In three hours- it was midnight, I well remember, and as dark as I had ever seen it on the sea- the wind, still blowing out of the southwest, rose furiously, and once again I was compelled to set the sea-anchor.
Day broke and found me wan-eyed and the ocean lashed3 white, the boat pitching, almost on end, to its drag. We were in imminent4 danger of being swamped by the whitecaps. As it was, spray and spume came aboard in such quantities that I baled without cessation. The blankets were soaking. Everything was wet except Maud, and she, in oilskins, rubber boots, and souwester, was dry, all but her face and hands and a stray wisp of hair. She relieved me at the baling-hole from time to time, and bravely she threw out the water and faced the storm. All things are relative. It was no more than a stiff blow; but to us, fighting for life in our frail5 craft, it was indeed a storm.
Cold and cheerless, the wind beating on our faces, the white seas roaring by, we struggled through the day. Night came, but neither of us slept. Day came, and still the wind beat on our faces and the white seas roared past. By the second night Maud was falling asleep from exhaustion6. I covered her with oilskins and a tarpaulin8. She was comparatively dry, but she was numb9 with the cold. I feared greatly that she might die in the night; but day broke, cold and cheerless, with the same clouded sky and beating wind and roaring seas.
I had had no sleep for forty-eight hours. I was wet and chilled to the marrow10, till I felt more dead than alive. My body was stiff from exertion11 as well as from cold, and my aching muscles gave me the severest torture whenever I used them- and I used them continually. And all the time we were being driven off into the northeast, directly away from Japan and toward bleak12 Bering Sea.
And still we lived, and the boat lived, and the wind blew unabated. In fact, toward nightfall of the third day it increased a trifle and something more. The boat's bow plunged13 under a crest14, and we came through quarter full of water. I baled like a madman. The liability of shipping15 another such sea was enormously increased by the water that weighed the boat down and robbed it of its buoyancy. And another such sea meant the end. When I had the boat empty again I was forced to take away the tarpaulin that covered Maud, in order that I might lash2 it down across the bow. It was well I did, for it covered the boat fully16 a third of the way aft, and three times in the next several hours it flung off the bulk of the down-rushing water when the bow shoved under the seas.
Maud's condition was pitiable. She sat crouched17 in the bottom of the boat, her lips blue, her face gray and plainly showing the pain she suffered. But ever her eyes looked bravely at me, and ever her lips uttered brave words.
The worst of the storm must have blown that night, though little I noticed it. I had succumbed18 and slept where I sat in the stern-sheets. The morning of the fourth day found the wind diminished to a gentle whisper, the sea dying down, and the sun shining upon us. Oh, the blessed sun! How we bathed our poor bodies in its delicious warmth, reviving like insects and crawling things after a storm! We smiled again, said amusing things, and waxed optimistic over our situation. Yet it was, if anything, worse than ever. We were farther away from Japan than the night we left the Ghost. Nor could I more than roughly guess our latitude19 and longitude20. At a calculation of a two-mile drift per hour, during the seventy and odd hours of the storm we had been driven at least one hundred and fifty miles to the northeast. But was such calculated drift correct? For all I knew, it might have been four miles per hour instead of two, in which case we were another hundred and fifty miles to the bad.
Where we were I did not know, though there was quite a likelihood that we were in the vicinity of the Ghost. There were seals about us, and I was prepared to sight a sealing-schooner21 at any time. We did sight one, in the afternoon, when the northwest breeze had sprung up freshly once more; but the strange schooner lost itself on the skyline, and we alone occupied the circle of the sea.
Came days of fog, when even Maud's spirit drooped22 and there were no merry words upon her lips; days of calm, when we floated on the lonely immensity of sea, oppressed by its greatness and yet marveling at the miracle of tiny life, for we still lived and struggled to live; days of sleet23 and wind and snow-squalls, when nothing could keep us warm; or days of drizzling24 rain, when we filled our water-breakers from the drip of the wet sail.
