’And after that you would have thought from
his appearance he would never make a sound again.
But—no fear! He could no more stop
telling now than he could have stopped living by the
mere exertion of his will.’
CHAPTER 9
’"I was saying to myself, ‘Sink—curse
you! Sink!’” These were the words
with which he began again. He wanted it over.
He was severely left alone, and he formulated in his
head this address to the ship in a tone of imprecation,
while at the same time he enjoyed the privilege of
witnessing scenes—as far as I can judge—of
low comedy. They were still at that bolt.
The skipper was ordering, “Get under and try
to lift”; and the others naturally shirked.
You understand that to be squeezed flat under the
keel of a boat wasn’t a desirable position to
be caught in if the ship went down suddenly.
“Why don’t you—you the strongest?”
whined the little engineer. “Gott-for-dam!
I am too thick,” spluttered the skipper in despair.
It was funny enough to make angels weep. They
stood idle for a moment, and suddenly the chief engineer
rushed again at Jim.
’"Come and help, man! Are you mad to throw
your only chance away? Come and help, man!
Man! Look there—look!”
’And at last Jim looked astern where the other
pointed with maniacal insistence. He saw a silent
black squall which had eaten up already one-third
of the sky. You know how these squalls come up
there about that time of the year. First you
see a darkening of the horizon—no more;
then a cloud rises opaque like a wall. A straight
edge of vapour lined with sickly whitish gleams flies
up from the southwest, swallowing the stars in whole
constellations; its shadow flies over the waters, and
confounds sea and sky into one abyss of obscurity.
And all is still. No thunder, no wind, no sound;
not a flicker of lightning. Then in the tenebrous
immensity a livid arch appears; a swell or two like
undulations of the very darkness run past, and suddenly,
wind and rain strike together with a peculiar impetuosity
as if they had burst through something solid.
Such a cloud had come up while they weren’t looking.
They had just noticed it, and were perfectly justified
in surmising that if in absolute stillness there was
some chance for the ship to keep afloat a few minutes
longer, the least disturbance of the sea would make
an end of her instantly. Her first nod to the
swell that precedes the burst of such a squall would
be also her last, would become a plunge, would, so
to speak, be prolonged into a long dive, down, down
to the bottom. Hence these new capers of their
fright, these new antics in which they displayed their
extreme aversion to die.
’"It was black, black,” pursued Jim with
moody steadiness. “It had sneaked upon
us from behind. The infernal thing! I suppose
there had been at the back of my head some hope yet.
I don’t know. But that was all over anyhow.
It maddened me to see myself caught like this.
I was angry, as though I had been trapped. I
was trapped! The night was hot, too, I
remember. Not a breath of air.”
