XV
Aboard the Hulk
Now when it came to my watch, the which I took in company with the bigseaman, the moon had not yet risen, and all the island was vastly dark,save the hill-top, from which the fires blazed in a score of places, andvery busy they kept us, supplying them with fuel. Then, when maybe thehalf of our watch had passed, the big seaman, who had been to feed thefires upon the weed side of the hill-top, came across to me, and bade mecome and put my hand upon the lesser rope; for that he thought they inthe ship were anxious to haul it in so that they might send some messageacross to us. At his words, I asked him very anxiously whether he hadperceived them waving a light, the which we had arranged to be our methodof signaling in the night, in the event of such being needful; but, tothis, he said that he had seen naught; and, by now, having come near theedge of the cliff, I could see for myself, and so perceived that therewas none signaling to us from the hulk. Yet, to please the fellow, I putmy hand upon the line, which we had made fast in the evening to a largepiece of rock, and so, immediately, I discovered that something waspulling upon it, hauling and then slackening, so that it occurred to methat the people in the vessel might be indeed wishful to send us somemessage, and at that, to make sure, I ran to the nearest fire, and,lighting a tuft of weed, waved it thrice; but there came not anyanswering signal from those in the ship, and at that I went back to feelat the rope, to assure myself that it had not been the pluck of the windupon it; but I found that it was something very different from the wind,something that plucked with all the sharpness of a hooked fish, only thatit had been a mighty great fish to have given such tugs, and so I knewthat some vile thing out in the darkness of the weed was fast to therope, and at this there came the fear that it might break it, and then asecond thought that something might be climbing up to us along the rope,and so I bade the big seaman stand ready with his great cutlass, whilst Iran and waked the bo'sun. And this I did, and explained to him how thatsomething meddled with the lesser rope, so that he came immediately tosee for himself how this might be, and when he had put his hand upon it,he bade me go and call the rest of the men, and let them stand round bythe fires; for that there was something abroad in the night, and we mightbe in danger of attack; but he and the big seaman stayed by the end ofthe rope, watching, so far as the darkness would allow, and ever and anonfeeling the tension upon it.
Then, suddenly, it came to the bo'sun to look to the second line, and heran, cursing himself for his thoughtlessness; but because of its greaterweight and tension, he could not discover for certain whether anythingmeddled with it or not; yet he stayed by it, arguing that if aughttouched the smaller rope then might something do likewise with thegreater, only that the small line lay along the weed, whilst the greaterone had been some feet above it when the darkness had fallen over us, andso might be free from any prowling creatures.
And thus, maybe, an hour passed, and we kept watch and tended the fires,going from one to another, and, presently, coming to that one which wasnearest to the bo'sun, I went over to him, intending to pass a fewminutes in talk; but as I drew nigh to him, I chanced to place my handupon the big rope, and at that I exclaimed in surprise; for it had becomemuch slacker than when last I had felt it in the evening, and I asked thebo'sun whether he had noticed it, whereat he felt the rope, and wasalmost more amazed than I had been; for when last he had touched it, ithad been taut, and humming in the wind. Now, upon this discovery, he wasin much fear that something had bitten through it, and called to the mento come all of them and pull upon the rope, so that he might discoverwhether it was indeed parted; but when they came and hauled upon it, theywere unable to gather in any of it, whereat we felt all of us mightilyrelieved in our minds; though still unable to come at the cause of itssudden slackness.
And so, a while later, there rose the moon, and we were able to examinethe island and the water between it and the weed-continent, to seewhether there was anything stirring; yet neither in the valley, nor onthe faces of the cliffs, nor in the open water could we perceive aughtliving, and as for anything among the weed, it was small use trying todiscover it among all that shaggy blackness. And now, being assured thatnothing was coming at us, and that, so far as our eyes could pierce,there climbed nothing upon the ropes, the bo'sun bade us get turned-in,all except those whose time it was to watch. Yet, before I went into thetent, I made a careful examination of the big rope, the which did alsothe bo'sun, but could perceive no cause for its slackness; though thiswas quite apparent in the moonlight, the rope going down with greaterabruptness than it had done in the evening. And so we could but conceivethat they in the hulk had slacked it for some reason; and after that wewent to the tent and a further spell of sleep.
