NAT--[_Trying to comfort her in an absentminded way._] There, don’t get
worked up. Ma’ll be all right as soon as the doctor comes. [_Then
curiously._] Pa’s inside with her. They were arguing--have they made it
up, d’you think?
SUE--Oh, Nat, I don’t know. I don’t think so.
NAT--The strain’s been too much for him--waiting and hiding his secret
from all of us. What do you suppose it is, Sue--ambergris?
SUE--[_Wildly._] I don’t know and I don’t care! [_Noticing the strange
preoccupied look in his eyes--trying to bring him back to
earth--scornfully._] Ambergris! Are you going crazy? Don’t you remember
you’ve always been the first one to laugh at that silly idea?
NAT--Well, there’s something---- [_Starts for the platform._ SUE _does
her best to interpose to hold him back_.] Are they all ready on the
schooner. He’ll have to hurry if she’s going to sail on this tide.
[_With sudden passion._] Oh, I’ve got to go! I can’t stay here!
[_Pleadingly._] Don’t you think, Sue, if you were to ask him for me
he’d--You’re the only one he seems to act sane with or care about any
more.
SUE--No! I won’t! I can’t!
NAT--[_Angrily._] Haven’t you any sense? Wouldn’t it be better for
everyone if I went in his place?
SUE--No. You know that’s a lie. Ma would lose her mind if you went.
NAT--And I’ll lose mine if I stay! [_Half aware of_ SUE’S _intention to
keep him from looking down at the schooner--irritably_.] What are you
holding my arm for, Sue? I want to see what they’re doing. [_He pushes
her aside and goes to the platform--excitedly._] Hello, they’ve got the
fores’l and mains’l set. They’re setting the stays’l. [_In amazement._]
Why--they’re casting off! She’s moving away from the wharf! [_More and
more excitedly._] I see four of them on board! Who--who is that, Sue?
SUE--It’s Danny.
NAT--[_Furiously._] Danny! What right has he--when I can’t! Sue, call
Pa! They’re sailing, I tell you, you little fool!
SUE--[_Trying to calm him--her voice trembling._] Nat! Don’t be such a
donkey! Danny’s only going a little way--just trying the boat to see how
she sails while they’re waiting for Pa.
NAT--[_Uncertainly._] Oh. [_Then bitterly._] I was never allowed to do
even that--his own son! Look, Sue, that must be Danny at the stern
waving.
SUE--[_Brokenly._] Yes. [_She waves her handkerchief over her head--then
breaks down, sobbing again. There is the noise of_ BARTLETT’S _voice
from inside and a moment later he appears in the doorway. He seems
terribly shattered, at the end of his tether. He hesitates uncertainly,
looking about him wildly as if he didn’t know what to do or where to
go._]
SUE--[_After one look at his face, runs to him and flings her arms about
his neck._] Pa! [_She weeps on his shoulder._]
BARTLETT--Sue, ye did wrong beggin’ me to see her. I knowed it’d do no
good. Ye promised she’d not hound me----“Confess,” she says--when they
be naught to tell that couldn’t be swore to in any court. “Don’t go on
this vige,” she says, “there be the curse o’ God on it.” [_With a note
of baffled anguish._] She kin say that after givin’ the ship her own
name! [_With wild, haggard defiance._] But curse or no curse, I be
goin’! [_He moves toward the platform_, SUE _clinging to his arm_.]
SUE--[_Frightenedly._] Pa! Go back in the house, won’t you?
BARTLETT--I be sorry to go agin your will, Sue, but it’s got to be.
Ye’ll know the reason some day--and be glad o’ it. And now good-bye to
ye. [_With a sudden strange tenderness he bends and kisses his daughter.
Then as she seems about to protest further, his expression becomes stern
and inflexible._] No more o’ talk, Sue! I be bound out. [_He takes her
hand off his arm and strides to the platform. One look down at the
harbor and he stands transfixed--in a hoarse whisper._] What damned
trick be this? [_He points to the schooner and turns to_ NAT
_bewilderedly_.] Ain’t that my schooner, boy--the Sarah Allen--reachin’
toward the p’int?
NAT--[_Surprised._] Yes, certainly. Didn’t you know? Danny’s trying her
to see how she sails while they’re waiting for you.
BARTLETT--[_With a tremendous sigh of relief._] Aye. [_Then angrily._]
He takes a lot o’ rope to himself without askin’ leave o’ me. Don’t he
know they’s no time to waste on boy’s foolin’? [_Then with admiration._]
She sails smart, don’t she, boy? I knowed she’d show a pair o’ heels.
