloat by the boat, and then managed to pick up one of the floating + tubs of line, to which the whale was still attached. The rest was easy enough; the + whale fought its strength away, and Brander made his kill.</p> + + <p>Willis Cox had failed to get fast; the whales he sought to attack took fright as he + approached them, and his game got away with a white slash across the blubber where Long + Jim's desperate cast of the harpoon had gone wild. So Willis rowed to join Brander, and + picked up Tichel and his men, and took their boat and Tichel's whale which Brander had + killed, in tow. Brander took the other; they worked back to the <i>Sally</i>. When they + got back to the ship, Noll Wing clapped Brander on the shoulder and applauded him. The + excitement of the sudden chase, after the weeks of idling, had put life into Noll. His + cheeks were flushed; his eyes were shining; he had the look of his old self once + more....</p> + + <p>Two whales at a time is as much as any whaler cares to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>handle; the <i>Sally</i> had + three. A blow of any violence would have made it impossible for them to cut in even one + of the carcasses before the steady heat of the southern seas rendered them unfit; but + no squall came. The luck of the <i>Sally</i> had turned, and turned in earnest. The men + welcomed the hard work after their long idleness; they toiled at the windlass and the + gangway with the heartiest will. They raised chants as they walked the blanket pieces + up to the main head or slacked them down the deck to be cut and stowed in the blubber + room below the main hatch. The intoxication of the toil took possession of them; they + went at it singing and exultant and afire; and even Noll caught the spirit of the day + from them. Youth flooded back into the man; his shoulders straightened; his chest + seemed to swell before their eyes. Faith, watching him, thought he was like the man she + had loved.... She was, for a time, very happy....</p> + + <p>The fever of it got into Noll's blood; and when they killed another whale the third + day after, he swore that at the next chance he would himself lower for the chase. He + fed on the thought.... Faith, fearful for him, ventured to protest; her first thought + was ever that on Noll's safety depended the safety of the <i>Sally</i>, that Noll's + first duty was to bring the <i>Sally Sims</i> safely home again. She told Noll this; + told him his place was with the ship.</p> + + <p>"The <i>Sally</i> is your charge," she said. "You ought not to risk yourself.... + Take chances...."</p> + + <p>He laughed at her tempestuously. "By God," he cried, "I was never a man to send men + where I was afeared to go. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>So let be, Faith. You coddle me like a child; and I am not a + child at all. Let be."</p> + + <p>Faith surrendered helplessly; but she hoped he would forget, would not keep his + word. He might have forgotten as she hoped; he was sinking back into his old lassitude + when the masthead men sighted the next whale; but Dan'l sought Noll out and said + anxiously:</p> + + <p>"Best think better of it, sir. This looks like a big whale; a hard customer."</p> + + <p>Noll had so nearly forgotten that he asked: "Think better of what, man?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled, as though he were pleased. "I thought you meant to lower," he said. + "You do well to change your mind. Stay aboard here; leave us to handle him."</p> + + <p>Which was like a goad to Noll, as Dan'l must have known it would be. The captain + laughed angrily, and thrust Dan'l aside, and took the mate's own boat with Roy on the + after thwart, and lowered. Faith was anxious; she found chance to say to Brander, as + the other boats were striking the water: "Look after him, Mr. Brander." And Brander + nodded reassuringly.</p> + + <p>Dan'l climbed into the rigging to watch the battle; he scarce took his glass from + his eye. What he hoped for, whether he thought chance and the whale might wipe Noll + from his path, only Dan'l knew.</p> + + <p>This whale, as it chanced, was sighted at early morning; and this was as well. A big + bull, the creature lay quietly, just awash, while the captain's boat came upon it from + behind. He stirred not at all till Noll Wing swung hard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>on the long steering oar and + brought them in against the black side and bellowed to Silva:</p> + + <p>"Let go! Let go the irons!"</p> + + <p>Silva knew his work as well as any man; and he got both harpoons home to the + hitches, and threw the line clear as the bull leaped bodily forward and upward, half + out of the water, and whirled in a smothering turmoil of spray and tortured foam to + escape the blades that bit him. Noll swung them out of his way, shouted to Silva:</p> + + <p>"Aft, now! Let me be at him, man...."</p> + + <p>And Silva came stumbling back across the thwarts to take the steering oar, while + Noll went forward and chose his lance and braced himself in the bow.</p> + + <p>The whale, his first torment dulled, had stopped his struggle and lay still, + swinging slowly around in the water. It was as though he looked about to discover what + it was that had attacked him; and old Tichel—the other boats were standing by in + a half circle about Noll and the whale—bawled across the water:</p> + + <p>"'Ware, sir. He's looking for you."</p> + + <p>Noll heard and waved his hand defiantly; and at the same time, the whale saw Noll's + boat and charged it.</p> + + <p>The whale, as has been said, would be invulnerable if his wit but matched his bulk. + It does not. Furthermore, the average whale will not fight at all, but runs; and it is + his efforts to escape that blindly cause the damage, and even the tragedies of the + fisheries. But when he does attack, he attacks almost always in the same way. The sperm + whale, the cachalot, trusts to his jaw; he bites; and his enemy is not the men in the + boat, but the boat itself. Perhaps he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>cannot see the men; his eye is small and set far + back on either side of his great head. Certainly, when once a boat is smashed, it is + rare for a whale to deliberately try to destroy the men in the water. The sperm whale + tries to bite; the right whale—it is from him your whalebone comes—strikes + with his vast flukes. He will lie quietly in the water and brush his flukes back and + forth across the surface, feeling for his enemy. If his flukes touch a floating tub, an + oar, a man, they coil up like an enormous spring, and slap down with a blow that + crushes utterly whatever they may strike. The whalemen have a proverb: "'Ware the sperm + whale's jaw, and the right whale's flukes." And there is more truth than poetry in + that.</p> + + <p>When a sperm whale destroys a boat with his flukes, it is probably accident; but he + bites with malice prepense and pernicious. The whale which Noll had struck set out to + catch Noll's boat and smash it in his jaws.</p> + + <p>His very eagerness was, for a long time, his destruction. The whale was bulky; a + full hundred feet long, and accordingly unwieldy. A man on foot can, if he be + sufficiently quick, dodge a bull in an open field; by the same token, a thirty-foot + whaleboat, flat-bottomed, answering like magic to the very thought of the men who + handle her, can dodge a hundred-barrel bull whale. Noll's boat dodged; the men used + their oars at Noll's command, and Silva in the stern swung her around as on a pivot + with a single sweep. The whale surged past, the water boiling away from its huge + head.</p> + + <p>Surged past, and turned to charge again.... This time, as it passed, Noll touched + the creature with his lance, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>but the prick of it was no more than the dart in the neck + of a fighting bull. It goaded the whale, and nothing more. He charged with fury; his + very fury was their safety.</p> + + <p>Noll struck the whale at a little after nine o'clock in the morning. At noon, the + vast beast was still fighting, with no sign of weariness. It charged back and forth, + back and forth; and the men swung the boat out of his way; and their muscles strained, + their teeth ground together, the sweat poured from them with their efforts. They were + intoxicated with the battle. Noll, in the bow, bellowed and shouted his defiance; the + men yelled at every stroke; they shook their fists at the whale as he raged past them. + And Silva, astern, snatching them again and again from the jaws of destruction, grinned + between tight lips, and plied his oar, and cried to Noll to strike.</p> + + <p>At a little after noon, the whale swung past Noll with such momentum that he was + carried out to the rim of the circle in which the fight was staged, and saw Tichel's + boat there. Any boat was fair game to the monster; and Tichel had grown careless with + watching the breath-taking struggle. He had forgotten his own peril; he expected the + whale to turn back on Noll again....</p> + + <p>It did not; it swung for him, and its jaws sheared through the very waist of his + boat, so that the two halves fell away on either side of the vast head. The men had + time to jump clear; there was no man hurt—save for the strangling of the salt + water—and the whale seemed to feel himself the victor, for he lay still as though + to rest upon his laurels.</p> + + <p>Willis Cox was nearest; he drove his boat that way, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>stood in the bow, with lance + in hand to strike. But Noll, hauling up desperately on the line, bellowed to him: "Let + be, Willis. He's mine." And Willis sheered off.</p> + + <p>Then the whale felt the tug of the line, and whirled once more to the battle. Willis + picked up Tichel and his men, towed the halves of the boat away, back to the ship.... + The <i>Sally</i> was standing by, a mile from the battle. Such whales as this could + sink the <i>Sally</i> herself with a battering blow in the flank. It was dangerous to + come too near. Willis put Tichel and his men aboard, and went back to wait and be ready + to answer any command from Noll.</p> + + <p>The fifth hour of the battle was beginning.... The whale was tireless; and Noll, in + the bow of his boat, seemed as untired as the beast he fought. But his men, even Silva, + were wearying behind him. It was this weariness that presently gave the whale his + chance. He charged, and Silva's thrust on the long oar was a shade too late. The boat + slipped out of reach of the crashing jaws; but the driving flukes caught it and it was + overturned. The gear flew out....</p> + + <p>Noll, in the bow, clung to the gunwale for an instant as the boat was overthrown. + Long enough to wrench out the pin that held the line in the boat's bow. Silva, astern, + would have cut; his hatchet was ready. But Noll shouted: "No, by God! Let be...."</p> + + <p>Then they were all in the water, tumbling in the surges thrown back by the passage + of the monster.... And the whale drove by, turned, saw no boat upon the water, thought + victory was come....</p> + + <p>Brander, at this time, was a quarter-mile away. When <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>the boat went over, he yelled + to his men: "Pull.... Oh, pull!" And they bent their stout oars with the first hot tug; + fresh men, untired, hungry these hours past for a chance at the battle. Brander started + toward where lay the capsized boat, the swimming men....</p> + + <p>And Noll Wing lifted a commanding arm and beckoned him to make all speed. Brander + urged his men: "Spring hard! Spring.... Hard. Now, on!"</p> + + <p>A whaleboat is as speedy as any craft short of a racing shell; and Brander's men + knew their work. They cut across the vision of the loafing whale; and the beast turned + upon this new attacker with undiminished vigor.</p> + + <p>Brander's eyes narrowed as he judged their distance from the drifting boat; he + swerved a little to meet the coming whale head on. The whale plowed at him; they met + fifty yards to one side of the spot where the boat was floating; and as they met, + Brander dodged past the whale's very jaw, and slid astern of him. Before the whale + could turn, he was alongside the capsized boat, dragging Noll over his own gunwale.</p> + + <p>He dragged Noll in; and he saw then that the captain held in his hand a loop of the + line that was fast to the whale. And Brander grinned with delighted appreciation. Noll + straightened, brushed Brander back out of the way without regarding him, passed the + line to the men in Brander's boat. "Haul in," he roared. "Get that stowed aboard here. + By God, we'll get that whale...."</p> + + <p>They worked like mad, coiling the slack line in the waist, while Noll fitted it into + the crotch and pinned it there. The whale was back at them, by then; they dodged again. + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>And this time, as the creature swung past, Loum—Brander's + boat-steerer—brought them in close against the monster's flank before dodging out + to evade the smashing flukes. In that instant, Noll saw his chance, and drove home his + lance to half its length.</p> + + <p>It was the first fair wound the whale had taken; a wound not fatal, not even + serious. Nevertheless, it seemed to take the fight out of the beast. He sulked for a + moment, then began—for the first time in more than five hours' fighting—to + run.</p> + + <p>The line whipped out through the crotch in the bow; the men tailed on to it, and let + it go as slowly as might be, while Loum swung the steering oar to keep them in the + creature's track. Noll, in the bow, was like a man glorified; his cap was tugged tight + about his head; he had flung away his coat, and his shirt was open half way to the + waist. The spray lashed him; his wet garments clung to his great torso. His right hand + held the lance, point upward, butt in the bottom of the boat; his left rested on the + line that quivered to the tugging of the whale. His knee was braced on the bow.... A + heroic figure, a figure of strength magnificent, he was like a statue as the whaleboat + sliced the waves; and his lips smiled, and his eyes were keen and grim. The line + slipped out through the burning fingers of the men; the whale raced on.</p> + + <p>Abruptly Noll snapped over his shoulder: "Haul in, Mr. Brander," And Brander, at + Noll's back, gave the word to the men; and they began to take back the line they had + given the whale in the beginning. It came in slowly, stubbornly.... But it came. They + drew up on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>the whale that fled before them. They drew up till the smashing strokes of + the flukes as the creature swam no more than cleared their bow. Drew up there, and + sheered out under the thrust of Loum's long oar, and still drew on.... They were + abreast of the flukes; they swung in ahead of them.... They slid, suddenly, against the + whale's very side.</p> + + <p>The end came with curious abruptness. The whale, at the touch of the boat against + his side, rolled a little away from them so that his belly was half exposed. The "life" + of a whale, that mass of centering blood vessels which the lance must find, lies low. + Noll knew where it lay; and as the whale thus rolled, he saw his mark.... He drove the + lean lance hard; drove it so hard there was no time to pull it out for a second thrust. + Nor any need. It was snatched from his hands as the whale rolled back toward them. + Loum's oar swung; they loosed line and shot away at a tangent to the whale's course. + And Noll cried exultantly, hands flung high: "Let me, let me, be. He's done!"</p> + + <p>They saw, within a matter of seconds, that he was right. The whale stopped; he + slowly turned; he lay quiet for an instant as though counting his hurts. The misty + white of his spout was reddened by a crimson tint; it became a crimson flood. It roared + out of the spout hole, driven by the monster's panting breath.... And the whale turned + slowly on his side a little, began to swim.</p> + + <p>A tiny trout, hooked through the head and thrown back into the pool, will sometimes + race in desperate circles, battering helplessly against the bank, the bottom of the + pool, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>the sunken logs.... Thus this monstrous creature now swam; a circle that centered + about the boat where Noll and the others watched; that tore the water and flung it in + on them. Faster and faster, till it seemed his great heart must burst with his own + labors. And at the end, flung half clear of the water, threw his vast bulk forward, + surged idly ahead, slowly.... Was still.</p> + + <p>Noll cried: "Fin out, by God. He's dead...."</p> + + <p>A big whale, as big as most whalemen ever see, the biggest Noll himself had ever + slain. A fitting thing; for old Noll Wing had driven his last lance. He was tired; he + showed it when Brander gave the whale to Willis for towing back to the ship, and raced + for the <i>Sally</i> with Noll panting in the bow. The fire was dying in the captain's + eyes; he pulled Brander's coat about his great shoulders and huddled into it. He scarce + moved when they reached the <i>Sally</i>. Brander helped him aboard. Dan'l Tobey cried: + "A great fight, sir. Six hours; and two stove boats.... But you killed."</p> + + <p>Noll wagged his old head, looked around for Faith, leaned heavily upon her arm.</p> + + <p>"Take me down, Faith," he said. "Take me down. For I am very tired."</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + + <p>One-eyed Mauger sought out Brander three days later. Brander had been decent to him + from the beginning; and Mauger, who had been changed from a venomous and evil thing + into a cacklingly cheerful nonentity by Noll Wing's blow and kick, repaid Brander with + a devotion almost inhuman. He sought out Brander three days later.... That is to say, + he made occasion, during the work of scrubbing up after Noll's last whale, to come to + Brander's feet; and while he toiled at the planking of the deck there, he looked up at + the fourth mate and nodded significantly.</p> + + <p>Brander understood the one-eyed man; he asked: "What's wrong, Mauger?" His tone was + friendly.</p> + + <p>Mauger chuckled mirthlessly, deprecatingly. "Don't want you should git mad," he + protested.</p> + + <p>Brander shook his head, his eyes sobering. "Of course not. What is it?"</p> + + <p>"There's chatter, forward," said Mauger. "They're talking dirt."</p> + + <p>Brander's voice fell. "Who?"</p> + + <p>"Slatter was th' first. Others now. Dirt."</p> + + <p>Brander looked about the deck; there was no one within hearing. He asked quietly: + "What kind of dirt?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>Mauger looked up and grinned unhappily and apologetically. "You know," he said. "You + and—her...."</p> + + <p>Brander's eyes hardened; he said, under his breath: "Thanks, Mauger." And he walked + away from where the one-eyed man was scrubbing. Mauger rose on his knees to look after + the fourth mate with something like worship in his eyes.</p> + + <p>Brander went aft with his problem. A real problem. Faith besmirched.... He would + have cut off his right hand to prevent it; but cutting off his right hand would have + done no good whatever. He would have fought the whole crew of the <i>Sally</i>, + single-handed; but that would have done even less good than the other. You cannot + permanently gag a man by jamming your fist in his mouth. And Brander knew it; so that + while he boiled with anger and disgust, he held himself in check, and tried to consider + what should be done....</p> + + <p>Must do something.... No easy task to determine what that something was to be.</p> + + <p>Brander considered the members of the crew; the fo'm'st hands. Slatter he knew; an + evil man. Others there were like him, either from weakness or sheer malignant festering + of the soul. But there were some who were men, some who were decent.... Some who would + fight the foul talk, wisely or unwisely as the case might be; some who had eyes to see + the goodness of Faith, and hearts to trust her....</p> + + <p>Brander's task was to help these men. He could not himself go into the fo'c's'le and + strike; to do so would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>only spread the filth of words abroad. But—one thing he + could do. He saw the way....</p> + + <p>Avoid Faith.... That would not be easy, since their lives must lie in the cabin. + Avoid Faith, avoid speaking to her save in the most casual way, avoid being alone with + her. That much he must do; and something more. The crew would be spying on them now, + watching, whispering. He must give them no food for whispers; he must go further. He + must give them proof that their whispers were ill-founded. He must....</p> + + <p>It was this word of Mauger's that led Brander to a determination which was to + threaten him with ruin in the end; it was this word of Mauger's that determined Brander + to give himself to the crew. To keep some of them always near him, always in sight of + him; to force them, if he could, to see for themselves that he had little talk with + Faith and few words with her. That was what Brander planned to do. He worked out the + details carefully. When he was on deck, he must keep in their sight; and he must keep + himself on deck every hour of the day save when he went below for meals. He decided to + do more; the nights were warm and pleasant. He had a hammock swung under the boathouse, + and planned to sleep there; he laid open his whole life to their prying eyes. Let them + see for themselves....</p> + + <p>He was satisfied with this arrangement, at last. It was the best that could be done; + he put it into action at once, and he saw within three days' time that Slatter and the + others had noticed, and were wondering and questioning.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>The men were puzzled; the cabin was puzzled. And no one was more puzzled by + Brander's new way of life than Dan'l Tobey. He was puzzled, but he was at the same time + elated. For he perceived that Brander had given him a weapon, a handle to take hold of. + And Dan'l was not slow to take advantage of it.</p> + + <p>They were working westward at the time, killing whales as they went. Ahead was the + Bay of Islands, and Port Russell. Southward, the Solander Rock, and the Solander + Grounds, where all the big bull whales of the seven seas have a way of flocking as men + flock to their clubs. A cow is seldom or never seen there; the bulls are slain by + scores. Toward this hunting ground, as famous for its whales as it was infamous for its + ugly weather, the <i>Sally Sims</i> was working. They would touch at Port Russell on + the way....</p> + + <p>Three days before they were like to make the Port, Dan'l made an occasion to have + words with Noll Wing. Noll was on deck, Faith and the officers—save Brander, who + was with Mauger forward—were all below. There was a group of men by the tryworks; + and Dan'l strolled that way. He moved inconspicuously, approaching them on the opposite + side of the ship; and when he came near, he stopped and seemed to listen. Noll, aft, + was paying him little attention though Dan'l made sure that the captain saw.</p> + + <p>Slatter was among the group of men; Dan'l scattered them, angrily, and drove them + forward. When they were gone, he went aft again; and as he had expected, Noll + asked:</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>"What was that, Dan'l?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled and said it was nothing that mattered; and his tone suggested that it + mattered a great deal. Noll sternly bade him speak, and Dan'l said reluctantly:</p> + + <p>"It was but the foolish talk of idle men, sir. I bade them keep their tongues + still."</p> + + <p>"What manner of foolish talk?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l would not meet Noll's eyes. "Why, lies," he said. "Chatter."</p> + + <p>Noll said heavily: "I'm not a man to be put off, Dan'l. Speak up, man."</p> + + <p>Dan'l frowned sorrowfully: "It was just their talk about Mr. Brander and Faith, sir. + Lies, as I told you. They shut up when I spoke to them."</p> + + <p>"What talk of Brander and my wife?" Noll asked slowly.</p> + + <p>Dan'l shook his head. "You can guess it for yourself, sir. The men have nothing + better to do than chatter and gossip like old women. They've had no work for three + days. We need another whale to shut their mouths."</p> + + <p>"What talk?" Noll repeated.</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled. "I think too well of Faith and of Brander to say it for you," he + insisted.</p> + + <p>Noll fell silent, his brows lowering for a space; then he waved his great hand + harshly. "Bosh," he said. "Foolishness."</p> + + <p>Dan'l nodded. "Of course. Nevertheless, I...." He fell silent; and Noll looked at + him acutely.</p> + + <p>"You—what?" he asked.</p> + + <p>"I don't blame Mr. Brander, you understand," said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>Dan'l. "But—it's in my mind + that—being with the crew as much as he is—he should put a stop to it."</p> + + <p>Noll's eyes ranged the deck. Brander was amidships now; and Mauger was still with + him. Mauger was scraping at the rail, cleaning away some traces of soot from the last + trying out, under Brander's eye. They were talking together; and Noll frowned and + looked at Dan'l and asked:</p> + + <p>"You think Mr. Brander is too much with the crew?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l shook his head. "No, not too much. It's as well for an officer to be on good + terms with the men. Leastwise, some think so. I was never one to do it. But—no, + not too much. Nevertheless, he's much with them."</p> + + <p>Noll thought for a while, his brows lowering; and he said harshly, at the end: "That + matter of Faith is trash. Their clacking tongues should be dragged out...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l nodded. "Aye; but that would not stop them. You know the men, sir." And he + added: "Still it seems Brander should be able to hush them." And after a moment more: + "You mark, he's all but deserted us in the cabin. He sticks much with the men of + late."</p> + + <p>Noll's face contracted. He touched Dan'l's arm. "I've seen that he is much with + Mauger," he agreed. "And Mauger...." His muscles twitched; and he said under his + breath: "Mauger's whetting his knife for me, Dan'l. I'm watchful of that man."</p> + + <p>"He has a slinking eye," said Dan'l. "But I make no doubt he's harmless enough, sir. + I'd not fear him...."</p> + + <p>Noll said stoutly: "I'm not a hand to fear any man, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>Dan'l. Nevertheless, that + twitching eye of his frets me...." He shuddered and gripped Dan'l's arm the tighter. "I + should not have kicked the man, Dan'l. I've been a hard man; too hard.... An evil man, + in my day. I doubt the Lord has raised up Mauger to destroy me."</p> + + <p>Dan'l laughed. "Pshaw, sir.... Even the Lord would have small use for a thing like + Mauger." He waited for a moment thoughtfully. "Any case," he said. "If you were minded, + you could drop him ashore at Port Russell and be rid of him."</p> + + <p>Noll moved abruptly. "Eh," he said. "I had not thought of that." He seemed to shrink + from the thought.... "But it may be he is meant to be about me.... I'd not go against + the Lord, Dan'l...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked sidewise at the captain; and there was something like contempt in his + eyes. He said slowly: "If it was me, I'd set the man quietly ashore...."</p> + + <p>He turned away, left Noll to think of the matter....</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Dan'l wondered, all that day, whether Noll would act; but toward nightfall they + raised a spout, and killed as dark came upon them. That held them, for cutting in and + trying out, three days where they lay; and they killed once more before they made the + Bay of Islands. They were touching at Port Russell for water and fresh vegetables; they + put in there....</p> + + <p>When the anchor went down, Noll sent for Brander to come down to him in the cabin. + They had anchored at nightfall, and would not go ashore till morning. Noll sent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>for + Brander; and when Brander came, Noll looked at him furtively....</p> + + <p>Brander saw the captain had been drinking; Noll's hands shook, and his fingers and + his tongue were unsteady. The muscles of his face twitched; and there was a Bible open + in his lap and a bottle beside him. Brander held his eyes steady, masked what he felt. + Noll beckoned with a crooked finger.</p> + + <p>"Come 'ere," he said huskily.</p> + + <p>Brander faced him. They were in the after cabin; and Noll sat still. "We're staying + here a day," he said.</p> + + <p>Brander nodded. "Wood and stores, sir, I suppose."</p> + + <p>Noll nodded heavily. "Oh, aye.... But, something else, Mr. Brander. I'm goin' leave + here that man in your boat. Mauger...."</p> + + <p>Brander's lips tightened faintly; he held his voice. "Mauger?" he echoed. "Why? + What's wrong with him?"</p> + + <p>"Don' want him around any more," said Noll slowly.</p> + + <p>"Why not?" Brander insisted.</p> + + <p>Noll's lips twitched with the play of his nerves, and he poured a drink and lifted + it to his mouth with unsteady fingers. He set down the glass, spilling a little of the + liquor; and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "I had 'casion to discipline + Mauger," he said, with awkward dignity, his head wagging. "I had 'casion to discipline + Mauger. An' now he's got a knife for me. He's goin' kill me. I ought kill him; put the + man shore, 'stead of that."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>Brander smiled reassuringly. "Mauger's harmless, sir. And he does his work."</p> + + <p>Noll shook his head. "I know 'im. He's a murd'rer. I'm goin' put him ashore."</p> + + <p>The fourth mate hesitated; then he said quietly: "All right. If he goes, I go + too."</p> + + <p>Noll's head jerked back as though he had been struck; and his red eyes widened and + narrowed again as he peered at Brander, and he hesitated unsteadily. "Wha's that?" he + asked. "Wha's that you say?"</p> + + <p>"I say I'll go if he goes."</p> + + <p>Noll's head drooped and swayed wearily; but after a moment he asked: "Wha' for?"</p> + + <p>"The man shipped for the cruise," said Brander. "He does his work. I'll not be a + party to putting him ashore—dumping him in this God-forsaken hole."</p> + + <p>Noll raised a hand. "Don' speak of God," he said reprovingly. "You don' understand + Him, Mr. Brander." Brander said nothing; and Noll's hand dropped and he whined: "Man + can't do what he wants on his own ship...."</p> + + <p>Brander said: "Do as you like, sir. I think you should let him stay. He means no + harm...."</p> + + <p>Noll waved his hand. "Oh, a'right," he agreed. "Say no more 'bout it at all. Let be. + Keep'm; keep'm, Mr. Brander. But lis'en." He eyed Brander shrewdly. "Lis'en. I know one + thing. He's goin' to knife me some night. I know. He's a murd'rer. And you're defending + him.... Pr'tecting him. Birds of a feather <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>flock t'gether, Mr. Brander." The captain + got unsteadily to his feet, raised a threatening hand. "When he kills me; just + r'member. My blood's on your own head, sir."</p> + + <p>Brander hesitated; his heart revolted. His impulse was to leave the ship, take + Mauger, trust his luck.... But he thought of Faith. This man, her husband, was + dying.... He could see that. And when he was gone, there would be trouble aboard the + <i>Sally</i>. Faith herself meant trouble; the ambergris in the captain's storeroom + meant more trouble.... Brander knew it might well be that Faith would need him in that + day.... He could not leave her....</p> + + <p>He said quietly: "I take that responsibility, sir."</p> + + <p>Noll was slumped in his chair again. "Go 'way," he said, and waved his hand. "Go + 'way."</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>That night, in the small hours, Noll screamed in a way that woke the ship; he had + come out of drunken slumber, desperate with a vivid hallucination that appalled + him....</p> + + <p>He thought that Mauger was at him with a sheath knife, and that Brander was at + Mauger's back. Faith and Dan'l fought to soothe him; Faith in her loose dressing-gown, + her hair in its thick braid.... Dan'l had more eyes for Faith than for Noll. He had + never seen her thus before; never seen her so beautiful; never seen her, he thought, so + desperately to be desired.... His lips were wet at the sight of her....</p> + + <p>Noll's terror racked and tore at the man; it seemed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>to rip the very flesh from his + bones. When it passed, at last, and he fell asleep again, he was wasted like a + corpse.</p> + + <p>Dan'l, looking at Noll and at Faith, wished Noll were a corpse indeed.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + + <p>A change was coming to pass in Faith at this time. As the strength flowed out of + Noll, it seemed to flow into her. As Noll weakened, Faith was growing strong.</p> + + <p>She had never lacked a calm strength of her own; the strength of a good woman. But + she was acquiring now the strength and resolution of a man. At first, this was + unconscious; the spectacle of Noll's degeneration moved her by the force of contrast. + But for a long time she clung to the picture of the Noll of the past, clung to the hope + that the captain would become again the man she had married. And so long as she did + this, she made herself a part of him, his support.... She merged herself in him, + thought of herself only as his helpmate.... She had always tried to stimulate his pride + and strength; she had tried to lead him to reassume the domination of the <i>Sally</i> + and all aboard her. And in the days before Noll went out to kill his whale, she thought + for a time she had succeeded.</p> + + <p>But when Noll came back to her that day, exhausted by the struggle, the fire gone + out of him, Faith perceived that he was a weak vessel, cracking and breaking before her + eyes.</p> + + <p>Noll was gone; he was no longer a man. His hands and his heart had not the force + needed to enable him to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>command the <i>Sally</i>, to make the voyage successful, to + bring the bark safely back to port in the end. Faith saw this; but she refused to + consider the chance of failure. She had married Noll when he was at the height of his + apparent strength; the signs of his disintegration were not yet apparent. They had + swept upon him suddenly.... But she would not have it said of him, when he was gone, + that he had sailed the seas too long; that he had failed at last, and + shamefully....</p> + + <p>She had come to look upon the success of this last voyage of Noll's as a sacred + charge; and when Noll's shoulders weakened, she prepared deliberately to take the + burden on her own. The <i>Sally</i> must come safely home, with filled casks for old + Jonathan Felt; she must come safely home, no matter what happened to Noll—or to + herself. The prosperity of the <i>Sally Sims</i> was almost a religion to Faith....</p> + + <p>She had begun to study navigation more to pass the long and dreary days than from + any other motive; she applied herself to it now more ardently. And she began, at the + same time, to study the men about her; to weigh them; to consider their fitness for the + responsibilities that must fall upon them. The fo'm'st hands, and particularly the + mates, she weighed in the balance. The mates, and above all Dan'l Tobey. For if Noll + were to go, Dan'l, by all the ancient laws of the sea, would become master of the ship; + and their destinies would lie in his hands....</p> + + <p>Short of the Solander Grounds, they struck good whaling, and lingered for a time; + and day by day the tuns and casks were filled, and the <i>Sally</i> sank lower in the + water with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>her increasing load. They were two-thirds full, and not yet two years out. + Good whaling.... At dinner in the cabin one day, Dan'l Tobey said to Faith:</p> + + <p>"You've brought us good luck, Faith, by coming along, this cruise. We never did much + better, since I've been with Cap'n Wing."</p> + + <p>Faith looked to Noll. Noll was eating slowly, paying them no attention. Silence was + falling upon the captain in those days, like a foreshadowing of the great silence into + which he would presently depart. He said nothing; so Faith said: "Yes. We've done + well.... I'm glad."</p> + + <p>Old James Tichel looked slyly from face to face. "And the 'gris, stowed below us + here, will make it a fine fat cruise for old Jonathan Felt when we come home," he + chuckled.</p> + + <p>At the mention of the ambergris, a little silence fell. Brander was at the table, + Brander and the others. Dan'l and Willis Cox and young Roy Kilcup looked at Brander, as + though expecting him to speak. He said nothing, and old Tichel, gnawing at his food, + chuckled again, as though pleased with what he had said.</p> + + <p>The ambergris, so rich a treasure in so small a bulk, had never been forgotten for a + minute by any man in the cabin; nor by Faith. But they had not spoken of it of late; + there was nothing to be said, and there was danger in the saying. It was as well that + it be forgotten until they were home again.... There were too many chances for trouble + in the stuff....</p> + + <p>When Brander did not speak, however, Dan'l gently prodded him. He said to Tichel: + "You're forgetting that Mr. Brander claims it for his own."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>Tichel chuckled again. "Oh, aye, I was forgetting that small matter," he agreed. "My + memory is very short at times."</p> + + <p>Still Brander said nothing. Dan'l looked toward him. "I'll be warrant Mr. Brander + does not forget," he said.</p> + + <p>Brander looked toward Dan'l, and he smiled amiably. "Thank you," he told the mate. + "Keep me reminded. It had all but slipped from my mind."</p> + + <p>There was so much hostility in the air, in the slow words of the men, that Faith + said quietly: "We'll be on the Solander, soon. I'm looking forward to that, Dan'l. + You've seen the Rock?"</p> + + <p>She hoped to change them to another topic; but Dan'l brought it smoothly back again. + "Yes," he said. "Yes.... Last cruise, the <i>Betty Howe</i>, out of Port Russell, + picked up a sizable chunk of 'gris not a week before we touched the grounds. That + brought two-sixty to the pound, I heard."</p> + + <p>"How much was it?" Willis Cox asked; and Dan'l looked to Willis and said + amiably:</p> + + <p>"Fifteen pound or so. No more than a thimbleful to what we've got.... That is to + say, to what Mr. Brander's got, below here."</p> + + <p>Brander had finished eating; he rose to go on deck. But Roy Kilcup could no longer + hold his tongue. He got to his feet in Brander's path, demanded sharply:</p> + + <p>"Do you honestly mean to claim that for your own, Mr. Brander? Are you so much of a + hog?"</p> + + <p>Brander looked down at the boy; and he smiled. "I'll <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>give you your share, now, if it + will stop your worrying, youngster," he said.</p> + + <p>"I want to know what you're going to do," Roy insisted. "Are you going to stick to + your claim?"</p> + + <p>"Others want to know," said Brander, and stepped to one side to pass Roy. Roy would + have spoken again; but Noll said heavily from the head of the table:</p> + + <p>"Roy, let be."</p> + + <p>That put a moment's silence upon them all. In this silence, Brander went on his way + to the deck. Roy stared after him for a moment, then sat down in his place. His face + was sullen and angry.... No one spoke of the matter again; but Dan'l saw that Faith was + thoughtful. Faith was puzzling over Brander, trying to fathom the man.... She was + troubled and uneasy.... Dan'l saw that Noll had lifted his heavy head and was watching + her.</p> + + <p>Afterward, Dan'l went with Noll into the after cabin. Faith had gone on deck; and + she and Willis Cox were talking together, by the wheel, with Roy. Brander, as usual, + had taken himself to the waist where he was under the eye of the crew. His harpooner, + Loum, was with him. Mauger hung within sound of his voice like an adoring dog.</p> + + <p>Dan'l, in the after cabin with Noll, made up the log. Noll sat heavily on the seat, + half asleep. He got up, while Dan'l was still writing, and got his bottle. It was + almost empty; and he cursed at that, and Dan'l looked up and said:</p> + + <p>"Sit down, sir. Give that to me. I'll fill it up again."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>Noll accepted the offer without speaking, and gave Dan'l the key to his storeroom, + where there was a cask of whiskey, and another of rum. Dan'l came back presently with + the bottle filled.... His eyes were shining with an evil inspiration, but he said + nothing for a little. When his work on the log was done, however, he looked across to + Noll, and after a little, as though answering a spoken question, said:</p> + + <p>"I wouldn't worry about him, sir."</p> + + <p>Noll looked at him dully. "About who, Dan'l?"</p> + + <p>"Brander. I saw you watching him...."</p> + + <p>Noll dropped his head. "I don't like the man."</p> + + <p>"He's a good officer."</p> + + <p>"Oh, aye...."</p> + + <p>"I doubt if he means trouble over the 'gris."</p> + + <p>Noll waved a hand fretfully. "He's too much with the crew, Mr. Tobey."</p> + + <p>Dan'l shook his head. "I doubt it. That's one way to handle men—Be one of + them. They'll do anything for him, sir."</p> + + <p>Noll's eyes narrowed with the shrewdness of a drunken man. "That's the worst part of + it. Will they do anything for me, Dan'l? Or for you?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l said reluctantly: "Well, sir, maybe they'd jump quicker for him."</p> + + <p>"And that's not reassuring," said Noll. "Is it, now?"</p> + + <p>"It wouldn't be, if he meant wrong. I don't think he does. Any case, he knows the + 'gris is not his, in the end...." And he added: "You're concerned over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>Faith and + him—the way they are when they're together. But there's no need, sir. Faith is + loyal...."</p> + + <p>Noll looked at the mate, and he frowned. "How are they, when they're together?"</p> + + <p>"I thought you had marked it for yourself.... I meant nothing."</p> + + <p>"Nothing? You meant something. You've seen something. What is it you've seen, + Dan'l?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l protested. "Why, nothing at all. There's no harm in their being friends. He's + a young man, strong, with wisdom in his head; and she's young, too. It's natural that + young folk should be friendly."</p> + + <p>Noll's head sank upon his chest; he said dully: "Aye, and you're thinking I'm + old."</p> + + <p>"No, sir," Dan'l cried. "Not that. You're not so old as you think, sir. Not so old + but what you might strike, if there was need. I only meant it was to be expected that + they should be drawn together, like. Faith's young...."</p> + + <p>Noll's eyes were reddening angrily. "Speak out, man," he exclaimed. "Don't + shilly-shally with your tongue. If there's harm afoot, by God, I can take a hand. + What's in your mind?"</p> + + <p>"Why, nothing at all. No harm in the world, sir.... I was only meaning to reassure + you. I thought you had seen her eyes when she looked at the man...."</p> + + <p>"Her eyes?"</p> + + <p>"Aye."</p> + + <p>"What's in her eyes?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>Dan'l frowned uncomfortably. "Why—friendship, if you like. Liking, perhaps. + Nothing more, I'll swear. I know Faith too well...."</p> + + <p>Noll said heavily: "I'll watch her eyes, Dan'l."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said with apparent anxiety: "You should not concern yourself, Cap'n Wing. It's + but the fancy of youth for youth.... I...."</p> + + <p>Noll came to his feet with sudden rage in him. "Have done, Dan'l. I...."</p> + + <p>They both heard, then, Faith's step in the main cabin; and their eyes met and + burned. And Dan'l got up quietly, and closed the log, and as Faith came in, he went out + and closed the door behind him. Closed the door and crossed to the companion as though + to go on deck; but he lingered there, listening....</p> + + <p>Listened; but there was little for him to hear. When the door closed behind him, + Faith had turned to her own cabin, hers and Noll's. Noll sat down, his eyes sullen.... + He watched her through the open door to the cabin where their bunks were. She turned + after a moment and came out to him; and he got to his feet with a rush of anger, and + stared at her, so that she stood still....</p> + + <p>He said hoarsely: "Faith.... By God...."</p> + + <p>His words failed, then, before the steady light in her eyes. She was wondering, + questioning him.... She met his eyes so fairly that the soul of the man cowered and + shrank. The strength of rage went from him. He drew back.</p> + + <p>"What is it, Noll?" she asked. "Why are you—angry?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>He lifted a clenched hand over his head; it trembled there for an instant, then came + slowly down. He wrenched open the door to the main cabin, and went out and left her + standing there....</p> + + <p>Faith watched him go; perplexity in her eyes. Dan'l joined him, and they went on + deck together.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + + <p>They came to the Solander Grounds with matters still in this wise. Brander much with + the crew; Noll Wing rotting in his chair in the cabin; Faith gaining strength of soul + with every day; Dan'l playing upon Noll, upon Roy, upon all those about him to his own + ends....</p> + + <p>The Solander received them roughly; they passed the tall Solander Rock and cruised + to the westward, keeping it in sight. There was another whaling ship, almost hull down, + north of them, and the smoke that clouded her told the <i>Sally</i> she had her trypots + going. Dan'l Tobey was handling the vessel; and he chose to work up that way. But + before they were near the other craft, the masthead men sighted whales.... Spouts all + about, blossoming like flowers upon the blue water. Noll had regained a little of his + strength when they came upon the Grounds; he took the ship, and bade Dan'l and the + other mates lower and single out a lone whale....</p> + + <p>"They'll all be bulls, hereabouts," he said. "Big ones, too.... And we'll take one + at a spell and be thankful for that...."</p> + + <p>The whale was, as Noll had predicted, a bull. Dan'l made the kill, a ridiculously + easy one. The vast creature lifted a little in the water at the first iron; he swam + slowly southward; but there was no fight in him when they pulled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>up and thrust home the + lance. The lance thrusts seemed to take out of him what small spirit of resistance + there had been in the beginning; and when his spout crimsoned, he lay absolutely still, + and thus died....</p> + + <p>An hour after lowering, the whale was alongside the <i>Sally</i>; a monstrous + creature, not far short of the colossus Cap'n Wing had slain. He was made fast to the + fluke-chain bitt, and the cutting in began forthwith.... That, too, on Noll Wing's + order. "Fair weather never sticks, hereabouts," he said. "Work while there's working + seas."</p> + + <p>Now the first part of cutting in a whale is to work off the head; and that is no + small task. For the whale has no neck at all, unless a certain crease in his thick + blubber may be called a neck. The spades of the mates, keen-edged, and mounted on long + poles with which they jab downward from the cutting stage, chock into the blubber and + draw a deep cut along the chosen line.... The carcass is laboriously turned, the + process is repeated.... Thus on, till at last the huge mass can be torn free....</p> + + <p>Before the work on this whale was half done, it became apparent that a gale was + brewing. Cross swells, angling together at the mouth of Foveaux Straits, kicked up a + drunken sea that made the <i>Sally</i> pitch and roll at the same time; a combination + not relished by any man. Nevertheless, the head was got off and hauled alongside for + cutting up....</p> + + <p>This work had taken the better part of the night; and with the dawn, there arose a + whine in the wind that sang a constant, high note in the taut rigging. With the + <i>Sally</i> pitching and rolling drunkenly, the fifteen ton junk was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>got off the head + and hoisted aboard, while every strand of rigging creaked and protested at the terrible + strain. The blubber was coming in; but the wind was increasing....</p> + + <p>In the end, the <i>Sally</i> had to let go what remained of her catch and run for + it, losing thereby the huge "case" full of spermaceti, and a full half of the blubber. + But it was time.... The wind was still increasing.... The <i>Sally</i> scudded like a + yacht before it....</p> + + <p>They ran into Port William for shelter, and Noll Wing swore at his ill luck, and + when the ship was anchored, went sulkily below.... Dan'l drove the men to their + tasks....</p> + + <p>The weeks that followed were repetitions of this first experience, with such + capricious modifications as the gales and the sea chose to arrange. They killed many + big whales; some they lost altogether, and some they lost in part, and some few they + harvested. They fell into the way of running for port with their kill as soon as the + whale was alongside, rather than risk the storms in the open.... It was hard and steady + work for all hands; and as the men had grumbled at ill luck when they sighted no + whales, so now they grumbled because their luck was overgood. The deck of the + <i>Sally</i> was filled with morose and sullen faces....</p> + + <p>Dan'l found them easy working, ready for his hands; and by a word dropped now and + then through these busy times, he led them in the way he wished them to go.... He never + let them forget, for one thing, the ambergris beneath the cabin. When they grumbled, he + reminded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>them it was there as a rich reward for all their labors.... And he reminded + them, at the same time, that Brander claimed it.... Neither did he let the men forget + that which he wished them to believe of Faith and Brander. By indirections; by words + with Roy which he took care they should overhear; by reproofs for chance-caught words, + he kept the matter alive in their minds, so that they began to look at Faith sidewise + when she appeared upon the after deck....</p> + + <p>Brander was not blind to this; and if he had been blind, Mauger's one eye would have + seen for him. He knew the matter in the minds of the men; but he could not be sure that + Dan'l was putting it there.... Could not be sure; nevertheless, he spoke to Dan'l of it + one day.... It was the first time since Brander came aboard that he and Dan'l had had + more than passing word.</p> + + <p>Brander made an opportunity to take the mate aside; and he held Dan'l's eyes with + his own and said steadily: "Mr. Tobey, there's ugly talk among the men aboard here that + should be put a stop to...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked surprised; he asked what Brander meant. Brander said openly: "They're + coupling my name with that of the captain's wife. You've heard them. It should be + ended."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said amiably: "I know. It's very bad. But that is a thing you can't stop from + the after deck, Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>Brander said: "That's true. So what do you think should be done in the matter?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>The mate waved his hand. "It's not my affair, Mr. Brander. It's not me whose name is + coupled with Faith's. You know that, yourself."</p> + + <p>Brander nodded. "Suppose," he said, "suppose I go forward again.... I'll make some + occasion to commit a fault: Cap'n Wing can send me forward and put Silva, or another, + in my place."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked at Brander sharply; and he shook his head. "The men would be saying, + then, that it was because of this matter you were put out of the cabin."</p> + + <p>"I suppose so."</p> + + <p>"It is very sure."</p> + + <p>"What would you suggest?" Brander asked, his eyes holding Dan'l's. Dan'l seemed to + weigh the matter.</p> + + <p>"How if you were to leave the ship completely?" he inquired.</p> + + <p>Brander's eyes narrowed; and Dan'l, in spite of himself, turned away his head. If + Brander left the ship.... There was no other man aboard whom he need fear when the time + should come.... If Brander but left the ship....</p> + + <p>Brander's eyes narrowed; he studied Dan'l; and after a little he laughed harshly, + and nodded his head as though assured of something which he had doubted before. "No," + he said. "No. I'll not leave the <i>Sally</i>...." He could never do that; there might + come the day when Faith would have to look to him.... "No; I'll stick aboard + here...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l's hopes had leaped so high; they fell so low.... But he hid his chagrin. "You + are right," he said. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>"That is a deal to ask, just to stop the idle chatter of the men. + Stay.... Best stay.... It will be forgotten."</p> + + <p>Brander turned abruptly away, to crush down a sudden flood of anger that had + clenched his fists. He knew Dan'l, now, beyond doubt. He had guessed the mate's + eagerness to be rid of him.... Dan'l should not have his way in this so easily....</p> + + <p>Dan'l's own eyes had been opened by this talk with Brander. The mate's heart had not + yet formed his full design; he was working evil without any further plan than to bring + harm and ruin.... But Brander's suggestion, the possibility that Brander might leave + the ship, had revealed to Dan'l in a single flash how matters would lie in his two + hands if Brander were gone. Noll Wing was nothing; old Tichel he could swing; Willis + Cox was a boy; the crew were sheep. Only Brander stood out against him; only Brander + must be beaten down to clear his path. With Brander gone....</p> + + <p>Dan'l set himself this task; to eliminate Brander. He thought of many plans, a + little mishap in the whaling, a kinked line, a flying spade, an ugly mischance.... But + these could not be arranged; he could only hope for the luck of them. Hope for the + luck.... But that need not prevent him working to help out the fates. Not openly; he + could not do that without setting Brander on guard. And Brander on guard was doubly to + be feared. Dan'l remembered an ancient phrase, the advice of an old philosopher to a + rebellious soul, he thought. "When you strike at a king, you must kill him...." It was + so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>with Brander; he must be destroyed at a blow.... Utterly....</p> + + <p>Noll was a tool that might serve; Noll would strike, if he could be roused to the + full measure of wrath. Dan'l worked with Noll discreetly, in hidden words, appearing + always to defend Brander.... Brander and Faith meant no harm.... They were friends, no + more.... Dan'l assured Noll of this, again and again; and he took care that his + assurances should not convince. Noll stormed at him one night:</p> + + <p>"Why must you always be defending Faith? Why do you stand by her?"</p> + + <p>And Dan'l said humbly: "I've always known Faith, sir. I don't want to see her do + anything.... That is, I don't want to see you harsh with her, sir."</p> + + <p>And Noll fell into a brooding silence that pleased Dan'l mightily.... But still he + did not strike at Brander....</p> + + <p>Dan'l reminded the captain that Brander still gave much time to the crew; he played + on that string.... Still hoping Noll might be roused to overwhelming rage. But Dan'l's + poisoned soul was losing its gift of seeing into the hearts of men; the old Noll would + have reacted to his words as he hoped. This new Noll was another matter; this Noll, + aging and rotting with drink, was led by Dan'l's talk to hate Brander—and to fear + him. His fear of Brander and of the one-eyed man obsessed even his sober mind. He would + never dare seek to crush Brander openly; Faith he might strike, but not the man.</p> + + <p>In the end, even Dan'l perceived this; he cast about for a new instrument, and found + it in the man, Slatter.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>Slatter had crossed Brander's path, to his sorrow. The loose-tongued man dropped + some word of Faith which Brander heard, and Brander remembered.... He made pretext of + Slatter's next small failure at the work to beat the man into a bleeding pulp.... No + word of Faith in this; he thrashed Slatter for idling at the windlass when a blanket + strip was being hoisted, and for impudence.... And Slatter was his enemy thereafter. + Dan'l saw, and understood.... And he cultivated Slatter; he tended the man's hurts, and + gave him covert sympathy for the beating he had taken.... And Slatter, emboldened, + harshly swore that he would end Brander for it, give him half a chance.</p> + + <p>Dan'l said hastily, and quietly: "Don't talk such matters, man. There's more than + you aboard ship would do that if they dared. I'm not saying even Noll Wing would not + smile to see Brander gone.... No matter why...."</p> + + <p>"I know why," Slatter swore. "Every man forrad knows the why of that...."</p> + + <p>"Well, then you'll not blame Noll," said Dan'l. "I'm thinking he'd fair kiss the man + that had a hand in ending Brander, if it was not done too open. But there's none aboard + would dare it...."</p> + + <p>"By God, let me get him forrad, right, and I'll...."</p> + + <p>"Quiet," said Dan'l. "Here's the man himself...."</p> + + <p>Here was his tool; Dan'l waited only the occasion. There was a way to make that.</p> + + <p>A whaler's crew are for the most part scum; harmless enough when they're held in + hand.... Harmless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>enough so long as they're kept in fear. But alcohol drives fear out + of a man. And there was whiskey and rum in the captain's storeroom, aft....</p> + + <p>It was one of the duties of Roy, as ship's boy, to fetch up stores from this room at + command; he was accustomed to fill Noll Wing's bottles now and then. Dan'l saw he might + use Roy; and he did so without scruple. "I've need for liquor, Roy," he told the lad. + "But I'd not ask Noll.... He's jealous of the stuff, as you know. So when next you're + down, fill a jug.... Fetch it up to me."</p> + + <p>He said it so casually that Roy agreed without question. The boy was pleased to + serve Dan'l.... Dan'l held him, he had captured Roy, heart and soul. Roy gave him the + jug full of liquor next morning, Slatter had it by nightfall, and that without Dan'l's + appearing in the matter. Slatter came aft to take the wheel, and Dan'l saw to it the + jug was in his sight and at hand.... Slatter carried it forward with him.... He passed + Dan'l in the waist; and Dan'l looked at the jug and laughed and said:</p> + + <p>"Man, that looks like liquor."</p> + + <p>Slatter grinned uneasily. "Oil for the fo'c's'le lamp," he said.</p> + + <p>Dan'l wagged his head. "See that that's so," he said. "If any ructions start in the + fo'c's'le, I'll send Brander forward to quiet you. You'll not be wanting Brander to lay + hand on you again."</p> + + <p>Slatter's eyes shifted hungrily; he went on his way with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>quick feet, and Dan'l + watched him go, and his eyes set hard.</p> + + <p>That was at dusk. Toward ten that night, when Brander was in his hammock under the + boathouse, one of the men howled, forward, and there was the sound of scuffling in the + fo'c's'le. Dan'l was aft, waiting.... He called to Brander:</p> + + <p>"Go forward and put a stop to that yammering, Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>Brander slid out of his hammock, assented quietly, and started forward along the + deck. Dan'l watched his dark figure in the night until it was lost in the waist of the + <i>Sally</i>.... He waited a moment.... Brander must be at the fo'c's'le scuttle by + now....</p> + + <p>Came cries, blows, a tumultuous outbreak. The <i>Sally</i> rang with the storm of + battle. Then, abruptly, quiet....</p> + + <p>At that sudden-falling quiet, Dan'l turned pale in spite of himself; he licked his + lips. The thing was done....</p> + + <p>He ran forward, virtuously ready to take a hand.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + + <p>When Brander, at Dan'l's command, went forward to quiet the men in the fo'c's'le, he + found two or three of the crew on deck about the scuttle, watching the tumult below.... + When they heard him and saw him, they backed away. The light from the fo'c's'le lamp + dimly illumined their faces; and Brander thought there was something murderous and at + the same time furtive in their eyes.</p> + + <p>More than that, he caught the smell of alcohol.... So there was whiskey loose below + him.</p> + + <p>A man boiled up the ladder past him to the deck, saw him and slid away into the + dark. Another.... Six or eight were still fighting below.</p> + + <p>Brander had that sixth sense which men must have who would command other men; he + felt, now, the peril in the air. His duty was down there among those fighting men; to + get down, he would ordinarily have used the ladder. But to do so would be to engage his + hands and his feet, and he might well have need of both these members.... He put his + hands on the edge of the fo'c's'le scuttle and dropped lightly to the floor of the + fo'c's'le, without touching the ladder. He landed on his toes, poised, ready....</p> + + <p>The narrow, crowded, triangular den was thick with the smell of hot men, of whiskey, + of burning oil; the air was heavy with smoke. A single swinging lamp lighted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>the + place.... Beneath this lamp, four or five men were involved in a battle from which legs + and arms were waved awkwardly as their owners struggled. Two other men crouched at + opposite sides of the fo'c's'le.... Watching.... One was Mauger; the other Slatter. + Brander cried:</p> + + <p>"Drop it, now...."</p> + + <p>The character of the struggle changed; the fighting men straightened.... Then some + one hit the lamp and sent it whirling into darkness; and at the same moment, Brander + heard Slatter scream murderously.... He slipped to one side, backed into a corner, held + hands before him, ready to meet an attack....</p> + + <p>Slatter's charge, if he were attacking Brander, should have carried the man past the + mate's hiding place. But Brander, in the dark, heard a thump of two bodies together, + and heard Slatter bellowing profanity, and heard heels thumping upon the floor. Then + two or three men made a rush up the ladder to the deck.... Another.... Brander stepped + forward, tripped over a whirling leg, and dropped upon a smother of two bodies which + writhed beneath him. An arm was flying; he gripped for it and felt the prick of a + knife in his wrist. So.... Death in the air, then....</p> + + <p>He dragged that arm down to his face and bit at the wrist and the back of the hand, + till he felt the knife drop from the man's fingers.... The three of them were writhing + and striking and kicking and strangling.... But the knife was gone.... So much the + better. He began to fumble with his right hand, seeking marks for his fists.... He <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>did + not strike blindly, but when he struck, his blows went home.... On some one's ribs, and + back, and once on the neck at the base of the ear....</p> + + <p>They were fighting in silence now.... All had passed so quickly that it was still + scarce more than seconds since Brander dropped into the fo'c's'le. Their bodies thumped + the planking resonantly; they struggled in a fashion that shook the ship. They were + gasping and choking for breath....</p> + + <p>Some one screamed terribly in Brander's very ear, and a hand that was gripping his + neck relaxed and fell away. The bodies of the fighting men were for an instant still; + and in that instant's silence, some one asked:</p> + + <p>"You all right, Mr. Brander?"</p> + + <p>Brander knew the voice. Mauger's. He said: "Yes...."</p> + + <p>Mauger squirmed out from under Brander.... "What hit Slatter?" he asked sharply. + "Did you get him?..."</p> + + <p>Brander got up, and the body of Slatter fell away from him limply. It was about that + time that Dan'l reached the fo'c's'le scuttle above, and looked down into the darkness. + He saw nothing; and he called:</p> + + <p>"Mr. Brander?"</p> + + <p>Brander said quietly: "Yes, sir, all right."</p> + + <p>"What's wrong, here?"</p> + + <p>"Slatter tried to knife me," said Brander.</p> + + <p>"Have you got him?"</p> + + <p>"I don't know. He's still. Strike a light, if you please...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>Dan'l was already half way down the ladder; but even before his sulphur match + scratched, Brander's nostrils told him what had happened. They brought him a smell.... + Unmistakable.... Appalling.... The smell of blood....</p> + + <p>He was on his knees beside Slatter's body when Dan'l bent over him with the + flickering match. They saw Slatter doubled forward over his own legs, and Brander + explained swiftly: "I had a full-Nelson.... I was forcing him over that way when he + yelled...."</p> + + <p>He lifted Slatter's body; and they saw the hilt of a knife that was stuck downward, + deep into his right thigh. Dan'l cried:</p> + + <p>"You've killed him."</p> + + <p>And one-eyed Mauger interrupted loyally: "No, he didn't. Didn't...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked at the one-eyed man. "How do you know?"</p> + + <p>"I did. I stuck the knife in him...."</p> + + <p>Brander looked at Mauger, and he touched the little man's shoulder. "You're a liar, + little friend," he said, and smiled. And he turned to Dan'l. "I bit the knife out of + his hand," he said. "Out of Slatter's.... It fell against my chest and slid down.... It + must have dropped between his body and his legs, and his own body, bending forward, + drove it in."</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled unpleasantly. "All right; but Mauger says he did it."</p> + + <p>Brander shook his head. "He didn't. For a good reason. He was flat on the floor, and + I was kneeling on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>his back, between him and Slatter, when Slatter yelled and quit + fighting...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l groped for the whale-oil lamp and lighted it and bent to look at the knife. + "How did it kill him, there?" he demanded.</p> + + <p>"Struck the big thigh artery," said Brander. "It must have...."</p> + + <p>Then Noll Wing's voice came to them from the scuttle. "What's wrong, below?" And his + big bulk slid down the ladder....</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>Brander's explanation was the one that went down in the log, in the end. Noll wrote + it himself, in the irregular and straggling characters which his trembling fingers + formed. And that was Faith's doing; for Dan'l did not believe, or affected not to + believe, and Noll was too shaken by the tragedy to know what he believed.</p> + + <p>Dan'l and Noll and Faith talked it over between them, in the after cabin, the next + morning. Faith had slept through the disturbance of the night before; but when she + heard of it in the morning it absorbed her. She went on deck and found Brander and made + him tell her what had happened. He described the outbreak in the fo'c's'le; he told + how, when he went forward, he smelled liquor on the men.... How he dropped through the + fo'c's'le scuttle, and some one knocked the lamp from its hanging, and Slatter rushed + him.</p> + + <p>"Mauger saw what the man meant," he said. "He jumped on him from the side; and then + I took a hand; and we had it for a while, in a heap on the floor."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>The other men in the fo'c's'le had fled to the deck, leaving Slatter to do his own + work. "I made him let go of the knife," Brander explained, "and after we had banged + around for a while, I got him from behind, my arms under his, my hands clasped behind + his neck. I bent him over, forward.... He was trying to get hold of my throat, over his + shoulder.... And he yelled and let go...."</p> + + <p>Faith's eyes were troubled. "You say the men had been drinking?"</p> + + <p>"Yes."</p> + + <p>"Where did they get it?"</p> + + <p>Brander shook his head; he waited for her to speak. She said: "Let me talk to + Mauger."</p> + + <p>He sent the one-eyed man to her, and took himself away.... Mauger told his story + volubly. The little man had added a cubit to his stature by his exploit; he had done + heroically, and knew it, and was proud.... He told, straightforwardly, how Brander + dropped down into the fo'c's'le...." Slatter had fixed it with a man to knock out the + light," he explained. "I heard them whispering. I was watching.... I saw Slatter had a + knife. So when he jumped for Mr. Brander, I tripped him, and he fell over me, and then + Mr. Brander grabbed him...." The little man chuckled at the joke on himself. "They fit + all over me, ma'am," he said, "They done a double shuffle up and down my backbone, + right."</p> + + <p>Faith smiled at him and told him he did well. "But where did the men get liquor?" + she asked.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>Mauger grinned and backed away. "I dunno, ma'am.... Did they have any?..."</p> + + <p>She said steadily: "Mauger, where did the men get the liquor?"</p> + + <p>The man squirmed, but he stood still under her eyes; he tried to avoid her.... But + in the end he came nearer, looking backward and from side to side. Came nearer, and + whispered at last....</p> + + <p>"Slatter brought a jug forward after his go at the wheel, ma'am."</p> + + <p>"Slatter?" Faith echoed softly.... "Slatter.... All right, Mauger. And—don't + talk too much, forward...."</p> + + <p>The man escaped eagerly. He had been willing enough to talk about Slatter's knife + and his own good deed; but this other was another matter. Whiskey in the + fo'c's'le....</p> + + <p>This was in the early morning, before the whole story had spread to every man. Faith + went quickly below, and asked his keys from Noll, and went into the storeroom. Found + nothing there to guide her.... But while she was there, Tinch, the cook, came down to + get coffee.... She studied the man thoughtfully....</p> + + <p>"Tinch," she said, finger pressing her cheek, "I left a jug down here.... It's gone. + Have you seen it anywhere?"</p> + + <p>Tinch, a tall, lean man with a bald head, looked at her stupidly, and ran a thin + finger through his straggly locks and thought. "Waal, now, ma'am," he said at last, "I + rec'lect I see Roy fetch a jug up out o' here, yist'day."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>"Roy?" she asked. "What was he down here for?"</p> + + <p>"Come down to...." He looked at her, and was suddenly confused with fear he had + played Judas. "Waal, now, ma'am," he drawled, "I cal'late you'd best ask the boy that + there."</p> + + <p>She nodded at once. "Of course.... Thank you, Tinch."</p> + + <p>So Faith had this matter in her mind when Dan'l came down to find Noll, in + mid-morning, and ask what was to be done about the tragedy. Noll said fretfully: "Slide + Slatter over t'side, Mr. Tobey. Do I have to look after everything aboard this + ship?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l nodded. "Hitch is fixing for that," he said. "What I mean is, how about + Mauger? He says he done it."</p> + + <p>Noll said sullenly: "Well, if he says he done it, he done it."</p> + + <p>"That's what I say," Dan'l agreed. "Only thing is, Brander stands up for him. So + what do you aim t'do?"</p> + + <p>"Brander stands up for him...."</p> + + <p>"Says he couldn't ha' done it, any ways."</p> + + <p>Noll threw up his fist angrily. "Damn it, Mr. Tobey; don't run to me with this. Find + out what happened.... Then tell me. That's the thing.... My God, this ship is.... God's + sake, Mr. Tobey, be a man."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said steadily: "All right; I say Mauger did it."</p> + + <p>Noll's cheeks turned pale and his eyes narrowed on the mate. "Stuck the knife in + him?"</p> + + <p>"Yes."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>The captain's hands tapped his knees. "How did he know to stick it in the man's leg + so neat? Most men would ha' struck for the back.... The man knows the uses of a knife, + Mr. Tobey."</p> + + <p>Dan'l nodded. "Oh, aye...."</p> + + <p>Noll looked furtively toward the door. "I've allus said he'd a knife for me.... + He'll be on my back, one day...." He was trembling, and he poured a drink and swallowed + it. Faith, sitting near him, looked up, looked at Dan'l, then bent her head over her + book again. Dan'l said:</p> + + <p>"I think it's wise to put him in irons."</p> + + <p>Noll roared: "Then do it, Mr. Tobey. Don't come whining to me with your little + matters. I'm an old man, Dan'l.... I'm weary and old.... Settle such things.... That's + the business of a mate, Mr. Tobey...."</p> + + <p>Faith said quietly, without looking up: "Why make so much talk? Mr. Brander has + explained what happened."</p> + + <p>The men were silent for an instant, surprised and uneasy. Dan'l looked at the + captain; Noll's head was bent. Dan'l ventured to say:</p> + + <p>"You think Mr. Brander is right?"</p> + + <p>"Of course."</p> + + <p>Dan'l suggested awkwardly: "You—think he's telling truth?"</p> + + <p>Faith nodded. "Any one can see that...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l laughed mirthlessly, "Then we'd best write.... We'd best let Mr. Brander write + his story in the log, sir."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>Faith looked at Dan'l steadily; then she turned to her husband. "Noll," she said, + "you write the log. I'll tell you what to write."</p> + + <p>He looked up at her stupidly, not understanding. She got up and opened the log book + and gave him a pen. He protested: "Faith, wait...."</p> + + <p>She touched his shoulder lightly with her hand, silencing him. "Write this," she + said; and when Noll took the pen, she dictated: "Some one gave the men liquor this day; + they were drinking in the fo'c's'le. When Mr. Brander went forward to quiet them...." + She saw Noll had fallen behind with his writing, and waited a moment, then repeated + more slowly: "When Mr. Brander went forward to quiet them, Slatter attacked him with a + knife. In the struggle, Slatter dropped the knife, and a moment later fell on it, dying + from the wound."</p> + + <p>She repeated the last sentence a second time, so that Noll got it word for word; and + then she took the log from him, and blotted it, and put it away. Dan'l Tobey + protested:</p> + + <p>"Aren't you saying anything about Mauger?"</p> + + <p>Faith smiled quietly. "Thank you for reminding me," She opened the log again, bade + Noll write, said slowly: "The man Mauger saved Mr. Brander's life by tripping Slatter + as he charged." Dan'l grimaced as she finished....</p> + + <p>"Now," said Faith, "Slatter was not important; at least he is no longer important. + But there is one thing, Noll, that you must stop.... The whiskey that went + forward...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>Noll looked at her slowly, frowning as though he sought to understand; Dan'l + said:</p> + + <p>"That was probably Slatter, stole it. The men say so...."</p> + + <p>"He took it forward," Faith agreed. "But he did not get it from the stores. He could + not." She hesitated, her lips white; then she set them firmly. "Dan'l, fetch Roy here," + she said.</p> + + <p>Dan'l was so surprised that for an instant he did not stir. "Roy?" he repeated. + "What's he...."</p> + + <p>Faith looked to her husband. "Will you tell him to bring Roy?" she asked.</p> + + <p>Noll asked heavily: "What's the boy.... Go along, Dan'l. Fetch him."</p> + + <p>Dan'l got up at once, and went out, closing the door behind him. They heard him go + on deck.... A minute later, he was back with Roy at his heels, and Faith saw her + brother's face was white. She asked quickly:</p> + + <p>"Roy, why did you steal a jug of whiskey from the stores?"</p> + + <p>Roy cried, on the instant: "That's a lie."</p> + + <p>Faith studied him. He expected accusation, questioning. Instead she nodded. "All + right."</p> + + <p>"Who says I stole whiskey?" Roy demanded.</p> + + <p>"I," Faith told him.</p> + + <p>"Who.... Somebody lied to you...."</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>Roy was near tears with bafflement. "Why.... What makes you...."</p> + + <p>Faith asked quietly: "Don't you want to tell?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>"It's a lie, I say."</p> + + <p>She looked to her husband; and Noll saw they were all waiting on him, and he tried + to rise to the occasion. "By God, Roy.... What did you go and do that for? God's sake, + can't a man have a ship without a pack of thieves on her? Mr. Tobey, you...." He + wavered, his eyes swung helplessly to Faith. He seemed to ask her to speak for him; and + she said to Dan'l:</p> + + <p>"Take him on deck, Dan'l. Till Cap'n Wing decides...."</p> + + <p>Roy insisted. "I tell you, I didn't...."</p> + + <p>But Dan'l Tobey hushed him. Dan'l was getting his first glimpse of the new Faith; + and he was afraid of her. He took Roy's arm, led him out and away.... Faith and Noll + were left alone.</p> + + <p>At noon that day, at Noll Wing's profane command, Roy was put in irons and locked in + the after 'tween decks to stay a week on bread and water. The boy cursed Faith to her + face for that; and Faith went to her cabin, and dropped on her knees and prayed.</p> + + <p>But she kept a steady face for the men, and in particular she kept a steady eye for + Dan'l Tobey. She knew Dan'l, now.... Dan'l had warned Roy, before bringing him to the + cabin. He must have warned the boy, for Roy was prepared for the accusation. He must + have warned the boy, therefore he must have known what Faith would assert....</p> + + <p>And Faith knew enough of Dan'l's ascendancy over Roy to be sure the mate had + prompted her brother's theft.</p> + + <p>She must watch Dan'l, fight him. And ... she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>thanked God for Brander. There was a + man, a man on her side.... She was not to fight alone.</p> + + <p>She dreamed of Brander that night. He was battling for her, in her dream, against + shadowy and unseen things. And in her dream, she thought he was her husband.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + + <p>An unrest seized Noll Wing; an unrest that was like fear. He assumed, by small + degrees, the aspect of a hunted man. It was as though the death of Slatter prefigured + to him what his own end would be. His nerves betrayed him; he could not bear to have + any man approach him from behind, and he struck out, nervously, at Willis Cox one day + when Willis spoke from one side, where Noll had not seen him standing.</p> + + <p>The continual storms of the Solander irked him; the racking work of whaling, when it + was necessary to run to port with each kill, fretted the flesh from his bones. They + lost a whale one day, in a sudden squall that developed into a gale and swept them far + to the southward; and when the weather moderated, and Dan'l Tobey started to work back + to the Grounds again, Noll would have none of it.</p> + + <p>"Set your course t'the east'ard," he commanded. "I'm fed up with the Solander. We'll + hit the islands again...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l protested that there was nowhere such whaling as the Solander offered; but + Noll would not be persuaded. He resented the attempt to argue with him. "No, by God," + he swore. "A pity if a man can't have his way. Hell with the Solander, Dan'l. I'm sick + o' storms, and cold. Get north t'where it's warm again...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>So they did as he insisted, and ran into slack times once more. The men at first + exulted in their new leisure; they were well enough content to kill a whale and loaf a + week before another kill. Then they began to be impatient with inaction; discontent + arose among them. They remembered the ambergris; and their talk was that they need stay + out no longer, that the voyage was already a success, that they had a right to expect + to head for home.</p> + + <p>Brander, ever among them as he had promised himself he would be, worked against this + discontent. He tried to hearten them; they gave him half attention, and some measure of + liking.... But their sulking held and grew upon them.</p> + + <p>There was as much ill feeling aft as forward. Roy, released from his irons long + before, had not spoken to Faith since his release. He hated his sister with that hatred + which sometimes arises between blood kin, and which is more violent than any other. Let + lovers quarrel; let brothers clash; let son and father, or mother and daughter, or + brother and sister go asunder, and there is no bitterness to equal the bitterness + between them. It is as though the strength of their former affection served to + intensify their hate. It is like the hatred of a woman scorned; she is able to hate the + more, because she once has loved.</p> + + <p>Roy hated Faith; and with the ingenuity of youth, he found out ways to torment her. + He perceived that Faith must always love him, he perceived that her thoughts hovered + over him as do the thoughts of a mother; and he took pleasure in agonizing her with his + own misdeeds. