Part 35 (1/2)

And when outside, I stopped short I believed my eyes without question, and yet I was for the moment stunned by what they disclosed to me There, on the beach, not fifty feet away, bow on, disled with shrouds, sheets, and rent canvas, were rubbing gently alongside I could have rubbed alley we had built, the familiar break of the poop, the low yacht-cabin scarcely rising above the rail It was the Ghost

What freak of fortune had brought it here-here of all spots? what chance of chances? I looked at the bleak, inaccessible wall at my back and know the profundity of despair Escape was hopeless, out of the question I thought of Maud, asleep there in the hut we had reared; I reht, Huh my brain, but now, alas, it was a knell that sounded Then everything went black before my eyes

Possibly it was the fraction of a second, but I had no knowledge of how long an interval had lapsed before I was ain There lay the Ghost, bow on to the beach, her splintered bowsprit projecting over the sand, her tangled spars rubbing against her side to the lift of the crooning waves So must be done, e, that nothing le and wreck, all hands were yet asleep, I thought My next thought was that Maud and I ht yet escape If we could take to the boat and make round the point before any one awoke? I would call her and start My hand was lifted at her door to knock, when I recollected the smallness of the island We could never hide ourselves upon it There was nothing for us but the wide raw ocean I thought of our snug little huts, our supplies of meat and oil and moss and firewood, and I knew that we could never survive the wintry sea and the great storms which were to come

So I stood, with hesitant knuckle, without her door It was i in and killing her as she slept rose in my mind And then, in a flash, the better solution came to me All hands were asleep Why not creep aboard the Ghost,-well I knew the way to Wolf Larsen's bunk,-and kill him in his sleep? After that-well, ould see But with him dead there was tis; and besides, whatever new situation arose, it could not possibly be worse than the present one

My knife was at un, made sure it was loaded, and went down to the Ghost With so to the waist, I climbed aboard The forecastle scuttle was open I paused to listen for the breathing of the ht came to me: What if the Ghost is deserted? I listened more closely There was no sound I cautiously descended the ladder The place had the eer inhabited Everywhere was a thick litter of discarded and ragged garments, old sea-boots, leaky oilskins-all the worthless forecastle dunnage of a long voyage

Abandoned hastily, was ain in reater coolness I noted that the boats were e told the saings with similar haste The Ghost was deserted It was Maud's and ht of the shi+p's stores and the lazarette beneath the cabin, and the idea ca nice for breakfast

The reaction froe that the terrible deed I had coer I went up the steerage co distinct in my mind except joy and the hope that Maud would sleep on until the surprise breakfast was quite ready for her As I rounded the galley, a new satisfaction wasutensils inside I sprang up the break of the poop, and saw-Wolf Larsen What ofsurprise, I clattered three or four steps along the deck before I could stopin the co straight aton the half-open slide Heat an to tremble The old stoe of the house to steady ainst the need of speech Nor did I for an instant takeominous in his silence, his immobility All my old fear of him returned and by new fear was increased an hundred-fold And still we stood, the pair of us, staring at each other

I are of the de uponfor him to take the initiative Then, as the moous to the one in which I had approached the long- obscured by fear until it became a desire to make him run So it was at last impressed upon me that I was there, not to have Wolf Larsen take the initiative, but to take it un at him Had he moved, attempted to drop down the companion-way, I knoould have shot hi as before And as I faced hi in ard appearance of his face It was as if so anxiety had wasted it The cheeks were sunken, and there was a wearied, puckered expression on the brow And it seee, not only the expression, but the physical see htly twisted the eyeballs

All this I saw, and hts; and yet I could not pull the triggers I lowered the gun and stepped to the corner of the cabin, primarily to relieve the tension on my nerves and to ain I raised the gun He was alth There was no hope for hi him, no matter how poor my marksmanshi+p And yet I wrestled with ers

”Well?” he deers down on the triggers, and vainly I strove to say so

”Why don't you shoot?” he asked

I cleared my throat of a huskiness which prevented speech ”Hump,” he said slowly, ”you can't do it You are not exactly afraid You are ier than you You are the slave to the opinions which have credence a the people you have known and have read about Their code has been drummed into your head from the time you lisped, and in spite of your philosophy, and of what I have taught you, it won't let you kill an unar man”

”I know it,” I said hoarsely

”And you know that I would kill an unarar,” he went on ”You know me for what I am,-my worth in the world by your standard You have called er, shark,puppet, you little echoing mechanism, you are unable to kill me as you would a snake or a shark, because I have hands, feet, and a body shaped sos of you, Hump”

He stepped out of the coun I want to ask you some questions I haven't had a chance to look around yet What place is this? How is the Ghost lying? How did you get wet? Where's Maud?-I beg your pardon, Miss Brewster-or should I say, 'Mrs Van Weyden'?”

I had backed away fro at h to put down the gun I hoped, desperately, that he ht commit some hostile act, attempt to strike me or choke me; for in such way only I knew I could be stirred to shoot

”This is Endeavour Island,” I said

”Never heard of it,” he broke in

”At least, that's our name for it,” I amended

”Our?” he queried ”Who's our?”