Wolf Larsen was steering4, his eyes glistening5 and snapping as they dwelt upon and leapt from detail to detail of the chase. Now he studied the sea to windward for signs of the wind slackening or freshening, now the Macedonia; and, again, his eyes roved over every sail, and he gave commands to slack a sheet here a trifle, to come in on one there a trifle, till he was drawing out of the Ghost the last bit of speed she possessed7. All feuds8 and grudges9 were forgotten, and I was surprised at the alacrity10 with which the men who had so long endured his brutality11 sprang to execute his orders. Strange to say, the unfortunate Johnson came into my mind as we lifted and surged and heeled along, and I was aware of a regret that he was not alive and present; he had so loved the Ghost and delighted in her sailing powers.
'Better get your rifles, you fellows,' Wolf Larsen called to our hunters; and the five men lined the lee rail, guns in hand, and waited.
The Macedonia was now but a mile away, the black smoke pouring from her funnel at a right angle, so madly she raced, pounding through the sea at a seventeen-knot gait- '"sky-hooting through the brine,"' as Wolf Larsen quoted while gazing at her. We were not making more than nine knots, but the fog-bank was very near.
A puff12 of smoke broke from the Macedonia's deck, we heard a heavy report, and a round hole took form in the stretched canvas of our mainsail. They were shooting at us with one of the small cannon13 which rumor14 had said they carried on board. Our men, clustering amidships, waved their hats and raised a derisive17 cheer. Again there was a puff of smoke and a loud report, this time the cannonball striking not more than twenty feet astern and glancing twice from sea to sea to windward before it sank.
But there was no rifle-firing, for the reason that all their hunters were out in the boats or our prisoners. When the two vessels18 were half a mile apart, a third shot made another hole in our mainsail. Then we entered the fog. It was about us, veiling and hiding us in its dense19 wet gauze.
The sudden transition was startling. The moment before we had been leaping through the sunshine, the clear sky above us, the sea breaking and rolling wide to the horizon, and a ship, vomiting20 smoke and fire and iron missiles, rushing madly upon us. And at once, as in an instant's leap, the sun was blotted21 out, there was no sky, even our mastheads were lost to view, and our horizon was such as tear-blinded eyes may see. The gray mist drove by us like a rain. Every woolen22 filament23 of our garments, every hair of our heads and faces, was jeweled with a crystal globule. The shrouds24 were wet with moisture; it dripped from our rigging overhead; and on the under side of our booms, drops of water took shape in long swaying lines, which were detached and flung to the deck in mimic25 showers at each surge of the schooner26. I was aware of a pent, stifled27 feeling. As the sounds of the ship thrusting herself through the waves were hurled28 back upon us by the fog, so were one's thoughts. The mind recoiled29 from contemplation of a world beyond this wet veil which wrapped us around. This was the world, the universe itself, its bounds so near that one felt impelled30 to reach out both arms and push them back. It was impossible that the rest could be beyond these walls of gray. The rest was a dream, no more than the memory of a dream.
It was weird31, strangely weird. I looked at Maud Brewster and knew that she was similarly affected32. Then I looked at Wolf Larsen, but there was nothing subjective33 about his state of consciousness. His whole concern was with the immediate34, objective present. He still held the wheel, and I felt that he was timing35 Time, reckoning the passage of the minutes with each forward lunge and leeward36 roll of the Ghost.
'Go for'ard and hard alee without any noise,' he said to me in a low voice. 'Clew up the topsails first. Set men at all the sheets. Let there be no rattling37 of blocks, no sound of voices. No noise, understand, no noise.'
When all was ready, the word, 'Hard alee,' was passed forward to me from man to man; and the Ghost heeled about on the port tack38 with virtually no noise at all. And what little there was- the slapping of a few reef-points and the creaking of a sheave in a block or two- was ghostly under the hollow echoing pall39 in which we were swathed.
