Chapter 7

by Rudyard Kipling

　　Next day they fell in with more sails, all circling slowly fromthe east northerly towards the west. But just when they expectedto make the shoals by the Virgin the fog shut down, and theyanchored, surrounded by the tinklings of invisible bells. Therewas not much fishing, but occasionally dory met dory in the fogand exchanged news.That night, a little before dawn, Dan and Harvey, who had beensleeping most of the day, tumbled out to "hook" fried pies. Therewas no reason why they should not have taken them openly; but theytasted better so, and it made the cook angry. The heat and smellbelow drove them on deck with their plunder, and they found Diskoat the bell, which he handed over to Harvey."Keep her goin'," said he. "I mistrust I hear somethin'. Ef it'sanything, I'm best where I am so's to get at things."It was a forlorn little jingle; the thick air seemed to pinch itoff; and in the pauses Harvey heard the muffled shriek of aliner's siren, and he knew enough of the Banks to know what thatmeant. It came to him, with horrible distinctness, how a boy in acherry-coloured jersey - he despised fancy blazers now with all afisherman's contempt - how an ignorant, rowdy boy had once said itwould be "great" if a steamer ran down a fishing-boat. That boyhad a state-room with a hot and cold bath, and spent ten minuteseach morning picking over a gilt-edged bill of fare. And that sameboy - no, his very much older brother -was up at four of the dimdawn in streaming, crackling oilskins, hammering, literally forthe dear life, on a bell smaller than the steward's breakfast-bell, while somewhere close at hand a thirty-foot steel stem wasstorming along at twenty miles an hour! The bitterest thought ofall was that there were folks asleep in dry, upholstered cabinswho would never learn that they had massacred a boat beforebreakfast. So Harvey rang the bell."Yes, they slow daown one turn o' their blame propeller," saidDan, applying himself to Manuel's conch, "fer to keep inside thelaw, an' that's consolin' when we're all at the bottom. Hark toher' She's a humper!""Aoooo - whoooo - whupp!" went the siren. "Wingle - tingle -tink," went the bell. "Graaa - ouch!" went the conch, while seaand sky were all milled up in milky fog. Then Harvey felt that hewas near a moving body, and found himself looking up and up at thewet edge of a cliff-like bow, leaping, it seemed, directly overthe schooner. A jaunty little feather of water curled in front ofit, and as it lifted it showed a long ladder of Roman numerals -XV., XVI., XVII., XVIII., and so forth - on a salmon-coloured,gleaming side. It tilted forward and downward with a heart-stilling "Ssssooo"; the ladder disappeared; a line of brass-rimmedport-holes flashed past; a jet of Steam puffed in Harvey'shelplessly uplifted hands; a spout of hot water roared along therail of the "We're Here", and the little schooner staggered andshook in a rush of screw-torn water, as a liner's stern vanishedin the fog. Harvey got ready to faint or be sick, or both, when heheard a crack like a trunk thrown on a sidewalk, and, all small inhis ear, a far-away telephone voice drawling: "Heave to! You'vesunk us!""Is it us?" he gasped."No! Boat out yonder. Ring! We're goin' to look," said Dan,running out a dory.In half a minute all except Harvey, Penn, and the cook wereoverside and away. Presently a schooner's stump-foremast, snappedclean across, drifted past the bows. Then an empty green dory cameby, knocking on the 'We're Here's' side, as though she wished tobe taken in. Then followed something, face down, in a blue jersey,but it was not the whole of a man. Penn changed colour and caughthis breath with a click. Harvey pounded despairingly at the bell,for he feared they might be sunk at any minute, and he jumped atDan's hail as the crew came back.