Part 31 (1/2)
Maud's condition was pitiable She sat crouched in the bottorey 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 storh little I noticed it I had succu of the fourth day found the wind di down and the sun shi+ning upon us Oh, the blessed sun! Hoe bathed our poor bodies in its delicious wars after a stors, and waxed opti, worse than ever We were farther froht we left the Ghost Nor could I itude At a calculation of a two- the seventy and odd hours of the storm, we had been driven at least one hundred and fifty miles to the north-east But was such calculated drift correct? For all I knew, it ht have been four miles per hour instead of two In which case ere another hundred and fifty h there was quite a likelihood that ere in the vicinity of the Ghost There were seals about us, and I was prepared to sight a sealing-schooner at any tiht one, in the afternoon, when the north-west breeze had sprung up freshly once e schooner lost itself on the sky-line and we alone occupied the circle of the sea
Ca, when even Maud's spirit drooped and there were no merry words upon her lips; days of calm, e floated on the lonely i at the led to live; days of sleet and wind and snow-squalls, when nothing could keep us war rain, e 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 ed and treue a thousand times, I knew that it was no time for such a declaration If for no other reason, it was no ti 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 ave no advertiseood corew better co about her which surprised me was her lack of timidity and fear The terrible sea, the frail boat, the storeness and isolation of the situation,-all that should have frightened a robust woman,-seemed to make no impression upon her who had known life only in its most sheltered and consummately artificial aspects, and as herself all fire and dew and mist, subli in wo She was tie The flesh and the qualms 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, cal order of the universe
Cahts of stor whiteness, and the wind s boat with a titan's buffets And ever ere flung off, farther and farther, to the north-east It was in such a storm, and the worst that we had experienced, that I cast a weary glance to leeward, not in quest of anything, butthe elemental strife, 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 sleeplessness and anxiety had doubtless turned my head I looked back at Maud, to identify ht of her dear wet cheeks, her flying hair, and her brave brown eyes convinced ain I turnedpro surf that broke about its base and beat its front high up with spouting fountains, the black and forbidden coast-line running toward the south-east and fringed with a tremendous scarf of white
”Maud,” I said ”Maud”
She turned her head and beheld the sight
”It cannot be Alaska!” she cried
”Alas, no,” I answered, and asked, ”Can you swim?”
She shook her head
”Neither can I,” I said ”So webetween the rocks through which we can drive the boat and clamber out But we must be quick, most quick-and sure”
I spoke with a confidence she knew I did not feel, for she looked at aze 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 gratitude
”Well?” I said, brutally, for I was not quite pleased with her thanking ht help ations before you die? Not at all We are not going to die We shall land on that island, and we shall be snug and sheltered before the day is done”
I spoke stoutly, but I did not believe a word Nor was I proh I was sure of death in that boiling surge a nearer It was impossible to hoist sail and claw off that shore The ould instantly capsize the boat; the seas would swah; and, besides, the sail, lashed to the spare oars, 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 appalled at the thought that Maud ainst the rocks, and it was too terrible I strove to co safely, and so I spoke, not what I believed, but what I preferred to believe
I recoiled before contehtful death, and for aMaud inoverboard Then I resolved to wait, and at the last moment, e entered on the final stretch, to take her in my arms and proclaim my love, and, with her in le and die
Instinctively we drew closer together in the bottom of the boat I felt her mittened hand come out to mine And thus, without speech, aited the end We were not far off the line the wind e 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 which I knew deceived neither of us
”By God, ill go clear!” I cried, five minutes later