We had scarcely filled away, it seemed, when the fog thinned abruptly40 and we were again in the sunshine, the wide-stretching sea breaking before us to the skyline. But the ocean was bare. No wrathful Macedonia broke its surface or blackened the sky with her smoke.
Wolf Larsen at once squared away and ran down along the rim41 of the fog-bank. His trick was obvious. He had entered the fog to windward of the steamer, and while the steamer had blindly driven on into the fog in the chance of catching42 him, he had come about and out of his shelter and was now running down to reenter to leeward. Successful in this, the old simile43 of the needle in the haystack would be mild indeed compared with his brother's chance of finding him.
He did not run long. Jibing44 the fore-and mainsails and setting the topsails again, we headed back into the bank. As we entered I could have sworn I saw a vague bulk emerging to windward. I looked quickly at Wolf Larsen. Already we were ourselves buried in the fog, but he nodded his head. He, too, had seen it- the Macedonia, guessing his maneuver45 and failing for a moment in anticipating it. There was no doubt that we had escaped unseen.
'He can't keep this up,' Wolf Larsen said. 'He'll have to go back for the rest of his boats. Send a man to the wheel, Mr. Van Weyden, keep this course for the present, and you might as well set the watches, for we won't do any lingering tonight.
'I'd give five hundred dollars, though,' he added, 'just to be aboard the Macedonia for five minutes, listening to my brother curse.
'And now, Mr. Van Weyden,' he said to me when he had been relieved from the wheel, 'we must make these newcomers welcome. Serve out plenty of whisky to the hunters and see that a few bottles slip for'ard. I'll wager46 every man Jack47 of them is over the side tomorrow, hunting for Wolf Larsen as contentedly48 as ever they hunted for Death Larsen.'
'But won't they escape as Wainwright did?' I asked.
He laughed shrewdly. 'Not as long as our old hunters have anything to say about it. I'm dividing amongst them a dollar a skin for all the skins shot by our new hunters. At least half of their enthusiasm today was due to that, Oh, no, there won't be any escaping if they have anything to say about it. And now you'd better get for'ard to your hospital duties. There must be a full ward6 waiting for you.'
Wolf Larsen took the distribution of the whisky off my hands, and the bottles began to make their appearance while I worked over the fresh batch49 of wounded men in the forecastle. I had seen whisky drunk, such as whisky and soda50 by the men of the clubs, but never as these men drank it, from pannikins and mugs, and from the bottles- great brimming drinks, each one of which was in itself a debauch51. But they did not stop at one or two. They drank and drank, and ever the bottles slipped forward and they drank more.
Everybody drank; the wounded drank; Oofty-Oofty, who helped me, drank. Only Louis refrained, no more than cautiously wetting his lips with the liquor, though he joined in the revels52 with an abandon equal to that of most of them. It was a Saturnalia. In loud voices they shouted over the day's fighting, wrangled53 about details, or waxed affectionate and made friends with the men whom they had fought. Prisoners and captors hiccoughed on one another's shoulders, and swore mighty54 oaths of respect and esteem55. They wept over the miseries56 of the past, and over the miseries yet to come under the iron rule of Wolf Larsen. And all cursed him and told terrible tales of his brutality.
It was a strange and frightful57 spectacle- the small, bunk58-lined space, the floor and walls leaping and lurching, the dim light, the swaying shadows lengthening59 and foreshortening monstrously60, the thick air heavy with smoke and the smell of bodies and iodoform, and the inflamed61 faces of the men- half-men, I should call them. I noted62 Oofty-Oofty, holding the end of a bandage and looking upon the scene, his velvety63 and luminous64 eyes glistening in the light like those of a deer; and yet I knew the barbaric devil that lurked65 in his breast and belied66 all the softness and tenderness, almost womanly, of his face and form. And I noticed the boyish face of Harrison,- a good face once, but now a demon's,- convulsed with passion as he told the newcomers of the hell-ship they were in and shrieked67 curses upon the head of Wolf Larsen.