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>He lied for the pleasure of lying; he swore roundly; and once, under + Dan'l's gentle guidance, he pilfered rum and drank himself into the likeness of a + beast. When Faith chided him for that, he told her with drunken good nature that she + was to blame; that she had driven him to it. Faith's sense of justice was strong; she + was too level of head to condemn herself; nevertheless, she was made miserable by what + the boy had done.... Yet she led Noll to punish him for this theft, more sternly than + before; and afterward, she had Roy sent forward to take his place among the men, and + the cabin was forbidden ground to him thereafter.</p> + + <p>Noll was wax in Faith's hands in these days. His fear, growing upon him, had shaken + all the fiber out of the man. He could be swayed by Dan'l, by old Tichel, by Faith, by + almost any one.... Save in a single matter. He was drinking steadily, now; and drinking + more than ever before. He was never sober, never without the traces of his liquor in + his eyes and his loose lips and slack muscles. And they could not sway him in this + matter. He would not be denied the liquor that he craved.</p> + + <p>Faith tried to win it away from him; she tried to strengthen the man's own will to + fight the enemy that was destroying him. She tried to fan to life the ancient flame of + pride.... But there was no grain of strength left in Noll for her to work on. He waved + her away, and filled his glass....</p> + + <p>She might have destroyed what liquor remained aboard the <i>Sally</i>; but she would + not. That would not cure; it would only put off the end. At their first port, Noll<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> + would get what he wanted.... And there were islands all about them; he could reach land + within a matter of twenty-four hours, or forty-eight, at any time. She fought to help + Noll help himself; she would not do more. Noll was a man, not a baby desiring the fire + which must be kept beyond its reach. He knew his enemy, and he embraced it + knowingly.</p> + + <p>Faith never felt more keenly the fact of her marriage to Noll than in those last + days of his life. She never thought of herself apart from him; and when he debauched + himself, she felt soiled as though she were herself degraded. Nevertheless, she clung + to him with all her soul; clung to him, lived the vows she had given him.... There were + other times, after that first, when she dreamed of Brander.... But she could not curb + her dreams.... He was much in them; but waking, she put the man away from her. She was + Noll's; Noll was hers. Inescapable....</p> + + <p>Brander avoided her. His heart was sick; she possessed it utterly. But he gave no + sign; he never relaxed the grip in which he held himself. Now and then, on deck, when + Noll swore at her, or whined, or fretted, Brander had to swing away and put the thing + behind him. But he did it; he was strong enough to do this; he was almost strong enough + to keep his thoughts from Faith. Almost.... But not quite.... She dwelt always with + him; he was sick with sorrow, and pity, and yearning for the right to cherish her.</p> + + <p>They spoke when they had to, in cabin or on deck; but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>they were never alone, and + they avoided each the other as they would have shunned a precipice....</p> + + <p>Save for one day, a single day.... A day when Faith called Brander to her on the + deck and spoke to him.... A single day, that would have been, but for the strength of + Faith, the bloody destruction of them both.</p> + + <p>This incident was the climax of two trains of events, extending over days.... + Extending, in the one case, back to that first day when Dan'l had roused the brand of + jealousy in Noll to flame. Dan'l had never let that flame die out. He fanned it + constantly; and when he saw in Faith's eyes, after the matter of Roy's first theft of + the whiskey, that she had guessed his part in it, he threw himself more hotly into his + intrigue. He kept at Noll's side whenever it was possible; he whispered....</p> + + <p>He spoke openly of Brander's fondness for the men, of Brander's habit of talking + with them so constantly. Faith heard him strike this vein, again and again.... He + harped upon it to Noll, seeming to defend Brander at the same time that he accused.... + He played upon the strain until even Faith's belief in Brander was shaken. There was + always the matter of the ambergris. Brander might have ended it with a word, but he + would not give Dan'l Tobey that satisfaction. He would not say, forthright, that the + 'gris belonged to the <i>Sally</i>.... And Dan'l magnified this matter, and many + others.... Until even Faith found it hard not to doubt the fourth mate.... She caught + herself, more than once, watching him when he laughed and talked with the men. Was + there need <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>of that? Why did he do it? She could find no answer....</p> + + <p>Noll feared Brander more and more; and Dan'l covertly taunted the captain with this + fear. He roused Noll, time on time, to flagging gusts of rage; but always these passed + in words.... And Noll fell back into his lethargy of drink again. Dan'l began to fear + there was not enough man left in Noll to act.... He turned his guns on Faith, accusing + her as he accused Brander....</p> + + <p>But words were light things. Noll, moved though he might be, had in his heart a + trust in Faith which Dan'l found it hard to shake. He might never have shaken it, had + not luck favored him.... And this luck came to pass on the day Faith sought speech with + Brander.</p> + + <p>That move, on Faith's part, was the result of an increasing peril in the fo'c's'le. + The men were getting drink again.</p> + + <p>This began one day when a fo'm'st hand came aft to take the wheel and old Tichel + smelled the liquor on him, and saw that the man's feet were unsteady, and flew into one + of his tigerish fits of rage.... He drove the man forward with blows and kicks; and he + came aft with his teeth bared and flamed to Noll Wing, and men were sent for and + questioned. Three of them had been drinking. They were badly frightened; they were + sullen; nevertheless, in the end, under old Tichel's fist, one of them said he had + found a quart bottle, filled with whiskey, in his bunk the night before.... Tichel + accused him of stealing it; the man stuck to his tale and could not be shaken.</p> + + <p>The men could not come at the stores through the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>cabin; there was always an officer + about the deck or below. Tichel thought they might have cut through from the after + 'tween decks, and the stores were shifted in an effort to find such a secret entrance + to the captain's stores. But none was found; there was no way....</p> + + <p>Three days later, there was whiskey forward again. Found, as before, in a bunk.... + Two men drunk, rope's endings at the rail.... But no solution to the mystery.</p> + + <p>Two days after that, the same thing; four days later, a repetition. And so on, at + intervals of days, for a month on end. The whiskey dribbled forward a quart at a time; + the men drank it.... And never a trace to the manner of the theft.</p> + + <p>In the end, Roy Kilcup found a bottle in his bunk, and drank the bulk of it himself, + so that he was deathly sick and like to die. Faith, tormented beyond endurance, looking + everywhere for help, chose at last to appeal to Brander.</p> + + <p>Brander had the deck, that day. Willis Cox and Tichel were sleeping.... Dan'l was in + the main cabin, alone; Noll in the after cabin, stupid with drink. Roy had been sick + all the night before, with Willis Cox and Tichel working over him, counting the + pounding heart-beats, wetting the boy's head, working the poison out of him. Roy was + forward, in his bunk, now, still sodden.</p> + + <p>Faith came from the after cabin, passed Dan'l and went up on deck. Something + purposeful in her face caught Dan'l's attention; and he went to the foot of the cabin + companion and listened. He heard her call softly:</p> + + <p>"Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>Dan'l thought he knew where Brander would be. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>the waist of the <i>Sally</i>, no + doubt. There was a man at the wheel. Faith did not wish this man to hear what she had + to say. So she met Brander just forward of the cabin skylight by the boathouse; and + Dan'l, straining his ears, could hear.</p> + + <p>Faith said: "Mr. Brander, I'm going to ask you to help me."</p> + + <p>Brander told her: "I'd like to. What is it you want done?"</p> + + <p>"It's—Roy. I'm desperately worried, Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>"He's all right, Mr. Cox tells me. He'll be well enough in a few hours...."</p> + + <p>"It's not just—this drunkenness, Mr. Brander. It's—more. My + brother's.... He is in my charge, in a way. Father bade me take care of him. And + he's—taking the wrong path."</p> + + <p>Brander said quietly: "Yes."</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked toward the after cabin, thought of bringing Noll to hear.... But there + was no harm in this that they were saying; no harm.... Rather, good.... He listened; + and Faith said steadily:</p> + + <p>"My husband is not—not the man he was, Mr. Brander. Mr. Tobey.... I can't + trust him. I've got to come to you...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l decided, desperately, to bring Noll and risk it, trust to his luck and to his + tongue to twist their words.... He went softly across to the after cabin and shook + Noll's shoulder; and when the captain opened his eyes, Dan'l whispered:</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>"Come, Noll Wing. You've got to hear this...."</p> + + <p>Noll sat up stupidly. "What? Hear what?... What's that you say?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l said: "Faith and Brander are together, on deck, whispering...." He banged his + clenched fist into his open hand. "By God, sir.... I've grown up with Faith; I like + her.... But I can't stand by and see them do this to you...."</p> + + <p>"What are they about?" Noll asked, his face flushing. He was on his feet. Dan'l + gripped his arm....</p> + + <p>"I heard her promise him you would soon be gone, sir.... That you were sick.... That + you...."</p> + + <p>Noll strode into the cabin; Dan'l whispered: "Quiet! Come...." He led him to the + foot of the companion-stair, bade him listen.</p> + + <p>And it was then the malicious gods played into Dan'l's evil hands; for as they + listened, Faith was saying.... "Try to make him like you.... But be careful. He + doesn't, now.... If he guessed...."</p> + + <p>Brander said something which they could not hear; a single word; and Faith + cried:</p> + + <p>"You can. You're a man. He can't help admiring you in the end. I—" She + hesitated, said helplessly: "I'm putting myself into your hands...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l had wit to seize his fortune; he cried out: "By God, sir...."</p> + + <p>But there was no need of spur to Noll Wing now. The captain had reached the deck + with a single rush, Dan'l at his heels.... Faith and Brander sprang apart <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>before their + eyes; and because the innocent have always the appearance of the guilty, there was + guilt in every line of these two now.</p> + + <p>Noll Wing, confronting them, had in that moment the stature of a man; he was erect + and strong, his eyes were level and cold. He looked from Faith to Brander, and he + said:</p> + + <p>"Brander, be gone. Faith, come below."</p> + + <p>Brander took a step forward. Faith said quickly to him: "No." And she smiled at him + as he halted in obedience.</p> + + <p>Then she turned to her husband, passed him, went down into the cabin. And Noll, with + a last glance at Brander, descended on her heels.</p> + + <p>Dan'l, left facing the fourth mate, grinned triumphantly; and for an instant he saw + death in Brander's eyes, so that his mirth was frozen.... Then Brander turned away.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + + <p>Faith went down into the main cabin, crossed and entered the cabin across the stern, + turned there to await her husband. He followed her slowly; he came in, and shut the + door behind him. The man was controlling himself; nevertheless, he thrust this door + shut with a force that shook the thin partition between the cabins.... And he snapped + the bolt that held it closed.</p> + + <p>Then he turned and looked at Faith. There was a furious strength in his countenance + at that moment; but it was like the strength of a maniac. His lips twitched tensely; + his eyes moved like the eyes of a man who is dizzy from too much turning on his own + heels.... They jerked away from Faith, returned to her, jerked away again.... All + without any movement of Noll's head. And as the man's eyes wavered and wrenched back to + her thus, the pupils contracted and narrowed in an effort to focus upon her. For the + rest, he was flushed, brick red.... His whole face seemed to swell.</p> + + <p>He was inhuman; there was an ape-like and animal fury in the man as he looked at his + wife....</p> + + <p>Abruptly, he jerked up his hands and pressed them against his face and turned away; + it was as though he thrust himself away with this pressure of his hands. He turned his + back on her, and went to his desk, and unlocked a drawer. Faith knew the drawer; she + was not surprised when he drew out of it a revolver.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>Bending over the desk, with this weapon in his hand, Noll Wing made sure every + chamber was loaded.... He paid her no attention. Faith watched him for an instant; then + she turned to the bench that ran across the stern and picked up from it a bit of + sewing, embroidery.... She sat down composedly on the bench, crossed her knees in the + comfortable attitude of relaxation which women like to assume. One foot rested on the + floor; the other swayed back and forth, as though beating time, a few inches above the + floor. It is impossible for the average man to cross his knees in this fashion, just as + it is impossible for a woman to throw a ball. Sitting thus, Faith began to sew. She was + outlining the petal of an embroidered flower; and she gave this work her whole + attention.</p> + + <p>She did not look up at Noll. The man finished his examination of the weapon; he + turned it in his hand; he lifted it and leveled it at Faith. Still Faith did not look + up; she seemed completely unconcerned. Noll said harshly:</p> + + <p>"Faith!"</p> + + <p>She looked up then, met his eyes fairly, smiled a little. "What is it, Noll?"</p> + + <p>"I'm going to kill you," he said, with stiff lips.</p> + + <p>"All right," she said, and bent her head above her sewing once more, disregarding + him.</p> + + <p>Noll was stupefied.... This was not surprise; it was the helplessness which courage + inspires in a coward. For Noll was a coward in those last days.... His face twisted; + his hand was shaking.... He stared over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>revolver barrel at Faith's brown head. Her + hair was parted in the middle, drawn back about her face. The white line of skin where + the hair was parted fascinated him; he could not take his eyes from it. The revolver + muzzle lowered without his being conscious of this fact; the weapon hung in his + hand.... His eyes were fixed on Faith's head, on the part in her hair.... She wore an + old, tortoise comb, stuck downward into the hair at the back of her head, its top + projecting upward.... A singular, old-fashioned little ornament.... There was a silver + mounting on it; and the light glistened on this silver, and caught Noll's eye, and held + it....</p> + + <p>Faith continued her quiet sewing. And Noll's tense muscles, little by little, + relaxed.... His fingers loosed their grip on the revolver butt; it dropped to the floor + with a clatter. The sound seemed to rouse Noll; he strode toward Faith. "By God," he + cried. "You'll...." He swung down a hand and gathered the fabric of her work between + harsh fingers. Her needle was in the midst of a stitch; it pricked him.... He did not + feel the tiny wound. He would have snatched the stuff out of her hands.... He felt as + though it were defending her....</p> + + <p>But when his hand swept down between hers and caught the bit of embroidery, Faith + looked up at him again, and she caught his eyes. That halted him; he stood for an + instant motionless, bending above her, their faces not six inches apart.... Then the + man jerked his hand away.... He released his grip on the bit of fancy work; but the + needle was deep in his finger, so that he pulled it out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>of the cloth. The thread + followed it; when his quick movement drew the thread to full length, the fabric was + jerked out of Faith's unresisting hands. It dangled by the thread from the needle that + stuck in Noll's finger; and he saw it, and jerked the needle out with a quick, + spasmodic gesture, and flung it to one side. He did not look at it; he was looking, + still, at Faith.</p> + + <p>"Put that away," he said hoarsely.</p> + + <p>Faith smiled, glanced toward the bit of white upon the floor. "I'm afraid there's + blood on it," she said.</p> + + <p>"Blood ..." he repeated, under his breath. "Blood...." She folded her hands quietly + upon her knee, waiting.</p> + + <p>"I want to talk to you," he said.</p> + + <p>She nodded. "All right. Do."</p> + + <p>His wrath boiled through his lips chokingly. "You ..." he stammered. "You and + Brander...."</p> + + <p>Her eyes, upon his, hardened. She said nothing; but this hardening of her eyes was + like a defiance. He flung his hands above his head. "By God, you're shameless," he + choked. "You're shameless.... A shameless woman.... And him.... I took him out of a + hell hole.... And he takes you.... I'll break him in two with my hands."</p> + + <p>She said nothing; he flung into an insanity of words. He cursed her unspeakably, + with every evil phrase he had learned in close to thirty years of the sea. He accused + her of unnamable things.... His face swelled with his fury, the veins bulged upon his + forehead, his eyes were covered with a dry film. His mouth filled with saliva, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>that + splattered with the venom of his words.... It ran down his chin, so that he brushed it + away with the back of his hand.... He was uncontrolled, save in one thing. Something + made him hush his voice; he whispered harshly and chokingly.... What he said could + scarce have been heard in the main cabin, six feet away from them....</p> + + <p>The man was slavering; there were flecks of foam upon his lips.... And Faith watched + him in a curious detachment, as though he were something outside the world, below it, + beyond it.... She scarce heard his words at all; she was looking at the man's naked + soul.... It was so inexpressibly revolting that she had no feeling that this soul had + once been wedded to hers; she could not have believed this if she had tried. This was + no man, but a beast.... There could be nothing between them. She had married Noll Wing; + not the body of him, nor the face of him, but the soul within the man. And this was not + Noll Wing's soul she saw.... That was dead; this horrible thing had bred festeringly in + the carrion....</p> + + <p>Humanity has an immense capacity for rising to an emergency. The human heart + sustains a grief that should kill; it throws this grief aside and is—save for a + hidden scar—as gay as it was in the beginning. Man meets peril or death, meets + them unafraid.... If he had considered these emergencies in the calm and security of + his home, his hair would have crawled with terror at the thought of them. The + imagination can conjure dreadful things; the heart and soul and body of man can endure + catastrophes beyond imagining. There is no load too heavy for this immortally designed + fabric of flesh and blood <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>and bone to bear. There is a psychological phenomenon that + might be called the duplication of personality. A soldier in battle becomes two men. + One of these men is convulsed with lust for blood; he screams, he shoots, he stabs, he + kills. The other is calm and serene; he watches the doings of his other self, considers + them with calm mind, plans perilous combinations in the twinkling of an eye.... The + soldier contains within himself a general who plans, and an army which executes the + plan....</p> + + <p>It was so with Faith. She shrank in spirit and heart before Noll's horrible + outpouring; yet was she at the same time steady and undisturbed. There was a numbness + upon her; a numbness that killed suffering and at the same time stimulated thought.... + She was able to perceive the very depths of Noll; she looked, at the same time, into + her own depths.... She heard him accuse her of foul passion for Brander; she knew, + instead, that she loved Brander completely.... She had never known her love for Brander + before; Noll showed it to her, dragged it out where she could see it beyond + mistaking.... And even in that moment she welcomed this love; welcomed it, and saw that + it was honest, and wholesome, and splendid, and clean.... She welcomed it, so that she + smiled....</p> + + <p>Her smile struck Noll like a blow in the face, stunning and sobering him. He flung + out his hands.</p> + + <p>"Come!" he commanded. "What do you say? Say something? Say...."</p> + + <p>"What?" she asked. "What shall I say?"</p> + + <p>"Is it true? Damn you.... Damn you.... Is it true?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>"Could I say anything you would believe?"</p> + + <p>"No, by God! You're dirty and false as hell. You...." He struck his hands together + helplessly. "Nothing," he cried. "Nothing! Nothing you can say.... Dirty as + hell...."</p> + + <p>Yet his eyes still besought her to speak; she touched the bench beside her. "Sit + down, Noll," she said gently.</p> + + <p>The man towered above her, hands upraised. His fingers twisted and writhed and + clenched as though upon a soft throat that he gripped. His features worked terribly.... + And then, before her eyes, a change came upon him. The tense muscles of his fury + sagged; the blood ebbed from his veins, so that they flattened; the black flush faded + on his cheeks.... He opened his mouth and screamed once, a vast and stricken scream of + a beast in pain. It was like the scream of a frightened, anguished horse.... It rang + along the length of the <i>Sally</i>, so that the men forward shrank and looked over + their shoulders, and every man aboard the ship was still....</p> + + <p>He screamed, and then his great body shrank and collapsed and tottered and fell.... + He dropped upon his knees, at her feet. He flung his head in her lap, his arms about + her waist, clinging as a drowning man might cling to a rock. His cap dropped off; she + saw his bald old head there.... He sobbed like a child, his great shoulders twitching + and heaving.... His face was pressed upon her clasped hands; she felt his tears upon + her wrists, felt the slaverings of his sobbing mouth upon her fingers....</p> + + <p>He cried softly: "Eh, Faith.... Faith.... Don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>you turn against me, now. I'm old, + Faith...." And again: "I'm old, Faith.... Dying, Faith.... Don't leave me.... Don't + turn against me now."</p> + + <p>She bent above him, filled with an infinite pity and sorrow. This was the wreck of + her love; she no longer loved him, but her heart was filled with sorrow.... She bent + forward and laid her smooth cheek against the smooth parchment of his bald old head. + She loosed her hands, and drew them out from beneath his face, and laid them on his + shoulders, stroking him gently.</p> + + <p>"There, Noll.... There ..." she murmured. Foolish words, meaningless, like the + comforting sounds of an inarticulate animal.... Yet he understood. There were no words + for what was in her heart; she could only whisper: "There.... There.... There...." And + gently touch his shoulders, and his head.</p> + + <p>"They're all against me, Faith," he told her, over and over. "All against me. Even + you...."</p> + + <p>"No, no, Noll. There...."</p> + + <p>"You love him.... You love him."</p> + + <p>"No, Noll. No...." She lied, not to deceive her husband, but to comfort him. Her + eyes, above Noll's head, seemed to ask her love's pardon for the lie. "No, Noll.... + You're my husband."</p> + + <p>His arms tightened about her waist; his great chest pressed against her knees. + "You're mine," he begged. "You're mine. Don't go away from me."</p> + + <p>"No. Never.... Never, forever."</p> + + <p>He raised his face from her lap at last; and she saw <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>that it was sunken like the + countenance of one long dead. Cadaverous.... He cried, in utter self-abasement. "Eh, + Faith. I don't deserve you. I'm an old, helpless man...."</p> + + <p>She smiled at him. "I married you, Noll."</p> + + <p>"I'm no good. They're laughing at me...."</p> + + <p>Her eyes heartened him. "Master them. Command them. You are the master, Noll."</p> + + <p>"I can't.... There's no strength in me...."</p> + + <p>"It's there. Master them, Noll."</p> + + <p>"I can't hold myself, Faith. Not even myself. I'm rotted with whiskey, and years, + and strife...."</p> + + <p>"Master yourself, Noll."</p> + + <p>"Faith, Faith.... It's too late. I'm gone. I can't."</p> + + <p>"You can," she said. She spoke the two words quietly; yet somehow they gave him of + her strength, so that his head lifted higher, and the muscles took form beneath his + slack cheeks. He stared into her eyes, as though he were drinking her soul through + them; his chest swelled as though virtue were going into him. They sat thus, minutes on + end.... He got to his feet. His eyes cleared, with the tempestuous and short-lived fire + of age in their depths. He swore:</p> + + <p>"By God, Faith. I will. I'll command.... Myself and them."</p> + + <p>"You can," she said again. "You can. So—do, Noll."</p> + + <p>He turned away from her, looking about with new eyes.... She smiled sadly; she knew + him too well, now.... <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>She was not surprised when his first act was to go to the + lockfast and get his bottle, and drink.... He smacked his lips, chuckled at her.</p> + + <p>"By God, Faith, I'll show these dogs," he cried, and flung open the door. She heard + him go out and climb up to the deck.... She sat where he had left her....</p> + + <p>Sat there, and knew her love for Brander. In those minutes while she remained where + Noll had seen her last, she listened to the singing of new voices in her heart. Brander + was before her, in her eyes, in her thoughts.... He possessed her, in that moment, more + completely than Noll had ever done. She gave herself to him completely, without + reluctance and without faintest reservation. No need to see him, no need to tell him. + She knew, he must know.... She never asked whether he loved her; she had always known + that. Known it without admitting the knowledge, even in her thoughts. She loved him, + body and heart and soul; her eyes yearned for his, her tongue to tell him what her + heart was singing, her arms to embrace him....</p> + + <p>She got up, at last, a little wearily.... It was only a matter of minutes that she + sat there, looking within herself. When she listened, now, she could hear Noll's voice, + on deck, roaring in the old way.... Once she heard Brander answer him, from somewhere + amidships. Again she caught the murmur of Dan'l Tobey's tones....</p> + + <p>Brander was her love; but Noll.... Noll was her husband, she his wife. And Faith + passed her hand across her eyes as though to wipe away these visions she had looked + upon. Noll was her husband; her vows were his. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>She was his, and would be.... Nothing he + could do would make her less his; he was in her keeping, his life and hers could never + take diverging paths. He was her charge, to strengthen, and guide, and support; his + tasks were hers, his responsibilities were her responsibilities, his burdens must rest + upon her shoulders....</p> + + <p>But she did not deceive herself. Old Noll was dead, old Noll Wing who had mastered + men for year on year. That Noll was dead; the Noll who lived was a weakling. But she + was a part of the living Noll; and she was no weakling. So....</p> + + <p>Her lips set faintly. Love Brander though she did, there was no place for him in her + life. Her life was Noll; her life belonged to Noll. Noll was failing; his flesh might + live, but his soul was dead and his strength was gone. His tasks fell upon her.</p> + + <p>Quite simply, in that moment, Faith promised herself that whatever happened, the + <i>Sally Sims</i> should come safe home again; that no man should ever say Noll Wing + had failed in the end; that no man should ever make a jest of Noll's old renown. And if + Noll could not manage these things for himself, she would....</p> + + <p>She began, suddenly, to cry; she locked herself in her cabin and wept bitterly for + hours.... But afterward, bathing her eyes, freshening herself to meet Noll's eyes, she + looked into the mirror, and smiled and lifted her head. "You can do it, Faith," she + told herself. "You can do it, full as well as he."</p> + + <p>And then, more seriously: "You must, Faith Wing. You must bring the <i>Sally</i> + home."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>When she stepped out into the after cabin, she saw the revolver still on the floor + where Noll had left it. She picked it up to return it to its proper drawer....</p> + + <p>But on second thought, she changed her mind, and took it and hid it in her bunk.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + + <p>A curious lull settled down upon the <i>Sally Sims</i> during the days after Noll's + open accusation of Faith, and his collapse before her steady courage. There was an + apathy in the air; they saw few whales, lowered for them without zeal, missed more than + one that should have been killed.... There was a silence upon the ship, like the hush + of listening men who wait to hear an expected call. This paralysis gripped every soul + aboard—save Noll Wing alone.</p> + + <p>Noll, in those last days, stalked his deck like a parody of the man he once had + been. Faith had put a fictitious courage in the man; he thought himself once more the + master, as in the past. His heels pounded the planks; his head was high; his voice + roared.... But there was a tremor in his stride; there was a trembling about the poise + of him; there was a cracking quaver in his voice. He was like a child who plays at + being a man.... They humored him; the men and the mates seemed to enter into a + conspiracy to humor him. They leaped to his bidding; they shrank from his curses as + though desperate with fear.... And Noll was so delighted with all this that he was + perpetually good-natured, jovial....</p> + + <p>He was, of course, drinking heavily and steadily; but the drink seemed to hearten + him and give him strength. Certainly it made him lenient; for on three occasions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>when + the men found a bottle, forward, and befuddled themselves with it, Noll only laughed as + though at a capital jest. Noll laughed.... But Faith wondered and was distressed and + watched to see how the liquor was being stolen. She was disturbed and alarmed; but Noll + laughed at her fears.</p> + + <p>"A little of it never hurt a man," he told her boastfully. "Look at me, to see that. + Let be, Faith. Let be."</p> + + <p>When she protested, he overrode her; and to show his own certainty of himself, he + did a thing that Noll sober would never have done. He had the rum drawn from the barrel + in his storeroom and served out to the men, a ration daily.... It amused him to see the + men half fuddled with it. He forced it on them; and once, while Faith watched + hopelessly, he commanded a hulking Cape Verder—the biggest man in the + fo'c's'le—to drink a bout with him. They took glass for glass, till the other was + helpless as a log; and Noll vaunted his own prowess in the matter.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey contented himself with the progress of these matters; he no longer stuck + a finger in the pie. Noll was going; that was plain to any seeing eye. The captain grew + weaker every day; his skin yellowed and parched, and the lower lids of his eyes sagged + down and revealed the flaming red of their inner surface. These sagging lower lids made + crescent-shaped pockets which were forever filled with rheumy fluid.... Noll was an + ugly thing; and his perpetual mirth, his cackling laughter were the more horrible.... + He was a laughing corpse; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>dissolution was upon him. But he kept himself so steeped with + alcohol he did not feel its pangs.</p> + + <p>Faith could do nothing; Brander could do nothing. Between these two, no further word + had passed. But there was no need. Meeting face to face on deck, the day after Noll + surprised them, their eyes met in a long and steady glance.... Their eyes met and + spoke; and after that there was no need of words between them. There was a pledging of + vows in that glance; there was also a renunciation. Both saw, both understood.... Faith + thought she knew Brander to the depths....</p> + + <p>Neither, in that moment, knew that Dan'l Tobey was at hand; but the mate had seen, + and he had understood. He saw, slipped away, held his peace, considered.</p> + + <p>Brander was fighting for Roy, to fulfill his pledge to Faith. He had set himself to + win the boy's confidence and esteem; he applied himself to this with all the strength + there was in him. Yet he was careful; he did not force the issue; he did not harass Roy + with his attentions.... He held off, let Roy see for himself, think.... There were days + when he thought he made some progress; there were days when he thought the effort was a + hopeless one. Nevertheless, he persisted....</p> + + <p>Noll Wing's good will, in those days, extended even to Brander. He offered Brander a + drink one day.... Brander refused, and Noll insisted.... And was still refused. Noll + said hotly, querulously:</p> + + <p>"Come, Brander.... Don't be stiff, man. It will warm you, do you good.... You're + needing warming. You're over cold and calm."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>Brander shook his head, smiling. "Thanks; no, sir."</p> + + <p>"Damn it, man," Noll complained. "Are you too proud to drink with the skipper?"</p> + + <p>Brander refused again; and Noll's brows gathered suspiciously. "Why not?"</p> + + <p>"My wish, sir,"</p> + + <p>"Ye've a grudge against me. I remember.... You stick with Mauger...."</p> + + <p>"No, sir."</p> + + <p>Noll flung out his hand. "Be off. Your sour face is too ugly for me to look at. + Mauger's none so particular.... He'll drink with me."</p> + + <p>It was true; Mauger had more than once accepted drink from Noll. Noll, at these + times, watched the one-eyed man furtively, almost appealingly. It was as though he + sought to placate him and make a friend of him. Mauger had a weak head; he was not one + to stand much liquor. It dizzied him; and this amused Noll.... This day, after Brander + had refused him, Noll sent for Mauger and made the one-eyed man tipsy, and laughed at + the jest of it.</p> + + <p>Then, one day, this state of affairs came abruptly to an end. Noll went down into + the storeroom to fill his bottle; and the spigot on the whiskey barrel gasped and + failed. The whiskey was gone.</p> + + <p>Now Noll had given of the rum to the crew; he had exhausted that. But the whiskey he + kept jealously. He knew there should be more.... Much more than this.... Gallons, at + the least.... He turned the handle of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>the spigot again, tipped the barrel, unable to + understand.... His bottle was half full.... But no more came....</p> + + <p>He frowned, puzzled his heavy head, tried to understand.... He came stumbling up out + of the storeroom at last, with the half-filled bottle in his hand.... And the man's + face was white. He sought Faith, held the bottle out to her.</p> + + <p>"I say ..." he stammered. "It's gone.... Gone, by God...."</p> + + <p>Faith asked sharply: "What is it, Noll?"</p> + + <p>"The whiskey's gone."</p> + + <p>Faith cried: "Thank God!"</p> + + <p>He stared at her thickly. "Eh? You had a hand in it.... You've stole it + away...."</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>He looked at her and knew she spoke the truth. He shook his head.... "Some hound ..." he whispered. "They've stole it...."</p> + + <p>She questioned him; he had the shrewdness which occasionally characterizes the + alcoholic. He had kept some count of the whiskey used during the cruise; he had himself + handled the barrel two weeks before. It was then a quarter full. The thefts that had + appeared in the fo'c's'le could not account for the rest. There was still a + considerable amount that had been stolen, that had not yet appeared. "It's aboard here, + by God," he swore at last. "They've got it hid away. You, Faith...."</p> + + <p>She shook her head. He said placatingly: "No, you'd not do that trick. Not rob an + old man.... I've got to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>have it, Faith...." His eyes suddenly flickered with panic. + "It's life, Faith. Life. I've got to have it, I say...."</p> + + <p>He was right, she knew. There must still be a hidden store of the liquor aboard the + <i>Sally</i>.... To be doled out to the men by the thief in his own good time.... And + Faith knew enough of such matters to understand that Noll, without the ration of + alcohol to which he was accustomed, would suffer torment, would be like a madman.... + The stuff must be found....</p> + + <p>Noll was already trembling at the prospect of deprivation; he hugged to his breast + the scant store that remained to him.... And of a sudden, as though afraid even this + would be stolen, he tipped the bottle to his lips. He gulped greedily.... Before Faith + could interfere, the last of it was gone....</p> + + <p>That fierce draught put some strength and courage back into him; he stamped his + feet. "I'll make them give it up, by God," he swore. "Watch...."</p> + + <p>He started for the deck; and Faith, afraid for him, followed quietly behind. Passing + through the main cabin, he roared to the officers who were asleep in their bunks: "On + deck, all hands.... On deck, all hands...." They leaped out to obey him, not knowing + what to expect. He reached the deck, still bellowing: "On deck, all. On deck, every man + of you...." Brander was amidships; and he called: "Rout out the dogs, Mr. Brander. + Fetch them aft."</p> + + <p>The men came; they tumbled up from the fo'c's'le; they slid down from the + mastheads.... Harpooners, mates, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>under officers grouped themselves by the captain; the + crew faced him in a huddled group. He cursed them, man by man, for thieving dogs. + "Now," he swore at last. "Now some one o' you has got the stuff hid away. Out with it; + or I'll cut the heart out of you."</p> + + <p>He paused, looking about him with flickering, reddened eyes. No man stirred, but + Dan'l Tobey asked:</p> + + <p>"What's wrong, Cap'n Wing?"</p> + + <p>Noll told him, told them all, profanely. Somewhere there was hidden a store of + whiskey; he meant to have it. If the thief gave it up, so much the better. He would get + off with a rope's ending. If he persisted in silence, he would die.... Noll vowed that + by all the oaths he knew.</p> + + <p>The men stirred; they looked at their neighbors.... And then their eyes fastened on + the captain, with a curious intentness. They licked their lips; and Faith thought they + were enjoying this spectacle of Noll's weak rage.... She thought they were like dogs of + a pack, with hungry eyes, watching the futile anger of a dying man.... She was afraid + of them for an instant; then she was afraid of no man in the world.... She stood by + Noll Wing's side, proud and level-eyed.</p> + + <p>When Noll got no answer, his cackling fury waxed. He swore every man of them should + be tied up and flogged unless the guilty spoke. They scowled at that; and one of them + said sullenly:</p> + + <p>"It's no man forra'd a-doing this, sir.... Look aft, at them that had the + chance."</p> + + <p>The word seemed to focus the sullen hate among the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>men; they growled like beasts, + and surged a step forward. Brander, from the captain's side, moved toward them and + lashed at him who had spoken with a swift fist, so that the man fell and lay still as a + log. Brander looked down at the still man, faced the others. "Be silent," he said + quietly. "Unless you've a word to say to the captain about what he wants. And get + back.... Back into the waist; and stay...."</p> + + <p>They gave back before him; and Dan'l said softly from Brander's back: "They mind you + well, Mr. Brander. You've a rare control of them." The words were innocent enough, but + the tone was accusation. Brander faced the mate, and Dan'l grinned malignantly....</p> + + <p>Noll passed abruptly from threats to pleadings; he tried to cloak his pleading under + a mask of fellowship; he spoke to the men as to friends, beseeching them to yield what + he wanted. They remained silent; and his mask fell off, and he abased himself before + them with his words, so that old Tichel and Willis Cox were sickened, and Dan'l was + pleased. Brander made no sign; he stood loyally at the captain's side; and Faith was on + Noll's other hand....</p> + + <p>She was studying the faces of the men and of the officers, seeking for a shadow of + guilt. The men were sullen; but there was no shame in their eyes. There was nothing + furtive—save in the countenance of Mauger. The one-eyed man had ever a furtive + look; the twitching of his closed eye irresistibly suggested a malignant wink. Faith + watched him; she saw his eyes were fixed on Brander.... <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>In spite of herself, a cold + pang of doubt touched her.... Mauger had reason to hate Noll Wing.... Had he?...</p> + + <p>She put the thought away, to study Dan'l Tobey. But Dan'l, though he was obviously + content with matters, had no trace of guilt or fear in his demeanor. He was perfectly + assured, almost triumphant. Faith thought he could not appear so if he were the + thief.... Not Dan'l; not Willis Cox, nor Tichel.... Not Brander; she would not have it + so....</p> + + <p>Yet she could not keep her eyes away from Mauger's leering, chuckling, furtive + countenance.</p> + + <p>Abruptly, she touched Noll's arm. The captain was near a collapse.... He was + pleading helplessly, so that some of the men were beginning to grin. Faith touched his + arm; she said quietly:</p> + + <p>"Noll, do not beg. You are master."</p> + + <p>He caught himself together with a terrific effort.... He turned and stumbled away + down into the cabin, Faith after him. Dan'l came down a little later, respectful.... + "Why not put into port somewhere, sir?" he suggested. "Get what you want...."</p> + + <p>Noll clutched at that desperately.... "Aye, quick, Mr. Tobey. What's nearest?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l named the nearest island where they were like to find a trading post; Noll + nodded. "Put for it, Dan'l. All sail on. For God's sake, quickly, man!"</p> + + <p>Ten minutes later, the <i>Sally</i> heeled to a new tack.... And Noll, with Faith, + below in the cabin, bit at his nails, and tried to hold himself, and stifle the + appetite that was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>tearing him. His passion and pleading had burned out the effects of + the drink he had taken; his body agonized for more....</p> + + <p>By nightfall, Noll was shaking with an ague. He would not sleep that night. And + toward dawn, a brewing gale caught the <i>Sally</i>....</p> + + <p>She fought that storm till noon, giving way before it; and in the cabin Noll passed + from tremors to paroxysms of fright. He gnawed at his own flesh; and hallucinations + began to prey upon him. Faith fought him, bade him lie down, tried to soothe him. She + knew the danger of his enforced abstinence; she gave him a draught that should have + compelled sleep; but after an hour he woke with a scream, and clutched at her shoulders + with fingers that bit the flesh, and flung her away from him, and cowered in the most + distant corner, hands before him, shrieking:</p> + + <p>"Back, Mauger! Get away.... You devil! Mauger, get back.... Eh, man, get away.... By + God, I'll ... I never meant the kick, man.... Let be.... My God, let be...."</p> + + <p>She called softly: "It's Faith, Noll. It's Faith, Faith.... Not Mauger...."</p> + + <p>He recognized her, and ran and caught her and swung her around before him and + besought her to keep Mauger and his knife away. She told him, over and over: "He's not + here, Noll. He's not here. It's Faith...."</p> + + <p>He cried: "Look at his knife...." He pointed horribly. "His knife.... It's red, + now.... Look at the knife. Kill him, Faith.... Drive him away...."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>She held him against her breast as she would have held a child. Brander came to the + door, with Willis Cox. She called to them: "Stay away.... He's mine. I'll tend him." + Noll saw them, and screamed at Brander:</p> + + <p>"There! Him! There's a knife in his sleeve...."</p> + + <p>Brander slipped out of sight; she managed to quiet Noll for a space; but he broke + out again: "Mauger! He's coming, Faith.... There...." And then, to the man he thought + he saw: "Mauger! Get back, man. Let be.... God's sake...."</p> + + <p>Then he wept whisperingly to Faith: "See his eye! Down on his cheek.... Hanging.... + Make him put it back—where it belongs.... Mauger, man...."</p> + + <p>Bit by bit she wooed him back to sanity, or the semblance of it. He was quiet when + Dan'l Tobey came down; and when he saw Dan'l, Noll demanded:</p> + + <p>"Are we making it, Dan'l? Are we near there?..."</p> + + <p>Dan'l shook his head. "Not with this gale, sir.... We're going away...."</p> + + <p>Noll came to his feet, cat-like. "By God, you're all cowards. I'll bring her in. + I'll bring her in, I say...." He shook Faith away, went up to the deck with Dan'l at + his heels. The <i>Sally</i>, riding high as whalers do, was reasonably dry; but she was + fighting desperately in the gale, racking her rigging. The wind seemed to clear Noll's + head; he looked about, aloft.... Bellowed an order to get sail on her....</p> + + <p>Faith protested: "Noll, she'll never stand...."</p> + + <p>He brushed her away with clenched fist. She took shelter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>in a corner by the + deckhouse, ten feet from him..... And Noll Wing took the ship, and under his hand the + <i>Sally</i> did miracles....</p> + + <p>That fight with the storm was a thing men still talk about; they say it was an + inhuman and a marvelous thing. Noll stood aft, legs braced, scorning a hand hold. His + voice rang through the singing wind to the remotest corner of the <i>Sally</i>, and the + highest spar. Regardless of wind and sea, he crowded on sail, and brought her around to + the course he wished to take, and drove her into it.... Time and time again, during + that afternoon and that long night, every sane man aboard thought her very masts must + be torn out of her. Three times a sail did go; but Noll would never slacken. On the + after deck, he raved like a madman, but his commands were seamanly.... A miracle of + seamanship, stark madness.... But madness that succeeded. The <i>Sally</i> drove into + the gale, she fought as madly as Noll himself was fighting.... And Noll, aft, screamed + through the night and drove them on.</p> + + <p>Faith never left her post, so near him. No man aboard had sleep that night. No man + dared sleep, lest death find him in his dreams. Willis Cox and Tichel came to Noll more + than once, beseeching.... But he drove them away. Dan'l never interfered with the + captain; it seemed there was a madness on him, too. And Brander and Dan'l Tobey between + them were Noll's right hand and his left, driving the men to the tasks Noll set them, + holding them sternly in hand....</p> + + <p>They could only guess how far they had come through <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>the darkness. An hour before + daylight, Dan'l stopped to gasp to Faith: "We're near there, I'm thinking. If we're not + nearer the bottom...." Brander took more practical steps; he found Mauger, and set the + one-eyed man well forward, and bade him watch and listen for first sign of land. Mauger + nodded chucklingly; he gripped a hold on the taut lines, and set his one eye into the + darkness, and tuned his ear to the storm....</p> + + <p>The wind, by this time, was moderating; even Faith could feel a slackening of the + pressure of it that had torn at her garments the night through. She was weak with + fighting it; nevertheless she held her post. And the steady thrust of the gale slowly + modified and gave way.... The first hints of light showed in the skies.... They caught + glimpses of scudding clouds, low overhead.... But the worst was passed; and every man + knew it. Noll, still standing like a colossus at his post, knew it; and he shook his + fist at the skies and the sea, and he cursed the wind and dared it.... Faith could see + him, dimly, in the coming light.... Head bare, eyes frantic, cheeks sunken.... An + enormous, but a wasted figure of a man....</p> + + <p>The very waters about them were quieting somewhat.... Their nerves and their muscles + relaxed; they were straining their eyes to see into the dimness of the coming + day....</p> + + <p>It was Mauger, in the bows, who caught first hint of danger. He saw that they drove + abruptly from long-rolling swells into quieter waters.... He stared off to windward, + looking to see what had broken the force of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>seas.... Saw nothing; but thought he + heard a rumbling roar there.... Looked forward, where the less turbulent waters were + piling ahead of them....</p> + + <p>Looked forward, and glimpsed a line of white that lived and never died; and he + turned and streamed a warning aft.... Ran, to carry the word himself.... Screaming as + he ran....</p> + + <p>Brander, amidships, heard him and shouted to Noll Wing; but Noll did not hear. The + captain was intoxicated with the long battle; he was delirious with the cry of tortured + nerves and starved body.... He did not hear. Mauger flashed past Brander as he ran.... + The one-eyed man's screams were inarticulate now.... Too late, in any case....</p> + + <p>Noll saw Mauger coming; and he put up his hands; and his eyes glared. He shrieked + with overwhelming terror.... Mauger flung on. Then the <i>Sally's</i> bows drove on the + solid sand; Mauger sprawled; men everywhere fell headlong. Noll was thrown back against + the after rail....</p> + + <p>Mauger rolled over and over where he fell; and it chanced that his sheath knife + dropped out in the fall, and touched his hand. He had it in his fingers when he + scrambled to his feet, still intent on bearing his warning. He had the knife in his + hand, he leaped toward the wheel.... He did not realize it was too late to swerve the + <i>Sally</i>.... Toward the wheel, knife in hand, forgetting knife and Noll + Wing....</p> + + <p>To Noll's eyes, Mauger must have looked like a charging fiend; he saw the knife. He + screamed again, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>turned and flung himself in desperate flight but over the after + rail.</p> + + <p>He was instantly gone. Perhaps the undertow, perhaps some creature of the sea, + perhaps the fates that had hung over him struck then. But those aboard the <i>Sally + Sims</i> were never to see Noll Wing, nor Noll's dead body, again.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + + <p>Dawn came abruptly; a lowering dawn, with gray and greasy clouds racing past so low + they seemed to scrape and tear themselves upon the tips of the masts. No sun showed; + there was no light in the sky. The dawn was evidenced only by a lessening of the + blackness of the night. They could see; there was no fog, but a steady rain sprang up, + and clouded objects at a little distance....</p> + + <p>This rain had one good effect; it beat down the turbulence of the waves. Faith, from + the bow, could see that they had grounded upon a sandy beach which spread like a + crescent to right and left. The tips of the crescent were rocky points which sheltered + the <i>Sally</i> from the force of the seas. She was not pounding upon the sand; she + lay where she had struck, heeled a little to one side.... There were breakers about her + and ahead of her upon the sand; but these were not dangerous. They were caused by the + reflex tumult of the waters, stirred up in this sheltered bay in sympathy with the + storm outside.</p> + + <p>That gale was dying, now. Above them the wind still raced and played with the flying + clouds; but there was no pressure of it upon what little canvas the <i>Sally</i> still + flew. They were at peace....</p> + + <p>At peace. Faith, studying the position of the <i>Sally</i>, was herself at peace. + This was her first reaction to her husband's death; she was at peace. Noll was gone, + Noll <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>Wing whom she had loved and married.... Poor Noll; she pitied him; she was + conscious of a still-living affection for him.... There was no hate in her; there was + little sorrow.... He was gone; but life had burdened him too long. He was well rid of + it, she thought.... Well rid of his tormented flesh; well rid of the terror which had + pursued him....</p> + + <p>When Noll went over the stern, Dan'l Tobey appeared from nowhere, and saw Mauger + with the knife in his hand, standing paralyzed with horror. Dan'l fell upon Mauger, + fists flying.... He downed the little man, dropped on him with both knees, gripped for + his throat.... Then Brander, coming from the waist of the ship on Mauger's heels, + caught Dan'l by the collar and jerked him to his feet. Dan'l's hands, clenched on + Mauger's throat, lifted the little man a foot from the deck before they let go to grip + for Brander. The men clustered aft; old Tichel's teeth bared.... In another moment, + there would have been a death-battle astir upon the littered decks.</p> + + <p>But Faith cried through the gloom: "Dan'l. Mr. Brander. Drop it. Stand away."</p> + + <p>There was a command in her clear tones which Dan'l must have obeyed; and Brander did + as she bade instinctively. The two still faced each other, heads forward, shoulders + lowered.... Behind Brander, Mauger crawled to his feet, choking and fumbling at his + throat. Faith said to Dan'l:</p> + + <p>"It was not the fault of Mauger, Dan'l."</p> + + <p>"He had a knife...."</p> + + <p>"He fell," she said. "I saw. He fell when she struck; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>his knife dropped from its + sheath.... He picked it up.... That was all."</p> + + <p>"All?" Dan'l protested. "He drove Noll Wing to death."</p> + + <p>She shook her head. "No.... Noll's own terrors. Noll was mad...."</p> + + <p>"What was he doing aft, then? He'd no place here...."</p> + + <p>Brander explained: "I had him forward, watching for breakers. He saw them, and + yelled, and when no one heard he raced to give the word...."</p> + + <p>Faith nodded. "Yes; he was gripping for the wheel to swing it down, even when + Noll...."</p> + + <p>Dan'l swung to Brander. "You're over quick to come between me and the men, Mr. + Brander," he said harshly. "Best mend that."</p> + + <p>"I'll not see Mauger smashed for no fault," Brander told him steadily. Dan'l took a + step nearer the other.</p> + + <p>"You'll understand, I'm master here, now."</p> + + <p>There was battle in Brander's eyes. Men's blood was hot that morning.... But Faith + stepped between. "Dan'l. Noll's gone. First thing is to get the <i>Sally</i> free."</p> + + <p>Dan'l still eyed Brander for a moment; then he drew back, swung away, looked around. + The island they had struck was barely visible through the drifting rain.... He said: + "This is not where we headed."</p> + + <p>"You know this place?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Then we'll get clear as quick as may be."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>He smiled sneeringly: "I'm thinking we're here to stay, Faith. Leastwise, the + <i>Sally</i>...."</p> + + <p>"The <i>Sally</i> does not stay here," Faith told him sternly. "She floats; she + fills her casks; she goes safely home to Jonathan Felt," she said. "Mark that, Dan'l. + That's the way of it, and nothing else."</p> + + <p>Dan'l said sullenly: "You're not over concerned for Noll's going."</p> + + <p>"He's gone," said Faith. "An end to that. But the <i>Sally</i> was his charge; she's + my charge now. I mean to see her safe."</p> + + <p>"Your charge?" Dan'l echoed. "It's in my mind that when the captain dies, the mate + succeeds."</p> + + <p>"You take his place, if I choose," Faith told him.</p> + + <p>He met her eyes, tried to look her down. Mauger had slipped away; old Tichel, and + Willis Cox, and Brander were standing by. "You take his place, if I choose," Faith + repeated. And Dan'l looked from her to the faces of the officers....</p> + + <p>There was a weakness in Dan'l's villainy; he could destroy, he could undermine + trust, seduce a boy, kill honor.... But he lacked constructive ability. He had known + for months that this moment must come, this moment when Noll was gone, and the ship and + all the treasures aboard her should lie ready to his hand. Yet he had made no plan for + this crisis; he did not know what he meant to do. Even now, by open battle he might + have won, carried the day. Old Tichel was certainly for him; perhaps Willis, too. And + Roy.... And many of the men.... A blow, a fight, and the day might have been + his....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>But Dan'l was never a hand for strife where guile might do as well; he was not by + nature a man of battle. Also ... Faith was within his reach, now; Noll was gone; there + was no barrier between them; he need not anger her, so long as there was a chance to + win by gentler ways.... Gentler ways, guileful.... He nodded in abrupt assent.</p> + + <p>"All right," he said. "You were Noll's wife; your interest is a fair one.... I'll + work with you, Faith...."</p> + + <p>Faith was content with that for the moment. "We'll get the <i>Sally</i> away," she + said.</p> + + <p>Dan'l smiled. "And—how?..."</p> + + <p>"Get out a kedge; we'll try to warp her off when the tide comes in."</p> + + <p>He chuckled. "Oh, aye.... We'll try."</p> + + <p>"Do," said Faith; and she turned and went below. Went below, and wept a little for + pity of old Noll, and then dried her eyes and strengthened her heart for the task + before her.... To bring Noll's ship safely home....</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>It was mid-tide when the <i>Sally</i> struck; and this was in some measure + fortunate, because the ebbing waters left her free of the rollers that might have + driven her hard and fast upon the sand. They broke against her stern, but with no great + force behind them. At the slack on the ebb, the men could wade about her bows, to their + waist in the water.... They got the kedge out, astern, and carried a whale line about + the capstan; and when the tide came quietly in again, they waited for the flood, then + strove at the bars to warp her free....</p> + + <p>When she did not stir, though the men strove till their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>veins were like to burst, + some cursed despairingly; but Faith did not. Nor Dan'l. Dan'l was quiet, watching, + smiling at his thoughts.... He let Faith have her way. Before the next tide, they had + rigged the cutting-in tackle to give a stouter pull at the kedge; but this time the + whale line parted and lashed along the decks, and more than one man was struck and + bruised and cut by it....</p> + + <p>Dan'l said then: "You see, we're here to stay. Best thing is to lower and make for + the nearest port."</p> + + <p>"Leave the ship?" Faith asked.</p> + + <p>"Yes. What else?"</p> + + <p>"No. We'll not leave her."</p> + + <p>He smiled. "What, then?"</p> + + <p>"It's a week past full moon," she said. "There'll be higher tides on the new + moon.... Still higher on the next full. We'll float her, one time or another."</p> + + <p>Dan'l chuckled. "An easterly'll drive her high and dry, 'fore then."</p> + + <p>Faith's eyes blazed. "I tell you, Dan'l, we stick with the <i>Sally</i>; and we get + her safe away.... Are you afraid to stick?"</p> + + <p>He laughed, outright, pleasantly. "Pshaw, Faith.... You know I'm not afraid." He + could be likeable when he tried; she liked him, faintly, in that moment. She gripped + his hand.</p> + + <p>"Good, Dan'l. We'll manage it, in the end...."</p> + + <p>So they settled for the waiting; and Dan'l put the men to work repairing the harm + the storm had done the <i>Sally</i>. Her rigging was strained; it had parted here and + there. She had lost some canvas. Willis Cox's boat had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>carried away.... They rove + new rigging, spread new sails, replaced Willis's boat with one of the spares.... There + was work for all hands for a month, to put the <i>Sally</i> in shape again.</p> + + <p>One thing favored them. The <i>Sally</i>, for all her clumsy lines, was staunch; and + the shock when, she drove her bow upon the sand had opened never a seam. She was + leaking no more than a sweet ship will. They found a cask or two of oil that had burst + in the hold; and there was some confusion among the stores.... But these were small + matters, easily set right....</p> + + <p>The new moon was due on the fifth day after they struck. On the fourth, another + bottle of whiskey appeared in the fo'c's'le, and two men were drunk. Dan'l had the men + whipped.... Faith made no objection to this; but she watched the faces of the + others.... Watched the officers, and Brander in particular, and Mauger.... Brander, + since that morning of Noll's death, had avoided her more strictly.... He and Dan'l did + not speak, save when they must. She saw the man was keeping a guard upon himself; and + she puzzled over this. She could not know that Brander was afire with joy at the new + hope that was awakening in him; afire with a vision of her.... He fought against this, + held himself in check; and she saw only that he was morose and still and that he + avoided her eye....</p> + + <p>The high tides of the new moon failed to float them; and there was growling forward. + Dan'l said, openly, that he believed they would never go free. The men heard; and the + superstitions of the sea began to play about the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>fo'c's'le. There was unrest; the men + felt approaching the possible liberation from ship's discipline when they abandoned the + <i>Sally</i>. They remembered the ambergris beneath the cabin. There was a fortune.... + They could take no oil with them; but they could take that when the time should come to + leave the ship. Plenty of room in one boat for it and half a dozen men besides.... They + fretted at the waiting, called it hopeless, as Dan'l did.... The barrier between + officers and men was somewhat lowered; more than one of the men spoke to Brander of the + ambergris. Did he claim it for his own?...</p> + + <p>Faith, one day, heard a man talking to Brander amidships; she caught only a word or + two. One of these words was "'Gris." She saw that the man was asking Brander a + question; she saw that on Brander's answer, the man grinned with greed in his eyes, and + turned away to whisper to two of his fellows....</p> + + <p>She wondered what Brander had said to him, why Brander had not silenced the man. And + she watched Brander the closer, her heart sickening with a fear she would not + name....</p> + + <p>They had landed before this and explored their island.... Low and flat and no more + than a mile or two in extent, it had fruit a-plenty, and a spring of good water.... But + none dwelt anywhere upon it. It soon palled upon them; they stuck by the ship; and the + days held clear and fine and the nights were warm, and the crescent moon above them + flattened, night by night, till it was no longer a crescent, but half a circle of + silver radiance that touched the beach and the trees and the sea with magic + fingers....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>That night, with the fall tides still a week away, Roy Kilcup came into the waist + and looked aft. There was no officer in sight at the moment save old Tichel, and Roy + hailed him softly.... Tichel went forward to where the boy stood; they whispered + together. Then Tichel went with Roy toward the fo'c's'le....</p> + + <p>Faith was in her cabin; Dan'l was in the main cabin; and Willis and Brander were + playing cribbage near him when the outcry forward roused them. A man yelled.... They + were on deck in tumbling haste; and Faith was at their heels....</p> + + <p>Came Tichel, dragging Mauger by the collar. His right hand gripped Mauger; his left + held a bottle. He shook the one-eyed man till Mauger's teeth rattled; and he brandished + the bottle. "Caught the pig," he cried furiously. "Here he is. With this hid under his + blanket...."</p> + + <p>Mauger protested: "I never put it there...." Tichel cuffed him into silence. Dan'l + asked sharply:</p> + + <p>"What's that, Mr. Tichel?"</p> + + <p>"Whiskey, Mr. Tobey. He took it forward and hid it in his bunk...."</p> + + <p>Faith said: "Tell the whole of it, Mr. Tichel. What happened?" She looked from + Tichel to Brander. Brander was standing stiffly; she thought his face was white. Mauger + hung in Tichel's grip.</p> + + <p>Old Tichel had given a promise to Roy; Roy had begged him not to tell that the boy + had spied. Tichel said now:</p> + + <p>"I saw him go forra'd, with something under his coat. Never thought for a minute; + then it come to me what it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>might be. I took after him. Rest of the men were on deck, + sleeping.... It's hot, below, you'll mind. I dropped down quietly. Mauger, here, was in + his bunk. I routed him out, and rummaged, and there you are, ma'am." He shook the + bottle triumphantly.</p> + + <p>Faith asked the one-eyed man: "Where did you get it, Mauger?"</p> + + <p>"Never knowed it was there," Mauger swore. "Honest t'the Lord, ma'am...."</p> + + <p>Tichel slapped his face stunningly.... Faith said: "No more of that, Mr. Tichel. + Dan'l, what do you think?"</p> + + <p>Dan'l lifted his hand, with a glance at Brander. "Why—nothing! Somebody's been + doing it; him as well as another."</p> + + <p>"Willis," Faith asked. "What's your notion?"</p> + + <p>"I guess Mauger done it."</p> + + <p>"Brander?"</p> + + <p>Brander lifted his head and met her eyes. "Other men have found whiskey in their + bunks without knowing how it got there," he said. "I believe Mauger."</p> + + <p>Old Tichel snarled: "I'm saying I saw him take it aft." He dropped Mauger and took a + fierce step toward Brander. "Ye think I'd lie?"</p> + + <p>"I think you're mistaken," Brander said evenly. Tichel leaped at him; Brander + gripped the other's arms at the elbow, held him. Faith, said sharply:</p> + + <p>"Enough of that. We'll end this thing, to-night. Mr. Tobey, get lanterns, lights, + search the ship till you find the rest of this stuff." She took the whiskey bottle, + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>opened it, and poured its contents over the rail. "Search it out," she said. "Be about + it."</p> + + <p>Save Dan'l Tobey, the officers stood stock still, as though not understanding. Dan'l + acted as quickly as though he had expected the order. He sent Silva, the harpooner, to + get the fo'm'st hands together forward and keep them there under his eye. He sent + Tichel and Yella' Boy into the main hold; Willis and Long Jim into the after 'tween + decks. Brander and Eph Hitch were to search the cabin and the captain's storeroom; and + Faith went down with them to give them the keys.... Loum, Kellick, and Tinch, the cook, + were put to rummaging about the after deck and amidships....</p> + + <p>There was no need of lights upon the deck itself; the moon bathed the <i>Sally</i> + in its rays, and one might have read by them without undue effort. Below, the whale-oil + lanterns went to and fro.... Brander and Hitch made short work of their task; and they + came on deck with Faith. Dan'l sent Brander to rummage through the steerage where the + harpooners slept; and at Faith's suggestion, Hitch and Loum went aloft to the mastheads + to make sure there was no secret cache there.... They were an hour or more at their + search of the <i>Sally</i>; and at the end of that time they were no wiser than they + were before. Faith had gone below before the end; she came on deck as Tichel and Yella' + Boy reported nothing found below. She asked Dan'l:</p> + + <p>"Have you found anything?"</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>"Where have you looked?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>Dan'l said: "Everywhere aboard her, Faith. The stuff's well hidden, sure...."</p> + + <p>Faith said quietly: "If it's not on the <i>Sally</i>, it's near her. Search the + boats, Mr. Tobey."</p> + + <p>Dan'l nodded. "But it'd not be in them," he said. "That's sure enough."</p> + + <p>"It's nowhere else, you say. Try...."</p> + + <p>Willis Cox and Brander turned toward where their boats hung by the rail; and Faith + called quietly: "Willis, Mr. Brander. Let Mr. Tobey do the searching."</p> + + <p>Willis stopped readily enough; Brander—forewarned, perhaps, by some + instinctive fear—hesitated; she spoke to him again. "Mr. Brander."</p> + + <p>He stood still where he was. Dan'l was looking through his own boat at the moment. + He passed to old Tichel's; to that of Willis Cox. Brander's came last. He flashed his + lantern in it as he had in the others, studied it from bow to stern, opened the stern + locker beneath the cuddy boards....</p> + + <p>There was a jug there; a jug that in the other boats had contained water. He pulled + the stopper and smelled....</p> + + <p>"By God, Faith, it's here!" he cried.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + + <p>The closer the bond between man and man, or between man and woman, the easier it is + to embroil them, one with another. It is hard for an outsider to provoke a quarrel + between strangers, or between casual acquaintances; but it is not hard for a crafty man + to make dissension between friends; and almost any one may, if he chooses, bring about + discord between lovers. And this is a strange and a contradictory thing.</p> + + <p>When Dan'l found the whiskey in Brander's boat, and came toward Faith with the open + jug in his hands, Faith stood with a white face, looking steadily at Brander, and not + at Dan'l at all. Brander had made one move when Dan'l lifted the jug; he had stepped + quickly toward the boat, but Faith spoke quietly to him, and he stopped, and looked at + her....</p> + + <p>Dan'l was watching the two of them. Mauger saw a chance, and as the mate passed + where the one-eyed man crouched, Mauger leaped at him to snatch the whiskey away. + Tichel caught Mauger from behind, and held him....</p> + + <p>The little man had had the best intentions in the world; but this movement on his + part completed the evidence of Brander's guilt; for Mauger was Brander's man, loyal as + a dog, and Faith knew it. She thought quickly, remembering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>the past days, remembering + Mauger's furtive air and Brander's aloofness, and his support of Mauger against + Tichel.... She was sure, before Dan'l reached her with the jug, that Mauger and Brander + were guilty as Judas.... That Brander was guilty as Judas.... She scarce considered + Mauger at all.</p> + + <p>Dan'l handed her the jug, and she smelled at it. Whiskey, beyond a doubt. She took + it to the rail and poured it overside as she had poured the contents of the bottle. + Then came slowly back and handed the empty jug to Brander.</p> + + <p>"This is yours," she said. "You had best rinse it and fill it with water and put it + in your boat again."</p> + + <p>The moon was bright upon them as they stood on the deck. He could see her face, he + could see her eyes; and he saw that she thought him guilty. His soul sickened with the + bitterness of it; and his lips twisted in a smile.</p> + + <p>"Very well," he said.</p> + + <p>She looked at him, a little wistfully. "You're not denying it's yours?"</p> + + <p>He shook his head. "No." If she believed, let her believe. He was furious with + her....</p> + + <p>"Why did you do it?" she asked.</p> + + <p>He said nothing; and she looked up at him a moment more, and then turned to Mauger. + "Why did you do it?" she asked the little man.</p> + + <p>Mauger squinted sidewise at Brander. Mauger was Brander's man; and all his loyalty + was to Brander. Brander chose not to speak, not to deny the charge she laid against + them.... All right; if Brander could keep <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>silent, so could he. If Brander would not + deny, neither would he. He grinned at Faith; and the closed lids that covered his empty + eye-socket seemed to wink; but he said nothing at all.</p> + + <p>Dan'l Tobey chuckled at Brander. "Eh, Brander, I'm ashamed for ye," he said. "Such + an example t'the crew."</p> + + <p>Brander held silent. He was waiting for Faith to speak....</p> + + <p>When neither Brander nor Mauger would answer her, Faith turned her back on them all + and went to the after rail and stood there alone, thinking.... She knew Dan'l would + wait on her word.... What was she to do? She needed Brander; she would need him more + and more.... Dan'l was never to be trusted; she must have a man at her back.... + Brander.... In spite of her belief that he had done this thieving, she trusted him.... + And loved him.... Loved him so that as she stood there with her back to them all, the + tears rolled down her cheeks, and her nails dug at her palms.... Why had he done this? + Why did he not deny? Protest? Defend himself? She loved him so much that she hated him. + If he had offended against herself alone, she might have forgiven.... But by stealing + whiskey and giving it to the crew he was striking at the welfare of the <i>Sally + Sims</i> herself.... And the <i>Sally</i> was dearer to Faith just now than + herself.</p> + + <p>He had struck at the <i>Sally</i>; she set her lips and brushed the tears from her + cheeks and turned back to them. "Mr. Tobey," she said. "Put Mr. Brander in irons, + below. Give Mauger a whipping and send him forward." She hesitated a moment, glanced at + Willis. "If you'll come <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>down to the cabin with me," she said, "I'll give you the + irons."</p> + + <p>Willis stepped toward her; and with no further glance for Brander, she turned and + went below.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>They had been two weeks hard and fast on the sand; there was another week ahead of + them. An easterly storm would cement them into the sand beyond any help; and the men + looked for it daily.... For the rest, there was little to do. The <i>Sally</i> was in + shape again, ready to be off if she had the chance.... The men, with black faces, + loafed about the fore deck and whispered man to man; and Dan'l went among them now and + then, and talked much with Roy, and some with the others.... Roy was elated in those + days; the boy went about with shining eyes and triumphant lips. Every other face among + the crew was morose save his....</p> + + <p>Dan'l was not morose. He was overly cheerful in those days. He spoke in louder tones + than was his custom; and there was no caustic bite to his tongue. But his eyes were + narrower, and more furtive.... And once or twice Faith saw him turn away from a word + with some of the crew and catch sight of her watching him, and flush uneasily....</p> + + <p>But Faith scarce heeded; she was sick with sorrow, and sick with anxiety.... The + tides were rising higher every day; she watched for the hour when they should lift the + <i>Sally</i>.... And at each high tide, she made the men stand to the capstan bars, and + fight in desperate efforts to fetch the <i>Sally</i> free. The day before the night of + the full of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>moon, she had them fetch up casks from the hold and lower them overside + and raft them there.... Cask after cask, as many as the men could handle during the + day, so that the <i>Sally</i> was lighter at nightfall than she had ever been + before.</p> + + <p>The tide was at the flood that night at nine; and for half an hour before, and for a + full hour after the waters had begun to ebb, every man of them strove to stir the + <i>Sally</i>.... And strove fruitlessly; for the ship seemed fast-bedded in the sand, + beyond moving. At ten o'clock, Faith left the deck and went sick-heartedly + below....</p> + + <p>At half past ten, Dan'l knocked on the door of the after cabin, and she bade him + come in. He opened the door, shut it behind him, looked at her with his cap in his + hands for a space, then sat down on the seat beside the desk where she was sitting.</p> + + <p>"Eh, Faith," he said, "we're stuck."</p> + + <p>For a moment, she did not answer; then she lifted her head and looked at him. + "There's a high tide to-morrow night; comes a bit higher than it is on the flood," she + said. "We'll get out more casks to-morrow, and to-morrow night we'll float her."</p> + + <p>Dan'l shook his head slowly. "You're brave, Faith, and strong.... But the sea's + stronger. I've sailed them long enough to know."</p> + + <p>She said steadfastly: "The <i>Sally Sims</i> has got to come free. It's in my mind + to get her off if we have to take every stick out of her and lift her off + ourselves...."</p> + + <p>"If we could do it, I'd be with you," he told her. "But we can't, Faith."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>"We will," she said.</p> + + <p>He smiled, studied her for a moment, then leaned toward her, resting his hands on + the desk. "Faith," he said softly, "you're a wonderful, brave woman."</p> + + <p>She looked at him with a weary flicker of lips and eyes that might have passed for a + smile. "It's not that I'm brave, Dan'l," she said. "It's just that I'll not let Noll + Wing's ship rot here when it should be bound home t'the other side of the world."</p> + + <p>"Noll Wing's ship?" he echoed. "Eh, Faith, but Noll Wing is dead and gone."</p> + + <p>She nodded. "Yes."</p> + + <p>"He's dead and gone, Faith," he repeated swiftly. "He's dead, and gone.... And but + for Noll Wing, Faith, you'd have loved me, three year ago."</p> + + <p>She looked up, then, and studied him, and she said softly: "You'll mind, Dan'l, that + Noll Wing is not but three weeks dead.... Even now."</p> + + <p>"Three weeks dead!" he cried. "Have I not seen? He's been a dead man this year past; + a dead man that walked and talked and swore.... But dead this year past. You've been a + widow for a year, Faith...."</p> + + <p>She shook her head. "So long as the <i>Sally</i> lies here on the sand," she said, + "I'm not Noll Wing's widow; I'm his wife. It was his job to bring her home; and so it + is my job, too. And will be, till she's fast to the wharf at home."</p> + + <p>"Then you'll die his wife, Faith; for the <i>Sally</i>'ll never stir from here."</p> + + <p>"If she never does," said Faith, "I'll die Noll Wing's wife, as you say."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>He cried breathlessly: "What was Noll Wing that you should cling to him so, + Faith?"</p> + + <p>"He was the man I loved," she said.</p> + + <p>His face blackened, and his fist banged the desk. "Aye; and but for him you'd have + loved me. Loved me...."</p> + + <p>"I never told you that, Dan'l."</p> + + <p>"But 'twas true. I could see. You'd have loved me, Faith...."</p> + + <p>"Dan'l," she said slowly, "I'm in no mind to talk so much of love, this night."</p> + + <p>The man sat back in silence for a space, not looking at her; nor did she look at + him. In the end, however, he shaped his words afresh. "Faith," he said softly, "we were + boy and girl together, you and I. Grew up together, played together.... I loved you + before you were more than a girl. Before you ever saw Noll Wing. Can you remember?"</p> + + <p>He was striving with all his might to win her; and Faith said gently: "Yes, Dan'l. I + remember."</p> + + <p>"When I sailed away, last cruise but one, you kissed me, Faith. Do you mind?"</p> + + <p>She looked at him in honest surprise. "I kissed you, Dan'l?"</p> + + <p>"Yes. On the forehead...."</p> + + <p>She shook her head. "I don't remember ... at all."</p> + + <p>If he had been wholly wise, he would have known that her not remembering was the end + of him; but Dan'l in that moment was not even a little wise. He was playing for a big + stake; Faith was never so lovely in his eyes; and there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>was desperation in him. He was + blind with the heat of his own desire.... He cried now:</p> + + <p>"You do remember. You're pretending, Faith. You could not forget. You loved me then; + and, Faith, you love me now."</p> + + <p>She shook her head. "No, Dan'l. Have done."</p> + + <p>"I love you, Faith; you love me, now."</p> + + <p>"No."</p> + + <p>He leaned very close to her. "You do not know; you're not listening to your heart. I + know more of your heart than you know, Faith...."</p> + + <p>"No, no, no, Dan'l," she said insistently.</p> + + <p>He flamed at her in sudden fury: "If it's not me, it's Brander.... Him that + you...."</p> + + <p>"Brander?" she cried, in a passion. "Brander? The thief that's lying now in the + irons I put upon him? Him? Him you say I love?"</p> + + <p>The very force of her anger should have told him the truth; but he was so blind that + it served only to rejoice him. "I knew it," he cried. "I knew it. So you love me, + Faith?..."</p> + + <p>"Must a woman always be loving?" she demanded wearily.</p> + + <p>"Aye, Faith. It's the nature of them.... Always to be loving.... Some one. With you, + Faith, it's me. Listen and see...."</p> + + <p>"Dan'l," she said steadily, "what's the end of all this? What's the end of it all? + What would you have me do?"</p> + + <p>"Love me," he told her.</p> + + <p>"What else?"</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>"See the truth," he said. "Understand that the <i>Sally</i> is lost.... Fast + aground, here, to rot her bones away.... See that it's hopeless and wild to stick by + her. We'll get out the boats. You and I and Roy and a man or two will take one; the + others may have the other craft. It's not fifty miles to..."</p> + + <p>"Leave the <i>Sally</i>?" she demanded.</p> + + <p>"Yes."</p> + + <p>"I'll not talk with you, Dan'l. I'll never do that."</p> + + <p>"There's th' ambergris," he reminded her. "We'll take that. It will recompense old + Jonathan for his <i>Sally</i> and her oil."</p> + + <p>Her word was so sharp that it checked him; he was up on his feet, bending above her, + pouring out his pleadings.... But she threw him into silence with that last word; and + the red flush of passion in his face blackened to something worse, and his tongue + thickened with the heat in him. He bent a little nearer, while her eyes met his + steadily; and his hands dropped and gripped her arms above the elbows. She came to her + feet, facing him....</p> + + <p>"Dan'l," she said warningly.</p> + + <p>"If you'll not go because you will, you'll go because you must," he told her huskily + and harshly. "Go because you must.... Whine at my feet afore I'm through with you. Beg + me to marry you in th' end...."</p> + + <p>If she had been able to hold still, to hold his eyes with hers, she might have + mastered him even then; for in any match of courage against courage, she was the + stronger. But the horror of him overwhelmed her; she tried to wrench away. The struggle + of her fired him.... In a battle of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>strength and strength she had no chance. He swung + her against his chest, and she flung her head back that her lips might escape him. He + laughed. His lips were dry and twitching as she fought to be away from him; he held her + for an instant, held her striving body against his own to revel in its + struggles....</p> + + <p>He had her thus in his arms, forcing her back, crushing her, when the door flung + open and Roy Kilcup stood there. The boy cried in desperate warning:</p> + + <p>"Dan'l, Brander is...."</p> + + <p>Then he comprehended that which he saw; and he screamed with the fury of an animal, + and flung himself at Dan'l, tearing at the man with his strength of a boy.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> + + <p>Dan'l had laid his plans well; he had felt sure of success; but he had not counted + on trouble with Faith. He thought, after their failure to float the <i>Sally</i>, she + would be crushed and ready to fall into his arms; ready at least to yield to his advice + and come away and leave the <i>Sally Sims</i> where she lay.</p> + + <p>After that, Dan'l counted on separating the crew by losing the other boats. The + ambergris would be in his; he would master the men with him.... Faith and the treasure + would be his....</p> + + <p>Brander was to stay in the <i>Sally</i>, ironed in the after 'tween decks. Dan'l + thought Brander was destroyed by the evidence of his thieving; he no longer feared the + man.</p> + + <p>Not all the crew would go with him when he left the ship. Old Tichel had refused. + "I've waited all my days to be cap'n of a craft," Tichel declared. "With you gone, I'm + master o' the <i>Sally</i>, I'll stay and get the feeling of it." And Dan'l was willing + to let him stay. Willis Cox agreed to do as Faith decided. Long Jim, the harpooner, was + loyal to Tichel. Loum, Dan'l did not trust. The man might stay with Brander if he + chose.</p> + + <p>But Dan'l had on his side Kellick, the steward; and Yella' Boy, and Silva, and four + seamen from forward, and seven of those who had shipped as green hands. Silva hated + Brander no less than Dan'l, for Brander had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>given the mate's berth that Silva + claimed.... Silva was Dan'l's right-hand man in his plans.</p> + + <p>And Roy, of course, was Dan'l's, to do with as he chose.</p> + + <p>Mauger got some whisperings of all this in the fo'c's'le. There was no effort to + keep it secret from him; no effort to keep the matter secret at all. Dan'l had said + openly that if the <i>Sally</i> did not float, he was for deserting her; those might + come with him who chose. Save Mauger, there were none openly against him. Tichel would + stay, Willis waited on Faith's word, but the rest held off and swung neither one way + nor another.</p> + + <p>All of which Mauger, with infinite stealth, told Brander, sneaking down into the + after 'tween decks at peril of his skin, night after night; and Brander, fast-ironed + there, and taking his calamities very philosophically, praised the little man. "Keep + your eyes open," he said. "Bring me any word you get. Warn me in full time. + And—find me a good, keen file."</p> + + <p>Mauger fetched the file, pilfering it from the tool chest of Eph Hitch, the cooper. + Brander worked patiently at his bonds, submitting without protest to his captivity.</p> + + <p>That night of the full moon, after they had failed to float the <i>Sally</i>, Dan'l + called Silva and bade him prepare two boats. "Get food and water into them," he said. + "Plenty. Make them ready. Tell the rest of them to lower if they've a mind. I'm for + leaving."</p> + + <p>Silva grinned his understanding. He asked a question. Dan'l said: "I'm going down, + now, to convince her. She'll come, no fear."</p> + + <p>He went below and left Silva to prepare the boats. Old <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>Tichel was on deck, but + Willis had gone below. Tichel did not molest Silva. Discipline had evaporated on the + <i>Sally</i>; it was every man for himself. Those who were for leaving ship were hotly + impatient; and one boat full of men lowered and drew slowly away toward the mouth of + the cove where the <i>Sally</i> lay. There was no wind; the sea was glassy; and their + oars stirred the water into sparkling showers like jewels. Kellick and Yella' Boy and + four seamen were in that boat. Five of the green hands and Tinch, the cook, caught the + infection, and dumped food into another and water, and followed....</p> + + <p>Silva got his boat overside. He had with him two men, men of his choosing who had + signed as green hands but were stalwarts now. He saw that the boat was ready, then + stood in her by the rail, waiting for Dan'l to come with Faith. Roy was on the after + deck, where he would join them.</p> + + <p>The men in the two boats that had already put off were lying on their oars, half a + mile away, watching the <i>Sally</i>. In all their minds was the thought of the + ambergris. They had no notion of leaving that behind; and they did not mean to be + tricked of their share in it. Silva could see the boats idly drifting....</p> + + <p>Mauger had slipped down to Brander with the word. "Two boats gone a'ready," he said. + "Silva waiting for Dan'l Tobey, now."</p> + + <p>"Where's Faith?" Brander asked.</p> + + <p>"In the cabin. Mr. Tobey went to her. He've not come up, yet."</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>Brander considered. "Fetch a handspike," he said; and Mauger crawled on deck and + returned with it, and Brander pried open the irons he had filed apart. He stood up and + shook himself to ease the ache of his muscles. "Now," he said, "let's go see...."</p> + + <p>He climbed up on deck, Mauger at his heels, and started aft. Roy saw him coming, and + Silva, from the rail, marked his movements and watched. Roy dropped into the cabin to + warn Dan'l; Brander leaped to follow him. Silva spoke to his two men, and plunged up to + the deck and darted after Brander.</p> + + <p>Brander was at the foot of the companion ladder in the cabin when Roy threw open the + door of the after cabin to shout his warning; he saw, as Roy saw, Dan'l gripping Faith + and struggling with her. He heard Roy's cry.... Leaped that way....</p> + + <p>Roy was before him. Roy, grown into a man in that moment. Dan'l had told him they + would leave the ship, told him nothing more. Roy hated his sister, and Dan'l knew this, + and feared no trouble from the boy. But he forgot that a boy's hate is not over strong. + When Roy saw Faith in Dan'l's arms, helplessly fighting against his kisses, he leaped + to protect her as though there had never been harsh words between them. Roy was on + Faith's side, thenceforward.</p> + + <p>The boy gripped Dan'l from behind; and for an instant more Dan'l clung to Faith. His + encircling arm tightened about her so that she thought her ribs would crack; and when + he flung her away, she was breathless and sick to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>nausea, and she fell on the floor and + lay there, retching and gasping for breath. Dan'l flung her away, and swung on Roy.</p> + + <p>"You young fool," he swore, "I'll kill you, now."</p> + + <p>Roy was helpless before him. Dan'l held him by the throat, his fingers sinking home, + Roy beat and tore at the man helplessly for a space, then his face blackened, and his + eyes bulged, and Dan'l flung him away.</p> + + <p>Brander might have helped him, but for the fact that three men dropped on him from + the companion hatch and bore him smothering to the deck. The three were Silva and his + allies. Silva had a knife; and Mauger had felt it, on the deck above. The one-eyed man + lay there now, twisting and clutching at a hole in his side. Silva was first down on + Brander; and he struck at Brander's neck as he leaped. But Brander had time to dodge to + one side, so that Silva hit him on the hip and bore him down. Then the other two were + upon him....</p> + + <p>This sudden tumult in the cabin rang through the <i>Sally</i>. The night was still; + the noise could be heard even by the boats that drifted half a mile away. Its abrupt + outbreak was unsettling; it jangled taut nerves. The two remaining seamen and Long Jim, + Loum, and Eph Hitch lost courage, raced for a boat, dropped it to the water and pulled + off to see what was to come. Tichel, who was on deck, ran to try to stop them; but Loum + struck out blindly and threw the mate off-balance for an instant that was long enough + to let them get away.</p> + + <p>The desertion of these last men left on the <i>Sally</i> only the four officers, + Roy, Mauger, Silva, and Silva's two men. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>Faith was still helpless, so was Roy, and + Mauger had dragged himself upright against the bulwarks and stripped up his shirt to + investigate his wound. It was bleeding profusely, but he found he could breathe without + difficulty, and told himself shrewdly that he would come out all right.</p> + + <p>Of men able to fight aboard the <i>Sally</i>, there were left Dan'l, Silva, and the + two seamen on one side, against Brander and Tichel and Cox. The attitude of Tichel and + Cox was in some sort uncertain. But the problem was quickly settled....</p> + + <p>Dan'l, dropping Faith and flinging Roy aside, had charged into the main cabin to + finish Brander; but Brander was so inextricably involved in his struggle with his three + antagonists that Dan'l got no immediate chance at him. He was shifting around the + twisting tangle of men, watching, when Willis came out of his cabin in a single + leap.... Willis had been asleep; he was in shirt and trousers, his belt tight-girthed. + He stared stupidly, not understanding.</p> + + <p>Dan'l, balked of his chance at Brander, took Willis for fair game. If he thought at + all, it was to remember that Willis was loyal to Faith. He attacked before Willis was + fully awake, and bore the other man back into the cabin from which Willis had come. He + bent Willis against the bunks so that for an instant it seemed the man's back would + snap; but desperation gave Willis the strength to fling himself away.... They whirled + into the cabin, still fighting. Dan'l was drunk with his own rage by now.... He had + thrown himself into a debauch of battle; and he proved, this night, that he could fight + when he chose....</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>He rocked Willis at last with a left-hand blow in the ribs, so that the younger man + dropped his arms to hug his bruised body; and Dan'l drove home his fist to the other's + jaw. The blow smacked loudly; and Willis went down without a sound, his jaw + broken....</p> + + <p>If old Tichel had come down the companion ladder a minute sooner, he might have + saved Willis; and he and Willis between them might have overcome Dan'l. But he was too + late for that; he was in time to see Willis fall; and before he could speak, Dan'l + Tobey had attacked him.</p> + + <p>Dan'l was pure maniac now; he did not stop to ask whether Tichel were friend or foe. + And Tichel, old man though he was, was never one to refuse a battle. He met Dan'l's + charge with the tigerish venom that characterized him in his rages; he leaped and was + fairly in the air when Dan'l struck him. But Dan'l's greater weight and the impetus of + his charge were too much for old Tichel. In the flash of a second, Dan'l had him by the + throat, down, banging his head against the floor till the skin of his scalp was crushed + and the blood flowed, and Tichel at last lay still....</p> + + <p>Dan'l got up, choking for breath, his chin down on his chest. There was blood on + him; his shirt was torn; his hair was wild. The mild, round face of the man was + distorted by wrinkles of passion. His lip was bruised by a blow, and it puffed out in a + surly, drunken way.... He stood there, tottering, looking with blinking eyes at the + heap of men fighting at one side of the cabin.... Brander was in that heap somewhere. + It was still less than thirty seconds since Dan'l had smashed Willis's jaw. Dan'l + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>stepped unsteadily toward the heap of men and peered down at them and laid hands on + them to pull them away.... They were too closely intertwined....</p> + + <p>He backed off and looked around for a weapon. In a corner of the cabin he saw + something that might serve.... The head of a killing lance.... A bar of metal three or + four feet long, flattened at one end like the blade of a putty knife, and ground to the + keenest edge.... In the whale-fisheries, it would be mounted on a staff; but there was + no staff in it now. He picked the thing up, and balanced it in his hands, and walked + gingerly back toward the striving knot of men.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>When Brander dropped down into the cabin and through the open door saw Faith in + Dan'l's arms, he was for an instant paralyzed.... Then, as rage surged up in him, he + sensed the danger above him, and dodged to one side as Silva leaped down from the deck. + Silva struck against Brander's hip, his knife slitting the air. Brander was thrown + headlong, and Silva flung after him. Brander rolled on his back, catching Silva in the + stomach with both feet, as the other two men dropped across his body.</p> + + <p>He had put little force into his kick at Silva, so that the man was unhurt. Brander + gripped one of the men who had fallen on him, and whirled him under. At the same time, + the other man attached himself to Brander's neck, his right arm about Brander's neck to + choke him. Brander wedged his chin down and gripped this arm between his chin and his + breast, holding it off a little from his throat. Then Silva came at him from the left + side, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>Brander's left hand flung out and gripped Silva's knife wrist....</p> + + <p>Brander was past the first flush of anger; he was cool, now, as he was always cool + in danger. Save Silva, the men against him were unarmed. At least, neither made any + effort to use a weapon. Therefore Brander flung the one man out of his arms, and gave + his attention to Silva. He was just in time. Silva had shifted the knife to his other + hand. Brander grabbed for it, and the blade slid along his fingers, barely scratching + them.... Then he had the hand that held it; and he dragged it down and wrenched it + over, and across, and the fingers opened and the knife fell. Brander groped for it, + Silva swarming over him. He got the knife, but knew he could not use it, so he threw it + with the half of his arm which was free. Crushed down by the man atop him, he saw that + it slid across the floor and flew into the after cabin. He thought Silva had not seen + it go....</p> + + <p>Brander had not marked Dan'l when the man came first to crouch above them. Dan'l was + at Willis when Brander threw the knife. That weapon being gone, Brander turned his + attention to the man who had his throat. He worked as coolly as though this man was his + only antagonist; and while he held off the others with his left hand and his knees, his + right went up over his shoulder and found the face of the man who choked him. This + groping hand of his came down against the man's face from above. His palm rested + against the cheek of his antagonist; and his fingers groped under the other's jaw bone + and clenched around it, biting far into the soft flesh at the bottom of the mouth. He + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>got a grip on this that would hold; and the man screamed, and Brander jerked him up, + and over his shoulder.... The man slid helplessly tearing at Brander's clenched + fingers. Brander, at this time, was sitting up, with Silva at his left, arms gripping, + fists striking, and the other at the right. The man whose jaw he had came down in + Brander's lap, and he brought his right knee up with all his force against the other's + head and the man became a dead weight across his legs. Brander wriggled free of him, + thought calmly that one of the three was gone and only two remained, and turned his + attention to the others.</p> + + <p>He had been forced to let them have their will of him for the seconds required to + deal with the man who had choked him. They had him down, now, on his back on the cabin + floor. One on either side.... He got a left-hand grip on the seaman; he set his right + hand on Silva's arm and his fingers clenched on Silva's biceps. He flung them off a + little, freeing himself, so that he might have fought to his feet....</p> + + <p>But when he thrust these two back, thus to right and left, and started to sit up, he + saw above him Dan'l. Dan'l, an insane light in his eyes, the whaling lance poised in + the thrusting position. It flickered downward like a shaft of light....</p> + + <p>Brander wrenched with all his strength at Silva; he swung Silva up and over his own + body just in time to intercept the lance. It slid in between two ribs, an inch from + Silva's backbone, and pierced him through to the sternum.... It struck obliquely, cut + half way into the mingled cartilage and bone.... Then the soft iron of the shaft + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>"elbowed" at right angles, and Dan'l had to twist and fight to pull it free. Silva, of + course, was as dead as dead. Blood poured out of his mouth in Brander's very face.... + He flung the corpse aside, rolling after it to be on his feet before Dan'l should + strike again. But the remaining seaman was in his path, grappled him, held him for an + instant motionless. Dan'l had had no chance to straighten the lance; he lifted it like + a hoe to bring it down on Brander's back.</p> + + <p>Then Faith called, from the door of the after cabin:</p> + + <p>"Dan'l! Have done!"</p> + + <p>Dan'l looked and saw her, weak, trembling, gripping the doorsill with her left hand. + In her right was a revolver.</p> + + <p>He leaped toward her, roaring; and Faith waited till he was within six feet of her, + then shot him carefully through the knee. He fell on his face at her feet, howling.</p> + + <p>At the same time, Brander got home a blow that silenced his last antagonist, and a + great quiet settled down upon the <i>Sally Sims</i>.</p> + + <hr class="c3" /> + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></p> + <h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + + <p>What shadows remained, Roy was able to clear away. Roy, who had hated Brander, and + who had hated Faith, yet in whom lived a strain of true blood that could not but answer + to these two in the end. The evil in Dan'l had been writ in his face for any man to + see, when Roy found him clutching Faith; and Roy was not blind.</p> + + <p>The boy abased himself; he was pitifully ashamed. Still hoarse from the choking + Dan'l had given him, he told how he had stolen the whiskey at the man's bidding.... A + little at first; a ten-gallon keg in the end.... Told how he had himself filled + Brander's boat jug with the liquor, and hidden a bottle in Mauger's bunk, and lied to + old Tichel in the matter. Told the whole tale, and made his peace with them, while + Faith and Brander watched each other over the boy's sobbing head with eloquent + eyes....</p> + + <p>For the rest; Silva was dead, and they buried him in the sand of the beach. Mauger + had a shallow knife slit along his ribs; Willis Cox had a broken jaw. The others had + suffered nothing worse than bruises, save only Dan'l Tobey. Dan'l's knee was smashed + and splintered, and he lay in a stupor in the cabin, Willis watching beside him.</p> + + <p>Those who had fled to the boats came shamedly back at last; and Faith and Brander + met them at the rail, and Faith spoke to them. They had done wrong, she told them; but + there was a chance of wiping out the score by bending to the toil she set them. They + were already sick <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>of adventuring; they swarmed aboard like homesick boys. She and + Brander told them what to do, and drove them to it....</p> + + <p>Before that day was gone, they had half her load out of the <i>Sally</i>; and at + full tide that night, with every hand tugging at a line or breasting a capstan bar, + they hauled her off. She slid an inch, two inches, four.... She moved a foot, three + feet.... They freed her, by sheer power of their determination that she must come free. + They dragged her full ten feet before the suction of the sand beneath her keel began to + slack, and ten feet more before she floated free.... Then the boats lowered, and towed + her safe off shore, and anchored her there.</p> + + <p>After that, three days to get the casks inboard again and stowed below. Three days + in which Dan'l Tobey passed from suffering to delirium. Brander had tended his wound as + best he could; but the bone was splintered and the flesh was shattered, and there came + an hour when the flesh about the wound turned green and black. It gave off a horrible + fetid odor of decay.</p> + + <p>Brander told Faith: "He's got to lose either leg or life."</p> + + <p>She did not ask him if he were sure; she knew him well enough, now, never to doubt + him again. But Dan'l, in an interval of lucidity, had heard; and he croaked:</p> + + <p>"Take it off, Brander. Take it off. Get the ax, man."</p> + + <p>Brander bent over the man. "I'll do my best for you."</p> + + <p>Dan'l grinned with the old jeer in his eyes. "Aye, I've no doubt, Mr. Brander. Go at + it, man."</p> + + <p>They had not so much as a vial of morphia to deaden the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>pain; but Dan'l slumped into + delirium at the first stroke of the knife Brander had whetted to a razor keenness. His + body twitched in the grip of Willis Cox and Loum.... Faith helped Brander tie the + arteries; Roy stood by to give what aid he could....</p> + + <p>When it was done, Faith said the <i>Sally</i> would lie at anchor till Dan'l died or + mended; and in two weeks Brander told her the man would live. She nodded.</p> + + <p>"Then we'll go out and fill our casks," she said, "and then for home."</p> + + <p>Brander looked at her with shining eyes. "Aye, fill our casks," he agreed, as though + it were the most natural thing in the world to stick to that task till it was done. + They put to sea.</p> + + <p>Dan'l was going to live; but the man was broken. He was not to quit his bunk through + the months of the homeward cruise; he was wasted by the fury of his own passions, by + the shock of his crippling injury.... He had aged; there was no longer any strength in + the man. So old Tichel came into his own at last; he became the titular master of the + ship, and Faith was content to let him hold the reins, so long as he did as she + desired. Willis Cox yielded precedence to Brander; Brander was mate. When they sighted + whales, all three of them lowered, while Faith kept ship. Their work had been nearly + done before Noll died; they lacked less than a dozen whales to fill. Young Roy, to his + vast content, was allowed to take out a boat and kill one of that last dozen, while + Brander in his boat lay watchfully by.</p> + + <p>Came a day, when the trying out was done, that Brander <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>went to Faith. "We're bung + up," he said. "The last cask's sweating full."</p> + + <p>Faith nodded happily, and swung to Mr. Tichel. "Then let's for home," she said.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>For the rest, the matter tells itself. They hauled in to the nearest island port and + overhauled and recoopered the water casks, and took on wood and water for the five + months' homeward way. They stocked with potatoes and vegetables. The crow's nests came + down, and to'gallant masts were set to carry canvas on the passage. The gear was + stripped from the whaleboats and stowed away, and two of the boats were lashed atop the + boathouse, with the spares. The rigging had a touch of tar, the hull and spars took a + lick of paint, the wood-work shone with scraping....</p> + + <p>So, to sea. The first day out saw the dismantling of the tryworks; and broken bricks + flew overside for half that day, all hands joining in the sport of it. Then a clean + deck, and a stout northwest wind behind them, and the long easterly stretch to the Horn + was begun....</p> + + <p>That homeward cruise was a pleasant time for Faith and Brander. They were much + together, speaking little, speaking not at all of themselves.... Save once, Faith said, + smiling at him shyly:</p> + + <p>"I knew you hadn't done it, even when I told them to put you in irons...."</p> + + <p>He nodded. "I knew you knew."</p> + + <p>They both understood; their eyes said what their lips <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>were not yet ready to say. + There was a reticence upon them. Faith, on the deck of her husband's ship, felt still + the shadow of Noll Wing in her life.... Brander felt its presence. It made neither of + them unhappy; they respected it. Faith was never ashamed of Noll. He had been a man.... + She had loved him; she was proud that he had loved her....</p> + + <p>Day by day they were together, on deck or below, while the winds worked for them and + the stars in their courses watched over them. Through the chill of southern waters as + they rounded the Cape.... Cap'n Tichel looking back at it, waved his hand in + valedictory; and Faith asked: "What are you thinking, Mr. Tichel?"</p> + + <p>"Saying good-by to old Cape Stiff there," he chuckled. "I'll not come this way + again."</p> + + <p>"Yes, you will," she told him. "You're captain of your own ship, now.... And will + be, next cruise."</p> + + <p>He shook his head. "I know when I'm well off, young lady. Old Tichel's ready to + stick ashore, now...."</p> + + <p>She left him, staring back across the dull, cold sea.... He stood there stiffly + till the night came down upon the waters.</p> + + <p>After that, they struck warmer winds, with a pleasant ocean all about, and the scud + of spray sweet upon their cheeks, and the <i>Sally</i> fat with oil beneath their feet. + A happy time, when Faith and Brander, with never a word and never a touch of hand, grew + close as man and woman can grow....</p> + + <p>Never a cloud in the skies from their last kill to the day <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>they picked up the tug + that shunted them alongside their wharf at home.</p> + <hr class='c6' /> + + <p>There are many things that never get into the log. Faith had no vengeful heart + toward Dan'l; the man had reaped what he sowed. With the <i>Sally</i>, Noll Wing's + ship, safe home again, she was willing to forget what had passed. She told Dan'l so. + Silva was dead; the others were but instruments. The matter was done....</p> + + <p>Dan'l, possessed by a creeping apathy, nodded his thanks to her and turned away his + head. The man was dying where he lay; he would not long survive.</p> + + <p>Old Jem Kilcup was at the wharf to hug Faith against his broad chest. An older Jem + than when she went away; but a glad Jem to see her home again. Jonathan Felt was with + him, asking anxiously for Noll. When Faith told them Noll was gone, old Jonathan fell + sorrowfully silent. The whole town would mourn Noll; he had been one of its + heroes....</p> + + <p>Faith said proudly: "He's dead, sir. But this was his fattest cruise. He never + brought home better than he's sent, now."</p> + + <p>"You're full?" asked Jonathan.</p> + + <p>"Aye, every cask.... And more," said Faith. And told him of the ambergris. She gave + Brander so much credit for that, and for other things, that Jonathan hooked his arm in + that of the young man, and walked with him thus when they all went to the office to + hear Cap'n Tichel make his report.</p> + + <p>Jem sat there, listening, proud eyes on Faith, while <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>Tichel told the story; and + Faith listened, and looked now and then at Brander, where he stood in the shadows by + the window. In the end, Tichel said straightforwardly that he was content with what + life had brought him, that he was through with the sea. But he pointed toward + Brander.</p> + + <p>"There's a man'll beat Noll Wing's best for you," he said.</p> + + <p>Jonathan got up, spry little old figure, and crossed to grip Brander by the hand. + "You'll take out a ship o' mine?" he asked; and Brander hesitated, and his eyes crossed + to meet Faith's, as though to ask permission. Faith nodded faintly; and Brander + said:</p> + + <p>"Yes, sir, if you like."</p> + + <p>"I do like," said Jonathan briskly. "I do like; so that's settled and done."</p> + + <p>Afterward, Tichel and Willis went back to the ship. Jem, with Faith on his arm, were + to go up the hill to Faith's old home. They stopped outside Jonathan's door to say + good-by to Brander for a little while. Faith was free of the load of responsibility + that she had taken on her shoulders; she had put Noll Wing's ship behind her. She + looked up at him with eyes that offered everything.</p> + + <p>Brander said quietly: "I've much to say to you that's never been said. Will you let + me come to your home this night for the saying?"</p> + + <p>Faith looked up at her father, looked to Brander again, and smiled,</p> + + <p>"Do come," she said.</p> + + <h4>THE END<br /><br /><br /><small>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</small></h4> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<div class="bbt"> + <h4>May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list</h4> +</div> + +<div class="bnote"> + <h2>ZANE GREY'S NOVELS</h2> + + + <p>THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS</p> + <p>A New York society girl buys a ranch which becomes the center of + frontier warfare. Her loyal superintendent rescues her when she + is captured by bandits. A surprising climax brings the story to + a delightful close.</p> + + <p>THE RAINBOW TRAIL</p> + <p>The story of a young clergyman who becomes a wanderer in the great + western uplands—until at last love and faith awake.</p> + + <p>DESERT GOLD</p> + <p>The story describes the recent uprising along the border, and ends + with the finding of the gold which two prospectors had willed to the + girl who is the story's heroine.</p> + + <p>RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE</p> + <p>A picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago when Mormon + authority ruled. The prosecution of Jane Withersteen is the theme of + the story.</p> + + <p>THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN</p> + <p>This is the record of a trip which the author took with Buffalo + Jones, known as the preserver of the American bison, across + the Arizona desert and of a hunt in "that wonderful country of deep + canons and giant pines."</p> + + <p>THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT</p> + <p>A lovely girl, who has been reared among Mormons, learns to love a + young New Englander. The Mormon religion, however, demands that the + girl shall become the second wife of one of the Mormons—Well, + that's the problem of this great story.</p> + + <p>THE SHORT STOP</p> + <p>The young hero, tiring of his factory grind, starts out to win fame + and fortune as a professional ball player. His hard knocks at the + start are followed by such success as clean sportsmanship, courage + and honesty ought to win.</p> + + <p>BETTY ZANE</p> + <p>This story tells of the bravery and heroism of Betty, the beautiful + young sister of old Colonel Zane, one of the bravest pioneers.</p> + + <p>THE LONE STAR RANGER</p> + <p>After killing a man in self defense, Buck Duane becomes an outlaw + along the Texas border. In a camp on the Mexican side of the river, + he finds a young girl held prisoner, and in attempting to rescue + her, brings down upon himself the wrath of her captors and + henceforth is hunted on one side by honest men, on the other by outlaws.</p> + + <p>THE BORDER LEGION</p> + <p>Joan Randle, in a spirit of anger, sent Jim Cleve out to a lawless + Western mining camp to prove his mettle. Then realizing that she + loved him—she followed him out. On her way, she is captured by + a bandit band, and trouble begins when she shoots Kells, the + leader—and nurses him to health again. Here enters another, + romance—when Joan, disguised as an outlaw, observes Jim, in + the throes of dissipation. A gold strike, a thrilling + robbery—gambling and gun play carry you along breathlessly.</p> + + <p>THE LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS.</p> + <p class="center">By Helen Cody Wetmore and Zane Grey</p> + <p>The life story of Colonel + William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill," as told by his sister and Zane Grey. It begins + with his boyhood in Iowa and his first encounter with an Indian. We see + "Bill" as a pony express rider, then near Fort Sumter as Chief of the Scouts, and + later engaged in the most dangerous Indian campaigns. There is also a very + interesting account of the travels of "The Wild West" Show. No character in public + life makes a stronger appeal to the imagination of America than "Buffalo Bill," + whose daring and bravery made him famous.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2><small>STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY</small><br />GENE + STRATTON-PORTER</h2> + + <p>MICHAEL O'HALLORAN. Illustrated by Frances Rogers.</p><p>Michael is a + quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern + Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also + assumes the responsibility of leading the entire rural community + upward and onward.</p> + + <p>LADDIE. Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer.</p><p>This is a bright, cheery + tale with the scenes laid in Indiana. The + story is told by Little Sister, the youngest member of a large + family, but it is concerned not so much with childish doings as + with the love affairs of older members of the family. Chief among them + is that of Laddie and the Princess, an English girl who has come to + live in the neighborhood and about whose family there hangs a mystery.</p> + + <p>THE HARVESTER. Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs.</p><p>"The Harvester," is + a man of the woods and fields, and if the book + had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would + be notable. But when the Girl comes to his "Medicine Woods," there + begins a romance of the rarest idyllic quality.</p> + + <p>FRECKLES. Illustrated.</p><p>Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale + opens, but the way in which he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in + the great Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets + him succumbs to the charm of his engaging personality; and + his love-story with "The Angel" are full of real sentiment.</p> + + <p>A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. Illustrated.</p><p>The story of a girl of + the Michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable type + of the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love + and kindness towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by + the sheer beauty of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she + wins from barren and unpromising surroundings those rewards of + high courage.</p> + + <p>AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. Illustrations in colors.</p><p>The scene + of this charming love story is laid in Central Indiana. + The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender + self-sacrificing love. The novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting + of nature, and its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to + all.</p> + + <p>THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL. Profusely illustrated.</p> + <p>A love ideal of the Cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy + and humor.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2><small>THE NOVELS OF</small><br />MARY ROBERTS RINEHART</h2> + + + <p>DANGEROUS DAYS.</p> + <p>A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and stirring appeal.</p> + + <p>THE AMAZING INTERLUDE. Illustrations by The Kinneys.</p> + <p>The story of a great love which cannot be pictured—an + interlude—amazing, romantic.</p> + + <p>LOVE STORIES.</p> + <p>This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love + affairs—sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness.</p> + + <p>"K." Illustrated.</p> + <p>K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where + beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a + nurse. The joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen + and sympathetic appreciation.</p> + + <p>THE MAN IN LOWER TEN. Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy.</p> + <p>An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death + of the "Man in Lower Ten."</p> + + <p>WHEN A MAN MARRIES. Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker.</p> + <p>A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that + his aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the + family income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young + man met the situation is entertainingly told.</p> + + <p>THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph.</p><p>The + occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong + on the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure + is announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of + absorbing interest.</p> + + <p>THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.)</p><p>Harmony Wells, + studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly + realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young + ambitious doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together + with world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love + and slender means.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2>BOOTH TARKINGTON'S NOVELS</h2> + + + <p>SEVENTEEN. Illustrated by Arthur William Brown.</p><p>No one but the + creator of Penrod could have portrayed the immortal + young people of this story. Its humor is irresistible and + reminiscent of the time when the reader was Seventeen.</p> + + <p>PENROD. Illustrated by Gordon Grant.</p><p>This is a picture of a + boy's heart, full of the lovable, humorous, + tragic things which are locked secrets to most older folks. It is + a finished, exquisite work.</p> + + <p>PENROD AND SAM. Illustrated by Worth Brehm.</p><p>Like "Penrod" and + "Seventeen," this book contains some remarkable + phases of real boyhood and some of the best stories of + juvenile prankishness that have ever been written.</p> + + <p>THE TURMOIL. Illustrated by C. E. Chambers.</p><p>Bibbs Sheridan is a + dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts against + his father's plans for him to be a servitor of big business. + The love of a fine girl turns Bibbs' life from failure to + success.</p> + + <p>THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA. Frontispiece.</p><p>A story of love and + politics,—more especially a picture of a + country editor's life in Indiana, but the charm of the book lies + in the love interest.</p> + + <p>THE FLIRT. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood.</p><p>The "Flirt," + the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl's + engagement, drives one man to suicide, causes the murder of + another, leads another to lose his fortune, and in the end marries a + stupid and unpromising suitor, leaving the really worthy one to marry + her sister.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2>KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES</h2> + + + <p>SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street.</p><p>The California Redwoods + furnish the background for this beautiful + story of sisterly devotion and sacrifice.</p> + + <p>POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs.</p> + <p>A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the + Years" and "The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving + pictures.</p> + + <p>JOSSELYN'S WIFE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert.</p><p>The story of + a beautiful woman who fought a bitter fight for + happiness and love.</p> + + <p>MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles E. + Chambers.</p> + <p>The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse + conditions.</p> + + <p>THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. + Chambers.</p> + <p>An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with + a + second marriage.</p> + + <p>THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan + Gilbert.</p> + <p>A sympathetic portrayal of the quest of a normal girl, obscure + and + lonely, for the happiness of life.</p> + + <p>SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes.</p><p>Can a girl, + born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through + sheer determination to the better things for which her + soul + hungered?</p> + + <p>MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn.</p><p>A story of the big mother + heart that beats in the background of + every girl's life, and some dreams which came true.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2>JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S<br /> + <small>STORIES OF ADVENTURE</small></h2> + + + <p>KAZAN</p><p>The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters + husky" torn + between the call of the human and his wild mate.</p> + + <p>BAREE, SON OF KAZAN</p><p>The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf + and the gallant part he + played in the lives of a man and a woman.</p> + + <p>THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM</p><p>The story of the King of Beaver + Island, a Mormon colony, and his + battle with Captain Plum.</p> + + <p>THE DANGER TRAIL</p><p>A tale of snow, of love, of Indian vengeance, + and a mystery of the + North.</p> + + <p>THE HUNTED WOMAN</p><p>A tale of the "end of the line," and of a great + fight in the "valley + of gold" for a woman.</p> + + <p>THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH</p><p>The story of Fort o' God, where the wild + flavor of the wilderness is + blended with the courtly atmosphere of France.</p> + + <p>THE GRIZZLY KING</p><p>The story of Thor, the big grizzly who lived in + a valley where man + had never come.</p> + + <p>ISOBEL</p><p>A love story of the Far North.</p> + + <p>THE WOLF HUNTERS</p><p>A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian + wilderness.</p> + + <p>THE GOLD HUNTERS</p><p>The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay + wilds.</p> + + <p>THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE</p><p>Filled with exciting incidents in + the land of strong men and women.</p> + + <p>BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY</p><p>A thrilling story of the Far North. The + great Photoplay was made + from this book.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2>RALPH CONNOR'S STORIES<br /> + <small>OF THE NORTHWEST</small></h2> + + <p>THE SKY PILOT IN NO MAN'S LAND</p><p>The clean-hearted, strong-limbed + man of the West leaves his hills + and forests to fight the battle for freedom in the old + world.</p> + + <p>BLACK ROCK</p><p>A story of strong men in the mountains of the + West.</p> + + <p>THE SKY PILOT</p><p>A story of cowboy life, abounding in the freshest + humor, the truest + tenderness and the finest courage.</p> + + <p>THE PROSPECTOR</p><p>A tale of the foothills and of the man who came + to them to lend a + hand to the lonely men and women who needed a protector.</p> + + <p>THE MAN FROM GLENGARRY</p><p>This narrative brings us into contact + with elemental and volcanic + human nature and with a hero whose power breathes from every + word.</p> + + <p>GLENGARRY SCHOOL DAYS</p><p>In this rough country of Glengarry, Ralph + Connor has found human + nature in the rough.</p> + + <p>THE DOCTOR</p><p>The story of a "preacher-doctor" whom big men and + reckless men loved + for his unselfish life among them.</p> + + <p>THE FOREIGNER</p><p>A tale of the Saskatchewan and of a "foreigner" + who made a brave and + winning fight for manhood and love.</p> + + <p>CORPORAL CAMERON</p><p>This splendid type of the upright, out-of-door + man about which Ralph + Connor builds all his stories, appears again in this + book.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2><small>THE NOVELS OF</small><br /> + GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL LUTZ</h2> + + + <p>THE BEST MAN</p><p>Through a strange series of adventures a young man + finds himself + propelled up the aisle of a church and married to a strange + girl.</p> + + <p>A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS</p><p>On her way West the heroine steps off + by mistake at a lonely + watertank into a maze of thrilling events.</p> + + <p>THE ENCHANTED BARN</p><p>Every member of the family will enjoy this + spirited chronicle of a + young girl's resourcefulness and pluck, and the secret of + the + "enchanted" barn.</p> + + <p>THE WITNESS</p><p>The fascinating story of the enormous change an + incident wrought in + a man's life.</p> + + <p>MARCIA SCHUYLER</p><p>A picture of ideal girlhood set in the time of + full skirts and poke + bonnets.</p> + + <p>LO, MICHAEL!</p><p>A story of unfailing appeal to all who love and + understand boys.</p> + + <p>THE MAN OF THE DESERT</p><p>An intensely moving love story of a man of + the desert and a girl of + the East pictured against the background of the Far West.</p> + + <p>PHOEBE DEANE</p><p>A tense and charming love story, told with a grace + and a fervor with + which only Mrs. Lutz could tell it.</p> + + <p>DAWN OF THE MORNING</p><p>A romance of the last century with all of + its old-fashioned charm. A + companion volume to "Marcia Schuyler" and "Phoebe Deane."</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2><small>"STORM COUNTRY" BOOKS BY</small><br /> + GRACE MILLER WHITE</h2> + + + <p>JUDY OF ROGUES' HARBOR</p> + <p>Judy's untutored ideas of God, her love + of wild things, her faith in + life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith + and + sincerity catch at your heart strings. This book has all of + the + mystery and tense action of the other Storm Country + books.</p> + + <p>TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY</p> + <p>It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, + impetuous, that Mary Pickford made + her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon + a + temperament such as hers—a temperament that makes a woman an + angel + or an outcast, according to the character of the man she + loves—is + the theme of the story.</p> + + <p>THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY</p> + <p>The sequel to "Tess of the Storm + Country," with the same wild + background, with its half-gypsy life of the + squatters—tempestuous, + passionate, brooding. Tess learns the "secret" of her birth + and + finds happiness and love through her boundless faith in + life.</p> + + <p>FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING</p> + <p>A haunting story with its scene + laid near the country familiar to + readers of "Tess of the Storm Country."</p> + + <p>ROSE O' PARADISE</p> + <p>"Jinny" Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but + with a passionate + yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, + a + crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of + power + and glory and tenderness.</p> + + <hr class="c4" /> + <h2>ELEANOR H. PORTER'S NOVELS</h2> + + + <p>JUST DAVID</p> + <p>The tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to + fill in the + hearts of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left.</p> + + <p>THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING</p> + <p>A compelling romance of love and + marriage.</p> + + <p>OH, MONEY! MONEY!</p> + <p>Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test + the dispositions of his + relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000, and then as + plain + John Smith comes among them to watch the result of his + experiment.</p> + + <p>SIX STAR RANCH</p> + <p>A wholesome story of a club of six girls and + their summer on Six + Star Ranch.</p> + + <p>DAWN</p> + <p>The story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through + the gulf of + despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to + the + service of blind soldiers.</p> + + <p>ACROSS THE YEARS</p> + <p>Short stories of our own kind and of our own + people. Contains some + of the best writing Mrs. Porter has done.</p> + + <p>THE TANGLED THREADS</p> + <p>In these stories we find the concentrated + charm and tenderness of + all her other books.</p> + + <p>THE TIE THAT BINDS</p> + <p>Intensely human stories told with Mrs. + Porter's wonderful talent for + warm and vivid character drawing.</p> +</div> + + + <div class="bbt"> + <p class="center"><i>Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction</i><br /> + <b>GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK</b></p> + </div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea Bride, by Ben Ames Williams + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA BRIDE *** + +***** This file should be named 36881-h.htm or 36881-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/8/36881/ + +Produced by Brian Sogard, Adam Styles and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sea Bride + +Author: Ben Ames Williams + +Release Date: July 28, 2011 [EBook #36881] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA BRIDE *** + + + + +Produced by Brian Sogard, Adam Styles and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Minor printer's errors corrected. + + + + + THE SEA BRIDE + + BY + BEN AMES WILLIAMS + + AUTHOR OF + ALL THE BROTHERS WERE VALIANT + + GROSSET & DUNLAP + PUBLISHERS NEW YORK + + Published by Arrangement with The Macmillan Company + + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + BY BEN AMES WILLIAMS + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + + Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1919. + + + + +THE SEA BRIDE + + + + +I + + +They were to be married before the open fire, in the big living-room of +the old house on the hill. Upstairs, Bess Holt was helping Faith dress. +Faith sat before the old, veneered dressing table with its little mirror +tilting on the curved standards, and submitted quietly and happily to +Bess's ministrations. Bess was a chatterbox, and her tongue flew as +nimbly as the deft fingers that arranged Faith's veil. Faith was +content; her soft eyes resting on her own image in the little mirror +were like the eyes of one who dreams dreams and sees visions. She scarce +heard Bess at all.... + +Only once she turned and looked slowly about this low-ceiled old room +that had been her home: the high, soft bed, with its canopy resting on +the four tall posts; the frame of that canopy was split in one place; +she had wound it with wire to strengthen it. How many mornings, waking +pleasantly as day stole in the little windows, she had seen that twist +of wire first of all as her eyes opened. She used to look at it, and +dream a little, before she rose.... One window, with its white hangings, +was just at the foot of the bed. The cool, salt-laden winds from the sea +used to whisper in there and soothe her sleep. She had always loved the +sea. Would she always love it so, when there was nothing else but the +sea on every hand?... When she should have sailed away with big Noll +Wing.... + +The high chest of drawers, the little dressing table, the delicate +chairs.... These were all old and familiar friends--whom she was leaving +behind her. And she loved them, loved the ugly paper on the wall, loved +the old daguerreotypes above the chest of drawers, loved the crooked +sampler by the never-used fireplace. Loved them.... + +She smiled happily and confidently. She loved them ... but she loved big +Noll Wing better. She would not regret.... + +Below stairs, her father, Jem Kilcup, talked with Dr. Brant, the +minister. They spoke of wind and weather, as men do whose lives lie near +the sea. They spoke of oil, of ships, of tedious cruises when the seas +were bare of whales.... The minister marked the old harpoon that stood +in the corner by the fire, and Jem told how with that battered iron he +had struck his last whale, a dozen years before.... A good tale. The +whale fought hard, left Jem with a crushed chest that drove him from the +sea. Their talk wandered everywhere save where their thoughts were; they +did not speak of Faith, nor of Noll Wing. Jem could not bear to speak of +his girl who was going from his arms to another's; the minister +understood, and joined with him in a conspiracy of silence. Only, when +Bess came whispering down to say that Faith was ready, old Jem gripped +Dr. Brant's arm and whispered harshly into the minister's ear: "Marry +them tight, and marry them hard, and true, Doctor. By God...." + +Dr. Brant nodded. "No fear, my friend," he said. "Faith is a woman...." + +"Aye," said Jem hoarsely. "Aye; and she's made her bed. God help her." + +Things began to stir in the big house. Noll Wing was in the back room +with Henry Ham, who had sailed with him three voyages, and would back +him in this new venture. Young Roy Kilcup had found them there.... Old +Jem had a demijohn of cherry rum, thirty years unopened. He sent it in +to Noll.... And Noll Wing smacked his lips over it cheerfully, and +became more amiable than was his custom. Roy Kilcup caught him in this +mood and took quick vantage of it. When the three came in where Jem and +Dr. Brant were waiting, Roy crossed and gripped his father's arm. "I'm +going," he whispered. "Cap'n Wing will take me, as ship's boy. He's +promised, dad." + +Old Jem nodded. His children were leaving him; he was past protesting. + +"I'm ready," Roy told his father. "I'm going to pack, right after +they're married." He saw Dr. Brant smile, and whispered: "Be quick as +you can, sir." + +The minister touched the boy's shoulder reassuringly. "Quiet, Roy," he +said. "There's time...." + +People were gathering in the living-room from the other parts of the +house. They came by twos and threes. The men were awkward and uneasy, +and strove to be jocular; the women smiled with tears in their eyes. +When one woman surrenders herself to one man, all women weep. Bess +Holt, alone, did not weep. She was to play the organ; she sat down upon +the stool and spread her pretty, soft skirts about her, and looked back +over her shoulder to where Jem stood, in the hall, at the stair foot. He +was to sign to her when Faith was ready. Dr. Brant crossed and stood +beside the fireplace where the logs were laid, ready for the match. Noll +Wing and Henry Ham took stand with him. Ham, the mate, was a big man, +and an awkward one. His high collar irked him; his perilously shaven +chin moved restlessly back and forth in the effort to ease his tortured +throat. He coughed sepulchrally; and a woman giggled in the stillness, +and wept quietly into her handkerchief. + +Cap'n Noll Wing stood easily, squarely upon his spread legs. He, too, +was a big man; his chest swelled barrel-like; his arms stretched the +sleeves of his black coat. Cap'n Wing was seldom seen without a cap upon +his head. Some of those in that room discovered in this moment for the +first time that he was bald. The tight, white skin upon his skull +contrasted unpleasantly with the brown of his leather cheeks. The thick +hair about his ears was tinged with gray. Across his nose and his firm +cheeks, tiny veins drew lacy patterns of purple. Garnished in wedding +finery, he was nevertheless a man past middle life, and no mistaking. A +man almost as old as Jem Kilcup, and wedding Jem Kilcup's daughter. An +old man, but a man, for all that; stout, and strong, and full of sap. He +had the dignity of mastery; he had the bearing of a man accustomed to +command and be obeyed. Roy Kilcup watched this man with eyes of +worship. + +Bess, watching over her shoulder, saw old Jem look up the stairs, then +turn and nod awkwardly to her. She pressed the keys, the organ breathed, +the tones swelled forth and filled the room. Still, over her shoulder, +she watched the door, as did every other eye. They saw Faith appear +there, by her father's side; they saw her hand drop lightly on his arm. +Jem moved; his broad shoulders brushed the sides of the door. He brought +his daughter in, and turned with her upon his arm toward where Noll Wing +was waiting. + +Faith's eyes, as she came through the door, swept the room once before +they found the eyes of Cap'n Wing and rested there. That single glance +had shown her Dan'l Tobey, behind the others, near the window; and the +memory of Dan'l's face played before her as she moved toward where Noll +waited. Poor Dan'l. She pitied him as women do pity the lover they do +not love. She had been hard on Dan'l. Not her fault; but still the +truth. Hard on Dan'l Tobey.... And misery dwelt upon his countenance, so +that she could not forget, even while she went to meet Noll Wing before +the minister. + +Janie Cox dropped her handkerchief and dove for it desperately, as Faith +and Jem passed where she stood. Janie's swift movement was outrageously +conspicuous in that still room. Faith looked toward her, and saw poor +Janie crimson with embarrassment, and smiled at her comfortingly. + +When she looked forward again, she found herself at Noll Wing's side, +and Dr. Brant was already speaking.... + +When they made their responses, Noll in his heavy voice of a master, and +Faith in the level voice of a proud, sure woman, her eyes met his and +promised him things unutterable. It is this speaking of eyes to eyes +that is marriage; the words are of small account. Faith pledged herself +to Noll Wing when she opened her eyes to him and let him look into the +depths of her. A woman who loves wishes to give. Faith gave all herself +in that gift of her quiet, steady eyes. Cap'n Wing, before them, found +himself abashed. He was glad when the word was said, when the still room +stirred to life. He kissed Faith hurriedly; he was a little afraid of +her. Then the others pressed forward and separated them, and he was glad +enough to be thrust back, to be able to laugh, and jest, and grip the +hands of men. + +The women, and some of the men, kissed Faith as she stood there, hanging +on her father's arm. Her eyes flickered now and then toward Noll, her +Noll Wing now. But she could not always be watching him. Too many others +came to speak with her. Dan'l Tobey came; Dan'l with his round +moon-face, and his freckles, and his sandy hair.... Dan'l was only a +little older than herself; a chubby, strong young man.... Little more +than a boy, but a man, too.... Two cruises behind him.... He was going +out as second mate with Cap'n Wing, this afternoon. Faith knew Dan'l +loved her. She was pleasantly sorry, and at the same time secretly +glad. No woman is completely sorry that she is beloved. Faith told +herself she must help Dan'l get over it, on this cruise that was to +come. She must.... She decided, while she spoke to him, that she must +find a wife for Dan'l. What married woman is not a matchmaker? Faith had +now been a married woman for seven minutes by the tall clock a-ticking +in the corner.... + +Dan'l gave way to others; and Bess Holt cried in dismay, "Faith, the +fire was never lighted!" + +It was true. In the swift moments before Faith came downstairs, no one +had remembered to touch a match to the kindling under the smooth, white +birch logs in the great fireplace. When Faith saw this, she felt a +sudden, swift pang of disappointment at her heart. She loved a fire, an +open fire, merrily blazing.... She had always dreamed of being married +before this great fire in her father's home. She herself had chosen +these logs, and under her eye her brother Roy had borne them into the +house and laid them upon the small stuff and kindling she had prepared. +She had wanted that fire to spring to life as she and Noll were married; +she had thought of it as a symbol of the new life that was beginning for +Noll. She was terribly disappointed.... + +In that first pang, she looked helplessly about for Noll. She wanted +comfort pitifully.... But Noll was laughing in the doorway, talking with +old Jonathan Felt, the owner of his vessel. He had not heard, he did not +see her glance. Bess Holt cried: + +"Somebody light it quick. Roy Kilcup, give me a match. I'll light it +myself. Don't look, Faith! Oh, what a shame...." + +Roy knew how his sister had counted on that fire. "I'll bet Faith +doesn't feel as though she were really married," he laughed. "Not +without a fire going.... Do you, Faith? Better do it over, Dr. +Brant...." + +Some one said it was bad luck; a dozen voices cried the some one down. +Then, while they were all talking about it, round-faced Dan'l Tobey went +down on his knees and lighted the fire that was to have illumined +Faith's wedding. + +Faith, her hand at her throat, looked for Noll again; but he and old +Jonathan had gone out to that ancient demijohn of cherry rum.... Dan'l +was looking hungrily at her; hungry for thanks. She smiled at him. They +were all pressing around her again.... + +It was little Bess Holt who set them moving, at last, down to the wharf. +Bess was the stage manager that day; every one else was too busy with +his or her own concerns. She whisked Faith away upstairs to change her +dress, and scolded the others out of the house.... All save Jem Kilcup +and Roy. Roy had packing of his own to do; he was flying at it like a +terrier. Jem would stay as long as he might with Faith. Noll, and +Jonathan Felt, and Noll's officers went to play host at the wedding +supper on the decks of the _Sally Sims_.... + +Faith's luggage had already gone aboard. When she and Jem and Bess +reached the wharf, the others were at the tables, under the boathouse, +aft. They rose, and pledged Faith in lifted glasses.... Then Faith sat +down beside her husband, at the head of the board, and old Jem settled +morosely beside her. They ate and drank merrily. + +Faith was very happy, dreamily happy. She felt the big presence of her +husband at her side; and she lifted her head with pride in him, and in +this ship which he commanded. He was a man.... Once or twice she marked +her father's silence; and once she touched his knee with her hand +lightly, in comfort.... Cap'n Wing made a speech. They called on Jem, +but Jem was in no mind for chatter. They called on Faith; she rose, and +smiled at them, and said how happy she was, and touched her husband's +shoulder proudly.... + +Roy came, running, after a time.... And a little later, the tug whistled +from the stream, and Cap'n Wing looked overside, and stood up, and +lifted his hands. + +"Friends," he said jocosely, "I'd like to take you all along. Come if +you want. But--tide's in. Them as don't want to go along had best be +getting ashore." + +Thus it was ended; that wedding supper on the deck, in the late +afternoon, while the flags floated overhead, and the gulls screamed +across the refuse-dotted waters of the Harbor, and the tide whirled and +eddied about the piles. Thus it was ended; their chairs scraped upon the +deck; the boards that had been set upon boxes and trestles to make +tables and seats were thrust aside or overturned. They swept about +Faith, where she stood at her husband's side, arm linked in his, against +the rail.... + +Old Jem kissed her first of all, kissed her roundly, crushing her to +his breast; and she whispered, in his close embrace: "It's all right, +dad. Don't worry.... All right.... I'll bring you home...." + +He kissed her again, cutting short her promise. Kissed her, and thrust +her away, and stumped ashore, and went stockily off along the wharf and +out of sight, never looking back. A solitary figure; somewhat to be +pitied, for all his broad shoulders and his fine old head. + +The others in their turn, little Bess Holt last of all. Bess, now that +her tasks were done, had her turn at tears. She wept happily in Faith's +arms. Faith did not weep. She was too happy for even the happiest of +tears. She patted Bess's brown head, and linked arms with the girl while +Bess climbed to the wharf, and they kissed again, there.... + +Then every one waited, calling, laughing, crying, while the _Sally Sims_ +was torn loose from her moorings. Cap'n Wing was another man now; he was +never a man to leave his ship to another, Faith thought proudly. His +commands rang through the still air of late afternoon; his eye saw the +hawsers cast off, saw the tug take hold.... + +The _Sally Sims_ moved; she moved so slowly that at first one must watch +a fixed point upon the wharf to be sure she moved at all. Roy was +everywhere, afire with zeal in this new experience; his eyes were +dancing. Faith stood aft, a little way from her husband, calling to +those upon the wharf. The tug dragged the _Sally_ stern first into the +stream, headed her around.... + +Last calls, last cries.... The individual figures on the wharf's end +slowly merged into one mass, a mass variegated by the black garments of +the men, by the gayer fabrics which the women wore. This mass in turn, +as the _Sally_ slipped eastward toward the sea, became a dot of color +against the brown casks which piled the wharf. Faith took her eyes from +it to glance toward her husband; when she looked back it was hard to +discover the dot again. Presently it was gone.... + +Men were in the rigging, now, setting the big, square sails. The wind +began to tug at them. The voice of the mate, Mr. Ham, roared up to the +men in profane commands. Cap'n Wing stood stockily on wide-spread legs, +watching, joining his voice now and then to the uproar. + +The sea, presently, opened out before them, inviting them, offering all +its wide expanses to the _Sally Sims'_ blunt bow. The _Sally_ began to +lift and tilt awkwardly. The tug had long since dropped behind; they +shaped their course for where the night came up ahead of them.... They +sailed steadily eastward, into the gathering gloom.... + +Cap'n Wing bawled: "Mr. Tobey." And Dan'l came aft to where Faith stood +with her husband. He did not look at her, so that Faith was faintly +disquieted. The captain pointed to the litter of planks and boxes and +dishes and food where the wedding supper had been laid. Faith watched +dreamily, happily.... She had loved that last gathering with her +friends.... There was something sacred to her, in this moment, even in +the ugly debris that remained.... + +But not to Cap'n Wing. He said harshly, in his voice of a master: + +"Have that trash cleared up, Mr. Tobey. Sharp, now." + +"Trash?" Faith was faintly unhappy at the word. Dan'l bawled to the men, +and half a dozen of them came shuffling aft. She touched her husband's +arm. "I'm going below, now, Noll," she whispered. + +He nodded. "Get to bed," he said. "I'll be down." + +He had not looked at her; he was watching Dan'l and the men. Her own +eyes clouded.... Nevertheless, she turned to the cabin companion and +went below. + + + + +II + + +For two weeks Faith had been aboard the _Sally Sims_, making ready the +tiny quarters that were to be her home. When she came down into the +cabin now, it was with a sense of familiarity. The plain table, built +about the butt of the mizzenmast; the chairs; the swinging, whale-oil +lamps.... These were old friends, waiting to replace those other friends +she had left behind in her bedroom at home. She stood for a moment, at +the foot of the cabin companion, looking about her; and she smiled +faintly, her hand at her throat.... + +She was not lonely, not homesick, not sorry.... But her smile seemed to +appeal to these inanimate surroundings to be good to her. + +Then she crossed the cabin quietly, and went into the smaller +compartment across the stern which was used by Cap'n Wing for his books, +his instruments, his scant hours of leisure.... This ran almost entirely +across the stern of the ship; but it was little more than a corridor. +The captain's cabin was on the starboard side, opening off this +corridor-like compartment. There was scant room, aft, aboard the _Sally +Sims_. The four mates bunked two by two, in cabins opening off the main +cabin; the mate had no room to himself. And by the same token, there was +no possibility of giving Faith separate quarters. There were two bunks +in the captain's cabin, one above the other. The upper had been built +in, during the last two weeks. That was all.... + +Faith had not protested. She was content that Noll was hers; the rest +did not matter. She found a measure of glory in the thought that she +must endure some hardships to be at his side while her man did his work +in the world. She was, after the first pangs, glad that she must make a +tiny chest and a half a dozen nails serve her for wardrobe and +dressing-room; she was glad that she must sleep on a thing like a shelf +built into the wall, instead of her high, soft bed with the canopy at +home. She was glad--glad for life--glad for Noll--glad for +everything.... + +She began, quietly, to prepare herself for bed. And while she loosened +her heavy hair, and began the long, easy brushing that kept it so glossy +and smooth, her thoughts ran back over the swift, warm rapture of her +awakening love for Noll. Big Noll Wing.... Her husband, now.... She, his +bride.... + +She had always worshiped Noll, even while she was still a school girl, +her skirts short, her hair in a long, thick braid. Noll was a heroic +figure, a great man who appeared at intervals from the distances of +ocean, and moved majestically about the little world of the town, and +then was gone again. The man had had the gift of drama; his deeds held +that element which lifted them above mere exploits and made them +romance. When he was third mate of the old _Bertha_, a crazy Islander +tried to knife him, and fleshed his blade in Noll Wing's shoulder, from +behind. Noll had wrenched around and broken the man's neck with a twist +of his hands. He had always been a hard man with his hands; a strong +man, perhaps a brutal man. Faith, hearing only glorified whispers of +these matters, had dreamed of the strength of him. She saw this strength +not as a physical thing, but as a thing spiritual. No one man could rule +other men unless he ruled them by a superior moral strength, she knew. +She loved to think of Noll's strength.... Her breath had caught in +ecstasy of pain, that night he first held her close against his great +chest, till she thought her own ribs would crack.... + +Not Noll's strength alone was famous. He had been a great captain, a +great man for oil. His maiden voyage as skipper of his own ship made +that reputation for the man. He set sail, ran forthwith into a very sea +of whales, worked night and day, and returned in three days short of +three months with a cargo worth thirty-seven thousand dollars. A cargo +that other men took three years to harvest from the fat fields of the +sea; took three years to harvest, and then were like as not to boast of +the harvesting. Oh, Noll Wing was a master hand for sperm oil; a master +skipper as ever sailed the seas.... + +He came back thus, cruise after cruise, and the town watched his +footsteps with pride and envy; he walked the streets with head high; he +spoke harshly, in tones of command; he was, Faith thought, a man.... + +She remembered, this night, her first sight of him; her first remembered +sight. It was when her father came home from his last voyage, his chest +crushed, himself a helpless man who must lie abed long months before he +might regain a measure of his ancient strength again. His ship came in, +down at the wharves, at early dawn; and Faith and Roy, at home with +their mother, had known nothing of the matter till big Noll Wing came up +the hill, carrying Jem Kilcup in his arms as a baby is borne. Their +mother opened the door, and Noll bore Jem upstairs to the bed he was to +keep for so long.... And Faith and Roy, who had always seen in their +father the mightiest of men, as children do, marveled at Noll Wing with +wide eyes. Noll had carried their father in his arms.... + +Faith was eleven, then; Roy not much more than half as old. While Noll's +ship remained in port, she and Roy had stolen down often to the wharves +to catch a stolen sight of the great man; they had hid among the casks +to watch him; they had heard with awe his thundering commands.... And +then he sailed away. When he came again, Faith was thirteen; and she +tagged his heels, and he bought her candy, and took her on his knee and +played with her.... Those weeks of his stay were witchery to Faith. Her +mother died during that time, and Noll was her comforter.... The big man +could be gentle, in those days, and very kind.... + +He came next when Faith was sixteen; and the faint breath of bursting +womanhood within her made Faith shy. When a girl passes from childhood, +and feels for the first time the treasures of womanhood within herself, +she guards that treasure zealously, like a secret thing. Faith was +afraid of Noll; she avoided him; and when they met, her tongue was +tied.... He teased her, and she writhed in helpless misery.... + +Nineteen at his next coming; but young Dan'l Tobey, risen to be fourth +mate on that cruise with Noll, laid siege to her. She liked Dan'l; she +thought he was a pleasant boy.... But when she saw Noll, now and then, +she was silent before him; and Noll had no eyes to see what was in the +eyes of Faith. He was, at that time, in the tower of his strength; a +mighty man, with flooding pulses that drove him restlessly. He still +liked children; but Faith was no longer a child. She was a woman; and +Noll had never had more than casual use for women. He saw her, now and +then; nothing more.... + +Nevertheless this seeing was enough so that Dan'l Tobey had no chance at +all. Dan'l went so far as to beg her to marry him; but she shook her +head.... "Wait ..." she whispered. "No. No.... Wait...." + +"You mean--you will--some day?" he clamored. And she was frightened, and +cried out: + +"No, I don't mean anything, Dan'l. Please--don't ask me.... Wait...." + +He told her, doggedly, the day he sailed away, that he would ask her +again when he came home. And Faith, sure that she would never love +Dan'l, was so sorry for him that she kissed him good-by; kissed him on +the forehead.... The boy was blind; he read in that kiss an augury of +good, and went away with heart singing. He did not know the philosophy +of kisses. Let a girl permit a man to kiss her good-by--on cheek, or +forehead, or ear tip, or hand, or lip, or what you will--and there's +still a chance for him; but when she kisses him, sisterly, upon the +forehead, the poor chap is lost and has as well make up his mind to't, +Dan'l did not know, so went happily away.... + +Noll Wing, on that cruise, passed the great divide of life without +knowing it. Till then he had been a strong man, proud in his strength, +sufficient unto himself, alone without being either lonely or afraid; +but when he came home, there was stirring in him for the first time a +pang of loneliness.... This was the advance courier of age, come +suddenly upon him. + +He did not understand this; he was not even conscious of the change in +him. He left his ship, and climbed the hill to his own house where his +sister waited for him; and he submitted to her timid ministrations as he +had never submitted before. He found it, somehow, faintly pleasant.... A +woman, puttering about him.... But comfortable, just the same, he told +himself. A man gets tired of men.... + +He had never tired of men before, never tired of himself before. Now +there was something in him that was weary. He wanted comfort. He was +worn with Spartan living; he was sick of rough life. He hungered for +soft ways, for gentle things.... Some one to mend his socks.... Always +wearing full of holes.... Some one to talk to, on ship board, besides +the rough crew and the respectful officers.... + +This unrest was stirring in him when he went to see old Jem Kilcup, and +Faith opened the door to him, and bade him come in. + +He came in, tugging at his cap; and his eyes rested on her pleasantly. +She was tall, as women go; but not too tall. And she was rounded, and +strong, and firm. Her hair was thick, and soft; and her voice was low +and full. When she bade him good evening, her voice thrummed some cord +in the man. A pulse pricked faster in his throat.... + +He had come to see Jem; Jem was not at home. Faith told him this. In the +old days, he would have turned and stamped away. Now he hesitated; then +looked about for a chair, sat down. And Faith, who for the life of her +could not hold still her heart when Noll Wing was near, sat in a chair +that faced him, and they fell a-talking together. + +He talked, as men will do, of himself. Nothing could have pleased Faith +better. Nor Noll, for that matter.... He loved to talk of himself; and +for an hour they sat together, while his words bore her across the seven +seas, through the tumult of storm, through the bloody flurry of the +fighting whale, through the tense silence of a ship where sullen men +plan evil.... She trembled as she listened; not with fear for him, but +with pride in him. She was already as proud of Noll as though he +belonged to her. + +Thus began their strange courtship. It was scarce conscious, on either +side. Noll took comfort in coming to her, in talking to her, in watching +her.... His pulses stirred at watching her. And Faith made herself fair +for his coming, and made him welcome when he came.... + +She was his woman, heart and soul, from the beginning. As for Noll, he +found her company increasingly pleasant. She was a better listener than +a man; his tales were fresh and new to her. At the same time, knowing +him better, she began to mother him in her thoughts, as women will. She +began to mother him, and to guide him. Men need guiding, ever. Noll +might never have known what he wanted; but Faith was no weak girl. She +had the courage to reach out her hand for the thing that was dear to +her; she was not ashamed of her heart.... + +They came together by chance one night when the moon played hide and +seek with dark clouds in the sky; they met upon the street, as Faith +came home with Bess Holt; and Noll walked with them to Bess's house, and +then he and Faith went on together. She led him to talk of himself, as +ever. When they came to her gate, some sudden impulse of unaccustomed +modesty seized the man. He said hoarsely: + +"But pshaw, Faith.... You must be sick of my old yarns by now...." + +She was silent for a moment, there before him. Then she lifted her eyes, +smiling in the moonlight, and she quoted softly and provokingly: + + "'... She thank'd me, + And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her, + I should but teach him how to tell my story, + And that would woo her....'" + +Noll Wing was no man of little reading. He understood, and cried out +hoarsely.... + +'Twas then, the moon providentially disappearing behind a cloud, that he +caught her and held her till her ribs were like to crack, while his lips +came fumbling down to find her own.... + +Afterward, Faith hid her eyes in shame, and scolded herself for +frowardness until he reassured her; she bade him, then, pay court in due +form, at her feet. He knelt before her, the big, strong man.... And her +eyes filled, and she knelt with him. + +It was in her heart that she was pledging herself sacredly, with this +man, forevermore. + + * * * * * + +Followed the swift days of preparation; a pleasant flurry, through which +Faith moved calmly, her thoughts far off. Old Jem Kilcup was wroth; he +knew Noll Wing, and tried to tell Faith something of this knowledge. But +she, proud and straight, would have none of it; she commanded old Jem +into silence, then teased him into smiles till he consented and bade her +take her man. + +Roy was immensely proud of her. When it was decided that she should go +away with Noll upon the _Sally Sims_, Roy begged to go. Begged +fruitlessly, at first; for Noll Wing, having won the thing he wanted, +was already beginning to wonder whether he really wanted it at all. But +in the end, he consented.... Roy