THE WEED-CHOKED SEA
IT WAS some little while before midday that we grew conscious that the
sea had become very much less violent; and this despite the wind
roaring with scarce abated noise. And, presently, everything about the
boat, saving the wind, having grown indubitably calmer, and no great
water breaking over the canvas, the bo'sun beckoned me again to assist
him lift the after part of the cover. This we did, and put forth our
heads to inquire the reason of theunexpected quietness of the sea; not
knowing butthat we had come suddenly under the lee of some unknown
land. Yet, for a space, we couldsee nothing, beyond the surrounding
billows; for the sea was still very furious, though no matter to cause
us concern, after that through which we had come.
Presently, however, the bo'sun, raising himself, saw something, and,
bending cried in my ear that there was a low bank which broke the
force of the sea; but he was full of wonder to know how that we had
passed it without shipwreck. And whilst hewas still pondering the
matter I raised myself, and took a look on all sides of us, and so I
discovered that there layanother great bank upon our larboard side,
and this I pointed out to him. