During this weather I had little to do, and had a better chance of seeing something of the after-guard while looking to the gear of the two long twelves we carried upon the quarter-deck for stern-chasers. We carried no metal on the forecastle, and it appeared that these heavy guns aft were out of all proportion to the rest of the battery.
I spoke7 to Hawkson about it, but he explained that the natives of the Navigator, Society, and Fiji groups were somewhat dangerous, and that, as our 82mission was one of peaceful trading, we would always run when attacked rather than fight, and the heavy twelves were for keeping large canoes at a distance.
“It would be a rather large canoe,” I admitted, “that would face the fire of a long twelve-pounder as heavy as any used in vessels8 of the frigate9 class. The islands you speak of are not, however, in the South Atlantic.”
“You always were a clever lad, Heywood,” said he, with an ugly smile. “What a smart one you were to see the error of that! But we’ll have a try just to see what you can hit. Get a beef barrel and heave it overboard, an’ get the men of the gun-crew aft.”
After that we seldom let many days slip without practice. Tim begged me to take him in the gun-crew, and, as he was as active as a monkey, I always let him have a chance. He grew very quiet and sad as we drew near the Bahamas, and when we ran clear of the trade, within a hundred miles of the island, he seemed to be gazing over the sunlit ocean, watching for a coming breeze.
Sometimes I had him aft, polishing the brass10 of a gun-breech, and I noticed that he divided his attention mostly between the captain, Hicks, and Renshaw, and the southern horizon.
The great southern ocean is a lonely place, but 83its very loneliness and quietness on the edge of the great winds makes it appeal to a turbulent soul.
Tim and I sat a long time on the breech of the stern-chaser, rubbing the metal easily and gazing out over the calm ocean. It was quiet aboard, and the voices of the men on the main-deck sounded loud and discordant11. The slatting of the canvas was the only sound aloft, the royals jerking at the clews first as the barque swung easily on the swell12, and then the t’gallantsails followed by the topsails fore6 and aft, the taut13 canvas fanning the almost still air with the rolling swing, making the jerking of the tacks14 and clews sound rhythmically15 upon the ear. Below, the captain and his two passengers smoked and drank their ale under the cabin skylight, their jokes sounding particularly coarse in the sunlit quiet.
Tim suddenly stopped work and gazed to the southward. Far away, miles and miles to windward, the horizon darkened slightly where the deeper blue of the ocean stood out against the pale azure17 of the semitropical sky.
While he looked, there came a sound over the water. It was a long, plaintive18 cry of immense volume, but hardly distinct enough to be heard unless the listener gave his attention. It was like a wild minor19 chord of a harp20, long continued and sustained, rising and falling over the dark blue 84heave of the swells21 where the light air darkened and streaked22 the ruffled23 surface. Farther away to windward, the ocean took on a deeper blue, and the air filled the sails more steadily for a few minutes.
Tim stood gazing into the distance, his eyes bright and his lips parted, but there was an expression of peace and tranquillity24 upon his freckled25 face that I had never noticed before.
“It’s the calling, Heywood, Heywood,” he whispered. “It’s the great calling of the millions who have gone before. Listen!”
I heard it. The sad, wailing26 notes coming from miles and miles away to windward over that smooth sea, with the freshening breeze, made an impression upon me I could not throw off. It vibrated through my whole being, and was like the voice of great loneliness calling from the vast world of sea and sky. It was not like the hum of the trade in the rigging or the snore of a gale28 under the foot of a topsail, nor like the thunderous roar of the hurricane through the rigging of a hove-to ship. The melancholy30 sadness of the long-sustained wail27 was musical to a degree. I sat there listening.
Of course, it must have been caused by the wind over the surface of the sea at a great distance, or by different currents of air in passing, but the effect upon the imagination was like that which might be caused by the prolonged cry of a distant host 85from the vastness of sunlit waste. It pervaded31 my whole being, and enforced listening to its call, seeming to draw my soul to it as if out in that sparkling world of rippling32 wavelets lay the end of all strife33 and the great eternal peace.
Tim stretched forth34 his arm. His eyes held a strange look in them, and he moved to the rail as though in a dream.
“I am coming, May, coming,” he whispered.
Before I realized what had happened, he had gone over the side. Then I jumped to my feet with a yell, and bawled35 out: “Man overboard!” at the same time heaving the end of a gun-tackle over the taffrail. The cry and noise of my rush brought the entire watch to the side, and the captain and Hawkson to the quarter-rail. The barque was barely moving, and Tim was alongside. But he refused to take the end of the line. There was an exclamation36 beside me at the taffrail, and Renshaw leaned his elbows upon the rail and looked over at the sinking sailor. Their eyes met for an instant, and Tim made a grab for the line. He was hauled up quickly, and went forward without a word of excuse to the captain and Hawkson’s inquiries37 as to how he happened overboard.
It was a strange occurrence, and I pondered over it that evening while the barque rolled slowly toward the islands under a bright moon, and our watch 86stretched themselves upon the main-hatch to smoke and spin yarns38. Tim avoided me.
The next morning we found ourselves close to New Providence39 Harbour, the white water of the Great Bahama bank stretching away on all sides.
The skipper seemed to know the bank pretty well, for he sprung his luff and headed into the harbour without waiting for a pilot. We ran close in, clewing up the topsails as we went; then dropping the head-sails, let go the hook within pistol-shot of the town of Nassau. The town looked inviting40 enough. There it lay, and any kind of a swimmer could make the beach easily. In fact, before we had the sails rolled up there were niggers alongside, swimming out in utter disregard for sharks, and begging for a coin to be tossed overboard that they might dive for it and catch it before it reached the bottom. I was anxious about Tim. His strange action and talk made me expect some peculiar41 happening, and I watched him closely.
Martin came to me as I stood in the fore-rigging and spoke, looking longingly42 at the white coral beach, where the cocoanuts raised their bunchy, long-leaved tops into the hot air and rustled43 softly an invitation to the sailor.
“I say, Heywood, ye dare do it or no, hey?” he said.
“I’ll see,” I answered; “but isn’t the barky all 87right? We’ve been treated mighty44 well even if we were gulled46 in signing into her. I don’t know the place, and we might be a great deal worse off ashore47.”
“Barky be sunk! What the devil care I for the barky, man? Didn’t I sign on as mate?”
Bill came down from aloft and joined us, and then big Jones came forward with Tim. We made a pretence48 of coiling down running-gear on the pin-rail, while we gazed longingly at the shore.
While we looked, a whale-boat shot out from the landing. It was rowed by eight strapping49 blacks, the oars16 double-banked, and in the stern-sheets were two men in white linen50, looking very cool and trim in the hot sunshine. As the craft drew nearer, we saw she was heading for us, and the two men were gazing at our quarter-deck, where Hawkson and Captain Howard were talking earnestly with Hicks and Renshaw. The one who was steering51 was a medium-sized man with a smooth, red face, his beard seeming to start just beneath his chin and fill his collar with its shaggy growth that shot upward from somewhere below.
Behind this man in the stern-sheets, I caught the flutter of a dress, and soon made out the figure of a young girl dressed in white muslin.
“Who is it?” asked Bill. “Looks youst like an admiral.”
88“It’s Yankee Dan,” said Tim. “I thought so. That’s his daughter with him. He’s the biggest trader north o’ Cuba.”
“The deil run away with him,” said Martin. “If he’s backin’ this barque fer nothin’ but plain, honest trade, I’m no man fer him. She ware52 a pirit once, why not again? I slip before dark. Will ye be the mon to follow, ye giant Jones, or be ye nothin’ but a beefy lout53 like what ye look?”
The big fellow scowled54 at this.
“Ef you are the better man, show me to-night,” said he.
The boat had now drawn55 up alongside, and the bearded fellow in charge stood up and hailed the quarter-deck, where Howard, Hawkson, and the rest were leaning over the rail watching him. Hicks and Renshaw bowed and removed their hats in deference56 to the young lady, but Hawkson and the skipper stood stiff.