Wolf Larsen it was, always Wolf Larsen, enslaver and tormentor68 of men, a male Circe and these his swine, suffering brutes69 that groveled before him and revolted only in drunkenness and in secrecy70. And was I, too, one of his swine? I thought. And Maud Brewster? No! I ground my teeth in my anger and determination till the man I was attending winced72 under my hand and Oofty-Oofty looked at me with curiosity. I felt endowed with a sudden strength. What with my new-found love, I was a giant. I feared nothing. I would work my will through it all, in spite of Wolf Larsen and of my own thirty-five bookish years. All would be well. I would make it well. And so, exalted73, upborne by a sense of power, I turned my back on the howling inferno74 and climbed to the deck, where the fog drifted ghostly through the night, and the air was sweet and pure and quiet.
The steerage, where were two wounded hunters, was a repetition of the forecastle, except that Wolf Larsen was not being cursed; and it was with a great relief that I again emerged on deck and went aft to the cabin. Supper was ready, and Wolf Larsen and Maud were waiting for me.
While all his ship was getting drunk as fast as it could, Larsen remained sober. Not a drop of liquor passed his lips. He did not dare it under the circumstances, for he had only Louis and me to depend upon, and Louis was even now at the wheel. We were sailing on through the fog without a lookout75 and without lights. That Wolf Larsen had turned the liquor loose among his men surprised me, but he evidently knew their psychology76 and the best method of cementing in cordiality what had begun in bloodshed.
His victory over Death Larsen seemed to have had a remarkable77 effect upon him. The previous evening he has reasoned himself into the blues78, and I had been waiting momentarily for one of his characteristic outbursts. Yet nothing had occurred, and he was now in splendid trim. Possibly his success in capturing so many hunters and boats had counteracted79 the customary reaction. At any rate, the blues were gone, and the blue devils had not put in an appearance. So I thought at the time; but, ah me! little I knew him or knew that even then, perhaps, he was meditating80 an outbreak more terrible than any I had seen.
As I say, he discovered himself in splendid trim when I entered the cabin. He had had no headaches for weeks, his eyes were as clear blue as the sky, his bronze skin was beautiful with perfect health; life swelled81 through his veins82 in full and magnificent flood. While waiting for me he had engaged Maud in animated83 discussion. Temptation was the topic they had hit upon, and from the few words I heard I made out that he was contending that temptation was temptation only when a man was seduced85 by it and fell.
'For look you,' he was saying, 'as I see it, a man does things because of desire. He has many desires. He may desire to escape pain, or to enjoy pleasure. But whatever he does, he does because he desires to do it.'
'But suppose he desires to do two opposite things, neither of which will permit him to do the other?' Maud interrupted.
'The very thing I was coming to,' he said.
'And between these two desires is just where the soul of the man is manifest,' she went on. 'If it is a good soul it will desire and do the good action, and the contrary if it is a bad soul. It is the soul that decides.'
'Bosh and nonsense!' he exclaimed impatiently. 'It is the desire that decides. Here is a man who wants to, say, get drunk. Also, he doesn't want to get drunk. What does he do? How does he do it? He is a puppet. He is the creature of his desires, and of the two desires he obeys the stronger one, that is all. His soul hasn't anything to do with it. How can he be tempted86 to get drunk and refuse to get drunk? If the desire to remain sober prevails, it is because it was the stronger desire. Temptation plays no part, unless-' he paused while grasping the new thought which had come into his mind- 'unless he is tempted to remain sober.
'Ha! ha!' he laughed. 'What do you think of that, Mr. Van Weyden?'
'That both of you are hair-splitting,' I said. 'The man's soul is his desires. Or, if you will, the sum of his desires is his soul. Therein you are both wrong. You lay the stress upon the desire apart from the soul, Miss Brewster lays the stress on the soul apart from the desire, and in point of fact soul and desire are the same thing.
