by M. P. Shiel
XXI
IN THE DEEP
They had not been ten minutes in the tower when Harris began to whine ofthe cold; whereupon Hogarth took off his slop-jacket and waistcoat, andput them upon the Cockney.
As from two sound-escapes far down near the bell some twilight came in,near eight Hogarth descended, working from beam to beam, to find thaton one side the bell-metal had been melted into a lumpish mass, its rimshrivelled up, leaving an empty space under the motto _Laudate Domino_(mistake for _Dominum_) _omnes gentes_; and on the opposite side ran acrack from top to rim. Sliding still lower on a slanting beam, he couldlook obliquely upward into the bell's interior, and see the clapper, amass weighing eight hundredweight, and so long, that quite down at thebell's rim were two hollows where it had constantly struck. It, too, hadbeen blasted; but the bell-rope hung intact from a short beam at rightangles to the swing beam; and, having found this much, he searched wherehe had left the bottom of his tin can, and clambered back with it intothe upper regions.
About eleven, lying along two beams, they could see the portal belowopened, and four men came in, looking unreal and small; whereupon theleverage wheel was pulled, the swing-beam swung, the bell struck theclapper, and throughout the tower growled grum sounds: after which thefour stood talking half an hour, and went away.
A little later--it must have been after the forty minutes'dinner-interval--about twenty convicts entered with two warders, bearingthree ladders. When these had been fastened together and set up, and theleverage wheel removed, they went away.
It was evidently to be slow work. Not till about four did a solitary manmount the ladder, and take stand, far down under the bell, gazing up along while, with stoops, and changes of posture. Hogarth thought that itwas the bell-foundry expert whom he had seen; but could only guess: forall here was dim and remote.
By now he had sawed the clothes-line into two pieces with the tin,one piece eight feet, the other much longer--had intended tearing hisclothes into strips for ropes, but the clothes-line was still better. Inboth ropes he made knots for hand-hold, a large knot at one end ofthe short one, and he attached the string of tin to the other end.Descending now, he tied the longer rope round the swingbeam, let himselfdown to the rim of the bell, and with the right hand pushed the tininto the hole in which the clapper swung, reaching up, until the tinover-balanced, ran, and toppled down beside the clapper; drawing the tinnow, he brought the rope down till it was stopped by the knot; and now,by a swing off from rope to rope, could climb into the bell. He thenreascended, taking the longer rope, and the tin, with him.
As night fell, he judged that by the next he would succumb. Happily,Harris, who had eaten later than he, was snoring in a nook; but towardmorning began to whine again, and sulk, and kept it up all the day. Nota soul now entered, and as the blackness of night once more filled theplace, Harris threw up the sponge, with "Here goes for this child....!"Hogarth flew across the space which divided them, and a quarrel ofcats ensued, both being under the influence of the fury called"hunger-madness". It was only when Harris felt the grip of Hogarthat his windpipe that he squealed submission, whereupon Hogarth threwhimself away; and half the night they sat, nothing but four eyes, eyeingeach other.
That night what was a revival of the great gale took place, belling likebucks about their heads, and noising through the tower in many a voice.This so increased their sense of desolation, that even the heart ofHogarth fainted, they like castaways on some ocean whose glooms nosunrise ever goldens; and now a doubt arose whether, even if the bellwere removed on the morrow, Harris would have strength to cling onduring the descent.
However, early the next day hope revived when five men entered, fourmounting among the beams to the swing-beam with tools, one at theladder-head shouting up orders; and Hogarth, when they had gone,whispered Harris: "They have been unscrewing the sockets in which thebell-beam swings".
"Let them unscrew away", said Harris, his chin shivering on his hand.
Five more hours; during which only once did three men enter, seeming todo nothing but talk, with upward glances.
But at three it was evident that there was considerable to-do, thoughabove there the row of the winds drowned all sound. A crowd, chiefly ofconvicts, passed in and out; then twelve men, one after the other, ranup the ladder, and thence climbed among the beams, with six cables. Halfwent to the east, half to the west, side of the bell; and three of thecables were fastened round the swing-beam near one end, three nearthe other end; one three were then cast over a beam higher than theswing-beam, to the north of it; the other three cast over a beam to thesouth of it; and the six ends lowered--operations which Hogarth, lyingon his face, could just see; and the twelve had hardly begun to descend,when he saw a lorry backed into the gateway, filling half 1 the areaof the tower; whereupon over a hundred convicts were swarming over andround it.
