THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA
Next day Martin journeyed on in the old way, jumping up and taking a
good long run, then dropping into a trot, then a walk, and finally
sitting down to rest. Then up again and another run, and so on. But
although feeling hungry and thirsty, he was so full of the thought
of the great blue water he was going to see, so eager to look upon
it at last after wishing for it so long, that he hardly gave himself
any time to hunt for food. Nor did he think of his mother of the
hills, alone to-day, and grieving at his loss, so excited was he at
the prospect of what lay before him.
A little past noon he began to hear a low murmuring sound that
seemed in the earth beneath him, and all about him, and in the air
above him; but he did not know that it was the sound of the sea. At
length he came to a place where the earth rose up in long ridges of
yellow sand, on which nothing grew but scattered tufts of stiff,
yellow grass. As he toiled over the loose sand, sometimes sinking
ankle-deep in it, the curious deep murmuring sound he had heard for
so long grew louder and louder, until it was like the sound of a
mighty wind in a wood, but deeper and hoarser, rising and falling,
and at intervals broken by great throbs, as of thunder echoed and
re-echoed among the distant hills. At length he had toiled over the
last ridge of sand; and then all at once the world--his world of
solid earth at all events--came to an abrupt end; for no more ground
on which to set a foot was before him, but only the ocean--that
ocean which he had wanted so badly, and had loved at a distance more
than the plains and hills, and all they contained to delight him!
How wide, how vast it was, stretching away to where it melted into
the low sky, its immense grey-blue surface broken into ten thousand
thousand waves, lit with white crests that came in sight and
vanished like lightning flashes! How tremendous, how terrible it was
in its agitation--O the world had nothing to compare with it,
nothing to hold his heart after it; and it was well that the earth
was silent, that it only gazed upon it with the sun and moon and
stars, listening day and night for ever to the great voice of the sea!
Only by lying flat on his chest could Martin look down over the edge
of the awful cliff, which is one of the highest in the world; and
then the sight of the sea swirling and beating at the foot of that
stupendous black precipice, sending up great clouds of spray in its
fury, made him shudder, it was so awful to look upon. But he could
not stir from that spot; there he stayed lying flat on his chest,
gazing and gazing, feeling neither hunger nor thirst, forgetful of
the beautiful woman he had called mother, and of everything besides.
And as he gazed, little by little, that great tumult of the waves
grew less; they no longer lifted themselves up, wave following wave,
to beat upon the cliff, and make it tremble; but sank lower and lower;
and at last drew off from the precipice, leaving at its foot a long
narrow strip of sand and shingle exposed to sight. A solemn calm
fell upon the waste of waters; only near the shore it continued to
move a little, rising and falling like the chest of a sleeping giant,
while along the margin small waves continued to form and break in
white foam on the shingle with a perpetual low, moaning sound.
Further out it was quite calm, its surface everywhere flushed with
changing violet, green, and rosy tints: in a little while these
lovely colours faded as from a sunset cloud, and it was all deep
dark blue: for the sun had gone, and the shadows of evening were
over land and sea. Then Martin, his little heart filled with a great
awe and a great joy, crept away a few yards from the edge of the
cliff and coiled himself up to sleep in a hollow in the soft warm
sand.
On the following morning, after satisfying his hunger and thirst
with some roots which he had not to go very far to find, he returned
to watch the sea once more, and there he remained, never removing his
eyes from the wonderful scene until the sun was directly over his
head; then, when the sea was calm once more, he got up and started
to walk along the cliff.
Keeping close to the edge, occasionally stopping to lie down on his
chest and peer over, he went on and on for hours, until the
afternoon tide once more covered the strip of shingled beach, and
the waves rising high began to beat with a sound like thunder
against the tremendous cliff, making the earth tremble under him. At
length he came to a spot where there was a great gap in the line of
the cliff, where in past times a portion of it had tumbled down, and
the stupendous masses of rock had rolled far out into the sea, and
now formed islands of black jagged rock, standing high above the
water. Here among the rocks the sea boiled and roared its loudest,
churning its waters into masses of white froth. Here a fresh wonder
met his sight: a number of big animals unlike any creature he had
ever seen before were lying prone on the rocks just out of the reach
of the waves that beat round them. At first they looked like cows,
then he saw that they had neither horns nor legs, that their heads
were like dog's but without ears, and that they had two great
flapper-shaped feet on their chests with which they walked or
crawled upon the rocks whenever a wave broke on them, causing them
to move a little higher.
