Now at times, I fell upon sleep, as did most of the others; but, for the
most part, I lay half sleeping and half waking--being unable to attain to
true sleep by reason of the everlasting growling above us in the night,
and the fear which it bred in me. Thus, it chanced that just after
midnight, I caught a sound in the main cabin beyond the door, and
immediately I was fully waked. I sat me up and listened, and so became
aware that something was fumbling about the deck of the main cabin. At
that, I got to my feet and made my way to where the bo'sun lay, meaning
to waken him, if he slept; but he caught me by the ankle, as I stooped to
shake him, and whispered to me to keep silence; for he too had been aware
of that strange noise of something fumbling beyond in the big cabin.
In a little, we crept both of us so close to the door as the chests
would allow, and there we crouched, listening; but could not tell what
manner of thing it might be which produced so strange a noise. For it
was neither shuffling, nor treading of any kind, nor yet was it the
whirr of a bat's wings, the which had first occurred to me, knowing how
vampires are said to inhabit the nights in dismal places. Nor yet was it
the slurr of a snake; but rather it seemed to us to be as though a great
wet cloth were being rubbed everywhere across the floor and bulkheads.
We were the better able to be certain of the truth of this likeness,
when, suddenly, it passed across the further side of the door behind
which we listened: at which, you may be sure, we drew backwards both of
us in fright; though the door, and the chests, stood between us and that
which rubbed against it.
Presently, the sound ceased, and, listen as we might, we could no longer
distinguish it. Yet, until the morning, we dozed no more; being troubled
in mind as to what manner of thing it was which had made search in the
big cabin.
Then in time the day came, and the growling ceased. For a mournful while
the sad crying filled our ears, and then at last the eternal silence that
fills the day hours of that dismal land fell upon us.
So, being at last in quietness, we slept, being greatly awearied. About
seven in the morning, the bo'sun waked me, and I found that they had
opened the door into the big cabin; but though the bo'sun and I made
careful search, we could nowhere come upon anything to tell us aught
concerning the thing which had put us so in fright. Yet, I know not if I
am right in saying that we came upon nothing; for, in several places, the
bulkheads had a _chafed_ look; but whether this had been there before
that night, we had no means of telling.
Of that which we had heard, the bo'sun bade me make no mention, for he
would not have the men put more in fear than need be. This I conceived to
be wisdom, and so held my peace. Yet I was much troubled in my mind to
know what manner of thing it was which we had need to fear, and more--I
desired greatly to know whether we should be free of it in the daylight
hours; for there was always with me, as I went hither and thither, the
thought that IT--for that is how I designated it in my mind--might come
upon us to our destruction.
Now after breakfast, at which we had each a portion of salt pork, besides
rum and biscuit (for by now the fire in the caboose had been set going),
we turned-to at various matters, under the directing of the bo'sun. Josh
and two of the men made examination of the water casks, and the rest of
us lifted the main hatch-covers, to make inspection of her cargo; but lo!
we found nothing, save some three feet of water in her hold.
By this time, Josh had drawn some water off from the casks; but it was
most unsuitable for drinking, being vile of smell and taste. Yet the
bo'sun bade him draw some into buckets, so that the air might haply
purify it; but though this was done, and the water allowed to stand
through the morning, it was but little better.
At this, as might be imagined, we were exercised in our minds as to the
manner in which we should come upon suitable water; for by now we were
beginning to be in need of it. Yet though one said one thing, and another
said another, no one had wit enough to call to mind any method by which
our need should be satisfied. Then, when we had made an end of dining,
the bo'sun sent Josh, with four of the men, up stream, perchance after a
mile or two the water should prove of sufficient freshness to meet our
purpose. Yet they returned a little before sundown having no water; for
everywhere it was salt.
