FREED
NOW, WHEN MISTRESS Madison had seated herself, she invited me todo
likewise, after which we fell into talk, first touching upon the
matter of the stranding of the rope, about whichI hastened to assure
her, and later to other things,and so, as is natural enough with a man
and maid, to ourselves, and here we were very content to let it
remain.
Presently, the second mate came in with a note from the bo'sun, which
he laid upon the table for the girl to read, the which she beckoned me
to do also, and so I discovered that it was a suggestion, written very
rudely and ill-spelt, that they should send us a quantity of reeds
from the island, with which we might be able to easethe weed somewhat
from around the stern ofthe hulk, thus aiding her progress. And to
this the second mate desired the girl to write a reply, saying that we
should bevery happy for the reeds,and would endeavour toact upon his
hint, and this Mistress Madison did,after which she passed the letter
to me, perchance I desired to send any message. Yet I had naught that
I wishedto say, and so handed it back, with a word of thanks, and, at
once, she gave it to the second mate, who went, forthwith, and
dispatched it.
Later, the stout woman from the galley came aft to set out the table,
which occupied the centre of the saloon, andwhilst she was at this,
she asked for information on many things, being very free and
unaffected in her speech, and seeming with less of deference to my
companion, than a certain motherliness; for it was very plain that
sheloved Mistress Madison, and in this my heart did not blame her.
Further, itwas plain to me that the girl had a very warm affection for
her old nurse, which was but natural, seeing that the old woman had
cared for her through all the past years, besides beingcompanion to
her, and a good and cheerful one, as I could guess.
Now awhile I passed in answering the buxom woman's questions, and odd
times such occasional ones as were slipt in by Mistress Madison; and
then, suddenly there came the clatter of men's feet overhead, and,
later, the thud of something beingcast down upon the deck, and so we
knew that the reeds had come.At that, Mistress Madison cried out that
we should go and watch the men try them upon the weed;for that if they
proved ofuse in easing that which lay in our path, then should we come
the more speedily to the clear water, and this without the need of
putting so great a strain upon the hawser, as had been the case
hitherto.
When we came to the poop, we found the menremoving a portion of the
superstructure over the stern, and after that they took some of the
stronger reeds, and proceeded to work at the weed that stretched away
in a line with our taffrail. Yet that they anticipated danger, I
perceived; for there stood by them two of themen and the second mate,
all armed with muskets, and these threekept a very strict watch upon
the weed, knowing, through much experience of its terrors, how that
there might be a need for their weapons at any moment.And so a while
passed, and it was plain that the men's work upon the weed was having
effect; for the rope grew slack visibly, and those at the capstan had
all that they could do, taking fleet and fleet with the tackle,to keep
it anywhere near to tautness, and so, perceiving that they were kept
so hard at it, I ran to give a hand, the which did Mistress Madison,
pushing upon the capstan-bars right merrily and with heartiness. And
thus a while passed, and the evening began to come down upon the
lonesomeness of the weed-continent. Then there appeared the buxom
woman, and bade us come to our suppers, and her mannerof addressing
the two of us was the manner of one who might have mothered us; but
Mistress Madison cried out to her to wait, that we had found work to
do, and at that the big woman laughed, and came towards us
threateningly, as though intending to remove us hence by force.
And now, at this moment, there came a sudden interruption which
checked our merriment; for, abruptly,there sounded the report of a
musket in thestern, and then came shouts, and the noise of the two
other weapons, seeming like thunder, being pent by the over-arching
superstructure. And, directly, the men about the taffrail gave back,
running here and there, and so I saw that great arms had come all
about the opening which they had made in the superstructure, and two
of these flickered in-board, searching hither and thither; but the
stout woman took a man near to her, and thrust him out of danger,and
after that, she caught Mistress Madison up in her big arms, and ran
down on to the main-deck with her, and all this before I had cometo a
full knowledge of our danger. But now I perceived that I should do
well to get further back from the stern, the which I did with haste,
and, coming to a safe position, I stood and stared at the huge
creature, its great arms, vague in the growing dusk, writhing about in
vain search for a victim. Then returned the second mate, having been
for more weapons, and now I observed that he armed all the men, and
had brought up a spare musket for my use,and so we commenced, all of
us, to fire at the monster, whereat it began to lash about most
furiously, and so, after some minutes, it slipped away from the
opening and slid down into the weed. Upon thatseveral of the men
rushed to replace those parts of the superstructure which had been
removed, and Iwith them; yet there were sufficient for the job, so
that I had no need to do aught; thus, before they had made up the
opening, I had been given chance to look out upon the weed, and so
discovered that all the surface which lay between our stern and the
island, was moving in vast ripples, as thoughmighty fish were swimming
beneath it, and then, just before themen put back the last of the
great panels, I saw the weed all tossed up like to a vast pot a-boil,
and then a vague glimpse of thousands of monstrous arms that filled
the air, and came towards the ship.
