Then suddenly the skipper spoke again. ‘’Spose ye’re all hard at it repairin’ damages, hey?’ ‘Well, sir,’ stammered the officer, ‘ye see, sir ——’ ‘Give me none o’ yer lyin’ backin’ an’ fillin’, y’ lazy hog, ’r I’ll ——’ He got no further. All Mr. Winslow’s manhood came to his assistance, breaking through the mysterious bonds that had held him so long. With all his nervousness gone, he made one stride nearer the skipper, a dangerous light gleamed in his blue eyes, and he said: ‘Stop right thar, Cap’n Da Silva. Ther’ ain’t a man aboard this ship but wut’s done his duty like a man, an’ no one could ha’ done any better. We’re all nearly dead with fightin’ fag, all ’cept me sleepin’ w’ere we fell down, an’ some of us is broke up so in body ’at it’ll be months before we’re fit again. An’ you dare t’ lie there ’n’ speak t’ me ov lyin’ and laziness. Say it again, an’ jes’ ’s if yew wuz any other varmint I’ll choke th’ life outen ye where ye lie.’ He wound up with a terrible oath. But Priscilla rose and confronted him, her grave eyes looking unnaturally large in the whiteness of her face. ‘Go on deck, Mr. Winslow,’ she said; ‘you forget yourself. The Captain is very ill and irritable, and cannot be held responsible for what he says.’ Without a word the second mate bowed his head and departed, leaving her alone to face the fiendish malice of her husband, who, as soon as his officer had departed, turned upon her and exhausted even his perverted ingenuity in abuse.
Strange to say, this bad exercise seemed to improve his bodily condition, for in about an hour, during which Priscilla waited on him with the utmost care and in as perfect a silence as if she were stone deaf to his shameful words, he ordered her to assist him to dress. When she had done so he staggered to the state-room door, rudely thrusting aside her proffered arm, and dragged himself on deck. As soon as he was gone from the room she prayed with all her heart on her lips for peace, filled with pity for the poor men above now that their tyrant was unloosed again. A hoarse cry of pain sent a thrill of sympathy through her, but she would not be distressed, believing that in some way she would have a satisfying answer to her prayer.
On deck the skipper, his cold heart full of malicious intent, had stumbled over the body of the steward lying by the side of the cabin skylight, and kicking savagely at the prostrate man had aroused him to an immediate sense of his peril. Scrambling to his feet, the frightened black man was slinking below, when the hoarse command of the skipper to ‘Come here’ arrested him, and he obeyed with shaking knees. ‘Whar’s the helmsman?’ demanded the Captain. ‘I d’ no, sah,’ pleaded the steward. ‘I’ll go see, sah.’ ‘Stop right whar y’ air, will ye?’ was the fierce answer, and in the dim light of the binnacle the steward saw the skipper’s hand go to his hip-pocket, produce something that glittered, and immediately a couple of shots rang out startlingly through the quiet night. At that dread summons men began to appear from all around, first of them all the second mate, with wild inquiry in his eyes. ‘Mr. Winslow,’ snarled the skipper, whose voice was growing stronger with each word he spoke, ‘call all hands t’ make sail. A hand ’t th’ wheel at once.’ By this time all those who were able to do so had mustered, and with the instinctive habit of obedience, as if all recollection of their recent interview had disappeared from his mind, the second mate replied in his usual tone, ‘Aye, aye, sir,’ then roaring, ‘All hands make sail, loose taups’ls ’n t’gallants’ls fore and aft. Clear away stays’ls, jib, ’n’ spanker. Naow git a move on yerselves, d’ ye hear?’
There was a rush to obey, for all felt somehow that their brief season of relief from the skipper’s oversight had come to an end, and as they disappeared in different directions with their old frantic haste, the skipper said to the second mate in a voice that could not be overheard by any other: ‘See hyar, Mr. Winslow, fur what yew said to me to-night I’ll pay ye full price an’ interest, ef it takes me all this voy’ge. But fur now yew go scot free ’cause I need yer assistance, ’n’ I hain’t goin’ t’ hev enny limejuicer rot of bullyin’ my officers ’fore the men an’ destroyin’ disciplin’. Only ef thar’s enny sign ov ye playin’ it on me, wall, yew’ll hev to shoot quick ’r yew’ll be a goner. I’m heeled an’ I’m watchin’ fur ye.’ Again the second mate replied steadily, ‘Aye, aye, sir,’ and almost instantly after his shouts of ‘Sheet home fore taups’l, sheet home mizen taups’l, histe away stays’ls,’ &c., made the solemn night hideous.
A low groan a little forward of where the skipper stood caused him to move that way, and, stooping, he found the mate, who had been aroused to a miserable consciousness of bone-wrenching pain by the clamour around him. Stooping towards him, the skipper said in a grating tone, ‘Wall, ’n’ wut’s wrong with yew? Whyn’t yew gettin’ abaout yer dooties? Pretty fine condition yew’ve let the ship git into in a few days.’ Pausing as if for a reply, and receiving none, the skipper went on, ‘What in thunder yew lyin’ thar fur? Don’t ye know it’s “all hands”?’ ‘Kain’t move, sir,’ came slowly from the mate’s parched lips, as if dragged thence by torture, ‘fur me right arm an’ leg seem’s if they wuz one big pain. Fact, I seem to be all raw on thet side of me. Kain’t I hev a drink o’ water, sir?’ ‘Wall, I guess yew kin. Here, boy!’ to one of the younger men hastening across the deck, ‘give the mate a drink of water, an’ look slippy.’ The skipper looked on while the unfortunate man drank as if his poor throat had been a bed of unslaked lime. Then he said, ‘I guess yew wun’t du any wuss till daylight, ’n’ I’ll be all th’ better fit to see wut kin be done with ye. But yew’ve made a hell ov a mess ov th’ cruise, naow, ain’t ye?’ The sufferer drew in his breath sharply as this mental blow was added to all his physical sufferings, but he did not—indeed, he could not—answer. The merciful climax of suffering was reached, the broken human machinery protested vainly to the surcharged brain, and Mr. Court, relapsing into blessed insensibility, passed into a place where neither the malignity of man nor the liabilities of the body could trouble him.