In the early morning we were waked by one of the watchmen, coming intothe tent to call the bo'sun; for it appeared that the hulk had moved inthe night, so that its stern was now pointed somewhat towards the island.At this news, we ran all of us from the tent to the edge of the hill, andfound it to be indeed as the man had said, and now I understood thereason of that sudden slackening of the rope; for, after withstanding thestress upon it for some hours, the vessel had at last yielded, and slewedits stern towards us, moving also to some extent bodily in our direction.
And now we discovered that a man in the look-out place in the top of thestructure was waving a welcome to us, at which we waved back, and thenthe bo'sun bade me haste and write a note to know whether it seemed tothem likely that they might be able to heave the ship clear of the weed,and this I did, greatly excited within myself at this new thought, as,indeed, was the bo'sun himself and the rest of the men. For could they dothis, then how easily solved were every problem of coming to our owncountry. But it seemed too good a thing to have come true, and yet Icould but hope. And so, when my letter was completed, we put it up in thelittle oilskin bag, and signaled to those in the ship to haul in upon theline. Yet, when they went to haul, there came a mighty splather amid theweed, and they seemed unable to gather in any of the slack, and then,after a certain pause, I saw the man in the look-out point something, andimmediately afterwards there belched out in front of him a little puff ofsmoke, and, presently, I caught the report of a musket, so that I knewthat he was firing at something in the weed. He fired again, and yet oncemore, and after that they were able to haul in upon the line, and so Iperceived that his fire had proved effectual; yet we had no knowledge ofthe thing at which he had discharged his weapon.
Now, presently, they signaled to us to draw back the line, the which wecould do only with great difficulty, and then the man in the top of thesuper-structure signed to us to vast hauling, which we did, whereupon hebegan to fire again into the weed; though with what effect we could notperceive. Then, in a while he signaled to us to haul again, and now therope came more easily; yet still with much labor, and a commotion in theweed over which it lay and, in places, sank. And so, at last, as itcleared the weed because of the lift of the cliff, we saw that a greatcrab had clutched it, and that we hauled it towards us; for the creaturehad too much obstinacy to let go.
Perceiving this, and fearing that the great claws of the crab mightdivide the rope, the bo'sun caught up one of the men's lances, and ran tothe cliff edge, calling to us to pull in gently, and put no more strainupon the line than need be. And so, hauling with great steadiness, webrought the monster near to the edge of the hill, and there, at a wavefrom the bo'sun, stayed our pulling. Then he raised the spear, and smoteat the creature's eyes, as he had done on a previous occasion, andimmediately it loosed its hold, and fell with a mighty splash into thewater at the foot of the cliff. Then the bo'sun bade us haul in the restof the rope, until we should come to the packet, and, in the meantime, heexamined the line to see whether it had suffered harm through themandibles of the crab; yet, beyond a little chafe, it was quite sound.
And so we came to the letter, which I opened and read, finding it to bewritten in the same feminine hand which had indited the others. From itwe gathered that the ship had burst through a very thick mass of th
e weedwhich had compacted itself about her, and that the second mate, who wasthe only officer remaining to them, thought there might be good chanceto heave the vessel out; though it would have to be done with greatslowness, so as to allow the weed to part gradually, otherwise the shipwould but act as a gigantic rake to gather up weed before it, and so formits own barrier to clear water. And after this there were kind wishes andhopes that we had spent a good night, the which I took to be prompted bythe feminine heart of the writer, and after that I fell to wonderingwhether it was the captain's wife who acted as scribe. Then I was wakedfrom my pondering, by one of the men crying out that they in the ship hadcommenced to heave again upon the big rope, and, for a time, I stood andwatched it rise slowly, as it came to tautness.