And then the men had the panel back in its place, and were hasting to
drive the supporting struts into their positions. And when this was
done, we stood awhile and listened; but there came no sound above that
of the wail of the wind across the extent of the weed-continent. And
at that, I turned to the men,asking how it was that I could hear no
sounds of the creatures attacking us, and so they took me up into the
look-out place, and from there I stared down at the weed; but it was
withoutmovement, save for the stirring of the wind, and there was
nowhere any sign of the devil-fish. Then, seeing me amazed,they told
me how that anything which moved the weed seemed to draw them from all
parts; but that they seldom touched the hulk unless there was
something visible to them which had movement. Yet, as they went on to
explain, there would be hundreds and hundreds of them lying all about
the ship, hiding in the weed; but that if we took care not to show
ourselves within their reach, they would have gone most of them by the
morning. And this the men told me in a very matter-of-fact way; for
they had become inured to such happenings.
Presently, I heard Mistress Madison calling to me by name, and so
descended out of the growing darkness, to theinterior of the
superstructure, and here they had lit a number of rude slush-lamps,
the oil for which, as I learned later, they obtained froma certain
fish which haunted the sea, beneath the weed, in very large schools,
and took near any sort of bait with great readiness. And so, when Ihad
climbed down into the light, I found the girl waiting for me to come
to supper, for which I discovered myself to be in a mightily agreeable
humour.
Presently, having made an end of eating, she leaned back in her seat
and commenced once more to bait me in her playful manner, the which
appeared to afford her much pleasure, and in which I joined with no
less, and so we fell presently to more earnest talk, and inthis wise
we passed a great space of the evening. Then there came to her a
sudden idea, and what must she do but propose that we should climb to
the look-out, and to this I agreed with a very happy willingness. And
to the lookout we went. Now when we had comethere, I perceived her
reason for this freak; for away in the night, asternthe hulk, there
blazed half-way between the heaven and the sea, a mighty glow, and
suddenly, as I stared, being dumb with admiration and surprise, I knew
that it was the blaze of our fires upon the crown of the bigger hill;
for, all the hill being in shadow, and hidden by the darkness, there
showed only the glow ofthe fires, hung, as it were, in the void, and a
very striking and beautiful spectacle it was. Then, as I watched,
there came, abruptly a figure into view upon the edge of the glow,
showing black and minute, and this I knew to be one of the men come to
the edge of the hill to take a look at the hulk, or test the strain
onthe hawser. Now, upon my expressing admiration of the sight to
Mistress Madison, she seemed greatly pleased, and told me that she
hadbeen up many times in the darkness to view it. And after that we
went down again into the interior of the superstructure, and here the
men were taking a further heave upon the big rope, before settling the
watches for the night, the which they managed, by having oneman at a
time to keep awake and call the rest whenever the hawser grew slack.
Later Mistress Madison showed me where I was to sleep, and so, having
bid one another a very warm good-night, we parted, she going to see
that her aunt was comfortable, and I out on to the main-deck to have a
chat with the man on watch. In this way, I passed the time until
midnight, and in that while we had been forced to call the men thrice
to heave upon the hawser, so quickly had the ship begun to make way
through the weed. Then, having grown sleepy, I said good-night,and
went to my berth, and so had my first sleep upon a mattress, for some
weeks.
Now when the morning was come, I waked, hearing Mistress
Madisoncalling upon me from theother side of my door, and rating me
very saucily for a lie-a-bed, and at that I made good speed at
dressing, and came quickly into the saloon, where she had ready a
breakfast that made me glad I had waked. But first, before she would
do aught else,she had me out to the lookout place, running up before
me most merrily and singing in the fullness of her glee, and so, when
I had cometo the top of the superstructure, I perceived that she had
very good reason for so much merriment, and the sight which came to my
eyes, gladdened me most mightily, yet at the same time filling me with
a great amazement;for, behold! in the courseof that one night, we had
made near unto twohundred fathoms across the weed, being now, with
what we had made previously, no more thansome thirty fathoms in from
the edge of the weed. And there stood Mistress Madison beside me,
doing somewhat of a dainty step-dance upon the flooring of the
look-out, and singing a quaint old lilt that I had not heard that
dozen years, and this little thing, I think, brought back more clearly
to me than aught else how thatthis winsome maid had been lost to the
world for so many years, having been scarce of the age of twelve when
the ship had been lost in the weed-continent. Then, as I turned to
make some remark, being filled with many feelings, there came a hail,
from far above in the air, as it might be, and, looking up, I
discovered the man upon the hill to be standing along the edge,and
waving to us, and now I perceived how that the hill towered a very
great way above us,seeming, as it were, to overhang the hulk though we
were yet some seventy fathoms distant from the sheer sweep of its
nearer precipice. And so, havingwaved back our greeting, we made down
to breakfast, and, having come to the saloon, set-to upon the good
victuals, and did very sound justice thereto.
