In the Sargasso Sea by Thomas A. Janvier (smart books to read .TXT) đ
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round with me. Is Jack true dead?â
âIf you mean the man on deck,â I answered, âhe is true deadâas dead
as any man can be with a cut straight through his heart.â
He gave another sigh of relief, as though what I told him was a real
comfort to him; and in a moment he said: âWell, thatâs a good job, and
Iâm glad of it. Heâs killed me, too, I reckon; but Iâm glad I got in
on him first anâ fixed him fur his damn starinâ at me. Now heâs dead I
guess he wonât stare at me no more.â He was silent for nearly a
minute, and then he added: âJest get me a drink, wonât you? Iâm all
burninâ up inside. Thereâs water in thâ jug out there. Anâ put a good
dash of gin in itâthereâs gin out there, too.â
I got him some water from the jug on the cabin table, but when he
tasted it and found that it was water only he began to swear at me for
leaving out the gin; and when I added the ginâthinking that he
probably was so used to strong drink as really to need a little to put
some life into himâhe took off the whole glassful at a gulp and
asked for more.
I told him to wait for another drink until I should have a look at his
hurts and see what I could do to better them; for, while hanging
seemed to be what he deserved, I had a natural desire to ease the
pain that was racking himâas I could tell by the gasps and groans
which he was giving and by the sharp motions which he made.
âJest shet your head anâ gimme some more drink,â he said in a surly
way. âJackâs give me a dose thatâll settle me, anâ lookinâ at me wonât
do no goodââcause thereâs nothinâ to be done. Heâs ripped me up, Jack
has, anâ no man can live long that way. All I can do is to die
happyâso itâs a good thing thereâs lots of gin. Youâll find a kag of
it over there in thâ fur corner. Me anâ Jack filled it from thâ spirit
room yesterday, afore our fuss begun.â
But I stuck out that I must have a look at his hurts first, and
managed to open the deadlightâwhich luckily had not been screwed
tightâand so had some light in the room; and in the end, finding that
I would not give him a drink otherwise, he let me have my way. But I
had only to take a glance over him to see that what he said about the
other man having settled him was true enough; for he was cut in a
dozen places savagely, and had one desperate slashâwhich had laid him
all open about the waistâfrom which alone he was certain to die in a
very little while.
There was nothing for me to do, and I did not know what was best to
say to him; and while I was casting about in my mind to comfort him a
little, for his horrible hurts could not but stir my pity, he settled
the matter for both of us in his own wayâgrunting out that he guessed
Iâd found he knew what he was talking about, and then asking for
more gin.
This time I gave it to him, and gave it to him strongâbeing certain
that he was past hurting by it, and hoping that it might deaden his
pain. And presently, when he asked for another drink, I gave him
that too.
The liquor did make him easier, and it raised his spirits so much that
he fell to swearing quite cheerfully at the man Jack who had given him
his deathâand seemed to feel a good deal better for freeing his mind
that way. And after a while he began of his own accord to tell me
about the wreck that he had passed through, and about what had come
after itâonly stopping now and then to ask for more gin-and-water,
and gulping it down with such satisfaction that I gave him all he
cared to have. Indeed, it was the only thing that I could do to ease
him, and I knew that no matter how much he drank the end shortly would
be the same.
As well as I could make out from his rambling talk, the storm that had
wrecked him had happened about three months earlier: a tremendous
burst of tempest that had sent everything to smash suddenly, and had
washed the captain and first and second officers overboardâthey all
being on the bridge togetherâand three or four of the crew as well.
At the same time the funnel was carried away, and such a deluge of
water got down to the engine-room that the fires were drowned. This
brought the engineers on deck and the coal-passers with them; and the
coal-passersââa beach-combinâ lot,â he called themâled in breaking
into the spirit-room, and before long pretty much all the men of the
crew were as drunk as lords. What happened after that for a while he
did not know; but when he got sober enough to stagger up on deck he
found the man Jack thereâwho also had just come up after sleeping off
his drunk below somewhereâand they had the ship to themselves. The
others might have found a boat that would float and tried their luck
that way, or they might have been washed overboard. He didnât know
what had become of them, and he didnât care. Then the hulk had taken
to drifting slowly, and at the end of a month or so had settled into
the berth where I found her; and since then the two of them had known
that all chance of their getting back into the world again was gone.