-"The Jennie Cushman," said Dan, hysterically, "cut clean in half -graound up an' trompled on at that! Not a quarter of a mile away.Dad's got the old man. There ain't any one else, and - there washis son, too. Oh, Harve, Harve, I can't stand it! I've seen -" Hedropped his head on his arms and sobbed while the others dragged agrey-headed man aboard."What did you pick me up for?" the stranger groaned. "Disko, whatdid you pick me up for?"Disko dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder, for the man's eyeswere wild and his lips trembled as he stared at the silent crew.Then up and spoke Pennsylvania Pratt, who was also Haskins or Richor McVitty when Uncle Salters forgot; and his face was changed onhim from the face of a fool to the countenance of an old, wiseman, and he said in a strong voice: "The Lord gave, and the Lordhath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord! I was - I am aminister of the Gospel. Leave him to me.""Oh, you be, be you?" said the man. "Then pray my son back to me!Pray back a nine-thousand-dollar boat an' a thousand quintal offish. If you'd left me alone my widow could ha' gone on to theProvident an' worked fer her board, an' never known - an' neverknown. Now I'll hev to tell her.""There ain't nothin' to say," said Disko. "Better lie down apiece, Jason Olley."When a man has lost his only son, his summer's work, and his meansof livelihood, in thirty counted seconds, it is hard to giveconsolation."All Gloucester men, wasn't they," said Tom Platt, fiddlinghelplessly with a dory-becket."Oh, that don't make no odds," said Jason, wringing the wet fromhis beard. "I'll be rowin' summer boarders araound East Gloucesterthis fall." He rolled heavily to the rail, singing."Happy birds that sing and flyRound thine altars, O Most High!""Come with me. Come below!" said Penn, as though he had a right togive orders. Their eyes met and fought for a quarter of a minute."I dunno who you be, but I'll come," said Jason, submissively."Mebbe I'll get back some o' the - some o' the - nine thousanddollars." Penn led him into the cabin and slid the door behind."That ain't Penn," cried Uncle Salters. "It's Jacob Boiler, an' -he's remembered Johnstown! I never seed such eyes in any livin'man's head.What's to do naow? What'll I do naow?"They could hear Penn's voice and Jason's together. Then Penn'swent on alone, and Salters slipped off his hat, for Penn waspraying. Presently the little man came up the steps, huge drops ofsweat on his face, and looked at the crew. Dan was still sobbingby the wheel."He don't know us," Salters groaned. "It's all to do over again,checkers and everything - an' what'll he say to me?"Penn spoke; they could hear that it was to strangers. "I haveprayed," said he. "Our people believe in prayer. I have prayed forthe life of this man's son. Mine were drowned before my eyes - sheand my eldest and - the others. Shall a man be more wise than hisMaker? I prayed never for their lives, but I have prayed for thisman's son, and he will surely be sent him."Salters looked pleadingly at Penn to see if he remembered."How long have I been mad?" Penn asked suddenly. His mouth wastwitching."Pshaw, Penn! You weren't never mad," Salters began. "Only alittle distracted like.""I saw the houses strike the bridge before the fires broke out. Ido not remember any more. How long ago is that?""I can't stand it! I can't stand it!" cried Dan, and Harveywhimpered in sympathy."Abaout five year," said Disko, in a shaking voice."Then I have been a charge on some one for every day of that time.Who was the man?"Disko pointed to Salters."Ye hain't - ye hain't!" cried the sea-farmer, twisting his handstogether. "Ye've more'n earned your keep twice-told; "an' there'smoney owin' you, Penn, besides ha'af o' my quarter-share in theboat, which is yours fer value received.""You are good men. I can see that in your faces. But -""Mother av Mercy," whispered Long Jack, "an' he's been wid us allthese trips! He's clean bewitched."A schooner's bell struck up alongside, and a voice hailed throughthe fog: "O Disko! 'Heard abaout the Jennie Cushman?""They have found his son," cried Penn. "Stand you still and seethe salvation of the Lord!""Got Jason aboard here," Disko answered, but his voice quavered."There - warn't any one else?""We've f'und one, though. 'Run acrost him snarled up in a mess o'lumber thet might ha' bin a fo'c'sle. His head's cut some.""Who is he?"The "We're Heres'" heart-beats answered one another."Guess it's young Olley," the voice drawled.Penn raised his hands and said something in German. Harvey couldhave sworn that a bright sun was shining upon his lifted face; butthe drawl went on: "Sa-ay! You fellers guyed us consid'rablet'other night.""We don't feel like guyin' any now," said Disko."I know it; but to tell the honest truth we was kinder - kinderdriftin' when we run ag'in' young Olley."It was the irrepressible Carrie Pitman, and a roar of unsteadylaughter went up from the deck of the "We're Here"."Hedn't you 'baout's well send the old man aboard? We're runnin'in fer more bait an' graound-tackle. 