Part 14 (1/2)
I folloith a quaking heart What was to happen I knew no more than did I knohat had happened But blood had been shed, and it was through no whione over the side with his scalp laid open Besides, Johansen was
It was my first descent into the forecastle, and I shall not soon forget ht as I stood on my feet at the bottom of the ladder Built directly in the eyes of the schooner, it was of the shape of a triangle, along the three sides of which stood the bunks, in double-tier, twelve of theer than a hall bedroom in Grub Street, and yet twelve men were herded into it to eat and sleep and carry on all the functions of living My bedrooe, yet it could have contained a dozen siht of the ceiling, a score at least
It s sea-la deep with sea-boots, oilskins, and gar back and forth with every roll of the vessel, giving rise to a brushi+ng sound, as of trees against a roof or wall Soainst the wall; and, though it was a ht on the sea, there was a continual chorus of the creaking ti
The sleepers did not ht of them,-the tatches below,-and the air was thick with the war, and the ear was filled with the noise of their snoring and of their sighs and half-groans, tokens plain of the rest of the ani? all of the? This was evidently Wolf Larsen's quest-to find the men who appeared to be asleep and ere not asleep or who had not been asleep very recently And he went about it in a way that reminded me of a story out of Boccaccio
He took the sea-laan at the first bunks forward on the star-board side In the top one lay Oofty-Oofty, a Kanaka and splendid seaman, so na as placidly as a woman One arm was under his head, the other lay on top of the blankets Wolf Larsen put thuer to the wrist and counted the pulse In the ently as he slept There was no movement of the body whatever The eyes, only,and black, and stared, unblinking, into our faces Wolf Larsen put his finger to his lips as a sign for silence, and the eyes closed again
In the lower bunk lay Louis, grossly fat and war laboriously While Wolf Larsen held his wrist he stirred uneasily, bowing his body so that for a moment it rested on shoulders and heels His lips 's worth a quarter; but keep your lamps out for thruppenny-bits, or the publicans 'll shove 'em on you for sixpence”
Then he rolled over on his side with a heavy, sobbing sigh, saying:
”A sixpence is a tanner, and a shi+lling a bob; but what a pony is I don't know”
Satisfied with the honesty of his and the Kanaka's sleep, Wolf Larsen passed on to the next two bunks on the starboard side, occupied top and bottoht of the sea-lamp, by Leach and Johnson
As Wolf Larsen bent down to the lower bunk to take Johnson's pulse, I, standing erect and holding the lamp, saw Leach's head rise stealthily as he peered over the side of his bunk to see as going on He must have divined Wolf Larsen's trick and the sureness of detection, for the light was at once dashed from my hand and the forecastle was left in darkness He ht down on Wolf Larsen
The first sounds were those of a conflict between a bull and a wolf I heard a great infuriated bellow go up fro that was desperate and blood-curdling Johnson rovelling conduct on deck for the past few days had been no more than planned deception
I was so terror-stricken by this fight in the dark that I leaned against the ladder, tre and unable to ascend And upon me was that old sickness at the pit of the stomach, caused always by the spectacle of physical violence In this instance I could not see, but I could hear the i sound ainst flesh Then there was the crashi+ng about of the entwined bodies, the laboured breathing, the short quick gasps of sudden pain
There must have been more men in the conspiracy to murder the captain and mate, for by the sounds I knew that Leach and Johnson had been quickly reinforced by some of their
”Pound him on the head! Mash his brains out!” was Johnson's cry
But after his first bellow, Wolf Larsen rimly and silently for life He was sore beset Down at the very first, he had been unable to gain his feet, and for all of his treth I felt that there was no hope for hiled was vividly i bodies and badly bruised But in the confusion I ed to crawl into an eot hi
”Who?” demanded those who had been really asleep, and who had wakened to they knew not what
”It's the bloody mate!” was Leach's crafty answer, strained froreeted hoops of joy, and frono part in it The forecastle was like an angry hive of bees aroused by some marauder
”What ho! below there!” I heard Latimer shout down the scuttle, too cautious to descend into the inferno of passion he could hear raging beneath hiet a knife? Oh, won't soet a knife?” Leach pleaded in the first interval of comparative silence
The number of the assailants was a cause of confusion They blocked their own efforts, while Wolf Larsen, with but a single purpose, achieved his This was to fight his way across the floor to the ladder Though in total darkness, I followed his progress by its sound No iant could have done what he did, once he had gained the foot of the ladder Step by step, by thehim back and down, he drew his body up from the floor till he stood erect And then, step by step, hand and foot, he slowly struggled up the ladder
The very last of all, I saw For Latione for a lantern, held it so that its light shone down the scuttle Wolf Larsen was nearly to the top, though I could not see him All that was visible was the mass of e ular roll of the vessel And still, step by step with long intervals between, the mass ascended Once it tottered, about to fall back, but the broken hold was regained and it still went up
”Who is it?” Latimer cried