UNDER THE PITILESS STARS
The purple twilight had already settled over Medford harbor when the
yacht with Captain Joe and Caleb on board glided beneath the wrecked
trestle with its toppling cars, and made fast to one of the outlying
spiles of the draw. As the yacht’s stern swung in toward the sunken
caboose which coffined the bodies of the drowned men, a small boat put
off from the shore and Sanford sprang aboard. He had succeeded in
persuading the section boss in charge of the wrecking gang to delay
wrecking operations until Caleb could get the bodies, insisting that
it was inhuman to disturb the wreck until they were recovered. As the
yacht was expected every moment and the services of the diver would be
free, the argument carried weight.
“Everything is ready, sir,” said Captain Joe, as Sanford walked aft to
meet him. “We’ve ’iled up the cylinders, an’ the pump can git to work
in a minute. I’ll tend Caleb; I know how he likes his air. Come,
Caleb, git inter yer dress; this tide’s on the turn.”
The three men walked along the yacht’s deck to where the captain had
been oiling the air-pump. It had been lifted clear of its wooden case
and stood near the rail, its polished brasses glistening in the light
of a ship’s lantern slung to the ratlines. Sprawled over a deck settee
lay the rubber diving-dress,—body, arms, and legs in one piece, like
a suit of seamless underwear,—and beside it the copper helmet, a
trunkless head with a single staring eye. The air-hose and life-line,
together with the back-plate and breast-plate of lead and the
iron-shod shoes, lay on the deck.
Caleb placed his folded coat on a camp-stool, drew off his shoes,
tucked his trousers into his stocking legs, and began twisting himself
into his rubber dress, Sanford helping him with the arms and
neckpiece. Captain Joe, meanwhile, overhauled the plates and loosened
the fastenings of the weighted shoes.
With the screwing on of Caleb’s helmet and the tightening of his
face-plate, the crowd increased. The news of the coming diver had
preceded the arrival of the yacht, and the trestle and shores were
lined with people.
When Caleb, completely equipped, stepped on the top round of the
ladder fastened to the yacht’s side, the crowd climbed hurriedly over
the wrecked cars to the stringers of the trestle to get a better view
of the huge man-fish with its distorted head and single eye, and its
long antennæ of hose and life-line. Such a sight would be uncanny even
when the blazing sun burnished the diver’s polished helmet and the one
eye of the face-plate glared ominously; but at night, under the wide
sky, with only a single swinging lamp to illumine the gloomy shadows,
the man-fish became a thing of dread,—a ghoulish spectre who prowled
over foul and loathsome things, and who rose from the slime of deep
bottoms only to breathe and sink again.
Caleb slowly descended the yacht’s ladder, one iron-shod foot at a
time, until the water reached his armpits. Then he swung himself
clear, and the black, oily ooze closed over him.
Captain Joe leaned over the yacht’s rail, the life-line wound about
his wrist, his sensitive hand alert for the slightest nibble of the
man-fish. These nibbles are the unspoken words of the diver below to
his “tender” above. His life often depends on these being instantly
understood and answered.
For the diver is more than amphibious; he is twice-bodied,—one man
under water, one man above, with two heads and four hands. The
connecting links between these two bodies—these Siamese twins—are
the life-line and signal-cord through which they speak to each other,
and the air-hose carrying their life-breath.
As Caleb dropped out of sight the crew crowded to the yacht’s rail,
straining their eyes in the gloom. In the steady light of the lantern
they could see the cord tighten and slacken as the diver felt his way
among the wreckage, or sank to the bottom. They could follow, too, the
circle of air bubbles floating on the water above where he worked. No
one spoke; no one moved. An almost deathly stillness prevailed. The
only sounds were the wheezing of the air-pump turned by the sailor,
and the swish of the life-line cutting through the water as the diver
talked to his tender. With these were mingled the unheeded sounds of
the night and of the sea,—the soft purring of the tall grasses moving
gently to and fro in the night-wind, and the murmuring of the sluggish
water stirred by the rising tide and gurgling along the yacht’s side
on its way to the stern.
