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Show HfZ ,C"rY X? I N THIS TALLIN OP $Kf "(C J P (I CK LON-U ii ik. fm ( DON's SEA i:x- A MImLJv per ie NCI- IS I WtiO& CJSUD WITH ALL r4 j-"? --o -cnis-viRiLEi?i-:N- .. f.'v,.-,.-.,.r(v .irtfK l onc n ' SYNOPSIS. ttiiinplirov Van WVydrn. critic nml dllot-tanlo. dllot-tanlo. ts thrown Into tho water hy llif sinking of a iVirvboul In u toK In San Krnm-isi'o hav. anil liiriimrs uiu'onsi'lou before help iva.-hi-a htm. On column to Ins senses he tlnils himself llhuaril the sealing seheoner klhost. Captain Wolf l.arseii. iHHitul to Japan waters, witnesses the ile.uh of the tlrst mate tuui heais the captain curse the dead man for presumlim to die at the beKinnmi: of the vovaKe. The oaplam roluses to put Humphrey ashore ami makes htm cabin boy "for the i;oo.l of his soul " Humphrey sees the boily of the mate iHimped into the sea. lie begins to learn potato peeling and dtsh washlnn under the cockney cook. Mutrldm'. Is caught by a heav sea shipped over the iiuaiter as he Is carrvlm; tea nft and Ills knee Is seriously hurt, but no one pays any attention to his luttiry. Hump's uuar-lers uuar-lers are changed nft. Mimrl.Ue steals his money and chases hlni when aeeused of It. Later he listens to Wolf Klvo his Idea of lifi "like veiLst. a ferment . . . tho bu eat the little . . .' CHAPTER VI Continued. A cruel thing happened Just before supper, indicative of the callousness and brutishness of these men. There is one green hand in the crew, llarri son by name, a clumsy-looking country boy. mastered. I imagine, by the spirit of adventure, and making his first voy age. In some way, when Harrison was aloft, the sheet Jammed In tho block through which it runs at tho end of the gaff. As I understood it, there were two ways of getting It cleared first, by lowering the foresail, which was comparatively easy and without danger; and. second, by climbing out the peak-halyards to the end of the gaff itself, an exceedingly hazardous performance. Johansen called out to Harrison to go out the halyards. The Ghost was rolling emptily in a long sea. and with vach roll the halyards slacked and Jerked taut. They were capable of snapping a man off like a fly from a whiplash. Harrison heard the order and hesi tated. It was probably the first time he had been aloft in his life. Johansen Johan-sen burst out with a volley of abuse and curses. "That'll do. Johansen." Wolf Larsen said brusquely. 'Til have you know that I do the swearing on this ship If I need your assistance, I'll call you in." "Yes. sir." the mate acknowledged submissively. In the meantime Harrison had started out on the halyards. It was a slight uphill climb, for the foresail peaked high. When he was half way out, the Ghost took a long roll to windward and back again into the hollow hol-low between two seas. It was the snap of the whip. His clutch was broken. His body pitched out and down, but in some way he managed to save himself with his legs, hanging head downward. A quick effort brought his hands up to the halyards again; but he was a long time regaining his former position, where he hung, a pitiable object "I'll bet he has no appetite for supper," sup-per," I heard Wolf Larsen's voice, which came to me around the corner of the galley. "It's a shame," I heard Johnson growling in painfully slow and correct English. He was standing by the main rigging, a few feet away from me. "The boy is willing enough. He will learn if he has a chance. But this is " He paused awhile, for the word "murder" was his final Judgment "Hist, will ye!" Louis whispered to him. "For the love iv your mother hold your mouth!" It took Harrison fully ten minutes to get started again. A little later he made the end of the gaff, where, astride the spar itself, he cleared tbl sheet, and was free to return. But h) had lost his nerve. Johansen called vainly for him to come down. At any moment he was liable to be Bnapped oft the gaff, but he was helpless with fright. Wolf Larsen. walking up and down with Smoke and in conversation, took no more notice of him, though he cried sharply once to the man at the wheel ; "You're off your course, my man! Be careful, unles3 you're looking for trouble!" "Ay, ay, sir," the