'Guess you won't want him,anyway, an' this blame windlass work makes us short-handed. We'lltake care of him. He married my woman's aunt.""I'll give you anything in the boat," said Troop."Don't want nothin', 'less, mebbe, an anchor that'll hold. Say!Young Olley's gittin' kinder baulky an' excited. Send the old manalong."Penn waked him from his stupor of despair, and Tom Platt rowed himover. He went away without a word of thanks, not knowing what wasto come; and the fog closed over all."And now," said Penn, drawing a deep breath as though about topreach. "And now" - the erect body sank like a sword driven homeinto the scabbard; the light faded from the overbright eyes; thevoice returned to its usual pitiful little titter -" and now,"said Pennsylvania Pratt, "do you think it's too early for a littlegame of checkers, Mr. Salters?""The very thing - the very thing I was goin' to say myself," criedSalters, promptly. "It beats all, Penn, how you git on to what'sin a man's mind."The little fellow blushed and meekly followed Salters forward."Up anchor! Hurry! Let's quit these crazy waters," shouted Disko,and never was he more swiftly obeyed."Now what in creation d'ye suppose is the meanin' o' that all?"said Long Jack, when they were working through the fog once more,damp, dripping, and bewildered."The way I sense it," said Disko, at the wheel, "is this: TheJennie Cushman business comin' on an empty stummick -""He - we saw one of them go by," sobbed Harvey."An' that, o' course, kinder hove him outer water, Julluk runnin'a craft ashore; hove him right aout, I take it, to rememberin'Johnstown an' Jacob Boiler an' such-like reminiscences. Well,consolin' Jason there held him up a piece, same's shorin' up aboat. Then, bein' weak, them props slipped an' slipped, an' heslided down the ways, an' naow he's water-borne ag'in. That's haowI sense it."They decided that Disko was entirely correct."'Twould ha' bruk Salters all up," said Long Jack, "if Penn hadstayed Jacob Bollerin'. Did ye see his face when Penn asked whohe'd been charged on all these years'? How is ut, Salters?""Asleep - dead asleep. Turned in like a child," Salters replied,tiptoeing aft. "There won't be no grub till he wakes, natural. Didye ever see sech a gift in prayer? He everlastin'ly hiked youngOlley outer the ocean. Thet's my belief. Jason was tur'ble praoudof his boy, an' I mistrusted all along 'twas a jedgment onworshippin' vain idols.""There's others jest as sot," said Disko."That's dif'runt," Salters retorted quickly. "Penn's not allcaulked, an' I ain't only but doin' my duty by him."They waited, those hungry men, three hours, till Penn reappearedwith a smooth face and a blank mind. He said he believed that hehad been dreaming. Then he wanted to know why they were so silent,and they could not tell him.Disko worked all hands mercilessly for the next three or fourdays; and when they could not go out, turned them into the hold tostack the ship's stores into smaller compass, to make more roomfor the fish. The packed mass ran from the cabin partition to thesliding door behind the fo'c'sle stove; and Disko showed how thereis great art in stowing cargo so as to bring a schooner to herbest draft. The crew were thus kept lively till they recoveredtheir spirits; and Harvey was tickled with a rope's end by LongJack for being, as the Galway man said, "sorrowful as a sick catover fwhat couldn't be helped." He did a great deal of thinking inthose dreary days; and told Dan what he thought, and Dan agreedwith him - even to the extent of asking for fried pies instead ofhooking them.But a week later the two nearly upset the Hattie S. in a wildattempt to stab a shark with an old bayonet tied to a stick. Thegrim brute rubbed alongside the dory begging for small fish, andbetween the three of them it was a mercy they all got off alive.At last, after playing blindman's-buff in the fog, there came amorning when Disko shouted down the fo'c'sle: "Hurry, boys! We'rein taown!"