All this I saw, and my brain now working rapidly, I thought a thousand thoughts; and yet I could not pull the triggers. I lowered the gun and stepped to the corner of the cabin, primarily to relieve the tension on my nerves and to make a new start, and incidentally to be closer. Again I raised the gun. He was almost at arm’s length. There was no hope for him. I was resolved. There was no possible chance of missing him, no matter how poor my marksmanship. And yet I wrestled with myself and could not pull the triggers.
“Well?” he demanded impatiently.
I strove vainly to force my fingers down on the triggers, and vainly I strove to say something.
“Why don’t you shoot?” he asked.
I cleared my throat of a huskiness which prevented speech. “Hump,” he said slowly, “you can’t do it. You are not exactly afraid. You are impotent. Your conventional morality is stronger than you. You are the slave to the opinions which have credence among the people you have known and have read about. Their code has been drummed into your head from the time you lisped, and in spite of your philosophy, and of what I have taught you, it won’t let you kill an unarmed, unresisting man.”
“I know it,” I said hoarsely.
“And you know that I would kill an unarmed man as readily as I would smoke a cigar,” he went on. “You know me for what I am, – my worth in the world by your standard. You have called me snake, tiger, shark, monster, and Caliban. And yet, you little rag puppet, you little echoing mechanism, you are unable to kill me as you would a snake or a shark, because I have hands, feet, and a body shaped somewhat like yours. Bah! I had hoped better things of you, Hump.”
He stepped out of the companion-way and came up to me.
“Put down that gun. I want to ask you some questions. I haven’t had a chance to look around yet. What place is this? How is the Ghost lying? How did you get wet? Where’s Maud? – I beg your pardon, Miss Brewster – or should I say, ‘Mrs. Van Weyden’?”
I had backed away from him, almost weeping at my inability to shoot him, but not fool enough to put down the gun. I hoped, desperately, that he might commit some hostile act, attempt to strike me or choke me; for in such way only I knew I could be stirred to shoot.
“This is Endeavour Island,” I said.
“Never heard of it,” he broke in.
“At least, that’s our name for it,” I amended.
“Our?” he queried. “Who’s our?”
“Miss Brewster and myself. And the Ghost is lying, as you can see for yourself, bow on to the beach.”
“There are seals here,” he said. “They woke me up with their barking, or I’d be sleeping yet. I heard them when I drove in last night. They were the first warning that I was on a lee shore. It’s a rookery, the kind of a thing I’ve hunted for years. Thanks to my brother Death, I’ve lighted on a fortune. It’s a mint. What’s its bearings?”
“Haven’t the least idea,” I said. “But you ought to know quite closely. What were your last observations?”
He smiled inscrutably, but did not answer.
“Well, where’s all hands?” I asked. “How does it come that you are alone?”
I was prepared for him again to set aside my question, and was surprised at the readiness of his reply.
“My brother got me inside forty-eight hours, and through no fault of mine. Boarded me in the night with only the watch on deck. Hunters went back on me. He gave them a bigger lay. Heard him offering it. Did it right before me. Of course the crew gave me the go-by. That was to be expected. All hands went over the side, and there I was, marooned on my own vessel. It was Death’s turn, and it’s all in the family anyway.”
“But how did you lose the masts?” I asked.
“Walk over and examine those lanyards,” he said, pointing to where the mizzen-rigging should have been.
“They have been cut with a knife!” I exclaimed.
“Not quite,” he laughed. “It was a neater job. Look again.”
I looked. The lanyards had been almost severed, with just enough left to hold the shrouds till some severe strain should be put upon them
“Cooky did that,” he laughed again. “I know, though I didn’t spot him at it. Kind of evened up the score a bit.”
“Good for Mugridge!” I cried.
“Yes, that’s what I thought when everything went over the side. Only I said it on the other side of my mouth.”
“But what were you doing while all this was going on?” I asked.
“My best, you may be sure, which wasn’t much under the circumstances.”
I turned to re-examine Thomas Mugridge’s work.
“I guess I’ll sit down and take the sunshine,” I heard Wolf Larsen saying.
There was a hint, just a slight hint, of physical feebleness in his voice, and it was so strange that I looked quickly at him. His hand was sweeping nervously across his face, as though he were brushing away cobwebs. I was puzzled. The whole thing was so unlike the Wolf Larsen I had known.
“How are your headaches?” I asked.
“They still trouble me,” was his answer. “I think I have one coming on now.”
He slipped down from his sitting posture till he lay on the deck. Then he rolled over on his side, his head resting on the biceps of the under arm, the forearm shielding his eyes from the sun. I stood regarding him wonderingly.
“Now’s your chance, Hump,” he said.
“I don’t understand,” I lied, for I thoroughly understood.
“Oh, nothing,” he added softly, as if he were drowsing; “only you’ve got me where you want me.”
“No, I haven’t,” I retorted; “for I want you a few thousand miles away from here.”
He chuckled, and thereafter spoke no more. He did not stir as I passed by him and went down into the cabin. I lifted the trap in the floor, but for some moments gazed dubiously into the darkness of the lazarette beneath. I hesitated to descend. What if his lying down were a ruse? Pretty, indeed, to be caught there like a rat. I crept softly up the companion-way and peeped at him. He was lying as I had left him. Again I went below; but before I dropped into the lazarette I took the precaution of casting down the door in advance. At least there would be no lid to the trap. But it was all needless. I regained the cabin with a store of jams, sea-biscuits, canned meats, and such things, – all I could carry, – and replaced the trap-door.
A peep at Wolf Larsen showed me that he had not moved. A bright thought struck me. I stole into his stateroom and possessed myself of his revolvers. There were no other weapons, though I thoroughly ransacked the three remaining staterooms. To make sure, I returned and went through the steerage and forecastle, and in the galley gathered up all the sharp meat and vegetable knives. Then I bethought me of the great yachtsman’s knife he always carried, and I came to him and spoke to him, first softly, then loudly. He did not move. I bent over and took it from his pocket. I breathed more freely. He had no arms with which to attack me from a distance; while I, armed, could always forestall him should he attempt to grapple me with his terrible gorilla arms.
Filling a coffee-pot and frying-pan with part of my plunder, and taking some chinaware from the cabin pantry, I left Wolf Larsen lying in the sun and went ashore.
Maud was still asleep. I blew up the embers (we had not yet arranged a winter kitchen), and quite feverishly cooked the breakfast. Toward the end, I heard her moving about within the hut, making her toilet. Just as all was ready and the coffee poured, the door opened and she came forth.
“It’s not fair of you,” was her greeting. “You are usurping one of my prerogatives. You know you I agreed that the cooking should be mine, and – “
“But just this once,” I pleaded.
“If you promise not to do it again,” she smiled. “Unless, of course, you have grown tired of my poor efforts.”
To my delight she never once looked toward the beach, and I maintained the banter with such success all unconsciously she sipped coffee from the china cup, ate fried evaporated potatoes, and spread marmalade on her biscuit. But it could not last. I saw the surprise that came over her. She had discovered the china plate from which she was eating. She looked over the breakfast, noting detail after detail. Then she looked at me, and her face turned slowly toward the beach.