In the Sargasso Sea by Thomas A. Janvier (smart books to read .TXT) đ
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suppose, the motion became so violent as to shake me awake againâand
to give me all that I could do to keep myself from being shot out of
my berth upon the floor. Presently the doctor came again, fetching
with him one of the cabin stewards to rig the storm-board at the side
of my berth and some extra pillows with which to wedge me fast. But
though he gave me a lot more of his pleasant chaff to cheer me I could
see that his look was anxious, and it seemed to me that the steward
was badly scared. Between them they managed to stow me pretty tight in
my berth and to make me as comfortable as was possible while
everything was in such commotionâwith the ship bouncing about like a
pea on a hot shovel and all the woodwork grinding and creaking with
the sudden lifts and strains.
âItâs a baddish gale thatâs got hold of the old Hurst Castle, and
thatâs a fact,â the doctor said, when they had finished with me, in
answer to the questioning look that he saw in my eyes. âBut itâs
nothing to worry about,â he went on; âexcept that itâs hard on you,
with that badly broken head of yours, to be tumbled about worse than
Mother OâDonohueâs pig when they took it to Limerick fair in a cart.
So just lie easy there among your pillows, my son; and pretend that
itâs exercise that you are taking for the good of your liverâwhich is
a torpid and a sluggish organ in the best of us, and always the better
for such a shaking as the sea is giving us now. And be remembering
that the Hurst Castle is a Clyde-built boat, with every plate and
rivet in her as good as a Scotsman knows how to make itâand in such
matters itâs the Sandies who know more than any other men alive. In my
own ken sheâs pulled through storms fit to founder the Giantâs
Causeway and been none the worse for âem, and so itâs herself thatâs
certain to weather this bit of a galeâwhich has been at its worst no
less than two times this same morning, and therefore by all rule and
reason must be for breaking soon.
âAnd be thinking, too,â he added as he was leaving me, âthat Iâll be
coming in to look after you now and then when I have a spare
minuteâfor there are some others, Iâm sorry to say, who are after
needing me; and as soon as the gale goes down a bit Iâll overhaul
again that cracked head of yours, and likely be singing you at the
same time for your amusement a real Irish song.â But not much was
there of singing, nor of any other show of lightheartedness, aboard
the Hurst Castle during the next twelve hours. So far from breaking,
the galeâas the doctor had called it, although in reality it was a
hurricaneâgot worse steadily; with only a lull now and then, as
though for breath-taking, and then a fiercer rush of windâbefore
which the ship would reel and shiver, while the grinding of her iron
frame and the crunching of her woodwork made a sort of wild chorus of
groans and growls. For all my wedging of pillows I was near to flying
over the storm-board out of my berth with some of the plunges that she
took; and very likely I should have had such a tumble had not the
doctor returned again in a little while and with the mattress from the
upper berth so covered me as to jam me fastâand how he managed to do
this, under the circumstances, I am sure I donât know.
When he had finished my packing he bent down over meâor I could not
have heard himâand said: âItâs sorry I am for you, my poor boy, for
youâre getting just now more than your full share of troubles. But
weâre all in a pickle together, and thatâs a fact, and the choice
between us is small. And Iâd be for suggesting that if you know such a
thing as a prayer or two youâll never have a finer opportunity for
saying them than you have now.â And by that, and by the friendly
sorrowful look that he gave me, I knew that our peril must
be extreme.
I donât like to think of the next few hours; while I lay there packed
tight as any mummy, and with no better than a mummyâs chances, as it
seemed to me, of ever seeing the live world againâterrified by the
awful war of the storm and by the confusion of wild noises, and every
now and then sharply startled by hearing on the deck above me a fierce
crash as something fetched away. It was a bad time, Heaven knows, for
everybody; but for me I thought that it was worst of all. For there I
was lying in utter helplessness, with the certainty that if the ship
foundered there was not a chance for meâsince I must drown solitary
in my stateroom, like a rat drowned in a hole.
VIIITHE HURST CASTLE IS DONE FOR
At last, having worn itself out, as sailors say, the storm began to
lessen: first showing its weakening by losing its little lulls and
fiercer gusts after them, and then dropping from a tempest to a mere
galeâthat in turn fell slowly to a gentle wind. But even after the
wind had fallen, and for a good while after, the ship labored in a
tremendous sea.
