Part 40 (2/2)

”There must be some way,” she contended ”Let rimly

She waited

I picked up a seal-club

”It won't kill him,” I said ”And before he could recover I'd have him bound hard and fast”

She shook her head with a shudder ”No, not that There must be some less brutal way Let us wait”

But we did not have to wait long, and the proble, after several trials, I found the point of balance in the fore tackle a few feet above it Maud held the turn on the windlass and coiled dohile I heaved Had the windlass been in order it would not have been so difficult; as it was, I was coth to every inch of the heaving I had to rest frequently In truth,Maud even contrived, at tie the windlass, to hold the turn with one hand and with the other to throw the weight of her slim body to le and double blocks caether at the top of the shears I could hoist noentirely inboard The butt rested against the outside of the port rail, while the top of thethe water far beyond the starboard rail My shears were too short All er despaired in the old way I was acquiring more confidence in myself and more confidence in the possibilities of windlasses, shears, and hoisting tackles There was a way in which it could be done, and it re the problee about him at once The indecisiveness, or feebleness, of his movements was more pronounced His as actually tottery as he came down the port side of the cabin At the break of the poop he reeled, raised one hand to his eyes with the faesture, and fell down the steps-still on his feet-to theout his are companion-way and stood there dizzily for a space, when he suddenly cru under him as he sank to the deck

”One of his attacks,” I whispered to Maud

She nodded her head; and I could see sympathy warm in eyes

We went up to hi spas his head to keep the blood out of it and despatching ht blankets, and we made hi, and was quite normal This puzzledthis?” I asked, still holding his wrist

Maud shook her head, and there was reproof in her eyes But just then the wrist I held leaped from my hand, and the hand clasped like a steel trap about my wrist I cried aloud in awful fear, a wild inarticulate cry; and I caught one glinant and triumphant, as his other hand corip

My wrist was released, but his other arm, passed around my back, held both my arms so that I could not move His free hand went to my throat, and in that moment I knew the bitterest foretaste of death earned by one's own idiocy Why had I trusted myself within reach of those terrible arms? I could feel other hands atvainly to tear loose the hand that was throttling ave it up, and I heard her scream in a way that cut me to the soul, for it was a wo despair I had heard it before, during the sinking of the Martinez

My face was against his chest and I could not see, but I heard Maud turn and run swiftly away along the deck Everything was happening quickly I had not yet had a gli of unconsciousness, and it see before I heard her feet flying back And just then I felt the whole s and his chest was collapsing under ht Whether it was rowing iroan The hand at ain But even his tremendous will could not overcome the dissolution that assailed it That will of his was breaking down He was fainting

Maud's footsteps were very near as his hand fluttered for the last time and my throat was released I rolled off and over to the deck onin the sunshi+ne Maud was pale but coone instantly to her face,-and she was looking at led alarht aze down to it The club dropped fro her, and at the sareat joy Truly she waswith ht, all the prietful of her culture, hard under the softening civilization of the only life she had ever known

”Dear wo toconvulsively on my shoulder while I clasped her close I looked down at the brown glory of her hair, glinting gems in the sunshi+ne far s And I bent my head and kissed her hair softly, so softly that she did not know

Then sober thought ca her relief, now that the danger was past, in the arered Had I been father or brother, the situation would have been in nowise different Besides, tiht to declare ain I softly kissed her hair as I felt her receding from my clasp

”It was a real attack this time,” I said: ”another shock like the one that ht it on”

Maud was already rearranging his pillow

”No,” I said, ”not yet Now that I have him helpless, helpless he shall remain From this day we live in the cabin Wolf Larsen shall live in the steerage”

I caught hied him to the co this under his shoulders, I balanced him across the threshold and lowered him down the steps to the floor I could not lift him directly into a bunk, but with Maud's help I lifted first his shoulders and head, then his body, balanced hie, and rolled him into a lower bunk