They came to the Solander Grounds with matters still in this wise.
Brander much with the crew; Noll Wing rotting in his chair in the cabin;
Faith gaining strength of soul with every day; Dan'l playing upon Noll,
upon Roy, upon all those about him to his own ends....
The Solander received them roughly; they passed the tall Solander Rock
and cruised to the westward, keeping it in sight. There was another
whaling ship, almost hull down, north of them, and the smoke that
clouded her told the _Sally_ she had her trypots going. Dan'l Tobey was
handling the vessel; and he chose to work up that way. But before they
were near the other craft, the masthead men sighted whales.... Spouts
all about, blossoming like flowers upon the blue water. Noll had
regained a little of his strength when they came upon the Grounds; he
took the ship, and bade Dan'l and the other mates lower and single out a
lone whale....
"They'll all be bulls, hereabouts," he said. "Big ones, too.... And
we'll take one at a spell and be thankful for that...."
The whale was, as Noll had predicted, a bull. Dan'l made the kill, a
ridiculously easy one. The vast creature lifted a little in the water at
the first iron; he swam slowly southward; but there was no fight in him
when they pulled up and thrust home the lance. The lance thrusts seemed
to take out of him what small spirit of resistance there had been in the
beginning; and when his spout crimsoned, he lay absolutely still, and
thus died....
An hour after lowering, the whale was alongside the _Sally_; a monstrous
creature, not far short of the colossus Cap'n Wing had slain. He was
made fast to the fluke-chain bitt, and the cutting in began
forthwith.... That, too, on Noll Wing's order. "Fair weather never
sticks, hereabouts," he said. "Work while there's working seas."
Now the first part of cutting in a whale is to work off the head; and
that is no small task. For the whale has no neck at all, unless a
certain crease in his thick blubber may be called a neck. The spades of
the mates, keen-edged, and mounted on long poles with which they jab
downward from the cutting stage, chock into the blubber and draw a deep
cut along the chosen line.... The carcass is laboriously turned, the
process is repeated.... Thus on, till at last the huge mass can be torn
free....
Before the work on this whale was half done, it became apparent that a
gale was brewing. Cross swells, angling together at the mouth of Foveaux
Straits, kicked up a drunken sea that made the _Sally_ pitch and roll at
the same time; a combination not relished by any man. Nevertheless, the
head was got off and hauled alongside for cutting up....
This work had taken the better part of the night; and with the dawn,
there arose a whine in the wind that sang a constant, high note in the
taut rigging. With the _Sally_ pitching and rolling drunkenly, the
fifteen ton junk was got off the head and hoisted aboard, while every
strand of rigging creaked and protested at the terrible strain. The
blubber was coming in; but the wind was increasing....
In the end, the _Sally_ had to let go what remained of her catch and run
for it, losing thereby the huge "case" full of spermaceti, and a full
half of the blubber. But it was time.... The wind was still
increasing.... The _Sally_ scudded like a yacht before it....
They ran into Port William for shelter, and Noll Wing swore at his ill
luck, and when the ship was anchored, went sulkily below.... Dan'l drove
the men to their tasks....
The weeks that followed were repetitions of this first experience, with
such capricious modifications as the gales and the sea chose to arrange.
They killed many big whales; some they lost altogether, and some they
lost in part, and some few they harvested. They fell into the way of
running for port with their kill as soon as the whale was alongside,
rather than risk the storms in the open.... It was hard and steady work
for all hands; and as the men had grumbled at ill luck when they sighted
no whales, so now they grumbled because their luck was overgood. The
deck of the _Sally_ was filled with morose and sullen faces....
Dan'l found them easy working, ready for his hands; and by a word
dropped now and then through these busy times, he led them in the way he
wished them to go.... He never let them forget, for one thing, the
ambergris beneath the cabin. When they grumbled, he reminded them it
was there as a rich reward for all their labors.... And he reminded
them, at the same time, that Brander claimed it.... Neither did he let
the men forget that which he wished them to believe of Faith and
Brander. By indirections; by words with Roy which he took care they
should overhear; by reproofs for chance-caught words, he kept the matter
alive in their minds, so that they began to look at Faith sidewise when
she appeared upon the after deck....
