"Let them fear you; let them hate you," she told him. "But--never let
them forget you are master, Noll. Don't go to Mauger...."
He had no real desire to go; he wished only to bask in her new-found
sympathy. And he yielded readily enough, at last....
The matter passed abruptly. She rose; he went up on deck; the _Sally
Sims_ went on her way. And for a day or two, Noll Wing, an old man, was
like a boy who has repented and been forgiven; he was offensively
virtuous, offensively good-natured.
Mauger returned to his duties the second day. He wore a bandage across
his face; and when it was discarded a week later, the hollow socket
where his eye had been was revealed. His suffering had worked a terrible
change in the man; he had been morose and desperate, he was now too much
given to chuckling, as though at some secret jest of his own. He went
slyly about his tasks; he seemed to have a pride in his misfortune; when
he saw men shrink with distaste at sight of his scarred countenance, he
chuckled under his breath....
Dan'l Tobey had cut away the crushed eye-ball; the lids covered the
empty socket. In the upper lid, some maimed nerve persisted in living.
It twitched, now and then, in such a fashion that Mauger seemed to be
winking with that deep hollow in his face....
The man had a fascination, from the beginning, for Noll Wing. The
captain took an unholy joy in looking upon his handiwork; he shivered at
it, as a boy shivers at a tale of ghosts.... And he felt the gleaming
glance of Mauger's remaining eye like a threat. It followed him whenever
they were both on deck together; if he looked toward Mauger, he was sure
to catch the other watching him.
Dan'l Tobey was cheerfully philosophical about the matter. "He can see
as well as ever, with what he has left," he told Noll one day. "And he
ought to count himself lucky. Your boot might have mashed his head
in.... And serve him right...."
"Aye," said Noll, willing to be reassured. "He's lucky to live. The dog
must know that...."
And he looked forward to where Mauger lounged amidships, beside the try
works, and saw the man's black eye watching him; and Mauger caught the
captain's glance, and chuckled unpleasantly, his face twisting. Noll
felt a quiver of horror, far within himself....
He began, even in the fortnight after the affair, to remember Mauger's
curses and threats as the man was borne away by Yella' Boy, that day.
Mauger had threatened to kill him, to cut his heart away.... The
meaningless cries of a delirious man, he told himself.... No doubt
Mauger had forgotten them before this.
He tried, one day, the experiment of giving the one-eyed man an order.
Smoking his pipe, he spilled ashes on the spotless deck; and he bellowed
forward to Mauger to come aft, and when the man came, he pointed to the
smudge of ashes, and:
"Clean that up," he said harshly. "Look sharp, now."
Mauger chuckled. "Aye, sir," he said respectfully, and on hands and
knees at the captain's feet performed his task, looking up slyly into
Noll Wing's face as he did so. The lid that closed the empty eye-socket
twitched and seemed to wink....
That night, as they were preparing to sleep, Noll spoke of Mauger to
Faith. "He does his work better than ever," he said.
She nodded. "Yes." And something in Noll's tone made her attentive.
"Seems cheerful, too," said Noll. He hesitated. "I reckon he's forgot
his threat to stick a knife in me.... Don't you think he has?"
Faith's eyes, watching her husband, clouded; for she read his tone.
Noll Wing, strong man and brave, could not hide his secret from her....
She understood that he was deathly afraid of the one-eyed
man.