helmsman responded, respond-ed, putting a couple of spokes down. He had been guilty of running the Ghost severa. points off her course in order that what little wind there was should fill the foresail and hold it steady. He had striven to help the unfortunate Harrison at the risk of Incurring Wolf Larsen's anger. Fully half an hour went by. and then I saw Johnson and Louis in some sort of altercation. It ended with Johnson flinging off Louis' detaining firm and starting forward. He crossed the deck, sprang Into the fore rigging, and began to climb. But the quick eye of Wolf Larsen caught him. "Here, you, what are you up to?" he cried. Johnson's ascent was arrested. He looked his captain in the eyes and replied slowly: "1 am going to get that boy down." "You'll get down out of that rigging, and damn lively about it! D'ye hear? Get down!" Johnson hesitated, but the long years of obedience to the masters of -hips overpowered him. and he dropped sullenly to the deck and went on forward At hall' after the 1 went below to net the cabin table, but I hardly knew what 1 did. for my eyes and bniln wore, filled with tho vision of n mini, whlto-faced whlto-faced and trembling, comically II Uo n hug, clinging to the t brushing nnT. At six o'clock, when I served supper, going on deck to get the food from the galley, 1 saw Harrison, still In the same position. Tho conversation at tho table was of other things. Nobody seemed Interested In the wantonly Imperiled Im-periled life. Hut. making an extra Hip to the galley a little later. 1 was gladdened by tho sight of Harrison staggering weakly from tho rigging to the forecastle scuttle. Ho had finally summoned tho courage to descend. Before closing this Incident, 1 rnusr glvo a scrap of conversation 1 bail with Wolf Larsen In tho cabin, while I was washing dishes. "You wero looking squeamish this afternoon," ho began. "What was tho matter?" I could see that he knew what had made mo possibly as sick as Harrison, Harri-son, that he was trying to draw me. and I answ ered. "It w as because of tho brutal treatment of that boy." He gavo a short laugh. "Like Roa-sickness, Roa-sickness, I tuppose. Some men are subject to It, nnd others are not." "Not 60," I objected. "Just so." he went on. "The earth Is as full of brutality as tho sea Is full of motion. And somo men are made sick by the one. and some by the other. That's the only reason." "But you, w ho make a mock of human hu-man life, don't you place any valuo upon It whatever?" I demanded. "Value? What value?" He looked at me. and though his cye3 were steady and motionless, there seemed a cynical smile in them. "What kind of value? How do you measure it? Who values it?" 1 "I do," I made answer. "Then what is it worth to you? Another An-other man's life. I mean Come. now. what Is it worth?" The value of life? How could I put a tangible value upon it? Somehow, I, who have always had expression. (v MV.. "You're Off Your Course, My Man." lacked expression when with Wolf Larsen. The sacredness of life I had accepted as axiomatic. That it was intrinsically valuable was a truism 1 had never questioned. But. when he challenged the truism 1 was speechless. speech-less. "We were talking about this yesterday." yes-terday." he said. "I held that life was a ferment, a yeast, something which devoured life that it might live, and that living was merely successful piggishness. Why, if there Is anything in supply and demand, life is the cheapest thing in the world. There is only so much water, so much earth, so much air; but the life that Is demanding de-manding to be born Is limitless. Nature Na-ture Is a spendthrift. Life? Bah! It has no value. Of cheap things It is the cheapest. Everywhere it goes begging. Nature spills it out with a lavish hand. Wher.e there Is room for one life, she sows a thousand lives, and it's life cats life till the strongest and most piggish life is left." "You have read Darwin," I said. "But you read him misunderstanding-!y misunderstanding-!y when you conclude that the f-f ggle for existence sanctions your wanton destruction of life." He shrugged his shoulders. "You know you only mean that in relation to human life, for of the flesh and fowl and the