I had stood there awhile, watching the rope, when, suddenly, there came acommotion amid the weed, about two-thirds of the way to the ship, and nowI saw that the rope had freed itself from the weed, and clutching it,were, maybe, a score of giant crabs. At this sight, some of the men criedout their astonishment, and then we saw that there had come a number ofmen into the look-out place in the top of the superstructure, and,immediately, they opened a very brisk fire upon the creatures, and so, byones and twos they fell back into the weed, and after that, the men inthe hulk resumed their heaving, and so, in a while, had the rope somefeet clear of the surface.
Now, having tautened the rope so much as they thought proper, they leftit to have its due effect upon the ship, and proceeded to attach a greatblock to it; then they signaled to us to slack away on the little ropeuntil they had the middle part of it, and this they hitched around theneck of the block, and to the eye in the strop of the block they attacheda bo'sun's chair, and so they had ready a carrier, and by this means wewere able to haul stuff to and from the hulk without having to drag itacross the surface of the weed; being, indeed, the fashion in which wehad intended to haul ashore the people in the ship. But now we had thebigger project of salvaging the ship herself, and, further, the big rope,which acted as support for the carrier, was not yet of a sufficientheight above the weed-continent for it to be safe to attempt to bring anyashore by such means; and now that we had hopes of saving the ship, wedid not intend to risk parting the big rope, by trying to attain such adegree of tautness as would have been necessary at this time to haveraised its bight to the desired height.
Now, presently, the bo'sun called out to one of the men to makebreakfast, and when it was ready we came to it, leaving the man with thewounded arm to keep watch; then when we had made an end, he sent him,that had lost his fingers, to keep a look-out whilst the other came tothe fire and ate his breakfast. And in the meanwhile, the bo'sun took usdown to collect weed and reeds for the night, and so we spent the greaterpart of the morning, and when we had made an end of this, we returned tothe top of the hill, to discover how matters were going forward; thus wefound, from the one at the look-out, that they, in the hulk, had beenobliged to heave twice upon the big rope to keep it off the weed, and bythis we knew that the ship was indeed making a slow sternway towards theisland--slipping steadily through the weed, and as we looked at her, itseemed almost that we could perceive that she was nearer; but this was nomore than imagination; for, at most, she could not have moved more thansome odd fathoms. Yet it cheered us greatly, so that we waved ourcongratulations to the man who stood in the lookout in thesuperstructure, and he waved back.
Later, we made dinner, and afterwards had a very comfortable smoke, andthen the bo'sun attended to our various hurts. And so through theafternoon we sat about upon the crest of the hill overlooking thehulk, and thrice had they in the ship to heave upon the big rope, andby evening they had made near thirty fathoms towards the island, thewhich they told us in reply to a query which the bo'sun desired me tosend them, several messages having passed between us in the course ofthe afternoon, so that we had the carrier upon our side. Further thanthis, they explained that they would tend the rope during the night, sothat the strain would be kept up, and, more, this would keep the ropesoff the weed.
And so, the night coming down upon us, the bo'sun bade us light the firesabout the top of the hill, the same having been laid earlier in the day,and thus, our supper having been dispatched, we prepared for the night.And all through it there burned lights aboard the hulk, the which provedvery companionable to us in our times of watching; and so, at last camethe morning, the darkness having passed without event. And now, to ourhuge pleasure, we discovered that the ship had made great progress in thenight; being now so much nearer that none could suppose it a matter ofimagination; for she must have moved nigh sixty fathoms nearer to theisland, so that now we seemed able almost to recognize the face of theman in the look-out; and many things about the hulk we saw with greaterclearness, so that we scanned her with a fresh interest. Then the man inthe look-out waved a morning greeting to us, the which we returned veryheartily, and, even as we did so, there came a second figure beside theman, and waved some white matter, perchance a handkerchief, which is likeenough, seeing that it was a woman, and at that, we took off our headcoverings, all of us, and shook them at her, and after this we went toour breakfast; having finished which, the bo'sun dressed our hurts, andthen, setting the man, who had lost his fingers, to watch, he took therest of us, excepting him that was bitten in the arm, down to collectfuel, and so the time passed until near dinner.