"Now", said Hogarth; and he hurried down, tacking his way with slidesand runs among the intricate beams, tied the rope to a beam above theswing-beam, and let himself down to the bell's rim; reached out then,caught the knotted rope that was within the bell, and climbed, theclapper now so rough, that hand and knee found grip; and he spent aminute in estimating his power of holding on with one arm, and withboth, to its support-shaft.
And now he whispered Harris, and caught and half-sustained the Cockney.
Now they could hear echoes of the tongues below; and now Harris,clinging alternate with Hogarth, arms and legs, face to face, by ropeand shaft and clapper, whispered: "But-good Lord-look 'ere-there aresome people coming up!"
Four convicts were indeed climbing: but even directly beneath the bell,where it was impossible to come, they would hardly have distinguishedthe forms huddled in its dark cavern, and their aim was higher, to standready, when the beam should lift, to swing it diagonally across thesquare of beams which had supported it, so that it might find space todescend. And soon the bell-beam stirred at the tightening ropes: thefugitives felt themselves swinging, rising, poised--descending.
They were dizzily aware of shouted orders, the creaking of the toiling,slipping ropes, little jolts and stoppages, two hundred eyes blinkingup, not seeing their cringed-up limbs--unnecessary cautious: for thenearer they descended to-ward the half-light, the surer did the areaof the lorry make their invisibility. At last they were near; the belllingered, swinging; babel was around them; the Governor's voice; acheer: the bell was on the lorry.
Someone struck the bell with a hammer, there was talk, swarmings roundit, then shoulders pushed at the lorry wheels, which squealed and movedamid a still fussier babel drawn by four horses, and seven yoke ofcattle. The fugitives could hear the opening of the great gate, thelaborious exit, and, in a moment's pause, again the Governor talking, itseemed far off, to the expert....
Wearily creaked the cart--beyond the moor--to a country road.
Now chattering words came from Harris: "All damned fine! I don't denythat you know your way about--"
"Way out", said Hogarth.
"Yes, a gamesome sort of cock you are in all weathers...but what next?"
"'Next' is to fall upon your knees and worship me, you cur".
"Thou shalt worship the Lawd thy Gawd", chattered Harris; "no bloomin'fear! This is only a new kind of punishment cell. You've got me in; 'oware you going to get me out?"
Hogarth believed that the lorry was _en route_ for the railway, andhoped to escape in the transfer of the bell; but that night lorry andbell slept in a shed outside a village _en route_ for the sea.
At four A.M. they were again _en route_, and at intervals during theday, opening their now feeble and sleep-infected eyes, could hear thehoots of the two cattlemen, the sound of winds, the rowdy gait ofthe crooked-legged oxen, and stoppages for drink or rest, and anon anobstruction, with shouting and fuss. It was night before the waggon cameto rest on a jetty, the elaborate day's journey done.
The fugitives were then deep in sleep, and only awoke at the rattle ofa steam-crane in action above them, to find the bell beginning t
o tilt,lift and swing; then they were on a deck; and soon afterwards knewthat it was a steamer's, when they heard the bray of her whistle, andpresently were aware of blaring winds, and billows of the sea.
Harris was for then and there crying out, but Hogarth, now his master,said: "To-morrow morning"; and they fell again into their morbidslumber.
When they again awoke, uproar surrounded them, voices, a heaven-highshouting of quenched fires and screaming steams; moreover, the bell wasleaning steeply, they two huddled together at its edge.
Harris began to bellow: but he was not heard, or not heeded.... Therehad been a collision.
"If you can't swim, better catch hold of me", Hogarth shouted--"therewill be--"
But the earth turned turtle, and Hogarth felt himself struck on theshoulder, flung, and dragged down, down, into darkness.
After an upward climb and fight to slip the clutch of the ship'ssuction, in the middle of a heavy sea he managed to get off his clothes,and set to swimming, whither he did not know, a toy on mountains ofwater.
Exultation raged in him--a crazy intoxication--at liberation attained,at the sensation of warmth, at all that water and waste of Nature.
But within ten minutes it is finished: he shivers, his false strengthchanging to paltriness, the waves washing now over his head; and now heis drowsing...drowning...
