Show 1 I 1 eli friree men and alomari on H NN M BEN amea WILLIAMS ER amea W N J bervar el CHAPTER XV 13 george coughed more and more but in spite of marys urgings he be went on deck every day refusing to be coddled interested in this westward passage of the horn which they were approaching and he asked richard many questions were all right richard assured him the only thing I 1 dont want to hit is fog were apt to see ice icebergs bergi any time im shortening sail at night As long as it stays clear we can see ice a long way from the crosstrees cros and we can tell tel pretty well before dark if theres any ice ahead of us and the nights are short that helps he himself now kept the deck during the brief hours of darkness not going below at all sleeping in the daytime their course was by this time southeasterly and richard took every opportunity to catch the sun s un or to take a lunar they sighted the diego ramirez rocks one morning an hour after breakfast and mary put on her coat and went up the companion and found richard exuberant as a triumphant boy in the knowledge that his calculations had been accurate the men forward were shouting instead of talking their voices high pitched with triumph knowing that presently they would turn at last northeasterly for the long run home now ill snatch a wink mr forbes richard told mat call me when we come abeam of the rocks so he and peter went below with george and mary and richard stripped off his great sea coat mary said youre dead for sleep richard go lie down he nodded 1 I could sleep three days in a row he agreed he went into his cabin and closed the door behind him mary made george lie down in his bunk for hs sake and covered him over she returned to fo her own cabin and drifted off to sleep later she roused a little heard peter say in the common room outside her door 1 I tell you youre wrong but anyway watch yourself dick will blow you to pieces he keeps a gun in the top drawer she sat up in swift alarm As her feet touched the floor she heard peter go on deck again and then george opened her door he grasped her arm his fingers crushing it so that she uttered a low cry of pain she looked up into his face and saw it twisted and convulsed by some terrific passion and she whispered in a quick terror george the matter he said harshly come out herel here I 1 want to talk to you and captain corr holding her he wrenched open the door of richards cabin and richard asleep in the bunk opened his eyes his head rising from the pillow and then his whole body rose as he came to his feet in a sharp alarm steadying himself with his good hand wrong he asked he brushed past them into the common room leaped toward the companion in thinking only of the ship thinking her in danger when richardi emerging from the cabin brushed him aside george had lurched toward the desk and before richard reached the foot of the companionway george dragged I 1 open the top drawer of the desk and lifted out of it the heavy old revolver always kept there at his cry his command richard turned and saw the weapon leveled at him firmly for a moment he did not move staring in a bewildered astonishment but then his concern still tor for his ship he said curtly ill be back and he went want up the companionway mary began to understand what was coming to foresee the content of the next half hour she heard as though far away voices over their heads but she did not look up she stared at george as though he were a stranger seen for the first time and she waited for richard to return as for a rescuer when he descended the companionway he closed the scuttle behind him shutting thern them in he stopped at the foot of the ladder looking from one of them to the other george 23 had turned stood braced now with his feet wide apart his back to the desk george had put on some composure he was steadier stead now and quieter he backed against the desk still holding the revolver and faced them both and he spoke in crisp slow tones he said evenly 1 I want this business between you stopped today now richard stared at him he looked helplessly at mary im so tired im dumb he said speaking to her not to george maybe its because im short of sleep I 1 dont know what hes talking about but mary knew so many incidents out of the past came now to enlighten her this man facing them with a weapon in his hands was the same george who could not endure the thought of leaving her with joseph Ne argood at gilead he was the same george who could not see fritz aulgur give her a pearl he was the same george who was forever tormented by a devil of jealousy it did not occur to her to wonder why the passion in him had thus suddenly come toa to a head certainly he had lost losi control of himself she moved toward him said pleadingly george youre sick let me to bed please im sick to death he told her sick of you dont touch me ive shut my eyes to your wantonness long enough his word stopped her like a blow richard protested gravely george youre talking in circles if youve got anything to say say it on your mind im talking about you and mary alary making love to each other all the time george told him and his own rage choked him and he coughed bending double clutching at his chest his face dark with lack of breath before he could speak again do you think im blind he challenged then 1 I think youre crazy im crazy am I 1 george visibly fought to control himself to speak impassively oh I 1 dont blame you so much why you make love to her when she begs for it captain corr leave her alone richard said miserably man youre sick maybe I 1 am but im not too sick to pull a trigger ive killed as big a man as jou you with a pickaxe and he had a gun dont you touch mary again or speak to her speak to her richard echoed why sure I 1 will and ill touch her too if L it comes that way have some sense why I 1 george cried explosively because youre in love with her and she with you but on his own words a paroxysm of coughing swept him bent him silenced him he dropped the revolver on the desk c clutching lut ching at his chest with both hands it was long before he could speak again through that long moment richard looked at mary and mary looked at richard before the moment ended each knew it was true while their eyes met in that long exchange like a revelation like vows exchanging these two forgot george racked and helpless by the desk his words unlocked at last a long closed door what he said was true and while their eyes held now they both knew it they knew that they had loved each other always and would love each other always they had not guessed the truth before but they knew it now forever beyond doubt beyond change beyond forgetting each thought wonderingly I 1 was blind not to know then that this was true but now they knew now they knew and the knowledge was a gulf deep and terrible and hopeless their eyes held hard till george recovered and they did not know he had recovered till he crossed to thrust at mary with a movement like a blow to break the bridge of their exchanging glasses and to cry pitifully furious donti dont stop you shant even look at him so she spoke in a panic of haste desperately pera tely denying as much to persuade herself as her husband mary whispered george george it true she looked at richard again she knew it was true knew he knew it cleasel pl easel she cried like a prayer george faced her challenged so its not true of course not he lifted one hand