Now the bo'sun, foreseeing that it might be impossible to come upon
water, had set the man whom he had ordained to be our cook, to boiling
the creek water in three great kettles. This he had ordered to be done
soon after the boat left; and over the spout of each, he had hung a
great pot of iron, filled with cold water from the hold--this being
cooler than that from the creek--so that the steam from each kettle
impinged upon the cold surface of the iron pots, and being by this means
condensed, was caught in three buckets placed beneath them upon the floor
of the caboose. In this way, enough water was collected to supply us for
the evening and the following morning; yet it was but a slow method, and
we had sore need of a speedier, were we to leave the hulk so soon as I,
for one, desired.
We made our supper before sunset, so as to be free of the crying which we
had reason to expect. After that, the bo'sun shut the scuttle, and we
went every one of us into the captain's cabin, after which we barred the
door, as on the previous night; and well was it for us that we acted with
this prudence.
By the time that we had come into the captain's cabin, and secured the
door, it was upon sunsetting, and as the dusk came on, so did the
melancholy wailing pass over the land; yet, being by now somewhat inured
to so much strangeness, we lit our pipes, and smoked; though I observed
that none talked; for the crying without was not to be forgotten.
Now, as I have said, we kept silence; but this was only for a time, and
our reason for breaking it was a discovery made by George, the younger
apprentice. This lad, being no smoker, was fain to do something to
while away the time, and with this intent, he had raked out the
contents of a small box, which had lain upon the deck at the side of
the forrard bulkhead.
The box had appeared filled with odd small lumber of which a part was a
dozen or so grey paper wrappers, such as are used, I believe, for
carrying samples of corn; though I have seen them put to other purposes,
as, indeed, was now the case. At first George had tossed these aside; but
it growing darker the bo'sun lit one of the candles which we had found
in the lazarette. Thus, George, who was proceeding to tidy back the
rubbish which was cumbering the place, discovered something which caused
him to cry out to us his astonishment.
Now, upon hearing George call out, the bo'sun bade him keep silence,
thinking it was but a piece of boyish restlessness; but George drew the
candle to him, and bade us to listen; for the wrappers were covered with
fine handwriting after the fashion of a woman's.
Even as George told us of that which he had found we became aware that
the night was upon us; for suddenly the crying ceased, and in place
thereof there came out of the far distance the low thunder of the
night-growling, that had tormented us through the past two nights. For a
space, we ceased to smoke, and sat--listening; for it was a very fearsome
sound. In a very little while it seemed to surround the ship, as on the
previous nights; but at length, using ourselves to it, we resumed our
smoking, and bade George to read out to us from the writing upon the
paper wrappers.
Then George, though shaking somewhat in his voice, began to decipher that
which was upon the wrappers, and a strange and awesome story it was, and
bearing much upon our own concerns:--
"Now, when they discovered the spring among the trees that crown the
bank, there was much rejoicing; for we had come to have much need of
water. And some, being in fear of the ship (declaring, because of all our
misfortune and the strange disappearances of their messmates and the
brother of my lover, that she was haunted by a devil), declared their
intention of taking their gear up to the spring, and there making a camp.
This they conceived and carried out in the space of one afternoon; though
our Captain, a good and true man, begged of them, as they valued life, to
stay within the shelter of their living-place. Yet, as I have remarked,
they would none of them hark to his counseling, and, because the Mate
and the bo'sun were gone he had no means of compelling them to wisdom--"
At this point, George ceased to read, and began to rustle among the
wrappers, as though in search for the continuation of the story.
Presently he cried out that he could not find it, and dismay was
upon his face.
But the bo'sun told him to read on from such sheets as were left; for, as
he observed, we had no knowledge if more existed; and we were fain to
know further of that spring, which, from the story, appeared to be over
the bank near to the vessel.
George, being thus adjured, picked up the topmost sheet; for they were,
as I heard him explain to the bo'sun, all oddly numbered, and having but
little reference one to the other. Yet we were mightily keen to know even
so much as such odd scraps might tell unto us. Whereupon, George read
from the next wrapper, which ran thus:--
"Now, suddenly, I heard the Captain cry out that there was something in
the main cabin, and immediately my lover's voice calling to me to lock my
door, and on no condition to open it. Then the door of the Captain's
cabin slammed, and there came a silence, and the silence was broken by a
_sound_. Now, this was the first time that I had heard the Thing make
search through the big cabin; but, afterwards, my lover told me it had
happened aforetime, and they had told me naught, fearing to frighten me
needlessly; though now I understood why my lover had bidden me never to
leave my stateroom door unbolted in the nighttime. I remember also,
wondering if the noise of breaking glass that had waked me somewhat from
my dreams a night or two previously, had been the work of this
indescribable Thing; for on the morning following that night, the glass
in the skylight had been smashed. Thus it was that my thoughts wandered
out to trifles, while yet my soul seemed ready to leap out from my bosom
with fright.