Brander was not blind to this; and if he had been blind, Mauger's one
eye would have seen for him. He knew the matter in the minds of the men;
but he could not be sure that Dan'l was putting it there.... Could not
be sure; nevertheless, he spoke to Dan'l of it one day.... It was the
first time since Brander came aboard that he and Dan'l had had more than
passing word.
Brander made an opportunity to take the mate aside; and he held Dan'l's
eyes with his own and said steadily: "Mr. Tobey, there's ugly talk among
the men aboard here that should be put a stop to...."
Dan'l looked surprised; he asked what Brander meant. Brander said
openly: "They're coupling my name with that of the captain's wife.
You've heard them. It should be ended."
Dan'l said amiably: "I know. It's very bad. But that is a thing you
can't stop from the after deck, Mr. Brander."
Brander said: "That's true. So what do you think should be done in the
matter?"
The mate waved his hand. "It's not my affair, Mr. Brander. It's not me
whose name is coupled with Faith's. You know that, yourself."
Brander nodded. "Suppose," he said, "suppose I go forward again.... I'll
make some occasion to commit a fault: Cap'n Wing can send me forward and
put Silva, or another, in my place."
Dan'l looked at Brander sharply; and he shook his head. "The men would
be saying, then, that it was because of this matter you were put out of
the cabin."
"I suppose so."
"It is very sure."
"What would you suggest?" Brander asked, his eyes holding Dan'l's. Dan'l
seemed to weigh the matter.
"How if you were to leave the ship completely?" he inquired.
Brander's eyes narrowed; and Dan'l, in spite of himself, turned away his
head. If Brander left the ship.... There was no other man aboard whom he
need fear when the time should come.... If Brander but left the ship....
Brander's eyes narrowed; he studied Dan'l; and after a little he laughed
harshly, and nodded his head as though assured of something which he had
doubted before. "No," he said. "No. I'll not leave the _Sally_...." He
could never do that; there might come the day when Faith would have to
look to him.... "No; I'll stick aboard here...."
Dan'l's hopes had leaped so high; they fell so low.... But he hid his
chagrin. "You are right," he said. "That is a deal to ask, just to stop
the idle chatter of the men. Stay.... Best stay.... It will be
forgotten."
Brander turned abruptly away, to crush down a sudden flood of anger that
had clenched his fists. He knew Dan'l, now, beyond doubt. He had guessed
the mate's eagerness to be rid of him.... Dan'l should not have his way
in this so easily....
Dan'l's own eyes had been opened by this talk with Brander. The mate's
heart had not yet formed his full design; he was working evil without
any further plan than to bring harm and ruin.... But Brander's
suggestion, the possibility that Brander might leave the ship, had
revealed to Dan'l in a single flash how matters would lie in his two
hands if Brander were gone. Noll Wing was nothing; old Tichel he could
swing; Willis Cox was a boy; the crew were sheep. Only Brander stood out
against him; only Brander must be beaten down to clear his path. With
Brander gone....
Dan'l set himself this task; to eliminate Brander. He thought of many
plans, a little mishap in the whaling, a kinked line, a flying spade, an
ugly mischance.... But these could not be arranged; he could only hope
for the luck of them. Hope for the luck.... But that need not prevent
him working to help out the fates. Not openly; he could not do that
without setting Brander on guard. And Brander on guard was doubly to be
feared. Dan'l remembered an ancient phrase, the advice of an old
philosopher to a rebellious soul, he thought. "When you strike at a
king, you must kill him...." It was so with Brander; he must be
destroyed at a blow.... Utterly....
Noll was a tool that might serve; Noll would strike, if he could be
roused to the full measure of wrath. Dan'l worked with Noll discreetly,
in hidden words, appearing always to defend Brander.... Brander and
Faith meant no harm.... They were friends, no more.... Dan'l assured
Noll of this, again and again; and he took care that his assurances
should not convince. Noll stormed at him one night:
"Why must you always be defending Faith? Why do you stand by her?"
And Dan'l said humbly: "I've always known Faith, sir. I don't want to
see her do anything.... That is, I don't want to see you harsh with her,
sir."
And Noll fell into a brooding silence that pleased Dan'l mightily....
But still he did not strike at Brander....