was to go with his sister.... + +Bess Holt.... Those were wild days for Bess; wild days of constant, +fluttering excitement. She buzzed about Faith like a humming bird about +a flower; and Faith quietly gave herself to the current of the days. She +was so happy that even Dan'l Tobey could not cloud her eyes. There was +one hot hour with Dan'l, when he accused, and swore, and begged. But +Faith had strength in her, so that in the end she conquered him and +held him.... He was silenced; only his eyes still accused her.... + +So.... Marriage! It was done, now. Done.... She was away, with Noll, the +world and life before them.... Brave Noll; strong Noll.... She loved him +so.... + + * * * * * + +When he came down into the cabin, she was waiting for him. She had put +on a dressing-gown, a warm and woolly thing that she and Bess had made +of a heavy blanket, to protect her against the chill winds of the sea. +Her braids were upon her shoulders; her hair parted evenly above her +broad brow. Her eyes were steady and sweet and calm.... Noll, studying +her while his heart leaped, saw where the dressing-gown parted at her +throat a touch of white, a spray of broidered blossoms which Faith +herself had made, with every stitch a world of hope and dreams.... + +He took off his cap, and his coat and vest. He wore suspenders. When +Faith saw them, she shivered in spite of herself. They were such +hopelessly ugly things.... She lifted her eyes from them, came closer to +him. He took her roughly in his arms, and she lifted one arm and drew it +around his thick neck, and drew his face down. + +"Ah, Noll ..." she whispered proudly. + + + + +III + + +Faith Wing fitted easily into the life aboard the _Sally Sims_, as the +whaler worked eastward before starting on the long southward slant that +would bring her at last to her true hunting grounds. The mates saw her +daily as a pleasant figure in the life of the cabin; the boat-steerers +and the seamen and greenies caught glimpses of her, now and then, when +she sat on deck with sewing, or a book, or with idle hands and +thoughtful eyes. Faith, on her part, studied the men about her, and +watched over Noll, and gave herself to the task of being a good wife and +helpmate to him. + +The first weeks of the cruise were arduous ones, as they are apt to be +on a whaler; for of the whole crew, more than half were green hands +recruited from the gutters, the farms, the slums.... Weak men, in many +cases; rotted by wrong living; slack-muscled, jangle-nerved. Weak men +who must be made strong; for there is no place for weakness in a +whaler's crew. + +It was the task of the mates to make these weaklings into men. The +greenies must learn the rigging; they must learn their duties in +response to each command; they must be drilled to their parts in the +boats and prepared for the hunts that were to come. Your novice at sea +has never an easy time of it; he learns in a hard school, and this is +apt to be especially true upon a whaler. While the methods of the +officers differed according to the habit of the officer, they were never +gentle. + +Cap'n Wing watched over all this, took a hand here and there. And Faith, +quietly in the background, saw a new Noll, saw in each of the officers a +man she had never seen ashore. + +Noll was the master, the commander. When his voice bellowed along the +decks, even the greenest man leaped and desperately strove in his +efforts to obey. Noll was the dominant man; and Faith was pleasantly +afraid of him and his roaring tones.... She loved being afraid of +him.... + +There were four officers aboard the _Sally Sims_. These four, with +Roy--in his capacity of ship's boy--lived with Noll and Faith in the +main cabin. They were Faith's family. Big Henry Ham, the mate, was a man +of slow wit but quick fist; a man with a gift of stubbornness that +passed for mastery. The men of his watch, and especially the men of his +boat, feared him acutely. He taught them this fear in the first week of +the cruise, by the simple teachings of blows. Thereafter he relaxed this +chastisement, but held a clenched fist always over their cowering heads. +He had what passed for a philosophy of life, to justify this. When Faith +asked him, pleasantly, one day, whether it was necessary to strike the +men, he told her with ponderous condescension that no other measures +would suffice. + +"They've no proper brains at all, ma'am," he explained. "Their brains is +all in their faces; and when they don't jump at the word, your fist in +their mouth jumps them. And next time, they jump without it. That's the +whole thing of it, ma'am." + +And he added further: "They're children, ma'am." He smiled slyly. "When +you've babies of your own, you'll understand. Take the switch to 'em, +ma'am, till they learn what it is. Then they'll mind without, and +things'll go all smooth." + +He was, after a fashion, a Pecksniffian man, this Henry Ham. Faith did +not like him, but she found it hard not to respect him. He was, after +all, efficient. + +Dan'l Tobey, the second mate, was a man of another sort. Faith was +startled and somewhat amused to find what a difference there was between +Dan'l afloat and Dan'l ashore. Ashore, he was a round-faced, freckled, +sandy-haired boy with no guile in him; an impetuous, somewhat helpless +and inarticulate boy. Afloat, he was a man; reticent, speaking little, +speaking to the point when he spoke at all.... Shrewd, reading the +character of his men, playing upon them as a musician plays upon his +instruments. Of the five men in his boat, not one but might have whipped +him in a stand-up fight. Nevertheless, he ruled them. This one he +dominated by cutting and sarcastic words that left the man abashed and +helpless; that one he flattered; another he joked into quick +obedience.... The fourth, a surly giant who might have proved +unmanageable, he gave into the keeping of his boat-steerer, a big +Islander called Yella' Boy. He taught Yella' Boy to fear the man, +provoked a fight between them in which the giant was soundly whipped, +and thereafter used the one against the other and kept them both in +balance eternally. Dan'l had, Faith decided, more mental ability than +any man aboard--short of her Noll. He ruled by his wits; and this the +more surprised her because she had always thought Dan'l more than a +little stupid. She watched the unfolding of the new Dan'l with keenest +interest as the weeks dragged by. + +James Tichel, the third mate, was a thin little old man given to +occasional bursts of tigerish rage in which he was the match for any man +aboard. In his second week, he took the biggest man in his boat and beat +him into a helpless, clucking wreck of bruises. Thereafter, there was no +need for him to strike a second time. Faith wondered whether these rages +to which the little man gave way were genuine, whether he gave way +because he chose to do so. In the cabin, he was distinguished for a dry +and acid wit. Faith did not like him, even when she guessed the secret +fear of the little man that he was passing his usefulness, that he was +growing too old to serve. He told her, once, in a moment of confidence, +that he had sailed as third mate for fourteen years, and once as +second.... + +"But never as mate; nor as skipper, ma'am," he mourned. + +She tried to comfort him. "You will, some day," she told him. "Every +man's chance must come...." + +He chuckled acridly. "Aye--but what if he's dead afore it?" + +Willis Cox was fourth mate. He was a youngster; this his first cruise in +the cabin. He had been promoted from the fo'c's'le by Noll Wing on +Noll's last voyage. By the same token, he worshiped Noll as a demigod, +with the enthusiasm of youth; and a jealousy not unlike the jealousy of +women made him dislike Faith, at first, and resent her presence aboard. +No one could long dislike Faith, however. In the end, he included her in +his worship of Noll, and gave her all his loyalty. + +Roy, in these new surroundings, flourished. He was tireless, always +stirring about the ship or clambering in the rigging, drinking in new +impressions like a sponge. He and Faith, as is apt to be the case +between brother and sister, fought each other constantly, bickering and +striving back and forth. Faith had somewhat outgrown this way of +childhood; but Roy was still a boy, and Faith felt toward him at times +the exasperation which a mother feels toward a child. It came to pass, +in the early stages of the voyage, that Roy included Noll Wing in his +warfare against Faith; and he turned to Dan'l Tobey. Between Dan'l and +the boy, a strange friendship arose, so that Faith often saw them +talking together, Roy chattering while Dan'l listened flatteringly. +Faith, ashore, had liked Dan'l; she was a little afraid of the new man +he had become, since they sailed. Nevertheless, she was pleased that Roy +liked him.... + +All these men had been changed, in subtle ways, by their coming to sea. +Faith, during the first weeks, was profoundly puzzled and interested by +this transformation. There was a new strength in all of them, which she +marked and admired. At the same time, there were manifestations at which +she was disquieted. + +Noll Wing--her Noll--had changed with the rest. He had changed not only +in his every-day bearing, but in his relations with her. She was +troubled, from the very beginning, by these changes; and she was +troubled by her own reactions to them. + +Noll, for instance, liked to come down to his cabin in his times of +leisure and take off his coat and vest and open his shirt at the throat +and lie down. Sometimes he took off his shoes. Usually, at such times, +he went to sleep; and Faith, who sometimes read aloud to him, would stop +her reading when Noll began to snore, and look at her husband, and try +to convince herself he was good to look upon. She learned to know, line +by line, the slack folds of his cheeks when he lay thus, utterly +relaxed. The meandering of the little purple veins beneath his skin +fascinated her and held her eyes. There were little, stiff hairs in his +ears, and in his nostrils; and where his shirt was open at the throat +she could glimpse the dark growth upon his broad chest. His suspenders +pressed furrows in the soft, outer covering of flesh which padded the +muscles of his shoulders. He was, by habit, a cleanly man; but he was at +the same time full-fleshed and full-blooded, and there was always about +him a characteristic and not necessarily unpleasant odor of clean +perspiration. At times, as she sat beside him while he slept thus, Faith +tried to tell herself she liked this; at times it frankly revolted her, +so that she was ashamed of her own revolt.... + +She had worshiped the strength of Noll; she was in danger of discovering +that at too close range, that strength became grossness. + +The pitiless intimacies of their life together in the cabin of the +_Sally Sims_ were hard for Faith. They shared two small rooms; and Noll +must be up and down at all hours of day and night, when the weather was +bad, or the business of whaling engrossed him. Faith, without being +vain, had that reverence and respect for herself which goes by the name +of modesty. Her body was as sacred to her as her soul. The necessity +that they were under of dressing and undressing in a tiny room not eight +feet long was a steady torment to her.... + +She did not blame Noll for what unhappiness there was in these matters; +she blamed herself for over-sensitiveness, and tried to teach herself to +endure these things as a part of her task of sharing the rigors of +Noll's daily toil. But there were times when even the nakedness of +Noll's bald head revolted her. + +She had been, when she married, prepared for disillusionment. Faith was +not a child; she was a woman. She had the wisdom to know that no man is +a heroic figure in a night shirt.... But she was not prepared to +discover that Noll, who walked among men as a master, could fret at his +wife like a nervous woman. + +This fretful querulousness manifested itself more than once in the early +stages of the voyage. For Noll was growing old, and growing old a little +before his time because he had spent his life too freely. He was, at +times, as querulous as a complaining old man. Because he was apt to be +profane, in these moods, Faith tried to tell herself that they were the +stormy outbreaks of a strong man.... But she knew better. When Noll, +after they lost their second whale, growled to her: + +"Damn Tichel.... The man's losing his pith. You'd think a man like him +could strike a whale and not let it get away...." Faith knew this was no +mere outbreak against Tichel, but an out and out whine. + +She knew this, but would not admit it, even in her thoughts. + +Another matter troubled her. Noll Wing was a drinker. She had always +known that. It was a part of his strength, she thought, to be able to +drink strong liquor as a man should. But aboard ship she found that he +drank constantly, that there was always the sickly sweet smell of +alcohol about him.... And at times he drank to stupefaction, and slept, +log-like, while Faith lay wide-eyed and ashamed for him in the bunk +below his. She was sorry; but because she trusted in Noll's strength and +wisdom, she made no attempt to interfere. + +She had expected that marriage would shatter some of her illusions; and +when her expectations were fulfilled and far exceeded, she thrust her +unhappiness loyally behind her, and clung the closer to big Noll, +striving to lend her strength to him. + +More than once, when Noll fretted at her while others were about, she +saw Dan'l Tobey's eyes upon her; and at such times she took care to look +serene and proud. Dan'l must not so much as guess it, if Noll should +ever make her unhappy.... + +But.... Noll make her unhappy? The very thought was absurd. He was her +Noll; she was his. When they were wedded, she had given herself to him, +and taken him as a part of herself, utterly and without reservation. + +He might fail her high expectations in little things; she might fail +him. But for all that, they were one, one body and soul so long as they +both should live. + +She was as loyal to him, even in her thoughts, as to herself. For this +was Faith; she was Noll's forever. + +She thought that what she felt was hidden; but Dan'l Tobey had eyes to +see. And now and then, when in crafty ways he led big Noll to act +unworthily before her, he watched for the shadow that crossed her face, +and smiled in his own sly soul. + + + + +IV + + +There was, in Dan'l Tobey's boat, a little man named Mauger. It was he +whom Dan'l ruled by a superior tongue, deriding the man and scorching +him with jests that made Mauger crimson with shame for himself. Mauger +was a greenie; he was a product of the worst conditions of the city. He +was little and shrunken and thin, and his shoulders curled forward as +though to hug and shelter his weak chest. Nevertheless, there was a +rat-like spirit in the man, and a rat-like gleam in his black little +eyes. He was one of those men who inspire dislike, even when they strive +to win the liking of their fellows. The very fo'c's'le baited him. + +It was through Mauger that the first open clash between Cap'n Wing and +Faith, his wife, was brought to pass; and the thing happened in this +wise. + +Dan'l Tobey knew how to handle Mauger; and he kept the little man in a +continual ferment of helpless anger. When they were off in the boats +after a whale, or merely for the sake of boat drill, Dan'l gave all his +attention to Mauger, who rowed tub oar in Dan'l's boat. + +"Now if you'll not mind, Mauger," he would say, "just put your strength +into the stroke there. Just a trifle of it. Gently, you understand, for +we must not break the oars. But lean to it, Mauger. Lean to it, little +man." + +And Mauger strove till the veins stood out upon his narrow forehead, and +his black little eyes gleamed.... And within him boiled and boiled a +vast revolt, a hatred of Dan'l. Again and again, he was on the point of +an open outbreak; he cursed between his teeth, and slavered, and thought +of the bliss of sinking his nails in Dan'l's smooth throat.... The wrath +in the man gathered like a tempest.... + +But always Dan'l pricked the bubble of this wrath with some sly word +that left Mauger helpless and bewildered.... + +He set the man to scrub the decks, amidships, one day after an eighty +barrel bull whale had been tried out. There were other men at work, +scrubbing; but Dan'l gave all his attention to Mauger. He leaned against +the rail, and smiled cheerfully at the little man, and spoke +caustically.... + +"--not used to the scrub brush, Mauger. That's plain to see. But you'll +learn its little ways.... Give you time...." + +And.... "Lend a little weight to it on the thrust, little man. Put your +pith into it...." + +And.... "Here's a spot, here by my foot, that needs attention.... +Come.... No, yonder.... No, beyond that again.... So...." + +Or.... "See, now, how the Portugee there scrubs...." And when Mauger +looked toward the Portugee, Dan'l rasped: "Come.... Don't be looking up +from your tasks, little man. Attention, there...." + +This continued until Mauger, fretted and tormented and wild with the +fury of a helpless thing, was minded to rise and fling himself at +Dan'l's round, freckled face.... And in that final moment before the +outbreak must surely have come, Dan'l said pleasantly: + +"So.... That is nicely. Go below now, Mauger, and rest. Ye've worked +well...." + +And the kindliness of his tone robbed Mauger of all wrath, so that the +little man crept forward, and down to his bunk, and fairly sobbed there +with rage, and nerves, and general bewilderment. + +Dan'l was the man's master, fair.... + +This was one side of the matter; Cap'n Noll Wing was on the other side. + +Noll Wing had been harassed by the difficulties of the early weeks of +the cruise. It seemed to the man that the whole world combined to +torment him. He was, for one thing, a compound of rasping nerves; the +slightest mishap on the _Sally Sims_ preyed on his mind; the least +slackness on the part of the mates, the least error by the men sent him +into a futile storm of anger.... + +Even toward Faith, he blew hot, blew cold.... There were times when he +felt the steadfast love she gave him was like a burden hung about his +neck; and he wished he might cast it off, and wished he had never +married her, and wished ... a thousand things. These were the days when +the old strength of the man reasserted itself, when he held his head +high, and would have defied the world.... But there were other hours, +when he was spiritually bowed by the burdens of his task; and in these +hours it seemed to him Faith was his only reliance, his only support. +He leaned upon her as a man leans upon a staff. She was now a nagging +burden, now a peaceful haven of rest to which he could retreat from all +the world.... + +If he felt thus toward Faith, whom, in his way, the man did love, how +much more unstable was his attitude toward the men about him. In his +relations with them, he alternated between storming anger and querulous +complaint. Once, when they were hauling up to the mainhead a blanket +strip of blubber from a small cow whale, the tackle gave and let the +whole strip snap down like a smothering blanket of rubber.... The old +Noll Wing would have leaped into the resulting tangle and brought order +out of it with half a dozen sharp commands, with a curt blow.... This +time, he stood aft by the boat house and nagged at the mate, and cried: + +"Mr. Ham, will you please get that mess straightened out? In God's name, +why can't you men do things the right way? You...." He flung up his +hands like a hysterical woman. "By God, I wish I'd stayed ashore...." + +And he turned and went aft and sulkily down into the cabin, to fret at +Faith, while Mr. Ham and Dan'l Tobey brought order out of chaos, and +Dan'l smiled faintly at his own thoughts. + +Now it is a truth which every soldier knows, that a commanding officer +must command. When he begins to entreat, or to scold like a woman, or to +give any other indication of cracking nerves, the men under him conspire +maliciously to torment him, in the hope of provoking new outbreaks. It +is instinctive with them; they do it as naturally as small boys torment +a helpless dog. And it was so on the _Sally Sims_. The more frequently +Noll Wing forgot that he was master, the more persistently the men +harassed him. + +His officers saw the change in Noll, and tried to hide it or deny it as +their natures prompted. The mate, Mr. Ham, developed an unsuspected +loyalty, covering his chief's errors by his own strength; and young +Willis Cox backed him nobly. Dan'l Tobey, likewise, was always quick to +take hold of matters when they slipped from the captain's fingers; but +he did it a little ostentatiously.... Noll himself did not perceive this +ostentation; but the men saw, and understood. It was as though Dan'l +whispered over his shoulder to them: + +"See! The old man's failing. I have to handle you for him...." + +Once or twice Dan'l bungled some task in a fashion that provoked these +outbreaks; and whether or not this was mere chance, Faith was always +about on these occasions. For example, at dinner one day in the cabin, +Dan'l looked mournfully at the salt beef that was set before him, and +then began to eat it with such a look of resignation on his countenance +that Noll demanded: "What's wrong with the beef, Mr. Tobey?" + +Dan'l said pleasantly: "Nothing, sir. Nothing at all. It's very good +fare, and almighty well cooked, I'd say." + +Now it was not well cooked. Tinch, the cook, had been hurried, or +careless.... The junk he had brought down to the cabin was half raw, a +nauseous mass.... And Dan'l knew it, and so did Noll Wing. But Noll +might have taken no notice but for Dan'l, and Dan'l's tone.... + +As it was, he was forced to take notice. And so he bellowed for Tinch, +and when the cook came running, Noll lifted the platter and flung it, +with its greasy contents, at the man's head, roaring profanely.... + +Faith was at the table; she said nothing. But when Noll looked at her, +and saw the disappointment in her eyes--disappointment in him--he wished +to justify himself; and so complained: "Damned shame.... A man can't get +decent food out of that rascal.... If I wasn't a fool, Faith, I'd have +stayed ashore...." + +Faith thought she would have respected him more if, having given way to +his anger, he had stuck to his guns, instead of seeking thus weakly to +placate her. And Dan'l Tobey watched Faith, and was well content with +himself. + +It was Dan'l, in the end, who brought Mauger and Cap'n Wing together; +and if matters went beyond what he had intended, that was because chance +favored him. + +It was a day when Mauger took a turn at the awkward steering apparatus +of the _Sally Sims_. The _Sally's_ wheel was so arranged that when it +was twirled, it moved to and fro across the deck, dragging the tiller +with it. To steer was a trick that required learning; and in any sea, +the tiller bucked, and the wheel fought the steersman in eccentric and +amazing fashion. This antiquated arrangement was one of the curses of +many ships of the whaling fleet.... Mauger had never been able to get +the trick of it.... + +Dan'l's watch came on deck and Mauger took the wheel at a moment when +Cap'n Wing was below. Faith was with him. Dan'l knew the captain would +be entering the log, writing up his records of the cruise, reading.... +He also knew that if Noll Wing followed his custom, he would presently +come on deck. And he knew--he himself had had a hand in this--that Noll +had been drinking, that day, more than usual. + +That Faith came up with Noll, a little later, was chance; no more. Dan'l +had not counted on it. + +Mauger, then, was at the wheel. Dan'l leaned against the deckhouse +behind Mauger, and devoted himself amicably to the task of instructing +the man. His tone remained, throughout, even and calm; but there was a +bite in it which seared the very skin of Mauger's back. + +"You'll understand," said Dan'l cheerfully, "you are not rolling a hoop +in your home gutter, Mauger. You're too impetuous in your ways.... Be +gentle with her...." + +This when, the _Sally Sims_ having fallen off her set course, Mauger +brought her so far up into the wind that her sails flapped on the yards. +Dan'l chided him. + +"Not so strenuous, Mauger. A little turn, a spoke or two.... You +overswing your mark, little man. Stick her nose into it, and keep it +there...." + +The worst of it was, from Mauger's point of view, that he was trying +quite desperately to hold the _Sally's_ blunt bows where they belonged. +But there was a sea; the rollers pounded her high sides with an +overwhelming impact, and the awkward wheel put a constant strain on his +none-too-adequate arms and shoulders. When the _Sally_ swung off, and he +fought her back to her course, she was sure to swing too far the other +way; when he tried to ease her up to it, a following sea was sure to +catch him and thrust him still farther off the way he should go.... + +He fought the wheel as though it were a live thing, and the sweat burst +out on him, and his arms and shoulders ached; and all the time, Dan'l at +his back flogged him with gentle jeers, and seared him with caustic +words.... + +The rat-like little man had the temper of a rat. Dan'l knew this; he was +careful never to push Mauger too far. So, this afternoon, he brought the +man, little by little, to the boiling point, and held him there as +delicately in the balance as a chemist's scales.... With a word, he +might at any time have driven Mauger mad with fury; with a word he could +have reduced the helpless little man to smothering sobs. + +He had Mauger thus trembling and wild when Noll Wing came on deck, Faith +at his side. Dan'l looked at them shrewdly; he saw that Noll's face was +flushed, and that Noll's eyes were hot and angry. And--behind the back +of Mauger at the wheel--he nodded toward the little man, and caught +Noll's eyes, and raised his shoulders hopelessly, smiling.... It was as +if he said: + +"See what a hash the little man is making of his simple job. Is he not a +hopeless thing?" + +Noll caught Dan'l's glance; and while Mauger still quivered with the +memory of Dan'l's last word, Noll looked at the compass, and cuffed +Mauger on the ear and growled at him: + +"Get her on her course, you gutter dog...." + +Which was just enough to fill to overflowing Mauger's cup of wrath. The +little man abandoned the wheel.... Dan'l caught it before the _Sally_ +could fall away ... and Mauger sprang headlong, face black with wrath, +at Cap'n Wing. + +He was scarce a third Noll's size; but the fury of his attack was such +that for a moment Noll was staggered. Then the captain's fist swung +home, and the little man whirled in the air, and fell crushingly on head +and right shoulder, and rolled on the slanting deck like a bundle of +soiled old clothes.... Rolled and lay still.... + +Cap'n Noll Wing, big Noll, whom Faith loved, bellowed and leaped after +the little man. He was red with fury that Mauger had attacked him, red +with rage that Mauger had, for an instant, thrust him back. He swung his +heavy boot and drove it square into the face of the unconscious man. +Faith saw.... + +The toe of the captain's boot struck Mauger in the right eye-socket, as +he lay on his side. At the blow, for an instant, the man's eye literally +splashed out, bulging, on his temple.... + +Some women would have screamed; some would have flung themselves upon +Noll to drag him back. Faith did neither of these things. She stood for +an instant, her lips white.... Her sorrow and pity were not for Mauger, +who had suffered the blow.... They were for Noll, her Noll, her husband +whom she loved and wished to respect.... Sorrow and pity for Noll, who +had done this thing.... + +She turned quickly and went down into her cabin.... + +Noll came down, minutes later, after she had heard the feet of running +men, the voices of men upon the deck. He came down, found her in the +cabin which served as his office. She was standing, looking out one of +the windows in the stern.... + +He said thickly: "That damned rat won't try that on me again...." + +She turned, and her eyes held his. "That was a cowardly thing to do, +Noll, my husband," she said. + + + + +V + + +When Noll Wing kicked the unconscious man, and Faith slipped quietly +away and went below, the life of the _Sally Sims_ for an instant stood +still. Yella' Boy and Loum, two of the boat-steerers, were lounging at +the forward end of the boathouse, and saw. Dan'l Tobey, who had gripped +the wheel, saw. And three or four of the men, amidships, saw. For a +space they all stood still, watching, while Noll growled above his +victim, and Mauger, limp and senseless, rolled slackly back and forth +upon the deck with the motion of the vessel. + +Then Noll looked around, and saw them all watching him with steady, +hard, frightened eyes; and their silence irked him, so that he broke it +with a cry of his own. + +"You, Yella' Boy, sluice him off," he shouted. + +Yella' Boy grinned, showed his teeth with the amiability of his dark +race; and he took a canvas bucket and dropped it over the rail, and drew +it up filled with brine, and flung this callously in Mauger's horribly +crushed face. The water loosed the blood, washed it away in flecks and +gouts.... It bared the skin, and through this skin, from many little +slits and scratches like the cracks in a half-broken egg, more blood +trickled, spreading moistly. The salt burned.... Mauger groaned +hoarsely, slumped into unconsciousness again. + +"Douse him again," Noll Wing commanded. "The dog's shamming." He looked +around, saw Dan'l at the wheel. "You, Mr. Tobey, look to him," he +commanded. + +Dan'l was one of those men whose hands have a knack for healing. He knew +something of medicine; he had gone so far, upon a former cruise, as to +trim away a man's crushed fingers after an accident of the whale +fisheries had nipped them.... He hailed one of the men in the waist, +now, and gave the wheel to this man, and then crossed to where Mauger +lay and knelt beside him, and dabbed away the blood upon his face.... + +Cap'n Wing, leaning against the rail, his knuckles white with the grip +he had upon it, watched Dan'l, and swayed upon his feet.... And Yella' +Boy, with his bucket still half full of brine, stood by, and grinned, +and waited. + +Mauger came slowly back to life under Dan'l's ministrations; he groaned, +and he began to twitch, and kick.... And of a sudden he cried out, like +one suddenly waking from sleep. Then consciousness flooded him, and with +it came the agony he was enduring, and he howled.... And then his howls +grew weak and weaker till he was sobbing.... And Dan'l helped him to his +feet.... He had put a rough bandage about the man's head, and from +beneath this bandage, one of Mauger's eyes looked forth, blackly +gleaming, wild with the torment he endured. This eye fixed its gaze upon +Noll Wing.... + +Dan'l stepped a little nearer Noll, and said in a low voice: "His eye is +gone, sir. No good. It ought to be dimmed out.... Cleared away...." + +That shocked the liquor out of Noll; his face went white beneath the +brown; and Mauger heard, and suddenly he screamed again, and leveled a +shaking finger at Noll Wing, and cursed him shrilly.... Dan'l whirled +and bade him be silent; he signed to Yella' Boy, and the harpooner half +dragged, half carried Mauger forward. But as they went, Mauger, twisting +in the other's arms, shook his thin fist at Noll Wing and swore +terribly.... Cursed Noll, called death down upon him, vowed that he +would some day even the score.... + +Yella' Boy cuffed him and dragged him away.... And Dan'l watched Noll to +see what the captain would say. Noll said nothing. He took off his cap +and rubbed his bald head and looked for an instant like an old man; his +eyes shifted furtively from Dan'l to the cursing man.... + +Abruptly, he turned and went aft to the stern of the ship and stood +there by himself, thinking. He sought reassurance; he abused Mauger +under his breath, and told himself the little man had been well +served.... The _Sally_ fell away; he turned and cursed the new man at +the wheel, and got relief from the oath he spoke. It gave him a +blustering sort of courage.... He wished Dan'l Tobey would tell him he +had done right.... But Dan'l had gone forward to the fo'c's'le.... +Mauger was howling.... Noll thought Dan'l might be trimming away that +crushed eye.... And he shuddered. He was, suddenly, immensely lonely. He +wished with all his soul for support, for a word of comfort, a word of +reassurance.... + +He went down into the cabin, thinking to speak with Henry Ham. Mr. Ham +was always an apostle of violence.... But the mate was sleeping; Noll +could hear him snore. So was tigerish little James Tichel.... + +Noll went into the after cabin, and found Faith there. Her back was +turned, she was looking out of the stern windows. He wished she would +look at him, but she did not. So he said, his voice thick with anger, +and at the same time plaintive with hunger for a reassuring word.... + +"That damned rat won't try that again...." + +Then Faith turned and told him: "That was a cowardly thing to do, Noll, +my husband." + +He had come for comfort; he was ready to humble himself; he was a prey +to the instinct of wrong-doing man which bids him confess and be +forgiven.... But Faith's eyes accused him.... When a man's wife turns +against him.... He said, bitter with rage: + +"Keep your mouth shut, child. This is not a pink tea, aboard the _Sally +Sims_. You know nothing of what's necessary to handle rough men." + +Faith smiled a little wistfully. "I know it is never necessary to kick a +helpless man in the face," she said. + +He was so nearly mad with fury and shame and misery that he raised his +great fist as though he would have struck even Faith. "Mind your own +matters," he bade her harshly. "The dog struck me.... Where would the +ship be if I let that go? I should have killed him...." + +"Did you not?" Faith asked gently. "I thought he would be dead...." + +"No; hell, no!" Noll blustered. "You can't kill a snake. He'll be +poisonous as ever in a day...." + +"I saw ..." said Faith; she shuddered faintly. "I--think his eye is +gone." + +"Eye?" Noll echoed. "What's an eye? He's lucky to live. There's +skippers that would have killed him where he stood.... For what he +did...." + +Faith shook her head. "He's only a little man, weak, not used to sea +life. You are big, and strong, Noll.... My Noll.... There was no need of +kicking him." + +The man flung himself, then, into an insane burst of anger at her. He +hated the whole world, hated Faith most of all because she would not +soothe him and tell him never to mind.... He raved at her, gripped her +round shoulders and shook her, flung her away from him.... He was +mad.... + +And Faith, steadfastly watching him, though her soul trembled, prayed in +her heart that she might find the way to bring Noll back to manhood +again; she endured his curses; she endured his harsh grip upon her +shoulders.... She waited while he flooded her with abuse.... And at the +end, when he was quiet for lack of words to say, she went to him and +touched his arm. + +"Noll ..." she said. + +He jerked away from her. "What?" + +"Noll.... Look at me...." + +He obeyed, in spite of himself; and there was such depths of tenderness +and sorrow in her eyes that the man's heart melted in him. "It's not +Mauger I'm sorry for," she told him. "It's you, Noll.... That you should +be so cowardly, Noll...." + +His rage broke, then; he fell to fretting, whining.... She sat down; he +slumped like a child beside her. He told her he was tired, weary.... +That he was worried.... That his nerves had betrayed him.... That the +drink was in him.... "They're all trying to stir me," he complained. +"They take a joy in doing the thing wrong.... They're helpless, +slithering fools.... I lost myself, Faith...." + +He pleaded with her, desperately anxious to make her understand; and +Faith understood from the beginning, with the full wisdom of woman, yet +let him talk out all his unhappiness and remorse.... And because she +loved him, her arm was about him and his great head was drawn against +her breast long before he was done. She comforted him with touches of +her light hands upon his head; she soothed him with murmurs that were no +words at all.... + +The man reveled in this orgy of self-abasement. He groveled before her, +until she began to be faintly contemptuous, in her heart, at his +groveling. She bade him make an end of it.... + +"I was a coward, Faith," he cried. "You're right. I was a coward...." + +"You are a man, Noll," she told him. "Stronger than other men, and not +in your fists alone. That is why I love you so...." + +"I know, I know," he told her. "Oh, you're a wonder, Faith...." + +"You're a man. Always remember that," she said. + +He got up abruptly. He started toward the main cabin; and she asked: +"Where are you going, Noll?" + +"Forward," he said. "I've wronged Mauger...." He was drunk with this +new-found joy of abasing himself. "I'll tell the man so. I'll right +things with him...." + +And he added thoughtfully: "He cursed me. I don't want the man's hate. +I'll right things with him...." + +She smiled faintly, shook her head. "No, Noll...." + +He was stubborn. "Yes. Why not? I've...." + +She said thoughtfully: "Noll, you're the master of this ship. Old +Jonathan Felt put her in your charge. You are responsible for her.... +And that puts certain obligations on you, Noll. An obligation to be +wise, and to be prudent, and to be brave...." + +He came back and sat down beside her. She touched his knee. "You are +like a king, aboard here, Noll. And--the king can do no wrong. I would +not go to Mauger, if I were you. You made a mistake; but there is no +need you should humble yourself before the men. They would not +understand; they would only despise you, Noll." + +He said hotly: "Let them. They're sneaking, spineless things...." + +"Let them fear you; let them hate you," she told him. "But--never let +them forget you are master, Noll. Don't go to Mauger...." + +He had no real desire to go; he wished only to bask in her new-found +sympathy. And he yielded readily enough, at last.... + +The matter passed abruptly. She rose; he went up on deck; the _Sally +Sims_ went on her way. And for a day or two, Noll Wing, an old man, was +like a boy who has repented and been forgiven; he was offensively +virtuous, offensively good-natured. + +Mauger returned to his duties the second day. He wore a bandage across +his face; and when it was discarded a week later, the hollow socket +where his eye had been was revealed. His suffering had worked a terrible +change in the man; he had been morose and desperate, he was now too much +given to chuckling, as though at some secret jest of his own. He went +slyly about his tasks; he seemed to have a pride in his misfortune; when +he saw men shrink with distaste at sight of his scarred countenance, he +chuckled under his breath.... + +Dan'l Tobey had cut away the crushed eye-ball; the lids covered the +empty socket. In the upper lid, some maimed nerve persisted in living. +It twitched, now and then, in such a fashion that Mauger seemed to be +winking with that deep hollow in his face.... + +The man had a fascination, from the beginning, for Noll Wing. The +captain took an unholy joy in looking upon his handiwork; he shivered at +it, as a boy shivers at a tale of ghosts.... And he felt the gleaming +glance of Mauger's remaining eye like a threat. It followed him whenever +they were both on deck together; if he looked toward Mauger, he was sure +to catch the other watching him. + +Dan'l Tobey was cheerfully philosophical about the matter. "He can see +as well as ever, with what he has left," he told Noll one day. "And he +ought to count himself lucky. Your boot might have mashed his head +in.... And serve him right...." + +"Aye," said Noll, willing to be reassured. "He's lucky to live. The dog +must know that...." + +And he looked forward to where Mauger lounged amidships, beside the try +works, and saw the man's black eye watching him; and Mauger caught the +captain's glance, and chuckled unpleasantly, his face twisting. Noll +felt a quiver of horror, far within himself.... + +He began, even in the fortnight after the affair, to remember Mauger's +curses and threats as the man was borne away by Yella' Boy, that day. +Mauger had threatened to kill him, to cut his heart away.... The +meaningless cries of a delirious man, he told himself.... No doubt +Mauger had forgotten them before this. + +He tried, one day, the experiment of giving the one-eyed man an order. +Smoking his pipe, he spilled ashes on the spotless deck; and he bellowed +forward to Mauger to come aft, and when the man came, he pointed to the +smudge of ashes, and: + +"Clean that up," he said harshly. "Look sharp, now." + +Mauger chuckled. "Aye, sir," he said respectfully, and on hands and +knees at the captain's feet performed his task, looking up slyly into +Noll Wing's face as he did so. The lid that closed the empty eye-socket +twitched and seemed to wink.... + +That night, as they were preparing to sleep, Noll spoke of Mauger to +Faith. "He does his work better than ever," he said. + +She nodded. "Yes." And something in Noll's tone made her attentive. + +"Seems cheerful, too," said Noll. He hesitated. "I reckon he's forgot +his threat to stick a knife in me.... Don't you think he has?" + +Faith's eyes, watching her husband, clouded; for she read his tone. +Noll Wing, strong man and brave, could not hide his secret from her.... + +She understood that he was deathly afraid of the one-eyed +man. + + + + +VI + + +The _Sally Sims_ was in the South Atlantic on the day when Noll Wing +kicked out Mauger's eye. The life of the whaler went on, day by day, as +a background for the drama that was brewing. The men stood watch at the +mastheads, the _Sally_ plunged and waddled awkwardly southward; and now +and then a misty spout against the wide blue of the sea halted them, and +boats were lowered, and the whales were struck, and killed, and towed +alongside. Held fast there by the chain that was snubbed around the +fluke-chain bitt, they were hacked by the keen spades and cutting +knives, the great heads were cut off, and dragged aboard, and stripped +of every fleck of oily blubber; and the great bodies, while the spiral +blanket strips were torn away, rolled lumberingly over and over against +the bark's stout planks. Thereafter the tryworks roared, and the blubber +boiled, and the black and stinking smoke of burning oil hung over the +seas like a pall.... + +This smell of burning oil, the mark of the whaler, distressed Faith at +first. It sickened her; and the soot from the fires where the scrapple +of boiled blubber fed the flames settled over the ship, and penetrated +even to her own immaculate cabin. She disliked the smell; but the +gigantic toil of the cutting in and the roar of the tryworks had always +a fascination for her that compensated for the smell and the soot. She +rejoiced in strength, in the strong work of lusty men. To see a great +carcass almost as long as the _Sally_ lying helplessly against the rail +never failed to thrill her. For the men of the crew, it was all in the +day's work; stinking, sweating, perilous toil. For Faith it was a +tremendous spectacle. It intoxicated her; and in the same fashion it +affected Noll Wing, and Dan'l Tobey, and tigerish old Tichel. When there +were fish about, these men were subtly changed; their eyes shone, their +chests swelled, their muscles hardened; they stamped upon the deck with +stout legs, like a cavalry horse that scents the battle. They gave +themselves to the toil of killing whales and harvesting the blubber as +men give themselves to a debauch; and afterward, when the work was done, +they were apt to surrender to a lassitude such as follows a debauch. +There was keen, sensual joy in the running oil, the unctuous oil that +flowed everywhere upon the decks; they dabbed their hands in it; it +soaked their garments and their very skins drank it in. + +Young Roy Kilcup took fire, from the beginning, at these gigantic +spectacles. He wished to go out in the boats that struck the whales; but +he lacked the sinews of a man, he lacked the perfect muscular control of +manhood. He was still a boy, nimble as a monkey, but given to awkward +gestures and leaps and motions. He could not be trusted to sit tight in +a boat and handle his oar when a whale was leaping under the iron; and +so he was condemned to stay on the ship. + +But they could not deny him a part in the cutting in; and when that +work was afoot, he was everywhere, his eyes gleaming.... He slashed at +the blubber with a boarding knife; he minced it for the boiling; he +descended into the blubber room and helped stow the stuff there. Faith, +watching, loved his enthusiasm and his zeal.... + +After the matter of Mauger, things went smoothly for a space. The whales +came neither too fast nor too slow; they killed one or two, at intervals +of days; they cut them in; they tried them out, while the fires flared +through night and day and cast red shadows on the dark faces of the men, +and turned their broad, bared chests to gold. And when the blubber was +boiled, they cleaned ship, and idled on their way, and raised, in due +time, other whales.... + +Cap'n Wing chose to go west, instead of eastward past the tip of Africa +and up into the Indian Ocean. So they worked their painful way around +the Horn, fighting for inches day by day; and when the bleak fog did not +blanket them, Faith could see gaunt mountains of rock above the northern +rim of the sea. And once they passed a clipper, eastward bound. It swept +up on them, a tower of tugging canvas; it came abreast, slipped past, +and dwindled into a white dot upon the sea behind before night came down +and hid it from their eyes. In the morning, though they had idled with +no canvas pulling, through the night, the clipper was gone, and they +were alone again among the mountains that came down to the sea.... + +So they slid out at last into the South Pacific, and struck a little +north of west for the wide whaling grounds of the island-dotted South +Seas. And struck their whales.... + +The routine of their tasks.... But during this time, a change was +working in Noll Wing, which Faith, and Dan'l Tobey, and all who looked +might see. + +The matter of Mauger had been, in some measure, a milestone in Noll +Wing's life. He had struck men before; he had maimed them. He had killed +at least one man, in fair fight, when it was his life or the other's. +But because in those days his pulse was strong and his heart was young, +the matter had never preyed upon him. He had been able to go proudly on +his way, strong in his strength, sure of himself, serene and unafraid. +He was, in those days, a man. + +But this was different; this was the parting of the ways. Noll had spent +his great strength too swiftly. His muscles were as stout as ever; but +his heart was not. Drink was gnawing at him; old age was gnawing at him; +he was like an old wolf that by the might of tooth and fang has led the +pack for long.... He had seen strong men fail; he knew what failure +meant; and he could guess the slackening of his own great powers and +prevision the end of this slackening. The wolf dreads the day when a +young, strong wolf will drag him down; Noll dreaded the day when his +voice and his eye and his fist should fail to master the men. He had +been absolute so long, he could endure no less. He must rule, or he was +done.... + +At times, when he felt this failing of his own strong heart, he blamed +Faith for it, and fretted at her because she dragged him down. At other +times, he was ashamed, he was afraid of the eyes of the men; he fled to +her for comfort and for strength. He was a prey, too, to regretful +memories. The matter of Mauger, for instance.... He was, for all he +fought the feeling, tortured by remorse for what he had done to Mauger. + +And he was dreadfully afraid of the one-eyed man. + +At first, he half enjoyed this fear; it was a new sensation, and he +rolled in it like a horse in clover. But as the weeks passed, it nagged +at him so constantly that he became obsessed with it. Wherever he +turned, he saw the one-eyed man regarding him; and this steady scrutiny +of Mauger's one black eye was like a continual pin-prick. It twanged his +nerves.... He tried, for a time, to find relief in blustering; he roared +about the ship, bellowing his commands.... It comforted him to see men +jump to obey. But from the beginning, this was not utter comfort. He was +pursued by the chuckling, mirthless mirth of the one-eyed man. He +thought Mauger was like a scavenger bird that waits for a sick beast to +die. Mauger harassed him.... + +This change in Noll Wing reacted upon Faith. Because her life was so +close to his, she was forced to witness the manifestations which he hid +from the men; because her eyes were the eyes of a woman who loves, she +saw things which the men did not see. She saw the slow loosening of the +muscles of Noll's jaw; saw how his cheeks came to sag like jowls. She +saw the old, proud strength in his eyes weaken and fail; she saw his +eyes grow red and furtive.... Saw, too, how his whole body became +overcast with a thickening, flabby garment of fat, like a net that bound +his slothful limbs.... + +Noll's slow disintegration of soul had its effect upon Faith. She had +been, when she came to the _Sally Sims_ with him, little more than a +girl; she had been gay and laughing, but she had also been calm and +strong. As the weeks passed, Faith was less gay; her laugh rang more +seldom. But by the same token, the strength that dwelt in her seemed to +increase. While Noll weakened, she grew strong.... + +There were days when she was very lonely; she felt that the Noll she had +married was gone from her.... She was, for all her strength, a woman; +and a woman is always happiest when she can lean on other strength and +find comfort there.... But Noll.... Noll, by this, was not so strong of +soul as she.... + +She was lonely with another loneliness; with the loneliness of a +mother.... But Noll had told her, brutally, in the beginning, that there +was no place for a babe upon the _Sally Sims_. He overbore her, because +in such a matter she could not command him. The longing was too deep in +her for words. She could not lay it bare for even Noll to see.... + +Thus, in short, Faith was unhappy. Unhappy; yet she loved Noll, and her +heart clung to him, and yearned to strengthen and support the man, +yearned to bring back the valor she had loved in him.... There could +never be, so long as he should live, any man but Noll for her. + +Dan'l Tobey--poor Dan'l, if you will--could not understand this. Dan'l, +for all his round and simple countenance, and the engaging frankness of +his freckles and his hair, had an eye that could see into the heart of a +man. He had understanding; he could read men's moods; he could play +upon them, guide them without their guessing at his guidance. He managed +skillfully. He held the respect, even the affection of the bulk of the +crew; he had the liking of all the officers save Willis Cox, who +disliked him for a reason he could not put in words. He bent his efforts +to hold Roy Kilcup; and Roy worshiped him. He took care to please Noll +Wing, and Noll leaned upon Dan'l, and trusted him. Dan'l was the only +man on the ship who always applauded whatever Noll might do; and Noll, +hungry as an old man for praise, fed fat on Dan'l's applause.... + +Dan'l was wise; he was also crafty. He contrived, again and again, that +Noll should act unworthily in Faith's eyes. To this extent he understood +Faith; he understood her ideals, knew that she judged men by them, knew +that when Noll fell short of these ideals, Faith must in her heart +condemn him.... And he took care that Noll should fall short.... + +For one thing--a little matter, but at the same time a matter of vast +importance--he used the fact that big Noll did not eat prettily. Noll, +accustomed to the sea, having all his life been a hungry man among men, +was not careful of the niceties of the table. He ate quickly; he ate +loudly; he ate clumsily. Dan'l, somewhat gentler bred, understood this; +and at the meals in the cabin when Noll was particularly offensive, +Dan'l used to catch Faith into spirited conversation, as though to +distract her attention.... He did this in such a way that it seemed to +be mere loyalty to Noll; yet it served to create an atmosphere of +understanding between Dan'l and Faith, and it showed him in her eyes as +a loyal servant, without hiding the fact that big Noll was a gross man. + +When they were all on deck together, and Dan'l saw that burning sun or +splattering rain was unpleasant to Faith, he used to remedy the matter +by finding shelter for her; and in doing this he emphasized--by the +doing itself--the fact that Noll had failed to think of her. How much of +these things was, in the beginning, designed to win Faith from Noll it +is impossible to say. Dan'l delighted in the very doing; for he loved +Faith, had loved her for years, still loved her so intensely that there +were hours when he could have strangled Noll with his bare hands because +Noll possessed her. + +Dan'l loved Faith with a passion that gripped him, soul and body; yet it +was not an unholy thing. When he saw her unhappy, he wished to guard +her; when he saw that she was lonely, he wished to comfort her; when he +came upon her, once, at the stern, and saw that she had tears in her +eyes, it called for all his strength to refrain from taking her in his +arms and soothing her. He loved her, but there was nothing in his love +that could have soiled her. Dan'l was, in some fashion, a figure of +tragedy.... + +His heart burst from him, one day when they were two weeks in the South +Pacific. It was a hard, bitter day; one of those days when the sea is +unfriendly, when she torments a ship with thrusting billows, when she +racks planks and strains rigging, when she is perverse without being +dangerous. There was none of the joy of battle in enduring such a sea; +there was only irksome toil. It told on Noll Wing. His temper worked +under the strain. He was on deck through the afternoon; and the climax +came when Willis Cox's boat parted the lines that held its bow and fell +and dangled by the stern lines, slatting against the rail of the +_Sally_, and spilling the gear into the sea. With every lurch of the +sea, the boat was splintering; and before the men, driven by Dan'l and +Willis, could get the boat inboard again, it was as badly smashed as if +a whale's flukes had caught it square. Noll had raged while the men +toiled; when the boat was stowed, he strode toward Willis Cox and spun +the man around by a shoulder grip. + +"Your fault, you damned, careless skunk," he accused. "You're no more +fit for your job.... You're a...." + +Willis Cox was little more than a boy; he had a boy's sense of justice. +He was heart-broken by the accident, and he said soberly: "I'm sorry, +sir. It was my fault. You're right, sir." + +"Right?" Noll roared. "Of course I'm right. Do I need a shirking fourth +mate to tell me when I'm right or wrong? By...." His wrath overflowed in +a blow; and for all the fact that Noll was aging, his fist was stout. +The blow dropped Willis like the stroke of an ax. Noll himself filled a +bucket and sluiced the man, and drove him below with curses. + +Afterward, the reaction sent Noll to Faith in a rage at himself, at the +men, at the world, at her. Dan'l, in the main cabin, heard Noll swearing +at her.... And he set his teeth and went on deck because of the thing he +might do. He was still there, half an hour later, when Faith came +quietly up the companion. Night had fallen by then, the sea was +moderating. Faith passed him, where he stood by the galley; and he saw +her figure silhouetted against the gray gloom of the after rail. For a +moment he watched her, gripping himself.... He saw her shoulders stir, +as though she wept.... + +The man could not endure it. He was at her side in +three strides.... She faced him; and he could see her +eyes dark in the night as she looked at him. He stammered: + +"Faith! Faith! I'm so sorry...." + +She did not speak, because she could not trust her voice. She was +furiously ashamed of her own weakness, of the disloyalty of her thoughts +of Noll. She swallowed hard.... + +"He's a dog, Faith," Dan'l whispered. "Ah, Faith.... I love you. I love +you. I could kill him, I love you so...." + +Faith knew she must speak. She said quietly: "Dan'l.... That is not...." + +He caught her hand, with an eloquent grace that was strange to see in +the awkward, freckled man. He caught her hand to his lips and kissed it. +"I love you, Faith," he cried.... + +She freed her hand, rubbed at it where his lips had pressed it. Dan'l +was scarce breathing at all.... Fearful of what he had done, fearful of +what she might do or say.... + +She said simply: "Dan'l, my friend, I love Noll Wing with all my heart." + +And poor Dan'l knew, for all she spoke so simply, that there was no +part of her which was his. And he backed away from her a little, humbly, +until his figure was shadowed by the deckhouse. And then he turned and +went forward to the waist, and left Faith standing there. + +He found Mauger in the waist, and jeered at him good-naturedly until he +was himself again. Faith, after a little, went below. + +Noll was asleep in his bunk above hers. He lay on his back, one bare and +hairy arm hanging over the side of the bunk. He was snoring, and there +was the pungent smell of rum about him. + +Faith undressed and went quietly to bed. + + + + +VII + + +"There is a tide in the affairs of men...." Their lives ebb and flow +like the tides; there are days, or months, or years when matters move +slackly, seem scarce to move at all. But always, in the end, the pulses +of the days beat up and up.... A moment comes when all life is +compressed in a single act, a single incident.... Thereafter the tide +falls away again, but the life of man is a different thing thereafter. + +Such a tide was beating to the flood aboard the _Sally Sims_. Faith felt +it; Dan'l felt it; even Noll Wing, through the fury of his increasing +impotence, felt that matters could not long go on in this wise. Noll +felt it less than the others, because the waxing tension of his nerves +was relieved by his occasional outbursts of tempestuous rage. But Faith +could find no vent for her unhappiness; she loved Noll, and she wept for +him.... Wept for the Noll she had married, who now was dying before her +eyes.... And Dan'l suffered, perhaps, more than Faith. He suffered +because he must not seem to suffer.... + +The thing could not go on, Dan'l thought; he told himself, in the night +watches when he was alone on deck, that he could not long endure the +torment of his longing. Thus far he had loved Faith utterly; his +half-unconscious efforts to discredit Noll were the result of no malice +toward Noll Wing, but only of love for Faith. But the denial of his +longing for the right to care for her was poisoning him; the man's soul +was brewing venom. The honorable fibers of his being were +disintegrating; his heart was rotting in the man. + +He was at the point where a little thing might have saved him; he was, +by the same token, at the point where a little thing could set him +forever upon the shameful paths of wrong. + +Noll passed, at this time, into a period of sloth. He gave up, bit by +bit, the vigorous habits of his life. He had been accustomed of old to +take the deck at morning, and keep it till dusk; and when need arose in +the night, he had always been quick to leap from his bunk and spring to +the spot where his strength was demanded. He had, in the past, loved to +take his own boat after the whales that were sighted; he had continued +to do this in the early stages of this cruise, leaving Eph Hitch, the +cooper; and Tinch, the cook; and Kellick, and a spare hand or so to keep +ship with Faith and Roy Kilcup. But when they came into the South Seas, +he gave this up; and for a month on end, he did not leave the ship. The +mates struck the whales, and killed them, and cut them in, while Noll +slept heavily in his cabin. + +He gave up, also, the practice of spending most of the day on deck. He +stayed below, reading a little, writing up the log, or sitting with +glazed eyes by the cabin table, a bottle in reach of his hand. He slept +much, heavily; and even when he was awake, he seemed sodden with the +sleep in which he soaked himself. + +He passed, during this time, through varying moods. There were days +when he sulked and spoke little; there were days when he swore and +raged; and there were other days when he followed at Faith's heels with +a pathetic cheerfulness, like an old dog that tries to drive its stiff +legs to the bounding leaps of puppy play. He was alternately dependent +upon her and fretful at her presence.... + +And always, day by day, he was haunted by the sight of the one-eyed man. +He burst out, to Faith, one night; he cried: + +"The man plans to knife me. I can see murder in his eye." + +Faith, who pitied Mauger and had tried to comfort him, shook her head. +"He's broken," she said. "He's but the shell of a man." + +"He follows me," Noll insisted. "I turned, on deck, an hour ago; and he +was just behind me, in the shadow...." + +Faith, seeking to rouse the old spirit in Noll, said gently: "There was +a man who tried to stab you once. And you killed him with your hands. +Surely you need not be fearful of Mauger." + +Noll brooded for a moment. "Eh, Faith," he said dolefully. "I was a hard +man, then. I've always been a hard man.... Wrong, Faith. I was always +wrong...." + +"You were a master," she told him. + +"By the fist. A master by the fist.... A hard man...." + +He fell to mourning over his own harsh life; he gave himself to futile, +ineffectual regrets.... He told over to Faith the tale of the blows he +had struck, the oaths, the kicks.... This habit of confession was +becoming a mania with him. And when Faith tried smilingly to woo him +from this mood, he called her hard.... He told her, one day, she was +un-Christian; and he got out a Bible, and began to read.... Thereafter +the mates found him in the cabin, day by day, with the Bible spread upon +his knees, and the whiskey within reach of his hand.... + +The disintegration of the master had its inevitable effect upon the +crew; they saw, they grinned with their tongues in their cheeks; they +winked slyly behind Noll's back. One day Noll called a man and bade him +scrub away a stain of oil upon the deck. The man went slackly at the +task. The captain said: "Come, sharp there...." And the man grinned and +spat over the side and asked impudently: + +"What's hurry?" + +Noll started to explain; but Henry Ham had heard, and the mate's fist +caught the man in the deep ribs, and the man made haste, thereafter. Ham +explained respectfully to the captain: + +"You can't talk to 'em, sir. Fist does it. Fist and boot. You know that, +well's me." + +Noll shook his head dolefully. "I've been a hard man in the past, Mr. +Ham," he admitted. "But I'll not strike a man again...." + +And the mate, who could not understand, chuckled uneasily as though it +were all a jest. "I will, for you, sir," he said. + +If Dan'l Tobey had been mate, and so minded, he could have kept the crew +alert and keen; but Dan'l had his own troubles, and he did not greatly +care what came to Noll and Noll's ship. So, Noll's hand slackening, the +men were left to Mr. Ham; and the mate, while fit for his job, was not +fit for Noll's. Matters went from bad to worse.... + +This growing slackness culminated in tragedy. Where matters of life and +death are a part of every day, safety lies in discipline; and discipline +was lax on the _Sally Sims_. On a day when the skies were ugly and the +wind was freshening, they sighted a lone bull whale, and the mate and +Willis Cox lowered for him while the ship worked upwind toward where the +creature lay. The boats, rowing, distanced the bark; the mate struck the +whale, and the creature fluked the boat so that its planks opened and it +sank till it was barely awash, and dipped the men in water to their +necks. Silva, the mate's harpooner, cut the line and let the whale run +free; and a moment later, Willis Cox's boat got fast when Loum +pitchpoled his great harpoon over thirty feet of water as the whale went +down.... + +The big bull began to run headlong, and the men in Willis's boat +balanced on the sides for a "Nantucket Sleigh-ride." The whale ran +straightaway, so tirelessly they could not haul up on the line.... The +weather thickened behind them and hid the _Sally_ as she stopped to pick +up the mate and his wrecked boat. Then a squall struck, and night came +swiftly down.... + +When Willis saw it was hopeless to think of killing the whale, he cut. +It was then full dark, and blowing. Some rain fell, but the flying spume +that the wind clipped from the wave tops kept the boat a quarter full +of sea water, no matter how desperately they bailed. Toward midnight, +the thirsty men wished to drink. + +A whaleboat is always provisioned against the emergency of being cast +adrift. Biscuits and water are stored in the lantern keg, with matches +and whatever else may be needful. The water is replenished now and then, +that it may be fresh.... + +When Willis opened the lantern keg, he found the water half gone, and so +brackish it was unfit to drink. A condition directly to be attributed to +the weakening of discipline aboard the _Sally_.... A serious matter, as +they knew all too well when the next day dawned bright and hot, with the +bark nowhere to be seen. Their thirst increased tormentingly; and on the +third day, when the searching _Sally_ found them, two men were dead in +the boat, and the other four were in little better case.... + +Willis had worked his boat toward an island northeast of the position +where he lost the _Sally_; Dan'l Tobey had guessed what Willis would do, +and had persuaded Noll to cruise that way. When they picked up the half +dead men, Noll decided to touch at the island for food and fresh water; +and they raised it in mid-morning of the second day. + +They had seen other lands since the cruise began. But these other lands +had been rocky and inhospitable.... The harsh tops, for the most part, +of mountains that rose from the sea's depths to break the surface of the +sea. Men dwelt on them, clinging like goats in the crannies of the +rocks.... But they were not inviting. This island was different. When +Faith, coming on deck at the cry, saw it blue-green against the horizon, +she caught her breath at the beauty of it; and while the _Sally_ worked +closer, she watched with wide eyes and leaping pulses. She felt, +vaguely, that it was the portal of a new world; it was lovely, inviting, +pleasant.... She was suddenly sick of the harsh salt of the sea, sick of +the stinking ship.... She wanted soft earth beneath her feet, trees +above her head, flowers within reach of her hand.... + +This island was fair and smiling; it seemed to promise her all the +things she most desired.... She sought Noll Wing. + +"Are you going ashore, Noll?" she asked. + +He was in one of his slothful moods, half asleep in the after cabin; and +he shook his great head. "No.... Mates will get what we need. We'll be +away by night." + +She hesitated. "I--want to go ashore," she said. "Won't you go with me?" + +"You can go," he agreed, readily enough. "Nobody there but some +niggers--and maybe a few whites, on the beach. Nothing to see...." + +"There's land," she told him, smiling. "And trees, and flowers.... Do +come." + +"You go along. I'm--tired, to-day." + +"I'd like it so much more if you came with me." + +He frowned at her, impatient at her insistence. "Stop the talk," he told +her harshly. "I'm not going. Go if you want to. But be still about it, +let a man rest.... I'm tired, Faith.... I'm getting old...." + +"You ought to look after getting the stuff for the ship," she reminded +him. "After all--you are responsible for her...." + +"Mr. Ham will do that, better than me," he said. "Go along." + +She went out, reluctantly, and sought the mate. His boat and James +Tichel's were to go ashore, leaving Dan'l in charge of the ship. He +grinned cheerfully at Faith's request, and bade his men rig a stool to +lower her into the boat. Faith protested, laughingly. "I can jump down, +as well as a man," she said; and he nodded assent and forgot her. + +She was in his boat when they put off presently; she sat astern, while +Mr. Ham stood above her, his legs spread to steady himself against the +movement of the boat, his weight on the long steering oar that he always +preferred to the tiller. The _Sally_ had dropped anchor a mile off +shore, and canoes were already spinning out to her. The island spread +before them, green and sparkling in the sun; and the white beach shone +like silver.... It was more than a coral island; there were two hills, a +mile or so inland; and the white-washed huts of a considerable village +shone against the trees. The canoes met them, whirled about them; the +black folk shouted and clamored and stared.... Mr. Ham waved to them, +talked to them in a queer and outlandish mixture of tongues, bade them +go on to the _Sally_.... "Mr. Tobey'll buy what they've got," he told +Faith, as the whaleboat drove ahead for the shore. + +James Tichel's boat was well astern of them, dragging a raft of floating +casks which would be filled with water and towed out to the _Sally_. He +was still far from shore when they drove up on the beach; and the men +jumped out into the shallow water and dragged the boat higher, so that +Faith, picking her way over the thwarts, could step ashore dry shod from +the bow. Her feet left scarce a mark upon the hard, white sand. + +Mr. Ham said to her: "You come up to the trees; you can be cool there +while we're at our business." + +But Faith shook her head. "I'm going to take a walk," she said. "I want +to get into the woods. How long will you be here?" + +He hesitated dubiously. "Guess it's all right if you do," he decided. +"The niggers are friendly.... Most of 'em talk English, in a way. Go +ahead." + +"How long have I?" Faith asked again. He said they would be ashore an +hour, perhaps more. "No matter, anyway," he told her. "Stay long as you +like. Do you want I should send a man with you?" + +Faith told him she was not afraid; he grinned. She turned southward +along the beach, away from the huddled village. The smooth sand was so +firm it jarred her feet, and she moved up into the shade of the trees, +and followed them for a space, eyes probing into the tangle beyond them, +lips smiling, every sense drinking in the smells of the land.... When +she came, presently, to a well-marked path that led into the jungle-like +undergrowth, she hesitated, then turned in. + +Within twenty steps, the trees closed about her, shutting away all sight +of the sea. For a little longer she could hear the long rollers pounding +on the beach; then that sound, too, became indistinct and dim.... It +was drowned in the thousand tiny noises of the brush about her. +Bird-notes, crackling of twigs, stirring of furry things. Once a little +creature of a sort she had never seen before, yet not unlike the +familiar and universal rabbit, hopped out of her path in a flurry of +excitement. + +She heard, presently, another sound ahead of her; a sound of running, +falling water; and when she pressed on eagerly, she came out upon the +bank of a clear stream that dropped in bright cascades from one deep, +cool pool to another. She guessed this stream must come down between the +hills she had seen from the ship.... It was all the things she had +unwittingly longed for during the months aboard the _Sally_. It was +cool, and clear, and gay, and chuckling; the sea was always so turbulent +and harsh. She followed the path that ran up the northern bank of the +stream, and each new pool seemed more inviting than the last.... She +wanted to wade into them, to feel the water on her shoulders and her +throat and her arms.... Her smooth skin had revolted endlessly against +the bite of the salt water in which she bathed aboard the _Sally_; it +yearned for this cool, crystal flood.... + +She put aside this desire. The path she was following was a well-beaten +trail. People must use it. They might come this way at any time.... She +wished, wistfully, that she might be sure no one would come.... And so +wishing, she pressed on, each new pool among the rocks wooing her +afresh, and urging her to its cool embrace.... + +She heard, in the wood ahead of her, an increasing clamor of falling +water, and guessed there might be a cascade there of larger proportions +than she had yet seen. The path left the stream for a little, winding to +round a tangle of thicker underbrush; and she hurried around this +tangle, her eyes hungry to see the tumbling water she could hear.... + +Hurrying thus, she came out suddenly upon the lip of the pool.... Broad, +and dark, and deep; its upper end walled by a sheet of plunging water +that fell in a mirror-like veil and churned the pool to misty foam. Her +eyes drank deep; they swung around the pool.... And then, she caught her +breath, and shrank back a little, and pressed her hand to her throat.... + +Upon a rock, not fifty feet from her, his back half turned as he poised +to dive, there stood a man. A white man, for all the skin of his whole +body was golden-brown from long exposure to the open air.... He poised +there like some wood god.... Faith had a strange feeling that she had +blundered into a secret temple of the woods; that this was the temple's +deity. She smiled faintly at her own fancy; smiled.... + +God has made nothing more beautiful than the human body, whether it be +man's or woman's. Faith thought, in the instant that she watched, that +this bronzed man of the woods was the most beautiful thing she had ever +seen.... She had no sense of shame in watching him; she had only joy in +the sheer beauty of him, golden-brown against the green. And when, even +as she first saw him, he leaped and swung, smooth and straight, high +through the air, and turned with arms like arrows to pierce the bosom of +the pool, she gasped a little, as one gasps on coming suddenly out upon +a mountain top, with the world outspread below.... Then he was gone, +with scarce a sound.... She saw for an instant the golden flash of him +in the pool's depths.... + +His brown head broke the water, far across the way.... And he shook back +his hair, and passed his hands across his face to clear his eyes.... His +eyes opened.... + +His eyes opened, and he saw her standing there.... + +There were seconds on end that they remained thus, each held by the +other's gaze. Faith could not, for her life, have stirred. The spell of +the place was upon her. The man, for all his astonishment, was the first +to find his tongue. He called softly across the water: + +"Good morning, woman...." + +His voice was so gentle, and at the same time so gay, that Faith was not +alarmed. She smiled.... + +"It's after noon," she said. "Good afternoon--man!" + + + + +VIII + + +When Faith answered him, the man's face broke in smiles; he told her +laughingly: "If you're so familiar with the habits of the sun, you must +be a real woman, and not a dream at all.... I'm awake.... I am, am I +not?" + +"I should think you would be," said Faith. "That water must be cold +enough to wake any one...." + +He shook his head. "No, indeed. Just pleasantly cool. Dip your hand in +it...." + +Something led her to obey him; she bent by the pool's sandy brink and +dabbled her fingers, while the man, a hundred feet away at the very foot +of the waterfall, held his place with the effortless ease of an +accustomed swimmer, and watched her. "Wasn't I right?" he challenged. + +She nodded. "It's delicious...." + +He said quickly: "You being here means that a ship is in, of course." + +"Yes." + +"What ship?" + +"The _Sally Sims_--whaler...." + +"The _Sally_! I know the _Sally_," the man cried. "Is Noll Wing still +captain?..." + +"Of course." + +His eyes were thoughtful. "I'm in luck, woman," he said. "Listen. Will +you do a thing for me?" + +"What do you want me to do?" + +"I've a sort of a home, up on the hill above us here.... Observatory.... +I've been waiting four months for a ship to come along, keeping a +lookout from the top there.... Missed the _Sally_, somehow.... Must have +come up after I came down...." + +"We made the island a little before noon," she said. + +He chuckled. "Ah, I was in my boudoir then.... I want to ship on the +_Sally_. Does she need men?" + +Her eyes clouded thoughtfully. "I--think so," she said. "They lost two, +three days ago." + +"What was it?" he asked quickly. "Fighting whale...." + +She shook, her head. "Boat got lost ... and they were short of water. +The jug wasn't fresh filled." + +The man whistled softly. "That doesn't sound like one of Noll Wing's +boats," he said. "Noll is a stickler on those things...." + +Faith bowed her head, tracing a pattern in the sand with her forefinger. +She said nothing. The man asked: "How long before they sail?" + +"They're going to wait for me," she said. + +His eyes lighted, and he chuckled. "Good. Now, listen.... If you'll be +so kind as to turn your back.... You see, I've been running wild here +for the past few months, and my clothes are all up at my place. I'll +trot up there and get them and come back here.... Get a few things that +I don't want to leave.... Will you turn your back?..." She had done so, +and she heard the water stir as he raced for the shore and landed. "I'm +going, now," he called. + +"How long will you be?" she asked. + +"Not over an hour," he told her. "About an hour." + +"I'm afraid some one may come along this path.... Will they?... Should I +hide from them?..." + +He laughed. "Bless you, this is my private path; it's officially taboo +to the natives, by special arrangement with the old witch doctor effect +that runs their affairs. There won't be a soul along.... I'll be back in +an hour...." + +"I'll wait," she agreed softly. There was a light of mischief in her +eyes. Still standing with her face down stream, she heard his bare feet +pad the earth of the path for a moment before the sound was lost in the +laughing of the waterfall.... A moment later, his shout: "I'm gone." + +She sat down quickly on the sand, smiling to herself, sure of what she +wished to do. She slipped off her shoes and her stockings with quick +fingers; and she gathered her skirts high about her thighs and stepped +with one foot and then another into the pleasant waters of the pool. +They rippled around her ankles; she went deeper.... The waters played +above her knees, while she balanced precariously in the swirling current +and gathered her skirts high.... + +The water was soothing as Heaven itself, after the salt.... But she was +not satisfied.... Merely wading.... She stood for a little, listening, +gathering courage, striving to pierce the shadows of the bush about her +with her eyes.... These first months of her marriage had driven a +measure of her youth out of Faith; they had been sober days, and days +more sober still were yet to come. But for this hour, a gay +irresponsibility flooded her; she waded ashore, singing under her +breath.... She began swiftly to loosen her skirt at the waist.... + + * * * * * + +When the man came trotting down the trail at last, shouting ahead to her +as he came, Faith was sitting demurely upon the sand, clothed and in her +right mind.... She was trying to appear unconscious of the fact that +around the back of her neck, and her pink little ears, wet tendrils of +hair were curling.... When he came in sight, she rose gravely to meet +him; and he looked at her with quick, keen eyes, and laughed.... She +turned red as a flame.... + +"I don't blame you," he said. "It's a beautiful pool...." + +She wanted to be angry with him; but she could not.... His laughter was +infectious; she smiled at him. "I--couldn't resist it," she said.... + +She was studying the man. He wore, now, the accustomed garments of a +seaman, the clothes which the men aboard the _Sally_ wore. Harsh and +awkward garments; yet they could not hide the graceful strength of the +man. He was not so big as Noll, she thought; not quite as big as even +Dan'l Tobey.... Yet there was such symmetry in his limbs and the breadth +of his shoulders that he seemed a well-bulked man. His cheeks were lean +and brown, and his lips met with a pleasant firmness.... A man +naturally gay, she thought; yet with strength in him.... + +They started down the path toward the sea together. He carried a +cloth-wrapped bundle, swinging in his hand. She looked at him sidewise; +asked: "Who are you? How do you come to be here?" + +"My name's Brander," he said. "I was third mate on the _Thomas Morgan_." + +She tried to remember a whaler by that name. "New Bedford?" she asked. + +"No.... Nantucketer." + +Faith looked at him curiously. "But--what happened? Was she lost?..." + +Brander's face was sober; he hesitated. "No, not lost," he said. He did +not seem minded to go on; and Faith asked again: + +"What happened?" + +He laughed uneasily. "I left them," he said, and again seemed to wish to +let the matter rest. But Faith would not. + +"Is there any reason, why you should not tell me all about it?" she +asked. + +"No." + +"Then tell me, please...." + +He threw up his free hand in a gesture of surrender. "All right," he +said.... + +They were following the narrow path down the stream's side toward the +sea. Faith was ahead, Brander on her heels. After a moment, he went +on.... + +"A man named Marks was the skipper of the _Thomas Morgan_. I shipped +aboard her as a seaman. I'd had one cruise before.... Not with him. I +shipped with him.... And I found out, within two days, that I'd made a +mistake. + +"Not that they were hard on me. I knew my job, after a fashion; and ... +they let me alone. But the men had a tough time of it. It was a tough +ship, through and through. Marks; and his mate.... Mate's name was +Trant, and I'd not like to meet that man on a dark night. There was +murder in him.... The sheer love of it.... He was the sort of man that +will catch a shark just for the fun of spiking the creature's jaws and +turning him loose again.... I was in Taku once.... Saw a little