A change was coming to pass in Faith at this time. As the strength
flowed out of Noll, it seemed to flow into her. As Noll weakened, Faith
was growing strong.
She had never lacked a calm strength of her own; the strength of a good
woman. But she was acquiring now the strength and resolution of a man.
At first, this was unconscious; the spectacle of Noll's degeneration
moved her by the force of contrast. But for a long time she clung to the
picture of the Noll of the past, clung to the hope that the captain
would become again the man she had married. And so long as she did this,
she made herself a part of him, his support.... She merged herself in
him, thought of herself only as his helpmate.... She had always tried to
stimulate his pride and strength; she had tried to lead him to reassume
the domination of the _Sally_ and all aboard her. And in the days before
Noll went out to kill his whale, she thought for a time she had
succeeded.
But when Noll came back to her that day, exhausted by the struggle, the
fire gone out of him, Faith perceived that he was a weak vessel,
cracking and breaking before her eyes.
Noll was gone; he was no longer a man. His hands and his heart had not
the force needed to enable him to command the _Sally_, to make the
voyage successful, to bring the bark safely back to port in the end.
Faith saw this; but she refused to consider the chance of failure. She
had married Noll when he was at the height of his apparent strength; the
signs of his disintegration were not yet apparent. They had swept upon
him suddenly.... But she would not have it said of him, when he was
gone, that he had sailed the seas too long; that he had failed at last,
and shamefully....
She had come to look upon the success of this last voyage of Noll's as a
sacred charge; and when Noll's shoulders weakened, she prepared
deliberately to take the burden on her own. The _Sally_ must come safely
home, with filled casks for old Jonathan Felt; she must come safely
home, no matter what happened to Noll--or to herself. The prosperity of
the _Sally Sims_ was almost a religion to Faith....
She had begun to study navigation more to pass the long and dreary days
than from any other motive; she applied herself to it now more ardently.
And she began, at the same time, to study the men about her; to weigh
them; to consider their fitness for the responsibilities that must fall
upon them. The fo'm'st hands, and particularly the mates, she weighed in
the balance. The mates, and above all Dan'l Tobey. For if Noll were to
go, Dan'l, by all the ancient laws of the sea, would become master of
the ship; and their destinies would lie in his hands....
Short of the Solander Grounds, they struck good whaling, and lingered
for a time; and day by day the tuns and casks were filled, and the
_Sally_ sank lower in the water with her increasing load. They were
two-thirds full, and not yet two years out. Good whaling.... At dinner
in the cabin one day, Dan'l Tobey said to Faith:
"You've brought us good luck, Faith, by coming along, this cruise. We
never did much better, since I've been with Cap'n Wing."
Faith looked to Noll. Noll was eating slowly, paying them no attention.
Silence was falling upon the captain in those days, like a foreshadowing
of the great silence into which he would presently depart. He said
nothing; so Faith said: "Yes. We've done well.... I'm glad."
Old James Tichel looked slyly from face to face. "And the 'gris, stowed
below us here, will make it a fine fat cruise for old Jonathan Felt when
we come home," he chuckled.
At the mention of the ambergris, a little silence fell. Brander was at
the table, Brander and the others. Dan'l and Willis Cox and young Roy
Kilcup looked at Brander, as though expecting him to speak. He said
nothing, and old Tichel, gnawing at his food, chuckled again, as though
pleased with what he had said.
The ambergris, so rich a treasure in so small a bulk, had never been
forgotten for a minute by any man in the cabin; nor by Faith. But they
had not spoken of it of late; there was nothing to be said, and there
was danger in the saying. It was as well that it be forgotten until they
were home again.... There were too many chances for trouble in the
stuff....
When Brander did not speak, however, Dan'l gently prodded him. He said
to Tichel: "You're forgetting that Mr. Brander claims it for his own."
Tichel chuckled again. "Oh, aye, I was forgetting that small matter," he
agreed. "My memory is very short at times."
Still Brander said nothing. Dan'l looked toward him. "I'll be warrant
Mr. Brander does not forget," he said.
Brander looked toward Dan'l, and he smiled amiably. "Thank you," he told
the mate. "Keep me reminded. It had all but slipped from my mind."
There was so much hostility in the air, in the slow words of the men,
that Faith said quietly: "We'll be on the Solander, soon. I'm looking
forward to that, Dan'l. You've seen the Rock?"
She hoped to change them to another topic; but Dan'l brought it smoothly
back again. "Yes," he said. "Yes.... Last cruise, the _Betty Howe_, out
of Port Russell, picked up a sizable chunk of 'gris not a week before we
touched the grounds. That brought two-sixty to the pound, I heard."
"How much was it?" Willis Cox asked; and Dan'l looked to Willis and said
amiably:
"Fifteen pound or so. No more than a thimbleful to what we've got....
That is to say, to what Mr. Brander's got, below here."
Brander had finished eating; he rose to go on deck. But Roy Kilcup could
no longer hold his tongue. He got to his feet in Brander's path,
demanded sharply:
"Do you honestly mean to claim that for your own, Mr. Brander? Are you
so much of a hog?"
Brander looked down at the boy; and he smiled. "I'll give you your
share, now, if it will stop your worrying, youngster," he said.
"I want to know what you're going to do," Roy insisted. "Are you going
to stick to your claim?"
"Others want to know," said Brander, and stepped to one side to pass
Roy. Roy would have spoken again; but Noll said heavily from the head of
the table:
"Roy, let be."
That put a moment's silence upon them all. In this silence, Brander went
on his way to the deck. Roy stared after him for a moment, then sat down
in his place. His face was sullen and angry.... No one spoke of the
matter again; but Dan'l saw that Faith was thoughtful. Faith was
puzzling over Brander, trying to fathom the man.... She was troubled and
uneasy.... Dan'l saw that Noll had lifted his heavy head and was
watching her.
Afterward, Dan'l went with Noll into the after cabin. Faith had gone on
deck; and she and Willis Cox were talking together, by the wheel, with
Roy. Brander, as usual, had taken himself to the waist where he was
under the eye of the crew. His harpooner, Loum, was with him. Mauger
hung within sound of his voice like an adoring dog.
Dan'l, in the after cabin with Noll, made up the log. Noll sat heavily
on the seat, half asleep. He got up, while Dan'l was still writing, and
got his bottle. It was almost empty; and he cursed at that, and Dan'l
looked up and said:
"Sit down, sir. Give that to me. I'll fill it up again."
Noll accepted the offer without speaking, and gave Dan'l the key to his
storeroom, where there was a cask of whiskey, and another of rum. Dan'l
came back presently with the bottle filled.... His eyes were shining
with an evil inspiration, but he said nothing for a little. When his
work on the log was done, however, he looked across to Noll, and after a
little, as though answering a spoken question, said:
"I wouldn't worry about him, sir."