A Man to His Mate

by J. Allan Dunn

  CHAPTER IX

  THE POT SIMMERS

  Rainey was awakened at half past seven by the swift rush of men on deckand a confused shouting. The sun was shining brightly through hisporthole and then it became suddenly obscured. He looked out and saw aturreted mass of ice not half a cable's length away from the schooner,water cascading all over its hills and valleys, that were distinctenough, but so smoothed that the truth flashed over him. Here was a bergthat had suddenly turned turtle and exposed its greater, under-waterbulk to the air.

  About it the sea was dark and vivid blue, and the berg sparkled in thesun with prismatic reflections that gave all the hues of the rainbow toits prominences, while the bulk glowed like a fire opal. Between it andthe schooner the sea ran in a lasher of diminishing turmoil. Hansen hadcarelessly sailed too close. The momentum of the _Karluk_ and its slightwave disturbance must have sufficed to upset the equilibrium of theberg, floating with only a third of its bulk above the water. And thedisplacement had narrowly missed the schooner's side.

  He got a cup of coffee after dressing warmly, and went up. Carlsen andthe girl had preceded him and were gazing at the iceberg. The doctorseemed to be in the same rare vein of humor as overnight. Lund stood atthe rail with his beak of a nose wrinkled, snuffing toward the icy cragsthat were spouting a dazzle of white flame, set about with smaller,sudden flares of ruby, emerald and sapphire.

  "Close shave, that, Rainey," called Carlsen. "She turned turtle on us."

  "Too close to be pleasant," said Rainey, and went to the wheel. The girlhad given him a smile, but he marked her face as weary fromsleeplessness and strain. Rainey left the spokes in charge of Hansen fora minute--Hansen stolid and chewing like an automaton, undisturbed bythe incident now it had passed--and asked the girl how her father was.

  "I am afraid--" she began, then glanced at Carlsen.

  "He is not at all well," said the doctor, facing Rainey, his face awayfrom the girl. As he spoke he left his mouth open for a moment, histongue showing between his white teeth, in a grin that was as mocking asthat of a wolf, mirthless, ruthless, triumphant. And for a fleetingsecond his eyes matched it.

  Rainey restrained a sudden desire to smash his fist into that sardonicmask. This was the day of Carlsen's anticipated victory, the first ofhis calculated moves toward check-mate, and he was palpably enjoying it.

  "Not--at--all--well," repeated Carlsen slowly. "He needs something tobring him out of himself, as he now is. A little excitement. Yet heshould not be crossed in any way. We shall see."

  He shifted his position and looked at the girl much as a wolf, notparticularly hungry, might look at a tethered lamb. His tongue justtouched the inner edges of his lips. It was as if the wolf had lickedhis chops.

  "Carlsen would be a bad loser," Lund had once said, "and a nasty winner.He'd want to rub it in as soon as he knew he had you beat."

  Rainey gripped the spokes hard until he felt the pressure of his bonesagainst the wood. Carlsen's attitude had had one good effect. Hisnervousness had disappeared, and a cold rage taken its place. He couldcheerfully have attempted to throttle Carlsen without fear of his gun.For that matter, he had faced the pistol once and come off best. What afool he had been, though, to let Carlsen regain his automatic! Now hewas anxious for the landfall, keen for the show-down.

  Far on the horizon, northward, he sighted glimmering flashes of milkywhiteness that came and went to the swing of the schooner. This couldnot be land, he decided, or they would have announced it. It was ice,pack-ice, or floes. He tried to recollect all that he had heard or readof Arctic voyages, and succeeded only in comprehending his ownignorance. Of the rapidly changing conditions the commonest sailoraboard knew more than he. Blind Lund, sniffing to windward, smelled andheard far more than he could rightfully imagine.

  Tamada appeared and announced breakfast.

  "You'll be coming later, Rainey?" asked Carlsen. "You and Lund?"

  He started for the companionway and the girl followed. As she passed thewheel Rainey spoke to her:

  "I am sorry your father is worse, Miss Simms," he said.

  She looked at him with eyes that were filled with sadness, that seemedliquid with tears bravely held back.

  "I am afraid he is dying," she answered in a low voice. "Thank you, foryou sympathy. I--"

  She stopped at some slight sound that Rainey did not catch. But he sawthe face of Carlsen framed in the shadow of the companion, his mouthopen in the wolf grin, and the man's eyes were gleaming crimson. He heldup a hand for the girl. She passed down without taking it.

  Lund came over to Rainey.

  "Clear weather, they tell me?" he said. "That's unusual. Fog off theAleutians three hundred an' fifty days of the year, as a rule. Soon aswe sight land, which'll be Unalaska or thereabouts, he'll have thecourse changed. There's a considerable fleet of United States revenuecutters at Unalaska, an' Carlsen won't pull ennything until we're wellwest of there. He's pretty cocky this mornin'. Wal, we'll see."