fish you destroy as much as I or any other man. And human life Is in no wise different, though you feel it Is and think that you reason why it is. Why should I be parsimonious with this life which is so cheap and without value?" He staited for the companion stairs, but turned his head for a final word. "Do you know the only value life has is what life puts upon itself? And It is of course overestimated, since it is of necessity prejudiced in Its own favor: Take that man 1 had aloft. He held on as if he were a precious thing, a treasure beyond diamonds or rubies. To you? No. Tome? Not at all. To lilniHt'k? Vch But I do not accept bis estimate. Ho sadly overrates himself. him-self. Thero Is plenty more life tie mantling to bo born. To himself only was he of value, and to Hhow how fictitious even (his valuo was, being dead ho Is unconscious that he has lost himself. Ho alone rated himself beyond be-yond diamonds and rubies. Diamonds and rubles aro gone, spread out on the deck to be washed away by a bucket of sea-water, and ho does not even know that tho diamonds and rubies are gone, lie does not lose anything, for with tho loss of himself ho loses the knowledge of loss. Don't you see? Ami what have you to say?" "That you nre at least consistent." was all I could say, und I went on washing tho dishes. CHAPTER VII. ' At last, after three days of variable winds, wo have caught the northeast trades. 1 came on deck, after a good night's rest In spite of my poor knee, to find the Ghost foaming along, wing-and wing-and wing, nnd every sail drawing except ex-cept the Jibs, with a fresh breeze astern. Ten knots, twelve knots, eleven knots, varying from timo to time. Is tho speed wo are making. And ever out of tho northeast the brave wind blows, driving us on our course 250 miles between tho dawns Each day grows perceptibly warmer. In the second dog-watch the sailors como on deck, stripped, and hc.ve buckets of water upon one another from overside. Flying fish are beginning begin-ning to be seen, ami during tho night tho watch above scrambles over tho deck in pursuit of those that fall ifhoard. In the morning Thomas Mug ridge being duly bribed, the galley Is pleasantly areek with tho odor of their frying, while dolphin meat Is served fore and aft on such occasions as Johnson catches the blazing beauties beau-ties from the bowsprit end.. The days and nights aro "all a wonder won-der and a wild delight." and though I have little time from my dreary work, I steal odd moments to gaze and gaze at the unending glory of what 1 never dreamed the world possessed. I do not forget one night, when I should have been asleep, of lying on the forecastle fore-castle head and gazing down at the spectral ripple of foam thrust aside by the Ghost's forefoot It sounded like the gurgling of a brook over mossy stones In some quiet dell, and the crooning song of It lured me away and out of myself till I was no longer Hump the cabin-boy. nor Van Wey-den. Wey-den. the mai who had dreamed away thlrty-fiv jars among books. But a voice behind me. the unmistakable voice of Wolf Larsen. strong with the invincible certitude of the man and mellow with appreciation of the words he was quoting, aroused me. "O the hlnzlns tropic nlcht. when the wake's a welt of llclit That holds the hot sky tnme. And the steady forefoot snores through the planet-powdered floors Where the scared whale dukes In flame. Her plated are scarred by the sun, dear lass. And her ropes are taut with the dew, For we're booming down on the old trail. our own trail, the out trail. We're saisglnK south on the Long Trail the trail that Is always new." "Eh, Htlmp? How's It strike you?" he asked, after the due pause which the words and setting demanded. I looked Into his face. It was aglow with light, as the sea itself, and the eyes were flashing In the starshine. "It strikes me as remarkable, to say the least, that yon should show enthusiasm," enthu-siasm," 1 answered coldly. "Why, man, it's living! It's life!" he cried. "Which Is a cheap thing and without with-out value." I flung his words at him. He laughed, and it was the first time 1 had heard honest mirth in his voice. "Ah. I cannot get you to understand, cannot drive it