And ever I loved Maud with an increasing love. She was so many-sided, so many-mooded- 'Protean-mooded' I called her. But I called her this, and other and dearer things, in my thoughts only. Though the declaration of my love urged and trembled on my tongue a thousand times, I knew that it was no time for such a declaration. If for no other reason, it was no time, when one was protecting and trying to save a woman, to ask that woman for her love. Delicate as was the situation, not alone in this but in other ways, I flattered myself that I was able to deal delicately with it; and also I flattered myself that by look or sign I gave no advertisement of the love I felt for her. We were like good comrades, and we grew better comrades as the days went by.
One thing about her that surprised me was her lack of timidity and fear. The terrible sea, the frail-boat, the storms, the suffering, the strangeness and isolation25 of the situation,- all that should have frightened a robust26 woman,- seemed to make no impression upon her who had known life only in its most sheltered and consummately27 artificial aspects, and who was herself all fire and dew and mist, sublimated28 spirit- all that was soft and tender and clinging in woman. And yet I am wrong. She was timid and afraid, but she possessed29 courage. The flesh and the qualms30 of the flesh she was heir to, but the flesh bore heavily only on the flesh. And she was spirit, first and always spirit, etherealized essence of life, as calm as her calm eyes, and sure of permanence in the changing order of the universe.
Came days of storm, days and nights of storm, when the ocean menaced us with its roaring whiteness and the wind smote31 our struggling boat with a Titan's buffets32. And ever we were flung off farther and farther to the northeast. It was in such a storm, and the worst that we had experienced, that I cast a weary glance to leeward33, not in quest of anything, but more from the weariness of facing the elemental strife34 and in mute appeal, almost, to the wrathful powers to cease and let us be. What I saw I could not at first believe; days and nights of sleeplessness35 and anxiety had doubtless turned my head. I looked back at Maud, to identify myself, as it were, in time and space. The sight of her dear wet cheeks, her flying hair, and her brave brown eyes convinced me that my vision was still healthy. Again I turned my face to leeward, and again I saw the jutting36 promontory37, black and high and naked, the raging surf that broke about its base and beat its front high up with spouting38 fountains, the black and forbidding coastline running toward the southeast and fringed with a tremendous scarf of white.
'Maud,' I said, 'Maud.'
She turned her head and beheld39 the sight.
'It cannot be Alaska!' she cried.
'No,' I answered; and asked, 'Can you swim?'
She shook her head.
'Neither can I,' I said. 'So we must get ashore40 without swimming, in some opening between the rocks through which we can drive the boat and clamber out. But we must be quick, very quick- and sure.'
I spoke41 with a confidence she knew I did not feel, for she looked at me with that unfaltering gaze of hers, and said:
'I have not thanked you yet for all you have done for me, but-' She hesitated, as if in doubt how best to word her gratitude42.
'Well?' I said brutally43, for I was not quite pleased with her thanking me.
'You might help me,' she smiled.
'To acknowledge your obligations before you die? Not at all. We are not going to die. We shall land on that island, and we shall be snug44 and sheltered before the day is done.'
I spoke stoutly45, but I did not believe a word. Nor was I prompted to lie through fear. I felt no fear, though I was sure of death in that boiling surge among the rocks which was rapidly growing nearer. It was impossible to hoist46 sail and claw off that shore. The wind would instantly capsize the boat; the seas would swamp it the moment it fell into the trough; and, besides, the sail, lashed to the spare oars47, dragged in the sea ahead of us.
As I say, I was not afraid to meet my own death there, a few hundred yards to leeward; but I was appalled48 at the thought that Maud must die. My cursed imagination saw her beaten and mangled49 against the rocks, and it was too terrible. I strove to compel myself to think we would make the landing safely, and so I spoke not what I believed, but what I preferred to believe.
I recoiled50 before contemplation of that frightful51 death, and for a moment I entertained the wild idea of seizing Maud in my arms and leaping overboard. Then I resolved to wait, and at the last moment, when we entered on the final stretch, to take her in my arms and proclaim my love, and, with her in my embrace, to make the desperate struggle and die.
Instinctively we drew closer together in the bottom of the boat. I felt her mittened52 hand come out to mine; and thus, without speech, we waited the end. We were not far off the line the wind made with the western edge of the promontory, and I watched in the hope that some set of the current or send of the sea would drift us past before we reached the surf.
'We shall go clear,' I said, with a confidence that I knew deceived neither of us. Five minutes later I cried: 'By God! We shall go clear!'
