Part 37 (2/2)
”Well, by and by, _him_ and George Olver struck up a song. I've heern 'em sing it before, them two. As nigh as I calk'late, it's about findin' rest in Jesus, and one a askin' questions, all fa'r and squar', to know the way and whether it's a goin' to lead thar' straight or not, and the other answerin'. And _he_--he was a tinkerin', 'way up on the foremast, George Olver and the rest on us was astern,--and I'll hear to my dyin' day how his voice came a floatin' down to us thar'--chantin'-like it was--cl'ar and fearless and slow. So he asks, for findin' Jesus, ef thar's any marks to foller by; and George Olver, he answers about them bleedin'
nail-prints, and the great one in His side. So then that voice comes down ag'in, askin' if thar's any crown, like other kings, to tell Him by; and George Olver, he answers straight about that crown o' thorns. Then says that other voice, floatin' so strong and cl'ar, and if he gin up all and hollered, what should he have? what now?
”So George Olver, he sings deep o' the trial and the sorrowin'. But that other voice never shook, a askin', and what if he helt to Him to the end, what then should it be, what then? George Olver answers: 'Forever-more, the sorrowin' ended--Death gone over.'
”Then he sings out, like his mind was all made up, 'And if he undertook it, would he likely be turned away?'
”'And it's likelier,' George Olver answers him; 'that heaven and earth shall pa.s.s.'
”So I'll hear it to my dyin' day--his voice a floatin' down to me from up above thar', somewhar', askin' them questions that n.o.body could ever answer like, so soon, he answered 'em for himself--and when I looked up, thar' was Harvey, with his hammer dropped, and his mouth wide open, a starin' up thar', and the tears rollin' down his cheeks like he was a baby.
”They didn't sing no more, after that. They was still for about five minutes, I calk'late. Harvey, he was still, too; but pretty soon, he wakes up and says, 'Gad, boys! Did ye ever see sech a queer look in the sky? I believe thar's a September gale brewin'.”
”'It's a little wind storm, I reckon,' says Bachelder. Bachelder was settin', with his legs curled up under him, mendin' sail, and he begun to spin one o' them yarns o' hisn, with his voice pitched up middlin' high, and the boys, they begun to laugh and cheer.
”Then Harvey says; 'I'll run up to headquarters, and find out about the weather;' and clim' up the main-mast as limber as a squirrel, and when he came back, thar' was Tommy's hat stickin' way up top o' the mast; so Tommy, he promised to pay him--them two was always foolin' together, but good-natered enough.” The captain introduced this little incident, in the midst of his narration, with a dull, pathetic gravity, ”It was the last thing we thought on, o' bein' fearful, or calk'latin' any danger. We reckoned it was a brisk little shower comin' up, maybe, and the boys was runnin' one another about gittin' into the cabin, and runnin' on about the old craft.
”Then thar' come, all of a sudden, sech a strange feelin', as ef the 'arth and the water was a tremblin', and a dreadful moanin' sound runnin'
through 'em. Seemed as though it came swirlin' across the bay. Then it bust on us in a fury.
”He was out, sorter lookin' around him, Bachelder was, and the wind took Bachelder up, and keeled 'im over two or three times runnin'.
”Black it grew as the Jedgement day. Then come no sich rain as ever I see, even the pourin'est, but the clouds fallin' all to once, and the wind a scatterin' of 'em, and up on the cliffs, we could jest hear a creakin' and a bendin' whar' the trees was turned as white as ghosts in that 'ere blackness, and the old Bay, in sech a minute, was spinnin' into foam.
”We was shelterin' around the old craft now, sure enough, and n.o.body speakin' a word, but jest a holdin' our breaths a waitin', when, in among them other noises, thar' come, out on the water, sech a low, dull sound as sent the awful truth on us in a minute, and for a minute, that ar'
right hand of mine was numb.
”Then Harvey, he had hold o' me, a pintin' out, and whether he spoke a word or not, I seen it--through wind and rain and foam, all in my eyes to once, I seen--reelin' and tossin' and pitching out thar' on the Bay, lost, lost for sure--I seen that fancy s.h.i.+p!
”Thar' wa'n't no hand on 'arth could guide it, now. Every second was like to see it keeled squar' over, or slipped and driv' in, straight on to the rocks.
”We're used to other'n fa'r weather along this sh.o.r.e. I calk'late we ain't used to frighten at a little danger, but knowin' the sea so well, we know the helplessness a'most o' puttin' out in sech a gale as that.
”I heered the sound. It only came but once: and Bede hissed through his teeth, a cryin' too, a'most: 'Ain't thar' no other way to werry us, but they must come in here to drown afore our very eyes! A fool's ventur'!
what could ye expect but a fool's end! Ef he must drown, let the red-haired devil drown!'
”But when they heered it, them two, _him_ and George Olver, I knowed how it would be. I hardly durst to look. I seen them flash at one another with their great eyes, as ef it wa'n't enough to do man's work, but when thar' come a chance, they must go act like G.o.d! I seen in jest that flash, them two agreein' solemnly.
”Then it was all done in a minute's s.p.a.ce, like you'll live yer life through sometimes, in a dream. They had Bill Barlow's eight-oar ready.
They pushed us back. They'd a' gone alone, them two. I kep' the third place. Harvey and Tommy scuffled, in a breath, and Harvey, he thrust Tommy back, and we was off.
”G.o.d knows I never expected we'd come back again. You heern the wind. You can calk'late what it was out thar' with the rain a drivin', and the salt foam blowed into our eyes. I calk'late we never fetched a harder pull, no, nor a blinder one.
”And she, the cursed thing, mad with twitchin' at her cable, lay over to one side. But she was dyin' mad. I tell ye she was dyin' mad. Thar' was them two a hangin' to her--thar' hadn't be'n but them. So we hauled Rollin in, but that other one, when he seen us, the chance o' bein'
saved, it crazed him, and he sent up a quick, glad sort of a yell and throwed his arms out straight, and back he fell, like lead, into the water. And Rollin, crouchin' thar' and s.h.i.+verin', 'He couldn't swim! He's sunk! he's sunk!' he says. Then _he_, he ris up in a flash, and out he dove into that h.e.l.l.
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