'However,' I continued, 'Miss Brewster is right in contending that temptation is temptation whether the man yield or overcome. Fire is fanned by the wind until it leaps up fiercely. So is desire like fire. It is fanned, as by a wind, by sight of the thing desired, or by a new and luring87 description or comprehension of the thing desired. There lies the temptation. It is the wind that fans the desire until it leaps up to mastery. That's temptation. It may not fan sufficiently88 to make the desire overmastering, but in so far as it fans at all, that far is it temptation. And, as you say, it may tempt84 for good as well as for evil.'
I felt proud of myself as we sat down to the table. My words had been decisive. At least, they had put an end to the discussion.
But Wolf Larsen seemed voluble, prone89 to speech as I had never seen him before. It was as though he were bursting with pent energy which must find an outlet90 somehow. Almost immediately he launched into a discussion on love. As usual, his was the sheer materialistic91 side, and Maud's was the idealistic. For myself, beyond a word or so of suggestion or correction now and again, I took no part.
He was brilliant, but so was Maud; and for some time I lost the thread of the conversation through studying her face as she talked. It was a face that rarely displayed color, but tonight it was flushed and vivacious92. Her wit was playing keenly, and she was enjoying the tilt93 as much as Wolf Larsen, and he was enjoying it hugely. For some reason, though I knew not why in the argument, so utterly94 had I lost it in the contemplation of one stray brown lock of Maud's hair, he quoted from 'Iseult at Tintagel,' where she says:
Blessed am I beyond women even herein,
That beyond all born women is my sin,
And perfect my transgression95.
As he had read pessimism96 into Omar, so, now, he read triumph, stinging triumph and exultation97, into Swinburne's lines. And he read rightly, and he read well. He had hardly ceased quoting when Louis put his head into the companionway and whispered down:
'Be easy, will ye? The fog's lifted, an' 't is the port light iv a steamer that's crossin' our bow this blessed minute.'
Wolf Larsen sprang on deck, and so swiftly that by the time we followed him he had pulled the steerage-slide over the drunken clamor and was on his way forward to close the forecastle scuttle98. The fog, though it remained, had lifted high, where it obscured the stars and made the night quite black. Directly ahead of us I could see a bright red light and a white light, and I could hear the pulsing of a steamer's engines. Beyond a doubt it was the Macedonia.
Wolf Larsen had returned to the poop, and we stood in a silent group, watching the lights rapidly cross our bow.
'Lucky for me he doesn't carry a search-light,' Wolf Larsen said.
'What if I should cry out loudly?' I queried99 in a whisper.
'It would be all up,' he answered.
'But have you thought upon what would immediately happen?'
Before I had time to express any desire to know, he had me by the throat with his gorilla-grip, and by a faint quiver of the muscles- a hint, as it were- he suggested to me the twist that would surely have broken my neck. The next moment he had released me, and we were gazing at the Macedonia's lights.
'What if I should cry out?' Maud asked.
'I like you too well to hurt you,' he said softly- nay100, there was a tenderness and a caress101 in his voice that made me wince71. 'But don't do it just the same, for I'd promptly102 break Mr. Van Weyden's neck.'
'Then she has my permission to cry out,' I said defiantly104.
'I hardly think you'll care to sacrifice the Dean of American Letters the Second,' he sneered105.
We spoke106 no more, though we had become too used to each other for the silence to be awkward; and when the red light and the white had disappeared we returned to the cabin to finish the interrupted supper.
Again they fell to quoting, and Maud gave Dowson's 'Impenitentia Ultima.' She rendered it beautifully, but I watched not her, but Wolf Larsen. I was fascinated by the fascinated look he bent108 upon Maud. He was quite out of himself, and I noticed the unconscious movement of his lips as he shaped word for word as fast as she uttered them. He interrupted her when she gave the lines:
And her eyes should be my light while the sun went out behind me,
And the viols in her voice be the last sound in my ear.