China +boy catch a dragon fly and tie a twig to its tail and let it go. The +twig overbalanced the dragon fly--It went straight up into the air, fast +as it could wing.... May be going yet.... That was the sort of trick +Trant would have liked. + +"Not that he ever actually killed a man on this cruise. Better if he +had, for the men. But he didn't. + +"A big fellow. Heavy fisted; but he wasn't satisfied with the fist. The +boot for him...." + +They were climbing a little knoll in the path; he fell silent while they +climbed; and Faith thought of Noll Wing and Mauger.... + +"Well," said Brander. "Well, you know how things drag along.... We +dragged along.... Then, one day, we touched.... We'd gone around into +the Japan Sea. Marks and Trant walked up to the second mate and took +him, between them, into a boat, and took him ashore.... They came back +without him. He was a man as big as Trant, but he had crossed Trant, +more than once.... Trant had a face that was cut to ribbons when he came +back aboard; but the other man did not come back at all. I never knew +what the particular quarrel was.... + +"They shoved the third mate up to the second, and put me in as third. I +said to myself: 'All right.... But don't go to sleep, Brander.' And I +didn't. It didn't pay.... I couldn't." + +He waved his hand as though to dismiss what followed with a word.... +Nevertheless, he went on: + +"There was a man in my boat.... He was called 'Lead-Foot' by every one, +because he was a slow-moving man. He was not good for much. He was very +much afraid of every one. Especially Trant. He was bigger than Trant, so +Trant took a certain satisfaction from abusing him. I decided to +interfere with this. I told this big coward who was in my boat to keep +out of Trant's way; and I told Trant, jokingly, one day, to leave my men +alone. He was huffed at that; growled at me." Brander chuckled. "So I +swelled up my chest like a fighting cock and told him to keep hands off. +Oh, I threw a great bluff, I can tell you. But Trant was not a coward. +He waited his time; and I knew he was waiting.... + +"And while he waited, he talked to the captain; and I could see them +both whispering together. They whispered about me. They did not like to +have me about; and once Marks threatened to put me back in the +fo'c's'le; but he changed his mind. + +"So matters were till we came past an island to the north of here, forty +or fifty miles. We made that island at dusk, and worked nearer it after +darkness had fallen. It came on cloudy and dark.... + +"I met Trant on the deck; and I said to him: 'Do we go ashore here?' He +grinned at me with his teeth and bade me wait till morning and see. And +that was enough for me. I knew what was coming. I thought I would hurry +it a little; but luck hurried it for me, in a way that worked out very +well. + +"This lead-footed man was at the wheel. When the anchor went down, he +started forward and brushed against Trant. Trant may have meant it to be +so. Anyway, Trant knocked the lead-foot flying, and went after him with +the boot, jumping, as lumbermen do. There happened to be a belaying pin +handy. So I took it and cracked Trant, and he dropped in mid-leap.... +Then Marks jumped me; and I managed to wriggle out from under him, and +he fell and banged his head. And he lay still; but Trant was up, by +then, and at me. + +"The lead-footed man was yelling in my ear. I told him to go overboard +and swim for it; and he did. And just then Trant got in the way of the +belaying pin again, and this time he did not seem to want to get up. + +"There was some confusion, you understand. I did not stay to straighten +things out. I went over, after Lead-Foot.... He could swim like a +porpoise. He was ahead of me, but half way in he met a shark, and came +clamoring back to me to be saved. So I got out of his way for fear he +would drag us both under, and then I kicked at the shark, and it went +about its business, and we swam on.... They were too busy sluicing the +Old Man and Trant to come after us in a boat.... They could have +knocked us in the head with an oar.... But they didn't.... + +"However, Lead-Foot took the shark so seriously that he swam too fast. +Or something of the sort.... Anyway, he keeled when we touched sand, and +I felt him and found that he was dead with heart failure or the like. I +didn't stop to work over him. I could hear Trant bellowing. He had come +to life; and a boat was racing after me. + +"So I went into the bush and stayed there till the _Thomas Morgan_ took +herself off. After that, not liking the island, which was low and +marshy, I borrowed a native canoe and came over here.... And I've been +here, since." + +They were within sound of the rollers on the beach when he finished. +Faith was silent for a little; then she asked: "Were there other white +men here? Why didn't you stay at the village?" + +"There was too much society there," said Brander, grinning amiably. "I'm +a solitary man, by nature. So I went up into the hills. Besides, I could +watch for ships, there.... I'd no notion of staying here indefinitely, +you understand...." + +Faith was filling out the gaps in his narrative from her own +understanding of the life aboard a whaler. She could guess what Brander +must have endured; she thought he had done well to come through it and +still smile.... She thought he was a man.... + +They could see the surf, through the thinning bush, when he said: "You +haven't told me how you happen to be aboard the _Sally Sims_...." + +Faith had almost forgotten, herself. She remembered, and something like +a chill of sorrow struck down upon her. But: "I am Noll Wing's wife," +she said. + +They came out, abruptly, into the white glare of the beach, Mr. Ham's +boat was drawn up, a quarter-mile away. Brander looked toward it, looked +at Faith. + +"Ah," he said quietly. "Then yonder is your husband's boat, waiting.... +Noll Wing is an able skipper...." + +Faith said nothing. They went on, side by side, toward Mr. Ham. + + + + +IX + + +When Mr. Ham, waiting by the boat with his men, saw Faith coming and saw +the stranger at her side, he came to meet them. His bearing was inclined +to truculence. Faith was ashore here in his charge; if this man had +disturbed her.... + +Faith reassured him. "I've a hand for you, Mr. Ham," she called. "You +need men." + +Mr. Ham stopped, ten paces from them, with legs spread wide. He looked +from Faith to Brander. Brander smiled in a friendly way. "Can you use +me?" he asked. "I know the work." + +Mr. Ham frowned thoughtfully. "What's this, ma'am?" he asked Faith. +"Who's that man?" + +Faith said quietly: "Ask him. I believe he wants to ship. I told him we +were short." + +The mate looked to Brander. His attitude toward Faith had been +deferential; toward Brander he assumed unconsciously the terrorizing +frown which he was accustomed to turn upon the men. "What do you want?" +he challenged. + +Brander said pleasantly: "To ship with you." + +"What are you doing here?" + +"I was third mate on the _Thomas Morgan_," said Brander. + +"Cap'n Marks?" Mr. Ham asked. + +"Yes." + +"We've no use for any o' Marks's mates aboard the _Sally_." + +Brander smiled. "I wasn't thinking of shipping as mate. Can you use a +hand?" + +"Where's the _Thomas Morgan_?" + +"On th' Solander Grounds, likely." + +"How come you're not with her?" + +"I left them, hereabouts." + +"Left them?" + +"Yes." + +"They've not the name of letting men go." + +"They had no choice. They were--otherwise engaged when I took my leave." + +"That's a slovenly ship," said Mr. Ham. + +"One reason why I'm not on her now." + +The mate frowned. "I'm not saying it's not in your favor that you got +away from them.... And we do need men." He added hastily: "Men; not +officers." + +"That suits me." + +Mr. Ham looked around. Faith stood a little at one side, listening +quietly. The _Sally_ rocked on the swells outside.... "Well, come +aboard," said the mate. "See what the Old Man says." + +Brander nodded. "Thanks, sir," he said. He adopted, easily and without +abasement, the attitude of a fo'mast hand toward the officer, and went +ahead of the mate and Faith to stow his bundle in the boat. The other +men waiting there questioned him; but they all fell silent as Mr. Ham +and Faith came to where the boat waited. + +Tichel had already taken the water casks out to the whaler. The men took +the whaleboat and dragged it down to the water. When it was half afloat, +Faith and the mate got in. The men shoved off, wading till the water was +deep enough for them to clamber aboard and snatch their oars and push +out through the rollers.... They worked desperately for a little, till +they were clear of the turbulent waters of the beach; then settled to +their work.... + +Brander sat amidships, his bundle at his feet, lending a hand now and +then on the oar of the man who faced him. Once he looked toward Faith; +she met his eyes.... Neither spoke, neither smiled.... The island was +receding behind them; Brander turned to watch it. They drew alongside +the _Sally_. + +Dan'l Tobey was at the rail to receive them. The mate stood in the +tossing boat and lifted Faith easily to Dan'l at the rail; he swung her +aboard. Mr. Ham followed; then Brander; then the men. The mate saw to +the unloading of the boat, saw it safely stowed. Then turned to Brander, +"Come and see the Old Man," he said. + +Dan'l Tobey heard. "He's asleep," he told Mr. Ham. "Who is this?" + +The mate said: "He wants to ship. Says he was on the _Thomas Morgan_." + +Dan'l looked at Brander. Mr. Ham added: "The captain's wife found him in +the bush." + +Dan'l drawled: "Beach comber.... Eh?" + +Brander said respectfully: "No, sir. I lived on the hill, there.... The +highest one. You can make out my place with the glass...." + +"He was third mate on the _Thomas Morgan_," said Mr. Ham. + +"We don't need an officer," Dan'l suggested. Brander sensed the fact +that Dan'l disliked him; he wondered at it. + +"I'm asking to ship as a seaman, sir," he said. + +Mr. Ham looked at Dan'l. "Best speak to the captain?" he asked. + +"Oh, set him ashore," Dan'l suggested. "He's a troublemaker. Too wise +for the fo'c's'le...." He looked to Brander insolently. "Can't you see +he's a man of education, Mr. Ham? What would he want to ship before the +mast for?" + +Mr. Ham looked puzzled. "How about it?" he asked Brander sharply. +Brander smiled. + +"I did it, in the beginning, for sport," he said. "Now I'm doing it to +get home. If you need a man.... If not, I'll go ashore...." + +Faith, standing by, said quietly: "Ship him, Mr. Ham." Her words were +not a request; they were a command. Dan'l looked at her swiftly, +shrewdly. Mr. Ham obeyed, with the instant instinct of obedience to that +tone.... + +It was not till days later that Faith wondered why she had spoken; +wondered why she had ventured to command.... And wondered why Mr. Ham +obeyed.... It gave her, somehow, a sense of power.... He had obeyed her, +as he would have obeyed Noll, her husband.... + +At the moment, however, having spoken, she went below.... She went +quickly, a little confused. She found Noll asleep, as Dan'l had said; +and she did not wake him. The _Sally_ got to sea.... The island fell +into the sea behind them. Before it was fully gone, Faith, with the +captain's glass, had searched that highest hill from the windows of the +after cabin; she discerned a little clearing, a rude hut.... Brander's +home.... + +She watched it for a space; then put the glass aside with thoughtful +eyes. + +Brander's coming, in ways that could hardly be defined, eased the +tension aboard the _Sally_. When the man went forward to stow his +belongings in the fo'c's'le, he found the men surly.... Quarrelsome.... +They looked at him sidewise.... They covertly inspected him.... + +The men of a whaler's crew are a polyglot lot, picked up from the +gutters and the depths. There were good men aboard the _Sally_, strong +men, who knew their work.... Some of them had served Noll Wing before; +some had made more than one voyage on the ships of old Jonathan Felt. +There was loyalty in these men, and a pride in their tasks.... But there +were others who were slack; and there were others who were evil.... The +green hands had been made over into able seamen, according to a whaler's +standard; and some of them had become men in the process, and some had +become something less than men. Yet they all knew their work, and did +it.... + +But they were, when Brander came among them, surly and ugly. In the days +that followed, tending strictly to his own work, he nevertheless found +time to study them.... A man with a tongue naturally gay, and a smile +that inspired friendship, he began to jest with them.... And little by +little, they responded.... Their surliness passed.... + +The officers felt the change. Willis Cox, still half sick from the +ordeal that had killed two of his men, took Brander into his boat. +Brander was only a year or two older than Willis, but he was vastly more +mature.... He knew men, and he knew the work of the ship; and Willis +liked him. He let Brander have his way with the other men, and his +liking for the newcomer led him to speak of it in the cabin, at supper +one night. "He's a good man," he said. "The men like him." + +Dan'l Tobey said pleasantly: "He's after your berth, Will. Best watch +him." + +Willis said honestly: "He knows more about the work than I do. I don't +blame him. But--he keeps where he belongs...." + +"He will ... till he sees his chance," Dan'l agreed. "Don't let him get +away from you." + +Old James Tichel grinned malignantly. "Nor don't let him get in my way, +Mr. Cox," he said, showing his teeth. "I do not like the cut of him." + +The mate looked at Cap'n Noll Wing; but Noll was eating, he seemed not +to have heard. Faith, at her husband's side, said nothing. So Mr. Ham +kept out of the discussion. Only he wondered--he was not a discerning +man--why Dan'l disliked the newcomer. Brander seemed to Mr. Ham to be a +lucky find; they had needed a man, they had found a first-rater. That +was his view of the matter. + +Brander's coming had worked like a leaven among the men. That was patent +to every one.... But this was not necessarily a good thing. A dominant +man in the fo'c's'le is, if the man be evil, a dangerous matter. The +officers rule their men by virtue of the fact that the men are not +united. Union among the men against the officers breeds mutiny.... Dan'l +said as much, now. + +"He'll get the men after him like sheep," he said angrily. "Then--look +out." + +"We can handle that," said Mr. Ham. + +Dan'l grinned. "Aye, that's what is always said--till it is too late to +handle them. The man ought to have been left on the beach, where he +belonged." + +Faith said quietly: "I spoke for him. It seems to me he does his work." + +Dan'l looked up quickly, a retort on his lips; but he remembered himself +in time. "I'm wrong," he said frankly. "Brander is a good man. No doubt +the whole matter will turn out all right...." + +Cap'n Wing, finishing his dinner, said fretfully: "There's too much talk +of this man. I'm sick of it. Keep an eye on him, Mr. Ham. If he looks +sidewise, clip him. But don't talk so much...." + +The mate nodded seriously. "I'll watch him, sir." + +Dan'l said: "I've no right to talk against him, sir. No doubt he's all +right." + +Noll shook his great head like a horse that is harassed by a fly. "I +tell you I want no more words about him, Mr. Tobey. Be still." He got +up and stalked into his cabin. Faith followed him. The officers, one by +one, went on deck. Willis, there, came to Dan'l. + +"You really think he means trouble, Mr. Tobey?" + +Dan'l smiled. "If he were in my boat, I'd keep an eye peeled," he said. + +Young Willis Cox set his jaw. "By God, I will that," he swore. + +Dan'l pointed forward; and Willis looked and saw Brander talking with +Mauger, the one-eyed man, by the lee rail. "Mark that," said Dan'l. +"They're a chummy pair, those two." + +Willis frowned. "That's queer, too," he said. "Mauger--he's not much of +a man. Why should Brander take up with him, anyhow?" + +Dan'l smiled, sidewise. "Does Mauger--Is Mauger the captain's man?" he +asked. + +"No. Hates him like death and hell." + +"And Brander plays up to him...." + +"Because Mauger hates the Old Man. Is that it?" Willis asked anxiously. + +"I'm saying no word," protested Dan'l Tobey. "See for yourself, Will." + + + + +X + + +Roy Kilcup was another who did not like Brander. This was in part a +consequence of his position on the _Sally_, in part the result of Dan'l +Tobey's skillful tongue. Dan'l saw the tendency in Roy, and capitalized +it. + +Roy lived in the cabin, where his duties as ship's boy kept him for most +of the time. It was true that in pay he ranked below the men, that he +was of small account in the general scheme of work aboard the whaler; +but he lived in the cabin, he was of the select, and to that extent he +was set apart from the men. Also, he was the brother of the captain's +wife, and that gave him prestige. + +There was no great harm in Roy, but he was at that age where boys +worship men, and not always the best men. Also, he was at what might be +called the cocky age. He felt that the fact of his living in the cabin +made him superior to the men who hived in the fo'c's'le; and this +feeling showed itself in his attitude toward them. He liked to order +them around.... They were for the most part willing to obey him in the +minor matters with which he concerned himself. + +Roy saw, as soon as any one, that Brander was a man above the average. +The day Brander was found on the island, he had gone ashore with Mr. +Tichel, and roved through the little native village, and returned to the +ship with the third mate before Faith appeared. Faith had suggested +that he go with her, but the boy scorned the notion of poking through +the woods.... He was thus back on the ship when Brander appeared.... But +he heard Dan'l Tobey object to the man, and he took his cue from Dan'l. +He disliked Brander. + +This dislike was accentuated by a small thing which happened in the +second week Brander was on the _Sally_. They had killed a whale and cut +it in; and because the weather was bad, it had been a task for all +hands. The men were tired; but after the job was done, the regular +watches were resumed.... Dan'l Tobey's watch, which included Brander, +took first turn at scrubbing up; and when they went off and the other +watch came on, Roy was forward, fishing over the bow. He saw the tired +men trooping forward and dropping into the fo'c's'le; and he hailed +Brander. + +"You, Brander," he called, in his shrill, boy's voice. "Get my other +line, from the starboard rail, under the boathouse. Look sharp, now!" + +Now Roy had no right in the world to give orders, except as a messenger +of authority, and Brander knew this. So Brander said amiably: "Sorry, +youngster. I'm tired. Your legs are spry as mine...." + +And he descended into the fo'c's'le with no further word, while Roy's +face blazed with humiliation, and the men who had heard laughed under +their breath. Some boys would have stormed, beaten out their strength in +futile efforts to compel Brander to do their bidding; Roy had cooler +blood in him. He fell abruptly silent; he went on with his fishing.... +But he did not forget.... + +He told Dan'l Tobey about it. Dan'l was his confidant, in this as in +other things. And Dan'l comforted him. + +"Best forget it, Roy," he said. "No good in going to the Old Man. The +man was right.... He didn't have to do it...." + +"There was no reason why he should be impertinent," Roy blazed. "He +holds himself too high." + +"Well, I'll not say he does not," Dan'l agreed. "Same time, it never +hurts to wait." And he added, a little uncomfortably, as though he were +unwilling to make the suggestion: "Besides, your sister shipped the man. +She'd have the say, in any trouble." + +"I guess not," Roy stoutly boasted. "I guess she's nothing but a woman. +I guess Noll Wing is the boss around here." + +"Sure," said Dan'l. "Sure. But--let's wait a bit." + +This pleased Roy; it had a mysteriously ominous sound. He waited; and he +fell into the way of watching Brander, spying on the man, keeping the +newcomer constantly under his eye. Brander marked this at once, smiled +good-humoredly.... + +Brander and Faith saw very little of each other in those days; they +exchanged no words whatever, save on one day when Brander had the wheel +and Faith nodded to him and bade him good morning. For the rest, the +convention of the deck kept Brander forward of the tryworks; and Faith +never went forward. But now and then their eyes met, across the length +of the _Sally_; and one night at the cutting in, she heard Brander +singing a chanty to inspire the men as they tugged at the capstan +bars.... He sang well, a clear voice and a true one. In the shadows of +the after deck, she listened thoughtfully. + +Dan'l came upon her there, when he paused for a moment in his work. He +saw her before she saw him, saw her face illumined by the light of the +flare in the rigging above the tryworks. And for a moment he stood, +watching; and the man's lip twisted.... + +That moment was a turning point in Dan'l Tobey's life. Before, there had +been a measure of good in the man; he had loved Faith well and +decently.... His capacity for mischief had been curbed. But in those +seconds while he studied Faith's countenance as she listened to +Brander's singing, he saw something that curdled the venom in the man. +When he stepped nearer, and she heard him, he was a different Dan'l.... +The stocky, round-faced, freckled, sandy young man had become a power +for evil.... He was to use this power thenceforward without scruple.... + +Faith smiled at him; he said pleasantly: "The man sings well." + +"Yes," Faith agreed. "I like it." + +Then Dan'l turned back to his tasks, and Faith slipped down into the +cabin where Noll was, and offered to read aloud to her husband. Noll +sleepily agreed; he went to sleep, presently, while she read. When she +saw he was asleep, she dropped her book in her lap and studied the +sleeping man; and suddenly her eyes filled, so that she went down on +her knees beside him, and laid her arms gently about his shoulders, and +whispered pleadingly: + +"Oh, Noll, Noll...." + + * * * * * + +Roy Kilcup, coming up from the cabin one day, saw Dan'l Tobey strike a +man. He saw this at the moment his head rose above the companion. Dan'l +and the man were amidships, and Dan'l cuffed him and drove him forward. + +Dan'l was not given to blows; he seldom needed to use them. So Roy was +curious. He went forward along the deck, and touched Dan'l's elbow, and +pointed after the cuffed man and asked huskily: + +"What's the matter? What did he do?" + +Dan'l had not seen Roy coming. He took a moment to think before he +answered; then he said in a fashion that indicated his unwillingness to +tell the truth: + +"Oh--nothing. He was spitting on the deck." + +Now a whaler is, when she is doing her work, a dirty craft; she is never +overly clean at best. But it is never permitted, on a ship that pretends +to decency, to spit upon the deck. Any man who did that on the _Sally_ +would have been punished with the utmost rigor; and Roy knew this as +well as Dan'l. And Dan'l knew that Roy knew. Roy grinned youthfully, +protested: + +"Oh, say, what's the secret about? What did he do?" + +Dan'l smiled in a way that admitted his misstatement; he shook his head. +"Nothing," he said. + +Roy looked angry. "Keep it to yourself if you want to." He had known +Dan'l all his life, and had no awe of him. "Don't tell if you don't want +to. If it's a secret, I guess I can keep still about it as well as any +one." + +Dan'l looked sorrowful. "Just forget it, Roy," he said. "It doesn't +matter." + +Roy flamed at him. "All right.... Keep it to yourself." + +And Dan'l yielded reluctantly. "Well, if you've got to know," he said, +"I'll tell you.... He was laughing at Brander's story of why Faith +brought him aboard the ship here." + +Roy's cheeks began to burn. "Brander.... What did Brander say?" + +Dan'l shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't hear. He wasn't here at +the time. Probably didn't say anything. Probably the men just made it +up. The fo'c's'le is a dirty place, you know, Roy. Dirty men.... And +dirty talk...." + +Roy said hotly: "By God, I won't have them talking about my sister...." + +"I felt the same way," Dan'l agreed. "But--you can't do anything." + +"What did Brander say? The sneak...." + +"I don't know that he said anything," Dan'l insisted. "Probably not. I +just heard this man snickering, and telling two others something.... +Heard him name Brander, and your sister.... So I struck in. The others +were just listening. They got out of the way. I asked this man what he +said; and he wouldn't tell me, so I hit him a clip and told him to keep +his tongue still...." + +Roy whirled to look forward. The deck was all but empty, but Brander and +another man were by the knight's heads, talking casually together. Roy +said under his breath: "I'm going to...." + +Dan'l caught his arm. "Wait...." + +Roy shook loose. "No. This is my family affair, Dan'l. Let me alone...." +He started forward. Dan'l hesitated; then he drew back, turned aft, +stopped, watched.... He took a malicious pleasure in seeing what would +happen. + +Brander had seen Roy coming; he was watching the boy, and smiling a +little. The other man's back was turned. Roy strode forward, head up, +eyes blazing; he kept on till he was face to face with Brander; he +stopped, and his hands trembled. + +"You, Brander," he said thickly. "You keep your tongue off my...." + +Brander moved like a flash of light. He swung Roy to him, swung the boy +around, pinned his arms with one of his own, clapped his hand over Roy's +mouth.... He lifted the boy easily and carried him, thus pinned and +gagged, aft as far as the tryworks. The other man stared in +astonishment; Dan'l took a step nearer the two. The others were out of +easy hearing when Brander stopped. Still holding Roy's mouth he said +quietly: + +"Don't lose your head, youngster. You'll only do harm. Speak quietly. +What do you want to say?" + +He released Roy and stepped back; and again Roy showed that he was more +than a boy. He did not spring at Brander; he did not curse; he did not +weep. He stood, straight as a wire, and his eyes were blazing. His +voice, when he found it, was husky and low, so that none but Brander +could hear. + +"I don't know what you're saying about my sister," said Roy. "Whatever +it is, it's not true. If you say it again, I'll kill you." + +Brander's eyes shadowed unhappily. He asked: "Why do you think I have +said anything?" + +"No matter," said Roy harshly. "I know. Keep your tongue between your +lips, or I'll shoot you like a yellow dog. That's all...." + +He swung abruptly, and went aft so quickly that Brander made no move to +stop him. Dan'l came quietly across the waist of the ship as Brander +took a step after Roy. "Get forward, Brander," he said. + +Brander nodded pleasantly; he said: "Yes, sir." + +And he went back to the forward deck, his eyes troubled. He fought, that +afternoon, with one of the hands, and whipped the man soundly. Dan'l +Tobey reported this in the cabin that evening; and Mr. Ham frowned and +said: + +"He'd best learn we'll do all the fist work that's done aboard here." + +Dan'l smiled. "He was an officer once," he reminded the mate. "It's a +habit hard to break." + +Big Noll was there; he seemed not to listen. His attitude toward the new +man was still in doubt. Dan'l Tobey was wondering about it; and so was +Faith. It was to be decided, two days later, in a fashion peculiarly +dramatic. + +Mauger, the one-eyed man, had an increasing hold on the imagination of +Noll Wing. The captain encountered the other wherever he went; and he +never encountered Mauger without an uneasy feeling that was half dread, +half remorse. He could not bear to look at Mauger's face, with the +dreadful hollow covered by the twitching lid; and Mauger sensed this and +put himself in the captain's path whenever he had the opportunity. Noll +wished he could be rid of the one-eyed man; and in his moments of rage, +he thought murderously of Mauger. But for the most part, he feared and +dreaded the other, and shivered at the little man's malicious and +incessant chuckling. + +Again and again he spoke to Faith of Mauger, voicing his fear, wishing +that she might reassure him; till Faith wearied of it, and would say no +more. He spoke of his dread to Mr. Ham, who thought he was joking and +laughed at him harshly. Mr. Ham lacked imagination. + +Brander, as has been said, was friendly with Mauger. He was sorry for +the little man; and he found in Mauger a singularly persistent spirit of +cheer which he liked. He was, for that matter, a friend of all the men +in the fo'c's'le, but because Mauger was marked by the cabin, his +friendship for Mauger was more frequently noted. Dan'l had seen it, had +pointed it out to Willis Cox.... + +Cap'n Wing came on deck one afternoon, a few minutes before the masthead +man sighted a pod of whales to the southward. The captain was more +cheerful than he had been for days; he was filled with something like +the vigor of his more youthful days. There was a joyful turbulence in +him, like the exuberance of an athlete.... He stamped the deck, striding +back and forth.... + +When the whales were sighted, the men sprang to the boats. Mauger, +since Willis Cox's tragic experience, had been put in the fourth mate's +boat with Brander, to fill the empty places there. Brander and Mauger +were side by side in their positions as they prepared the boat for +lowering. But the whales were still well away, the _Sally_ could cruise +nearer them, and Noll Wing did not at once give the signal to lower. He +stalked along the deck.... + +As he passed where Mauger stood, he marked that the line in the after +tub was out of coil a little. That might mean danger, when the whale was +struck and the line whistled like a snake as it ran. Noll Wing stopped +and swore sulphurously and bade Mr. Cox put his boat in order. Willis +snapped: "Mauger, stow that line." + +Mauger reached for the tub, but his single eye had not yet learned +accurately to judge distance; he fumbled; and Brander, at his side, saw +his fumbling, and reached out and coiled the line with a single +motion.... + +Noll Wing saw; and he barked: + +"Brander!" + +Brander looked around. "Yes, sir." + +"When a man can't do his own work here, we don't want him. Keep your +hands off Mauger's tasks." + +Brander said respectfully: "I helped him without thinking, sir. Thought +the thing was to do the work, no matter who...." + +Noll Wing stepped toward him; and his eyes were blazing, not so much +with anger as with sheer exuberance of strength. He roared: "Don't talk +back to me, you...." + +And struck. + +Now Noll Wing was proud of his fists, and proud of his eye; and for +fifteen years he had not failed to down his man with a single blow. But +when he struck at Brander, a curious thing happened.... + +Brander's head moved a little to one side, his shoulders shifted.... And +Noll's big fist shot over Brander's right shoulder. The captain's weight +threw him forward; Brander stepped under Noll's arm. The two men met, +face to face, their eyes not six inches apart. Noll's were blazing +ferociously; but in Brander's a blue light flickered and played.... + +The men waited, not breathing; the officers stepped a little nearer. +Dan'l Tobey licked his lips. This would be the end of Brander.... It was +not etiquette to dodge the Old Man's blows.... + +But, amazingly, after seconds of silence, Noll Wing's grim face relaxed; +he chuckled.... He laughed aloud, and clapped Brander on the shoulder. +"Good man.... Good man!" + +Mr. Ham called: "We'll gally the sparm...." + +And Noll turned, and waved his hand. "Right," he said. "Lower away, +boats...." + +The lean craft struck the water, the men dropped in, the chase was on. + + + + +XI + + +When the boats left the _Sally_, Mr. Ham's in the lead as of right, +Faith came from the after deck to where Noll stood by the rail and +touched his arm. He turned and looked down at her.... He was already +regretting what had happened. His recognition of Brander's courage had +been the last flame of nobility from the man's soul; he was to go down, +thereafter, into lower and lower depths.... He was already regretful and +ashamed.... + +Faith touched his arm; he looked down and saw pride and happiness in her +eyes; and with the curious lack of logic of the male, he was the more +ashamed of what he had done because she was proud of him for it. She +said softly: + +"That was fine, Noll." + +"Fine--hell!" he said hoarsely. "I ought to have smashed him." + +Faith smiled; she shook her head.... Her hand rested on his arm; and as +he turned to look after the departing boats, she leaned a little against +him. He mumbled: "Fool.... That's what I was. I ought to have smashed +him. Now he--every man aboard--they'll think they can pull it on me...." +His big fists clenched. "By God, I'll show 'em. I'll string him up for a +licking, time he gets back." + +"I was--very proud," she said. "If you had struck him, I should have +been ashamed." + +"That's the woman of it," he jeered. "Damn it, Faith; you can't run a +whaler with kisses...." + +She studied his countenance. He was flushed, nervous, his lips +moving.... He took off his cap to wipe his forehead; and his bald head +and his gray hair and the slack muscles of his cheeks reminded her again +that he was an old, an aging man.... She felt infinitely sorry for him; +she patted his arm comfortingly. + +He shook her off. "Yes, by God," he swore. "When he gets back, I'll tie +him up and give him the rope.... Show the dog...." + +Roy had come up behind them; neither had heard him. The boy cried: +"That's right, sir. The man thinks he's running the _Sally_, sir. You've +got to handle him." + +Faith said: "Roy, be still." + +He flamed at her: "You don't know what you're talking about, Sis. You're +just a girl." + +Noll said impatiently: "Don't have one of your rows, now. I'm sick of +'em. Roy, go down in the cabin and stay there...." + +"I can't see the boats from there," the boy complained. Noll turned on +him; and Roy backed away and disappeared. Noll watched the boats, +dwindling into specks across the sea.... Beyond he could see, now and +then, the white spouts of the whales. Once a great fluke was lazily +upreared.... Faith watched beside him. + + * * * * * + +Whether, in the normal course of things, Noll would have carried out +his threat to whip Brander cannot be known. Chance, the dark chance of +the whale-fisheries, intervened. + +Tragedy always hangs above a whaling vessel. This must be so when six +men in a puny boat with slivers of iron and steel go out to slay a +creature with the strength of six hundred men. When matters go well, +they strike their whale, the harpoon makes him fast, he runs out his +strength, they haul alongside and prod him with the lance, he dies.... +But there are so many ways in which matters may go wrong. The sea is +herself a treacherous hussy, when she consorts with the wind, and +becomes drunk with his caresses. Under his touch she swells and breaks +tempestuously; she writhes and flings herself about.... Her least wave +can, if it chooses, smash the thin sides of a whaleboat and rob the men +in it of their strength and shelter; her gentlest tussle with her +consort wind can overwhelm them.... + +And if the sea be merciful, there remain her creatures. She is the wide, +blue pasture of the whale; a touch of his flukes, a crunch of his jaw, a +roll of his great bulk is enough to crush out the lives of a score of +men. If he had wit to match his size, he would be invulnerable; as it +is, men with their wits for weapons can strike and kill him in the +waters that are his own. It is rare to encounter a fighting whale, a +creature that deliberately sets itself to destroy the attacking boats; +the tragedies of the whale-fisheries are more often mere incidents, +slight mischances, matters of small importance to the whale.... + +A little, little thing and men die. + +This day, the day when Brander faced Noll Wing and went unscathed, was +bright and fair, with a gentle turbulent wind, and a dancing sea. It was +warm upon the waters; the sun burned down upon them and its glare and +its heat were reflected from them.... The skin of men's faces was +scorched by it. The men, tugging at the oars in the boats, sweated and +strove; the perspiration streamed down their cheeks, trickled along the +straining cords of their necks, slid down their broad chests.... Their +shirts clung to them wetly; they welcomed the flying spray that lashed +them now and then. + +The pod of whales was perhaps five miles from the _Sally_ when the boats +were lowered; but the wind was favoring, and its pressure upon the sail +helped them on for a space. When half the distance was covered, the oars +were discarded as the boats swung around with the wind almost dead +astern, and headed straight for the whales' lay. Before they reached the +basking, sporting creatures, the whales sounded; and it was necessary +for the men to lie upon their oars and wait for a full half hour before +the first spout showed the cachalots were back from their browsing in +the ocean caves below. The boats swung around and headed toward them, +sails pulling.... + +Mr. Ham's boat was in the lead; for that is the right of the mate. The +others were closely bunched behind him; and as they drew near the pod, +they separated somewhat, so that each might strike a whale. Dan'l Tobey +went southward, where a lone bull lay with the waves breaking over his +black bulk. Willis Cox and Tichel swung to the north of the mate, into +the thick of the pod. + +The mate marked down his whale; a fat cow that would yield full seventy +barrels. He was steering; Silva, the harpooner, stood in the bow, knee +braced, ready with his irons. The men amidships prepared to bring down +mast and sail at the word, and stow them safely away so that they might +not hinder the battle that would come. The boat drove smoothly on.... +Mr. Ham, looking north and south, saw that the others were drawing up +abreast of him, so that they would strike the whales at about the same +time. He thought comfortably that with a little luck they would kill two +whales, or perhaps three. That each boat should kill was too much to be +hoped for. + +Then he gave his attention to his own prey. They slipped up on the +basking cow from almost dead astern, slid alongside her; and Mr. Ham +swung hard on the steering oar. The boat came into the wind; he +bellowed: + +"Now, Silva; give her iron." + +The harpooner moved quick as light, for all the power of the thrust he +put behind his stroke. He sank his first iron; snatched his second, +drove it home as the whale stirred.... Threw overboard the loose line +coiled forward.... The whale ran. + +The sail came fluttering down, mast and all; and the four men amidships +rolled it awkwardly, stowed it along the gunwale.... Silva and the mate, +at the same time, were changing places in the boat. Silva, the +harpooning done, would now come into his proper function as +boat-steerer. It is the task of the mates to kill the whales. The boat, +half smothered in canvas, with Silva and Mr. Ham passing from end to +end, and the whale line already running out through the chock in the +bow, was a picture of confusion thrice confounded. + +In this confusion, anything was possible; anything might happen. What +did happen was humiliating and ridiculous. + +When Silva struck home the harpoons, he flung overboard a length of line +coiled by his knee. This slack line would allow the whale to run free +while the sail was coming down and he and the mate were changing places. +He threw it overboard--and failed to mark that one loop of it caught on +the point of one of the spare irons in the rack with the lances, at the +bow. He leaped for the stern, groped past Mr. Ham amidships.... + +The whale was running. As Mr. Ham reached the bow, the line drew taut. +That loop which had caught across the point of the harpoon was +straightened like a flash. + +Now a harpoon is shaped, not like an arrow, but like a slanting blade. +It has a single barb; and the forward side of this barb is razor-sharp. +This razor edge cuts into the blubber and flesh; then the shank of the +barb grips and holds. But the edge that will cut blubber will also cut +hemp.... + +The loop of whale line was dragged firmly back along this three-inch +blade; it cut through as though a knife had done the trick, and the +whale was gone with two irons and thirty fathoms of line. Mr. Ham and +his boat bobbed placidly upon the water; and Mr. Ham looked, saw what +had happened, and spoke sulphurously. Then looked about to see what +might be done. + +It was too late to think of getting fast to another whale. The pod was +gallied; the great creatures were fleeing. After them went James Tichel +in his boat, the spray sluicing up from her bows. Tichel was fast; the +whale was running with him.... Mr. Ham looked from Tichel for the other +boats. He saw Dan'l Tobey in distress. A whale had risen gently under +them, opening the seams of their craft; and they were half full of water +and sinking. They had cut. + +Willis Cox had hold of a whale; and this one had sounded. Ham saw Willis +in the bow, watching the line that went straight down from the chock +into the water. This line was running out like a whip-lash, though +Willis put on it all the strain it would bear without dragging the +boat's bow under. It ran down and down.... + +Mr. Ham rowed across; and Willis called to him: "Big fellow. But he's +taken one tub." + +"Give him to me," Mr. Ham said. + +Willis shook his head. "I'd like to handle him. Get me the line from Mr. +Tobey's boat. He's mine." + +Mr. Ham grinned. "All right; if you're minded to work...." He swung +quickly to where Dan'l and his men floated to their waists in water, the +boat under them. "Takin' a swim?" he asked, grinning. + +Dan'l nodded. "Just that. You cut, I see. Why was that, now?" + +Mr. Ham stopped grinning and looked angry. "Pass over your tubs," he +ordered; and Dan'l's men obeyed. Mr. Ham took the fresh line to +Willis.... + +He was no more than just in time. "The black devil's still going," +Willis said. "Second tub's all but gone...." + +"Bound for hell, more'n like," Mr. Ham agreed. "Hold him." + +Dan'l's line was running out by this time; for Willis had worked +quickly.... And still the whale went down.... Mr. Ham stood by, +waiting.... The line ran out steadily; the whale showed no signs of +rising. The bow of Willis's boat was held down within inches of the +water by the strain he kept upon the line. One tub was emptied; he began +to look anxious.... And the whale kept going down. + +Mr. Ham said abruptly: "There.... Pass over your line. He'll be gone on +you, first you know." + +Willis looked at the smoking line.... And reluctantly, he surrendered. +With no more than seconds to spare, the end of his line was made fast to +the cut end of Mr. Ham's, and the whale continued to go down. He had +taken all the line of two boats--and wanted more. + +"He's hungry," Mr. Ham grinned, watching the running rope. "Gone down +for supper, likely." + +And a moment later, his eyes lighting: + +"There.... Getting tired.... Or struck bottom, maybe." + +They could all see that the line had slackened. The bow of Mr. Ham's +boat rode at a normal level; the line hung loose. And the mate turned +around and bellowed to his men: + +"Haul in." + +They began to take in the line, hand over hand; it fell in a wide coil +amidships, overlapping the sides, spreading.... A coil that grew and +grew. They worked like mad.... The only way to kill a whale is to pull +up on him until your boat rides against his very flank. All the line +this creature had stolen must be recovered, before he could be slain.... +They toiled with racing hands.... + +Mr. Ham began to look anxiously over the bow, down into the blue water +from which the line came up. "He's near due," he said. + +It is one of the curious and fatal habits of a sounding whale to rise +near the spot where he went down. It is as though the creatures followed +a well-known path into the depths and up again. This is not always true; +often a whale that has sounded will take it into his mind to run, will +set off at a double-pace. But in most cases, the whale comes up near +where he disappeared.... The men knew this. Dan'l Tobey, in his sinking +boat, worked away from the neighborhood to give the mate room. So did +Willis. And Mr. Ham, leaning one knee on the bow, peering down into the +water, his lance ready in his hand, waited for the whale to rise.... + +The line came in.... The nerves of each man tautened.... Mr. Ham said, +over his shoulder: "Silva, you coil t'line. Rest of you get in your +oars. Hold ready...." + +He heard the men obey, knew they were ready to maneuver at his +command.... The whale was coming up slowly; the line was still slack, +but the creature should have breached long before.... + +The mate thought he detected a light pull on the line; it seemed to draw +backward, underneath the boat; and he said softly: + +"Pull her around." + +The oars dipped; the boat swung slowly on a pivot.... The line now ran +straight down.... + +Abruptly, Mr. Ham, bending above the water, thought he saw a black bulk +far down and down.... A bulk that seemed to rise.... He watched.... + +It was ahead of the boat; it became more plainly visible.... He waved +his hand, pointing: "There ..." he said. "There...." + +Deep in the water, that black bulk swiftly moved; it darted to one side, +circling, rising.... Mr. Ham saw a flash of white, a huge black head, a +sword-like, saw-toothed jaw.... The big man towered; he flung his left +hand up and back in a tremendous gesture. + +"Starn.... Oh, starn all!" he cried. + +The oars bent like bows under the fierce thrust of the men as they +backed water.... The boat slid back.... But not in time.... + +Willis Cox, and the men in his boat, saw the long, narrow under jaw of +the cachalot--a dozen feet long, with the curving teeth of a tiger set +along it--slide up from the water, above the bow of the boat. The bow +lifted as the whale's upper jaw, toothless, rose under it.... The +creature was on its back, biting.... The boat rolled sidewise, the men +were tumbling out.... + +But that narrow jaw sheared down resistlessly. Through the stout sides +of the boat, crumpling and splintering ribs and planking.... Through +the boat.... And clamped shut as the jaws closed across the thick body +of the mate.... They saw the mate's body swell as a toy balloon swells +under a child's foot.... Then horribly it relaxed and fell away and was +lost in a smother of bloody foam.... + + * * * * * + +Loum, Willis's boat-steerer, swung them alongside the rolling whale. It +was Brander who caught a loop of the loose line; and while the creature +lay quietly, apparently content with what it had done, they hauled +close, and Willis--the boy's face was white, but his hand was +steady--drove home his lance, and drew it forth, and plunged it in, +again and yet again.... + +The whale seemed to have exhausted its strength. Having killed, it died +easily enough. Spout crimsoned, flukes beat in a last flurry, then the +great black bulk was still.... + +They picked up the men who had been spilled from the mate's boat. Not a +man hurt, of them all, save only Mr. Ham. + +Him they never found; no part of him. The sea took him. No doubt, Faith +thought that night, he would have wished his rough life thus to end. + + + + +XII + + +Mr. Ham was dead and gone. Faith was surprised to find, in the next few +days, how much she missed him. The mate had been harsh, brutal to the +men, ready with his fist.... Yet somehow she found in her heart a deep +affection for the man. He was so amiably stupid, so stupidly good of +heart. His philosophy of life had been the philosophy of blows; he +believed men, like children, were best ruled for their own good by the +heavy hand of a master. And he acted on that belief, with the best will +in the world. But there had never been any malice in his blows; he +frowned and glared and struck from principle; he was at heart a simple +man, and a gentle one.... Not the stuff of a leader; never the man to +take command of a masterless ship. Nevertheless, a man of a certain rude +and simple strength of soul.... + +Faith was sorry he was gone; she felt they could have better spared +another man.... Almost any other, save Noll Wing. + +She did not at once perceive the true nature of the change which Mr. +Ham's death must bring about aboard the _Sally_. In the balancing of man +and man which had made for a precarious stability there, Mr. Ham had +taken a passive, but nevertheless important part. Now he was gone; the +balance was disturbed. But neither Faith nor the others at once +perceived this; none of them saw that Dan'l Tobey as second mate, and +Dan'l Tobey as first mate, with only a step between him and the command, +were very different matters.... Not even Dan'l, in the beginning.... + +They were all too busy, for one thing; there were the whales to be cut +in--for James Tichel had killed and towed his booty back to the _Sally_ +an hour after Mr. Ham died. Tichel's whale, and the one that had killed +Mr. Ham, would give the whole ship work for days; feverish work, hard +and engrossing. Cap'n Wing, who had leaned upon Mr. Ham in the past, +perforce took charge of this work, and the strain of it wearied him. He +no longer had the abounding vitality which it demanded.... It wearied +him; and what with the death of the mate, and the rush of this work and +his own weariness, he altogether forgot his threat to have the man, +Brander, whipped in the rigging. He forgot Brander, tried to drive the +men at their tasks, and eventually gave up in a stormy outbreak of +impatience and left the matter in the hands of Dan'l Tobey. + +Dan'l went about the business of cutting in and boiling the blubber in a +deep abstraction; he was considering the problem raised by the death of +Mr. Ham, which none of the others--save, perhaps, Faith--had yet +perceived. + +This problem was simple; yet it had possibilities of trouble. Mr. Ham +was gone; Dan'l automatically became first officer; old James Tichel +ranked as second, Willis as third.... But the place of fourth mate was +left empty.... It would have to be filled. The _Sally_ could not go on +about her business with one boat's crew forever idle. There would have +to be a new officer. + +Dan'l was troubled by the problem, for the obvious reason that Brander +was the only man aboard with an officer's training; that Brander was the +obvious choice. Dan'l did not want Brander in the cabin; he had seen too +much in Faith's eyes that night when she heard Brander sing by the +capstan.... He had eyes to see, and he had seen. And there was boiling +in Dan'l a storm of hatred for Brander. He was filled with a rancor +unspeakable.... + +No one spoke of this necessity for choosing another officer until the +last bit of blubber from the two whales had been boiled; the last drop +of oil stowed in the casks; the last fleck of soot scoured from the +decks. Then it was old Tichel who opened the matter. It was at dinner in +the cabin that he spoke. Cap'n Wing was there, and Faith, and Dan'l, and +Roy. Willis Cox was on deck; Mr. Ham's chair was vacant. Old Tichel +looked at it, and he looked at Noll Wing, and he said: + +"Who's to set there, cap'n?" He pointed toward the empty chair as he +spoke. It was at Cap'n Wing's right hand, where Mr. Ham had been +accustomed to sit. Dan'l Tobey had not yet preempted it. Dan'l was +always a discreet man. + +Cap'n Wing looked across at Tichel. "Mr. Tobey, o' course," he said. + +Tichel nodded. "Natural. I mean--who's goin' to be the new officer? Or +don't you figure to hev one?" + +Noll had been drinking that day; he was befuddled; his brain was thick. +He waved one of his big hands from side to side as though to brush +Tichel away. "Leave it to me," he said harshly. "I don't call for any +pointers, Mr. Tichel. Leave it to me...." + +James Tichel nodded again; he got up and wiped his mouth with the back +of his hand and went on deck.... Dan'l and Roy, Faith and Noll Wing, +were left together. Dan'l wondered whether it was time for him to speak; +he studied Noll's lowered countenance, decided to hold his tongue.... He +followed Tichel to the deck. + +Noll said nothing of the matter all that day. At night, when they were +going to bed, Faith asked him: "Who have you decided to promote to be an +officer, Noll?" + +He said harshly: "You heard what I told Tichel? Leave it to me." + +"Of course," she agreed. "I just wanted to know. Of course...." She +hesitated, seemed about to speak, then held her peace. Brander was the +only man aboard who had the training; Noll must see that, give him time. + +Faith wanted to see Brander in the cabin. She admitted this to herself, +quite frankly; she did not even ask whether there was anything shameful +in this desire of hers. She knew there was not.... The girl had come to +have an almost reverential regard for the welfare of the _Sally_; for +the prosperity of the cruise. It was her husband's charge; the +responsibility lay on him. She wanted matters to go well; she wanted +Noll to keep unstained his ancient record.... Brander, she knew, would +help him. Brander was a man, an able officer, skillful and courageous; a +good man to have at one's back in any battle.... She was beginning to +see that Noll would need a friend before this cruise was done; she +wanted Brander on Noll's side. + +It may be that there was mingled with this desire a wish that Brander +might have the place that was due him; but there was nothing in her +thoughts of the man that Noll might not have known. + +She watched Noll, next day; and more than once she caught him watching +where Brander aided with some routine task, or talked with the men. +There was trouble in Noll's eyes; and because she had come to understand +her husband very fully, Faith could guess this trouble. Noll was torn +between respect for Brander, and fear of him.... + +Brander, that day of Mr. Ham's death, had faced Noll unafraid; Noll knew +he was no coward. But by the same token, he had sworn to have Brander +whipped, and had not done so. He recognized the strength and courage in +the man; and at the same time he hated Brander as we hate those we have +wronged. Brander was not afraid of Noll; and for that reason, if for no +other, Noll was afraid of Brander. In the old days, when he walked in +his strength, Noll Wing had feared no man, had asked no man's fear. His +own fist had sufficed him. But now, when his heart was growing old in +his breast, he was the lone wolf.... He must inspire fear, or be himself +afraid.... He was afraid of Brander. + +Afraid of Brander.... But Noll was no fool. No man who is a fool can +long master other men as Noll had mastered them. He set himself to +consider the matter of Brander, and decide what was to be done. + +That night, when dark had fallen, and the _Sally Sims_ was idling on a +slowly stirring sea, Noll called the mates into the cabin. Faith and Roy +were on deck together; and Roy, with a boy's curiosity, stole to the top +of the cabin companion to listen to what passed. Faith paid him little +attention; she was astern, watching the phosphorescent sparks that +glowed and vanished in the disturbed water on the _Sally's_ wake. The +whaler was scarce moving at all; there was no foam on the water behind +her; but the little swirls and eddies were outlined in fire.... + +Noll looked around the table at the other mates; and he said heavily: + +"We've got to have a new officer." + +They knew that as well as he; the statement called for no reply. Only +Dan'l Tobey said: "Yes, sir.... And a man we know, and can count on." + +Noll raised his big head and looked at Dan'l bleakly. "Mr. Tobey," he +said, "you know the men. Who is there that measures up to our wants, +d'you think?" + +Dan'l started to speak; then he hesitated, changed his mind.... Said at +last: "I'm senior officer here, sir. But--I've not the experience that +Mr. Tichel has, for instance. Perhaps he has some one in mind." + +Noll nodded. "All right, Mr. Tichel. If you have, say out." + +James Tichel grinned faintly. "I have. But you'll not mind me, so no +matter." + +"Out with it, any fashion," Noll insisted. + +"Silva, then," said Tichel. "Silva!" He looked from one of them to +another. Noll's face was set in opposition; Dan'l's was neutral; Willis +Cox was obviously amazed. "Silva," said old Tichel, for the third time. +"He's a Portugee.... All right. But he's a good man; he knows the boat; +he's worked with Mr. Ham. And he can take the boat and make a harpooner +out of one or the other of two men in her...." He stopped, unused to +such an outbreak. "That's my say, leastwise," he finished. + +For a moment, no one spoke. Then Noll looked toward Dan'l again. "Now, +Mr. Tobey," he said. + +Dan'l leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I've nothing +against Silva," he said quietly. "He's a good man. The best man in the +crew, I'm thinking.... But.... + +"The man I have in mind is Roy Kilcup. No less." + +Noll's eyes widened; and old Tichel snapped: "He's never been in a +boat." + +"I know the boy," Dan'l insisted. "I'll undertake to teach him all he +needs know in a week. He knows boats; he has guts and heart.... All he +needs to know is whales...." + +"Aye," said Willis Cox scornfully. "Aye, that's all. But who does know +them?" + +Dan'l smiled. "You might well enough ask, Mr. Cox." + +Willis flushed painfully. "He's just a kid," he protested. + +"You were almost three months older when you struck your first whale, if +I mind right," said Dan'l pleasantly. + +Big Noll Wing interrupted harshly: "That's enough. Silva and Roy. Who +would you have, Mr. Cox?" + +"Only one man aboard," said Willis. + +"That's who.... I've no mind for conundrums." + +"Brander," said Cox. "Brander!" + +Noll seemed to slump a little in his chair; he smiled wearily. Dan'l +Tobey thought the captain had never looked so old. His big fist on the +table moved a little from side to side, then was still. In the silence, +they all heard the voice of Roy Kilcup, from the deck above, crying to +Faith in a trembling whisper: + +"Dan'l wants to make me mate, Sis! He wants to make me mate...." + +His voice was so tremulous, so obviously the voice of a boy, that every +man of them save Dan'l Tobey smiled. Noll said slowly: "He's over +youthful yet, Dan'l. Teach him the trade.... Happen, some day, we'll +see...." + +Dan'l was betrayed by anger into indiscretion. "Over youthful, that may +be," he exclaimed. "But not a Portugee; and not a beach comber...." + +Noll held up his big hand, silencing Dan'l. And he looked from man to +man; and he said slowly, as an old man speaks: "I've no liking for +Brander. He dared me to my face, t'other day. But there's this.... + +"He holds the crew. They like him. And he's a man; and he knows the job; +and he does not know how to be afraid. Also, he has a right to the +place. If we don't give it to him, he might well enough make a bit +trouble for us. Leastwise, that's the seeming of it to me...." + +Dan'l said harshly: "I never heard that Noll Wing feared any man." + +Noll smiled. "Age brings wisdom, Dan'l. I'm learning to fear.... So...." + + * * * * * + +Dan'l Tobey found Brander on the fore deck, ten minutes later. Brander +was smoking, with two of the men. Dan'l touched his shoulder; Brander +stepped aside. The two men faced each other in the darkness for a +moment; and it was as though an electric spark of hostility passed +between them. Their eyes clashed.... + +Then Dan'l said pleasantly: "Get your traps and come aft to the cabin, +Brander." + +Brander chuckled softly; he tapped out his pipe in his palm and tossed +the glowing ember over the rail. "Thank you, Mr. Tobey," he said. "I'm +pleased to accept your kind invitation." + +There was a mocking light in his eye that Dan'l, even in the dark, could +see. Another man might have struck; but Dan'l was never one for blows. +He turned on his heel and went aft; and Brander dropped into the +fo'c's'le to collect his belongings. + + + + +XIII + + +Thus Brander came into the cabin. He and Willis Cox shared a small +compartment off the main cabin; while Dan'l and tigerish old Tichel +shared another. The four mates, Roy, Noll Wing, and Faith all lived in a +space not much more than twenty-five feet square. This intimacy that +could not be escaped served to intensify the clash of man and man. +Brander and Dan'l Tobey became, within the week, open and avowed +enemies. + +They made no great show of their enmity, but each understood. Dan'l, by +virtue of his position as mate, gradually gathered into his own hands +the authority that old Noll Wing was letting slip; he assumed many of +the small prerogatives of the captain; and he took advantage of his +strength to give Brander irksome tasks, to make his work unnecessarily +hard. Noll saw nothing. He had fallen into something like a stupor; he +was rotting at the heart, like a great log that lies prone in the +forest. He played with his authority; he had days when he liked to fancy +that he was the Noll of old; but most of the time he spent in the cabin +below, sleeping, or perhaps drinking, or reading the Bible and +maundering over his own past sins. A wholesome interest in the Bible is +a good thing for any man; but Noll's interest was not wholesome. He was +morbidly absorbed in the Book; he read it and mourned to think how +wicked he had been. He complained to Faith as though she were to blame +for his ancient crimes. + +It came to pass that he flooded Faith, little by little, with the +details of his own misdemeanors. His own orgy of self-depreciation led +him to decide that he was not worthy of her; he told her so; and when +Faith sought to hearten him, the man--to prove his point--recited the +tale of the hot blood of his youth. He told her the women he had known, +so that Faith was sickened; and he begged her to forgive him, and she +did. She forgave without rancor.... It was characteristic of Faith that +she held no anger against Noll because he was not what she thought him. +She had married him, eyes open.... He was her husband; she was his. She +set herself to serve him, to protect him against himself, with all the +loyalty that was in her. And more than all, she set herself to uphold +Noll as the master of his ship. He must bring the _Sally_ home with +bursting casks; that was Faith's creed and prayer. He must fight the +good fight; he must meet his responsibility; he must be master.... + +She worked to this end unceasingly; and on the whole her efforts were +without avail. Noll steadily degenerated.... His strength fled from him. + +Faith was so concerned with Noll that she gave little heed to the +hostility between Dan'l Tobey and Brander. These two fought their fight +without her interference. And this struggle between them was a curious +thing. On Dan'l's side, it was a constant and persistent effort to +harass Brander and discredit him; on Brander's side, it was a +good-natured opposition to this effort. When Dan'l gave Brander two +men's work to do, Brander smiled--and did it. When Dan'l blamed Brander +for what was another's fault, or no fault of any man, Brander silently +and cheerfully took the blame. Now and then he looked at Dan'l with a +blue flash of anger in his eyes; but for the most part he was +good-humored; he seemed amused by Dan'l, nothing more. + +Dan'l chose, one day, to take Brander to task at dinner in the cabin. +Noll and Faith were there, and the four mates. Brander, as was his duty, +came down last; he sat at the foot of the board. The _Sally_ was +cruising idly, watching for a spout. Brander and Willis Cox had been on +deck before dinner. There was little for either of them to do, save +watch for any chance of harm, or wait for word of a whale. + +When Brander came down, he caught Faith's eye from the foot of the +companion ladder, and Faith nodded and said: "Good morning." Brander +smiled. Dan'l looked at Faith; and he looked at Brander; and he gripped +his chair to hold back a hot word that would have ruined him. Brander +sat down at the foot of the table. Noll seemed scarce to know he had +come, and Faith nodded to Brander to pass his plate. Brander did so, and +Faith served him. The plate went back to Brander. + +Dan'l said slowly: "Mr. Brander, the main hatch was not fast when I came +down. Did you secure it?" + +Brander looked up quickly, smiled. "No, sir," he said. "I...." + +"Why not?" Dan'l demanded acidly. "Are you waiting for a squall to tear +it off?" + +Willis Cox said: "I had it made fast, sir. Before Mr. Brander came on +deck." + +Dan'l crimsoned in spite of himself; old Tichel grinned unpleasantly. +Brander smiled; and Faith looked at Dan'l and waited for his word of +acknowledgment. Dan'l saw her eyes.... He said to Brander: "Then, of +course, you couldn't make it fast. Why didn't you say so--since it was +done before you came on deck?" + +Brander said soberly: "Sorry, sir." But his eyes were twinkling. What +use to explain; Dan'l could not be in a worse light. And Dan'l knew it. +He said hotly: + +"What is so funny?..." + +Noll Wing rumbled from the head of the table, where he had seemed +concerned only with his food: "Let be. Let be. The thing is done. That's +all that's needful, Mr. Tobey." + +And Dan'l got hold of himself; he said respectfully: "Right, sir." + +The matter dropped there.... A small thing; but an incident very typical +of the tension which was growing in the cabin of the _Sally Sims_. +Dan'l, jaundiced by his own hatred of Brander, by his disordered passion +for Faith, was not good company. Save Roy, all those in the cabin +avoided him. Roy was fiercely loyal to Dan'l; and he hated Brander the +more because Brander had been given the mate's berth to which Roy +himself had foolishly aspired. That was Dan'l's doing, that aspiration; +he had taken care to tell Roy that he had proposed Roy's name. "Brander +does not belong in the cabin," he told Roy. "He is rag tag and bob tail, +from God knows where. If I'd been Noll Wing, you would be fourth mate +to-day...." + +He fed Roy's sense of wrong; for the boy might some day prove a useful +tool. Dan'l was full of venom in those days; but he had not yet formed +his ultimate plan. + +He still loved Faith, with some faint traces of the old decency. He knew +in his heart that she would never love him; yet he would never be +content till he got this from her own lips. The inevitable happened one +evening when a new moon's thin crescent faintly lighted the dark seas. +Noll had gone early to a sodden sleep; Faith was not sleepy and went on +deck. Dan'l, from his cabin, heard her go; he arose and followed her.... + +There was little wind; the sea was flat; the _Sally_ scarcely stirred. +Dan'l told the man at the wheel to leave her and go forward; he made the +wheel fast and let the _Sally_ go her own gait. Her canvas was all +stowed; her yards were bare. When the man was gone, Dan'l turned to the +after rail, where Faith was sitting. The man's mouth was hot and dry, +and his pulse was pounding. He came to her; Faith said softly: + +"Hello, Dan'l...." + +Dan'l mumbled huskily.... "... Faith!" He stood beside her, and they +looked out across the water, where the starlight played. Dan'l was +trembling, and Faith felt the trouble in the man, as she had felt it for +weeks.... She and Dan'l had been boy and girl together; she was +infinitely sorry for him.... + +In the end, while he stood rigidly beside her, she laid her hand on his +arm. "Dan'l," she said, "I wish--you would get over being so unhappy." + +He looked at her through the dark; his voice was like a croak. +"Unhappy ..." he repeated. + +"It's not good for you, Dan'l," said Faith gently. "Unhappiness is--it's +like a poison. It burns...." + +"Aye?" said Dan'l. "That's true, Faith. It burns...." + +"Why not forget it?" she urged. "You're actually growing thin on it, +Dan'l. Your face is lined...." + +Dan'l tried to laugh. "One thing," he said, "the ship's on my hands, +now. Noll Wing--he's aging. He's an old man, Faith." + +Faith turned her head away from him quickly; she bit her lip in the +darkness. Dan'l repeated: "The _Sally's_ on my hands, Faith. I'm +master--without the name of it." + +She said quietly: "Noll Wing is master here, Dan'l. Never think he is +not." + +Dan'l turned abruptly away; he stood with his back to her. And as he +stood there, the jealousy of Brander and all the rancor that was +poisoning the man gave way for a moment to his tenderness for Faith. He +swung back sharply, gripped her shoulders.... "Faith," he said harshly, +"Noll is master. So be it. But, Faith--I may still love you. I do. +Nothing on earth can stop it. It's all there is in me, Faith. You.... +You.... I would worship you; he kicks you with every word, as he kicks a +dog. Faith.... Faith...." + +She faced him squarely. "Dan'l, you are wrong. You are wrong to tell me +this--to speak so.... It is not--manly, Dan'l." + +The reproach in her voice made him shrink; it fired him. He caught her, +cried: "By God...." He would have swept her into his arms.... + +Brander said, from the top of the companion: "Mr. Tobey, shall I set a +man at the wheel?... There's wind coming...." + +Dan'l cursed. "Hell!" He flung loose from Faith, he whirled on +Brander.... The two men faced each other tensely, Dan'l crouching with +bared teeth, Brander erect.... The starlight showed a little smile on +his face. Abruptly, Dan'l straightened.... + +"Set a man at the wheel--and be damned, Brander!" he said. + +And he brushed past the fourth mate without a glance, and went below. +Brander called through the darkness to a knot of men on the deck, +forward. One came aft.... + +Faith still stood by the rail; Brander paid her no heed. The man took +the wheel.... Brander leaned against the forward end of the deckhouse. +After a little, Faith stirred, came to the companion to go below. At its +top, she paused. + +"Good night, Mr. Brander," she said. + +"Good night," he called pleasantly. + +She went below. Dan'l, writhing in his bunk below old Tichel, who snored +above him, heard her cross the cabin and go into Noll's. And the nails +on his fingers bit his palms. + + * * * * * + +The second day after, Dan'l came down into the cabin to find Noll. +"Would you mind coming on deck for a moment, sir?" he asked. + +Noll was reading; he looked up resentfully. "What now, Mr. Tobey? Can't +you handle the ship?" + +"I want you to see a thing...." There was a hint of evil in Dan'l's +tone. Faith was there, heard, wondered.... Noll looked at the mate; +bestirred himself.... + +They went on deck together; and Dan'l pointed forward. + +Brander was there, by the tryworks. Facing him, grouped about him, were +four of the crew. Mauger was among them. Brander was talking; and the +men were laughing at what he said. One of the men looked aft and saw +Dan'l and Noll Wing watching them; and the man's face sobered instantly +and he backed away from the group. Brander turned around and saw the +captain. Noll called to him: + +"Come aft, Mr. Brander." + +Brander came, without haste, yet quickly. Noll and Dan'l waited for him +in silence; they kept silent when he faced them. He met Noll Wing's +sullen and angry eyes. His own were unashamed and unafraid. "What is it, +sir?" he asked at last. + +Noll lowered his big head like a bull. "What was your talk with the men, +there?" he demanded. + +Brander smiled. "The man Hatch tripped on a coil of line and fell. That +minded me of a thing that happened on the _Thomas Morgan_, and I told +them of it. A fat greeny caught his foot in the rigging and dove thirty +feet overside into the sea.... It was a comical thing, sir. And they +laughed at it." + +"I do not want my mates consorting with the crew," said Noll sulkily; +and there was more complaint than accusation in his voice. Brander said: + +"It does no harm to be friendly with the men. Liking is as good a handle +as fear, to hold them with." + +Old Noll tried to beat down Brander's eyes with his own; but his own +were the first to shift. He shrank, the vigor of his anger passed, he +was an old man again. "Damn it, if you'd rather be forward, go there and +stay," he fretted. "Do you want to go back to the fo'c's'le, man?" + +Brander said respectfully: "No, sir. I'll do as you say." + +"For God's sake, do," Noll whined. He turned back to the cabin, brushed +Dan'l. "And you, Mr. Tobey. Don't bother me with such matters." + +Dan'l looked at Brander, eyes glinting. "I thought it important, sir," +he said. + +Noll grunted and went below. Dan'l, with a triumphant grin at Brander, +followed him. Faith was in the main cabin; she looked at the two +seriously. "What was it, Noll?" she asked. + +Noll shook his head fretfully; he stumped past her toward his own cabin. +"The man Brander, currying favor forward," he said. "I put a bee in his +bonnet." + +Dan'l said: "He meant no harm, sir. I'm sure of it...." + +Noll whirled on him. "Then why did you run to me?" + +"So that you might set him right, and put an end to't," said Dan'l. +"He's a bit too friendly with the men.... It was time he was told...." + +"Oh, aye," said Noll wearily. "Come, Faith...." + +The door of the after cabin shut behind them; and Dan'l, left alone, +smiled at his own thoughts and was content. + + + + +XIV + + +There was one circumstance that counted against Brander in the eyes of +James Tichel, of Mr. Cox, and of some of the crew. This was the fact +that for close on a month after he was made an officer, the _Sally Sims_ +sighted not one loose whale. + +There were fish all about them. During the interval, they sighted three +other whaling craft, and stopped to gam with them. Two of the three were +cutting in when the _Sally_ sighted them; the third had just finished +trying out the blubber of a ninety barrel bull. But the _Sally_ sighted +not so much as a spout. And old Tichel, who had the superstitions of the +sea in his blood, began to look sidewise at Brander, and whisper that he +was a Jonah.... + +That new moon in whose light Dan'l tried to plead with Faith was another +ill omen. Noll Wing, coming on deck the first night the moon appeared, +saw it first over his left shoulder when Faith called to him to look. He +swung his head to the left.... Saw the moon.... And old Tichel's cry was +too late to stop him. Faith laughed at the second mate; Noll grumbled at +him. But Tichel clung to his doubts; and Willis Cox was converted to +them by the indisputable fact that the _Sally_ sighted no whales. + +The men on a whaling vessel have an interest in the cruise. They are not +paid for the work they do, for the time they spend.... They are paid +according to the earnings of the vessel. Their salary, or wage, is +called a "lay." This ranges from the captain's lay down to that of the +greeny. The captain's is a twelfth; or at least this was Noll Wing's +lay. The greenies on the _Sally Sims_ were on a hundred and +seventy-fifth lay. Which, being interpreted, means that out of every +twelve barrels of oil which the _Sally_ brought home, one belonged to +the captain; and out of every hundred and seventy-five, one belonged to +each of the green hands. The captain got one in twelve, the mate one in +eighteen; the second mate got one in twenty-eight, and so the shares ran +down the scale. The lays were so arranged that out of every hundred and +seventy-five barrels, some fifty-five went to the officers and crew, +while the remainder went to the owner to pay the expenses of the voyage +and give him his profits.... Three per cent., or six, or a hundred, as +the luck of the cruise might decide.... The crew were sure of their +money, such as it was, before the owner got his; for it was the custom +of old Jonathan Felt to pay off his men at the current price of oil +before figuring his own profit or loss. + +The effect of this arrangement was to give the mates and the men an +incentive to harder effort. The effect was to make them acutely +interested in the success of the cruise. And by the same token, the ill +luck which now beset the _Sally_ tended to fret their tempers and set +them growling about their tasks.... + +Some blamed Brander; some blamed Noll Wing; some blamed their luck.... + +Brander felt the strain as much as any of them. He was, in addition, an +untried man; he had not yet had his chance to strike a whale, and that +is the final test of a whaler's officers. When he was taken into the +cabin and given a boat, he was forced to be content with the poorest +material aboard. That is the fourth mate's luck. He had Mauger, the +one-eyed man; he had Loum as his harpooner; and he had to fill out his +crew three others who were weak hands at the oars and slack at every +task. + +He set himself to whipping this crew into shape; and in the luckless +days when the _Sally_ idled with double watches at the mastheads, he +used to take his boat off and push the men to their work, training +steadily, fighting to put pith into them. He was not a man given to the +use of his fists; neither had his tongue the acid bite of Dan'l Tobey's. +But he had a way of railing at the men good-naturedly, abusing them with +a smile, that made them laugh and tug the harder at their oars; he won +from them more than they had ever given before.... And he inspired in +them a distinct loyalty which gave birth, in time, to a pride in their +boat which pleased Brander, and promised well. + +Mauger, in particular, was Brander's shadow and slave. The one-eyed man, +who had been turned into a chuckling and harmless nonentity by the +captain's blow and kick, found Brander kindly. And he repaid this +kindliness with a devotion that was marked by every man aboard.... This +devotion was marked, above all, by Noll Wing. And Noll, in whom fear of +the one-eyed man was growing like a cancer, dreaded Brander all the more +because of it. + +Noll and Faith were playing cribbage in the after cabin one night; and +the door into the main cabin was open. Faith sat on the seat across the +stern, and Noll was in a chair, his back to the door, his knees +supporting the board they used as a table. Brander came down from the +deck with word that one of the men had cut himself with his clasp knife; +he wanted to go to the medicine chest in the after cabin for materials +to care for the wound. The sea was turbulent; the _Sally_ was rocking on +it; the rigging was creaking and the timbers of the old craft groaned +aloud. This tumult drowned the noise of Brander's footsteps as he came +down the ladder and across the main cabin. When he appeared in the +doorway behind Noll, Faith saw him. Noll neither saw nor heard till +Brander said quietly: + +"Sorry to bother you, sir...." + +Noll, whose nerves were shaky, whirled up from his chair; the board slid +from his knees, the cards were spilled.... His face was ghastly with +fright; and when he saw Brander, this fright turned to rage. + +"Damn you, Brander," he cried. "Don't you sneak up on me like that +again...." + +Brander said respectfully: "I'm sorry. I should have...." + +"What do you want?" Noll barked. "Get out of here. Get out of my sight. +Don't stand there gawping...." + +"I want to get some...." + +"I don't give a damn what you want," Noll cried. "Get up on deck, where +you belong. Sharp...." + +Brander stood his ground. "One of my men has cut his hand," he said. "I +want some stuff to fix it up." + +Noll wavered.... He threw up his hands. "All right. Get what you +want.... I can't get rid of you any other way. But don't come sneaking +up behind me again. I don't like it, Mr. Brander." + +Brander made no reply; he crossed to the medicine chest and found what +he needed. Faith had picked up the fallen board, the cards.... She said +quietly: "Sit down, Noll. We'll deal that hand over again...." + +Big Noll sat down, watching Brander sidewise. When Brander was gone, +Faith asked: "Why were you startled?" + +"I don't like that man," Noll said. "He's too thick with Mauger for me. +Mauger'll stick a knife in me, some night.... He will, Faith." + +Faith shook her head. "Don't be foolish, Noll. Mauger's not worth being +afraid of." + +Noll laughed mirthlessly. "I tell you, there's murder in that man," he +protested. "And Brander's with him.... I've a mind...." + +"It's your crib," said Faith, and played a card. "Three." + +Noll mechanically took up the game; but Faith, watching, saw that his +eyes were furtively alert for half an hour thereafter. + + * * * * * + +On the twenty-fifth day after the death of Mr. Ham, at about ten o'clock +on a warm and lazy morning, the man at the foremast head gave tongue to +the long hail of the whale-fisheries.... + +"Blo-o-o-o-w! Ah-h-h-h-h blo-o-o-o-o-o-w!" + +The droning cry swept down through the singing rigging, swept the decks +of the _Sally_, penetrated into the fo'c's'le, dropped into the cabin +and brought Dan'l Tobey and Noll Wing from sleep there to the deck. +Faith was already there, sewing in her rocking chair aft by the wheel. +When Dan'l reached the deck, he saw her standing with her sewing +gathered in her hands, the gold thimble gleaming on her middle finger, +watching Brander. Brander was half way up the main rigging, glass +leveled to the southward. + +Noll Wing bellowed to the masthead man: "Where away?..." And the man +swept a hand to point. Noll climbed up toward Brander, shouting to Mr. +Tobey to bring the _Sally_ around toward where the whale had been +sighted. The men from the mastheads and the fo'c's'le and all about the +deck jumped to their places at the boats to wait the command to lower. +Brander took the glass from his eye as Noll's weight pulled at the +rigging below him, and looked down at the captain, and started to speak; +then he changed his mind and waited, glass in hand, while Noll +scrutinized the far horizon.... + +Noll saw a black speck there, and focused his glass, and stared.... He +watched for a spout, watched for minutes on end. None came.... The black +speck seemed to rise a little, sluggishly, with the swell.... He looked +up to Brander. + +"D'you make a spout?" he asked. + +Brander shook his head. "No, sir." + +Noll looked again, and Brander leveled his glass once more. The _Sally_ +was making that way, now; the speck was almost dead ahead of them, far +on the sea. Tiny bits of white were stirring over the black thing, like +bits of paper in the wind.... Noll asked at last: "What do you