Part 44 (1/2)

”We can never get that anchor up in this narrow place, once it has left the bottom,” I said ”We should be on the rocks first”

”What can you do?” she asked

”Slip it,” was my answer ”And when I do, you must do your first work on the windlass I shall have to run at once to the wheel, and at the saetting under way I had studied and worked out a score of times; and, with the jib-halyard to the windlass, I knew Maud was capable of hoisting thatinto the cove, and though the water was calet us safely out

When I knocked the shackle-bolt loose, the chain roared out through the hawse-hole and into the sea I raced aft, putting the wheel up The Ghost seemed to start into life as she heeled to the first fill of her sails The jib was rising As it filled, the Ghost's boung off and I had to put the wheel down a few spokes and steady her

I had devised an automatic jib-sheet which passed the jib across of itself, so there was no need for Maud to attend to that; but she was still hoisting the jib when I put the wheel hard down It was adirectly upon the beach, a stone's throw distant But she swung obediently on her heel into the wind There was a great fluttering and flapping of canvas and reef-points, most welcome to my ears, then she filled away on the other tack

Maud had finished her task and come aft, where she stood beside me, a small cap perched on her wind-blown hair, her cheeks flushed froht with the excite to the rush and bite of the fresh salt air Her brown eyes were like a startled deer's There was a wild, keen look in them I had never seen before, and her lips parted and her breath suspended as the Ghost, charging upon the wall of rock at the entrance to the inner cove, swept into the wind and filled away into safe water

My first ood stead, and I cleared the inner cove and laid a long tack along the shore of the outer cove Once again about, and the Ghost headed out to open sea She had now caught the boso of the ocean, and was herself a-breath with the rhythm of it as she smoothly mounted and slipped down each broad-backed wave The day had been dull and overcast, but the sun now burst through the clouds, a welcoether we had dared the lords of the harehtened under the sun Even the gririm, and here and there, where the sea-spray wet its surface, high lights flashed and dazzled in the sun

”I shall always think of it with pride,” I said to Maud

She threw her head back in a queenly way but said, ”Dear, dear Endeavour Island! I shall always love it”

”And I,” I said quickly

It see, and yet, loath, they struggled away and did not ht al:

”See those black clouds to ard You re”

”And the sun is gone,” she said, her eyes still fixed upon our island, where we had proved our mastery over matter and attained to the truest comradeshi+p that may fall to man and woman

”And it's slack off the sheets for japan!” I cried gaily ”A fair wind and a flowing sheet, you know, or however it goes”

Lashi+ng the wheel I ran forward, eased the fore andfor the quartering breeze which was ours It was a fresh breeze, very fresh, but I resolved to run as long as I dared Unfortunately, when running free, it is iht watch Maud insisted on relieving th to steer in a heavy sea, even if she could have gained the wisdom on such short notice She appeared quite heart-broken over the discovery, but recovered her spirits by coiling down tackles and halyards and all stray ropes Then there were alley, beds to make, Wolf Larsen to be attended upon, and she finished the day with a grand house-cleaning attack upon the cabin and steerage

All night I steered, without relief, the wind slowly and steadily increasing and the sea rising At five in the ht me hot coffee and biscuits she had baked, and at seven a substantial and piping hot breakfast put new lift into hout the day, and as slowly and steadily as ever, the wind increased It impressed one with its sullen deter And still the Ghost foa off theat least eleven knots It was too good to lose, but by nightfall I was exhausted Though in splendid physical trim, a thirty-six-hour trick at the wheel was the lied me to heave to, and I knew, if the wind and sea increased at the saht, that it would soon be iladly and at the saht the Ghost up on the wind

But I had not reckoned upon the colossal task the reefing of three sailsaway from the wind I had not appreciated its force, but e ceased to run I learned to h toThe wind balkedthe canvas out of ained by ten ht o'clock I had succeeded only in putting the second reef into the foresail At eleven o'clock I was no farther along Blood dripped froer-end, while the nails were broken to the quick From pain and sheer exhaustion I wept in the darkness, secretly, so that Maud should not know

Then, in desperation, I abandoned the attempt to reef theto under the close-reefed foresail Three hours asket the , nearly dead, the life almost buffeted and worked out of me, I had barely sufficient consciousness to know the experiment was a success The close-reefed foresail worked The Ghost clung on close to the wind and betrayed no inclination to fall off broadside to the trough

I was faet me to eat I dozed with myfood to my mouth and waken in torment to find the act yet uncompleted So sleepily helpless was I that she was co to the floor by the violent pitching of the schooner

Of the passage fro It was a sleep-walker Maud guided and supported In fact, I are of nothing till I awoke, how long after I could not iine, in my bunk with my boots off It was dark I was stiff and lame, and cried out with pain when the bed-clothes touchedhad evidently not coain I did not know it, but I had slept the clock around and it was night again

Once more I woke, troubled because I could sleep no better I struck a ht And I had not left the deck until three! I should have been puzzled had I not guessed the solution No wonder I was sleeping brokenly I had slept twenty-one hours I listened for a while to the behaviour of the Ghost, to the pounding of the seas and the muffled roar of the wind on deck, and then turned over on

When I arose at seven I saw no sign of Maud and concluded she was in the galley preparing breakfast On deck I found the Ghost doing splendidly under her patch of canvas But in the galley, though a fire was burning and water boiling, I found no Maud