brushed it past her like a scornful blow youre a liari liar mary begged george please he swung to her staring at her narrowly you want me to believe you dont love him he demanded 1 I dont george he grinned mockingly he slipped his arm through hers all right he said 1 I believe it I 1 believe you youre my wife and you love me Is that true yes yes yes you love me with all your heart yes and soul yes fully and completely and passionately siona tely yes yes you know I 1 do he had begun this catechism in tones derisive but under her earnestness nest ness his derision faded he was so lost without her wanted so much to believe her that he began to do so she saw with a slow rising hope that he did begin to believe her and she thought fear would live with her always now fear lest he discover the truth she thought all my life ill have to lie ile to him pretend make him believe I 1 love him if he knew I 1 dont he would die george caught her to him held her close the thin muscles in his arms tightening in nervous spasms then george freed himself and stood erect again and turned to richard while he still held marys arm like an owner in possession he spoke haltingly im sorry caan corr he said 1 I was wrong he coughed twice you 0 m must lie I 1 down she said ill tuck you in youre cold and sick and tired come he tugged at her im not tired im strong now mary the cabin was small with a high bunk against the ships side a lock f fast ast at one end drawers beneath the bunk a seat and a drop desk where his bible and his two or three other books lay george shut the door and turned to her and caught her hands and whispered hoarsely you do love me mary she said mechanically of course I 1 ido do george threw up his head halt half laughing theres no of course about it he cried 1 I know you do now but I 1 never knew what it meant before mary I 1 love you too today I 1 always have without knowing it I 1 love you mary 1 I know you do george dearl I 1 know you do then george began to cough again and had to release her and ja 9 mary begged george please lease she stood watching him as remotely as she watched herself thinking how little he was and thin and weak and frail he coughed and coughed hall half sitting on the bunk clinging to the edge of it behind him with both hands trying to stand till he began to bow forward and she realized that he was slipping down lower and lower then suddenly he was a sprawled heap all legs and thin arms in a coat too big for him on the floor at her feet she was strong enough to lift him with what help he could give into the bunk and to wipe his stained lips gently and to loose his garments and take off his shoes arid and cover him sometime minutes later or hours later peter came down to speak to her he stood in the doorway asked warily what happened george is sick what happened to him nothing I 1 think he caught cold he started coughing anything upset him no no hes just sick peter peter said watching her narrowly dicks gone crazy she looked apat him in hi quick concern crazy as a coot he said in a fretful anger he came on deck and piled every stitch on her he just said he was in a hurry to get home richard did not come below for dinner or for supper CHAPTER XVI mary stayed beside georges bunk all that night she thought the motion of the ship had eased there was no longer much roll once next day mary went up the companionway she saw standing somewhat sheltered by the companion that the great seas astern were forever about to overtake them solid water piled up behind them hl higher gher and higher seemed to hang above them tor for a while moving nearer and nearer till its crest broke into wind driven foam and the mass subsided there were two men at the wheel fighting it hard peter came to richards side and shouted something but richard staring stonily ahead did not even nod peter turned to the companion and mry mary backed down into the cabin with him following he said hoarse with panic hes crazy I 1 tell you she saw that he was shaking with simple fear but she was not afraid no emotion could touch her now she went in to george to sit be side him holding his hand he would be better when the sun shone s one again and they were all warm she thought she had been cold for weeks could not remember when she had not been stiff with cold T tm e passed the lamps were IK pa T day and night swinging and ff fatt tAg crazily but night ran into day without division she thought of richard never leaving the deck his face set like granite staring ahead yet seeing nothing forcing the ship along this road that might have death at the end like a man fleeing blindly from something dreadful she knew what it was from which he fled her thoughts kept him company hovered over him wished she might comfort him while the tortured drove on and on disaster struck them in that hour between midnight and dawn when men are at low ebb for it was then a sea overtook the solid water like a wa ll 11 high that it becalmed the course and before the topsails top sails za 1 lift her it came aboard over the stern the mass of it boiled through the after house the stem was pressed down by the weight and the ships way checked then as the stern rose the water swirled and eddied about the decks like a school of fish meshed in a net trying th this is way and that to be free it tore out bulwarks bulwa here and there it ripped one of the boats from the gripes and left it hanging stern down against the ships side battering to splinters there when that sea caught them mat forbes and gibbons were at the wheel together but gibbons was torn away by b the solid water and flung forward head over heels one of his booted feet smashed through a pane in the skylight anahis toot foot in the hole it had made and held his body hanging head down mat forbes held to the wheel richard and peter were saved by the life lines to which they clung and the watch on deck forward had warning enough to give them time to grab at hand holds As the stern lifted richard leaped through water that was still knee deep to help mat with his one good arm the had begun to broach to but the fore topmast staysail helped pay her off and they held her the splitting crack when the fore topmast broke a foot above the cap warned richard what was happening forward the stick as it fell caught eddie few a sidewise crack that stunned him or killed 1 gf i outright he slid overboard ak as u j great sea sullenly relinquishing irise ifie attack drew off from the decks ot of the gibbons freed himself from the skylight and heedless of his lacerated leg returned to duty at the wheel richard kept the wheel with dimand him and since peter was useless he e sent mat forbes to clear the wreckage forward holding a precarious footing against the pressure of the screaming wind mat cut away the topgallant mast and let it go and under his driving men secured the fragment of the topmast to stop its banging and caught the tangled web of rigging and controlled it with many lashings the reefed beefed foresail began to draw again they got other useful rags of canvas on her and an hour after that great sea richard went below to freaa S mary he had the reat in I 1 3 in that hour the gale having done its worst for their destruction had somewhat relented the pressure of the wind began to ease and before daylight though the seas still were wera mounta mountainous incus the immediate immedi ats I 1 danzer danger was over TO DE BE CONTINUED |