make of +it, Mr. Brander? A boat.... Or a derelict...." + +"I make it a dead whale," said Brander. + +"No whale," Noll argued. "Rides too high." + +"It will be rotten," Brander insisted. "Swollen.... Full of putrid gas." + +They watched a while longer, neither speaking. The light wind that urged +them on was failing; the _Sally_ slackened her pace, bit by bit; but her +own momentum and some casual drift of the surface water still sent her +toward the floating speck. It bulked larger in their glasses. + +They were within a mile of it before Noll Wing shut his glass. "Aye, +dead whale," he said disgustedly, and began to descend from the rigging. +Brander dropped lightly after him. Noll stumped past the men at their +stations by the boats till he came to Dan'l Tobey. "Dead whale," he told +Dan'l. "Let it be." + +Brander, at Noll's heels, asked: "Do we lower?" + +Noll shook his head. "No," he said sharply. The disappointment, coming +on the heels of the hope that had been roused, had made him fretful and +angry. Brander said: + +"I was thinking...." + +Noll turned on him querulously. "Some ships have truck with carrion and +dog meat," he snarled. "Not the _Sally_. I'll not play buzzard." + +Brander smiled. "It's not pleasant, I know.... But, aboard the _Thomas +Morgan_, we got a bit of ambergris out of such a whale.... This one was +lean, you saw.... It died of a sickness. That's the kind...." + +Dan'l Tobey said, with a grin: "A man'd think you like the smell of it, +Brander." + +"Ambergris is fool's talk," Noll growled. "I've heard tell of it for +thirty year, and never saw a lump bigger than a man's thumb. Fool's +talk, Mr. Brander. Let be...." + +He turned away; and Brander and Dan'l stood together, watching as the +_Sally_ drifted nearer and nearer the dead whale. They could see the +feasting sea birds hovering; they caught once or twice the flash of a +leaping body as sharks tore at the carcass. Here and there the blubber +showed white where great chunks had been ripped away. They watched, and +drifted nearer; and so there came to them presently the smell of it. An +unspeakable smell.... + +The men caught it first, in the bow; Dan'l and Brander heard their first +cries of disgust before the slowly drifting air brought them the odor. +But five minutes later, it had engulfed the ship, penetrated even into +the cabin. Noll got it; he stuck his head up out of the companion and +bellowed: + +"Mr. Tobey, get the _Sally_ out o' range of that." + +Dan'l said: "Not a breath of wind, sir." He went toward the companion, +as Noll stepped out on deck; and he grinned with malicious inspiration, +"Mr. Brander likes the smell of it, sir.... Why not send him off to tow +it out of range?" + +Noll nodded fretfully. "All right, all right. Send him...." + +Dan'l gave the order. Brander assented briskly. "I'll take a boarding +knife with me, if you don't object, sir," he said. + +Dan'l chuckled. He was enjoying himself. "I'd suggest a clothespin, Mr. +Brander," he said; and he stood aft and watched Brander and his men drop +their boat and put away and row toward the lean carcass of the dead +whale, a quarter mile away. The jeers of the seamen forward pursued +them. + +Dan'l got his glass to enjoy watching Brander and his crew tow the whale +out of the _Sally's_ neighborhood. The men worked hard; and Dan'l said +to Cap'n Wing: "They're in haste to be through, you'll see, sir." Once +the tow was under way, it moved swiftly. Men on the _Sally_ breathed +again.... + +They saw, after a time, that Brander and his men had stopped rowing and +brought their boat alongside the whale; and Dan'l's glass revealed +Brander digging and hacking at the carcass with the boarding knife.... + +Brander came back alongside in due time; and long before he reached the +_Sally_, Dan'l could see the exultation in the fourth mate's eyes. As +they slid past the bow, Brander's men taunted those who had jeered at +them. They were like men who have turned the tables on their +enemies.... + +Dan'l was uneasy.... The boat slid into position, the men hooked on the +tackles, then climbed aboard.... They swung on the falls, the boat rose +into its cradle.... And Brander turned to Dan'l and said pleasantly: + +"It was worth the smell, Mr. Tobey." + +He pointed into the boat; and Dan'l looked and saw three huge chunks of +black and waxy stuff--black, with yellowish tints showing through--and +he smelled a faint and musky fragrance. And he looked at Brander. "What +is it?" he asked. "What do you think you've found?" + +"Ambergris," said Brander. "Three big chunks, four little ones. Close to +three hundred pounds...." + +One-eyed Mauger chuckled at Brander's back. "And worth three hundred a +pound," he cackled. "Worth the smell, Mr. Tobey!" + + + + +XV + + +Brander's find, laid tenderly upon the deck, studied by Noll Wing and +the officers on their knees, set the _Sally_ buzzing with the clack of +tongues. + +There was a romance in the stuff itself that caught attention. It came +from the rotting carcass of the greatest thing that lives; it came from +the heart of a vast stench.... Yet itself smelled faintly and fragrantly +of musk, and had the power of multiplying any other perfume a thousand +fold. Not a man on the _Sally_ had ever seen a bit larger than a +cartridge, before; they studied it, handled it, marveled at it. + +Cap'n Wing stood up stiffly from bending over the stuff at last; he +looked at Brander. "It's ugly enough," he said. "You're sure it's the +stuff you think?" + +Brander nodded. "Yes, sir, quite sure." + +"What's it worth?" Cap'n Wing asked. + +"Hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a pound--price changes." + +Noll looked at the waxy stuff again. "It don't look it," he said. "How +much is there of it?" + +"Close to three hundred pounds...." + +Noll's lips moved with the computation. He said, in a voice that was +hushed in spite of himself: "Close to ninety thousand dollars...." + +Brander smiled. "That's the maximum, of course." + +Dan'l Tobey said: "You've done the rest of us a service, Mr. Brander." + +Brander looked at him; and an imp of mischief gleamed in his eye. He +said quietly: "The rest of you. I was sent out to remove the carcass, +not to dissect it. The digging for this was my private enterprise, Mr. +Tobey." + +Old James Tichel gasped under his breath. Dan'l started to speak, then +looked to Noll. They all looked toward Cap'n Noll Wing.... It was for +him to deal with Brander's claim.... They looked to Noll; and big Noll +stared at the precious stuff on the deck, and at Brander.... And he said +nothing. + +Brander smiled. He called Mauger to come aft and help him, and he +proceeded with the utmost care to clean the lumps of ambergris of the +filth that clung to them. He paid no further heed to the men about him. +Noll went below; and Faith, who had listened without speaking, followed +him. Dan'l and old Tichel got together by the after rail and talked in +whispers. Willis Cox stood, watching.... The young man's eyes were wide +and his cheeks were white. These seven ugly lumps of something like +hard, dirty yellow soap were worth more than the whole cruise of the +_Sally_ might be expected to pay.... They caught Willis's imagination; +he could not take his eyes from them. + +Brander had Mauger fetch whale oil; he washed the lumps in this as +tenderly as a mother bathes a child. The black washed away, they became +an even, dull yellow in his hands.... Here and there, bits of white +stuff like bones showed in them.... Bits of the bones of the gigantic +squid on which the cachalot feeds. Their faint, persistent odor spread +around them.... + +When the cleaning was done, Mauger fetched steelyards and they weighed +the lumps, slinging each with care.... The larger ones were so heavy +that they had to make the scales fast to the rigging.... The largest +weighed seventy-four pounds and a fraction; the next was sixty-one; the +third, forty-eight. The four smaller lumps, weighed together, tipped the +beam at nineteen pounds.... The seven totaled two hundred and two +pounds.... + +Mauger was disappointed at that; he complained: "I took 'em to weigh +three hundred, anyways...." + +Brander looked at Willis. "Two hundred isn't to be laughed at! Eh, Mr. +Cox?" + +Willis said hoarsely: "That must be the biggest find of ambergris ever +was." + +Brander shook his head. "The _Watchman_, out o' Nantucket, brought back +eight hundred pounds, in '58. I've heard so, anyways." + +Willis had nothing to say to that; he went aft to join Tichel and Dan'l +Tobey and tell them the weight of the stuff.... Brander sent for Eph +Hitch, the cooper.... He showed him the ambergris.... + +"Fix me up a cask," he said. "Big enough to hold all that.... We'll stow +it dry...." + +Eph scratched his head. He spat over the rail. "Fix you up a cask?" he +repeated. "Oh, aye." He emphasized the pronoun; and Brander's eyes +twinkled. + +They packed the ambergris away in the captain's storeroom; the +compartment at the bottom of the _Sally_, under the cabin, in the very +stern. It rested there among the barrels and casks of food and the +general supplies.... There was no access to this place save through the +cabin itself; it was not connected with the after hold where water and +general stores and gear were stowed away. Brander suggested putting it +there; he came to Noll Wing with his request, and because Dan'l Tobey +was with Noll, Brander framed his question in a personal form. + +"I'd like to stow this below us here," he said. "Best it be out of reach +of the men." + +Dan'l scowled; Noll looked up heavily, met Brander's eyes. In the end, +he nodded. "Where you like," he said sulkily. "Don't bother me." + +Brander smiled; and the cask was hidden away below.... + +But it was not forgotten; it could not be forgotten. From its hiding +place, the ambergris made its influence felt all over the vessel. It was +like dynamite in its potentialities for mischief. The mates could not +forget it; the boat-steerers in the steerage discussed it over and over; +the men forward in the fo'c's'le argued about it endlessly. + +It was a rich treasure, worth as much as the whole cruise was like to be +worth in oil; and it was all in one lump.... That is to say, it was no +more than a heavy burden for a strong man. Two men could have carried +it.... + +A thousand acres of well-tilled farm land are worth a great deal of +money; but this form of riches is not one to catch the imagination. +Wealth becomes more fascinating as it becomes more compact. Coal is more +treasured than an equal value of earth; lead is more treasured than +coal; and men will die for a nugget of gold that is worth no more than +the unconsidered riches which lie all about them. Great value in small +compass sets men by the ears.... + +Every man aboard the _Sally_ had a direct and personal interest in +Brander's find of ambergris. And the matter of their debate was this: +was the ambergris the property of the _Sally_, a fruit of the voyage; or +was it Brander's? If it was a part of the profits of the cruise, they +would all share in it. If it was Brander's, they would not.... + +Brander--and this word had gone around the ship--had spoken of it as his +own. For which some condemned and hated him; some praised and chose to +flatter him. If the worth of the stuff was divided between them all, +Noll Wing and Dan'l Tobey would have the lion's share, and the men +forward would have no more than the price of a debauch. If it were +Brander's alone, they might beg or steal a larger share from him. +Or--and not a few had this thought--they might seize the whole treasure +and make off with it.... + +The possibilities were infinite; the potentialities for trouble were +enormous. + +This new tension aboard the _Sally_ came to a head in the cabin; the +very air there was charged with it. Dan'l and old Tichel were against +Brander from the first; Cox was inclined to support him. Dan'l sought to +sound Noll Wing and learn his attitude.... + +He said to Noll casually, one day: "The 'gris will make this a fat +cruise, sir." + +Noll nodded. "Oh, aye.... No doubt!" + +Dan'l looked away. "Of course, Brander doesn't intend to claim it +all.... To push his claim...." + +"Ye think not?" Noll asked anxiously. + +"No," said Dan'l. "He knows he can't.... It's a part of the takings of +the _Sally_...." + +Noll wagged his head dolefully: "Aye, but will the man see it that way?" + +"He'll have to." + +The captain looked up at Dan'l cautiously. "Did you mark the greed in +the one eye of Mauger when they came aboard?" he asked. "Mauger sets +store by the stuff...." + +Dan'l snorted. "Mauger! Pshaw!" + +Noll shifted uneasily in his chair. "Just the same," he said, "Mauger +holds a grudge against me.... He but waits his chance for a knife in my +back.... And Brander is his friend, you'll mind." + +"You're not afraid of the two of them.... There's no need. I'll +undertake to see to that...." + +"You're a strong man, Dan'l," said old Noll. "A strong, youthful man.... +But I'm getting old. Eh, Dan'l...." His voice broke with his pity of +himself. "Eh, Dan'l, I've sailed the sea too long...." + +Dan'l said, with some scorn in his tone: "Nevertheless, you're not +afraid...." + +Then Faith opened the door from the after cabin; and Dan'l checked his +word. Faith looked from Dan'l to her husband, and her eyes hardened as +she looked to Dan'l again. "You'll not be saying Noll Wing is afraid +of--anything, Dan'l," she said mildly. + +"I'm telling him," said Dan'l, "that he should not permit Brander to +claim the ambergris for himself." + +Faith smiled a little. "You think Brander means to do that?" + +"He has done it," said Dan'l stubbornly. "He claimed it in the +beginning; he speaks of what he will do with it.... He speaks of it as +his own." + +"I think," said Faith, "that something has robbed you of discernment, +Dan'l. Why do you hate Brander? Is he not a good officer?... A man?" + +Dan'l might have spoken, but Brander himself dropped down the ladder +from the deck just then; and Dan'l stood silently for a moment, +watching.... + +Brander looked at Faith, and spoke to her, and to the others. Then he +went into his own cabin and closed the door. They all knew the thinness +of the cabin walls; what they might say, Brander could hear distinctly. +Dan'l turned without a word, and went on deck. + +He met Tichel there, and told him what had passed. Tichel grinned +angrily.... "Aye," said the old man. "He comes and Jonahs us, so we +sight no whale for a month on end.... And then is wishful to hold the +prize that the _Sally's_ boat found." His teeth set; his fist rose.... +And Dan'l nodded his agreement. + +"We'll see that he does not, in the end," he said. + +"Aye," said Tichel. "Aye, we'll see t'that." + +Roy Kilcup was a partisan of Dan'l's, in this as in all things; and Roy +alone faced Brander on the matter. He asked the fourth mate +straightforwardly: "Look here, do you claim that ambergris is yours?" + +Brander smiled at the boy. "Why, youngster?" he asked. + +"Because I want to know," said Roy. "That's why!" + +"Well," Brander chuckled, "others want to know. They're not sleeping +well of nights, for wanting...." + +"Do you, or don't you?" Roy insisted. + +Brander leaned toward him and whispered amiably: "I'll tell you, the day +we touch at home," he promised. "Now--run along." + + * * * * * + +Thus they were all concerned; but Noll Wing took the matter harder than +any, because Mauger, whom he feared, was concerned in it. His worry over +it gave him one sleepless night; he rose in that night and found the +whiskey.... And for the first time in all his life, Noll Wing drank +himself into a stupor. + +He had always been a steady drinker; he had often been inflamed with +liquor. But his stomach was strong; he could carry it; he had never +debauched himself. + +This time, he became like a log, and Faith found him, when she woke in +the morning, unclean with his own vomitings, sodden and helpless as a +snoring log. He lay thus two days.... And he woke at last with a scream +of fright, and swore that Mauger was at him with a knife, so that Dan'l +and Willis Cox had to hold the man quiet till the hallucination passed. + + + + +XVI + + +Faith and Brander had not, in this time, spoken a word together since +they met Mr. Ham upon the beach after Brander joined Faith by the island +pool. In the beginning, Brander was forward, and a gulf separated +them.... Not to mention forty feet of deck. Faith stayed aft; Brander +stayed forward. Afterward, when Brander came into the cabin, there was +still a gulf.... They met at table; they encountered each other, now and +then, in the cabin or on deck. But Brander had his work to do, and did +it; and Faith was much with Noll. + +In the bush, by the pool, Faith had forgotten Noll Wing for a little +space; and in the forgetting, she and Brander had become friends very +quickly.... His question, as they reached the beach, made her remember +Noll; and her answer to that question, when she told him she was Noll's +wife, had reared a wall between them. Brander was a man; too much of a +man to forget that she was Noll's wife.... He did not forget. + +In the _Sally_, after Brander came aft, Faith was toward him as she was +toward the other mates.... With this difference. She had known them +since the beginning of the voyage; she had known two of them--Dan'l and +Willis Cox--since they were boys. They were ticketed in her thoughts; +they were old friends, but they could never be anything more. Therefore +she talked often with them, as she did with Tichel, and as she had done +with Mr. Ham. She forgot they were men, remembering only that they were +friends.... + +Brander, on the other hand, was a newcomer, a stranger.... When a woman +meets a strange man, or when a man meets a strange woman, there is an +instant and usually unconscious testing and questioning. This is more +lively in the woman than in the man; she is more apt to put it into +words in her thoughts, more apt to ask herself: "Could I love him?" For +a man does not ask this question at all until he has begun to love; a +woman, consciously or unconsciously, asks it at once.... And until this +question is answered; until the inner thing that is sex has made +decision, a woman is reticent and slow to accept the communion of even +casual conversation.... + +Faith, almost unconsciously, avoided Brander. She spoke with him; but +there was a bar in her words. She saw him; but her eyes put a wall +between them. She thought of him; but she hid her thoughts from herself. +And Brander felt this, and respected it.... There was between them an +unspoken conspiracy of silence; an unspoken agreement that held them +apart.... + +This agreement was broken, and broken by Faith, on an afternoon some ten +days after the finding of the ambergris. The day was fair; the wind was +no more than normal.... No whales had yet been sighted by the _Sally_, +and her decks were clear of oil. Mr. Tichel's watch had the ship; but +Tichel himself, old man that he was, had stayed below and was asleep in +his cabin. Dan'l was asleep there, also; and Noll Wing dozed in the +after cabin. Willis Cox was reading, under the boathouse; and two of +the harpooners played idly at some game of cards in the lee of the rail +beside him. Brander and the man at the wheel had the after deck to +themselves when Faith came up from the cabin.... + +Roy was with her; but the boy went forward at once and climbed the +rigging to the masthead, to stand watch with the men there. He loved to +perch high above the decks, with the sea spread out like a blue saucer +below him. He teased Faith to go with him; but Faith shook her head. +There was always a certain physical indolence about Faith that +contrasted with the vigor of her habits of thought and speech; she liked +to sit quietly and read, or sew, or think, and she cared nothing at all +for such riotous exertion as Roy liked. + +"No, Roy," she told her brother. "You go if you like. I'll stay down +here." + +"Come on, Sis," he teased. "I guess you're afraid.... You never could +even climb a tree without squealing.... Come on." + +She laughed softly. "No. I don't like to do hard things--like that." + +"I won't let you fall," he promised. + +"Some day, maybe.... Run along, Roy." + +The boy went away resentfully; a little more resentfully because Brander +had heard her refusal. He looked back from the fore rigging, and saw +Faith standing near Brander.... And for a moment he was minded to go +back and join them; but the dwindling line of the ropes above him lured +him on. He climbed, lost himself among the great bosoms of the sails, +stopped to ride a yard like a horse and exult when it pitched and +rolled.... Climbed, at last, to the masthead perch where the lookouts +stood in their hoops with their eyes sweeping the wide circle of the +seas.... + +And Faith and Brander were together. Save for the man at the wheel, whom +neither of them heeded, they were alone. Brander was at the after rail +when she appeared; he nodded to her, and smiled. She stood near him, +hands on the rail, looking out across the sea astern. The wind tugged at +her, played with the soft hair about her brow, whipped her cheeks to +fire.... + +She did not look at Brander, but Brander looked at her. The man liked +what he saw; he liked not so much the beauty of her, as the strength and +poise that lay in her face. Her broad, low brow.... Her straight, fine +nose.... Her sweetly molded lips, and rounding chin.... Strength there, +and calm, and power.... Beauty, too; more than one woman's measure of +beauty, perhaps. But above all, strength. That was what Brander saw. + +It was no new thing for the man to study Faith's countenance. It was +firm-fastened in his thoughts; he could conjure it up at will, and it +appeared before him, many times, without his volition. Faith's eyes were +blue, and they were large, and Brander could never forget them. The eye +of a man or of a woman is a thing almost alive; it seems to have a soul +of its own. Stand at one side, unobserved, and watch the eyes of your +friend; you will feel that you are watching some living personality +apart from the friend you know. It is like watching a wild thing which +is hiding in the forest. The eye is so alert, so infinitely alert, so +quick to swing to right or left at any sound.... + +Women's eyes differ as much as women themselves. Faith's eyes were like +Faith herself; there was no fear or uncertainty in them; and there was +no coquettishness, no seduction. They were level and calm and perfectly +assured; and Brander thought that to look into them was like taking a +strong man's hand. He thought Faith as fine a thing as woman can be.... + +Brander made sure that Faith did not see him studying her thus; +nevertheless, Faith must have felt his scrutiny. She was conscious of an +unaccountable diffidence; and when she spoke to him at last, without +looking toward him, her voice was so low he scarcely heard at all. She +said some idle thing about the beauty of the sea.... + +Brander smiled. The sky was so clear, and the heavens were so blue that +sky and heaven seemed to be cousins or sisters, hands clasping at the +far horizon. He said amiably: "Always think--looking off into the blue +on a day like this is like looking deep into blue eyes.... There seems +to be a soul off there, something hidden, out of sight.... But you can +feel it looking back at you." + +Faith was so surprised that she looked up at him quickly, sidewise; and +she smiled, her cheeks a little flushed. "I never felt--just that," she +said. "But--did you ever look at a hill, so far away it is just a deep +blue shape against the sky? Blue's a beautiful color to look at, I +think." + +He nodded. "From my hill," he said, "I used to be able to see an island +northwest of the one where I was.... Barely see it. Just a line laid +down along the sea.... A line of blue." + +She said nothing in reply to this; and he said no more. They were thus +silent for a little before Faith asked: "Tell me.... You've never had a +chance.... How did you live, there? Wasn't it lonely? Or ... were there +others?..." + +He laughed. "I wasn't lonely, in the least," he explained. "The old +devil-devil doctor of the village struck up an acquaintance with me.... +He knew whites; and I was the only one there at the time. He used to +come and talk to me, and say charms over my garden.... I had a little +compass on my watch chain, and I gave it to him, and the old heathen was +my slave for life. So I arranged with him to have my path taboo--you +remember I told you.... And he was the only company I ever had." + +"You had a--garden?" + +"Yes. Good one. I put up a house, about six feet square--big enough for +me, and no more--and I trimmed down some trees around there; and there +was a little brook, and a shallow basin in the side of the hill where +rich soil had been collecting for a good many centuries, I suppose. I +think if I had planted pebbles there, it would have grown bowlders for +me. It did grow all I wanted." + +She was thoughtful for a little, looked at him once. "Why did you ever +ship as a whaler?" she asked. "You don't look like the men that ship in +the fo'c's'le." + +He laughed. "I know it. Maybe because I like the sea. My home was in +sight of it; a high old farm up in Maine, five miles inland. I used to +sit out on the hill there and watch the night come up from the east and +blanket the water; and when there was a surf I could hear it; and when I +could, I went down and got acquainted with the water, swimming, or +poking around in an old dory.... It was bound to get me in the end. My +father sent me to school.... He wanted me to be a doctor. But after two +years of it, I begged off.... And he let me go." + +She nodded. "I know--a little--how you feel. I've always loved the smell +of the sea at home, and the sight of it.... But...." She grimaced +harshly. "I'm getting a bit tired of salt water, all the time.... I want +to get ashore." + +"Sure," Brander chuckled. "And when you've been a month ashore, you'll +be hungry for the sea again. It's like a drug; you get used to it, and +you can't do without it." + +She looked at him. "Do you think so?" + +"I know it. Wait and see." + +After a little, she spoke of the ill luck that had pursued the _Sally_. +"Isn't it unusual to go almost six weeks without getting a whale?" + +"No, not necessarily," he told her. "You may kill every other day for a +year, and not see a fish for three months after. The whale seems to come +and go, in some waters...." + +"These?" she asked. + +He nodded. "It's uncertain, here. We're working over now into better +hunting grounds. The _Sally's_ done well, thus far, anyway. Almost a +thousand barrels, and not out a year. I've heard of ships that came home +with empty casks." + +She looked at him curiously. "I think you know more about the work than +most men aboard," she said. "Yet you've not had the experience...." + +"I've picked it up at games, read it, guessed it," he said pleasantly. +"They know more about the practical end than I. I haven't been tried out +yet, you know." + +She smiled. "Mr. Tichel says you're a Jonah," she told him. "I think he +would be in favor of throwing you overboard." + +He laughed cheerfully. She added: "I hope you're not one. I'm anxious +that Cap'n Wing should make a big record on this cruise. It's my first +with him, you know...." + +His eyes were sober; but he said: "We'll fill the casks, all right. I +wouldn't worry." + +She looked toward him and said: "Yes, we will." There was an immense +amount of quiet certainty and determination in her voice. Brander looked +at her for an instant, then turned to give some direction to the man at +the wheel. The _Sally_ heeled awkwardly to the thrust of the wind, and +battered at the sea with her blunt bows. The rigging creaked and tugged. +Willis Cox, under the boathouse, had dropped his book in his lap and was +dozing in his chair; the two harpooners had gone below. Forward, Faith +could see two or three men sprawled on the deck, asleep.... The warm, +afternoon wind seemed slumber laden; the _Sally Sims_ herself was like +a ship that walked in her sleep. A hush hung over them all, so that +Faith and Brander unconsciously lowered their voices. + +Faith asked casually: "Why is it that you and Mr. Tobey do not like each +other?" + +If he was surprised at the question, Brander did not show it. He said +frankly: "I've no dislike for Mr. Tobey. He's an able officer. He knows +his business." + +"He does not like you," Faith said. "Why not?" + +Brander smiled. "It may be," he admitted, "that Mr. Tobey is lacking in +a sense of humor. I've a way of laughing at things.... Mr. Trant, on the +_Thomas Morgan_, used to curse me for grinning so much of the time. +Perhaps Mr. Tobey...." + +He did not finish the sentence; he seemed to consider it unnecessary, or +unwise.... Faith said nothing.... They stood together, eyes off across +the water, balancing unconsciously to the motion of the ship. Their +shoulders were almost brushing.... Brander felt the light contact on his +coat; and he moved away a little, inconspicuously.... + +She turned at last toward the companion; but after one step, stopped and +looked back at him. "I think," she said, "that Mr. Tobey believes you +mean to claim that find of ambergris belongs to you." + +Brander smiled, and nodded. "I know he does. There's no harm in puzzling +Mr. Tobey." + +"There may be harm--for you--in his believing that," she said; and for a +moment Brander's level eyes met hers, and she saw a flame in his. He +said quietly: + +"I'm not particularly concerned...." + +She bowed her head, to hide her eyes; and she went below so quickly it +was as though she fled from him. + + + + +XVII + + +Faith had assured herself, from the beginning, that Brander had no real +intention of claiming the ambergris was his personal booty. He was too +sensible for that, she felt; and he was not greedy.... + +She had been sure; but like all women, she wished to be reassured. She +had given Brander the chance to reassure her, speaking of the 'gris and +of Dan'l Tobey's suspicions in the matter. It would have been so easy +for Brander to laugh and say: "You know I have no such idea. It belongs +to the _Sally_, of course...." That would have settled the thing, once +and for all.... + +But Brander had not been frank and forthright. He had only said: +"There's no harm in puzzling Mr. Tobey...." And when she had suggested +that there might be harm for Brander in his attitude, his eyes had +hardened with something like defiance in them.... He had said he was not +worried as to what Dan'l might think or do. He thus remained as much of +a puzzle to Faith as ever.... If he had deliberately planned to steal a +place in her thoughts, he could have taken no better means. Faith, with +her growing sense of responsibility for the _Sally_, for the success of +the voyage, for the good renown of Noll Wing, was acutely concerned when +anything threatened that success. The ambergris was properly a part of +the _Sally's_ takings.... Brander must see it so. Did he mean to push +his claim, to make trouble?... + +She tried to find her answer to this question in Brander's face; she +began to study him daily.... She perceived the strength of the man, and +his poise and assurance. Brander was very sure of himself and of his +capabilities, without in the least overrating them. He knew himself for +a man; he bore himself as a man.... Faith respected him; without her +realizing it, this respect and liking grew. + +Unconsciously, Brander was ranked now and then in her thoughts beside +her husband, Noll Wing; she compared the two men without willing to make +the comparison. And in the process, she studied Noll Wing more closely +than she had ever studied him before. It was at this time that she first +marked the fact that Noll was shrinking, wasting the flesh from his +bones. His skin was becoming loose; it sagged. His great chest was +drawing in between his shoulders; his shoulders slumped forward. Also +Faith saw, without understanding, that the great cords of his neck were +beginning to stand out under the loose skin, that hollows were forming +about them. The man's bull neck was melting away.... Faith saw, though +she did not fully understand; she knew that Noll was aging, nothing +more.... + +She was drawn to Noll, at this discovery, by a vast tenderness; but this +tenderness was impersonal. She thought it a recrudescence of her old, +strong love for the man; it was in fact only such a feeling as she might +have had for a sick or wounded beast. She pitied Noll profoundly; she +tried to make him happy, and comfortable. She sought, now and then, to +woo him to cheerfulness and mirth; but Noll was shrinking, day by day, +into a more confirmed habit of complaint; he whined constantly, where in +the old days he would have stormed and commanded. And he resented +Faith's attentions, resented her very presence about him. One day she +went herself into the galley and prepared a dish she thought would +please him; when she told him what she had done, he exclaimed: + +"God's sake, Faith, quit fussing over me. I got along more'n twenty year +without a woman...." + +Faith would not let herself feel the hurt of this.... But even while she +watched over Noll, Brander more and more possessed her thoughts. Her +recognition of this fact led her to be the more attentive to Noll, as +though to recompense him for the thing he was losing.... She had never +so poured out herself upon him. + +It was inevitable that this developing change in Faith should be marked +by those in the cabin. Dan'l saw it, and Brander saw it.... Brander saw +it, and at first his pulse leaped and pounded and his eyes shone with +his thoughts.... On deck, about his duties, he carried the memory of her +eyes always with him. Her eyes as she had looked at him, that day, and +many days before. Questioning, a little wistful.... A little +wondering.... + +But Brander was a strong man; and he put a grip upon himself. He was +drawn to Faith; he knew that if he let himself go, he would be caught in +a whirlwind of passion for her. But he did not choose to let himself go; +and by the same token, he took care to have no part in what might be +taking place in Faith herself. He knew that he might have played upon +her awakened interest in him; he knew that it would be worth life itself +to see more plainly that which he had glimpsed in her eyes; +nevertheless, he put the thing away from him. When she was about, he +became reticent, curt, abrupt.... He took refuge in an arrogance of +tone, an absorption in his work. He began to drive his men.... + +Dan'l Tobey saw. Dan'l had eyes to see; and it was inevitable that he +should discover the first hints of change in Faith. For he watched her +jealously; and he watched Brander as he had watched him from the +beginning. Dan'l saw Faith and Brander drawing together, day by day; and +though he hated Brander the more for it, he was content to sit still and +wait.... He counted upon their working Brander's own destruction between +them, in the end; and Dan'l was in a destructive mood in those days. He +hated the strength of Brander, the loyalty of Faith, the age of old Noll +Wing, and the youth of Roy.... He was become, through overmuch brooding, +a walking vessel of hate; it spilled out of him with every word, keep +his voice as amiable as he might. He hated them all.... + +But he was careful to hide his resentment against Roy; he cultivated the +boy, he worked little by little to debase Roy's standards of life, and +he looked forward vaguely to a day when he might have use for the lad. +Dan'l had no definite plan at this time save to destroy.... But for all +his absorption in Faith, he had not failed to see that Noll Wing's +strength was going out of him. If Noll were to die, Dan'l would be +master of the _Sally_ and those aboard her.... + +Dan'l never lost sight of this possibility; he kept it well in mind; and +he laid, little by little, the foundations upon which in that day he +might build his strength. Roy was one of these foundations.... + +Dan'l saw one obstacle in his path, even with Noll gone. The men +forward, and some of the under officers, were hotly loyal to Noll Wing; +and by the same token they looked upon Faith with eyes of awed +affection. Faith had that in her which commanded the respect of men; and +Dan'l knew that the roughest man in the crew would fight to protect +Faith, against himself or any other. He never forgot this.... + +When Roy Kilcup, last of them all, marked Faith's interest in Brander, +the boy unwittingly gave Dan'l a chance to strike a blow at the men's +trust in the captain's wife. + +Roy, though he might quarrel with her most desperately, was at his heart +devoted to Faith, and wild with his pride in her. He marked a look in +her eyes one day; and it disturbed him. Dan'l found the boy on deck, +staring out across the water, his eyes clouded with perplexity and +doubt. Roy was aft; there was one of the men at the wheel. Dan'l glanced +toward this man.... One of his own boat crew, by name Slatter, with a +sly eye and a black tongue.... Dan'l spoke to him in passing, some +command to keep the _Sally_ steady against the pressure of the wind, and +stopped beside Roy, dropping his hand on the boy's shoulder. + +"Hello, Roy," he said amiably. + +Roy looked up at him, nodded. Dan'l caught a glimpse of the shadow in +his eyes and asked in a friendly tone: "What's wrong? You're worried +about something...." + +Roy shook his head. "No." + +Dan'l laughed. "Shucks! You can't fool any one with that, Roy. If you +don't want to talk...." + +Roy hesitated; he studied Dan'l for a moment. "Dan'l," he said, "you've +known Faith and me all our lives. I guess I can talk to you if I can to +anybody. And I've got to talk to somebody, Dan'l." + +Dan'l nodded soberly. "I'm here to be talked to. What's the matter, +Roy?" + +The boy asked abruptly: "Dan'l--have you noticed the way Faith looks at +Brander?" + +Dan'l had been half prepared for the question; nevertheless his fingers +dug into his palms. He remained silent for a minute, thinking.... His +thoughts raced.... And his eyes fell on foul-tongued Slatter, at the +wheel.... There was a piece of luck; an instrument ready to his hand. +Dan'l still hesitated for a space; his brows twisting.... Then the man +threw all decency behind him, and flung himself at last into the paths +toward which his feet had been tending. He moved to one side, so that +Roy, facing him, must also face the man at the wheel; so that Roy's +words would come to Slatter's ears. And Dan'l was very sure that Slatter +would take care to hear.... + +For another moment he did not speak; then he laughed harshly; and he +asked: "What do you mean, Roy?" + +Roy repeated: "I mean the way Faith looks at Brander all the time. +Looking at him.... A queer way...." + +Dan'l Tobey seemed to be embarrassed; he looked to right and left, and +he said huskily: "Shucks--I guess you've got too much imagination, Roy." + +Roy shook his head. "No, I haven't, either, I've been watching her.... +She looks at him, and her eyes get kind of misty like.... And if you say +something to her, sometimes she doesn't hear you at all." + +"She's got a right to think," Dan'l chuckled. "You talk too much, +anyway, Roy.... No wonder she don't listen to you." His tone was +good-natured. Roy fell silent for a moment, studying Dan'l's face; and +Dan'l looked confused. Roy said sharply: + +"Dan'l, haven't you seen, yourself, what I mean? Haven't you, Dan'l?" + +Dan'l turned his head away; he would not meet Roy's eyes. Roy cried: "I +knew you saw it.... Everybody must see...." + +Dan'l said sternly: "Roy, you'd best not see too much. It don't pay. +There's times when it's wise to see little and say nothing. If it was +me, I'd say this was one of the times." + +"That's all right," Roy admitted. "But I can talk to you...." He added +suddenly: "Dan'l, Noll Wing is too old for Faith. She ought to have +married you, Dan'l." + +Children have a disconcerting way of sticking a word like a knife into +our secret hearts; they see so clearly, and they have not yet learned to +pretend they do not see. Roy, for all his eighteen years, was still as +much child as man; and Dan'l winced. "Land, Roy," he protested. "Get +that out of your head. Faith and me understand...." + +Roy turned his back, looking aft. Dan'l glanced toward Slatter at the +wheel. Slatter's back was toward them; but Dan'l could have sworn the +man's ears were visibly pricking to miss no word. And Dan'l's eyes +burned unpleasantly. A woman's strongest armor is her innocence. If +Faith were tarnished in the eyes of the men in the fo'c's'le, she would +have few defenders there.... The roughest man will honor a good woman; +but he looks upon one who is soiled with contemptuous or greedy eyes. +Dan'l was willing, for his own ends, that the fo'c's'le should think +evil of Faith Wing. + +While they stood thus, Brander came on deck, and spoke for a minute with +Dan'l, then went slowly forward. Because he and Dan'l clashed so +sharply, Brander had fallen into the way of spending much time amidships +with the harpooners, or forward with the crew.... Dan'l's place was +aft.... Roy watched Brander now as he spoke to the mate, watched him +walk away. When Brander was gone, Dan'l looked toward Roy. Roy said +quietly: + +"Dan'l, if Brander tries to--to do anything to my sister, I'm going to +kill him." + +Dan'l said nothing; and Roy moved abruptly past him and went below.... + +He was not seeking Faith; but he came upon her there, in the main cabin. +She was at the table, with a book, and paper and pen; and he stopped to +look over her shoulder, and saw that she was making calculations.... +Latitude and longitude.... He asked: "What are you doing?" + +She looked up at him. "Studying navigation, Roy. Don't you want to?" + +He stared at her. "What are you doing it for?" + +"Because I want to. Besides.... It's a good thing to be able to find out +where you are, on a world as big as this.... Don't you think?" + +He flung himself into a chair across from her. "Look here, Faith.... Why +do you keep looking at Brander? All the time?" + +Faith was startled; she was startled not so much at what Roy said, as at +what his words revealed to her. Nevertheless her voice was steady and +quiet as she asked: "What do you mean, Roy?" + +"The way you look at Brander. He's not fit for you to talk to.... To +look at.... Anything. He's not fit to be around you...." + +She laughed at him. "How do I look at Mr. Brander, Roy?" she asked. + +"Why--like...." Roy groped for words; Faith was suddenly afraid of what +he might say. She interrupted him. + +"Don't be silly, Roy. Go away.... Don't bother me.... I'm busy with +this, Roy." + +He said: "You...." But she bent over her book; she paid him no attention +for a moment. Roy, sitting opposite, studied the top of her head, and +thought.... There was an expression in his eyes as though he were trying +to remember something familiar that evaded him. In the silence, they +could hear Cap'n Wing snoring in his cabin; they could hear old Tichel +stir in his bunk at the other side of the ship; they could hear the +muffled murmur of the voices of the harpooners, in the steerage. And all +about them the timbers that were the fabric of the _Sally_ creaked and +groaned as they yielded to the tug of the seas. Roy still stared with a +puzzled frown at the top of Faith's brown head.... Faith did not look up +from her book.... + +Suddenly Roy cried, in a low voice: "Faith! I know...." And, all in a +burst: "You look at Brander just like you used to look at Noll Wing when +we were kids...." + +Faith went white; and she rose to her feet so swiftly that the book was +overturned on the table, the loose sheets of paper fluttered, the pen +rolled across to the edge of the table and fell and stuck on its point +in the cabin floor.... + +With a motion swift as light, forgetting book and paper and pen, Faith +slipped across, into the after cabin. She shut the door in Roy's face, +and he heard her slip the catch upon it. + +Roy stared at the closed door; then he went abstractedly around the +table and pulled the pen loose from the floor. The steel point was +twisted, spoiled. + + + + +XVIII + + +The _Sally_ came, abruptly, into a sea that was full of whales. At +nightfall they had not smelled oil for weeks; at dawn there were spouts +on three quarters of the horizon; and thereafter for more than a month +there were never three successive days when they did not sight whales. + +This turn of the luck brought three things to pass: Roy Kilcup had his +first chance in the boats during the chase; Brander killed his first +whale as an officer of the _Sally_; and Noll Wing killed the last +cachalot that was ever to feel his lance. + +Dan'l Tobey had promised Roy, at the time when Brander was promoted to +be mate, that he would give the boy a chance in his boat. He put Roy on +the after thwart, under his own eye, and Roy leaned to the oar and +pulled with all his might, and bit his lip to hold back the sobbing of +his breath. The boy came of whaling stock; his father and his father's +father had been men of the sea. And he did not turn white when the +boat's bow slid at last alongside a slumbering black mass, and the keen +harpoons chocked home. + +That first experience of Roy's was a mild one. The whale, a fairish +bull, showed no fight whatever. He took the irons as a baby takes +soothing sirup; and he lay still while they pulled alongside and prodded +him with a lance. At the last, when his spout was a crimson fountain, +he gave one gigantic forward leap; but he was dead not ten fathoms from +the spot where he lay when the first harpoon went home; and thereafter +there was only the long toil of towing the monster back to the ship for +the cutting in. + +A small affair, without excitement; yet big for Roy. It worked a change +in the boy. He came back to the ship no longer a boy, but the makings of +a man. He spoke loftily to Faith; and he brushed shoulders with the men +on equal terms and was proud to do so, altogether forgetting the days +when he had liked to think himself their superior, and to order them +around. Dan'l catered to the new mood in the boy; he told Cap'n Wing in +Roy's hearing that the youngster would make a whaleman.... That he had +never seen any one so cool at the striking of his first whale.... Roy +swelled visibly. + +Brander's initiation as an officer of the _Sally_ came at the same time; +and a bit of luck made it possible for the fourth mate to prove his +mettle. When they sighted spouts in three quarters, that morning, the +mate had chosen to go after a lone bull; old Tichel and Brander attacked +a small pod to the eastward; and Willis Cox went north to try for a fish +there. + +Brander gave Tichel right of way, since the old man was his superior +officer; and they came upon the pod with a matter of seconds to choose +between them. The whales were disappointingly small; nevertheless Tichel +attacked the largest, and Brander took the one that fell to him. His +irons went home a moment after Tichel's; his whale leaped into the +first blind struggle, not fleeing, but fighting to shake off the iron. + +Now it is customary, among whalemen, to wait till this first flurry has +passed, to allow the whale to run out his own strength, and then to pull +in for the finishing stroke. But Brander was ambitious; the whale was +small.... He changed places with Loum, and shouted orders to his men to +haul in the loose coils of line that had been thrown over with the +irons. The whale was circling, rolling, striking with its flukes; it had +not seen them, gave them no heed, but the very blindness of its +struggles made them a greater menace. + +They drew in on the whale; and Loum at the steering oar swung Brander +against the monster's flank. Brander got home his lance in three thrusts +before they were forced to draw clear to avoid the whale's renewed +struggles. But those three were enough; the spout crimsoned; he loosed +and backed away from the final flurry, and the whale was dead ten +minutes from the time when the first iron went home. + +That was exploit enough to prove Brander's ability; his quick kill +marked him as a man who knew his job. He could have afforded to be +content; but when his whale was fin out, and he looked around, he was in +time to see trouble come upon James Tichel. + +The whale Tichel struck had sounded; and just after Brander killed, it +breached before his eyes, under the very bows of Tichel's boat. Brander +saw the black column of its body rise up and up from the sea; it seemed +to ascend endlessly.... Then toppled, and slowly fell, and struck the +water so resoundingly that for a moment the whale and Tichel's boat were +hidden alike. Tichel was dodging desperately to get clear; but the +wallowing whale rolled toward him, over him, smothering his craft.... +Brander, when the tossing and tormented water quieted, saw the bobbing +heads of the men, and the boat just awash, and the gear floating all +around.... + +The whale showed no immediate disposition to run; it was rolling in a +frenzy, bending double as though to tear at its own wounds.... Brander +stuck a marking waif in his own whale, drove his men to their oars, cut +across to see that Tichel and the others were kept afloat by the boat, +and then managed to pick up one of the floating tubs of line, to which +the whale was still attached. The rest was easy enough; the whale fought +its strength away, and Brander made his kill. + +Willis Cox had failed to get fast; the whales he sought to attack took +fright as he approached them, and his game got away with a white slash +across the blubber where Long Jim's desperate cast of the harpoon had +gone wild. So Willis rowed to join Brander, and picked up Tichel and his +men, and took their boat and Tichel's whale which Brander had killed, in +tow. Brander took the other; they worked back to the _Sally_. When they +got back to the ship, Noll Wing clapped Brander on the shoulder and +applauded him. The excitement of the sudden chase, after the weeks of +idling, had put life into Noll. His cheeks were flushed; his eyes were +shining; he had the look of his old self once more.... + +Two whales at a time is as much as any whaler cares to handle; the +_Sally_ had three. A blow of any violence would have made it impossible +for them to cut in even one of the carcasses before the steady heat of +the southern seas rendered them unfit; but no squall came. The luck of +the _Sally_ had turned, and turned in earnest. The men welcomed the hard +work after their long idleness; they toiled at the windlass and the +gangway with the heartiest will. They raised chants as they walked the +blanket pieces up to the main head or slacked them down the deck to be +cut and stowed in the blubber room below the main hatch. The +intoxication of the toil took possession of them; they went at it +singing and exultant and afire; and even Noll caught the spirit of the +day from them. Youth flooded back into the man; his shoulders +straightened; his chest seemed to swell before their eyes. Faith, +watching him, thought he was like the man she had loved.... She was, for +a time, very happy.... + +The fever of it got into Noll's blood; and when they killed another +whale the third day after, he swore that at the next chance he would +himself lower for the chase. He fed on the thought.... Faith, fearful +for him, ventured to protest; her first thought was ever that on Noll's +safety depended the safety of the _Sally_, that Noll's first duty was to +bring the _Sally Sims_ safely home again. She told Noll this; told him +his place was with the ship. + +"The _Sally_ is your charge," she said. "You ought not to risk +yourself.... Take chances...." + +He laughed at her tempestuously. "By God," he cried, "I was never a man +to send men where I was afeared to go. So let be, Faith. You coddle me +like a child; and I am not a child at all. Let be." + +Faith surrendered helplessly; but she hoped he would forget, would not +keep his word. He might have forgotten as she hoped; he was sinking back +into his old lassitude when the masthead men sighted the next whale; but +Dan'l sought Noll out and said anxiously: + +"Best think better of it, sir. This looks like a big whale; a hard +customer." + +Noll had so nearly forgotten that he asked: "Think better of what, man?" + +Dan'l smiled, as though he were pleased. "I thought you meant to lower," +he said. "You do well to change your mind. Stay aboard here; leave us to +handle him." + +Which was like a goad to Noll, as Dan'l must have known it would be. The +captain laughed angrily, and thrust Dan'l aside, and took the mate's own +boat with Roy on the after thwart, and lowered. Faith was anxious; she +found chance to say to Brander, as the other boats were striking the +water: "Look after him, Mr. Brander." And Brander nodded reassuringly. + +Dan'l climbed into the rigging to watch the battle; he scarce took his +glass from his eye. What he hoped for, whether he thought chance and the +whale might wipe Noll from his path, only Dan'l knew. + +This whale, as it chanced, was sighted at early morning; and this was as +well. A big bull, the creature lay quietly, just awash, while the +captain's boat came upon it from behind. He stirred not at all till Noll +Wing swung hard on the long steering oar and brought them in against +the black side and bellowed to Silva: + +"Let go! Let go the irons!" + +Silva knew his work as well as any man; and he got both harpoons home to +the hitches, and threw the line clear as the bull leaped bodily forward +and upward, half out of the water, and whirled in a smothering turmoil +of spray and tortured foam to escape the blades that bit him. Noll swung +them out of his way, shouted to Silva: + +"Aft, now! Let me be at him, man...." + +And Silva came stumbling back across the thwarts to take the steering +oar, while Noll went forward and chose his lance and braced himself in +the bow. + +The whale, his first torment dulled, had stopped his struggle and lay +still, swinging slowly around in the water. It was as though he looked +about to discover what it was that had attacked him; and old Tichel--the +other boats were standing by in a half circle about Noll and the +whale--bawled across the water: + +"'Ware, sir. He's looking for you." + +Noll heard and waved his hand defiantly; and at the same time, the whale +saw Noll's boat and charged it. + +The whale, as has been said, would be invulnerable if his wit but +matched his bulk. It does not. Furthermore, the average whale will not +fight at all, but runs; and it is his efforts to escape that blindly +cause the damage, and even the tragedies of the fisheries. But when he +does attack, he attacks almost always in the same way. The sperm whale, +the cachalot, trusts to his jaw; he bites; and his enemy is not the men +in the boat, but the boat itself. Perhaps he cannot see the men; his +eye is small and set far back on either side of his great head. +Certainly, when once a boat is smashed, it is rare for a whale to +deliberately try to destroy the men in the water. The sperm whale tries +to bite; the right whale--it is from him your whalebone comes--strikes +with his vast flukes. He will lie quietly in the water and brush his +flukes back and forth across the surface, feeling for his enemy. If his +flukes touch a floating tub, an oar, a man, they coil up like an +enormous spring, and slap down with a blow that crushes utterly whatever +they may strike. The whalemen have a proverb: "'Ware the sperm whale's +jaw, and the right whale's flukes." And there is more truth than poetry +in that. + +When a sperm whale destroys a boat with his flukes, it is probably +accident; but he bites with malice prepense and pernicious. The whale +which Noll had struck set out to catch Noll's boat and smash it in his +jaws. + +His very eagerness was, for a long time, his destruction. The whale was +bulky; a full hundred feet long, and accordingly unwieldy. A man on foot +can, if he be sufficiently quick, dodge a bull in an open field; by the +same token, a thirty-foot whaleboat, flat-bottomed, answering like magic +to the very thought of the men who handle her, can dodge a +hundred-barrel bull whale. Noll's boat dodged; the men used their oars +at Noll's command, and Silva in the stern swung her around as on a pivot +with a single sweep. The whale surged past, the water boiling away from +its huge head. + +Surged past, and turned to charge again.... This time, as it passed, +Noll touched the creature with his lance, but the prick of it was no +more than the dart in the neck of a fighting bull. It goaded the whale, +and nothing more. He charged with fury; his very fury was their safety. + +Noll struck the whale at a little after nine o'clock in the morning. At +noon, the vast beast was still fighting, with no sign of weariness. It +charged back and forth, back and forth; and the men swung the boat out +of his way; and their muscles strained, their teeth ground together, the +sweat poured from them with their efforts. They were intoxicated with +the battle. Noll, in the bow, bellowed and shouted his defiance; the men +yelled at every stroke; they shook their fists at the whale as he raged +past them. And Silva, astern, snatching them again and again from the +jaws of destruction, grinned between tight lips, and plied his oar, and +cried to Noll to strike. + +At a little after noon, the whale swung past Noll with such momentum +that he was carried out to the rim of the circle in which the fight was +staged, and saw Tichel's boat there. Any boat was fair game to the +monster; and Tichel had grown careless with watching the breath-taking +struggle. He had forgotten his own peril; he expected the whale to turn +back on Noll again.... + +It did not; it swung for him, and its jaws sheared through the very +waist of his boat, so that the two halves fell away on either side of +the vast head. The men had time to jump clear; there was no man +hurt--save for the strangling of the salt water--and the whale seemed to +feel himself the victor, for he lay still as though to rest upon his +laurels. + +Willis Cox was nearest; he drove his boat that way, and stood in the +bow, with lance in hand to strike. But Noll, hauling up desperately on +the line, bellowed to him: "Let be, Willis. He's mine." And Willis +sheered off. + +Then the whale felt the tug of the line, and whirled once more to the +battle. Willis picked up Tichel and his men, towed the halves of the +boat away, back to the ship.... The _Sally_ was standing by, a mile from +the battle. Such whales as this could sink the _Sally_ herself with a +battering blow in the flank. It was dangerous to come too near. Willis +put Tichel and his men aboard, and went back to wait and be ready to +answer any command from Noll. + +The fifth hour of the battle was beginning.... The whale was tireless; +and Noll, in the bow of his boat, seemed as untired as the beast he +fought. But his men, even Silva, were wearying behind him. It was this +weariness that presently gave the whale his chance. He charged, and +Silva's thrust on the long oar was a shade too late. The boat slipped +out of reach of the crashing jaws; but the driving flukes caught it and +it was overturned. The gear flew out.... + +Noll, in the bow, clung to the gunwale for an instant as the boat was +overthrown. Long enough to wrench out the pin that held the line in the +boat's bow. Silva, astern, would have cut; his hatchet was ready. But +Noll shouted: "No, by God! Let be...." + +Then they were all in the water, tumbling in the surges thrown back by +the passage of the monster.... And the whale drove by, turned, saw no +boat upon the water, thought victory was come.... + +Brander, at this time, was a quarter-mile away. When the boat went +over, he yelled to his men: "Pull.... Oh, pull!" And they bent their +stout oars with the first hot tug; fresh men, untired, hungry these +hours past for a chance at the battle. Brander started toward where lay +the capsized boat, the swimming men.... + +And Noll Wing lifted a commanding arm and beckoned him to make all +speed. Brander urged his men: "Spring hard! Spring.... Hard. Now, on!" + +A whaleboat is as speedy as any craft short of a racing shell; and +Brander's men knew their work. They cut across the vision of the loafing +whale; and the beast turned upon this new attacker with undiminished +vigor. + +Brander's eyes narrowed as he judged their distance from the drifting +boat; he swerved a little to meet the coming whale head on. The whale +plowed at him; they met fifty yards to one side of the spot where the +boat was floating; and as they met, Brander dodged past the whale's very +jaw, and slid astern of him. Before the whale could turn, he was +alongside the capsized boat, dragging Noll over his own gunwale. + +He dragged Noll in; and he saw then that the captain held in his hand a +loop of the line that was fast to the whale. And Brander grinned with +delighted appreciation. Noll straightened, brushed Brander back out of +the way without regarding him, passed the line to the men in Brander's +boat. "Haul in," he roared. "Get that stowed aboard here. By God, we'll +get that whale...." + +They worked like mad, coiling the slack line in the waist, while Noll +fitted it into the crotch and pinned it there. The whale was back at +them, by then; they dodged again. And this time, as the creature swung +past, Loum--Brander's boat-steerer--brought them in close against the +monster's flank before dodging out to evade the smashing flukes. In that +instant, Noll saw his chance, and drove home his lance to half its +length. + +It was the first fair wound the whale had taken; a wound not fatal, not +even serious. Nevertheless, it seemed to take the fight out of the +beast. He sulked for a moment, then began--for the first time in more +than five hours' fighting--to run. + +The line whipped out through the crotch in the bow; the men tailed on to +it, and let it go as slowly as might be, while Loum swung the steering +oar to keep them in the creature's track. Noll, in the bow, was like a +man glorified; his cap was tugged tight about his head; he had flung +away his coat, and his shirt was open half way to the waist. The spray +lashed him; his wet garments clung to his great torso. His right hand +held the lance, point upward, butt in the bottom of the boat; his left +rested on the line that quivered to the tugging of the whale. His knee +was braced on the bow.... A heroic figure, a figure of strength +magnificent, he was like a statue as the whaleboat sliced the waves; and +his lips smiled, and his eyes were keen and grim. The line slipped out +through the burning fingers of the men; the whale raced on. + +Abruptly Noll snapped over his shoulder: "Haul in, Mr. Brander," And +Brander, at Noll's back, gave the word to the men; and they began to +take back the line they had given the whale in the beginning. It came in +slowly, stubbornly.... But it came. They drew up on the whale that fled +before them. They drew up till the smashing strokes of the flukes as the +creature swam no more than cleared their bow. Drew up there, and sheered +out under the thrust of Loum's long oar, and still drew on.... They were +abreast of the flukes; they swung in ahead of them.... They slid, +suddenly, against the whale's very side. + +The end came with curious abruptness. The whale, at the touch of the +boat against his side, rolled a little away from them so that his belly +was half exposed. The "life" of a whale, that mass of centering blood +vessels which the lance must find, lies low. Noll knew where it lay; and +as the whale thus rolled, he saw his mark.... He drove the lean lance +hard; drove it so hard there was no time to pull it out for a second +thrust. Nor any need. It was snatched from his hands as the whale rolled +back toward them. Loum's oar swung; they loosed line and shot away at a +tangent to the whale's course. And Noll cried exultantly, hands flung +high: "Let me, let me, be. He's done!" + +They saw, within a matter of seconds, that he was right. The whale +stopped; he slowly turned; he lay quiet for an instant as though +counting his hurts. The misty white of his spout was reddened by a +crimson tint; it became a crimson flood. It roared out of the spout +hole, driven by the monster's panting breath.... And the whale turned +slowly on his side a little, began to swim. + +A tiny trout, hooked through the head and thrown back into the pool, +will sometimes race in desperate circles, battering helplessly against +the bank, the bottom of the pool, the sunken logs.... Thus this +monstrous creature now swam; a circle that centered about the boat where +Noll and the others watched; that tore the water and flung it in on +them. Faster and faster, till it seemed his great heart must burst with +his own labors. And at the end, flung half clear of the water, threw his +vast bulk forward, surged idly ahead, slowly.... Was still. + +Noll cried: "Fin out, by God. He's dead...." + +A big whale, as big as most whalemen ever see, the biggest Noll himself +had ever slain. A fitting thing; for old Noll Wing had driven his last +lance. He was tired; he showed it when Brander gave the whale to Willis +for towing back to the ship, and raced for the _Sally_ with Noll panting +in the bow. The fire was dying in the captain's eyes; he pulled +Brander's coat about his great shoulders and huddled into it. He scarce +moved when they reached the _Sally_. Brander helped him aboard. Dan'l +Tobey cried: "A great fight, sir. Six hours; and two stove boats.... But +you killed." + +Noll wagged his old head, looked around for Faith, leaned heavily upon +her arm. + +"Take me down, Faith," he said. "Take me down. For I am very tired." + + + + +XIX + + +One-eyed Mauger sought out Brander three days later. Brander had been +decent to him from the beginning; and Mauger, who had been changed from +a venomous and evil thing into a cacklingly cheerful nonentity by Noll +Wing's blow and kick, repaid Brander with a devotion almost inhuman. He +sought out Brander three days later.... That is to say, he made +occasion, during the work of scrubbing up after Noll's last whale, to +come to Brander's feet; and while he toiled at the planking of the deck +there, he looked up at the fourth mate and nodded significantly. + +Brander understood the one-eyed man; he asked: "What's wrong, Mauger?" +His tone was friendly. + +Mauger chuckled mirthlessly, deprecatingly. "Don't want you should git +mad," he protested. + +Brander shook his head, his eyes sobering. "Of course not. What is it?" + +"There's chatter, forward," said Mauger. "They're talking dirt." + +Brander's voice fell. "Who?" + +"Slatter was th' first. Others now. Dirt." + +Brander looked about the deck; there was no one within hearing. He asked +quietly: "What kind of dirt?" + +Mauger looked up and grinned unhappily and apologetically. "You know," +he said. "You and--her...." + +Brander's eyes hardened; he said, under his breath: "Thanks, Mauger." +And he walked away from where the one-eyed man was scrubbing. Mauger +rose on his knees to look after the fourth mate with something like +worship in his eyes. + +Brander went aft with his problem. A real problem. Faith besmirched.... +He would have cut off his right hand to prevent it; but cutting off his +right hand would have done no good whatever. He would have fought the +whole crew of the _Sally_, single-handed; but that would have done even +less good than the other. You cannot permanently gag a man by jamming +your fist in his mouth. And Brander knew it; so that while he boiled +with anger and disgust, he held himself in check, and tried to consider +what should be done.... + +Must do something.... No easy task to determine what that something was +to be. + +Brander considered the members of the crew; the fo'm'st hands. Slatter +he knew; an evil man. Others there were like him, either from weakness +or sheer malignant festering of the soul. But there were some who were +men, some who were decent.... Some who would fight the foul talk, wisely +or unwisely as the case might be; some who had eyes to see the goodness +of Faith, and hearts to trust her.... + +Brander's task was to help these men. He could not himself go into the +fo'c's'le and strike; to do so would only spread the filth of words +abroad. But--one thing he could do. He saw the way.... + +Avoid Faith.... That would not be easy, since their lives must lie in +the cabin. Avoid Faith, avoid speaking to her save in the most casual +way, avoid being alone with her. That much he must do; and something +more. The crew would be spying on them now, watching, whispering. He +must give them no food for whispers; he must go further. He must give +them proof that their whispers were ill-founded. He must.... + +It was this word of Mauger's that led Brander to a determination which +was to threaten him with ruin in the end; it was this word of Mauger's +that determined Brander to give himself to the crew. To keep some of +them always near him, always in sight of him; to force them, if he +could, to see for themselves that he had little talk with Faith and few +words with her. That was what Brander planned to do. He worked out the +details carefully. When he was on deck, he must keep in their sight; and +he must keep himself on deck every hour of the day save when he went +below for meals. He decided to do more; the nights were warm and +pleasant. He had a hammock swung under the boathouse, and planned to +sleep there; he laid open his whole life to their prying eyes. Let them +see for themselves.... + +He was satisfied with this arrangement, at last. It was the best that +could be done; he put it into action at once, and he saw within three +days' time that Slatter and the others had noticed, and were wondering +and questioning. + +The men were puzzled; the cabin was puzzled. And no one was more puzzled +by Brander's new way of life than Dan'l Tobey. He was puzzled, but he +was at the same time elated. For he perceived that Brander had given him +a weapon, a handle to take hold of. And Dan'l was not slow to take +advantage of it. + +They were working westward at the time, killing whales as they went. +Ahead was the Bay of Islands, and Port Russell. Southward, the Solander +Rock, and the Solander Grounds, where all the big bull whales of the +seven seas have a way of flocking as men flock to their clubs. A cow is +seldom or never seen there; the bulls are slain by scores. Toward this +hunting ground, as famous for its whales as it was infamous for its ugly +weather, the _Sally Sims_ was working. They would touch at Port Russell +on the way.... + +Three days before they were like to make the Port, Dan'l made an +occasion to have words with Noll Wing. Noll was on deck, Faith and the +officers--save Brander, who was with Mauger forward--were all below. +There was a group of men by the tryworks; and Dan'l strolled that way. +He moved inconspicuously, approaching them on the opposite side of the +ship; and when he came near, he stopped and seemed to listen. Noll, aft, +was paying him little attention though Dan'l made sure that the captain +saw. + +Slatter was among the group of men; Dan'l scattered them, angrily, and +drove them forward. When they were gone, he went aft again; and as he +had expected, Noll asked: + +"What was that, Dan'l?" + +Dan'l smiled and said it was nothing that mattered; and his tone +suggested that it mattered a great deal. Noll sternly bade him speak, +and Dan'l said reluctantly: + +"It was but the foolish talk of idle men, sir. I bade them keep their +tongues still." + +"What manner of foolish talk?" + +Dan'l would not meet Noll's eyes. "Why, lies," he said. "Chatter." + +Noll said heavily: "I'm not a man to be put off, Dan'l. Speak up, man." + +Dan'l frowned sorrowfully: "It was just their talk about Mr. Brander and +Faith, sir. Lies, as I told you. They shut up when I spoke to them." + +"What talk of Brander and my wife?" Noll asked slowly. + +Dan'l shook his head. "You can guess it for yourself, sir. The men have +nothing better to do than chatter and gossip like old women. They've had +no work for three days. We need another whale to shut their mouths." + +"What talk?" Noll repeated. + +Dan'l smiled. "I think too well of Faith and of Brander to say it for +you," he insisted. + +Noll fell silent, his brows lowering for a space; then he waved his +great hand harshly. "Bosh," he said. "Foolishness." + +Dan'l nodded. "Of course. Nevertheless, I...." He fell silent; and Noll +looked at him acutely. + +"You--what?" he asked. + +"I don't blame Mr. Brander, you understand," said Dan'l. "But--it's in +my mind that--being with the crew as much as he is--he should put a stop +to it." + +Noll's eyes ranged the deck. Brander was amidships now; and Mauger was +still with him. Mauger was scraping at the rail, cleaning away some +traces of soot from the last trying out, under Brander's eye. They were +talking together; and Noll frowned and looked at Dan'l and asked: + +"You think Mr. Brander is too much with the crew?" + +Dan'l shook his head. "No, not too much. It's as well for an officer to +be on good terms with the men. Leastwise, some think so. I was never one +to do it. But--no, not too much. Nevertheless, he's much with them." + +Noll thought for a while, his brows lowering; and he said harshly, at +the end: "That matter of Faith is trash. Their clacking tongues should +be dragged out...." + +Dan'l nodded. "Aye; but that would not stop them. You know the men, +sir." And he added: "Still it seems Brander should be able to hush +them." And after a moment more: "You mark, he's all but deserted us in +the cabin. He sticks much with the men of late." + +Noll's face contracted. He touched Dan'l's arm. "I've seen that he is +much with Mauger," he agreed. "And Mauger...." His muscles twitched; and +he said under his breath: "Mauger's whetting his knife for me, Dan'l. +I'm watchful of that man." + +"He has a slinking eye," said Dan'l. "But I make no doubt he's harmless +enough, sir. I'd not fear him...." + +Noll said stoutly: "I'm not a hand to fear any man, Dan'l. +Nevertheless, that twitching eye of his frets me...." He shuddered and +gripped Dan'l's arm the tighter. "I should not have kicked the man, +Dan'l. I've been a hard man; too hard.... An evil man, in my day. I +doubt the Lord has raised up Mauger to destroy me." + +Dan'l laughed. "Pshaw, sir.... Even the Lord would have small use for a +thing like Mauger." He waited for a moment thoughtfully. "Any case," he +said. "If you were minded, you could drop him ashore at Port Russell and +be rid of him." + +Noll moved abruptly. "Eh," he said. "I had not thought of that." He +seemed to shrink from the thought.... "But it may be he is meant to be +about me.... I'd not go against the Lord, Dan'l...." + +Dan'l looked sidewise at the captain; and there was something like +contempt in his eyes. He said slowly: "If it was me, I'd set the man +quietly ashore...." + +He turned away, left Noll to think of the matter.... + + * * * * * + +Dan'l wondered, all that day, whether Noll would act; but toward +nightfall they raised a spout, and killed as dark came upon them. That +held them, for cutting in and trying out, three days where they lay; and +they killed once more before they made the Bay of Islands. They were +touching at Port Russell for water and fresh vegetables; they put in +there.... + +When the anchor went down, Noll sent for Brander to come down to him in +the cabin. They had anchored at nightfall, and would not go ashore till +morning. Noll sent for Brander; and when Brander came, Noll looked at +him furtively.... + +Brander saw the captain had been drinking; Noll's hands shook, and his +fingers and his tongue were unsteady. The muscles of his face twitched; +and there was a Bible open in his lap and a bottle beside him. Brander +held his eyes steady, masked what he felt. Noll beckoned with a crooked +finger. + +"Come 'ere," he said huskily. + +Brander faced him. They were in the after cabin; and Noll sat still. +"We're staying here a day," he said. + +Brander nodded. "Wood and stores, sir, I suppose." + +Noll nodded heavily. "Oh, aye.... But, something else, Mr. Brander. I'm +goin' leave here that man in your boat. Mauger...." + +Brander's lips tightened faintly; he held his voice. "Mauger?" he +echoed. "Why? What's wrong with him?" + +"Don' want him around any more," said Noll slowly. + +"Why not?" Brander insisted. + +Noll's lips twitched with the play of his nerves, and he poured a drink +and lifted it to his mouth with unsteady fingers. He set down the glass, +spilling a little of the liquor; and he wiped his mouth with the back of +his hand. "I had 'casion to discipline Mauger," he said, with awkward +dignity, his head wagging. "I had 'casion to discipline Mauger. An' now +he's got a knife for me. He's goin' kill me. I ought kill him; put the +man shore, 'stead of that." + +Brander smiled reassuringly. "Mauger's harmless, sir. And he does his +work." + +Noll shook his head. "I know 'im. He's a murd'rer. I'm goin' put him +ashore." + +The fourth mate hesitated; then he said quietly: "All right. If he goes, +I go too." + +Noll's head jerked back as though he had been struck; and his red eyes +widened and narrowed again as he peered at Brander, and he hesitated +unsteadily. "Wha's that?" he asked. "Wha's that you say?" + +"I say I'll go if he goes." + +Noll's head drooped and swayed wearily; but after a moment he asked: +"Wha' for?" + +"The man shipped for the cruise," said Brander. "He does his work. I'll +not be a party to putting him ashore--dumping him in this God-forsaken +hole." + +Noll raised a hand. "Don' speak of God," he said reprovingly. "You don' +understand Him, Mr. Brander." Brander said nothing; and Noll's hand +dropped and he whined: "Man can't do what he wants on his own ship...." + +Brander said: "Do as you like, sir. I think you should let him stay. He +means no harm...." + +Noll waved his hand. "Oh, a'right," he agreed. "Say no more 'bout it at +all. Let be. Keep'm; keep'm, Mr. Brander. But lis'en." He eyed Brander +shrewdly. "Lis'en. I know one thing. He's goin' to knife me some night. +I know. He's a murd'rer. And you're defending him.... Pr'tecting him. +Birds of a feather flock t'gether, Mr. Brander." The captain got +unsteadily to his feet, raised a threatening hand. "When he kills me; +just r'member. My blood's on your own head, sir." + +Brander hesitated; his heart revolted. His impulse was to leave the +ship, take Mauger, trust his luck.... But he thought of Faith. This man, +her husband, was dying.... He could see that. And when he was gone, +there would be trouble aboard the _Sally_. Faith herself meant trouble; +the ambergris in the captain's storeroom meant more trouble.... Brander +knew it might well be that Faith would need him in that day.... He could +not leave her.... + +He said quietly: "I take that responsibility, sir." + +Noll was slumped in his chair again. "Go 'way," he said, and waved his +hand. "Go 'way." + + * * * * * + +That night, in the small hours, Noll screamed in a way that woke the +ship; he had come out of drunken slumber, desperate with a vivid +hallucination that appalled him.... + +He thought that Mauger was at him with a sheath knife, and that Brander +was at Mauger's back. Faith and Dan'l fought to soothe him; Faith in her +loose dressing-gown, her hair in its thick braid.... Dan'l had more eyes +for Faith than for Noll. He had never seen her thus before; never seen +her so beautiful; never seen her, he thought, so desperately to be +desired.... His lips were wet at the sight of her.... + +Noll's terror racked and tore at the man; it seemed to rip the very +flesh from his bones. When it passed, at last, and he fell asleep again, +he was wasted like a corpse. + +Dan'l, looking at Noll and at Faith, wished Noll were a corpse indeed. + + + + +XX + + +A change was coming to pass in Faith at this time. As the strength +flowed out of Noll, it seemed to flow into her. As Noll weakened, Faith +was growing strong. + +She had never lacked a calm strength of her own; the strength of a good +woman. But she was acquiring now the strength and resolution of a man. +At first, this was unconscious; the spectacle of Noll's degeneration +moved her by the force of contrast. But for a long time she clung to the +picture of the Noll of the past, clung to the hope that the captain +would become again the man she had married. And so long as she did this, +she made herself a part of him, his support.... She merged herself in +him, thought of herself only as his helpmate.... She had always tried to +stimulate his pride and strength; she had tried to lead him to reassume +the domination of the _Sally_ and all aboard her. And in the days before +Noll went out to kill his whale, she thought for a time she had +succeeded. + +But when Noll came back to her that day, exhausted by the struggle, the +fire gone out of him, Faith perceived that he was a weak vessel, +cracking and breaking before her eyes. + +Noll was gone; he was no longer a man. His hands and his heart had not +the force needed to enable him to command the _Sally_, to make the +voyage successful, to bring the bark safely back to port in the end. +Faith saw this; but she refused to consider the chance of failure. She +had married Noll when he was at the height of his apparent strength; the +signs of his disintegration were not yet apparent. They had swept upon +him suddenly.... But she would not have it said of him, when he was +gone, that he had sailed the seas too long; that he had failed at last, +and shamefully.... + +She had come to look upon the success of this last voyage of Noll's as a +sacred charge; and when Noll's shoulders weakened, she prepared +deliberately to take the burden on her own. The _Sally_ must come safely +home, with filled casks for old Jonathan Felt; she must come safely +home, no matter what happened to Noll--or to herself. The prosperity of +the _Sally Sims_ was almost a religion to Faith.... + +She had begun to study navigation more to pass the long and dreary days +than from any other motive; she applied herself to it now more ardently. +And she began, at the same time, to study the men about her; to weigh +them; to consider their fitness for the responsibilities that must fall +upon them. The fo'm'st hands, and particularly the mates, she weighed in +the balance. The mates, and above all Dan'l Tobey. For if Noll were to +go, Dan'l, by all the ancient laws of the sea, would become master