NAT--[_With enthusiasm._] Yes, she’s a daisy! Say, Danny’s taking her
pretty far out, isn’t he?
BARTLETT--[_Anxiously._] He’d ought to come about now if he’s to tack
back inside the p’int. [_Furiously._] Come about, damn ye! The swab!
That’s what comes o’ steamer trainin’. I’d sooner trust Sue to sail her
nor him. [_Waves his arm and shouts._] Come about!
NAT--[_Bitterly._] He seems to be heading straight for the open sea.
He’s taking quite a sail, it seems to me.
BARTLETT--[_As if he couldn’t believe his eyes._] He’s passed the
p’int--and now--headin’ her out to sea--so’east by east. By God, that be
the course I charted for her! [SUE _bursts out sobbing. He wheels on
her, his mouth fallen open, his face full of a stupid despair._] They be
somethin’ wrong here. What be it, Sue? What be it, Nat? [_His voice has
begun to quiver with passion._] That schooner--she’s sailin’ without
me---- [_He suddenly springs at_ NAT _and grabs him by the throat--with
hoarse fury, shaking him_.] What be it, ye whelp? It’s your
doin’--because I wouldn’t let ye go. Answer me!
SUE--[_Rushing to them with a scream._] Pa! [_She tugs frantically at
his hands._ BARTLETT _lets them fall to his side, stepping back from_
NAT _who sinks weakly to the ground, gasping for breath_. BARTLETT
_stands looking at him wildly_.]
SUE--Nat didn’t know, Pa. It’s all my fault. I had to do it. There was
no other way----
BARTLETT--[_Raging._] What d’ye mean, girl? What is it ye’ve done? Tell
me, I say! Tell me or I’ll----
SUE--[_Unflinchingly._] You had to be stopped from going someway. You
wouldn’t listen to reason. So I asked Danny if he wouldn’t make the trip
in your place. He’s just got his captain’s papers--and oh, Pa, you can
trust him, you know that! That man Horne said he knows about everything
you wanted done, and he promised to tell Danny, and Danny’ll come
back----
BARTLETT--[_Chokingly._] So--that be it---- [_Shaking his clenched fist
at the sky as if visualizing the fate he feels in all of this._] Curse
ye! Curse ye! [_He subsides weakly, his strength spent, his hand falls
limply at his side._]
MRS. BARTLETT--[_Appears in the doorway. Her face is pale with anguish.
She gives a cry of joy when she sees her son._] Nat! [_Then with a start
of horror at her eyes fall on her husband._] Isaiah! [_He doesn’t seem
to hear._] Then--you ain’t sailed yet?
SUE--[_Going to her--gently._] No, Ma, he isn’t going to sail. He’s
going to stay home with you. But the schooner’s gone. See. [_She points
and her mother’s eyes turn seaward._]
BARTLETT--[_Aloud to himself--in a tone of groping superstitious awe and
bewildered fear._] They be somethin’ queer--somethin’ wrong--they be a
curse in this somewhere----
MRS. BARTLETT--[_Turning accusing eyes on him--with a sort of fanatical
triumph._] I’m glad to hear you confess that, Isaiah. Yes, there be a
curse--God’s curse on the wicked sinfulness o’ men--and I thank God He’s
saved you from the evil of that voyage, and I’ll pray Him to visit His
punishment and His curse on them three men on that craft you forced me
to give my name---- [_She has raised her hand as if calling down
retribution on the schooner she can dimly see._]
SUE--[_Terrified._] Ma!
BARTLETT--[_Starting toward his wife with an insane yell of fury._] Stop
it, I tell ye! [_He towers over her with upraised fist as if to crush
her._]
SUE--Pa!
NAT--[_Starting to his feet from where he has been sitting on the
ground--hoarsely._] Pa! For God’s sake!
MRS. BARTLETT--[_Gives a weak, frightened gasp._] Would you murder me
too, Isaiah? [_She closes her eyes and collapses in_ SUE’S _arms_.]
SUE--[_Tremblingly._] Nat! Help me! Quick! We must carry her to bed.
[_They take their mother in their arms, carrying her inside the house._]
BARTLETT--[_While they are doing this, rushes in his mad frenzy to the
platform over the edge of the cliff. He puts his hands to his mouth,
megaphone-fashion, and yells with despairing rage._] Ahoy! Ahoy! Sarah
Allen! Put back! Put back! [_as_
[_The Curtain Falls_]