'There are viols in your voice,' he said bluntly, and his eyes flashed their golden light.
I could have shouted with joy at her control. She finished the concluding stanza110 without faltering111, and then slowly guided the conversation into less perilous112 channels. And all the while I sat in a half-daze, the drunken riot of the steerage breaking through the bulkhead, the man I feared and the woman I loved talking on and on. The table was not cleared. The man who had taken Mugridge's place had evidently joined his comrades in the forecastle.
If ever Wolf Larsen attained113 the summit of living, he attained it then. From time to time I forsook114 my own thoughts to follow him; and I followed in amaze, mastered for the moment by his remarkable intellect, under the spell of his passion, for he was preaching the passion of revolt. It was inevitable115 that Milton's Lucifer should be instanced, and the keenness with which Wolf Larsen analyzed116 and depicted117 the character was a revelation of his stifled genius. It reminded me of Taine, yet I knew the man had never heard of that brilliant though dangerous thinker.
'He led a lost cause, and he was not afraid of God's thunderbolts,' Wolf Larsen was saying. 'Hurled into hell, he was unbeaten. A third of God's angels he had led with him, and straightway he incited118 man to rebel against God and gained for himself and hell the major portion of all the generations of man. Why was he beaten out of heaven? Because he was less brave than God? Less proud? Less aspiring119? No! A thousand times no! God was more powerful, as he said, whom thunder hath made greater. But Luficer was a free spirit. To serve was to suffocate120. He preferred suffering in freedom to all the happiness of a comfortable servility. He did not care to serve God. He cared to serve nothing. He was no figurehead. He stood on his own legs. He was an individual.'
'The first anarchist,' Maud laughed, rising and preparing to withdraw to her state-room.
'Then it is good to be an anarchist,' he cried. He, too, had risen, and he stood facing her, where she had paused at the door of her room, as he went on:
Here at least
We shall be free; the Almighty121 hath not built
Here for his envy; will not drive us hence;
Here we may reign122 secure; and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition, though in hell;
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
It was the defiant103 cry of a mighty spirit. The cabin still rang with his voice, as he stood there, swaying, his bronzed face shining, his head up and dominant123, and his eyes, golden and masculine, intensely masculine and insistently124 soft, flashing upon Maud at the door.
Again that unnamable and unmistakable terror was in her eyes, and she said, almost in a whisper, 'You are Lucifer.'
The door closed, and she was gone. He stood staring after her for a minute, then returned to himself and to me.
'I'll relieve Louis at the wheel,' he said shortly, 'and call upon you to relieve at midnight. Better turn in now and get some sleep.'
He pulled on a pair of mittens125, put on his cap, and ascended126 the companion-stairs, while I followed his suggestion by going to bed. For some unknown reason, prompted mysteriously, I did not undress, but lay down fully107 clothed. For a time I listened to the clamor in the steerage and marveled upon the love which had come to me; but my sleep on the Ghost had become most healthful and natural, and soon the songs and cries died away, my eyes closed, and my consciousness sank down into the half-death of slumber127.
I knew not what had aroused me, but I found myself out of my bunk, on my feet, wide awake, my soul vibrating to the warning of danger as it might have thrilled to a trumpet128 call. I threw open the door. The cabin light was burning low. I saw Maud, straining and struggling and crushed in the embrace of Wolf Larsen's arms. Her face was forcibly upturned. I could see the vain beat and flutter of her as she strove, by pressing her face against his breast, to escape his lips. All this I saw on the very instant of seeing and as I sprang forward.
I struck him with my fist, on the face, as he raised his head, but it was a puny129 blow. He roared in a ferocious130, animal-like way and gave me a shove with his hand. It was only a shove, a flirt131 of the wrist, yet so tremendous was his strength that I was hurled backward as from a catapult. I struck the door of the state-room that had formerly132 been Mugridge's, splintering and smashing the panels with the impact of my body. I struggled to my feet, with difficulty dragging myself clear of the wrecked133 door, unaware134 of any hurt whatever. I was conscious only of an overmastering rage. I think I, too, cried aloud, as I drew the knife at my hip15 and sprang forward a second time.