into your head, what a thing this life is. Of course life Is valueless, except to Itself. And 1 can tell you that my life is pretty valuable just now to myself. It is beyond price, which you will acknowledge Is a terrific overrating, but which I cannot can-not help, for it is the life that is in me that makes the rating." He left me as suddenly as he had come, springing to the deck with the weight and softness of a tiger. Sometimes Some-times I think bim mad, or half mad at least, what of his strange moods and vagaries. At other times I take him for a great man. a genius who has never arrived. He is certainly an Individualist In-dividualist of the most pronounced type. Not only that, but he is very lonely. His tremendous virility and mental strength wall him apart. Men are more like children to him, even the hunters, and as children he treats them, descending perforce to their level and pHiying w ith them as a man plays with puppies. Or else he probes them with the cruel hand of a vivisec-tionist. vivisec-tionist. groping about in their mental processes as though to see of what soul-stuff is made. While on the question of vagaries. I shall tell what befell Thomas Mug-ridge Mug-ridge In the cabin, and at the same time complete an incident upon which 1 have already touched once or twice. The twelve o'clock dinner was over, inn' day, und I bud ju.it flnlahi'd put. ting the cuhln In order, when Wolf 1 .it i hi II and 'I'hnmiiH Mugrltlgn do srentti'd the cniiipalilnn stairs. 'I hough I he rook hud u cubbyhole of a state r it mi oii'tiliig off from the ruhln In the cabin Itm-lf he had never dared to linger or to he seen, und he Muted to nnd fro, once or twice a day, like a Hindi Hpi-clcr. "So you know how In play 'Nup,'" Wolf Larsen wuh suylng In a pleused sort of voieo. "1 might havo gin-used an Englishman would know. 1 learned It myself In English HhlpB." Thomas Mugiitlgo was beside himself, him-self, a blithering Imbecile, bo pleased was ho at chumming thus with tho captain. Tho llttlu nlrs he put on and tho painful striving to assume tho easy currlugo of a man born to a dignified dig-nified plnco In llfo would have been sickening bad they not been ludicrous. Ho qulto Ignored my presence, though I credited him with being simply unable un-able to seo mo. Ills palo, wishy-washy eyes were swimming like lazy summer seas, though what blissful visions they beheld were beyond my Imagination. "Get the cards. Hump." Wolf Larsen Lar-sen ordered, as they took seats at the table. "And bring out the cigars and tho whisky you'll find In my berth." I returned with tho articles In time to bear the cockney hinting broadly that thero was a mystery about him. that he might be a gentleman's son gono wrong or something or other: also, that he was a remittance man and was paid to keep away from England Eng-land "p'yed 'ansomely to sling my 'ook an' keep sllngin' It." 1 had brought the customary liquor glasses, but Wolf Larsen frowned, shook his head, and signaled with bis hands for me to bring the tumblers. These he filled two-thirds full with undiluted whisky "a gentleman's drink," quoth Thomas Mugrldgrj and they clinked their glasses to the glorious glo-rious game of "Nap," lighted cigars. and fell to shuffling and dealing the cards. They played for money. They Increased In-creased the amounts of the bets. They drank whisky, they drank It neat, and 1 fetched more. I do not know whether wheth-er Wolf Larsen cheated or not a thing he was thoroughly capable of doing but he won steadily. The cook made repeated Journeys to his bunk for money. Each time he performed the journey with greater swagger, but he never brought more than a few dollars at a time. He grew maudlin, familiar, could hardly see the cards or sit upright. As a preliminary to another an-other Journey to his bunk, he hooked Wolf Larsen's buttonhole with a greasy forefinger and vacuously proclaimed pro-claimed and reiterated. "I got money. I got money. 1 tell yer. an' I'm a gentleman's gen-tleman's son." Wolf Larsen was unaffected by the drink, yet he drank glass for glass, and if anything his glasses were fuller. There was no change in him. He did not appear even amused at the othar's antics. CTO BE CONTINUED.) |