The oath left my lips in my excitement- the first, I do believe, in my life, unless 'trouble it,' an expletive of my youth, be accounted an oath.
'I beg your pardon,' I said.
'You have convinced me for the first time of your sincerity,' she said, with a faint smile. 'I do know now that we shall go clear.'
I had seen a distant headland past the extreme edge of the promontory, and as we looked we could see grow the intervening coastline of what was evidently a deep cove7. At the same time there broke upon our ears a continuous and mighty53 bellowing54. It partook of the magnitude and volume of distant thunder, and it came to us directly from leeward, rising above the crash of the surf and traveling directly in the teeth of the storm. As we passed the point, the whole cove burst upon our view, a half-moon of white sandy beach upon which broke a huge surf and which was covered with myriads55 of seals. It was from them that the great bellowing went up.
'A rookery!' I cried. 'Now are we indeed saved. There must be men and cruisers to protect them from the seal-hunters. Possibly there is a station ashore.'
But as I studied the surf that beat upon the beach, I said: 'Still bad, but not so bad. And now, if the gods be truly kind, we shall drift by that next headland and come upon a perfectly56 sheltered beach where we may land without wetting our feet.'
And the gods were kind. The first and second headlands were directly in line with the southwest wind; but once around the second,- and we went perilously57 close,- we picked up the third headland, still in line with the wind and with the other two. But the cove that intervened! It penetrated58 deep into the land, and the tide, setting in, drifted us under the shelter of the point. Here the sea was calm, save for a heavy but smooth ground-swell, and I took in the sea-anchor and began to row. From the point the shore curved away more and more to the south and west, until, at last, it disclosed a cove within the cove, a little landlocked harbor, the water as level as a pond, broken only by tiny ripples59, where vagrant60 breaths and wisps of the storm hurtled down from over the frowning wall of rock that backed the beach a hundred feet inshore.
Here were no seals whatever. The boat's stem touched the hard shingle61. I sprang out, extending my hand to Maud. The next moment she was beside me. As my fingers released hers, she clutched for my arm hastily. At the same moment I swayed, as if about to fall to the sand. This was the startling effect of the cessation of motion. We had been so long upon the moving, rocking sea that the stable land was a shock to us. We expected the beach to lift up this way and that, and the rocky walls to swing back and forth62 like the sides of a ship; and when we braced63 ourselves automatically for these various expected movements, their non-occurrence quite overcame our equilibrium64.
'I really must sit down,' Maud said, with a nervous laugh and a dizzy gesture, and forthwith she sat down on the sand.
I attended to making the boat secure and joined her. Thus we landed on Endeavor Island, as we called it, land-sick from long custom of the sea.
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1
recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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2
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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3
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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4
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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5
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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6
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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7
cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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tarpaulin
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| n.涂油防水布，防水衣，防水帽 | |
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9
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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12
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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13
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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14
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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15
shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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16
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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17
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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19
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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21
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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22
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
sleet
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| n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹 | |
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24
drizzling
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| 下蒙蒙细雨，下毛毛雨( drizzle的现在分词 ) | |
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25
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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26
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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27
consummately
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| adv.完成地，至上地 | |
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28
sublimated
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| v.（使某物质）升华( sublimate的过去式和过去分词 )；使净化；纯化 | |
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29
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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30
qualms
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| n.不安；内疚 | |
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31
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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32
buffets
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| （火车站的）饮食柜台( buffet的名词复数 )； （火车的）餐车； 自助餐 | |
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33
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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34
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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35
sleeplessness
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| n.失眠，警觉 | |
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36
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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37
promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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38
spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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39
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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40
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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41
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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42
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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43
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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44
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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45
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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46
hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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47
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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48
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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49
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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50
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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51
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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52
mittened
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| v.（使）变得潮湿，变得湿润( moisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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54
bellowing
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的现在分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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55
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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56
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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57
perilously
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| adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地 | |
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58
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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59
ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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60
vagrant
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| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
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61
shingle
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| n.木瓦板；小招牌(尤指医生或律师挂的营业招牌)；v.用木瓦板盖（屋顶）；把（女子头发）剪短 | |
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62
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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63
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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64
equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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