But something had happened. They were reeling apart. I was close upon him, my knife uplifted, but I withheld135 the blow. I was puzzled by the strangeness of it. Maud was leaning against the wall, one hand out for support; but he was staggering, his left hand pressed against his forehead and covering his eyes, and with the right he was groping about him in a dazed sort of way. It struck against the wall, and his body seemed to express a muscular and physical relief at the contact, as though he had found his bearings, his location in space, as well as something against which to lean.
Then I saw red again. All my wrongs and humiliations flashed upon me with a dazzling brightness, all that I had suffered and others had suffered at his hands, all the enormity of the man's very existence. I sprang upon him, blindly, insanely, and drove the knife into his shoulder. I knew, then, that it was no more than a flesh-wound,- I had felt the steel grate on his shoulder-blade,- and I raised the knife to strike at a more vital part.
But Maud had seen my first blow, and she cried, 'Don't! Please don't!'
I dropped my arm for a moment, and for a moment only. Again the knife was raised, and Wolf Larsen would have surely died had she not stepped between. Her arms were around me, her hair was brushing my face. My pulse rushed up in an unwonted manner, yet my rage mounted with it. She looked me bravely in the eyes.
'For my sake,' she begged.
'I would kill him for your sake!' I cried, trying to free my arm without hurting her.
'Hush!' she said, and laid her fingers lightly on my lips. I could have kissed them, had I dared, even then in my rage, the touch of them was so sweet, so very sweet. 'Please, please,' she pleaded, and she disarmed136 me by the words, as I was to discover they would ever disarm137 me.
I stepped back, separating her, and replaced the knife in its sheath. I looked at Wolf Larsen. He still pressed his left hand against his forehead. It covered his eyes. His head was bowed. He seemed to have grown limp. His body was sagging138 at the hips16, his great shoulders were drooping139 and shrinking forward.
'Van Weyden!' he called hoarsely141, and with a note of fright in his voice. 'Oh, Van Weyden, where are you?'
I looked at Maud. She did not speak, but nodded her head.
'Here I am,' I answered, stepping to his side. 'What is the matter?'
'Help me to a seat,' he said, in the same hoarse140, frightened voice.
'I am a sick man, a very sick man, Hump,' he said, as he left my sustaining grip and sank into a chair.
His head dropped forward on the table and was buried in his hands. From time to time it rocked back and forward as with pain. Once, when he half raised it, I saw the sweat standing143 in heavy drops on his forehead about the roots of his hair.
'I am a sick man, a very sick man,' he repeated again, and yet once again.
'What is the matter?' I asked, resting my hand on his shoulder. 'What can I do for you?'
But he shook my hand off with an irritated movement, and for a long time I stood by his side in silence. Maud was looking on, her face awed144 and frightened. What had happened to him we could not imagine.
'Hump,' he said at last, 'I must get into my bunk. Lend me a hand. I'll be all right in a little while. It's those d- headaches, I believe. I was afraid of them. I had a feeling- no, I don't know what I'm talking about. Help me into my bunk.'
But when I got him into his bunk he again buried his face in his hands, covering his eyes, and as I turned to go I could hear him murmuring, 'I am a sick man, a very sick man.'
Maud looked at me inquiringly as I emerged. I shook my head, saying:
'Something has happened to him. What, I don't know. He is helpless, and frightened, I imagine, for the first time in his life. It must have happened before he received the knife-thrust, which made only a superficial wound. You must have seen what happened.'
She shook her head. 'I saw nothing. It is just as mysterious to me. He suddenly released me and staggered away. But what shall we do? What shall I do?'
'Wait until I come back,' I answered.
I went on deck. Louis was at the wheel.