The Captain strode away muttering until he stood by the wheel and gazed into the face of the compass. He was revolving in his mind the possibilities of fetching the Cape Verde Islands, as they were now on the edge of the Doldrums, those neutral latitudes between the trade winds that are such a sore trial to the patience of sailing-ship masters. Only a gentle zephyr was stirring, like the last breath of the departing N.E. trade winds, and it was rather a serious question to decide whether to struggle eastward to Brava, or keep on southward, doing all the repairs possible until reaching Rio de Janeiro. One thing only was needed to turn the scale—the personal touch. And it availed. He knew the place so well; although he had not been born there, much of his youth had been spent there, and he was sure not only of getting a few fresh hands who would be devoted to himself, but there would not be the faintest opportunity given for any one of his remaining crew to desert. So he gave a muttered order to the helmsman, followed by a shout of ‘Square away the mainyard,’ as the old ship fell off the wind. With his usual skill and alertness he conned her as she slowly wore round on to the port tack, and to his grim satisfaction he found that she would head a little to the northward of east, and that the breeze was even then freshening a little.
By this time the whole of the available canvas had been set, and the men were busy coiling up the gear. Again the skipper called Winslow to him, and in a quiet, passionless tone gave him certain orders concerning the repairing of damage that would keep all hands busy for some time to come. Then the carpenter and cooper were summoned, and each received a few vitriolic remarks concerning their so-called laziness, coupled with a warning that before long they would have paid very dearly for the advantage they had taken of his helplessness. Moreover, he told them that, being now quite well again, he was fully prepared to keep them at their work, if he had to do it at the mouth of a revolver. They stood perfectly silent and submissive, neither attempting the faintest justification of himself, and when dismissed with the contemptuous remark, ‘Naow git t’ hell eout er this, an’ do some work,’ they turned and slunk away like beaten curs. Both were Americans of the best type, both were splendid workmen of middle age, with whose way of performing their duties it would seem utterly impossible to find any fault, and yet both endured such utterly undeserved and blistering contumely as this without a word, and, what is more, without a thought of retaliation. So well had they been trained in whaleship ways.
Thus having resumed the reins of power in altogether vigorous fashion, and reasserted his ability to make himself feared as well as obeyed fore and aft, the skipper went below, growling as he passed the helmsman, ‘Naow jes’ keep her full an’ bye, an’ ef I hear anythin’ shakin’, by—— I’ll shake yew, till y’ don’ know whether yew’re dead ’r alive.’ The man replied cheerfully in the stereotyped phrase, ‘Aye, aye, sir,’ relieved beyond measure to find that he should be free of the presence of his enemy for a little while, at any rate.
The skipper’s first action on getting below was to send for the steward by ringing his bell, and on the darkey’s immediate appearance to order some food and coffee to be prepared for himself. Of his wife he took not the slightest heed. Then going to his medicine-chest he took out the little book of simple instructions in surgery and medicine that is always part of the furniture of a ship’s medicine-chest, and, seating himself at the cabin table, with one hand fiercely tugging at his black beard, he began to study the chapter on setting broken limbs. A sardonic smile twitched upwards the corners of his mouth as he imagined how the poor mate would suffer. There was just a glint of pleasure in the thought lighting the otherwise beclouded horizon of his mind. When he had settled to his own satisfaction the course of his operations upon his mate (fancy learning to set a broken arm and leg in an hour!), he sulkily called to his wife, ‘Here, you, git me some bandages ready, an’ be quick abaout it.’ She, watching for his lightest word, came on the instant, and quietly asked how long and how wide he wanted them. Even this essential question seemed to afford him an opportunity of venting more of his spleen upon her, but wearying of that soon (indeed, he was as yet far from strong), he supplied the information, and went on with his studies. Then lying down upon the transom locker he composed himself to sleep, well satisfied with his watches work.
On deck the ship hummed like a hive. Even the men who had been so badly bruised that the most elementary exercise of humanity would have allowed them to rest, dragged themselves wearily up out of the forecastle, and did whatever they could do towards the general refitment which was going on. Some were hoisting on deck coils of ‘tow-line,’ the beautiful rope which is fastened to the harpoons; others were taking the superfluous turns out of it, and stretching it by passing it through a block as high as the topgallant crosstrees, and coiling it again and again the reverse way of the lay. Others, again, were fitting harpoons to poles, and securing to them their bridles of tow-line; others were doing the same to lances, or putting keen edges on new weapons. Several, under the carpenter’s orders, were working away at the repairing of the one boat which had been picked up, sawing timbers and planks, and carefully unriveting broken knees from splintered skin. Two men were assisting the cooper to make new line-tubs. And amidst it all Mr. Winslow moved alert, with eyes like a cat’s, unhindered by the encompassing darkness, but for all that earnestly desirous of the day.