THE SCARLET SORREL.
AND now June was come, and Giles Heron still lived. He had watched
passionately for the blossoming of the scarlet sorrel. “That’ll be my
time!” he said, talking to himself as he lay rocking in his boat. “I’ve
got to wait till then. Some person seems to hold me back from helping
myself before then; maybe I’ve got to know what it’s like all along the
line; maybe it’ll be some help to some one over yonder, and I hope it
may, for it’s small comfort to me. Like as if my mother held me back.
But, when the sorrel is red, I guess they’ll give me my pass; they’d
be hard folks if they wouldn’t. And the sooner over for Mary and the
children; poor Mary, she’ll burn right up and come along, too, most
likely.”
And now, at last, the sorrel was in bloom. It clothed the dark-gray
rock like a holiday garment; it flamed in the sunlight; when the sky
was overcast it took a darker shade. Certainly, it had the colour of
blood; or was it still a little lighter?
One morning Giles kissed his wife and children before he went down to
the shore; he held Isla in his arms for a moment with a wistful look,
as if he would have spoken; but at last he nodded, and went his usual
way. Isla looked after him with a vague pain, she knew not what; but
her mother gave a dreadful sob, pressed her hands together, and then
flung them apart, with a gesture of almost savage anguish. Isla would
have tried to comfort her, but the dumb woman would not meet her eyes,
and turned away to her work, and worked all the morning as one works in
a fever-dream.
Life was ebbing very low for Giles. Slowly, slowly, he crawled down
to the beach; it was only a few paces from the cabin, but a corner,
rounded, took him out of sight, and he had of late sternly forbidden
the children to come with him even as far as the corner. Till he passed
it he made some poor pretence of holding his head up, and walking
straight; but, once round that friendly rock, he could cling to it, and
drag his tired body along, and make no one wince but himself.
The boat was ready; good old boat! she would miss him, he thought. He
fell across the thwart, and lay there dozing for a time; then crept to
a sitting posture, and, with short, faltering strokes, pulled himself
across to Toluma. The distance was small, but once there he must lie
down again in the boat, at the foot of the towering cliff, and wait
painfully till the faint breath should come back to him. One last
effort, now, and then—rest!
Could he do it? Had he rowed so far, miles and miles, for nothing? His
slight, worn body seemed a mass of lead, his hands and feet were turned
to water, as he climbed up, wearily, wearily. Many times he paused,
clutching the naked stone, while he struggled for breath, racked by the
terrible cough. Once his grasp loosened, and he had almost fallen, and
felt already the shock on the reef below; but something drifted through
his mind—a saying of his father’s, was it? “Hold on, Heron! a good bird
and a rare un!” His muscles crisped again, the mist lifted a little
from his eyes, and he climbed on; till now the top was reached, and
the scarlet upland which his eyes had sought so yearningly these many
weeks. With a long, sighing breath the tired man laid himself at full
length on the glowing sod. He felt life go from him with that breath;
the rest was mere detail.
He lay still, looking now across at the main island, now down and
around him. A few paces away the rock broke sheer off, two hundred
feet down to the water, that danced and dimpled in the sun. Between
the highest crest of the rock and the sorrel-meadow where he lay was a
tiny hollow brimming over with white violets, the scentless kind that
blossom as late as June here. Heron looked at them and smiled, as bits
of a nursery tale came back to the confusion of his mind.
“White as snow, red as blood,—what a pity the ravens never come over
here! The rock is all gray and orange, no black.”
He dozed a little; then repeated drowsily, “Red as blood! only blood
is a little darker, I think. Maybe ’t has faded out, all these years.
Anyway, I shall be able to see.”
The light seemed dim, though he felt the sun striking fiercely on his
head and shoulders. He pulled the scarlet sorrel blossoms, and let a
stream of them run slowly through his hand. Yes, darker, surely.
He had forgotten by this time about Isla, about his wife and
little Jacob, and all his doubts and fears. He seemed a boy again,
only curiously weak, and with all sorts of creatures,—bees, were
they?—buzzing about his head,—or inside it; he was not sure, and it did
not matter.
The knife, now! he was tired, and rest was very near; and he did not
think it would be laid up against him. Something in his head said it
was cowardly, but he explained that it was only his body, that could
not get about any longer, and that it would be a pity to let the folks
see him die, because that would make them feel badly. He drew out the
long, sharp knife, and made the light play along the blade, as he
always loved to do at school, and smiled to himself.
“The same dear old Giles!” he said. “Good-by, old fellow, if we don’t
meet again!”
He felt above his heart; this was where it should be. One stroke, now
for rest and freedom—
What was that? What sound broke the stillness? A voice? Far away, faint
yet clear, ringing sweet round the gray rock:
“Giles! Father Giles! where are you, father?”
Giles Heron gathered his wasted muscles together, and with a last
effort threw the knife from him; it glittered a moment, unstained, in
the sun; then dropped without sound, and the red blossoms closed over
it. He raised himself and tried to answer the call, but his voice was
choked. The day turned black, and, as he sank down, the blood burst
from his mouth and streamed out over the scarlet sorrel. Yes, it was
darker.