'You may go for'ard and turn in,' I said, taking it from him.
He was quick to obey, and I found myself alone on the deck of the Ghost. As quietly as was possible, I clewed up the topsails, lowered the flying jib and staysail, backed the jib over, and flattened145 the mainsail. Then I went below to Maud. I placed my finger on my lips for silence, and entered Wolf Larsen's room. He was in the same position in which I had left him, and his head was rocking- almost writhing- from side to side.
'Anything I can do for you?' I asked.
He made no reply at first, but on my repeating the question he answered: 'No, no; I'm all right. Leave me alone till morning.'
But as I turned to go I noted that his head had resumed its rocking motion. Maud was waiting patiently for me, and I took notice, with a thrill of joy, of the queenly poise146 of her head and her glorious calm eyes. Calm and sure they were as her spirit itself.
'Will you trust yourself to me for a journey of six hundred miles or so?' I asked.
'You mean-?' she asked, and I knew she had guessed aright.
'Yes, I mean just that,' I replied. 'Nothing is left for us but the open boat.'
'For me, you mean,' she said. 'You are certainly as safe here as you have been.'
'No, there is nothing left for us but the open boat,' I iterated stoutly147. 'Dress as warmly as you can, at once, and make into a bundle whatever you wish to bring with you. And make all haste,' I added, as she turned toward her stateroom.
The lazaret was directly beneath the cabin, and, opening the trap-door in the floor and carrying a candle with me, I dropped down and began overhauling148 the ship's stores. I selected mainly from the canned goods, and by the time I was ready willing hands were extended from above to receive what I passed up.
We worked in silence. I helped myself also to blankets, mittens, oilskins, caps, and such things, from the slop-chest. It was no light adventure, this trusting ourselves in a small boat to so raw and stormy a sea, and it was imperative149 that we should guard ourselves against the cold and wet.
We worked feverishly150 at carrying our plunder151 on deck and depositing it amidships, so feverishly that Maud, whose strength was hardly a positive quantity, had to give over, exhausted152, and sit on the steps at the break of the poop. This did not serve to recover her, and she lay on her back, on the hard deck, arms stretched out and whole body relaxed. It was a trick I remembered of my sister, and I knew she would soon be herself again. I reentered Wolf Larsen's state-room to get his rifle and shotgun. I spoke to him, but he made no answer, though his head was still rocking from side to side and he was not asleep.
Next to obtain was a stock of ammunition- an easy matter, though I had to enter the steerage companionway to do it. Here the hunters stored the ammunition-boxes they carried in the boats, and here, but a few feet from their noisy revels, I took possession of two boxes.
Next, to lower a boat. Not so simple a task for one man. Having cast off the lashings, I hoisted153 first on the forward tackle, then on the aft, till the boat cleared the rail, when I lowered away, one tackle and then the other, for a couple of feet, till it hung snugly154, above the water, against the schooner's side. I made certain that it contained the proper equipment of oars142, rowlocks, and sail. Water was a consideration, and I robbed every boat aboard of its breaker. As there were nine boats all told, it meant that we should have plenty of water, and ballast as well, though there was the chance that the boat would be overloaded155, with the generous supply of other things I was taking.
While Maud was passing me the provisions and I was storing them in the boat, a sailor came on deck from the forecastle. He stood by the weather rail for a time (we were lowering over the lee rail), and then sauntered slowly amidships, where he again paused and stood facing the wind, with his back toward us. I could hear my heart beating as I crouched156 low in the boat. Maud had sunk down upon the deck and was, I knew, lying motionless, her body in the shadow of the bulwark157. But the man never turned, and after stretching his arms above his head and yawning audibly, he retraced158 his steps to the forecastle scuttle and disappeared.