[Illustration: ]
They were sea-lions, a very big sort of seal, but Martin had never
heard of such a creature, and being anxious to look more closely at
them he went into the gap, and began cautiously climbing down over
the broken masses of rock and clay until he got quite near the sea.
Lying there on a flat rock he became absorbed in watching these
strange dog-headed legless cattle of the sea; for he now had them
near, and they could see him, and occasionally one would lift its
head and gaze earnestly at him out of large dark eyes that were soft
and beautiful like the eyes of the doe that came to him on the hills.
O how glad he was to know that the sea, the mighty waters roaring so
loud as if in wrath, had its big beasts too for him to love, like
the hills and plains with their cattle and deer and horses!
But the tide was still rising, and very soon the biggest waves began
to come quite over the rocks, rolling the big beasts over and even
washing them off, and it angered them when the waves struck them,
and they roared aloud, and by and by they began to go away, some
disappearing beneath the water, others with heads above the surface
swimming away out into the open sea, until all were gone. Martin was
sorry to lose them, but the sight of the sea tumbling and foaming on
the rocks still held him there, until all the rocks but one had been
covered by the waters, and this one was a great black jagged rock
close to the shore, not above twenty or thirty yards from him.
Against this mass of rock the waves continued to dash themselves
with a mighty noise, sending up a cloud of white foam and spray at
every blow. The sight and sound fascinated him. The sea appeared to
be talking, whispering, and murmuring, and crying out aloud to him in
such a manner that he actually began trying to make out what it was
saying. Then up would come a great green wave rushing and moaning,
to dash itself to pieces right before his face; and each time it
broke against the rock, and rose high up it took a fantastic shape
that began to look more and more the shape of a man. Yes, it was
unmistakably like a monstrous grey old man, with a vast snow-white
beard, and a world of disordered white hair floating over and around
its head. At all events it was white for a moment, then it looked
green--a great green beard which the old man took with his two hands
and twisted just as a washerwoman twists a blanket or counterpane,
so as to wring the water out of it.
Martin stared at this strange uncouth visitor from the sea; while he
in turn, leaning over the rock, stared back into Martin's face with
his immense fishy eyes.
Every time a fresh wave broke over him, lifting up his hair and
garments, which were of brown seaweed and all rags and tatters, it
seemed to annoy him somewhat; but he never stirred; and when the
wave retired he would wring the water out once more and blow a cloud
of sea-spray from his beard. At length, holding out his mighty arms
towards Martin, he opened his great, cod-fish mouth, and burst into
a hoarse laugh, which sounded like the deep laughter-like cries of
the big, black-backed gulls. Still, Martin did not feel at all
afraid of him, for he looked good-natured and friendly.
"Who are you?" shouted Martin at last.
"Who be I?" returned the man-shaped monster in a hoarse, sea-like
voice. "Ho, ho, ho,--now I calls that a good un! Why, little Martin,
that I've knowed all along, I be Bill. Leastways, that's what they
called me afore: but I got promotion, and in consekence I'm called
the Old Man of the Sea."
"And how did you know I was Martin?"
"How did I know as you was Martin? Why, bless your innocent heart, I
knowed it all along of course. How d'ye think I wouldn't know that?
Why, I no sooner saw you there among them rocks than I says to myself,
'Hullo,' says I, bless my eyes if that ain't Martin looking at my
cows, as I calls 'em. Of course I knowed as you was Martin."
"And what made you go and live in the sea, Old--Bill?" questioned
Martin, "and why did you grow so big?"