When we returned to the hill-top, the man upon the look-out told us thatthey in the ship had heaved not less than four separate times upon thebig rope, the which, indeed, they were doing at that present minute; andit was very plain to see that the ship had come nearer even during theshort space of the morning. Now, when they had made an end of tauteningthe rope, I perceived that it was, at last, well clear of the weedthrough all its length, being at its lowest part nigh twenty feet abovethe surface, and, at that, a sudden thought came to me which sent mehastily to the bo'sun; for it had occurred to me that there existed noreason why we should not pay a visit to those aboard the hulk. But when Iput the matter to him, he shook his head, and, for awhile, stood outagainst my desire; but, presently, having examined the rope, andconsidering that I was the lightest of any in the island, he consented,and at that I ran to the carrier which had been hauled across to ourside, and got me into the chair. Now, the men, so soon as they perceivedmy intention, applauded me very heartily, desiring to follow; but thebo'sun bade them be silent, and, after that, he lashed me into the chair,with his own hands, and then signaled to those in the ship to haul uponthe small rope; he, in the meanwhile, checking my descent towards theweeds, by means of our end of the hauling-line.
And so, presently, I had come to the lowest part, where the bight of therope dipped downward in a bow towards the weed, and rose again to themizzenmast of the hulk. Here I looked downward with somewhat fearfuleyes; for my weight on the rope made it sag somewhat lower than seemed tome comfortable, and I had a very lively recollection of some of thehorrors which that quiet surface hid. Yet I was not long in this place;for they in the ship, perceiving how the rope let me nearer to the weedthan was safe, pulled very heartily upon the hauling-line, and so I camequickly to the hulk.
Now, as I drew nigh to the ship, the men crowded upon a little platformwhich they had built in the superstructure somewhat below the broken headof the mizzen, and here they received me with loud cheers and very openarms, and were so eager to get me out of the bo'sun's chair, that theycut the lashings, being too impatient to cast them loose. Then they ledme down to the deck, and here, before I had knowledge of aught else, avery buxom woman took me into her arms, kissing me right heartily, atwhich I was greatly taken aback; but the men about me did naught butlaugh, and so, in a minute, she loosed me, and there I stood, not knowingwhether to feel like a fool or a hero; but inclining rather to thelatter. Then, at this minute, there came a second woman, who bowed to mein a manner most formal, so that we might have been met in somefashionable gathering, rather than in a cast-away hulk in thelonesomeness and terror of that weed-choked sea; and at her coming allthe mir
th of the men died out of them, and they became very sober, whilstthe buxom woman went backward for a piece, and seemed somewhat abashed.Now, at all this, I was greatly puzzled, and looked from one to anotherto learn what it might mean; but in the same moment the woman bowedagain, and said something in a low voice touching the weather, and afterthat she raised her glance to my face, so that I saw her eyes, and theywere so strange and full of melancholy, that I knew on the instant whyshe spoke and acted in so unmeaning a way; for the poor creature was outof her mind, and when I learnt afterwards that she was the captain'swife, and had seen him die in the arms of a mighty devil-fish, I grew tounderstand how she had come to such a pass.