A few minutes sufficed to finish the loading, and I lowered the boat into the water. As I helped Maud over the rail, and felt her form close to mine, it was all I could do to keep from crying out, 'I love you! I love you!' Truly, Humphrey Van Weyden was at last in love, I thought, as her fingers clung to mine while I lowered her to the boat. I held on to the rail with one hand and supported her weight with the other, and I was proud at the moment of the feat159. It was a strength I had not possessed a few months before, on the day I said good-by to Charley Furuseth and started for San Francisco on the ill-fated Martinez.
As the boat ascended on a sea, her feet touched and I released her hands. I cast off the tackles and leapt after her. I had never rowed in my life, but I put out the oars, and at the expense of much effort got the boat clear of the Ghost. Then I experimented with the sail. I had seen the boat-steerers and hunters set their sprit-sails many times, yet this was my first attempt. What took them possibly two minutes took me twenty, but in the end I succeeded in setting and trimming it, and with the steering-oar in my hands hauled on the wind.
'There lies Japan,' I remarked, 'straight before us.'
'Humphrey Van Weyden,' she said, 'you are a brave man.'
'Nay,' I answered; 'it is you who are a brave woman.'
We turned our heads, swayed by a common impulse to see the last of the Ghost. Her low hull160 lifted and rolled to windward on a sea; her canvas loomed161 darkly in the night; her lashed109 wheel creaked as the rudder kicked; then sight and sound of her faded away, and we were alone on the dark sea.
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1
belching
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| n. 喷出，打嗝 动词belch的现在分词形式 | |
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2
funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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3
converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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6
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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grudges
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| 不满，怨恨，妒忌( grudge的名词复数 ) | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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derisive
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| adj.嘲弄的 | |
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18
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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19
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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20
vomiting
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| 吐 | |
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21
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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22
woolen
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| adj.羊毛(制)的；毛纺的 | |
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23
filament
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| n.细丝；长丝；灯丝 | |
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24
shrouds
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| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
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25
mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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26
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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27
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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28
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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29
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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30
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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32
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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33
subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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34
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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35
timing
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| n.时间安排，时间选择 | |
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36
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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37
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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38
tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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39
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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40
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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41
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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42
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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43
simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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44
jibing
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| v.与…一致( jibe的现在分词 )；（与…）相符；相匹配 | |
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45
maneuver
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| n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略 | |
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46
wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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47
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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48
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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49
batch
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| n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量 | |
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50
soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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51
debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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52
revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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53
wrangled
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| v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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55
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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56
miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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57
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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58
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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59
lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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60
monstrously
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61
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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63
velvety
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| adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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64
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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65
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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66
belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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67
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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68
tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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69
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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70
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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71
wince
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| n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避 | |
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72
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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74
inferno
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| n.火海；地狱般的场所 | |
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75
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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76
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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77
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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78
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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79
counteracted
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| 对抗，抵消( counteract的过去式 ) | |
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80
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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81
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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82
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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83
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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84
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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85
seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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86
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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87
luring
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式） | |
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88
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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89
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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90
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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91
materialistic
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| a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的 | |
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92
vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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93
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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94
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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95
transgression
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| n.违背；犯规；罪过 | |
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pessimism
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| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
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97
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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98
scuttle
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| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
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99
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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100
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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101
caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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102
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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103
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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104
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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105
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
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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107
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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108
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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109
lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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110
stanza
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| n.（诗）节，段 | |
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111
faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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112
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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113
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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114
forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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115
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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116
analyzed
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| v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析 | |
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117
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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118
incited
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| 刺激，激励，煽动( incite的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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119
aspiring
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| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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120
suffocate
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| vt.使窒息，使缺氧，阻碍；vi.窒息，窒息而亡，阻碍发展 | |
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121
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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122
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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123
dominant
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| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
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124
insistently
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| ad.坚持地 | |
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125
mittens
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| 不分指手套 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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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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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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148
overhauling
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| n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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overloaded
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| a.超载的，超负荷的 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bulwark
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| n.堡垒，保障，防御 | |
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retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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