Part 16 (1/2)
Thus do things ludicrous and things terrible mingle in the real world; only to those who are in the arena, the ludicrous pa.s.ses unnoticed, being overshadowed by its terrible neighbor.
And so it was with Hazel. He saw nothing absurd in all this; and in that prostrate, insensible hog, commanding the s.h.i.+p, forsooth, and carrying all their lives in his hands, he saw the mysterious and alarming only; saw them so, and felt them, that he lay awake all night thinking what he should do, and early next day he went into the mate's cabin, and said to him: ”Mr. Wylie, in any other s.h.i.+p I should speak to the captain, and not to the mate; but here that would be no use, for you are the master, and he is your servant.”
”Don't tell him so, sir, for he doesn't think small beer of himself.”
”I shall waste no more words on him. It is to you I speak, and you know I speak the truth. Here is a s.h.i.+p, in which, for certain reasons known to yourself, the captain is under the mate.”
”Well, sir,” said Wylie good-humoredly, ”it is no use trying to deceive a gentleman like you. Our skipper is an excellent seaman, but he has got a fault.” Then Wylie imitated, with his hand, the action of a person filling his gla.s.s.
”And you are here to keep him sober, eh?”
Wylie nodded.
”Then why do you ply him with liquor?”
”I don't, sir.”
”You do. I have seen you do it a dozen times. And last night you took rum into his room, and made him so drunk, he would have died where he lay if I had not loosed his handkerchief.”
”I am sorry to hear that, sir; but he was sober when I left him. The fool must have got to the bottle the moment I was gone.”
”But that bottle you put in his way; I saw you. And what was your object?
To deaden his conscience with liquor, his and your own, while you made him your fiendish proposal. Man, man, do you believe in G.o.d, and in a judgment to come for the deeds done in the body, that you can plan in cold blood to destroy a vessel with nineteen souls on board, besides the live stock, the innocent animals that G.o.d pitied and spared when he raised his hand in wrath over Nineveh of old?”
While the clergyman was speaking, with flas.h.i.+ng eyes and commanding voice, the seaman turned ashy pale, and drew his shoulders together like a cat preparing to defend her life.
”I plan to destroy a vessel, sir! You never heard me say such a word; and don't you hint such a thing in the s.h.i.+p, or you will get yourself into trouble.”
”That depends on you.”
”How so, sir?”
”I have long suspected you.”
”You need not tell me that, sir.”
”But I have not communicated my suspicions. And now that they are certainties, I come first to you. In one word, will you forego your intention, since it is found out?”
”How can I forego what never was in my head?” said Wylie. ”Cast away the s.h.i.+p! Why, there's no land within two thousand miles. Founder a vessel in the Pacific! Do you think my life is not as sweet to me as yours is to you?”
Wylie eyed him keenly to see the effect of these words, and, by a puzzled expression that came over his face, saw at once he had a.s.sumed a more exact knowledge than he really possessed.
Hazel replied that he had said nothing about foundering the s.h.i.+p; but there were many ways of destroying one. ”For instance,” said he, ”I know how the _Neptune_ was destroyed--and so do you; how the _Rose_ and the _Antelope_ were cast away--and so do you.”
At this enumeration Wylie lost his color and self-possession for a moment; he saw Hazel had been listening. Hazel followed up his blow.
”Promise me now, by all you hold sacred, to forego this villainy; and I hold my tongue. Attempt to defy me, or to throw dust in my eyes, and I go instantly among the crew, and denounce both you and Hudson to them.”
”Good Heavens!” cried Wylie, in unfeigned terror. ”Why, the men would mutiny on the spot.”
”I can't help that,” said Hazel, firmly; and took a step toward the door.