Now for a minute after I had discovered the woman's madness, I was sotaken aback as to be unable to answer her remark; but for this thereappeared no necessity; for she turned away and went aft towards thesaloon stairway, which stood open, and here she was met by a maid verybonny and fair, who led her tenderly down from my sight. Yet, in aminute, this same maid appeared, and ran along the decks to me, andcaught my two hands, and shook them, and looked up at me with suchroguish, playful eyes, that she warmed my heart, which had beenstrangely chilled by the greeting of the poor mad woman. And she saidmany hearty things regarding my courage, to which I knew in my heart Ihad no claim; but I let her run on, and so, presently, coming more topossession of herself, she discovered that she was still holding myhands, the which, indeed, I had been conscious of the while with a verygreat pleasure; but at her discovery she dropped them with haste, andstood back from me a space, and so there came a little coolness into hertalk: yet this lasted not long; for we were both of us young, and, Ithink, even thus early we attracted one the other; though, apart fromthis, there was so much that we desired each to learn, that we could notbut talk freely, asking question for question, and giving answer foranswer. And thus a time passed, in which the men left us alone, and wentpresently to the capstan, about which they had taken the big rope, andat this they toiled awhile; for already the ship had moved sufficientlyto let the line fall slack.
Presently, the maid, whom I had learnt was niece to the captain's wife,and named Mary Madison, proposed to take me the round of the ship, towhich proposal I agreed very willingly; but first I stopped to examinethe mizzen stump, and the manner in which the people of the ship hadstayed it, the which they had done very cunningly, and I noted how thatthey had removed some of the superstructure from about the head of themast, so as to allow passage for the rope, without putting a strain uponthe superstructure itself. Then when I had made an end upon the poop, sheled me down on to the main-deck, and here I was very greatly impressed bythe prodigious size of the structure which they had built about the hulk,and the skill with which it had been carried out, the supports crossingfrom side to side and to the decks in a manner calculated to give greatsolidity to that which they upheld. Yet, I was very greatly puzzled toknow where they had gotten a sufficiency of timber to make so large amatter; but upon this point she satisfied me by explaining that they hadtaken up the 'tween decks, and used all such bulkheads as they couldspare, and, further, that there had been a good deal among the dunnagewhich had proved usable.
And so we came at last to the galley, and here I discovered the buxomwoman to be installed as cook, and there were in with her a couple offine children, one of whom I guessed to be a boy of maybe some fiveyears, and the second a girl, scarce able to do more than toddle. At thisI turned and asked Mistress Madison whether these were her cousins; butin the next moment I remembered that they could not be; for, as I knew,the captain had been dead some seven years; yet it was the woman in thegalley who answered my question; for she turned and, with something of ared face, informed me that they were hers, at which I felt some surprise;but supposed that she had taken passage in the ship with her husband; yetin this I was not correct; for she proceeded to explain that, thinkingthey were cut off from the world for the rest of this life, and fallingvery fond of the carpenter, they had made it up together to make a sortof marriage, and had gotten the second mate to read the service overthem. She told me then, how that she had taken passage with her mistress,the captain's wife, to help her with her niece, who had been but a childwhen the ship sailed; for she had been very attached to them both, andthey to her. And so she came to an end of her story, expressing a hopethat she had done no wrong by her marriage, as none had been intended.And to this I made answer, assuring her that no decent-minded man couldthink the worse of her; but that I, for my part, thought rather thebetter, seeing that I liked the pluck which she had shown. At that shecast down the soup ladle, which she had in her fist, and came towards me,wiping her hands; but I gave back, for I shamed to be hugged again, andbefore Mistress Mary Madison, and at that she came to a stop and laughedvery heartily; but, all the same, called down a very warm blessing uponmy head; for which I had no cause to feel the worse. And so I passed onwith the captain's niece.
Presently, having made the round of the hulk, we came aft again to thepoop, and discovered that they were heaving once more upon the big rope,the which was very heartening, proving, as it did, that the ship wasstill a-move. And so, a little later, the girl left me, having to attendto her aunt. Now whilst she was gone, the men came all about me, desiringnews of the world beyond the weed-continent, and so for the next hour Iwas kept very busy, answering their questions. Then the second matecalled out to them to take another heave upon the rope, and at that theyturned to the capstan, and I with them, and so we hove it taut again,after which they got about me once more, questioning; for so much seemedto have happened in the seven years in which they had been imprisoned.And then, after a while, I turned-to and questioned them on such pointsas I had neglected to ask Mistress Madison, and they discovered to metheir terror and sickness of the weed-continent, its desolation andhorror, and the dread which had beset them at the thought that theyshould all of them come to their ends without sight of their homes andcountrymen.
