THE YELLOW CAT
Mr. Steele’s twelve or fifteen years of studying the technique of story writing have resulted in his mastering the power of suggestion, found at its height in Kipling, and the clear vigorous expression for which Stevenson is famous. Without a statement to the contrary from the author himself it would be safe to assume that they were his models.
“The Yellow Cat” is told in the first person by Ridgeway, aided by McCord, and it is in part created by the reader. One who likes to create with ease will find a strain upon his powers of construction; the more he takes his reading as a narcotic, the less he will enjoy it. The constructive reader will delight in it.
As a change from the analysis of plot in the presentation, it will be profitable to construct the events in chronological order.
A. The master of the Abbie Rose fears his Chinaman cook; he enters his fear in his log, intimating that he may do away with the Chinaman.
B. The second seaman, Bach, also becomes a victim of fear. The two men find that their revolvers are stolen.
C. (Invented by every reader to suit himself. Perhaps the two seamen deserted the ship?)
D. The Chinaman is left on board. (Is he innocent?) He climbs into the shrouds, when he sees the smoke of an approaching vessel.
E. The vessel is descried, soon after C, or D, by the Mercury. (... “the stove in the galley still slightly warm.”) It is seemingly empty but for a yellow cat.
F. McCord and Björnsen are detailed to steer the Abbie Rose to port, over a hundred miles distant. McCord is the engineer.
G. Björnsen, going to shake out the foretopsail encounters the Chinaman.
H. (Invented by the reader. Björnsen was probably knocked into the sea, and may have made his escape to the land. Was he killed?)
I. McCord missing Björnsen, and becoming obsessed by the yellow cat, begins to consider the theory of transmigration of souls.
J. (Suggested to the reader: McCord thinking the Chinaman is dead—for he has read the log entries—suspects that his soul has come back in the body of the cat.)
K. He undergoes a period of mental agony, during which time he brings the vessel into port. He sees the shadow of the Chinaman; he shoots at the shadow; he misses the water, etc. He cannot sleep and the cat has disappeared.
(Note that all the incidents above are of the time preceding the “acting time” of the story, or the immediate situation and action.)
L. The narrator, Ridgeway, here comes on board the vessel lying in the upper river.
M. As the men talk, McCord relating his experiences, the cat re-appears.
N. She hears a sound, rushes amidships, and the men follow.
O. They look aloft. (See page 255, top.)
P. (Suggested: McCord sees something in the shroud.)
Q. (Suggested: He shakes down the Chinaman.)
R. The Chinaman escapes, leaving his slipper.
S. McCord from the mast brings down the two revolvers and other things.
T. McCord now understands the whole business; he goes to sleep at once.
Such an order would have spoiled the story. Notice in the presentation:
1. The gathering up of the greater part of the incidents at the shortest possible distance from the climax of action.
2. The economical and dramatic method by which the preceding circumstances are set forth. The reader knows only what McCord knows.
3. The large employment of suggestion.
4. The keeping of the place—the boat is the scene of action for three different groups, only the last group being the immediate actors.
5. The excellent clues to the shrouds as the hiding place. (See pages 237, ... “top-sails being pursed up ... but not stowed”; 238, ... “handing down like huge, over-ripe pears,” etc.)
6. The logic of McCord’s not finding the hiding place of the cook. (First sentence, page 255.) This illustrates Poe’s theory as set forth in “The Purloined Letter.”
7. The use of suspense. The reader wonders whether the explanation will lie in the supernatural or the natural. Suspense is satisfied only in the dénouement, after which the end comes quickly.
8. The motivation for the whole story. It lies in fear: “the one universal and uncontrollable passion.” And it is heightened by placing in opposition representatives of two races, neither of which understands the other. Here, then, is the real struggle.