  There had always been a certain rollicking good-humor about Lund. Thismorning he was grim, his face, with its beak of a nose and aggressivechin beneath the flaming whiskers, and his whole magnificent body gavethe impression of resolve and repressed action. Rainey fanciedwhimsically that he could hear a dynamo purring inside of the giant'smassiveness. He had seen him in open rage when he had first denouncedHonest Simms, but the serious mood was far more impressive.

  The big man stepped like a great cat, his head was thrust slightlyforward, his great hands were half open. One forgot his blindness.Despite the unsightly black lenses, Lund appeared so absolutely preparedand, in a different way, fully as confident as Carlsen. A certainaudacious assurance seemed to ooze out of him, to permeate hisneighborhood, and a measure of it extended to Rainey.

  "We'll sight Makushin first," muttered Lund, as if to himself.

  "Makushin?"

  "Volcano, fifty-seven hundred feet high. Much ice in sight?"

  Rainey described the horizon.

  "All fresh-water ice," said Lund. "An' melting."

  "Melting? It must be way below freezing," said Rainey. Lund chuckled.

  "This ain't cold, matey. Wait till we git _north_. Never saw it lowerthan five above in Unalaska in my life. It's the rainiest spot in theU. S. A. Rains two days out of three, reg'lar. This ice is comin' out ofthe strait. Sure sign it's breakin' up. The winter freeze ain't due forsix weeks yet."

  Carlsen, before he went below, had sent a man into the fore-spreaders,and now he shouted, cupping his hands and sounding his news as if it hadbeen a call to arms.

  "_Land-ho!_"

  "What is it?" called Rainey back.

  "High peak, sir. Dead ahead! Clouds on it, or smoke."

  He came sliding down the halyards to the deck as Lund said: "That'll beMakushin. Now the fun'll commence."

  From below the sailors off watch came up on deck, and the hunters, thelatter wiping their mouths, fresh from their interrupted breakfast, allcrowding forward to get a glimpse of the land. Rainey kept on thecourse, heading for the far-off volcano. Minutes passed before Carlsencame on deck. He had not hurried his meal.

  "I'll take her over, Rainey," he said briefly.

  Rainey and Lund were barely seated before the heeling of the schoonerand the scuffle of feet told of Lund's prophesied change of course.Rainey looked at the telltale compass above his head.

  "Heading due west," he told Lund.

  "West it is," said the giant. "More coffee, Tamada. Fill your belly,Rainey. Get a good meal while the eatin' is good."

  Although it was Hansen's watch below, Rainey found him at the wheelinstead of the seaman he had left there. Carlsen came up to him smiling.

  "Better let Hansen have the deck, Mr. Rainey," he said. "We're going tohave a conference in the cabin at four bells, and I'd like you to bepresent."

  "All right, sir," Rainey answered, getting a thrill at this first actualintimation of the meeting. Hansen, it seemed, was not to be one of therepresentatives of the seamen. And Carlsen had
been smart enough toforestall Lund's demand for Rainey by taking some of the wind out of thegiant's sails and doing the unexpected. Unless the hunters had suggestedthat Rainey be present. But that was hardly likely, considering that hewas to be left out of the deal.

  "In just what capacity are you callin' this conference?" Lund asked,when Carlsen notified him in turn. "The skipper ain't dead is he?"

  "I represent the captain, Lund," replied the doctor. "He entirelyapproves of what I am about to suggest to you and the men. In fact Ihave his signature to a document that I hope you will sign also. It willbe greatly to your interest to do so. I am in present charge of the_Karluk_."

  "You ain't a reg'lar member of this expedition," objected Lund stolidly."Neither am I a member of the crew, just now. But the skipper's mypartner in this deal, signed, sealed and recorded. Afore I go to ennymeetin' I'd like to have a talk with him personally. Thet's fair enough,ain't it?"

  Several of the hunters had gathered about, and Lund's question seemed ageneral appeal. Carlsen shrugged his shoulders.

  "If you had your eyesight," he said almost brutally, "you could soon seethat the skipper was in no condition to discuss matters, much less bepresent."

  "Here's my eyesight," countered Lund. "Mr. Rainey here. Let him see theskipper and ask him a question or two."

  "What kind of question? I'm asking as his doctor, Lund."

  "For one thing if he's read the paper you say he signed. I want to besure of that. An' I don't make it enny of yore bizness, Carlsen, what Iwant to say to my partner, by proxy or otherwise. Second thing, I'd liketo be sure he's still alive. As for yore standin' as his doctor, allI've got to say is that yo're a damned pore doctor, so fur as theskipper's concerned, ennyway."

  The two men stood facing each other, Carlsen looking evilly at thegiant, whose black glasses warded off his glance. It was wasting looksto glare at a blind man. Equally to sneer. But the bout between the twowas timed now, and both were casting aside any veneer of diplomacy,their enmity manifesting itself in the raw. The issue was growing tense.

  Rainey fancied that Carlsen was not entirely sure of his following, andrelied upon Lund's indignant refusal of terms to back up his plans ofgetting rid of him decisively.