Now, about this time, I became conscious that I had grown very empty; forI had come off to the hulk before we had made our dinner, and had been insuch interest since, that the thought of food had escaped me; for I hadseen none eating in the hulk, they, without doubt, having dined earlierthan my coming. But now, being made aware of my state by the grumbling ofmy stomach, I inquired whether there was any food to be had at such atime, and, at that, one of the men ran to tell the woman in the galleythat I had missed my dinner, at which she made much ado, and set-to andprepared me a very good meal, which she carried aft and set out for me inthe saloon, and after that she sent me down to it.
Presently, when I had come near to being comfortable, there chanced alightsome step upon the floor behind me, and, turning, I discovered thatMistress Madison was surveying me with a roguish and somewhat amused air.At that, I got hastily to my feet; but she bade me sit down, andtherewith she took a seat opposite, and so bantered me with a gentleplayfulness that was not displeasing to me, and at which I played so gooda second as I had ability. Later, I fell to questioning her, and, amongother matters, discovered that it was she who acted as scribe for thepeople in the hulk, at which I told her that I had done likewise forthose on the island. After that, our talk became somewhat personal, and Ilearnt that she was near on to nineteen years of age, whereat I told herthat I had passed my twenty-third. And so we chatted on, until,presently, it occurred to me that I had better be preparing to return tothe island, and I rose to my feet with this intention; yet feeling that Ihad been very much happier to have stayed, the which I thought, for amoment, had not been displeasing to her, and this I imagined, notingsomewhat in her eyes when I made mention that I must be gone. Yet it maybe that I flattered myself.
Now when I came out on deck, they were busied again in heaving taut therope, and, until they had made an end, Mistress Madison and I filled thetime with such chatter as is wholesome between a man and maid who havenot long met, yet find one another pleasing company. Then, when at lastthe rope was taut, I went up to the mizzen staging, and climbed into thechair, after which s
ome of the men lashed me in very securely. Yet whenthey gave the signal to haul me to the island, there came for awhile noresponse, and then signs that we could not understand; but no movement tohaul me across the weed. At that, they unlashed me from the chair,bidding me get out, whilst they sent a message to discover what might bewrong. And this they did, and, presently, there came back word that thebig rope had stranded upon the edge of the cliff, and that they mustslacken it somewhat at once, the which they did, with many expressions ofdismay. And so, maybe an hour passed, during which we watched the menworking at the rope, just where it came down over the edge of the hill,and Mistress Madison stood with us and watched; for it was very terrible,this sudden thought of failure (though it were but temporary) when theywere so near to success. Yet, at last there came a signal from the islandfor us to loose the hauling-line, the which we did, allowing them to haulacross the carrier, and so, in a little while, they signaled back to usto pull in, which, having done, we found a letter in the bag lashed tothe carrier, in which the bo'sun made it plain that he had strengthenedthe rope, and placed fresh chafing gear about it, so that he thought itwould be so safe as ever to heave upon; but to put it to a less strain.Yet he refused to allow me to venture across upon it, saying that I muststay in the ship until we were clear of the weed; for if the rope hadstranded in one place, then had it been so cruelly tested that theremight be some other points at which it was ready to give. And this finalnote of the bo'sun's made us all very serious; for, indeed, it seemedpossible that it was as he suggested; yet they reassured themselves bypointing out that, like enough, it had been the chafe upon the cliff edgewhich had frayed the strand, so that it had been weakened before itparted; but I, remembering the chafing gear which the bo'sun had putabout it in the first instance, felt not so sure; yet I would not add totheir anxieties.
And so it came about that I was compelled to spend the night in the hulk;but, as I followed Mistress Madison into the big saloon, I felt noregret, and had near forgotten already my anxiety regarding the rope.
And out on deck there sounded most cheerily the clack of the capstan.
The Boats of the Glen Carrig Page 15