“Has he found them yet, Captain Joe?” Sanford asked, after some
moments, under his breath.
“Not yet, sir. He’s been through one car, an’ is now crawlin’ through
t’other. He says they’re badly broke up. Run that air-hose overboard,
sir; let it all go; he wants it all. Thank ye. He says the men are in
their bunks at t’other end, if anywheres; that’s it, sir.”
There came a quick double jerk, answered by one long pull.
“More air, sir,—_more air_!” Captain Joe cried in a quick,
rising voice. “So-o, that’ll do.”
The crew looked on in astonishment. The talk of the man-fish was like
the telephone talk of a denizen from another world.
A quarter of an hour passed. Not a single tremor had been felt along
the life-line, nor had Captain Joe moved from his position on the
rail. His eye was still on the circle of bubbles that rose and were
lost in the current. Sanford grew uneasy.
“What’s he doing now, captain?” he asked in an anxious voice.
“Don’t know, sir; ain’t heard from him in some time.”
“Ask him.”
“No, sir; better let him alone. He might be crawlin’ through
somewheres; might tangle him up if I moved the line. He’s got to feel
his way, sir. It’s black as mud down there. If the men warn’t in the
caboose he wouldn’t never find ’em at night.”
A quick, sharp jerk from under the surface now swished through the
water, followed by a series of strong, rapid pulls,—seesaw pulls, as
if some great fish were struggling with the line.
“He’s got one of ’em, sir,” said the captain, with sudden animation.
“Says that’s all. He’s been through two cars an’ felt along every inch
o’ the way. If there’s another, he’s got washed out o’ the door.”
As he spoke the air-hose slackened and the life-line began to sag.
Captain Joe turned quickly to Sanford. “Pull in that hose, Mr.
Sanford,” hauling in the slack of the life-line himself. “He’s
a-comin’ up; he’ll bring him with him.”
These varied movements on the yacht stirred the overhanging crowd into
action. They hoped the diver was coming up; they hoped, too, he would
bring the dead man. His appearing with his awful burden would be less
terrible than not knowing what the man-fish was doing. The crew of the
yacht crowded still closer to the rail; this fishing at night for the
dead had a fascination they could not resist. Some of them even
mounted the ratlines, and others ran aft to see the diver rise from
the deep sea.
In a moment more the black water heaved in widening circles, and
Caleb’s head and shoulders were thrust up within an oar’s length of
the yacht. The light of the lantern fell upon his wet helmet and
extended arm.
The hand clutched a man’s boot.
Attached to the boot were a pair of blue overalls and a jacket. The
head of the drowned man hung down in the water. The face was hidden.
Captain Joe leaned forward, lowered the lantern that Caleb might see
the ladder, reeled in the life-line hand over hand, and dragged the
diver and his burden to the foot of the ladder. Sanford seized a
boat-hook, and, reaching down, held the foot close to the yacht’s
side; then a sailor threw a noose of marline twine around the boot.
The body was now safe from the treacherous tide.
Caleb raised himself slowly until his helmet was just above the level
of the deck. Captain Joe removed the lead plates from his breast and
back, and unscrewed his glass face-plate, letting out his big beard
and letting in the cool night-air.
“Any more down there?” he cried, his mouth close to Caleb’s face as he
spoke.
Caleb shook his head inside the copper helmet. “No; don’t think so.
Guess ye thought I was a-goin’ to stay all night, didn’t ye? I had ter
crawl through two cars ’fore I got him; when I found him he was under
a tool-chest. One o’ them lower cars, I see, has got its end stove
out.”
“Jes’ ’s I told ye, Mr. Sanford,” said Captain Joe in a positive tone;
“t’other body went out with the tide.”
