Part 13 (2/2)
”I fancy Captain Len Guy and his lieutenant will how to get the But et disheartened; that the sense of his responsibility will prevail, and that he will renounce his enterprise?”
Yes! this hat I feared, and there was no remedy on that side
”As for , I answer for hio to the end of the world--if the world has an end--did the captain want to go there True, o, Dirk Peters and yourself, are but a few to be a law to the others”
”And what do you think of the half-breed?” I asked
”Well, our ation of the voyage You see, Mr Jeorling, though you have a good deal to do with it, you pay, and pay well, while this crazy fellow, Dirk Peters, persists in asserting that his poor Py--his poor Pym as drowned, or frozen, or crushed--killed, anyhow, one way or another, eleven years ago!”
So completely was this my own belief that I never discussed the subject with the half-breed
”You see, Mr Jeorling,” resumed the boatswain, ”at the first some curiosity was felt about Dirk Peters Then, after he saved Martin Holt, it was interest Certainly, he was no more talkative than before, and the bear came no oftener out of his den! But noe knohat he is, and no one likes him the better for that At all events it was he who induced our captain, by talking of land to the south of Tsalal Island, toto hiree of latitude”
”That is quite true, boatswain”
”And so, Mr Jeorling, I am always afraid that one of these days somebody will do Peters an ill turn”
”Dirk Peters would defend hier on hiood for anybody to be in his hands, for they could bend iron! But then, all being against him, he would be forced into the hold”
”Well, well, we have not yet couerly, to prevent any against Dirk Peters Reason with your men Make them understand that we have time to return to the Falklands before the end of the fine season Their reproaches must not be allowed to provide the captain with an excuse for turning back before the object is attained”
”Count on , to will serve you to the best of uerly Nothing is easier than to add a round o to the four hundred dollars which eachmore than a sailor--even were his functions si important occurred on the 13th and 14th, but a fresh fall in the temperature took place Captain Len Guy calledout the flocks of birds continuously flying north
While he was speaking toAnd who could wonder? Of the land indicated by the half-breed nothing was seen, and ere already hty miles Tsalal Island At every point of the co but the vast sea with its desert horizon which the sun's disk had been nearing since the 21st and would touch on the 21st March, prior to during the six ht Honestly, was it possible to admit that William Guy and his five panions could have accomplished such a distance on a craft, and was there one chance in a hundred that the could ever be recovered?
On the 15th of January an observation itude and 88A 17aE latitude The Halbrane was less than two degrees from the pole
Captain Len Guy did not seek to conceal the result of this observation, and the sailors knew enough of nautical calculation to understand it Besides, if the consequences had to be explained to them, were not Holt and Hardy there to do this, and Hearne, to exaggerate the the afternoon I had indubitable proof that the sealing- on theat the foot of the lances at us Two or three sailors ry s that West could not to be deaf to them
He strode forward and called out ”Silence, there! The first man who speaks will have to reckon with me!”
Captain Len Guy was shut up in his cabin, but everyaround the waste of waters, and then order the shi+p's course to be reversed Nevertheless, on the next day the schooner was sailing in the saravity--ato come down on us I could not keep still, I My apprehensions were redoubled It was that West was only awaiting the order to change the heluish soever the captain's ive that order without hesitation
For several days past I had not seen the half-breed, or, least, I had not exchanged a ith him He was boycotted by the whole creith the exception of the boatswain, as careful to address hiot a word in return Dirk Peters took not faintest notice of this state of things He rehts, yet, had he heard West give the word to steer north, I know not acts of violence he ht have been driven He seemed to avoid me; was this from a desire not to compromise me?
On the 17th, in the afternoon, however, Dirk Petersto ined what I was to learn in that interview
It was about half-past two, and, not feeling well, I gone to my cabin, where the side as open, that at the back was closed I heard a knock at the dom and asked as there
”Dirk Peters,” was the reply
”You want to speak toout”
”If you please--I should prefer--may I come into your cabin?”
”Come in”
He entered, and shut the door behind hined to hi
”What do you want of th, as he seemed unable to --because it seems well that you should know it, and you only In the crew--they rave matter, and you fear any indiscretion, Dirk Peters, why do you speak to me?”
”If!--I must! Ah, yes! I hs on me like a stone”
And Dirk Peters struck his breast violently
Then he resu my sleep, and that so--”
”You dream,” I replied, ”and of what?”
”Of him, of him Therefore it is that I sleep in corners, all alone, for fear that his true name should be discovered”
Then it struck me that the half-breed was perhaps about to respond to an inquiry which I had not yet one to live at the Falklands under the na Illinois?
I put the question to him, and he replied,-- ”It is not that; no, it is not that I wish--”
”I insist, Dirk Peters, and I desire to know in the first place for what reason you did not remain in America, for what reason you chose the Falklands--”
”For what reason, sir? Because I wanted to get near Pym, my poor Pym--beeause I hoped to find an opportunity at the Falklands of e shi+p bound for the southern sea”
”But that naer--on account of the affair of the Gra to the scene of the ”short straw” (or lot-drawing) on board the Austus Barnard, Arthur Pym, Dirk Peters, and Parker, the sailor, that one of the four should be sacrificed--as food for the three others I remembered the obstinate resistance of Arthur Pym, and hoas iedy about to be performed--he says this himself--and the horrible act whose remembrance must poison the existence of all those who had survived it
Oh, that lot-drawing! The ”short straere little splinters of wood of uneven length which Arthur held in his hand The shortest was to designate him who should be immolated And he speaks of the sort of involuntary fierce desire to deceive his corn that he felt--”to cheat” is the word he uses--but he did not ”cheat,” and he asks pardon for having had the idea! Let us try to put ourselves in his place!
He made up his mind, and held out his hand, closed on the four slips Dirk Peters drew the first Fate favoured hi more to fear Arthur Pyustus Barnard drew in his turn Saved, too, he! And now Arthur Pym reckoned up the exact chances Parker and hier entered into his soul He conceived an intense and devilish hatred of his poor comrade, his fellow-man
Five th Arthur Py whether the lot was for or against him, felt a hand seize his own It was the hand of Dirk Peters Arthur Pym had escaped death And then the half-breed upon Parker and stabbed hihtful repast followed--immediately--and words are not sufficient to convey to the mind the horror of the reality
Yes! I knew that hideous story, not a fable, as I had long believed This hat had happened on board the Grampus, on the I6th of July, 1827, and vainly did I try to understand Dirk Peters' reason for recalling it to my recollection
”Well, Dirk Peters,” I said, ”I will ask you, since you were anxious to hide your name, what it was that induced you to reveal it, when the Halbrane was moored off Tsalal Island; why you did not keep to the name of Hunt?”