of +the ship; and their destinies would lie in his hands.... + +Short of the Solander Grounds, they struck good whaling, and lingered +for a time; and day by day the tuns and casks were filled, and the +_Sally_ sank lower in the water with her increasing load. They were +two-thirds full, and not yet two years out. Good whaling.... At dinner +in the cabin one day, Dan'l Tobey said to Faith: + +"You've brought us good luck, Faith, by coming along, this cruise. We +never did much better, since I've been with Cap'n Wing." + +Faith looked to Noll. Noll was eating slowly, paying them no attention. +Silence was falling upon the captain in those days, like a foreshadowing +of the great silence into which he would presently depart. He said +nothing; so Faith said: "Yes. We've done well.... I'm glad." + +Old James Tichel looked slyly from face to face. "And the 'gris, stowed +below us here, will make it a fine fat cruise for old Jonathan Felt when +we come home," he chuckled. + +At the mention of the ambergris, a little silence fell. Brander was at +the table, Brander and the others. Dan'l and Willis Cox and young Roy +Kilcup looked at Brander, as though expecting him to speak. He said +nothing, and old Tichel, gnawing at his food, chuckled again, as though +pleased with what he had said. + +The ambergris, so rich a treasure in so small a bulk, had never been +forgotten for a minute by any man in the cabin; nor by Faith. But they +had not spoken of it of late; there was nothing to be said, and there +was danger in the saying. It was as well that it be forgotten until they +were home again.... There were too many chances for trouble in the +stuff.... + +When Brander did not speak, however, Dan'l gently prodded him. He said +to Tichel: "You're forgetting that Mr. Brander claims it for his own." + +Tichel chuckled again. "Oh, aye, I was forgetting that small matter," he +agreed. "My memory is very short at times." + +Still Brander said nothing. Dan'l looked toward him. "I'll be warrant +Mr. Brander does not forget," he said. + +Brander looked toward Dan'l, and he smiled amiably. "Thank you," he told +the mate. "Keep me reminded. It had all but slipped from my mind." + +There was so much hostility in the air, in the slow words of the men, +that Faith said quietly: "We'll be on the Solander, soon. I'm looking +forward to that, Dan'l. You've seen the Rock?" + +She hoped to change them to another topic; but Dan'l brought it smoothly +back again. "Yes," he said. "Yes.... Last cruise, the _Betty Howe_, out +of Port Russell, picked up a sizable chunk of 'gris not a week before we +touched the grounds. That brought two-sixty to the pound, I heard." + +"How much was it?" Willis Cox asked; and Dan'l looked to Willis and said +amiably: + +"Fifteen pound or so. No more than a thimbleful to what we've got.... +That is to say, to what Mr. Brander's got, below here." + +Brander had finished eating; he rose to go on deck. But Roy Kilcup could +no longer hold his tongue. He got to his feet in Brander's path, +demanded sharply: + +"Do you honestly mean to claim that for your own, Mr. Brander? Are you +so much of a hog?" + +Brander looked down at the boy; and he smiled. "I'll give you your +share, now, if it will stop your worrying, youngster," he said. + +"I want to know what you're going to do," Roy insisted. "Are you going +to stick to your claim?" + +"Others want to know," said Brander, and stepped to one side to pass +Roy. Roy would have spoken again; but Noll said heavily from the head of +the table: + +"Roy, let be." + +That put a moment's silence upon them all. In this silence, Brander went +on his way to the deck. Roy stared after him for a moment, then sat down +in his place. His face was sullen and angry.... No one spoke of the +matter again; but Dan'l saw that Faith was thoughtful. Faith was +puzzling over Brander, trying to fathom the man.... She was troubled and +uneasy.... Dan'l saw that Noll had lifted his heavy head and was +watching her. + +Afterward, Dan'l went with Noll into the after cabin. Faith had gone on +deck; and she and Willis Cox were talking together, by the wheel, with +Roy. Brander, as usual, had taken himself to the waist where he was +under the eye of the crew. His harpooner, Loum, was with him. Mauger +hung within sound of his voice like an adoring dog. + +Dan'l, in the after cabin with Noll, made up the log. Noll sat heavily +on the seat, half asleep. He got up, while Dan'l was still writing, and +got his bottle. It was almost empty; and he cursed at that, and Dan'l +looked up and said: + +"Sit down, sir. Give that to me. I'll fill it up again." + +Noll accepted the offer without speaking, and gave Dan'l the key to his +storeroom, where there was a cask of whiskey, and another of rum. Dan'l +came back presently with the bottle filled.... His eyes were shining +with an evil inspiration, but he said nothing for a little. When his +work on the log was done, however, he looked across to Noll, and after a +little, as though answering a spoken question, said: + +"I wouldn't worry about him, sir." + +Noll looked at him dully. "About who, Dan'l?" + +"Brander. I saw you watching him...." + +Noll dropped his head. "I don't like the man." + +"He's a good officer." + +"Oh, aye...." + +"I doubt if he means trouble over the 'gris." + +Noll waved a hand fretfully. "He's too much with the crew, Mr. Tobey." + +Dan'l shook his head. "I doubt it. That's one way to handle men--Be one +of them. They'll do anything for him, sir." + +Noll's eyes narrowed with the shrewdness of a drunken man. "That's the +worst part of it. Will they do anything for me, Dan'l? Or for you?" + +Dan'l said reluctantly: "Well, sir, maybe they'd jump quicker for him." + +"And that's not reassuring," said Noll. "Is it, now?" + +"It wouldn't be, if he meant wrong. I don't think he does. Any case, he +knows the 'gris is not his, in the end...." And he added: "You're +concerned over Faith and him--the way they are when they're together. +But there's no need, sir. Faith is loyal...." + +Noll looked at the mate, and he frowned. "How are they, when they're +together?" + +"I thought you had marked it for yourself.... I meant nothing." + +"Nothing? You meant something. You've seen something. What is it you've +seen, Dan'l?" + +Dan'l protested. "Why, nothing at all. There's no harm in their being +friends. He's a young man, strong, with wisdom in his head; and she's +young, too. It's natural that young folk should be friendly." + +Noll's head sank upon his chest; he said dully: "Aye, and you're +thinking I'm old." + +"No, sir," Dan'l cried. "Not that. You're not so old as you think, sir. +Not so old but what you might strike, if there was need. I only meant it +was to be expected that they should be drawn together, like. Faith's +young...." + +Noll's eyes were reddening angrily. "Speak out, man," he exclaimed. +"Don't shilly-shally with your tongue. If there's harm afoot, by God, I +can take a hand. What's in your mind?" + +"Why, nothing at all. No harm in the world, sir.... I was only meaning +to reassure you. I thought you had seen her eyes when she looked at the +man...." + +"Her eyes?" + +"Aye." + +"What's in her eyes?" + +Dan'l frowned uncomfortably. "Why--friendship, if you like. Liking, +perhaps. Nothing more, I'll swear. I know Faith too well...." + +Noll said heavily: "I'll watch her eyes, Dan'l." + +Dan'l said with apparent anxiety: "You should not concern yourself, +Cap'n Wing. It's but the fancy of youth for youth.... I...." + +Noll came to his feet with sudden rage in him. "Have done, Dan'l. I...." + +They both heard, then, Faith's step in the main cabin; and their eyes +met and burned. And Dan'l got up quietly, and closed the log, and as +Faith came in, he went out and closed the door behind him. Closed the +door and crossed to the companion as though to go on deck; but he +lingered there, listening.... + +Listened; but there was little for him to hear. When the door closed +behind him, Faith had turned to her own cabin, hers and Noll's. Noll sat +down, his eyes sullen.... He watched her through the open door to the +cabin where their bunks were. She turned after a moment and came out to +him; and he got to his feet with a rush of anger, and stared at her, so +that she stood still.... + +He said hoarsely: "Faith.... By God...." + +His words failed, then, before the steady light in her eyes. She was +wondering, questioning him.... She met his eyes so fairly that the soul +of the man cowered and shrank. The strength of rage went from him. He +drew back. + +"What is it, Noll?" she asked. "Why are you--angry?" + +He lifted a clenched hand over his head; it trembled there for an +instant, then came slowly down. He wrenched open the door to the main +cabin, and went out and left her standing there.... + +Faith watched him go; perplexity in her eyes. Dan'l joined him, and they +went on deck together. + + + + +XXI + + +They came to the Solander Grounds with matters still in this wise. +Brander much with the crew; Noll Wing rotting in his chair in the cabin; +Faith gaining strength of soul with every day; Dan'l playing upon Noll, +upon Roy, upon all those about him to his own ends.... + +The Solander received them roughly; they passed the tall Solander Rock +and cruised to the westward, keeping it in sight. There was another +whaling ship, almost hull down, north of them, and the smoke that +clouded her told the _Sally_ she had her trypots going. Dan'l Tobey was +handling the vessel; and he chose to work up that way. But before they +were near the other craft, the masthead men sighted whales.... Spouts +all about, blossoming like flowers upon the blue water. Noll had +regained a little of his strength when they came upon the Grounds; he +took the ship, and bade Dan'l and the other mates lower and single out a +lone whale.... + +"They'll all be bulls, hereabouts," he said. "Big ones, too.... And +we'll take one at a spell and be thankful for that...." + +The whale was, as Noll had predicted, a bull. Dan'l made the kill, a +ridiculously easy one. The vast creature lifted a little in the water at +the first iron; he swam slowly southward; but there was no fight in him +when they pulled up and thrust home the lance. The lance thrusts seemed +to take out of him what small spirit of resistance there had been in the +beginning; and when his spout crimsoned, he lay absolutely still, and +thus died.... + +An hour after lowering, the whale was alongside the _Sally_; a monstrous +creature, not far short of the colossus Cap'n Wing had slain. He was +made fast to the fluke-chain bitt, and the cutting in began +forthwith.... That, too, on Noll Wing's order. "Fair weather never +sticks, hereabouts," he said. "Work while there's working seas." + +Now the first part of cutting in a whale is to work off the head; and +that is no small task. For the whale has no neck at all, unless a +certain crease in his thick blubber may be called a neck. The spades of +the mates, keen-edged, and mounted on long poles with which they jab +downward from the cutting stage, chock into the blubber and draw a deep +cut along the chosen line.... The carcass is laboriously turned, the +process is repeated.... Thus on, till at last the huge mass can be torn +free.... + +Before the work on this whale was half done, it became apparent that a +gale was brewing. Cross swells, angling together at the mouth of Foveaux +Straits, kicked up a drunken sea that made the _Sally_ pitch and roll at +the same time; a combination not relished by any man. Nevertheless, the +head was got off and hauled alongside for cutting up.... + +This work had taken the better part of the night; and with the dawn, +there arose a whine in the wind that sang a constant, high note in the +taut rigging. With the _Sally_ pitching and rolling drunkenly, the +fifteen ton junk was got off the head and hoisted aboard, while every +strand of rigging creaked and protested at the terrible strain. The +blubber was coming in; but the wind was increasing.... + +In the end, the _Sally_ had to let go what remained of her catch and run +for it, losing thereby the huge "case" full of spermaceti, and a full +half of the blubber. But it was time.... The wind was still +increasing.... The _Sally_ scudded like a yacht before it.... + +They ran into Port William for shelter, and Noll Wing swore at his ill +luck, and when the ship was anchored, went sulkily below.... Dan'l drove +the men to their tasks.... + +The weeks that followed were repetitions of this first experience, with +such capricious modifications as the gales and the sea chose to arrange. +They killed many big whales; some they lost altogether, and some they +lost in part, and some few they harvested. They fell into the way of +running for port with their kill as soon as the whale was alongside, +rather than risk the storms in the open.... It was hard and steady work +for all hands; and as the men had grumbled at ill luck when they sighted +no whales, so now they grumbled because their luck was overgood. The +deck of the _Sally_ was filled with morose and sullen faces.... + +Dan'l found them easy working, ready for his hands; and by a word +dropped now and then through these busy times, he led them in the way he +wished them to go.... He never let them forget, for one thing, the +ambergris beneath the cabin. When they grumbled, he reminded them it +was there as a rich reward for all their labors.... And he reminded +them, at the same time, that Brander claimed it.... Neither did he let +the men forget that which he wished them to believe of Faith and +Brander. By indirections; by words with Roy which he took care they +should overhear; by reproofs for chance-caught words, he kept the matter +alive in their minds, so that they began to look at Faith sidewise when +she appeared upon the after deck.... + +Brander was not blind to this; and if he had been blind, Mauger's one +eye would have seen for him. He knew the matter in the minds of the men; +but he could not be sure that Dan'l was putting it there.... Could not +be sure; nevertheless, he spoke to Dan'l of it one day.... It was the +first time since Brander came aboard that he and Dan'l had had more than +passing word. + +Brander made an opportunity to take the mate aside; and he held Dan'l's +eyes with his own and said steadily: "Mr. Tobey, there's ugly talk among +the men aboard here that should be put a stop to...." + +Dan'l looked surprised; he asked what Brander meant. Brander said +openly: "They're coupling my name with that of the captain's wife. +You've heard them. It should be ended." + +Dan'l said amiably: "I know. It's very bad. But that is a thing you +can't stop from the after deck, Mr. Brander." + +Brander said: "That's true. So what do you think should be done in the +matter?" + +The mate waved his hand. "It's not my affair, Mr. Brander. It's not me +whose name is coupled with Faith's. You know that, yourself." + +Brander nodded. "Suppose," he said, "suppose I go forward again.... I'll +make some occasion to commit a fault: Cap'n Wing can send me forward and +put Silva, or another, in my place." + +Dan'l looked at Brander sharply; and he shook his head. "The men would +be saying, then, that it was because of this matter you were put out of +the cabin." + +"I suppose so." + +"It is very sure." + +"What would you suggest?" Brander asked, his eyes holding Dan'l's. Dan'l +seemed to weigh the matter. + +"How if you were to leave the ship completely?" he inquired. + +Brander's eyes narrowed; and Dan'l, in spite of himself, turned away his +head. If Brander left the ship.... There was no other man aboard whom he +need fear when the time should come.... If Brander but left the ship.... + +Brander's eyes narrowed; he studied Dan'l; and after a little he laughed +harshly, and nodded his head as though assured of something which he had +doubted before. "No," he said. "No. I'll not leave the _Sally_...." He +could never do that; there might come the day when Faith would have to +look to him.... "No; I'll stick aboard here...." + +Dan'l's hopes had leaped so high; they fell so low.... But he hid his +chagrin. "You are right," he said. "That is a deal to ask, just to stop +the idle chatter of the men. Stay.... Best stay.... It will be +forgotten." + +Brander turned abruptly away, to crush down a sudden flood of anger that +had clenched his fists. He knew Dan'l, now, beyond doubt. He had guessed +the mate's eagerness to be rid of him.... Dan'l should not have his way +in this so easily.... + +Dan'l's own eyes had been opened by this talk with Brander. The mate's +heart had not yet formed his full design; he was working evil without +any further plan than to bring harm and ruin.... But Brander's +suggestion, the possibility that Brander might leave the ship, had +revealed to Dan'l in a single flash how matters would lie in his two +hands if Brander were gone. Noll Wing was nothing; old Tichel he could +swing; Willis Cox was a boy; the crew were sheep. Only Brander stood out +against him; only Brander must be beaten down to clear his path. With +Brander gone.... + +Dan'l set himself this task; to eliminate Brander. He thought of many +plans, a little mishap in the whaling, a kinked line, a flying spade, an +ugly mischance.... But these could not be arranged; he could only hope +for the luck of them. Hope for the luck.... But that need not prevent +him working to help out the fates. Not openly; he could not do that +without setting Brander on guard. And Brander on guard was doubly to be +feared. Dan'l remembered an ancient phrase, the advice of an old +philosopher to a rebellious soul, he thought. "When you strike at a +king, you must kill him...." It was so with Brander; he must be +destroyed at a blow.... Utterly.... + +Noll was a tool that might serve; Noll would strike, if he could be +roused to the full measure of wrath. Dan'l worked with Noll discreetly, +in hidden words, appearing always to defend Brander.... Brander and +Faith meant no harm.... They were friends, no more.... Dan'l assured +Noll of this, again and again; and he took care that his assurances +should not convince. Noll stormed at him one night: + +"Why must you always be defending Faith? Why do you stand by her?" + +And Dan'l said humbly: "I've always known Faith, sir. I don't want to +see her do anything.... That is, I don't want to see you harsh with her, +sir." + +And Noll fell into a brooding silence that pleased Dan'l mightily.... +But still he did not strike at Brander.... + +Dan'l reminded the captain that Brander still gave much time to the +crew; he played on that string.... Still hoping Noll might be roused to +overwhelming rage. But Dan'l's poisoned soul was losing its gift of +seeing into the hearts of men; the old Noll would have reacted to his +words as he hoped. This new Noll was another matter; this Noll, aging +and rotting with drink, was led by Dan'l's talk to hate Brander--and to +fear him. His fear of Brander and of the one-eyed man obsessed even his +sober mind. He would never dare seek to crush Brander openly; Faith he +might strike, but not the man. + +In the end, even Dan'l perceived this; he cast about for a new +instrument, and found it in the man, Slatter. + +Slatter had crossed Brander's path, to his sorrow. The loose-tongued man +dropped some word of Faith which Brander heard, and Brander +remembered.... He made pretext of Slatter's next small failure at the +work to beat the man into a bleeding pulp.... No word of Faith in this; +he thrashed Slatter for idling at the windlass when a blanket strip was +being hoisted, and for impudence.... And Slatter was his enemy +thereafter. Dan'l saw, and understood.... And he cultivated Slatter; he +tended the man's hurts, and gave him covert sympathy for the beating he +had taken.... And Slatter, emboldened, harshly swore that he would end +Brander for it, give him half a chance. + +Dan'l said hastily, and quietly: "Don't talk such matters, man. There's +more than you aboard ship would do that if they dared. I'm not saying +even Noll Wing would not smile to see Brander gone.... No matter +why...." + +"I know why," Slatter swore. "Every man forrad knows the why of +that...." + +"Well, then you'll not blame Noll," said Dan'l. "I'm thinking he'd fair +kiss the man that had a hand in ending Brander, if it was not done too +open. But there's none aboard would dare it...." + +"By God, let me get him forrad, right, and I'll...." + +"Quiet," said Dan'l. "Here's the man himself...." + +Here was his tool; Dan'l waited only the occasion. There was a way to +make that. + +A whaler's crew are for the most part scum; harmless enough when they're +held in hand.... Harmless enough so long as they're kept in fear. But +alcohol drives fear out of a man. And there was whiskey and rum in the +captain's storeroom, aft.... + +It was one of the duties of Roy, as ship's boy, to fetch up stores from +this room at command; he was accustomed to fill Noll Wing's bottles now +and then. Dan'l saw he might use Roy; and he did so without scruple. +"I've need for liquor, Roy," he told the lad. "But I'd not ask Noll.... +He's jealous of the stuff, as you know. So when next you're down, fill a +jug.... Fetch it up to me." + +He said it so casually that Roy agreed without question. The boy was +pleased to serve Dan'l.... Dan'l held him, he had captured Roy, heart +and soul. Roy gave him the jug full of liquor next morning, Slatter had +it by nightfall, and that without Dan'l's appearing in the matter. +Slatter came aft to take the wheel, and Dan'l saw to it the jug was in +his sight and at hand.... Slatter carried it forward with him.... He +passed Dan'l in the waist; and Dan'l looked at the jug and laughed and +said: + +"Man, that looks like liquor." + +Slatter grinned uneasily. "Oil for the fo'c's'le lamp," he said. + +Dan'l wagged his head. "See that that's so," he said. "If any ructions +start in the fo'c's'le, I'll send Brander forward to quiet you. You'll +not be wanting Brander to lay hand on you again." + +Slatter's eyes shifted hungrily; he went on his way with quick feet, +and Dan'l watched him go, and his eyes set hard. + +That was at dusk. Toward ten that night, when Brander was in his hammock +under the boathouse, one of the men howled, forward, and there was the +sound of scuffling in the fo'c's'le. Dan'l was aft, waiting.... He +called to Brander: + +"Go forward and put a stop to that yammering, Mr. Brander." + +Brander slid out of his hammock, assented quietly, and started forward +along the deck. Dan'l watched his dark figure in the night until it was +lost in the waist of the _Sally_.... He waited a moment.... Brander must +be at the fo'c's'le scuttle by now.... + +Came cries, blows, a tumultuous outbreak. The _Sally_ rang with the +storm of battle. Then, abruptly, quiet.... + +At that sudden-falling quiet, Dan'l turned pale in spite of himself; he +licked his lips. The thing was done.... + +He ran forward, virtuously ready to take a hand. + + + + +XXII + + +When Brander, at Dan'l's command, went forward to quiet the men in the +fo'c's'le, he found two or three of the crew on deck about the scuttle, +watching the tumult below.... When they heard him and saw him, they +backed away. The light from the fo'c's'le lamp dimly illumined their +faces; and Brander thought there was something murderous and at the same +time furtive in their eyes. + +More than that, he caught the smell of alcohol.... So there was whiskey +loose below him. + +A man boiled up the ladder past him to the deck, saw him and slid away +into the dark. Another.... Six or eight were still fighting below. + +Brander had that sixth sense which men must have who would command other +men; he felt, now, the peril in the air. His duty was down there among +those fighting men; to get down, he would ordinarily have used the +ladder. But to do so would be to engage his hands and his feet, and he +might well have need of both these members.... He put his hands on the +edge of the fo'c's'le scuttle and dropped lightly to the floor of the +fo'c's'le, without touching the ladder. He landed on his toes, poised, +ready.... + +The narrow, crowded, triangular den was thick with the smell of hot men, +of whiskey, of burning oil; the air was heavy with smoke. A single +swinging lamp lighted the place.... Beneath this lamp, four or five men +were involved in a battle from which legs and arms were waved awkwardly +as their owners struggled. Two other men crouched at opposite sides of +the fo'c's'le.... Watching.... One was Mauger; the other Slatter. +Brander cried: + +"Drop it, now...." + +The character of the struggle changed; the fighting men straightened.... +Then some one hit the lamp and sent it whirling into darkness; and at +the same moment, Brander heard Slatter scream murderously.... He slipped +to one side, backed into a corner, held hands before him, ready to meet +an attack.... + +Slatter's charge, if he were attacking Brander, should have carried the +man past the mate's hiding place. But Brander, in the dark, heard a +thump of two bodies together, and heard Slatter bellowing profanity, and +heard heels thumping upon the floor. Then two or three men made a rush +up the ladder to the deck.... Another.... Brander stepped forward, +tripped over a whirling leg, and dropped upon a smother of two bodies +which writhed beneath him. An arm was flying; he gripped for it and +felt the prick of a knife in his wrist. So.... Death in the air, +then.... + +He dragged that arm down to his face and bit at the wrist and the back +of the hand, till he felt the knife drop from the man's fingers.... The +three of them were writhing and striking and kicking and strangling.... +But the knife was gone.... So much the better. He began to fumble with +his right hand, seeking marks for his fists.... He did not strike +blindly, but when he struck, his blows went home.... On some one's ribs, +and back, and once on the neck at the base of the ear.... + +They were fighting in silence now.... All had passed so quickly that it +was still scarce more than seconds since Brander dropped into the +fo'c's'le. Their bodies thumped the planking resonantly; they struggled +in a fashion that shook the ship. They were gasping and choking for +breath.... + +Some one screamed terribly in Brander's very ear, and a hand that was +gripping his neck relaxed and fell away. The bodies of the fighting men +were for an instant still; and in that instant's silence, some one +asked: + +"You all right, Mr. Brander?" + +Brander knew the voice. Mauger's. He said: "Yes...." + +Mauger squirmed out from under Brander.... "What hit Slatter?" he asked +sharply. "Did you get him?..." + +Brander got up, and the body of Slatter fell away from him limply. It +was about that time that Dan'l reached the fo'c's'le scuttle above, and +looked down into the darkness. He saw nothing; and he called: + +"Mr. Brander?" + +Brander said quietly: "Yes, sir, all right." + +"What's wrong, here?" + +"Slatter tried to knife me," said Brander. + +"Have you got him?" + +"I don't know. He's still. Strike a light, if you please...." + +Dan'l was already half way down the ladder; but even before his sulphur +match scratched, Brander's nostrils told him what had happened. They +brought him a smell.... Unmistakable.... Appalling.... The smell of +blood.... + +He was on his knees beside Slatter's body when Dan'l bent over him with +the flickering match. They saw Slatter doubled forward over his own +legs, and Brander explained swiftly: "I had a full-Nelson.... I was +forcing him over that way when he yelled...." + +He lifted Slatter's body; and they saw the hilt of a knife that was +stuck downward, deep into his right thigh. Dan'l cried: + +"You've killed him." + +And one-eyed Mauger interrupted loyally: "No, he didn't. Didn't...." + +Dan'l looked at the one-eyed man. "How do you know?" + +"I did. I stuck the knife in him...." + +Brander looked at Mauger, and he touched the little man's shoulder. +"You're a liar, little friend," he said, and smiled. And he turned to +Dan'l. "I bit the knife out of his hand," he said. "Out of Slatter's.... +It fell against my chest and slid down.... It must have dropped between +his body and his legs, and his own body, bending forward, drove it in." + +Dan'l smiled unpleasantly. "All right; but Mauger says he did it." + +Brander shook his head. "He didn't. For a good reason. He was flat on +the floor, and I was kneeling on his back, between him and Slatter, +when Slatter yelled and quit fighting...." + +Dan'l groped for the whale-oil lamp and lighted it and bent to look at +the knife. "How did it kill him, there?" he demanded. + +"Struck the big thigh artery," said Brander. "It must have...." + +Then Noll Wing's voice came to them from the scuttle. "What's wrong, +below?" And his big bulk slid down the ladder.... + + * * * * * + +Brander's explanation was the one that went down in the log, in the end. +Noll wrote it himself, in the irregular and straggling characters which +his trembling fingers formed. And that was Faith's doing; for Dan'l did +not believe, or affected not to believe, and Noll was too shaken by the +tragedy to know what he believed. + +Dan'l and Noll and Faith talked it over between them, in the after +cabin, the next morning. Faith had slept through the disturbance of the +night before; but when she heard of it in the morning it absorbed her. +She went on deck and found Brander and made him tell her what had +happened. He described the outbreak in the fo'c's'le; he told how, when +he went forward, he smelled liquor on the men.... How he dropped through +the fo'c's'le scuttle, and some one knocked the lamp from its hanging, +and Slatter rushed him. + +"Mauger saw what the man meant," he said. "He jumped on him from the +side; and then I took a hand; and we had it for a while, in a heap on +the floor." + +The other men in the fo'c's'le had fled to the deck, leaving Slatter to +do his own work. "I made him let go of the knife," Brander explained, +"and after we had banged around for a while, I got him from behind, my +arms under his, my hands clasped behind his neck. I bent him over, +forward.... He was trying to get hold of my throat, over his +shoulder.... And he yelled and let go...." + +Faith's eyes were troubled. "You say the men had been drinking?" + +"Yes." + +"Where did they get it?" + +Brander shook his head; he waited for her to speak. She said: "Let me +talk to Mauger." + +He sent the one-eyed man to her, and took himself away.... Mauger told +his story volubly. The little man had added a cubit to his stature by +his exploit; he had done heroically, and knew it, and was proud.... He +told, straightforwardly, how Brander dropped down into the +fo'c's'le.... "Slatter had fixed it with a man to knock out the light," +he explained. "I heard them whispering. I was watching.... I saw Slatter +had a knife. So when he jumped for Mr. Brander, I tripped him, and he +fell over me, and then Mr. Brander grabbed him...." The little man +chuckled at the joke on himself. "They fit all over me, ma'am," he said, +"They done a double shuffle up and down my backbone, right." + +Faith smiled at him and told him he did well. "But where did the men get +liquor?" she asked. + +Mauger grinned and backed away. "I dunno, ma'am.... Did they have +any?..." + +She said steadily: "Mauger, where did the men get the liquor?" + +The man squirmed, but he stood still under her eyes; he tried to avoid +her.... But in the end he came nearer, looking backward and from side to +side. Came nearer, and whispered at last.... + +"Slatter brought a jug forward after his go at the wheel, ma'am." + +"Slatter?" Faith echoed softly.... "Slatter.... All right, Mauger. +And--don't talk too much, forward...." + +The man escaped eagerly. He had been willing enough to talk about +Slatter's knife and his own good deed; but this other was another +matter. Whiskey in the fo'c's'le.... + +This was in the early morning, before the whole story had spread to +every man. Faith went quickly below, and asked his keys from Noll, and +went into the storeroom. Found nothing there to guide her.... But while +she was there, Tinch, the cook, came down to get coffee.... She studied +the man thoughtfully.... + +"Tinch," she said, finger pressing her cheek, "I left a jug down +here.... It's gone. Have you seen it anywhere?" + +Tinch, a tall, lean man with a bald head, looked at her stupidly, and +ran a thin finger through his straggly locks and thought. "Waal, now, +ma'am," he said at last, "I rec'lect I see Roy fetch a jug up out o' +here, yist'day." + +"Roy?" she asked. "What was he down here for?" + +"Come down to...." He looked at her, and was suddenly confused with fear +he had played Judas. "Waal, now, ma'am," he drawled, "I cal'late you'd +best ask the boy that there." + +She nodded at once. "Of course.... Thank you, Tinch." + +So Faith had this matter in her mind when Dan'l came down to find Noll, +in mid-morning, and ask what was to be done about the tragedy. Noll said +fretfully: "Slide Slatter over t'side, Mr. Tobey. Do I have to look +after everything aboard this ship?" + +Dan'l nodded. "Hitch is fixing for that," he said. "What I mean is, how +about Mauger? He says he done it." + +Noll said sullenly: "Well, if he says he done it, he done it." + +"That's what I say," Dan'l agreed. "Only thing is, Brander stands up for +him. So what do you aim t'do?" + +"Brander stands up for him...." + +"Says he couldn't ha' done it, any ways." + +Noll threw up his fist angrily. "Damn it, Mr. Tobey; don't run to me +with this. Find out what happened.... Then tell me. That's the thing.... +My God, this ship is.... God's sake, Mr. Tobey, be a man." + +Dan'l said steadily: "All right; I say Mauger did it." + +Noll's cheeks turned pale and his eyes narrowed on the mate. "Stuck the +knife in him?" + +"Yes." + +The captain's hands tapped his knees. "How did he know to stick it in +the man's leg so neat? Most men would ha' struck for the back.... The +man knows the uses of a knife, Mr. Tobey." + +Dan'l nodded. "Oh, aye...." + +Noll looked furtively toward the door. "I've allus said he'd a knife for +me.... He'll be on my back, one day...." He was trembling, and he poured +a drink and swallowed it. Faith, sitting near him, looked up, looked at +Dan'l, then bent her head over her book again. Dan'l said: + +"I think it's wise to put him in irons." + +Noll roared: "Then do it, Mr. Tobey. Don't come whining to me with your +little matters. I'm an old man, Dan'l.... I'm weary and old.... Settle +such things.... That's the business of a mate, Mr. Tobey...." + +Faith said quietly, without looking up: "Why make so much talk? Mr. +Brander has explained what happened." + +The men were silent for an instant, surprised and uneasy. Dan'l looked +at the captain; Noll's head was bent. Dan'l ventured to say: + +"You think Mr. Brander is right?" + +"Of course." + +Dan'l suggested awkwardly: "You--think he's telling truth?" + +Faith nodded. "Any one can see that...." + +Dan'l laughed mirthlessly, "Then we'd best write.... We'd best let Mr. +Brander write his story in the log, sir." + +Faith looked at Dan'l steadily; then she turned to her husband. "Noll," +she said, "you write the log. I'll tell you what to write." + +He looked up at her stupidly, not understanding. She got up and opened +the log book and gave him a pen. He protested: "Faith, wait...." + +She touched his shoulder lightly with her hand, silencing him. "Write +this," she said; and when Noll took the pen, she dictated: "Some one +gave the men liquor this day; they were drinking in the fo'c's'le. When +Mr. Brander went forward to quiet them...." She saw Noll had fallen +behind with his writing, and waited a moment, then repeated more slowly: +"When Mr. Brander went forward to quiet them, Slatter attacked him with +a knife. In the struggle, Slatter dropped the knife, and a moment later +fell on it, dying from the wound." + +She repeated the last sentence a second time, so that Noll got it word +for word; and then she took the log from him, and blotted it, and put it +away. Dan'l Tobey protested: + +"Aren't you saying anything about Mauger?" + +Faith smiled quietly. "Thank you for reminding me," She opened the log +again, bade Noll write, said slowly: "The man Mauger saved Mr. Brander's +life by tripping Slatter as he charged." Dan'l grimaced as she +finished.... + +"Now," said Faith, "Slatter was not important; at least he is no longer +important. But there is one thing, Noll, that you must stop.... The +whiskey that went forward...." + +Noll looked at her slowly, frowning as though he sought to understand; +Dan'l said: + +"That was probably Slatter, stole it. The men say so...." + +"He took it forward," Faith agreed. "But he did not get it from the +stores. He could not." She hesitated, her lips white; then she set them +firmly. "Dan'l, fetch Roy here," she said. + +Dan'l was so surprised that for an instant he did not stir. "Roy?" he +repeated. "What's he...." + +Faith looked to her husband. "Will you tell him to bring Roy?" she +asked. + +Noll asked heavily: "What's the boy.... Go along, Dan'l. Fetch him." + +Dan'l got up at once, and went out, closing the door behind him. They +heard him go on deck.... A minute later, he was back with Roy at his +heels, and Faith saw her brother's face was white. She asked quickly: + +"Roy, why did you steal a jug of whiskey from the stores?" + +Roy cried, on the instant: "That's a lie." + +Faith studied him. He expected accusation, questioning. Instead she +nodded. "All right." + +"Who says I stole whiskey?" Roy demanded. + +"I," Faith told him. + +"Who.... Somebody lied to you...." + +"No." + +Roy was near tears with bafflement. "Why.... What makes you...." + +Faith asked quietly: "Don't you want to tell?" + +"It's a lie, I say." + +She looked to her husband; and Noll saw they were all waiting on him, +and he tried to rise to the occasion. "By God, Roy.... What did you go +and do that for? God's sake, can't a man have a ship without a pack of +thieves on her? Mr. Tobey, you...." He wavered, his eyes swung +helplessly to Faith. He seemed to ask her to speak for him; and she said +to Dan'l: + +"Take him on deck, Dan'l. Till Cap'n Wing decides...." + +Roy insisted. "I tell you, I didn't...." + +But Dan'l Tobey hushed him. Dan'l was getting his first glimpse of the +new Faith; and he was afraid of her. He took Roy's arm, led him out and +away.... Faith and Noll were left alone. + +At noon that day, at Noll Wing's profane command, Roy was put in irons +and locked in the after 'tween decks to stay a week on bread and water. +The boy cursed Faith to her face for that; and Faith went to her cabin, +and dropped on her knees and prayed. + +But she kept a steady face for the men, and in particular she kept a +steady eye for Dan'l Tobey. She knew Dan'l, now.... Dan'l had warned +Roy, before bringing him to the cabin. He must have warned the boy, for +Roy was prepared for the accusation. He must have warned the boy, +therefore he must have known what Faith would assert.... + +And Faith knew enough of Dan'l's ascendancy over Roy to be sure the mate +had prompted her brother's theft. + +She must watch Dan'l, fight him. And ... she thanked God for Brander. +There was a man, a man on her side.... She was not to fight alone. + +She dreamed of Brander that night. He was battling for her, in her +dream, against shadowy and unseen things. And in her dream, she thought +he was her husband. + + + + +XXIII + + +An unrest seized Noll Wing; an unrest that was like fear. He assumed, by +small degrees, the aspect of a hunted man. It was as though the death of +Slatter prefigured to him what his own end would be. His nerves betrayed +him; he could not bear to have any man approach him from behind, and he +struck out, nervously, at Willis Cox one day when Willis spoke from one +side, where Noll had not seen him standing. + +The continual storms of the Solander irked him; the racking work of +whaling, when it was necessary to run to port with each kill, fretted +the flesh from his bones. They lost a whale one day, in a sudden squall +that developed into a gale and swept them far to the southward; and when +the weather moderated, and Dan'l Tobey started to work back to the +Grounds again, Noll would have none of it. + +"Set your course t'the east'ard," he commanded. "I'm fed up with the +Solander. We'll hit the islands again...." + +Dan'l protested that there was nowhere such whaling as the Solander +offered; but Noll would not be persuaded. He resented the attempt to +argue with him. "No, by God," he swore. "A pity if a man can't have his +way. Hell with the Solander, Dan'l. I'm sick o' storms, and cold. Get +north t'where it's warm again...." + +So they did as he insisted, and ran into slack times once more. The men +at first exulted in their new leisure; they were well enough content to +kill a whale and loaf a week before another kill. Then they began to be +impatient with inaction; discontent arose among them. They remembered +the ambergris; and their talk was that they need stay out no longer, +that the voyage was already a success, that they had a right to expect +to head for home. + +Brander, ever among them as he had promised himself he would be, worked +against this discontent. He tried to hearten them; they gave him half +attention, and some measure of liking.... But their sulking held and +grew upon them. + +There was as much ill feeling aft as forward. Roy, released from his +irons long before, had not spoken to Faith since his release. He hated +his sister with that hatred which sometimes arises between blood kin, +and which is more violent than any other. Let lovers quarrel; let +brothers clash; let son and father, or mother and daughter, or brother +and sister go asunder, and there is no bitterness to equal the +bitterness between them. It is as though the strength of their former +affection served to intensify their hate. It is like the hatred of a +woman scorned; she is able to hate the more, because she once has loved. + +Roy hated Faith; and with the ingenuity of youth, he found out ways to +torment her. He perceived that Faith must always love him, he perceived +that her thoughts hovered over him as do the thoughts of a mother; and +he took pleasure in agonizing her with his own misdeeds. He lied for +the pleasure of lying; he swore roundly; and once, under Dan'l's gentle +guidance, he pilfered rum and drank himself into the likeness of a +beast. When Faith chided him for that, he told her with drunken good +nature that she was to blame; that she had driven him to it. Faith's +sense of justice was strong; she was too level of head to condemn +herself; nevertheless, she was made miserable by what the boy had +done.... Yet she led Noll to punish him for this theft, more sternly +than before; and afterward, she had Roy sent forward to take his place +among the men, and the cabin was forbidden ground to him thereafter. + +Noll was wax in Faith's hands in these days. His fear, growing upon him, +had shaken all the fiber out of the man. He could be swayed by Dan'l, by +old Tichel, by Faith, by almost any one.... Save in a single matter. He +was drinking steadily, now; and drinking more than ever before. He was +never sober, never without the traces of his liquor in his eyes and his +loose lips and slack muscles. And they could not sway him in this +matter. He would not be denied the liquor that he craved. + +Faith tried to win it away from him; she tried to strengthen the man's +own will to fight the enemy that was destroying him. She tried to fan to +life the ancient flame of pride.... But there was no grain of strength +left in Noll for her to work on. He waved her away, and filled his +glass.... + +She might have destroyed what liquor remained aboard the _Sally_; but +she would not. That would not cure; it would only put off the end. At +their first port, Noll would get what he wanted.... And there were +islands all about them; he could reach land within a matter of +twenty-four hours, or forty-eight, at any time. She fought to help Noll +help himself; she would not do more. Noll was a man, not a baby desiring +the fire which must be kept beyond its reach. He knew his enemy, and he +embraced it knowingly. + +Faith never felt more keenly the fact of her marriage to Noll than in +those last days of his life. She never thought of herself apart from +him; and when he debauched himself, she felt soiled as though she were +herself degraded. Nevertheless, she clung to him with all her soul; +clung to him, lived the vows she had given him.... There were other +times, after that first, when she dreamed of Brander.... But she could +not curb her dreams.... He was much in them; but waking, she put the man +away from her. She was Noll's; Noll was hers. Inescapable.... + +Brander avoided her. His heart was sick; she possessed it utterly. But +he gave no sign; he never relaxed the grip in which he held himself. Now +and then, on deck, when Noll swore at her, or whined, or fretted, +Brander had to swing away and put the thing behind him. But he did it; +he was strong enough to do this; he was almost strong enough to keep his +thoughts from Faith. Almost.... But not quite.... She dwelt always with +him; he was sick with sorrow, and pity, and yearning for the right to +cherish her. + +They spoke when they had to, in cabin or on deck; but they were never +alone, and they avoided each the other as they would have shunned a +precipice.... + +Save for one day, a single day.... A day when Faith called Brander to +her on the deck and spoke to him.... A single day, that would have been, +but for the strength of Faith, the bloody destruction of them both. + +This incident was the climax of two trains of events, extending over +days.... Extending, in the one case, back to that first day when Dan'l +had roused the brand of jealousy in Noll to flame. Dan'l had never let +that flame die out. He fanned it constantly; and when he saw in Faith's +eyes, after the matter of Roy's first theft of the whiskey, that she had +guessed his part in it, he threw himself more hotly into his intrigue. +He kept at Noll's side whenever it was possible; he whispered.... + +He spoke openly of Brander's fondness for the men, of Brander's habit of +talking with them so constantly. Faith heard him strike this vein, again +and again.... He harped upon it to Noll, seeming to defend Brander at +the same time that he accused.... He played upon the strain until even +Faith's belief in Brander was shaken. There was always the matter of the +ambergris. Brander might have ended it with a word, but he would not +give Dan'l Tobey that satisfaction. He would not say, forthright, that +the 'gris belonged to the _Sally_.... And Dan'l magnified this matter, +and many others.... Until even Faith found it hard not to doubt the +fourth mate.... She caught herself, more than once, watching him when he +laughed and talked with the men. Was there need of that? Why did he do +it? She could find no answer.... + +Noll feared Brander more and more; and Dan'l covertly taunted the +captain with this fear. He roused Noll, time on time, to flagging gusts +of rage; but always these passed in words.... And Noll fell back into +his lethargy of drink again. Dan'l began to fear there was not enough +man left in Noll to act.... He turned his guns on Faith, accusing her as +he accused Brander.... + +But words were light things. Noll, moved though he might be, had in his +heart a trust in Faith which Dan'l found it hard to shake. He might +never have shaken it, had not luck favored him.... And this luck came to +pass on the day Faith sought speech with Brander. + +That move, on Faith's part, was the result of an increasing peril in the +fo'c's'le. The men were getting drink again. + +This began one day when a fo'm'st hand came aft to take the wheel and +old Tichel smelled the liquor on him, and saw that the man's feet were +unsteady, and flew into one of his tigerish fits of rage.... He drove +the man forward with blows and kicks; and he came aft with his teeth +bared and flamed to Noll Wing, and men were sent for and questioned. +Three of them had been drinking. They were badly frightened; they were +sullen; nevertheless, in the end, under old Tichel's fist, one of them +said he had found a quart bottle, filled with whiskey, in his bunk the +night before.... Tichel accused him of stealing it; the man stuck to his +tale and could not be shaken. + +The men could not come at the stores through the cabin; there was +always an officer about the deck or below. Tichel thought they might +have cut through from the after 'tween decks, and the stores were +shifted in an effort to find such a secret entrance to the captain's +stores. But none was found; there was no way.... + +Three days later, there was whiskey forward again. Found, as before, in +a bunk.... Two men drunk, rope's endings at the rail.... But no solution +to the mystery. + +Two days after that, the same thing; four days later, a repetition. And +so on, at intervals of days, for a month on end. The whiskey dribbled +forward a quart at a time; the men drank it.... And never a trace to the +manner of the theft. + +In the end, Roy Kilcup found a bottle in his bunk, and drank the bulk of +it himself, so that he was deathly sick and like to die. Faith, +tormented beyond endurance, looking everywhere for help, chose at last +to appeal to Brander. + +Brander had the deck, that day. Willis Cox and Tichel were sleeping.... +Dan'l was in the main cabin, alone; Noll in the after cabin, stupid with +drink. Roy had been sick all the night before, with Willis Cox and +Tichel working over him, counting the pounding heart-beats, wetting the +boy's head, working the poison out of him. Roy was forward, in his bunk, +now, still sodden. + +Faith came from the after cabin, passed Dan'l and went up on deck. +Something purposeful in her face caught Dan'l's attention; and he went +to the foot of the cabin companion and listened. He heard her call +softly: + +"Mr. Brander." + +Dan'l thought he knew where Brander would be. In the waist of the +_Sally_, no doubt. There was a man at the wheel. Faith did not wish this +man to hear what she had to say. So she met Brander just forward of the +cabin skylight by the boathouse; and Dan'l, straining his ears, could +hear. + +Faith said: "Mr. Brander, I'm going to ask you to help me." + +Brander told her: "I'd like to. What is it you want done?" + +"It's--Roy. I'm desperately worried, Mr. Brander." + +"He's all right, Mr. Cox tells me. He'll be well enough in a few +hours...." + +"It's not just--this drunkenness, Mr. Brander. It's--more. My +brother's.... He is in my charge, in a way. Father bade me take care of +him. And he's--taking the wrong path." + +Brander said quietly: "Yes." + +Dan'l looked toward the after cabin, thought of bringing Noll to +hear.... But there was no harm in this that they were saying; no +harm.... Rather, good.... He listened; and Faith said steadily: + +"My husband is not--not the man he was, Mr. Brander. Mr. Tobey.... I +can't trust him. I've got to come to you...." + +Dan'l decided, desperately, to bring Noll and risk it, trust to his luck +and to his tongue to twist their words.... He went softly across to the +after cabin and shook Noll's shoulder; and when the captain opened his +eyes, Dan'l whispered: + +"Come, Noll Wing. You've got to hear this...." + +Noll sat up stupidly. "What? Hear what?... What's that you say?" + +Dan'l said: "Faith and Brander are together, on deck, whispering...." He +banged his clenched fist into his open hand. "By God, sir.... I've grown +up with Faith; I like her.... But I can't stand by and see them do this +to you...." + +"What are they about?" Noll asked, his face flushing. He was on his +feet. Dan'l gripped his arm.... + +"I heard her promise him you would soon be gone, sir.... That you were +sick.... That you...." + +Noll strode into the cabin; Dan'l whispered: "Quiet! Come...." He led +him to the foot of the companion-stair, bade him listen. + +And it was then the malicious gods played into Dan'l's evil hands; for +as they listened, Faith was saying.... "Try to make him like you.... But +be careful. He doesn't, now.... If he guessed...." + +Brander said something which they could not hear; a single word; and +Faith cried: + +"You can. You're a man. He can't help admiring you in the end. I--" She +hesitated, said helplessly: "I'm putting myself into your hands...." + +Dan'l had wit to seize his fortune; he cried out: "By God, sir...." + +But there was no need of spur to Noll Wing now. The captain had reached +the deck with a single rush, Dan'l at his heels.... Faith and Brander +sprang apart before their eyes; and because the innocent have always +the appearance of the guilty, there was guilt in every line of these two +now. + +Noll Wing, confronting them, had in that moment the stature of a man; he +was erect and strong, his eyes were level and cold. He looked from Faith +to Brander, and he said: + +"Brander, be gone. Faith, come below." + +Brander took a step forward. Faith said quickly to him: "No." And she +smiled at him as he halted in obedience. + +Then she turned to her husband, passed him, went down into the cabin. +And Noll, with a last glance at Brander, descended on her heels. + +Dan'l, left facing the fourth mate, grinned triumphantly; and for an +instant he saw death in Brander's eyes, so that his mirth was frozen.... +Then Brander turned away. + + + + +XXIV + + +Faith went down into the main cabin, crossed and entered the cabin +across the stern, turned there to await her husband. He followed her +slowly; he came in, and shut the door behind him. The man was +controlling himself; nevertheless, he thrust this door shut with a force +that shook the thin partition between the cabins.... And he snapped the +bolt that held it closed. + +Then he turned and looked at Faith. There was a furious strength in his +countenance at that moment; but it was like the strength of a maniac. +His lips twitched tensely; his eyes moved like the eyes of a man who is +dizzy from too much turning on his own heels.... They jerked away from +Faith, returned to her, jerked away again.... All without any movement +of Noll's head. And as the man's eyes wavered and wrenched back to her +thus, the pupils contracted and narrowed in an effort to focus upon her. +For the rest, he was flushed, brick red.... His whole face seemed to +swell. + +He was inhuman; there was an ape-like and animal fury in the man as he +looked at his wife.... + +Abruptly, he jerked up his hands and pressed them against his face and +turned away; it was as though he thrust himself away with this pressure +of his hands. He turned his back on her, and went to his desk, and +unlocked a drawer. Faith knew the drawer; she was not surprised when he +drew out of it a revolver. + +Bending over the desk, with this weapon in his hand, Noll Wing made sure +every chamber was loaded.... He paid her no attention. Faith watched him +for an instant; then she turned to the bench that ran across the stern +and picked up from it a bit of sewing, embroidery.... She sat down +composedly on the bench, crossed her knees in the comfortable attitude +of relaxation which women like to assume. One foot rested on the floor; +the other swayed back and forth, as though beating time, a few inches +above the floor. It is impossible for the average man to cross his knees +in this fashion, just as it is impossible for a woman to throw a ball. +Sitting thus, Faith began to sew. She was outlining the petal of an +embroidered flower; and she gave this work her whole attention. + +She did not look up at Noll. The man finished his examination of the +weapon; he turned it in his hand; he lifted it and leveled it at Faith. +Still Faith did not look up; she seemed completely unconcerned. Noll +said harshly: + +"Faith!" + +She looked up then, met his eyes fairly, smiled a little. "What is it, +Noll?" + +"I'm going to kill you," he said, with stiff lips. + +"All right," she said, and bent her head above her sewing once more, +disregarding him. + +Noll was stupefied.... This was not surprise; it was the helplessness +which courage inspires in a coward. For Noll was a coward in those last +days.... His face twisted; his hand was shaking.... He stared over the +revolver barrel at Faith's brown head. Her hair was parted in the +middle, drawn back about her face. The white line of skin where the hair +was parted fascinated him; he could not take his eyes from it. The +revolver muzzle lowered without his being conscious of this fact; the +weapon hung in his hand.... His eyes were fixed on Faith's head, on the +part in her hair.... She wore an old, tortoise comb, stuck downward into +the hair at the back of her head, its top projecting upward.... A +singular, old-fashioned little ornament.... There was a silver mounting +on it; and the light glistened on this silver, and caught Noll's eye, +and held it.... + +Faith continued her quiet sewing. And Noll's tense muscles, little by +little, relaxed.... His fingers loosed their grip on the revolver butt; +it dropped to the floor with a clatter. The sound seemed to rouse Noll; +he strode toward Faith. "By God," he cried. "You'll...." He swung down a +hand and gathered the fabric of her work between harsh fingers. Her +needle was in the midst of a stitch; it pricked him.... He did not feel +the tiny wound. He would have snatched the stuff out of her hands.... He +felt as though it were defending her.... + +But when his hand swept down between hers and caught the bit of +embroidery, Faith looked up at him again, and she caught his eyes. That +halted him; he stood for an instant motionless, bending above her, their +faces not six inches apart.... Then the man jerked his hand away.... He +released his grip on the bit of fancy work; but the needle was deep in +his finger, so that he pulled it out of the cloth. The thread followed +it; when his quick movement drew the thread to full length, the fabric +was jerked out of Faith's unresisting hands. It dangled by the thread +from the needle that stuck in Noll's finger; and he saw it, and jerked +the needle out with a quick, spasmodic gesture, and flung it to one +side. He did not look at it; he was looking, still, at Faith. + +"Put that away," he said hoarsely. + +Faith smiled, glanced toward the bit of white upon the floor. "I'm +afraid there's blood on it," she said. + +"Blood ..." he repeated, under his breath. "Blood...." She folded her +hands quietly upon her knee, waiting. + +"I want to talk to you," he said. + +She nodded. "All right. Do." + +His wrath boiled through his lips chokingly. "You ..." he stammered. +"You and Brander...." + +Her eyes, upon his, hardened. She said nothing; but this hardening of +her eyes was like a defiance. He flung his hands above his head. "By +God, you're shameless," he choked. "You're shameless.... A shameless +woman.... And him.... I took him out of a hell hole.... And he takes +you.... I'll break him in two with my hands." + +She said nothing; he flung into an insanity of words. He cursed her +unspeakably, with every evil phrase he had learned in close to thirty +years of the sea. He accused her of unnamable things.... His face +swelled with his fury, the veins bulged upon his forehead, his eyes were +covered with a dry film. His mouth filled with saliva, that splattered +with the venom of his words.... It ran down his chin, so that he brushed +it away with the back of his hand.... He was uncontrolled, save in one +thing. Something made him hush his voice; he whispered harshly and +chokingly.... What he said could scarce have been heard in the main +cabin, six feet away from them.... + +The man was slavering; there were flecks of foam upon his lips.... And +Faith watched him in a curious detachment, as though he were something +outside the world, below it, beyond it.... She scarce heard his words at +all; she was looking at the man's naked soul.... It was so inexpressibly +revolting that she had no feeling that this soul had once been wedded to +hers; she could not have believed this if she had tried. This was no +man, but a beast.... There could be nothing between them. She had +married Noll Wing; not the body of him, nor the face of him, but the +soul within the man. And this was not Noll Wing's soul she saw.... That +was dead; this horrible thing had bred festeringly in the carrion.... + +Humanity has an immense capacity for rising to an emergency. The human +heart sustains a grief that should kill; it throws this grief aside and +is--save for a hidden scar--as gay as it was in the beginning. Man meets +peril or death, meets them unafraid.... If he had considered these +emergencies in the calm and security of his home, his hair would have +crawled with terror at the thought of them. The imagination can conjure +dreadful things; the heart and soul and body of man can endure +catastrophes beyond imagining. There is no load too heavy for this +immortally designed fabric of flesh and blood and bone to bear. There +is a psychological phenomenon that might be called the duplication of +personality. A soldier in battle becomes two men. One of these men is +convulsed with lust for blood; he screams, he shoots, he stabs, he +kills. The other is calm and serene; he watches the doings of his other +self, considers them with calm mind, plans perilous combinations in the +twinkling of an eye.... The soldier contains within himself a general +who plans, and an army which executes the plan.... + +It was so with Faith. She shrank in spirit and heart before Noll's +horrible outpouring; yet was she at the same time steady and +undisturbed. There was a numbness upon her; a numbness that killed +suffering and at the same time stimulated thought.... She was able to +perceive the very depths of Noll; she looked, at the same time, into her +own depths.... She heard him accuse her of foul passion for Brander; she +knew, instead, that she loved Brander completely.... She had never known +her love for Brander before; Noll showed it to her, dragged it out where +she could see it beyond mistaking.... And even in that moment she +welcomed this love; welcomed it, and saw that it was honest, and +wholesome, and splendid, and clean.... She welcomed it, so that she +smiled.... + +Her smile struck Noll like a blow in the face, stunning and sobering +him. He flung out his hands. + +"Come!" he commanded. "What do you say? Say something? Say...." + +"What?" she asked. "What shall I say?" + +"Is it true? Damn you.... Damn you.... Is it true?" + +"Could I say anything you would believe?" + +"No, by God! You're dirty and false as hell. You...." He struck his +hands together helplessly. "Nothing," he cried. "Nothing! Nothing you +can say.... Dirty as hell...." + +Yet his eyes still besought her to speak; she touched the bench beside +her. "Sit down, Noll," she said gently. + +The man towered above her, hands upraised. His fingers twisted and +writhed and clenched as though upon a soft throat that he gripped. His +features worked terribly.... And then, before her eyes, a change came +upon him. The tense muscles of his fury sagged; the blood ebbed from his +veins, so that they flattened; the black flush faded on his cheeks.... +He opened his mouth and screamed once, a vast and stricken scream of a +beast in pain. It was like the scream of a frightened, anguished +horse.... It rang along the length of the _Sally_, so that the men +forward shrank and looked over their shoulders, and every man aboard the +ship was still.... + +He screamed, and then his great body shrank and collapsed and tottered +and fell.... He dropped upon his knees, at her feet. He flung his head +in her lap, his arms about her waist, clinging as a drowning man might +cling to a rock. His cap dropped off; she saw his bald old head +there.... He sobbed like a child, his great shoulders twitching and +heaving.... His face was pressed upon her clasped hands; she felt his +tears upon her wrists, felt the slaverings of his sobbing mouth upon her +fingers.... + +He cried softly: "Eh, Faith.... Faith.... Don't you turn against me, +now. I'm old, Faith...." And again: "I'm old, Faith.... Dying, Faith.... +Don't leave me.... Don't turn against me now." + +She bent above him, filled with an infinite pity and sorrow. This was +the wreck of her love; she no longer loved him, but her heart was filled +with sorrow.... She bent forward and laid her smooth cheek against the +smooth parchment of his bald old head. She loosed her hands, and drew +them out from beneath his face, and laid them on his shoulders, stroking +him gently. + +"There, Noll.... There ..." she murmured. Foolish words, meaningless, +like the comforting sounds of an inarticulate animal.... Yet he +understood. There were no words for what was in her heart; she could +only whisper: "There.... There.... There...." And gently touch his +shoulders, and his head. + +"They're all against me, Faith," he told her, over and over. "All +against me. Even you...." + +"No, no, Noll. There...." + +"You love him.... You love him." + +"No, Noll. No...." She lied, not to deceive her husband, but to comfort +him. Her eyes, above Noll's head, seemed to ask her love's pardon for +the lie. "No, Noll.... You're my husband." + +His arms tightened about her waist; his great chest pressed against her +knees. "You're mine," he begged. "You're mine. Don't go away from me." + +"No. Never.... Never, forever." + +He raised his face from her lap at last; and she saw that it was sunken +like the countenance of one long dead. Cadaverous.... He cried, in utter +self-abasement. "Eh, Faith. I don't deserve you. I'm an old, helpless +man...." + +She smiled at him. "I married you, Noll." + +"I'm no good. They're laughing at me...." + +Her eyes heartened him. "Master them. Command them. You are the master, +Noll." + +"I can't.... There's no strength in me...." + +"It's there. Master them, Noll." + +"I can't hold myself, Faith. Not even myself. I'm rotted with whiskey, +and years, and strife...." + +"Master yourself, Noll." + +"Faith, Faith.... It's too late. I'm gone. I can't." + +"You can," she said. She spoke the two words quietly; yet somehow they +gave him of her strength, so that his head lifted higher, and the +muscles took form beneath his slack cheeks. He stared into her eyes, as +though he were drinking her soul through them; his chest swelled as +though virtue were going into him. They sat thus, minutes on end.... He +got to his feet. His eyes cleared, with the tempestuous and short-lived +fire of age in their depths. He swore: + +"By God, Faith. I will. I'll command.... Myself and them." + +"You can," she said again. "You can. So--do, Noll." + +He turned away from her, looking about with new eyes.... She smiled +sadly; she knew him too well, now.... She was not surprised when his +first act was to go to the lockfast and get his bottle, and drink.... He +smacked his lips, chuckled at her. + +"By God, Faith, I'll show these dogs," he cried, and flung open the +door. She heard him go out and climb up to the deck.... She sat where he +had left her.... + +Sat there, and knew her love for Brander. In those minutes while she +remained where Noll had seen her last, she listened to the singing of +new voices in her heart. Brander was before her, in her eyes, in her +thoughts.... He possessed her, in that moment, more completely than Noll +had ever done. She gave herself to him completely, without reluctance +and without faintest reservation. No need to see him, no need to tell +him. She knew, he must know.... She never asked whether he loved her; +she had always known that. Known it without admitting the knowledge, +even in her thoughts. She loved him, body and heart and soul; her eyes +yearned for his, her tongue to tell him what her heart was singing, her +arms to embrace him.... + +She got up, at last, a little wearily.... It was only a matter of +minutes that she sat there, looking within herself. When she listened, +now, she could hear Noll's voice, on deck, roaring in the old way.... +Once she heard Brander answer him, from somewhere amidships. Again she +caught the murmur of Dan'l Tobey's tones.... + +Brander was her love; but Noll.... Noll was her husband, she his wife. +And Faith passed her hand across her eyes as though to wipe away these +visions she had looked upon. Noll was her husband; her vows were his. +She was his, and would be.... Nothing he could do would make her less +his; he was in her keeping, his life and hers could never take diverging +paths. He was her charge, to strengthen, and guide, and support; his +tasks were hers, his responsibilities were her responsibilities, his +burdens must rest upon her shoulders.... + +But she did not deceive herself. Old Noll was dead, old Noll Wing who +had mastered men for year on year. That Noll was dead; the Noll who +lived was a weakling. But she was a part of the living Noll; and she was +no weakling. So.... + +Her lips set faintly. Love Brander though she did, there was no place +for him in her life. Her life was Noll; her life belonged to Noll. Noll +was failing; his flesh might live, but his soul was dead and his +strength was gone. His tasks fell upon her. + +Quite simply, in that moment, Faith promised herself that whatever +happened, the _Sally Sims_ should come safe home again; that no man +should ever say Noll Wing had failed in the end; that no man should ever +make a jest of Noll's old renown. And if Noll could not manage these +things for himself, she would.... + +She began, suddenly, to cry; she locked herself in her cabin and wept +bitterly for hours.... But afterward, bathing her eyes, freshening +herself to meet Noll's eyes, she looked into the mirror, and smiled and +lifted her head. "You can do it, Faith," she told herself. "You can do +it, full as well as he." + +And then, more seriously: "You must, Faith Wing. You must bring the +_Sally_ home." + +When she stepped out into the after cabin, she saw the revolver still on +the floor where Noll had left it. She picked it up to return it to its +proper drawer.... + +But on second thought, she changed her mind, and took it and hid it in +her bunk. + + + + +XXV + + +A curious lull settled down upon the _Sally Sims_ during the days after +Noll's open accusation of Faith, and his collapse before her steady +courage. There was an apathy in the air; they saw few whales, lowered +for them without zeal, missed more than one that should have been +killed.... There was a silence upon the ship, like the hush of listening +men who wait to hear an expected call. This paralysis gripped every soul +aboard--save Noll Wing alone. + +Noll, in those last days, stalked his deck like a parody of the man he +once had been. Faith had put a fictitious courage in the man; he thought +himself once more the master, as in the past. His heels pounded the +planks; his head was high; his voice roared.... But there was a tremor +in his stride; there was a trembling about the poise of him; there was a +cracking quaver in his voice. He was like a child who plays at being a +man.... They humored him; the men and the mates seemed to enter into a +conspiracy to humor him. They leaped to his bidding; they shrank from +his curses as though desperate with fear.... And Noll was so delighted +with all this that he was perpetually good-natured, jovial.... + +He was, of course, drinking heavily and steadily; but the drink seemed +to hearten him and give him strength. Certainly it made him lenient; for +on three occasions when the men found a bottle, forward, and befuddled +themselves with it, Noll only laughed as though at a capital jest. Noll +laughed.... But Faith wondered and was distressed and watched to see how +the liquor was being stolen. She was disturbed and alarmed; but Noll +laughed at her fears. + +"A little of it never hurt a man," he told her boastfully. "Look at me, +to see that. Let be, Faith. Let be." + +When she protested, he overrode her; and to show his own certainty of +himself, he did a thing that Noll sober would never have done. He had +the rum drawn from the barrel in his storeroom and served out to the +men, a ration daily.... It amused him to see the men half fuddled with +it. He forced it on them; and once, while Faith watched hopelessly, he +commanded a hulking Cape Verder--the biggest man in the fo'c's'le--to +drink a bout with him. They took glass for glass, till the other was +helpless as a log; and Noll vaunted his own prowess in the matter. + +Dan'l Tobey contented himself with the progress of these matters; he no +longer stuck a finger in the pie. Noll was going; that was plain to any +seeing eye. The captain grew weaker every day; his skin yellowed and +parched, and the lower lids of his eyes sagged down and revealed the +flaming red of their inner surface. These sagging lower lids made +crescent-shaped pockets which were forever filled with rheumy fluid.... +Noll was an ugly thing; and his perpetual mirth, his cackling laughter +were the more horrible.... He was a laughing corpse; dissolution was +upon him. But he kept himself so steeped with alcohol he did not feel +its pangs. + +Faith could do nothing; Brander could do nothing. Between these two, no +further word had passed. But there was no need. Meeting face to face on +deck, the day after Noll surprised them, their eyes met in a long and +steady glance.... Their eyes met and spoke; and after that there was no +need of words between them. There was a pledging of vows in that glance; +there was also a renunciation. Both saw, both understood.... Faith +thought she knew Brander to the depths.... + +Neither, in that moment, knew that Dan'l Tobey was at hand; but the mate +had seen, and he had understood. He saw, slipped away, held his peace, +considered. + +Brander was fighting for Roy, to fulfill his pledge to Faith. He had set +himself to win the boy's confidence and esteem; he applied himself to +this with all the strength there was in him. Yet he was careful; he did +not force the issue; he did not harass Roy with his attentions.... He +held off, let Roy see for himself, think.... There were days when he +thought he made some progress; there were days when he thought the +effort was a hopeless one. Nevertheless, he persisted.... + +Noll Wing's good will, in those days, extended even to Brander. He +offered Brander a drink one day.... Brander refused, and Noll +insisted.... And was still refused. Noll said hotly, querulously: + +"Come, Brander.... Don't be stiff, man. It will warm you, do you +good.... You're needing warming. You're over cold and calm." + +Brander shook his head, smiling. "Thanks; no, sir." + +"Damn it, man," Noll complained. "Are you too proud to drink with the +skipper?" + +Brander refused again; and Noll's brows gathered suspiciously. "Why +not?" + +"My wish, sir," + +"Ye've a grudge against me. I remember.... You stick with Mauger...." + +"No, sir." + +Noll flung out his hand. "Be off. Your sour face is too ugly for me to +look at. Mauger's none so particular.... He'll drink with me." + +It was true; Mauger had more than once accepted drink from Noll. Noll, +at these times, watched the one-eyed man furtively, almost appealingly. +It was as though he sought to placate him and make a friend of him. +Mauger had a weak head; he was not one to stand much liquor. It dizzied +him; and this amused Noll.... This day, after Brander had refused him, +Noll sent for Mauger and made the one-eyed man tipsy, and laughed at the +jest of it. + +Then, one day, this state of affairs came abruptly to an end. Noll went +down into the storeroom to fill his bottle; and the spigot on the +whiskey barrel gasped and failed. The whiskey was gone. + +Now Noll had given of the rum to the crew; he had exhausted that. But +the whiskey he kept jealously. He knew there should be more.... Much +more than this.... Gallons, at the least.... He turned the handle of +the spigot again, tipped the barrel, unable to understand.... His bottle +was half full.... But no more came.... + +He frowned, puzzled his heavy head, tried to understand.... He came +stumbling up out of the storeroom at last, with the half-filled bottle +in his hand.... And the man's face was white. He sought Faith, held the +bottle out to her. + +"I say ..." he stammered. "It's gone.... Gone, by God...." + +Faith asked sharply: "What is it, Noll?" + +"The whiskey's gone." + +Faith cried: "Thank God!" + +He stared at her thickly. "Eh? You had a hand in it.... You've stole it +away...." + +"No." + +He looked at her and knew she spoke the truth. He shook his head.... +"Some hound ..." he whispered. "They've stole it...." + +She questioned him; he had the shrewdness which occasionally +characterizes the alcoholic. He had kept some count of the whiskey used +during the cruise; he had himself handled the barrel two weeks before. +It was then a quarter full. The thefts that had appeared in the +fo'c's'le could not account for the rest. There was still a considerable +amount that had been stolen, that had not yet appeared. "It's aboard +here, by God," he swore at last. "They've got it hid away. You, +Faith...." + +She shook her head. He said placatingly: "No, you'd not do that trick. +Not rob an old man.... I've got to have it, Faith...." His eyes +suddenly flickered with panic. "It's life, Faith. Life. I've got to have +it, I say...." + +He was right, she knew. There must still be a hidden store of the liquor +aboard the _Sally_.... To be doled out to the men by the thief in his +own good time.... And Faith knew enough of such matters to understand +that Noll, without the ration of alcohol to which he was accustomed, +would suffer torment, would be like a madman.... The stuff must be +found.... + +Noll was already trembling at the prospect of deprivation; he hugged to +his breast the scant store that remained to him.... And of a sudden, as +though afraid even this would be stolen, he tipped the bottle to his +lips. He gulped greedily.... Before Faith could interfere, the last of +it was gone.... + +That fierce draught put some strength and courage back into him; he +stamped his feet. "I'll make them give it up, by God," he swore. +"Watch...." + +He started for the deck; and Faith, afraid for him, followed quietly +behind. Passing through the main cabin, he roared to the officers who +were asleep in their bunks: "On deck, all hands.... On deck, all +hands...." They leaped out to obey him, not knowing what to expect. He +reached the deck, still bellowing: "On deck, all. On deck, every man of +you...." Brander was amidships; and he called: "Rout out the dogs, Mr. +Brander. Fetch them aft." + +The men came; they tumbled up from the fo'c's'le; they slid down from +the mastheads.... Harpooners, mates, under officers grouped themselves +by the captain; the crew faced him in a huddled group. He cursed them, +man by man, for thieving dogs. "Now," he swore at last. "Now some one o' +you has got the stuff hid away. Out with it; or I'll cut the heart out +of you." + +He paused, looking about him with flickering, reddened eyes. No man +stirred, but Dan'l Tobey asked: + +"What's wrong, Cap'n Wing?" + +Noll told him, told them all, profanely. Somewhere there was hidden a +store of whiskey; he meant to have it. If the thief gave it up, so much +the better. He would get off with a rope's ending. If he persisted in +silence, he would die.... Noll vowed that by all the oaths he knew. + +The men stirred; they looked at their neighbors.... And then their eyes +fastened on the captain, with a curious intentness. They licked their +lips; and Faith thought they were enjoying this spectacle of Noll's weak +rage.... She thought they were like dogs of a pack, with hungry eyes, +watching the futile anger of a dying man.... She was afraid of them for +an instant; then she was afraid of no man in the world.... She stood by +Noll Wing's side, proud and level-eyed. + +When Noll got no answer, his cackling fury waxed. He swore every man of +them should be tied up and flogged unless the guilty spoke. They scowled +at that; and one of them said sullenly: + +"It's no man forra'd a-doing this, sir.... Look aft, at them that had +the chance." + +The word seemed to focus the sullen hate among the men; they growled +like beasts, and surged a step forward. Brander, from the captain's +side, moved toward them and lashed at him who had spoken with a swift +fist, so that the man fell and lay still as a log. Brander looked down +at the still man, faced the others. "Be silent," he said quietly. +"Unless you've a word to say to the captain about what he wants. And get +back.... Back into the waist; and stay...." + +They gave back before him; and Dan'l said softly from Brander's back: +"They mind you well, Mr. Brander. You've a rare control of them." The +words were innocent enough, but the tone was accusation. Brander faced +the mate, and Dan'l grinned malignantly.... + +Noll passed abruptly from threats to pleadings; he tried to cloak his +pleading under a mask of fellowship; he spoke to the men as to friends, +beseeching them to yield what he wanted. They remained silent; and his +mask fell off, and he abased himself before them with his words, so that +old Tichel and Willis Cox were sickened, and Dan'l was pleased. Brander +made no sign; he stood loyally at the captain's side; and Faith was on +Noll's other hand.... + +She was studying the faces of the men and of the officers, seeking for a +shadow of guilt. The men were sullen; but there was no shame in their +eyes. There was nothing furtive--save in the countenance of Mauger. The +one-eyed man had ever a furtive look; the twitching of his closed eye +irresistibly suggested a malignant wink. Faith watched him; she saw his +eyes were fixed on Brander.... In spite of herself, a cold pang of +doubt touched her.... Mauger had reason to hate Noll Wing.... Had he?... + +She put the thought away, to study Dan'l Tobey. But Dan'l, though he was +obviously content with matters, had no trace of guilt or fear in his +demeanor. He was perfectly assured, almost triumphant. Faith thought he +could not appear so if he were the thief.... Not Dan'l; not Willis Cox, +nor Tichel.... Not Brander; she would not have it so.... + +Yet she could not keep her eyes away from Mauger's leering, chuckling, +furtive countenance. + +Abruptly, she touched Noll's arm. The captain was near a collapse.... He +was pleading helplessly, so that some of the men were beginning to grin. +Faith touched his arm; she said quietly: + +"Noll, do not beg. You are master." + +He caught himself together with a terrific effort.... He turned and +stumbled away down into the cabin, Faith after him. Dan'l came down a +little later, respectful.... "Why not put into port somewhere, sir?" he +suggested. "Get what you