* * * * *
The yacht, with the rescued dead man laid on the deck and covered with
a sheet, steamed across the narrow channel, reversed her screw, and
touched the fender spiles of her wharf as gently as one would tap an
egg. Sanford, who, now that the body was found, had gone ahead in the
small boat in search of the section boss, was waiting on the wharf for
the arrival of the yacht.
“There’s more trouble, Captain Joe,” he called. “There’s a man here
that the scow saved from the wreck. Mr. Smearly thought he would pull
through, but the doctor who’s with him says he can’t live an hour. His
spine is injured. Major Slocomb and Mr. Smearly are now in Stonington
in search of a surgeon. The section boss tells me his name is
Williams, and that he works in the machine shops. Better look at him
and see if you know him.”
Captain Joe and Caleb walked toward the scow. She was moored close to
the grassy slope of the shore. On her deck stood half a dozen
men,—one a diver sent by the manager of the road, and who had arrived
with his dress and equipment too late to be of service.
The injured man lay in the centre. Beside him, seated on one of Mrs.
Leroy’s piazza chairs, was the village doctor; his hand was on the
patient’s pulse. One of Mrs. Leroy’s maids knelt at the wounded man’s
feet, wringing out cloths that had been dipped in buckets of boiling
water brought by the men servants. Mrs. Leroy and Helen and one or two
guests sat a short distance away on the lawn. Over by the stables
swinging lights could be seen glimmering here and there, as if men
were hurrying. There were lights, too, on the dock and on the scow’s
deck; one hung back of the sufferer’s head, where it could not shine
on his eyes.
The wounded man, who had been stripped of his wet clothes, lay on a
clean mattress. Over him was thrown a soft white blanket. His head was
propped up on a pillow taken from one of Mrs. Leroy’s beds. She had
begged to have him moved to the house, but the doctor would not
consent until the surgeon arrived. So he kept him out in the warm
night-air, under the stars.
Dying and dead men were no new sight to Captain Joe and Caleb. The
captain had sat by too many wounded men knocked breathless by falling
derricks, and seen their life-blood ooze away, and Caleb had dragged
too many sailors from sunken cabins. This accident was not serious;
only three killed and one wounded out of twenty. In the morning their
home people would come and take them away,—in cloth-covered boxes, or
in plain pine. That was all.
With these thoughts in his mind, and in obedience to Sanford’s
request, Captain Joe walked toward the sufferer, nodded to the Medford
doctor sitting beside him, picked up the lantern which hung behind the
man’s head, and turned the light full on the pale face. Caleb stood at
one side talking with the captain of the scow.
“He ain’t no dago,” said Captain Joe, as he turned to the doctor.
“Looks to me like one o’ them young fellers what’s”—He stopped
abruptly. Something about the injured man attracted him.
He dropped on one knee beside the bed, pushed back the matted hair
from the man’s forehead, and examined the skin carefully.
For some moments he remained silent, scanning every line in the face.
Then he rose to his feet, folded his arms across his chest, his eyes
still fastened on the sufferer, and said slowly and thoughtfully to
himself,—
“Well, I’m damned!”
The doctor bent his head in expectation, eager to hear the captain’s
next words, but the captain was too absorbed to notice the gesture.
For some minutes he continued looking at the dying man.
“Come here, Caleb!” he called, beckoning to the diver. “Hold the
lantern close. Who’s that?” His voice sank almost to a whisper. “Look
in his face.”
“I don’t know, cap’n; I never see him afore.”
At the sound of the voices the head on the pillow turned, and the man
half opened his eyes, and groaned heavily. He was evidently in great
pain,—too great for the opiates wholly to deaden.
“Look agin, Caleb; see that scar on his cheek; that’s where the
Screamer hit ’im. That’s Bill Lacey.”