"I had, by reason of usage, come to ability to sleep despite of the
fearsome growling; for I had conceived its cause to be the mutter of
spirits in the night, and had not allowed myself to be unnecessarily
frightened with doleful thoughts; for my lover had assured me of our
safety, and that we should yet come to our home. And now, beyond my door,
I could hear that fearsome sound of the Thing searching--"
George came to a sudden pause; for the bo'sun had risen and put a great
hand upon his shoulder. The lad made to speak; but the bo'sun beckoned to
him to say no word, and at that we, who had grown to nervousness through
the happenings in the story, began every one to listen. Thus we heard a
sound which had escaped us in the noise of the growling without the
vessel, and the interest of the reading.
For a space we kept very silent, no man doing more than let the breath go
in and out of his body, and so each one of us knew that something moved
without, in the big cabin. In a little, something touched upon our door,
and it was, as I have mentioned earlier, as though a great swab rubbed
and scrubbed at the woodwork. At this, the men nearest unto the door came
backwards in a surge, being put in sudden fear by reason of the Thing
being so near; but the bo'sun held up a hand, bidding them, in a low
voice, to make no unneedful noise. Yet, as though the sounds of their
moving had been heard, the door was shaken with such violence that we
waited, everyone, expecting to see it torn from its hinges; but it stood,
and we hasted to brace it by means of the bunk boards, which we placed
between it and the two great chests, and upon these we set a third chest,
so that the door was quite hid.
Now, I have no remembrance whether I have put down that when we came
first to the ship, we had found the stern window upon the larboard side
to be shattered; but so it was, and the bo'sun had closed it by means of
a teak-wood cover which was made to go over it in stormy weather, with
stout battens across, which were set tight with wedges. This he had done
upon the first night, having fear that some evil thing might come upon us
through the opening, and very prudent was this same action of his, as
shall be seen. Then George cried out that something was at the cover of
the larboard window, and we stood back, growing ever more fearful because
that some evil creature was so eager to come at us. But the bo'sun, who
was a very courageous man, and calm withal, walked over to the closed
window, and saw to it that the battens were secure; for he had knowledge
sufficient to be sure, if this were so, that no creature with strength
less than that of a whale could break it down, and in such case its bulk
would assure us from being molested.
Then, even as he made sure of the fastenings, there came a cry of fear
from some of the men; for there had come at the glass of the unbroken
window, a reddish mass, which plunged up against it, sucking upon it,
as it were. Then Josh, who was nearest to the table, caught up the
candle, and held it towards the Thing; thus I saw that it had the
appearance of a many-flapped thing shaped as it might be, out of raw
beef--_but it was alive_.
At this, we stared, everyone being too bemused with terror to do aught
to protect ourselves, even had we been possessed of weapons. And as we
remained thus, an instant, like silly sheep awaiting the butcher, I
heard the framework creak and crack, and there ran splits all across the
glass. In another moment, the whole thing would have been torn away, and
the cabin undefended, but that the bo'sun, with a great curse at us for
our landlubberly lack of use, seized the other cover, and clapped it
over the window. At that, there was more help than could be made to
avail, and the battens and wedges were in place in a trice. That this
was no sooner accomplished than need be, we had immediate proof; for
there came a rending of wood and a splintering of glass, and after that
a strange yowling out in the dark, and the yowling rose above and
drowned the continuous growling that filled the night. In a little, it
died away, and in the brief silence that seemed to ensue, we heard a
slobby fumbling at the teak cover; but it was well secured, and we had
no immediate cause for fear.