Part 37 (2/2)
”You'd hardly expect them to avoid Wolf Larsen without hed, and then went seriously to work constructing the plan whereby ere to step the masts of the Ghost and return to the world I remembered hazily the physics of iven me practical experience with h, alked down to the Ghost to inspect reatin the water alin? If there had been one h up to which to fasten blocks and tackles! But there was nothing It re oneself by one's boot-straps I understood the et a fulcrum?
There was the mainmast, fifteen inches in diameter at as now the butt, still sixty-five feet in length, and weighing, I roughly calculated, at least three thousand pounds And then ca surely thirty-five hundred pounds Where was I to begin? Maud stood silently by my side, while I evolved insailors as ”shears” But, though known to sailors, I invented it there on Endeavour Island By crossing and lashi+ng the ends of two spars, and then elevating theet a point above the deck to which totackle I could, if necessary, attach a second hoisting tackle And then there was the windlass!
Maud saw that I had achieved a solution, and her eyes war to do?” she asked
”Clear that raffle,” I answered, pointing to the tangled wreckage overside
Ah, the decisiveness, the very sound of the words, was good in ine so salty a phrase on the lips of the Huone!
There must have been a touch of the melodramatic in my pose and voice, for Maud smiled Her appreciation of the ridiculous was keen, and in all things she unerringly saw and felt, where it existed, the touch of shaiven poise and penetration to her oork and made her of worth to the world The serious critic, with the sense of humour and the power of expression, must inevitably command the world's ear And so it was that she had commanded Her sense of humour was really the artist's instinct for proportion
”I'm sure I've heard it before, soleefully
I had an instinct for proportionfrom the dominant pose of a master of matter to a state of humble confusion which was, to say the least, very miserable
Her hand leapt out at once to mine
”I'ulped ”It does ood There's too much of the schoolboy in ot to do is actually and literally to clear that raffle If you'll cos out”
”'When the topmen clear the raffle with their clasp-knives in their teeth,'” she quoted at me; and for the rest of the afternoon we made merry over our labour
Her task was to hold the boat in position while I worked at the tangle And such a tangle-halyards, sheets, guys, down-hauls, shrouds, stays, all washed about and back and forth and through, and twined and knotted by the sea I cut noropes under and around the boo down in the boat and uncoiling in order to pass through another knot in the bight, I was soon wet to the skin
The sails did require soth severely; but I succeeded before nightfall in getting it all spread out on the beach to dry We were both very tired e knocked off for supper, and we had done good work, too, though to the eye it appeared insignificant
Next , with Maud as able assistant, I went into the hold of the Ghost to clear the steps of the un hen the sound of ht Wolf Larsen
”hello below!” he cried down the open hatch
The sound of his voice made Maud quickly draw close to me, as for protection, and she rested one hand on my arm while we parleyed
”hello on deck,” I replied ”Good- down there?” he de to scuttleher,” was ?” There was puzzle ready for re-stepping the h it were the sih you're standing on your own legs at last, Hump,” we heard him say; and then for some time he was silent
”But I say, Hump,” he called down ”You can't do it”
”Oh, yes, I can,” I retorted ”I' it now”