Presently, having made an end of eating, and hearing the clack of the
capstan-pawls, we hurried out on deck, andput our hands upon the bars,
intending to join inthat last heave which should bring the ship free
out of her long captivity, and so for a time we moved round about the
capstan, and I glanced at the girl beside me; for she had become very
solemn, and indeed it was a strange and solemn time for her; for she,
who haddreamed of the world as her childish eyes had seen it, was now,
after many hopeless years, to go forth once more to it--to live in it,
and to learn how much had been dreams, and how much real; and with all
these thoughts I creditedher; for they seemed such as would have come
to me at such a time, and, presently, I made some blundering effort to
show to her that I had understandingof the tumult which possessed her,
and at that she smiled up at me with a sudden queer flash of sadness
and merriment, and our glances met, and I saw something in hers,
whichwas but newborn, and though I was but a young man, my heart
interpreted it for me, and I was all hot suddenly with the pain and
sweet delight of thisnew thing; for I had not dared to think upon
thatwhich already my heart had made bold to whisper to me, so that
even thus soon I was miserable out of her presence. Then she looked
downward at herhands upon the bar; and,in the same instant, there came
a loud, abrupt cry from the second mate, to vast heaving, and at that
all the men pulled out their bars and cast them upon the deck, and
ran, shouting, to the ladder that led to the look-out, and we
followed, and so came to the top, and discovered that at last the ship
was clear of the weed, and floating in the open water betweenit and
the island.
Now at the discovery that the hulk was free, the men commenced to
cheer and shout in a verywild fashion, as, indeed, is no cause for
wonder, and we cheered with them. Then, suddenly, in the midst of our
shouting, Mistress Madison plucked me by the sleeve and pointed to the
end of the island where the foot of the bigger hill jutted out in
agreat spur, and now I perceived a boat, coming round into view, and
in another moment Isaw that the bo'sun stood in the stern, steering;
thus I knew that he must have finished repairing her whilst I had been
on the hulk. By this, the men about us had discovered the nearness of
the boat,and commenced shouting afresh, and they ran down, and to the
bows of the vessel, and got ready a rope to cast. Now when the
boatcame near, the men in her scanned us very curiously; but the
bo'sun took off his head-gear, with a clumsy grace that well became
him; at which Mistress Madison smiled very kindly upon him, and, after
that, she told me with great frankness that he pleased her, and, more,
that she had never seen so great a man, which was not strange seeing
that she had seen but few since she had come to years when men become
of interest to a maid.
After saluting us the bo'sun called out to the second mate that he
would tow us round to the far side of the island,and to this the
officer agreed, being, I surmised, by no means sorry to put some solid
matter between himself and the desolation of thegreat weed-continent;
and so, having loosed the hawser, which fell from the hill-top with a
prodigious splash, we had the boat ahead, towing. In this wise we
opened out, presently, the end of the hill; but feeling now the force
of the breeze, we bent a kedge to the hawser, and, the bo'sun carrying
it seawards, we warped ourselves to windward of the island, and here,
in forty fathoms, we vast heaving, and rode to thekedge.
Now when this was accomplished they calledto our men to come aboard,
and this they did, and spent all of that day in talk and eating; for
those in the ship could scarce make enough of our fellows. And then,
when it had come to night, they replaced that part of the
superstructure which they had removed from about the head of the
mizzen-stump, and so, allbeing secure, each one turned-in and had a
full night's rest, of the which, indeed, many of them stood in sore
need.
The following morning, the second mate had a consultation with the
bo'sun, after which he gave the order to commence upon the removal of
the great superstructure, and to this each one of us set himself with
vigour. Yet it was a work requiring some time, and near five days had
passed before we had the ship strippedclear. When this had been
accomplished, there came a busy time of routing out various matter of
which we should have need in jury rigging her; for they hadbeen so
long in disuse, that none remembered where to look for them. At this a
day and a half was spent, and after thatwe set-to about fitting her
with such jury-masts as we could manage from our material.