Caleb caught up the lantern as Captain Joe had done, and turned the
light full on the dying man’s face. Slowly and carefully he examined
every feature,—the broad forehead, deep-sunk eyes, short, curly hair
about the temples, and the mustache and close-trimmed beard, which had
been worn as a disguise, no doubt, along with his new name of
Williams. In the same searching way his eye passed over the broad
shoulders and slender, supple body outlined under the clinging
blanket, and so on down to the small, well-shaped feet that the
kneeling maid was warming.
“It’s him,” he said quietly, stepping back to the mast, and folding
his arms behind his back, while his eyes were fixed on the drawn face.
During this exhaustive search Captain Joe followed every expression
that swept over the diver’s face. How would the death of this man
affect Betty?
With an absorbed air, the captain picked up an empty nail-keg, and
crossing the deck sat down beside the mattress, his hands on his
knees, watching the sufferer. As he looked at the twitching muscles of
the face and the fading color, the bitterness cherished for months
against this man faded away. He saw only the punishment that had come,
its swiftness and its sureness. Then another face came before him,—a
smaller one, with large and pleading eyes.
“Ain’t no chance for him, I s’pose?” he said to the doctor in a low
tone.
The only answer was an ominous shake of the head and a significant
rubbing of the edge of the doctor’s hand across the waist-line of the
captain’s back. Captain Joe nodded his head; he knew,—the spine was
broken.
The passing of a spirit is a sacred and momentous thing, an impressive
spectacle even to rough men who have seen it so often.
One by one the watchers on the scow withdrew. Captain Joe and the
doctor remained beside the bed; Caleb stood a few feet away, leaning
against the mast, the full glow of the lantern shedding a warm light
over his big frame and throwing his face into shadow. What wild,
turbulent thoughts surged through his brain no one knew but himself.
Beads of sweat had trickled down his face, and he loosened his collar
to breathe the better.
Presently the captain sank on his knee again beside the mattress. His
face had the firm, determined expression of one whose mind has been
made up on some line of action that has engrossed his thoughts. He put
his mouth close to the sufferer’s ear.
“It’s me, Billy,—Cap’n Joe. Do ye know me?”
The eyes opened slowly and fastened themselves for an instant upon the
captain’s face. A dull gleam of recognition stirred in their glassy
depths; then the lids closed wearily. The glimpse of Lacey’s mind was
but momentary, yet to the captain it was unmistakable. The brain was
still alert.
He leaned back and beckoned to Caleb.
“Come over ’ere,” he said in a low whisper, “an’ git down close to
'im. He ain’t got long ter live. Don’t think o’ what he done to you;
git that out o’ yer head; think o’ where he’s a-goin’. Don’t let him
go with that on yer mind; it ain’t decent, an’ it’ll haunt ye. Git
down close to ’im, an’ tell 'im ye ain’t got nothin’ agin 'im; do it
for me, Caleb. Ye won’t never regret it.”
The diver knelt in a passive, listless way, as one kneels in a church
to the sound of an altar bell. The flame of the lantern fell on his
face and shaggy beard, lighting up the earnest, thoughtful eyes and
tightly pressed lips.
“Pull yerself together, Billy, jes’ once fur me,” said Captain Joe in
a half-coaxing voice. “It’s Caleb bendin’ over ye; he wants to tell ye
somethin’.”
The sunken, shriveled lids parted quickly, and the eyes rested for a
moment on the diver’s face. The lips moved, as if the man were about
to speak. But no words came.
Over the cheeks and nose there passed a convulsive twitching,—the
neck stiffened, the head straightened back upon the pillow.
Then the jaw fell.
“He’s dead,” said the doctor, laying his hand over the man’s heart.
Captain Joe drew the blanket over the dead face, rose from his knees,
and, with his arm in Caleb’s, left the scow and walked slowly toward
the yacht. The doctor gathered up his remedies, gave some directions
to the watchman, and joined Mrs. Leroy and the ladies on the lawn.
Only the watchman on the scow was left, and the silent stars,—stern,
unflinching, pitiless, like the eyes of many judges.
[Illustration: “The diver knelt in a passive, listless way”]