[Illustration: ]
"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the giant, blowing a great cloud of spray from
his lips. "I don't mind telling you that. You see, Martin, I ain't
pressed for time. Them blessed bells is nothing to me now, not being
in the foc'sle trying to git a bit of a snooze. Well, to begin, I
were born longer ago than I can tell in a old town by the sea, and
my father he were a sailor man, and was drowned when I were very
small; then my mother she died just becoz every man that belonged to
her was drowned. For those as lives by the sea, Martin, mostly dies
in the sea. Being a orphan I were brought up by Granny. I were very
small then, and used to go and play all day in the marshes, and I
loved the cows and water-rats and all the little beasties, same as
you, Martin. When I were a bit growed Granny says to me one day,
'Bill, you go to sea and be a sailor-boy,' she says, 'becoz I've had
a dream,' she says, 'and it's wrote that you'll never git drowned.'
For you see, Martin, my Granny were a wise woman. So to the sea I
goes, and boy and man, I was on a many voyages to Turkey and Injy
and the Cape and the West Coast and Ameriky, and all round the world
forty times over. Many and many's the time I was shipwrecked and
overboard, but I never got drowned. At last, when I were gitting a
old man, and not much use by reason of the rheumatiz and stiffness
in the jints, there was a mutiny in our ship when we was off the Cape;
and the captain and mate they was killed. Then comes my turn, becoz
I went again the men, d'ye see, and they wasn't a-going for to
pardon me that. So out they had me on deck and began to talk about
how they'd finish me--rope, knife, or bullet. 'Mates,' says I 'shoot
me if you like and I'll dies comforbly; or run a knife into me,
which is better still; or string me up to the yard-arm, which is the
most comforble thing I know. But don't you go and put me into the sea,'
says I, 'becoz it's wrote that I ain't never going to git drowned,
and you'll have all your trouble for nothing,' says I. That made 'em
larf a most tremenjous larf. 'Old Bill,' says they, 'will have his
little joke.' Then they brings up some iron stowed in the hold, and
with ropes and chains they ties well-nigh half a ton of it to my
legs and arms, then lowers me over the side. Down I wrent, in course,
which made 'em larf louder than afore; and I were fathoms and
fathoms under water afore I stopped hearing them larf. At last I
comes down to the bottom of the sea, and glad I were to git there,
becoz now I couldn't go no further. There I lies doubled up like a
old sea-sarpint along of the rocks, but warm and comforble like.
Last of all, the ropes and chains they got busted off becoz of my
growing so big and strong down there, and up I comes to blow like a
grampus, for I were full of water by reason that it had soaked into
me. So that's how I got to be the Old Man of the Sea, hundreds and
hundreds of years ago."
"And do you like to be always in the sea, Old Bill?" asked Martin.
"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the monster. "That's a good un, little Martin!
Do I like it? Well, it's better than being a sailor man in a ship, I
can tell 'ee. That were a hard life, with nothing good except perhaps
the baccy. I were very fond of baccy once before the sea put out my
pipe. Likewise of rum. Many's the time I've been picked up on shore
that drunk, Martin, you wouldn't believe it, I were that fond of rum.
Sometimes, down here, when I remember how good it tasted, I open my
mouth wide and takes down a big gulp of sea water, enough to fill a
hogshead; then I comes up and blows it all out again just like a old
grampus."
And having said this, he opened his vast cavernous mouth and roared
out his hoarse ho, ho, ho! louder than before, and at the same time
he rose up higher above the water and the black rock he had been
leaning on, until he stood like a stupendous tower above Martin--a
man-shaped tower of water and spray, and white froth and brown
seaweed. Then he slowly fell backwards out upon the sea, and falling
upon the sea caused so mighty a wave that it went high over the
black rock and washed the face of the cliff, sweeping Martin back
among the rocks.
When the great wave retired, and Martin, half-choked with water and
half-dazed, struggled on to his feet, he saw that it was night, and
a cloudy, black sky was above, and the black sea beneath him. He had
not seen the light fade, and had perhaps fallen asleep and seen and
talked with that old sea monster in a dream. But now he could not
escape from his position down in the gap, just above the roaring
waves. There he had to stay, sheltered in a cavity in the rock, and
lying there, half sleeping and half waking, he had that great voice
of the sea in his ears all night.