âAt first I didnât mind it much,â he went on, âthere beinâ lashins to
eat aboard, anâ more to drink than me anâ Jack everâd hoped to get a
show at in all our lives. But pretty soon Jack he begun to be
worryinâ. Heâd get drunk, anâ then heâd set anâ stare at me like a
damn owlâjest a-blinkinâ and a-blinkinâ his damn eyes. You hev no
idee, ontil itâs done to you, how worryinâ it is when a drunken man
jest sets anâ stares at you fur hours together in that fool way. I
give Jack fair warninâ time and agen when he was sober that Iâd hurt
him ef he kepâ on starinâ at me like that; but then heâd get drunk
agen right off, anâ at it heâd go. I sâpose I wouldnât âaâ minded it
in a ornary way anâ ashore, or ef weâd had some other folks around.
But here we was jest aloneâoh, it was terrâble how much we was
alone!âanâ Jack moreân half the time like a damn starinâ owl, till he
a-most druv me wild.â
âAnâ Jack said as how I was onbearable too. He said it was me as
stared at himâthe damn fool not knowinâ that I was only a-tryinâ to
squench his beastly owlinâ by lookinâ steady at him; anâ he said heâd
settle me ef I kepâ on. Anâ so things went like that atween us fur
days anâ daysâand all thâ time nothinâ near us but dead ships with
mosâ likely dead men fillinâ âem, anâ him anâ me knowinâ weâd soon got
to be dead too. Anâ the stinks out of thâ rotten weed, and out of all
thâ rotten ships whenever a bit of wind breezed up soft from thâ
sâuthard over thâ hull mess of âem, was horrider than you hev any
idee! Gettinâ drunk was all there was lefâ fur us; and even in gettinâ
drunk there wasnât no real Christian comfort, âcause of Jackâs damn
owlinâ stares.â
âI guess ef anybody stared steady at you fur betterân three months
youâd want to kill him too. Anyway, thatâs how I felt about it; anâ I
told Jack yesterdayâsoon as he waked up in thâ morninâ, anâ while he
was plumb soberâthat ef he didnât let up on it Iâd go fur him sure.
Anâ that fool up anâ says it was me done thâ starinâ, and Iâd got to
stop it or heâd cut out my damn heartâanâ them was his very words.
Anâ by noon yesterday he was drunkerân a Dutchman, anâ was starinâ
harderân ever. Anâ he kepâ at it all along till sunset, anâ when we
come down into thâ cabin to get supper he still was starinâ; and after
supperâwhen we mought âaâ been jest like two brothers a-gettinâ drunk
together on gin-anâ-waterâhe stared wust of all.â
âNobody could âaâ stood it no longerâand up I gets anâ goes fur him,
keepinâ my promise fair anâ square. At fust we jest punched each other
sort oâ friendly with our fists, but after a while Jack give me a clip
that roused my dander and I took my knife to him; anâ then he took his
knife to me. I donât remember jest all about it, but I know we licked
away at each other all over thâ cabin, anâ then up through thâ
companionway, anâ then all over thâ deckâme a-slicinâ into him anâ
him a-slicinâ into me all thâ time. And at last he got this rippinâ
cut into me, anâ jest then I give him a jab that made him yell like a
stuck pig anâ down he fell. I knowed heâd done fur me, but somehow I
managed to work my way along thâ deck anâ to get down here to my
bunk, where I knowed Iâd die easier; anâ then things was all black fur
a whileâontil all of a sudden you comes along, and I sees you
standinâ in the door there, anâ takes you fur Jackâs ghost, anâ gets
scared thâ wust kind. But heâs not doinâ no ghost racket, Jack ainât.
Iâve settled him anâ his damn owl starinââand itâs a good job I have.
Gimme some more gin.â
And then, having taken the drink that I gave him, he rolled over a
littleâso that he lay as I found him, with his face turned away from
meâand for a good long while he did not speak a word.
XVII RID MYSELF OF TWO DEAD MEN
Only an hour before I had been longing for any sort of a live man to
talk with and so break my loneliness; but having thus found a live
manâwho, to be sure, was close to being a dead oneâI would have been
almost ready to get rid of him by going back to my mast in the open
sea. Indeed, as I stood there in the shadows beside that dying brute,
and with the other brute lying dead on the deck above me, the feeling
of dull horror that filled me is more than I can put into words.
I think that the underlying strong strain of my wretchedness was an
intense pity for myself. In what the fellow had told me I saw clearly
outlined a good deal of what must be my own fate in that vile
solitude: which I perceived suddenly must be strewn everywhere with
dead men lying unhidden, corrupting openly; since none there were to
hide the dead from sight as we hide them in the living world. And I
realized that until I myself should be a part of that indecent
exhibition of human carcassesâwhich might not be for a long while,
for I was a strong man and not likely to die soonâI should have to
dwell in the midst of all that corruption; and always with the
knowledge that sooner or later I must take
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