As I grew easier in my mind and body, and so could think a little, I
wondered why my friend the doctor did not come to me; and when at last
my door was opened I looked eagerlyâmy eyes being the only free part
of meâto see him come in. But it was the steward who entered, and I
had a little sharp pang of disappointment because I missed the face
that I wanted to see. However, the man stooped over me, kindly enough,
and lifted off the mattress and did his best to make me comfortable;
only when I asked him where the doctor was he pretty dismally
shook his head.
âItâs thâ doctor himself is needinâ doctorinâ, poor soul,â he
answered, âhe beinâ with his right leg broke, and with his blessed
head broke a-most as bad as yours!â And then he told me that when the
storm was near ended the doctor had gone on deck to have a look at
things, and almost the minute he got there had been knocked over by a
falling spar. âFor thâ old shipâs shook a-most to pieces,â the man
went on; âwith thâ foremast clean overboard, anâ thâ mizzen so wobbly
that itâs dancinâ a jig every time she pitches, and everything at rags
anâ tatters of loose ends.â
âBut the doctor?â I asked.
âHe says himself, sir, that heâs not dangerous, and I sâpose he ought
to know. Thâ captain anâ thâ purser together, he orderinâ âem, have
set his leg for him; and his head, he says, âll take care of itself,
beinâ both thick anâ hard. But heâs worryinâ painful because he canât
look after you, sir, anâ thâ four or five others that got hurt in thâ
storm. And I can tell you, sir,â the man went on, âthat all thâ shipâs
company, anâ thâ passengers on top of âem, are sick with sorrow that
this has happened to him; for thereâs not a soul ever comes near thâ
doctor but loves him for his goodness, and weâd all be glad to break
our own legs this minute if by that we could be mendinâ his!â
The steward spoke very feelingly and earnestly, and with what he said
I was in thorough sympathy; for the doctorâs care of me and his
friendliness had won my heart to him, just as it had won to him the
hearts of all on board. But there was comfort in knowing that he had
got off with only a broken leg and a broken head from a peril that so
easily might have been the death of him, and of that consolation I
made the mostâwhile the steward, who was a handy fellow and pretty
well trained as a surgeonâs assistant, freshly bandaged my head for me
as the doctor had ordered him to do, and so set me much more at my
ease. After that, for the rest of the day, he came every hour or so to
look after me; giving me some broth to eat and a biscuit, and some
medicine that the doctor sent me with the message that it would put
strength enough into a dead pig to set him to dancingâby which I knew
that even if his head and leg were broken there was no break in his
whimsical fun.
The steward was the only man who came near me; but this did not
surprise me when he told me more about the condition that the ship was
in, and how all handsâexcepting himself, who had been detailed
because of his knowledge that way to look after the hurt people under
the doctorâs directionâwere hard at work making repairs, with what men
there were among the passengers helping too. The ship was not leaking,
he said, and this was the luckier because her frame was so strained
that it was doubtful if her water-tight compartments would hold; but
the foremast had been carried away, and all the weather-boats had been
mashed out of all shape or swept overboard, and the mizzen was so
shaky that it seemed likely at any moment to fall. Indeed, the mast
was in such a bad way, he said, that the first and second officers
were for getting rid of itâand of the danger that there was of its
coming down all in a heap anywayâby sending it overboard; but that
the captain thought it safe to stand now that the sea was getting
smooth again, and was setting up jury-stays to hold it until we made
the Azoresâfor which islands our course was laid.
By the time that night came again the sea had pretty well gone down,
and beyond the easy roll that was on her the ship had no motion save
the steady vibration of her screw. With this comforting change the
pain in my head became only a dull heavy aching, and I had a chance to
feel how utterly weary I was after the strain of mind and body that
had been put on me by the gale. A little after eight oâclock, as I
knew by hearing the shipâs bell strikingâand mighty pleasant it was
to hear regularly that orderly sound againâthe steward brought me a
bowl of broth and propped me up in my berth while I drank it; and
cheered me by telling me that the doctor was swearing at his broken
leg like a good fellow, and was getting on very well indeed. And then
my weariness had its way with me, and I fell off into that deep sleep
which comes to a man only when all his energy has slipped away from
him on a dead low tide. How long I slept I do not know. But I do
know that I was routed suddenly into wakefulness by a jar that almost
pitched me out of my berth, and that an instant later there was a
tremendous crash as though the whole deck above me was smashing to
pieces, and with this a rattle of light woodwork splintering and the
sharp tinkling of breaking glass. For a moment there was silence; and
then I heard shouts and screams close by me in the cabin,
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