“Didn’t expect to see you, Howard,” cried the trader. “They haven’t hung you yet! How is it? Rope scarce? Lines give out? This is my daughter,--and you’ll be damn civil to her if you’ll do any business with me. Swing over your ladder, and don’t keep me waiting. I won’t wait for you or any other bull-necked Britisher.”
Hawkson had already had Mr. Gull45 swing out the accommodation ladder from the poop, and the 89second mate simply lowered it an inch or two as the whale-boat swept up.
“Take in them oak gales,” roared Yankee Dan, whacking57 the stroke oarsman over the knuckles58 with a light cane29 he carried. Then pulling savagely59 upon the port tiller-rope, the boat swung up alongside the ladder under full headway.
“Stop her,” he bellowed60.
It looked as though she would go rasping along the whole length of the barque with the impetus61, but the blacks were instantly at the rail, grasping and seizing anything in their powerful hands, while one man forward, who had banked the bow oar3, stood up with a huge hook and rammed62 its point into our side to check her. She brought up so suddenly that the trader was almost thrown from his feet.
“Come aboard, Whiskers, an’ don’t tear all our paint off,” said Hawkson, swaying the man-ropes so they fell aboard.
The old trader glanced upward, the white hair of his beard sticking out aggressively over his collar and framing his otherwise hairless face in a sort of bristling63 halo. I saw the young girl flash a glance of disdain64 at the poop and then seize the man-ropes. She sprang lightly upon the ladder and mounted rapidly to the deck, followed by the younger man, 90who had replied to none of the salutations and had quietly awaited events.
Yankee Dan followed and seized Hawkson’s hand, greeting him as an old friend. Then he slapped Captain Howard a rousing blow upon the back and introduced his daughter. Mr. Curtis shook hands all round, appearing to know every one, and we rightly surmised65 that he was the principal owner.
The vociferous66 trader kept talking in high good humour, being on familiar terms with Hicks, Renshaw, and the captain, and our men were anxious to hear his words, hoping to gather something in reference to our cruise. As for me, I found my attention drawn more toward the young lady, for never had I seen such perfection in womanly form or feature.
She was tall, and her figure, while not stout67, had a supple68 fulness that spoke of great strength and grace. Her face was full and rosy69, and her dark eyes were exquisitely70 bright, glancing quickly at a word or look. Her mouth, partly open, showed strong white teeth, and her smile was a revelation. There was nothing about her that spoke of her father save her apparent good humour and disdain for conventionalities. Her eyes were gentle, and had nothing of the fierce twinkle of the trader’s. Altogether I was so entirely71 taken up noting her 91charms that I was not aware of Mr. Gull until he came close to us and bawled out:
“Clear away the long-boat. All loafers who are tired of the sea and want a run on the beach get ready to go ashore.”
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1
smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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7
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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8
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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9
frigate
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| n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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11
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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13
taut
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| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
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tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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rhythmically
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| adv.有节奏地 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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17
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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18
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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22
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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23
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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24
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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27
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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28
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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30
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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31
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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34
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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35
bawled
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| v.大叫，大喊( bawl的过去式和过去分词 )；放声大哭；大声叫出；叫卖（货物） | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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38
yarns
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| n.纱( yarn的名词复数 )；纱线；奇闻漫谈；旅行轶事 | |
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39
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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41
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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42
longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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43
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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45
gull
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| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
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46
gulled
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| v.欺骗某人( gull的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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48
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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49
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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50
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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51
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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52
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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53
lout
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| n.粗鄙的人；举止粗鲁的人 | |
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54
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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56
deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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57
whacking
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| adj.（用于强调）巨大的v.重击，使劲打( whack的现在分词 ) | |
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58
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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59
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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60
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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61
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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62
rammed
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| v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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63
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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64
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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65
surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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66
vociferous
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| adj.喧哗的，大叫大嚷的 | |
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68
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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69
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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70
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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71
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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