Now, after the ship had been dismasted, all thoseseven years gone, the
crew had been able to save many of her spars, these having remained
attached to her, through their inability to cut away all of the gear;
andthough this had put them in sore peril at the time, of being sent
to thebottom with a hole in their side, yet now had they every reason
to be thankful; for, by this accident, we had now a foreyard, a
topsail-yard, a main t'gallant-yard, and the fore-topmast. They had
saved more than these; but had made use of the smaller spars to shore
up the superstructure, sawing them into lengths for that purpose.
Apart from such spars as they had managed to secure, they had a spare
topmast lashed along under the larboard bulwarks, and aspare t'gallant
and royal-mast lying along the starboard side.
Now, the second mate and the bo'sun set the carpenter to work upon the
spare topmast, bidding him make for it some trestle-trees and
bolsters, upon which to lay the eyes of the rigging; but they did not
trouble him to shape it. Further, they ordered the same to be fitted
to the fore-topmast and thespare t'gallant and royal-mast. And in the
meanwhile, the rigging was prepared, and whenthis was finished, they
made ready the shears tohoist the spare topmast, intending this to
take the place of the main lower-mast. Then, when the carpenter had
carried out their orders, he was set to make threepartners with a step
cut in each, these being intended to take the heels of the three
masts, and when these were completed, they bolted them securely to the
decks at the fore part of each one of the stumps of the three
lower-masts.And so, having all ready, we hove the main-mast into
position, after which we proceeded to rig it. Now, when we had made an
end of this,we set-to upon the foremast, using for this the
fore-topmast which they had saved, and after that we hove the
mizzen-mast into place, having for this the spare t'gallant and
royal-mast.
Now the manner in which we secured the masts, before ever we came to
the rigging of them, was by lashing them to the stumps of the
lower-masts, and after we had lashed them, we drove dunnageand wedges
between the masts and the lashings, thus making them very secure. And
so,when we had set up the rigging, we had confidence that they would
stand all such sail as we should be able to set upon them. Yet,
further than this, the bo'sun bade the carpenter make wooden caps of
six inch oak, these caps to fit over the squared heads of the
lower-mast stumps, and having a hole, each of them, to embrace the
jury-mast, and by making these caps in two halves, they were abled to
bolt them on after the masts had beenhove into position.
And so, having gotten in our three jury lower-masts, we hoisted up
theforeyard to the main, to act as our mainyard, and did likewise with
the topsail-yard to the fore, and after that, we sent up the
t'gallant-yard to the mizzen. Thus we had her sparred, all but a
bowsprit and jibboom; yet this we managed by making a stumpy, spike
bowsprit from one of thesmaller spars which they had used to shore up
thesuperstructure, and because we feared that it lacked strength to
bearthe strain of our fore and aft stays, we took down two hawsers
from the fore, passing them inthrough the hawse-holesand setting them
up there. And so we had herrigged, and, after that, we bent such sail
as our gear abled us to carry, and in this wise had the hulk ready for
sea.
Now, the time that it took us to rig the ship, and fit her out, was
seven weeks, saving one day. And in all this time we suffered no
molestation from any of the strange habitants of the weed-continent;
though this may have been because we kept fires of dried weed going
all the night aboutthe decks, these fires being lit on big flat pieces
of rock which we had gotten from the island. Yet, for all that wehad
not been troubled, we had more than once discovered strange things in
the water swimming near to the vessel; but a flare of weed, hung over
the side, on the end of a reed, had sufficed always to scare away such
unholy visitants.
And so at last we came tothe day on which we were in so good a
condition that the bo'sun and the second mate considered the shipto be
in a fit state to put to sea--the carpenter having gone over so much
of her hull as he could get at and found her everywhere very sound;
though her lowerparts were hideously overgrown with weed, barnacles
and other matters; yet this we could not help, and it was not wise to
attempt to scrape her, having consideration to the creatures which we
knew to abound in thosewaters.
Now in those seven weeks, Mistress Madison and I had come very close
to one another, so that I had ceased to call her by any name save
Mary, unless it were a dearer one than that; though this would be one
of my own invention, and would leave my heart too naked did I put it
down here.
Of our love one for the other, I think yet, and ponder how that mighty
man, the bo'sun, came soquickly to a knowledge of the state of our
hearts; for he gave me a very sly hint one day thathe had a sound idea
of the way in which the wind blew, and yet, though he said it with a
half-jest, methought there was something wistful in his voice, as
hespoke, and at that I just clapt my hand in his, andhe gave it a very
huge grip. And after that he ceased from the subject.
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