want...." + +Noll clutched at that desperately.... "Aye, quick, Mr. Tobey. What's +nearest?" + +Dan'l named the nearest island where they were like to find a trading +post; Noll nodded. "Put for it, Dan'l. All sail on. For God's sake, +quickly, man!" + +Ten minutes later, the _Sally_ heeled to a new tack.... And Noll, with +Faith, below in the cabin, bit at his nails, and tried to hold himself, +and stifle the appetite that was tearing him. His passion and pleading +had burned out the effects of the drink he had taken; his body agonized +for more.... + +By nightfall, Noll was shaking with an ague. He would not sleep that +night. And toward dawn, a brewing gale caught the _Sally_.... + +She fought that storm till noon, giving way before it; and in the cabin +Noll passed from tremors to paroxysms of fright. He gnawed at his own +flesh; and hallucinations began to prey upon him. Faith fought him, bade +him lie down, tried to soothe him. She knew the danger of his enforced +abstinence; she gave him a draught that should have compelled sleep; but +after an hour he woke with a scream, and clutched at her shoulders with +fingers that bit the flesh, and flung her away from him, and cowered in +the most distant corner, hands before him, shrieking: + +"Back, Mauger! Get away.... You devil! Mauger, get back.... Eh, man, get +away.... By God, I'll ... I never meant the kick, man.... Let be.... My +God, let be...." + +She called softly: "It's Faith, Noll. It's Faith, Faith.... Not +Mauger...." + +He recognized her, and ran and caught her and swung her around before +him and besought her to keep Mauger and his knife away. She told him, +over and over: "He's not here, Noll. He's not here. It's Faith...." + +He cried: "Look at his knife...." He pointed horribly. "His knife.... +It's red, now.... Look at the knife. Kill him, Faith.... Drive him +away...." + +She held him against her breast as she would have held a child. Brander +came to the door, with Willis Cox. She called to them: "Stay away.... +He's mine. I'll tend him." Noll saw them, and screamed at Brander: + +"There! Him! There's a knife in his sleeve...." + +Brander slipped out of sight; she managed to quiet Noll for a space; but +he broke out again: "Mauger! He's coming, Faith.... There...." And then, +to the man he thought he saw: "Mauger! Get back, man. Let be.... God's +sake...." + +Then he wept whisperingly to Faith: "See his eye! Down on his cheek.... +Hanging.... Make him put it back--where it belongs.... Mauger, man...." + +Bit by bit she wooed him back to sanity, or the semblance of it. He was +quiet when Dan'l Tobey came down; and when he saw Dan'l, Noll demanded: + +"Are we making it, Dan'l? Are we near there?..." + +Dan'l shook his head. "Not with this gale, sir.... We're going away...." + +Noll came to his feet, cat-like. "By God, you're all cowards. I'll bring +her in. I'll bring her in, I say...." He shook Faith away, went up to +the deck with Dan'l at his heels. The _Sally_, riding high as whalers +do, was reasonably dry; but she was fighting desperately in the gale, +racking her rigging. The wind seemed to clear Noll's head; he looked +about, aloft.... Bellowed an order to get sail on her.... + +Faith protested: "Noll, she'll never stand...." + +He brushed her away with clenched fist. She took shelter in a corner by +the deckhouse, ten feet from him..... And Noll Wing took the ship, and +under his hand the _Sally_ did miracles.... + +That fight with the storm was a thing men still talk about; they say it +was an inhuman and a marvelous thing. Noll stood aft, legs braced, +scorning a hand hold. His voice rang through the singing wind to the +remotest corner of the _Sally_, and the highest spar. Regardless of wind +and sea, he crowded on sail, and brought her around to the course he +wished to take, and drove her into it.... Time and time again, during +that afternoon and that long night, every sane man aboard thought her +very masts must be torn out of her. Three times a sail did go; but Noll +would never slacken. On the after deck, he raved like a madman, but his +commands were seamanly.... A miracle of seamanship, stark madness.... +But madness that succeeded. The _Sally_ drove into the gale, she fought +as madly as Noll himself was fighting.... And Noll, aft, screamed +through the night and drove them on. + +Faith never left her post, so near him. No man aboard had sleep that +night. No man dared sleep, lest death find him in his dreams. Willis Cox +and Tichel came to Noll more than once, beseeching.... But he drove them +away. Dan'l never interfered with the captain; it seemed there was a +madness on him, too. And Brander and Dan'l Tobey between them were +Noll's right hand and his left, driving the men to the tasks Noll set +them, holding them sternly in hand.... + +They could only guess how far they had come through the darkness. An +hour before daylight, Dan'l stopped to gasp to Faith: "We're near there, +I'm thinking. If we're not nearer the bottom...." Brander took more +practical steps; he found Mauger, and set the one-eyed man well forward, +and bade him watch and listen for first sign of land. Mauger nodded +chucklingly; he gripped a hold on the taut lines, and set his one eye +into the darkness, and tuned his ear to the storm.... + +The wind, by this time, was moderating; even Faith could feel a +slackening of the pressure of it that had torn at her garments the night +through. She was weak with fighting it; nevertheless she held her post. +And the steady thrust of the gale slowly modified and gave way.... The +first hints of light showed in the skies.... They caught glimpses of +scudding clouds, low overhead.... But the worst was passed; and every +man knew it. Noll, still standing like a colossus at his post, knew it; +and he shook his fist at the skies and the sea, and he cursed the wind +and dared it.... Faith could see him, dimly, in the coming light.... +Head bare, eyes frantic, cheeks sunken.... An enormous, but a wasted +figure of a man.... + +The very waters about them were quieting somewhat.... Their nerves and +their muscles relaxed; they were straining their eyes to see into the +dimness of the coming day.... + +It was Mauger, in the bows, who caught first hint of danger. He saw that +they drove abruptly from long-rolling swells into quieter waters.... He +stared off to windward, looking to see what had broken the force of the +seas.... Saw nothing; but thought he heard a rumbling roar there.... +Looked forward, where the less turbulent waters were piling ahead of +them.... + +Looked forward, and glimpsed a line of white that lived and never died; +and he turned and streamed a warning aft.... Ran, to carry the word +himself.... Screaming as he ran.... + +Brander, amidships, heard him and shouted to Noll Wing; but Noll did not +hear. The captain was intoxicated with the long battle; he was delirious +with the cry of tortured nerves and starved body.... He did not hear. +Mauger flashed past Brander as he ran.... The one-eyed man's screams +were inarticulate now.... Too late, in any case.... + +Noll saw Mauger coming; and he put up his hands; and his eyes glared. He +shrieked with overwhelming terror.... Mauger flung on. Then the +_Sally's_ bows drove on the solid sand; Mauger sprawled; men everywhere +fell headlong. Noll was thrown back against the after rail.... + +Mauger rolled over and over where he fell; and it chanced that his +sheath knife dropped out in the fall, and touched his hand. He had it in +his fingers when he scrambled to his feet, still intent on bearing his +warning. He had the knife in his hand, he leaped toward the wheel.... He +did not realize it was too late to swerve the _Sally_.... Toward the +wheel, knife in hand, forgetting knife and Noll Wing.... + +To Noll's eyes, Mauger must have looked like a charging fiend; he saw +the knife. He screamed again, and turned and flung himself in desperate +flight but over the after rail. + +He was instantly gone. Perhaps the undertow, perhaps some creature of +the sea, perhaps the fates that had hung over him struck then. But those +aboard the _Sally Sims_ were never to see Noll Wing, nor Noll's dead +body, again. + + + + +XXVI + + +Dawn came abruptly; a lowering dawn, with gray and greasy clouds racing +past so low they seemed to scrape and tear themselves upon the tips of +the masts. No sun showed; there was no light in the sky. The dawn was +evidenced only by a lessening of the blackness of the night. They could +see; there was no fog, but a steady rain sprang up, and clouded objects +at a little distance.... + +This rain had one good effect; it beat down the turbulence of the waves. +Faith, from the bow, could see that they had grounded upon a sandy beach +which spread like a crescent to right and left. The tips of the crescent +were rocky points which sheltered the _Sally_ from the force of the +seas. She was not pounding upon the sand; she lay where she had struck, +heeled a little to one side.... There were breakers about her and ahead +of her upon the sand; but these were not dangerous. They were caused by +the reflex tumult of the waters, stirred up in this sheltered bay in +sympathy with the storm outside. + +That gale was dying, now. Above them the wind still raced and played +with the flying clouds; but there was no pressure of it upon what little +canvas the _Sally_ still flew. They were at peace.... + +At peace. Faith, studying the position of the _Sally_, was herself at +peace. This was her first reaction to her husband's death; she was at +peace. Noll was gone, Noll Wing whom she had loved and married.... Poor +Noll; she pitied him; she was conscious of a still-living affection for +him.... There was no hate in her; there was little sorrow.... He was +gone; but life had burdened him too long. He was well rid of it, she +thought.... Well rid of his tormented flesh; well rid of the terror +which had pursued him.... + +When Noll went over the stern, Dan'l Tobey appeared from nowhere, and +saw Mauger with the knife in his hand, standing paralyzed with horror. +Dan'l fell upon Mauger, fists flying.... He downed the little man, +dropped on him with both knees, gripped for his throat.... Then Brander, +coming from the waist of the ship on Mauger's heels, caught Dan'l by the +collar and jerked him to his feet. Dan'l's hands, clenched on Mauger's +throat, lifted the little man a foot from the deck before they let go to +grip for Brander. The men clustered aft; old Tichel's teeth bared.... In +another moment, there would have been a death-battle astir upon the +littered decks. + +But Faith cried through the gloom: "Dan'l. Mr. Brander. Drop it. Stand +away." + +There was a command in her clear tones which Dan'l must have obeyed; and +Brander did as she bade instinctively. The two still faced each other, +heads forward, shoulders lowered.... Behind Brander, Mauger crawled to +his feet, choking and fumbling at his throat. Faith said to Dan'l: + +"It was not the fault of Mauger, Dan'l." + +"He had a knife...." + +"He fell," she said. "I saw. He fell when she struck; his knife dropped +from its sheath.... He picked it up.... That was all." + +"All?" Dan'l protested. "He drove Noll Wing to death." + +She shook her head. "No.... Noll's own terrors. Noll was mad...." + +"What was he doing aft, then? He'd no place here...." + +Brander explained: "I had him forward, watching for breakers. He saw +them, and yelled, and when no one heard he raced to give the word...." + +Faith nodded. "Yes; he was gripping for the wheel to swing it down, even +when Noll...." + +Dan'l swung to Brander. "You're over quick to come between me and the +men, Mr. Brander," he said harshly. "Best mend that." + +"I'll not see Mauger smashed for no fault," Brander told him steadily. +Dan'l took a step nearer the other. + +"You'll understand, I'm master here, now." + +There was battle in Brander's eyes. Men's blood was hot that morning.... +But Faith stepped between. "Dan'l. Noll's gone. First thing is to get +the _Sally_ free." + +Dan'l still eyed Brander for a moment; then he drew back, swung away, +looked around. The island they had struck was barely visible through the +drifting rain.... He said: "This is not where we headed." + +"You know this place?" + +"No." + +"Then we'll get clear as quick as may be." + +He smiled sneeringly: "I'm thinking we're here to stay, Faith. +Leastwise, the _Sally_...." + +"The _Sally_ does not stay here," Faith told him sternly. "She floats; +she fills her casks; she goes safely home to Jonathan Felt," she said. +"Mark that, Dan'l. That's the way of it, and nothing else." + +Dan'l said sullenly: "You're not over concerned for Noll's going." + +"He's gone," said Faith. "An end to that. But the _Sally_ was his +charge; she's my charge now. I mean to see her safe." + +"Your charge?" Dan'l echoed. "It's in my mind that when the captain +dies, the mate succeeds." + +"You take his place, if I choose," Faith told him. + +He met her eyes, tried to look her down. Mauger had slipped away; old +Tichel, and Willis Cox, and Brander were standing by. "You take his +place, if I choose," Faith repeated. And Dan'l looked from her to the +faces of the officers.... + +There was a weakness in Dan'l's villainy; he could destroy, he could +undermine trust, seduce a boy, kill honor.... But he lacked constructive +ability. He had known for months that this moment must come, this moment +when Noll was gone, and the ship and all the treasures aboard her should +lie ready to his hand. Yet he had made no plan for this crisis; he did +not know what he meant to do. Even now, by open battle he might have +won, carried the day. Old Tichel was certainly for him; perhaps Willis, +too. And Roy.... And many of the men.... A blow, a fight, and the day +might have been his.... + +But Dan'l was never a hand for strife where guile might do as well; he +was not by nature a man of battle. Also ... Faith was within his reach, +now; Noll was gone; there was no barrier between them; he need not anger +her, so long as there was a chance to win by gentler ways.... Gentler +ways, guileful.... He nodded in abrupt assent. + +"All right," he said. "You were Noll's wife; your interest is a fair +one.... I'll work with you, Faith...." + +Faith was content with that for the moment. "We'll get the _Sally_ +away," she said. + +Dan'l smiled. "And--how?..." + +"Get out a kedge; we'll try to warp her off when the tide comes in." + +He chuckled. "Oh, aye.... We'll try." + +"Do," said Faith; and she turned and went below. Went below, and wept a +little for pity of old Noll, and then dried her eyes and strengthened +her heart for the task before her.... To bring Noll's ship safely +home.... + + * * * * * + +It was mid-tide when the _Sally_ struck; and this was in some measure +fortunate, because the ebbing waters left her free of the rollers that +might have driven her hard and fast upon the sand. They broke against +her stern, but with no great force behind them. At the slack on the ebb, +the men could wade about her bows, to their waist in the water.... They +got the kedge out, astern, and carried a whale line about the capstan; +and when the tide came quietly in again, they waited for the flood, then +strove at the bars to warp her free.... + +When she did not stir, though the men strove till their veins were like +to burst, some cursed despairingly; but Faith did not. Nor Dan'l. Dan'l +was quiet, watching, smiling at his thoughts.... He let Faith have her +way. Before the next tide, they had rigged the cutting-in tackle to give +a stouter pull at the kedge; but this time the whale line parted and +lashed along the decks, and more than one man was struck and bruised and +cut by it.... + +Dan'l said then: "You see, we're here to stay. Best thing is to lower +and make for the nearest port." + +"Leave the ship?" Faith asked. + +"Yes. What else?" + +"No. We'll not leave her." + +He smiled. "What, then?" + +"It's a week past full moon," she said. "There'll be higher tides on the +new moon.... Still higher on the next full. We'll float her, one time or +another." + +Dan'l chuckled. "An easterly'll drive her high and dry, 'fore then." + +Faith's eyes blazed. "I tell you, Dan'l, we stick with the _Sally_; and +we get her safe away.... Are you afraid to stick?" + +He laughed, outright, pleasantly. "Pshaw, Faith.... You know I'm not +afraid." He could be likeable when he tried; she liked him, faintly, in +that moment. She gripped his hand. + +"Good, Dan'l. We'll manage it, in the end...." + +So they settled for the waiting; and Dan'l put the men to work repairing +the harm the storm had done the _Sally_. Her rigging was strained; it +had parted here and there. She had lost some canvas. Willis Cox's boat +had been carried away.... They rove new rigging, spread new sails, +replaced Willis's boat with one of the spares.... There was work for all +hands for a month, to put the _Sally_ in shape again. + +One thing favored them. The _Sally_, for all her clumsy lines, was +staunch; and the shock when, she drove her bow upon the sand had opened +never a seam. She was leaking no more than a sweet ship will. They found +a cask or two of oil that had burst in the hold; and there was some +confusion among the stores.... But these were small matters, easily set +right.... + +The new moon was due on the fifth day after they struck. On the fourth, +another bottle of whiskey appeared in the fo'c's'le, and two men were +drunk. Dan'l had the men whipped.... Faith made no objection to this; +but she watched the faces of the others.... Watched the officers, and +Brander in particular, and Mauger.... Brander, since that morning of +Noll's death, had avoided her more strictly.... He and Dan'l did not +speak, save when they must. She saw the man was keeping a guard upon +himself; and she puzzled over this. She could not know that Brander was +afire with joy at the new hope that was awakening in him; afire with a +vision of her.... He fought against this, held himself in check; and she +saw only that he was morose and still and that he avoided her eye.... + +The high tides of the new moon failed to float them; and there was +growling forward. Dan'l said, openly, that he believed they would never +go free. The men heard; and the superstitions of the sea began to play +about the fo'c's'le. There was unrest; the men felt approaching the +possible liberation from ship's discipline when they abandoned the +_Sally_. They remembered the ambergris beneath the cabin. There was a +fortune.... They could take no oil with them; but they could take that +when the time should come to leave the ship. Plenty of room in one boat +for it and half a dozen men besides.... They fretted at the waiting, +called it hopeless, as Dan'l did.... The barrier between officers and +men was somewhat lowered; more than one of the men spoke to Brander of +the ambergris. Did he claim it for his own?... + +Faith, one day, heard a man talking to Brander amidships; she caught +only a word or two. One of these words was "'Gris." She saw that the man +was asking Brander a question; she saw that on Brander's answer, the man +grinned with greed in his eyes, and turned away to whisper to two of his +fellows.... + +She wondered what Brander had said to him, why Brander had not silenced +the man. And she watched Brander the closer, her heart sickening with a +fear she would not name.... + +They had landed before this and explored their island.... Low and flat +and no more than a mile or two in extent, it had fruit a-plenty, and a +spring of good water.... But none dwelt anywhere upon it. It soon palled +upon them; they stuck by the ship; and the days held clear and fine and +the nights were warm, and the crescent moon above them flattened, night +by night, till it was no longer a crescent, but half a circle of silver +radiance that touched the beach and the trees and the sea with magic +fingers.... + +That night, with the fall tides still a week away, Roy Kilcup came into +the waist and looked aft. There was no officer in sight at the moment +save old Tichel, and Roy hailed him softly.... Tichel went forward to +where the boy stood; they whispered together. Then Tichel went with Roy +toward the fo'c's'le.... + +Faith was in her cabin; Dan'l was in the main cabin; and Willis and +Brander were playing cribbage near him when the outcry forward roused +them. A man yelled.... They were on deck in tumbling haste; and Faith +was at their heels.... + +Came Tichel, dragging Mauger by the collar. His right hand gripped +Mauger; his left held a bottle. He shook the one-eyed man till Mauger's +teeth rattled; and he brandished the bottle. "Caught the pig," he cried +furiously. "Here he is. With this hid under his blanket...." + +Mauger protested: "I never put it there...." Tichel cuffed him into +silence. Dan'l asked sharply: + +"What's that, Mr. Tichel?" + +"Whiskey, Mr. Tobey. He took it forward and hid it in his bunk...." + +Faith said: "Tell the whole of it, Mr. Tichel. What happened?" She +looked from Tichel to Brander. Brander was standing stiffly; she thought +his face was white. Mauger hung in Tichel's grip. + +Old Tichel had given a promise to Roy; Roy had begged him not to tell +that the boy had spied. Tichel said now: + +"I saw him go forra'd, with something under his coat. Never thought for +a minute; then it come to me what it might be. I took after him. Rest +of the men were on deck, sleeping.... It's hot, below, you'll mind. I +dropped down quietly. Mauger, here, was in his bunk. I routed him out, +and rummaged, and there you are, ma'am." He shook the bottle +triumphantly. + +Faith asked the one-eyed man: "Where did you get it, Mauger?" + +"Never knowed it was there," Mauger swore. "Honest t'the Lord, +ma'am...." + +Tichel slapped his face stunningly.... Faith said: "No more of that, Mr. +Tichel. Dan'l, what do you think?" + +Dan'l lifted his hand, with a glance at Brander. "Why--nothing! +Somebody's been doing it; him as well as another." + +"Willis," Faith asked. "What's your notion?" + +"I guess Mauger done it." + +"Brander?" + +Brander lifted his head and met her eyes. "Other men have found whiskey +in their bunks without knowing how it got there," he said. "I believe +Mauger." + +Old Tichel snarled: "I'm saying I saw him take it aft." He dropped +Mauger and took a fierce step toward Brander. "Ye think I'd lie?" + +"I think you're mistaken," Brander said evenly. Tichel leaped at him; +Brander gripped the other's arms at the elbow, held him. Faith, said +sharply: + +"Enough of that. We'll end this thing, to-night. Mr. Tobey, get +lanterns, lights, search the ship till you find the rest of this stuff." +She took the whiskey bottle, opened it, and poured its contents over +the rail. "Search it out," she said. "Be about it." + +Save Dan'l Tobey, the officers stood stock still, as though not +understanding. Dan'l acted as quickly as though he had expected the +order. He sent Silva, the harpooner, to get the fo'm'st hands together +forward and keep them there under his eye. He sent Tichel and Yella' Boy +into the main hold; Willis and Long Jim into the after 'tween decks. +Brander and Eph Hitch were to search the cabin and the captain's +storeroom; and Faith went down with them to give them the keys.... Loum, +Kellick, and Tinch, the cook, were put to rummaging about the after deck +and amidships.... + +There was no need of lights upon the deck itself; the moon bathed the +_Sally_ in its rays, and one might have read by them without undue +effort. Below, the whale-oil lanterns went to and fro.... Brander and +Hitch made short work of their task; and they came on deck with Faith. +Dan'l sent Brander to rummage through the steerage where the harpooners +slept; and at Faith's suggestion, Hitch and Loum went aloft to the +mastheads to make sure there was no secret cache there.... They were an +hour or more at their search of the _Sally_; and at the end of that time +they were no wiser than they were before. Faith had gone below before +the end; she came on deck as Tichel and Yella' Boy reported nothing +found below. She asked Dan'l: + +"Have you found anything?" + +"No." + +"Where have you looked?" + +Dan'l said: "Everywhere aboard her, Faith. The stuff's well hidden, +sure...." + +Faith said quietly: "If it's not on the _Sally_, it's near her. Search +the boats, Mr. Tobey." + +Dan'l nodded. "But it'd not be in them," he said. "That's sure enough." + +"It's nowhere else, you say. Try...." + +Willis Cox and Brander turned toward where their boats hung by the rail; +and Faith called quietly: "Willis, Mr. Brander. Let Mr. Tobey do the +searching." + +Willis stopped readily enough; Brander--forewarned, perhaps, by some +instinctive fear--hesitated; she spoke to him again. "Mr. Brander." + +He stood still where he was. Dan'l was looking through his own boat at +the moment. He passed to old Tichel's; to that of Willis Cox. Brander's +came last. He flashed his lantern in it as he had in the others, studied +it from bow to stern, opened the stern locker beneath the cuddy +boards.... + +There was a jug there; a jug that in the other boats had contained +water. He pulled the stopper and smelled.... + +"By God, Faith, it's here!" he cried. + + + + +XXVII + + +The closer the bond between man and man, or between man and woman, the +easier it is to embroil them, one with another. It is hard for an +outsider to provoke a quarrel between strangers, or between casual +acquaintances; but it is not hard for a crafty man to make dissension +between friends; and almost any one may, if he chooses, bring about +discord between lovers. And this is a strange and a contradictory thing. + +When Dan'l found the whiskey in Brander's boat, and came toward Faith +with the open jug in his hands, Faith stood with a white face, looking +steadily at Brander, and not at Dan'l at all. Brander had made one move +when Dan'l lifted the jug; he had stepped quickly toward the boat, but +Faith spoke quietly to him, and he stopped, and looked at her.... + +Dan'l was watching the two of them. Mauger saw a chance, and as the mate +passed where the one-eyed man crouched, Mauger leaped at him to snatch +the whiskey away. Tichel caught Mauger from behind, and held him.... + +The little man had had the best intentions in the world; but this +movement on his part completed the evidence of Brander's guilt; for +Mauger was Brander's man, loyal as a dog, and Faith knew it. She thought +quickly, remembering the past days, remembering Mauger's furtive air +and Brander's aloofness, and his support of Mauger against Tichel.... +She was sure, before Dan'l reached her with the jug, that Mauger and +Brander were guilty as Judas.... That Brander was guilty as Judas.... +She scarce considered Mauger at all. + +Dan'l handed her the jug, and she smelled at it. Whiskey, beyond a +doubt. She took it to the rail and poured it overside as she had poured +the contents of the bottle. Then came slowly back and handed the empty +jug to Brander. + +"This is yours," she said. "You had best rinse it and fill it with water +and put it in your boat again." + +The moon was bright upon them as they stood on the deck. He could see +her face, he could see her eyes; and he saw that she thought him guilty. +His soul sickened with the bitterness of it; and his lips twisted in a +smile. + +"Very well," he said. + +She looked at him, a little wistfully. "You're not denying it's yours?" + +He shook his head. "No." If she believed, let her believe. He was +furious with her.... + +"Why did you do it?" she asked. + +He said nothing; and she looked up at him a moment more, and then turned +to Mauger. "Why did you do it?" she asked the little man. + +Mauger squinted sidewise at Brander. Mauger was Brander's man; and all +his loyalty was to Brander. Brander chose not to speak, not to deny the +charge she laid against them.... All right; if Brander could keep +silent, so could he. If Brander would not deny, neither would he. He +grinned at Faith; and the closed lids that covered his empty eye-socket +seemed to wink; but he said nothing at all. + +Dan'l Tobey chuckled at Brander. "Eh, Brander, I'm ashamed for ye," he +said. "Such an example t'the crew." + +Brander held silent. He was waiting for Faith to speak.... + +When neither Brander nor Mauger would answer her, Faith turned her back +on them all and went to the after rail and stood there alone, +thinking.... She knew Dan'l would wait on her word.... What was she to +do? She needed Brander; she would need him more and more.... Dan'l was +never to be trusted; she must have a man at her back.... Brander.... In +spite of her belief that he had done this thieving, she trusted him.... +And loved him.... Loved him so that as she stood there with her back to +them all, the tears rolled down her cheeks, and her nails dug at her +palms.... Why had he done this? Why did he not deny? Protest? Defend +himself? She loved him so much that she hated him. If he had offended +against herself alone, she might have forgiven.... But by stealing +whiskey and giving it to the crew he was striking at the welfare of the +_Sally Sims_ herself.... And the _Sally_ was dearer to Faith just now +than herself. + +He had struck at the _Sally_; she set her lips and brushed the tears +from her cheeks and turned back to them. "Mr. Tobey," she said. "Put +Mr. Brander in irons, below. Give Mauger a whipping and send him +forward." She hesitated a moment, glanced at Willis. "If you'll come +down to the cabin with me," she said, "I'll give you the irons." + +Willis stepped toward her; and with no further glance for Brander, she +turned and went below. + + * * * * * + +They had been two weeks hard and fast on the sand; there was another +week ahead of them. An easterly storm would cement them into the sand +beyond any help; and the men looked for it daily.... For the rest, there +was little to do. The _Sally_ was in shape again, ready to be off if she +had the chance.... The men, with black faces, loafed about the fore deck +and whispered man to man; and Dan'l went among them now and then, and +talked much with Roy, and some with the others.... Roy was elated in +those days; the boy went about with shining eyes and triumphant lips. +Every other face among the crew was morose save his.... + +Dan'l was not morose. He was overly cheerful in those days. He spoke in +louder tones than was his custom; and there was no caustic bite to his +tongue. But his eyes were narrower, and more furtive.... And once or +twice Faith saw him turn away from a word with some of the crew and +catch sight of her watching him, and flush uneasily.... + +But Faith scarce heeded; she was sick with sorrow, and sick with +anxiety.... The tides were rising higher every day; she watched for the +hour when they should lift the _Sally_.... And at each high tide, she +made the men stand to the capstan bars, and fight in desperate efforts +to fetch the _Sally_ free. The day before the night of the full of the +moon, she had them fetch up casks from the hold and lower them overside +and raft them there.... Cask after cask, as many as the men could handle +during the day, so that the _Sally_ was lighter at nightfall than she +had ever been before. + +The tide was at the flood that night at nine; and for half an hour +before, and for a full hour after the waters had begun to ebb, every man +of them strove to stir the _Sally_.... And strove fruitlessly; for the +ship seemed fast-bedded in the sand, beyond moving. At ten o'clock, +Faith left the deck and went sick-heartedly below.... + +At half past ten, Dan'l knocked on the door of the after cabin, and she +bade him come in. He opened the door, shut it behind him, looked at her +with his cap in his hands for a space, then sat down on the seat beside +the desk where she was sitting. + +"Eh, Faith," he said, "we're stuck." + +For a moment, she did not answer; then she lifted her head and looked at +him. "There's a high tide to-morrow night; comes a bit higher than it is +on the flood," she said. "We'll get out more casks to-morrow, and +to-morrow night we'll float her." + +Dan'l shook his head slowly. "You're brave, Faith, and strong.... But +the sea's stronger. I've sailed them long enough to know." + +She said steadfastly: "The _Sally Sims_ has got to come free. It's in my +mind to get her off if we have to take every stick out of her and lift +her off ourselves...." + +"If we could do it, I'd be with you," he told her. "But we can't, +Faith." + +"We will," she said. + +He smiled, studied her for a moment, then leaned toward her, resting his +hands on the desk. "Faith," he said softly, "you're a wonderful, brave +woman." + +She looked at him with a weary flicker of lips and eyes that might have +passed for a smile. "It's not that I'm brave, Dan'l," she said. "It's +just that I'll not let Noll Wing's ship rot here when it should be bound +home t'the other side of the world." + +"Noll Wing's ship?" he echoed. "Eh, Faith, but Noll Wing is dead and +gone." + +She nodded. "Yes." + +"He's dead and gone, Faith," he repeated swiftly. "He's dead, and +gone.... And but for Noll Wing, Faith, you'd have loved me, three year +ago." + +She looked up, then, and studied him, and she said softly: "You'll mind, +Dan'l, that Noll Wing is not but three weeks dead.... Even now." + +"Three weeks dead!" he cried. "Have I not seen? He's been a dead man +this year past; a dead man that walked and talked and swore.... But dead +this year past. You've been a widow for a year, Faith...." + +She shook her head. "So long as the _Sally_ lies here on the sand," she +said, "I'm not Noll Wing's widow; I'm his wife. It was his job to bring +her home; and so it is my job, too. And will be, till she's fast to the +wharf at home." + +"Then you'll die his wife, Faith; for the _Sally_'ll never stir from +here." + +"If she never does," said Faith, "I'll die Noll Wing's wife, as you +say." + +He cried breathlessly: "What was Noll Wing that you should cling to him +so, Faith?" + +"He was the man I loved," she said. + +His face blackened, and his fist banged the desk. "Aye; and but for him +you'd have loved me. Loved me...." + +"I never told you that, Dan'l." + +"But 'twas true. I could see. You'd have loved me, Faith...." + +"Dan'l," she said slowly, "I'm in no mind to talk so much of love, this +night." + +The man sat back in silence for a space, not looking at her; nor did she +look at him. In the end, however, he shaped his words afresh. "Faith," +he said softly, "we were boy and girl together, you and I. Grew up +together, played together.... I loved you before you were more than a +girl. Before you ever saw Noll Wing. Can you remember?" + +He was striving with all his might to win her; and Faith said gently: +"Yes, Dan'l. I remember." + +"When I sailed away, last cruise but one, you kissed me, Faith. Do you +mind?" + +She looked at him in honest surprise. "I kissed you, Dan'l?" + +"Yes. On the forehead...." + +She shook her head. "I don't remember ... at all." + +If he had been wholly wise, he would have known that her not remembering +was the end of him; but Dan'l in that moment was not even a little wise. +He was playing for a big stake; Faith was never so lovely in his eyes; +and there was desperation in him. He was blind with the heat of his own +desire.... He cried now: + +"You do remember. You're pretending, Faith. You could not forget. You +loved me then; and, Faith, you love me now." + +She shook her head. "No, Dan'l. Have done." + +"I love you, Faith; you love me, now." + +"No." + +He leaned very close to her. "You do not know; you're not listening to +your heart. I know more of your heart than you know, Faith...." + +"No, no, no, Dan'l," she said insistently. + +He flamed at her in sudden fury: "If it's not me, it's Brander.... Him +that you...." + +"Brander?" she cried, in a passion. "Brander? The thief that's lying now +in the irons I put upon him? Him? Him you say I love?" + +The very force of her anger should have told him the truth; but he was +so blind that it served only to rejoice him. "I knew it," he cried. "I +knew it. So you love me, Faith?..." + +"Must a woman always be loving?" she demanded wearily. + +"Aye, Faith. It's the nature of them.... Always to be loving.... Some +one. With you, Faith, it's me. Listen and see...." + +"Dan'l," she said steadily, "what's the end of all this? What's the end +of it all? What would you have me do?" + +"Love me," he told her. + +"What else?" + +"See the truth," he said. "Understand that the _Sally_ is lost.... Fast +aground, here, to rot her bones away.... See that it's hopeless and +wild to stick by her. We'll get out the boats. You and I and Roy and a +man or two will take one; the others may have the other craft. It's not +fifty miles to..." + +"Leave the _Sally_?" she demanded. + +"Yes." + +"I'll not talk with you, Dan'l. I'll never do that." + +"There's th' ambergris," he reminded her. "We'll take that. It will +recompense old Jonathan for his _Sally_ and her oil." + +Her word was so sharp that it checked him; he was up on his feet, +bending above her, pouring out his pleadings.... But she threw him into +silence with that last word; and the red flush of passion in his face +blackened to something worse, and his tongue thickened with the heat in +him. He bent a little nearer, while her eyes met his steadily; and his +hands dropped and gripped her arms above the elbows. She came to her +feet, facing him.... + +"Dan'l," she said warningly. + +"If you'll not go because you will, you'll go because you must," he told +her huskily and harshly. "Go because you must.... Whine at my feet afore +I'm through with you. Beg me to marry you in th' end...." + +If she had been able to hold still, to hold his eyes with hers, she +might have mastered him even then; for in any match of courage against +courage, she was the stronger. But the horror of him overwhelmed her; +she tried to wrench away. The struggle of her fired him.... In a battle +of strength and strength she had no chance. He swung her against his +chest, and she flung her head back that her lips might escape him. He +laughed. His lips were dry and twitching as she fought to be away from +him; he held her for an instant, held her striving body against his own +to revel in its struggles.... + +He had her thus in his arms, forcing her back, crushing her, when the +door flung open and Roy Kilcup stood there. The boy cried in desperate +warning: + +"Dan'l, Brander is...." + +Then he comprehended that which he saw; and he screamed with the fury of +an animal, and flung himself at Dan'l, tearing at the man with his +strength of a boy. + + + + +XXVIII + + +Dan'l had laid his plans well; he had felt sure of success; but he had +not counted on trouble with Faith. He thought, after their failure to +float the _Sally_, she would be crushed and ready to fall into his arms; +ready at least to yield to his advice and come away and leave the _Sally +Sims_ where she lay. + +After that, Dan'l counted on separating the crew by losing the other +boats. The ambergris would be in his; he would master the men with +him.... Faith and the treasure would be his.... + +Brander was to stay in the _Sally_, ironed in the after 'tween decks. +Dan'l thought Brander was destroyed by the evidence of his thieving; he +no longer feared the man. + +Not all the crew would go with him when he left the ship. Old Tichel had +refused. "I've waited all my days to be cap'n of a craft," Tichel +declared. "With you gone, I'm master o' the _Sally_, I'll stay and get +the feeling of it." And Dan'l was willing to let him stay. Willis Cox +agreed to do as Faith decided. Long Jim, the harpooner, was loyal to +Tichel. Loum, Dan'l did not trust. The man might stay with Brander if he +chose. + +But Dan'l had on his side Kellick, the steward; and Yella' Boy, and +Silva, and four seamen from forward, and seven of those who had shipped +as green hands. Silva hated Brander no less than Dan'l, for Brander had +been given the mate's berth that Silva claimed.... Silva was Dan'l's +right-hand man in his plans. + +And Roy, of course, was Dan'l's, to do with as he chose. + +Mauger got some whisperings of all this in the fo'c's'le. There was no +effort to keep it secret from him; no effort to keep the matter secret +at all. Dan'l had said openly that if the _Sally_ did not float, he was +for deserting her; those might come with him who chose. Save Mauger, +there were none openly against him. Tichel would stay, Willis waited on +Faith's word, but the rest held off and swung neither one way nor +another. + +All of which Mauger, with infinite stealth, told Brander, sneaking down +into the after 'tween decks at peril of his skin, night after night; and +Brander, fast-ironed there, and taking his calamities very +philosophically, praised the little man. "Keep your eyes open," he said. +"Bring me any word you get. Warn me in full time. And--find me a good, +keen file." + +Mauger fetched the file, pilfering it from the tool chest of Eph Hitch, +the cooper. Brander worked patiently at his bonds, submitting without +protest to his captivity. + +That night of the full moon, after they had failed to float the _Sally_, +Dan'l called Silva and bade him prepare two boats. "Get food and water +into them," he said. "Plenty. Make them ready. Tell the rest of them to +lower if they've a mind. I'm for leaving." + +Silva grinned his understanding. He asked a question. Dan'l said: "I'm +going down, now, to convince her. She'll come, no fear." + +He went below and left Silva to prepare the boats. Old Tichel was on +deck, but Willis had gone below. Tichel did not molest Silva. Discipline +had evaporated on the _Sally_; it was every man for himself. Those who +were for leaving ship were hotly impatient; and one boat full of men +lowered and drew slowly away toward the mouth of the cove where the +_Sally_ lay. There was no wind; the sea was glassy; and their oars +stirred the water into sparkling showers like jewels. Kellick and Yella' +Boy and four seamen were in that boat. Five of the green hands and +Tinch, the cook, caught the infection, and dumped food into another and +water, and followed.... + +Silva got his boat overside. He had with him two men, men of his +choosing who had signed as green hands but were stalwarts now. He saw +that the boat was ready, then stood in her by the rail, waiting for +Dan'l to come with Faith. Roy was on the after deck, where he would join +them. + +The men in the two boats that had already put off were lying on their +oars, half a mile away, watching the _Sally_. In all their minds was the +thought of the ambergris. They had no notion of leaving that behind; and +they did not mean to be tricked of their share in it. Silva could see +the boats idly drifting.... + +Mauger had slipped down to Brander with the word. "Two boats gone +a'ready," he said. "Silva waiting for Dan'l Tobey, now." + +"Where's Faith?" Brander asked. + +"In the cabin. Mr. Tobey went to her. He've not come up, yet." + +Brander considered. "Fetch a handspike," he said; and Mauger crawled on +deck and returned with it, and Brander pried open the irons he had filed +apart. He stood up and shook himself to ease the ache of his muscles. +"Now," he said, "let's go see...." + +He climbed up on deck, Mauger at his heels, and started aft. Roy saw him +coming, and Silva, from the rail, marked his movements and watched. Roy +dropped into the cabin to warn Dan'l; Brander leaped to follow him. +Silva spoke to his two men, and plunged up to the deck and darted after +Brander. + +Brander was at the foot of the companion ladder in the cabin when Roy +threw open the door of the after cabin to shout his warning; he saw, as +Roy saw, Dan'l gripping Faith and struggling with her. He heard Roy's +cry.... Leaped that way.... + +Roy was before him. Roy, grown into a man in that moment. Dan'l had told +him they would leave the ship, told him nothing more. Roy hated his +sister, and Dan'l knew this, and feared no trouble from the boy. But he +forgot that a boy's hate is not over strong. When Roy saw Faith in +Dan'l's arms, helplessly fighting against his kisses, he leaped to +protect her as though there had never been harsh words between them. Roy +was on Faith's side, thenceforward. + +The boy gripped Dan'l from behind; and for an instant more Dan'l clung +to Faith. His encircling arm tightened about her so that she thought her +ribs would crack; and when he flung her away, she was breathless and +sick to nausea, and she fell on the floor and lay there, retching and +gasping for breath. Dan'l flung her away, and swung on Roy. + +"You young fool," he swore, "I'll kill you, now." + +Roy was helpless before him. Dan'l held him by the throat, his fingers +sinking home, Roy beat and tore at the man helplessly for a space, then +his face blackened, and his eyes bulged, and Dan'l flung him away. + +Brander might have helped him, but for the fact that three men dropped +on him from the companion hatch and bore him smothering to the deck. The +three were Silva and his allies. Silva had a knife; and Mauger had felt +it, on the deck above. The one-eyed man lay there now, twisting and +clutching at a hole in his side. Silva was first down on Brander; and he +struck at Brander's neck as he leaped. But Brander had time to dodge to +one side, so that Silva hit him on the hip and bore him down. Then the +other two were upon him.... + +This sudden tumult in the cabin rang through the _Sally_. The night was +still; the noise could be heard even by the boats that drifted half a +mile away. Its abrupt outbreak was unsettling; it jangled taut nerves. +The two remaining seamen and Long Jim, Loum, and Eph Hitch lost courage, +raced for a boat, dropped it to the water and pulled off to see what was +to come. Tichel, who was on deck, ran to try to stop them; but Loum +struck out blindly and threw the mate off-balance for an instant that +was long enough to let them get away. + +The desertion of these last men left on the _Sally_ only the four +officers, Roy, Mauger, Silva, and Silva's two men. Faith was still +helpless, so was Roy, and Mauger had dragged himself upright against the +bulwarks and stripped up his shirt to investigate his wound. It was +bleeding profusely, but he found he could breathe without difficulty, +and told himself shrewdly that he would come out all right. + +Of men able to fight aboard the _Sally_, there were left Dan'l, Silva, +and the two seamen on one side, against Brander and Tichel and Cox. The +attitude of Tichel and Cox was in some sort uncertain. But the problem +was quickly settled.... + +Dan'l, dropping Faith and flinging Roy aside, had charged into the main +cabin to finish Brander; but Brander was so inextricably involved in his +struggle with his three antagonists that Dan'l got no immediate chance +at him. He was shifting around the twisting tangle of men, watching, +when Willis came out of his cabin in a single leap.... Willis had been +asleep; he was in shirt and trousers, his belt tight-girthed. He stared +stupidly, not understanding. + +Dan'l, balked of his chance at Brander, took Willis for fair game. If he +thought at all, it was to remember that Willis was loyal to Faith. He +attacked before Willis was fully awake, and bore the other man back into +the cabin from which Willis had come. He bent Willis against the bunks +so that for an instant it seemed the man's back would snap; but +desperation gave Willis the strength to fling himself away.... They +whirled into the cabin, still fighting. Dan'l was drunk with his own +rage by now.... He had thrown himself into a debauch of battle; and he +proved, this night, that he could fight when he chose.... + +He rocked Willis at last with a left-hand blow in the ribs, so that the +younger man dropped his arms to hug his bruised body; and Dan'l drove +home his fist to the other's jaw. The blow smacked loudly; and Willis +went down without a sound, his jaw broken.... + +If old Tichel had come down the companion ladder a minute sooner, he +might have saved Willis; and he and Willis between them might have +overcome Dan'l. But he was too late for that; he was in time to see +Willis fall; and before he could speak, Dan'l Tobey had attacked him. + +Dan'l was pure maniac now; he did not stop to ask whether Tichel were +friend or foe. And Tichel, old man though he was, was never one to +refuse a battle. He met Dan'l's charge with the tigerish venom that +characterized him in his rages; he leaped and was fairly in the air when +Dan'l struck him. But Dan'l's greater weight and the impetus of his +charge were too much for old Tichel. In the flash of a second, Dan'l had +him by the throat, down, banging his head against the floor till the +skin of his scalp was crushed and the blood flowed, and Tichel at last +lay still.... + +Dan'l got up, choking for breath, his chin down on his chest. There was +blood on him; his shirt was torn; his hair was wild. The mild, round +face of the man was distorted by wrinkles of passion. His lip was +bruised by a blow, and it puffed out in a surly, drunken way.... He +stood there, tottering, looking with blinking eyes at the heap of men +fighting at one side of the cabin.... Brander was in that heap +somewhere. It was still less than thirty seconds since Dan'l had smashed +Willis's jaw. Dan'l stepped unsteadily toward the heap of men and +peered down at them and laid hands on them to pull them away.... They +were too closely intertwined.... + +He backed off and looked around for a weapon. In a corner of the cabin +he saw something that might serve.... The head of a killing lance.... A +bar of metal three or four feet long, flattened at one end like the +blade of a putty knife, and ground to the keenest edge.... In the +whale-fisheries, it would be mounted on a staff; but there was no staff +in it now. He picked the thing up, and balanced it in his hands, and +walked gingerly back toward the striving knot of men. + + * * * * * + +When Brander dropped down into the cabin and through the open door saw +Faith in Dan'l's arms, he was for an instant paralyzed.... Then, as rage +surged up in him, he sensed the danger above him, and dodged to one side +as Silva leaped down from the deck. Silva struck against Brander's hip, +his knife slitting the air. Brander was thrown headlong, and Silva flung +after him. Brander rolled on his back, catching Silva in the stomach +with both feet, as the other two men dropped across his body. + +He had put little force into his kick at Silva, so that the man was +unhurt. Brander gripped one of the men who had fallen on him, and +whirled him under. At the same time, the other man attached himself to +Brander's neck, his right arm about Brander's neck to choke him. Brander +wedged his chin down and gripped this arm between his chin and his +breast, holding it off a little from his throat. Then Silva came at him +from the left side, and Brander's left hand flung out and gripped +Silva's knife wrist.... + +Brander was past the first flush of anger; he was cool, now, as he was +always cool in danger. Save Silva, the men against him were unarmed. At +least, neither made any effort to use a weapon. Therefore Brander flung +the one man out of his arms, and gave his attention to Silva. He was +just in time. Silva had shifted the knife to his other hand. Brander +grabbed for it, and the blade slid along his fingers, barely scratching +them.... Then he had the hand that held it; and he dragged it down and +wrenched it over, and across, and the fingers opened and the knife fell. +Brander groped for it, Silva swarming over him. He got the knife, but +knew he could not use it, so he threw it with the half of his arm which +was free. Crushed down by the man atop him, he saw that it slid across +the floor and flew into the after cabin. He thought Silva had not seen +it go.... + +Brander had not marked Dan'l when the man came first to crouch above +them. Dan'l was at Willis when Brander threw the knife. That weapon +being gone, Brander turned his attention to the man who had his throat. +He worked as coolly as though this man was his only antagonist; and +while he held off the others with his left hand and his knees, his right +went up over his shoulder and found the face of the man who choked him. +This groping hand of his came down against the man's face from above. +His palm rested against the cheek of his antagonist; and his fingers +groped under the other's jaw bone and clenched around it, biting far +into the soft flesh at the bottom of the mouth. He got a grip on this +that would hold; and the man screamed, and Brander jerked him up, and +over his shoulder.... The man slid helplessly tearing at Brander's +clenched fingers. Brander, at this time, was sitting up, with Silva at +his left, arms gripping, fists striking, and the other at the right. The +man whose jaw he had came down in Brander's lap, and he brought his +right knee up with all his force against the other's head and the man +became a dead weight across his legs. Brander wriggled free of him, +thought calmly that one of the three was gone and only two remained, and +turned his attention to the others. + +He had been forced to let them have their will of him for the seconds +required to deal with the man who had choked him. They had him down, +now, on his back on the cabin floor. One on either side.... He got a +left-hand grip on the seaman; he set his right hand on Silva's arm and +his fingers clenched on Silva's biceps. He flung them off a little, +freeing himself, so that he might have fought to his feet.... + +But when he thrust these two back, thus to right and left, and started +to sit up, he saw above him Dan'l. Dan'l, an insane light in his eyes, +the whaling lance poised in the thrusting position. It flickered +downward like a shaft of light.... + +Brander wrenched with all his strength at Silva; he swung Silva up and +over his own body just in time to intercept the lance. It slid in +between two ribs, an inch from Silva's backbone, and pierced him through +to the sternum.... It struck obliquely, cut half way into the mingled +cartilage and bone.... Then the soft iron of the shaft "elbowed" at +right angles, and Dan'l had to twist and fight to pull it free. Silva, +of course, was as dead as dead. Blood poured out of his mouth in +Brander's very face.... He flung the corpse aside, rolling after it to +be on his feet before Dan'l should strike again. But the remaining +seaman was in his path, grappled him, held him for an instant +motionless. Dan'l had had no chance to straighten the lance; he lifted +it like a hoe to bring it down on Brander's back. + +Then Faith called, from the door of the after cabin: + +"Dan'l! Have done!" + +Dan'l looked and saw her, weak, trembling, gripping the doorsill with +her left hand. In her right was a revolver. + +He leaped toward her, roaring; and Faith waited till he was within six +feet of her, then shot him carefully through the knee. He fell on his +face at her feet, howling. + +At the same time, Brander got home a blow that silenced his last +antagonist, and a great quiet settled down upon the _Sally Sims_. + + + + +XXIX + + +What shadows remained, Roy was able to clear away. Roy, who had hated +Brander, and who had hated Faith, yet in whom lived a strain of true +blood that could not but answer to these two in the end. The evil in +Dan'l had been writ in his face for any man to see, when Roy found him +clutching Faith; and Roy was not blind. + +The boy abased himself; he was pitifully ashamed. Still hoarse from the +choking Dan'l had given him, he told how he had stolen the whiskey at +the man's bidding.... A little at first; a ten-gallon keg in the end.... +Told how he had himself filled Brander's boat jug with the liquor, and +hidden a bottle in Mauger's bunk, and lied to old Tichel in the matter. +Told the whole tale, and made his peace with them, while Faith and +Brander watched each other over the boy's sobbing head with eloquent +eyes.... + + +For the rest; Silva was dead, and they buried him in the sand of the +beach. Mauger had a shallow knife slit along his ribs; Willis Cox had a +broken jaw. The others had suffered nothing worse than bruises, save +only Dan'l Tobey. Dan'l's knee was smashed and splintered, and he lay in +a stupor in the cabin, Willis watching beside him. + +Those who had fled to the boats came shamedly back at last; and Faith +and Brander met them at the rail, and Faith spoke to them. They had done +wrong, she told them; but there was a chance of wiping out the score by +bending to the toil she set them. They were already sick of +adventuring; they swarmed aboard like homesick boys. She and Brander +told them what to do, and drove them to it.... + +Before that day was gone, they had half her load out of the _Sally_; and +at full tide that night, with every hand tugging at a line or breasting +a capstan bar, they hauled her off. She slid an inch, two inches, +four.... She moved a foot, three feet.... They freed her, by sheer power +of their determination that she must come free. They dragged her full +ten feet before the suction of the sand beneath her keel began to slack, +and ten feet more before she floated free.... Then the boats lowered, +and towed her safe off shore, and anchored her there. + +After that, three days to get the casks inboard again and stowed below. +Three days in which Dan'l Tobey passed from suffering to delirium. +Brander had tended his wound as best he could; but the bone was +splintered and the flesh was shattered, and there came an hour when the +flesh about the wound turned green and black. It gave off a horrible +fetid odor of decay. + +Brander told Faith: "He's got to lose either leg or life." + +She did not ask him if he were sure; she knew him well enough, now, +never to doubt him again. But Dan'l, in an interval of lucidity, had +heard; and he croaked: + +"Take it off, Brander. Take it off. Get the ax, man." + +Brander bent over the man. "I'll do my best for you." + +Dan'l grinned with the old jeer in his eyes. "Aye, I've no doubt, Mr. +Brander. Go at it, man." + +They had not so much as a vial of morphia to deaden the pain; but Dan'l +slumped into delirium at the first stroke of the knife Brander had +whetted to a razor keenness. His body twitched in the grip of Willis Cox +and Loum.... Faith helped Brander tie the arteries; Roy stood by to give +what aid he could.... + +When it was done, Faith said the _Sally_ would lie at anchor till Dan'l +died or mended; and in two weeks Brander told her the man would live. +She nodded. + +"Then we'll go out and fill our casks," she said, "and then for home." + +Brander looked at her with shining eyes. "Aye, fill our casks," he +agreed, as though it were the most natural thing in the world to stick +to that task till it was done. They put to sea. + +Dan'l was going to live; but the man was broken. He was not to quit his +bunk through the months of the homeward cruise; he was wasted by the +fury of his own passions, by the shock of his crippling injury.... He +had aged; there was no longer any strength in the man. So old Tichel +came into his own at last; he became the titular master of the ship, and +Faith was content to let him hold the reins, so long as he did as she +desired. Willis Cox yielded precedence to Brander; Brander was mate. +When they sighted whales, all three of them lowered, while Faith kept +ship. Their work had been nearly done before Noll died; they lacked less +than a dozen whales to fill. Young Roy, to his vast content, was allowed +to take out a boat and kill one of that last dozen, while Brander in his +boat lay watchfully by. + +Came a day, when the trying out was done, that Brander went to Faith. +"We're bung up," he said. "The last cask's sweating full." + +Faith nodded happily, and swung to Mr. Tichel. "Then let's for home," +she said. + + * * * * * + +For the rest, the matter tells itself. They hauled in to the nearest +island port and overhauled and recoopered the water casks, and took on +wood and water for the five months' homeward way. They stocked with +potatoes and vegetables. The crow's nests came down, and to'gallant +masts were set to carry canvas on the passage. The gear was stripped +from the whaleboats and stowed away, and two of the boats were lashed +atop the boathouse, with the spares. The rigging had a touch of tar, the +hull and spars took a lick of paint, the wood-work shone with +scraping.... + +So, to sea. The first day out saw the dismantling of the tryworks; and +broken bricks flew overside for half that day, all hands joining in the +sport of it. Then a clean deck, and a stout northwest wind behind them, +and the long easterly stretch to the Horn was begun.... + +That homeward cruise was a pleasant time for Faith and Brander. They +were much together, speaking little, speaking not at all of +themselves.... Save once, Faith said, smiling at him shyly: + +"I knew you hadn't done it, even when I told them to put you in +irons...." + +He nodded. "I knew you knew." + +They both understood; their eyes said what their lips were not yet +ready to say. There was a reticence upon them. Faith, on the deck of her +husband's ship, felt still the shadow of Noll Wing in her life.... +Brander felt its presence. It made neither of them unhappy; they +respected it. Faith was never ashamed of Noll. He had been a man.... She +had loved him; she was proud that he had loved her.... + +Day by day they were together, on deck or below, while the winds worked +for them and the stars in their courses watched over them. Through the +chill of southern waters as they rounded the Cape.... Cap'n Tichel +looking back at it, waved his hand in valedictory; and Faith asked: +"What are you thinking, Mr. Tichel?" + +"Saying good-by to old Cape Stiff there," he chuckled. "I'll not come +this way again." + +"Yes, you will," she told him. "You're captain of your own ship, now.... +And will be, next cruise." + +He shook his head. "I know when I'm well off, young lady. Old Tichel's +ready to stick ashore, now...." + +She left him, staring back across the dull, cold sea.... He stood there +stiffly till the night came down upon the waters. + +After that, they struck warmer winds, with a pleasant ocean all about, +and the scud of spray sweet upon their cheeks, and the _Sally_ fat with +oil beneath their feet. A happy time, when Faith and Brander, with never +a word and never a touch of hand, grew close as man and woman can +grow.... + +Never a cloud in the skies from their last kill to the day they picked +up the tug that shunted them alongside their wharf at home. + + * * * * * + +There are many things that never get into the log. Faith had no vengeful +heart toward Dan'l; the man had reaped what he sowed. With the _Sally_, +Noll Wing's ship, safe home again, she was willing to forget what had +passed. She told Dan'l so. Silva was dead; the others were but +instruments. The matter was done.... + +Dan'l, possessed by a creeping apathy, nodded his thanks to her and +turned away his head. The man was dying where he lay; he would not long +survive. + +Old Jem Kilcup was at the wharf to hug Faith against his broad chest. An +older Jem than when she went away; but a glad Jem to see her home again. +Jonathan Felt was with him, asking anxiously for Noll. When Faith told +them Noll was gone, old Jonathan fell sorrowfully silent. The whole town +would mourn Noll; he had been one of its heroes.... + +Faith said proudly: "He's dead, sir. But this was his fattest cruise. He +never brought home better than he's sent, now." + +"You're full?" asked Jonathan. + +"Aye, every cask.... And more," said Faith. And told him of the +ambergris. She gave Brander so much credit for that, and for other +things, that Jonathan hooked his arm in that of the young man, and +walked with him thus when they all went to the office to hear Cap'n +Tichel make his report. + +Jem sat there, listening, proud eyes on Faith, while Tichel told the +story; and Faith listened, and looked now and then at Brander, where he +stood in the shadows by the window. In the end, Tichel said +straightforwardly that he was content with what life had brought him, +that he was through with the sea. But he pointed toward Brander. + +"There's a man'll beat Noll Wing's best for you," he said. + +Jonathan got up, spry little old figure, and crossed to grip Brander by +the hand. "You'll take out a ship o' mine?" he asked; and Brander +hesitated, and his eyes crossed to meet Faith's, as though to ask +permission. Faith nodded faintly; and Brander said: + +"Yes, sir, if you like." + +"I do like," said Jonathan briskly. "I do like; so that's settled and +done." + +Afterward, Tichel and Willis went back to the ship. Jem, with Faith on +his arm, were to go up the hill to Faith's old home. They stopped +outside Jonathan's door to say good-by to Brander for a little while. +Faith was free of the load of responsibility that she had taken on her +shoulders; she had put Noll Wing's ship behind her. She looked up at him +with eyes that offered everything. + +Brander said quietly: "I've much to say to you that's never been said. +Will you let me come to your home this night for the saying?" + +Faith looked up at her father, looked to Brander again, and smiled, + +"Do come," she said. + + +THE END + + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + + + * * * * * + + + + +May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset & Dunlap's list + + +ZANE GREY'S NOVELS + + THE LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS + + A New York society girl buys a ranch which becomes the center of + frontier warfare. Her loyal superintendent rescues her when she is + captured by bandits. A surprising climax brings the story to a + delightful close. + + THE RAINBOW TRAIL + + The story of a young clergyman who becomes a wanderer in the great + western uplands--until at last love and faith awake. + + DESERT GOLD + + The story describes the recent uprising along the border, and ends + with the finding of the gold which two prospectors had willed to the + girl who is the story's heroine. + + RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE + + A picturesque romance of Utah of some forty years ago when Mormon + authority ruled. The prosecution of Jane Withersteen is the theme of + the story. + + THE LAST OF THE PLAINSMEN + + This is the record of a trip which the author took with Buffalo + Jones, known as the preserver of the American bison, across the + Arizona desert and of a hunt in "that wonderful country of deep + canons and giant pines." + + THE HERITAGE OF THE DESERT + + A lovely girl, who has been reared among Mormons, learns to love a + young New Englander. The Mormon religion, however, demands that the + girl shall become the second wife of one of the Mormons--Well, + that's the problem of this great story. + + THE SHORT STOP + + The young hero, tiring of his factory grind, starts out to win fame + and fortune as a professional ball player. His hard knocks at the + start are followed by such success as clean sportsmanship, courage + and honesty ought to win. + + BETTY ZANE + + This story tells of the bravery and heroism of Betty, the beautiful + young sister of old Colonel Zane, one of the bravest pioneers. + + THE LONE STAR RANGER + + After killing a man in self defense, Buck Duane becomes an outlaw + along the Texas border. In a camp on the Mexican side of the river, + he finds a young girl held prisoner, and in attempting to rescue + her, brings down upon himself the wrath of her captors and + henceforth is hunted on one side by honest men, on the other by + outlaws. + + THE BORDER LEGION + + Joan Randle, in a spirit of anger, sent Jim Cleve out to a lawless + Western mining camp to prove his mettle. Then realizing that she + loved him--she followed him out. On her way, she is captured by a + bandit band, and trouble begins when she shoots Kells, the + leader--and nurses him to health again. Here enters another, + romance--when Joan, disguised as an outlaw, observes Jim, in the + throes of dissipation. A gold strike, a thrilling robbery--gambling + and gun play carry you along breathlessly. + + THE LAST OF THE GREAT SCOUTS. + By Helen Cody Wetmore and Zane Grey + + The life story of Colonel William F. Cody, "Buffalo Bill," as told + by his sister and Zane Grey. It begins with his boyhood in Iowa and + his first encounter with an Indian. We see "Bill" as a pony express + rider, then near Fort Sumter as Chief of the Scouts, and later + engaged in the most dangerous Indian campaigns. There is also a very + interesting account of the travels of "The Wild West" Show. No + character in public life makes a stronger appeal to the imagination + of America than "Buffalo Bill," whose daring and bravery made him + famous. + + +STORIES OF RARE CHARM BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER + + MICHAEL O'HALLORAN. Illustrated by Frances Rogers. + + Michael is a quick-witted little Irish newsboy, living in Northern + Indiana. He adopts a deserted little girl, a cripple. He also + assumes the responsibility of leading the entire rural community + upward and onward. + + LADDIE. Illustrated by Herman Pfeifer. + + This is a bright, cheery tale with the scenes laid in Indiana. The + story is told by Little Sister, the youngest member of a large + family, but it is concerned not so much with childish doings as with + the love affairs of older members of the family. Chief among them is + that of Laddie and the Princess, an English girl who has come to + live in the neighborhood and about whose family there hangs a + mystery. + + THE HARVESTER. Illustrated by W. L. Jacobs. + + "The Harvester," is a man of the woods and fields, and if the book + had nothing in it but the splendid figure of this man it would be + notable. But when the Girl comes to his "Medicine Woods," there + begins a romance of the rarest idyllic quality. + + FRECKLES. Illustrated. + + Freckles is a nameless waif when the tale opens, but the way in + which he takes hold of life; the nature friendships he forms in the + great Limberlost Swamp; the manner in which everyone who meets him + succumbs to the charm of his engaging personality; and his + love-story with "The Angel" are full of real sentiment. + + A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST. Illustrated. + + The story of a girl of the Michigan woods; a buoyant, loveable type + of the self-reliant American. Her philosophy is one of love and + kindness towards all things; her hope is never dimmed. And by the + sheer beauty of her soul, and the purity of her vision, she wins + from barren and unpromising surroundings those rewards of high + courage. + + AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW. Illustrations in colors. + + The scene of this charming love story is laid in Central Indiana. + The story is one of devoted friendship, and tender self-sacrificing + love. The novel is brimful of the most beautiful word painting of + nature, and its pathos and tender sentiment will endear it to all. + + THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL. Profusely illustrated. + + A love ideal of the Cardinal bird and his mate, told with delicacy + and humor. + + +THE NOVELS OF MARY ROBERTS RINEHART + + DANGEROUS DAYS. + + A brilliant story of married life. A romance of fine purpose and + stirring appeal. + + THE AMAZING INTERLUDE. Illustrations by The Kinneys. + + The story of a great love which cannot be pictured--an + interlude--amazing, romantic. + + LOVE STORIES. + + This book is exactly what its title indicates, a collection of love + affairs--sparkling with humor, tenderness and sweetness. + + "K." Illustrated. + + K. LeMoyne, famous surgeon, goes to live in a little town where + beautiful Sidney Page lives. She is in training to become a nurse. + The joys and troubles of their young love are told with keen and + sympathetic appreciation. + + THE MAN IN LOWER TEN. Illustrated by Howard Chandler Christy. + + An absorbing detective story woven around the mysterious death of + the "Man in Lower Ten." + + WHEN A MAN MARRIES. Illustrated by Harrison Fisher and Mayo Bunker. + + A young artist, whose wife had recently divorced him, finds that his + aunt is soon to visit him. The aunt, who contributes to the family + income, knows nothing of the domestic upheaval. How the young man + met the situation is entertainingly told. + + THE CIRCULAR STAIRCASE. Illustrated by Lester Ralph. + + The occupants of "Sunnyside" find the dead body of Arnold Armstrong + on the circular staircase. Following the murder a bank failure is + announced. Around these two events is woven a plot of absorbing + interest. + + THE STREET OF SEVEN STARS. (Photoplay Edition.) + + Harmony Wells, studying in Vienna to be a great violinist, suddenly + realizes that her money is almost gone. She meets a young ambitious + doctor who offers her chivalry and sympathy, and together with + world-worn Dr. Anna and Jimmie, the waif, they share their love and + slender means. + + +BOOTH TARKINGTON'S NOVELS + + SEVENTEEN. Illustrated by Arthur William Brown. + + No one but the creator of Penrod could have portrayed the immortal + young people of this story. Its humor is irresistible and + reminiscent of the time when the reader was Seventeen. + + PENROD. Illustrated by Gordon Grant. + + This is a picture of a boy's heart, full of the lovable, humorous, + tragic things which are locked secrets to most older folks. It is a + finished, exquisite work. + + PENROD AND SAM. Illustrated by Worth Brehm. + + Like "Penrod" and "Seventeen," this book contains some remarkable + phases of real boyhood and some of the best stories of juvenile + prankishness that have ever been written. + + THE TURMOIL. Illustrated by C. E. Chambers. + + Bibbs Sheridan is a dreamy, imaginative youth, who revolts against + his father's plans for him to be a servitor of big business. The + love of a fine girl turns Bibbs' life from failure to success. + + THE GENTLEMAN FROM INDIANA. Frontispiece. + + A story of love and politics,--more especially a picture of a + country editor's life in Indiana, but the charm of the book lies in + the love interest. + + THE FLIRT. Illustrated by Clarence F. Underwood. + + The "Flirt," the younger of two sisters, breaks one girl's + engagement, drives one man to suicide, causes the murder of another, + leads another to lose his fortune, and in the end marries a stupid + and unpromising suitor, leaving the really worthy one to marry her + sister. + + +KATHLEEN NORRIS' STORIES + + SISTERS. Frontispiece by Frank Street. + + The California Redwoods furnish the background for this beautiful + story of sisterly devotion and sacrifice. + + POOR, DEAR, MARGARET KIRBY. Frontispiece by George Gibbs. + + A collection of delightful stories, including "Bridging the Years" + and "The Tide-Marsh." This story is now shown in moving pictures. + + JOSSELYN'S WIFE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + + The story of a beautiful woman who fought a bitter fight for + happiness and love. + + MARTIE, THE UNCONQUERED. Illustrated by Charles E. Chambers. + + The triumph of a dauntless spirit over adverse conditions. + + THE HEART OF RACHAEL. Frontispiece by Charles E. Chambers. + + An interesting story of divorce and the problems that come with a + second marriage. + + THE STORY OF JULIA PAGE. Frontispiece by C. Allan Gilbert. + + A sympathetic portrayal of the quest of a normal girl, obscure and + lonely, for the happiness of life. + + SATURDAY'S CHILD. Frontispiece by F. Graham Cootes. + + Can a girl, born in rather sordid conditions, lift herself through + sheer determination to the better things for which her soul + hungered? + + MOTHER. Illustrated by F. C. Yohn. + + A story of the big mother heart that beats in the background of + every girl's life, and some dreams which came true. + + +JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD'S STORIES OF ADVENTURE + + KAZAN + + The tale of a "quarter-strain wolf and three-quarters husky" torn + between the call of the human and his wild mate. + + BAREE, SON OF KAZAN + + The story of the son of the blind Grey Wolf and the gallant part he + played in the lives of a man and a woman. + + THE COURAGE OF CAPTAIN PLUM + + The story of the King of Beaver Island, a Mormon colony, and his + battle with Captain Plum. + + THE DANGER TRAIL + + A tale of snow, of love, of Indian vengeance, and a mystery of the + North. + + THE HUNTED WOMAN + + A tale of the "end of the line," and of a great fight in the "valley + of gold" for a woman. + + THE FLOWER OF THE NORTH + + The story of Fort o' God, where the wild flavor of the wilderness is + blended with the courtly atmosphere of France. + + THE GRIZZLY KING + + The story of Thor, the big grizzly who lived in a valley where man + had never come. + + ISOBEL + + A love story of the Far North. + + THE WOLF HUNTERS + + A thrilling tale of adventure in the Canadian wilderness. + + THE GOLD HUNTERS + + The story of adventure in the Hudson Bay wilds. + + THE COURAGE OF MARGE O'DOONE + + Filled with exciting incidents in the land of strong men and women. + + BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY + + A thrilling story of the Far North. The great Photoplay was made + from this book. + + +RALPH CONNOR'S STORIES OF THE NORTHWEST + + THE SKY PILOT IN NO MAN'S LAND + + The clean-hearted, strong-limbed man of the West leaves his hills + and forests to fight the battle for freedom in the old world. + + BLACK ROCK + + A story of strong men in the mountains of the West. + + THE SKY PILOT + + A story of cowboy life, abounding in the freshest humor, the truest + tenderness and the finest courage. + + THE PROSPECTOR + + A tale of the foothills and of the man who came to them to lend a + hand to the lonely men and women who needed a protector. + + THE MAN FROM GLENGARRY + + This narrative brings us into contact with elemental and volcanic + human nature and with a hero whose power breathes from every word. + + GLENGARRY SCHOOL DAYS + + In this rough country of Glengarry, Ralph Connor has found human + nature in the rough. + + THE DOCTOR + + The story of a "preacher-doctor" whom big men and reckless men loved + for his unselfish life among them. + + THE FOREIGNER + + A tale of the Saskatchewan and of a "foreigner" who made a brave and + winning fight for manhood and love. + + CORPORAL CAMERON + + This splendid type of the upright, out-of-door man about which Ralph + Connor builds all his stories, appears again in this book. + + +THE NOVELS OF GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL LUTZ + + THE BEST MAN + + Through a strange series of adventures a young man finds himself + propelled up the aisle of a church and married to a strange girl. + + A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS + + On her way West the heroine steps off by mistake at a lonely + watertank into a maze of thrilling events. + + THE ENCHANTED BARN + + Every member of the family will enjoy this spirited chronicle of a + young girl's resourcefulness and pluck, and the secret of the + "enchanted" barn. + + THE WITNESS + + The fascinating story of the enormous change an incident wrought in + a man's life. + + MARCIA SCHUYLER + + A picture of ideal girlhood set in the time of full skirts and poke + bonnets. + + LO, MICHAEL! + + A story of unfailing appeal to all who love and understand boys. + + THE MAN OF THE DESERT + + An intensely moving love story of a man of the desert and a girl of + the East pictured against the background of the Far West. + + PHOEBE DEANE + + A tense and charming love story, told with a grace and a fervor with + which only Mrs. Lutz could tell it. + + DAWN OF THE MORNING + + A romance of the last century with all of its old-fashioned charm. A + companion volume to "Marcia Schuyler" and "Phoebe Deane." + + +"STORM COUNTRY" BOOKS BY GRACE MILLER WHITE + + JUDY OF ROGUES' HARBOR + + Judy's untutored ideas of God, her love of wild things, her faith in + life are quite as inspiring as those of Tess. Her faith and + sincerity catch at your heart strings. This book has all of the + mystery and tense action of the other Storm Country books. + + TESS OF THE STORM COUNTRY + + It was as Tess, beautiful, wild, impetuous, that Mary Pickford made + her reputation as a motion picture actress. How love acts upon a + temperament such as hers--a temperament that makes a woman an angel + or an outcast, according to the character of the man she loves--is + the theme of the story. + + THE SECRET OF THE STORM COUNTRY + + The sequel to "Tess of the Storm Country," with the same wild + background, with its half-gypsy life of the squatters--tempestuous, + passionate, brooding. Tess learns the "secret" of her birth and + finds happiness and love through her boundless faith in life. + + FROM THE VALLEY OF THE MISSING + + A haunting story with its scene laid near the country familiar to + readers of "Tess of the Storm Country." + + ROSE O' PARADISE + + "Jinny" Singleton, wild, lovely, lonely, but with a passionate + yearning for music, grows up in the house of Lafe Grandoken, a + crippled cobbler of the Storm Country. Her romance is full of power + and glory and tenderness. + + +ELEANOR H. PORTER'S NOVELS + + JUST DAVID + + The tale of a loveable boy and the place he comes to fill in the + hearts of the gruff farmer folk to whose care he is left. + + THE ROAD TO UNDERSTANDING + + A compelling romance of love and marriage. + + OH, MONEY! MONEY! + + Stanley Fulton, a wealthy bachelor, to test the dispositions of his + relatives, sends them each a check for $100,000, and then as plain + John Smith comes among them to watch the result of his experiment. + + SIX STAR RANCH + + A wholesome story of a club of six girls and their summer on Six + Star Ranch. + + DAWN + + The story of a blind boy whose courage leads him through the gulf of + despair into a final victory gained by dedicating his life to the + service of blind soldiers. + + ACROSS THE YEARS + + Short stories of our own kind and of our own people. Contains some + of the best writing Mrs. Porter has done. + + THE TANGLED THREADS + + In these stories we find the concentrated charm and tenderness of + all her other books. + + THE TIE THAT BINDS + + Intensely human stories told with Mrs. Porter's wonderful talent for + warm and vivid character drawing. + + +_Ask for Complete free list of G. & D. Popular Copyrighted Fiction_ + +GROSSET & DUNLAP, PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea Bride, by Ben Ames Williams + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA BRIDE *** + +***** This file should be named 36881.txt or 36881.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/8/36881/ + +Produced by Brian Sogard, Adam Styles and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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