Dan'l reminded the captain that Brander still gave much time to the
crew; he played on that string.... Still hoping Noll might be roused to
overwhelming rage. But Dan'l's poisoned soul was losing its gift of
seeing into the hearts of men; the old Noll would have reacted to his
words as he hoped. This new Noll was another matter; this Noll, aging
and rotting with drink, was led by Dan'l's talk to hate Brander--and to
fear him. His fear of Brander and of the one-eyed man obsessed even his
sober mind. He would never dare seek to crush Brander openly; Faith he
might strike, but not the man.
In the end, even Dan'l perceived this; he cast about for a new
instrument, and found it in the man, Slatter.
Slatter had crossed Brander's path, to his sorrow. The loose-tongued man
dropped some word of Faith which Brander heard, and Brander
remembered.... He made pretext of Slatter's next small failure at the
work to beat the man into a bleeding pulp.... No word of Faith in this;
he thrashed Slatter for idling at the windlass when a blanket strip was
being hoisted, and for impudence.... And Slatter was his enemy
thereafter. Dan'l saw, and understood.... And he cultivated Slatter; he
tended the man's hurts, and gave him covert sympathy for the beating he
had taken.... And Slatter, emboldened, harshly swore that he would end
Brander for it, give him half a chance.
Dan'l said hastily, and quietly: "Don't talk such matters, man. There's
more than you aboard ship would do that if they dared. I'm not saying
even Noll Wing would not smile to see Brander gone.... No matter
why...."
"I know why," Slatter swore. "Every man forrad knows the why of
that...."
"Well, then you'll not blame Noll," said Dan'l. "I'm thinking he'd fair
kiss the man that had a hand in ending Brander, if it was not done too
open. But there's none aboard would dare it...."
"By God, let me get him forrad, right, and I'll...."
"Quiet," said Dan'l. "Here's the man himself...."
Here was his tool; Dan'l waited only the occasion. There was a way to
make that.
A whaler's crew are for the most part scum; harmless enough when they're
held in hand.... Harmless enough so long as they're kept in fear. But
alcohol drives fear out of a man. And there was whiskey and rum in the
captain's storeroom, aft....
It was one of the duties of Roy, as ship's boy, to fetch up stores from
this room at command; he was accustomed to fill Noll Wing's bottles now
and then. Dan'l saw he might use Roy; and he did so without scruple.
"I've need for liquor, Roy," he told the lad. "But I'd not ask Noll....
He's jealous of the stuff, as you know. So when next you're down, fill a
jug.... Fetch it up to me."
He said it so casually that Roy agreed without question. The boy was
pleased to serve Dan'l.... Dan'l held him, he had captured Roy, heart
and soul. Roy gave him the jug full of liquor next morning, Slatter had
it by nightfall, and that without Dan'l's appearing in the matter.
Slatter came aft to take the wheel, and Dan'l saw to it the jug was in
his sight and at hand.... Slatter carried it forward with him.... He
passed Dan'l in the waist; and Dan'l looked at the jug and laughed and
said:
"Man, that looks like liquor."
Slatter grinned uneasily. "Oil for the fo'c's'le lamp," he said.
Dan'l wagged his head. "See that that's so," he said. "If any ructions
start in the fo'c's'le, I'll send Brander forward to quiet you. You'll
not be wanting Brander to lay hand on you again."
Slatter's eyes shifted hungrily; he went on his way with quick feet,
and Dan'l watched him go, and his eyes set hard.
That was at dusk. Toward ten that night, when Brander was in his hammock
under the boathouse, one of the men howled, forward, and there was the
sound of scuffling in the fo'c's'le. Dan'l was aft, waiting.... He
called to Brander:
"Go forward and put a stop to that yammering, Mr. Brander."
Brander slid out of his hammock, assented quietly, and started forward
along the deck. Dan'l watched his dark figure in the night until it was
lost in the waist of the _Sally_.... He waited a moment.... Brander must
be at the fo'c's'le scuttle by now....
Came cries, blows, a tumultuous outbreak. The _Sally_ rang with the
storm of battle. Then, abruptly, quiet....
At that sudden-falling quiet, Dan'l turned pale in spite of himself; he
licked his lips. The thing was done....
He ran forward, virtuously ready to take a hand.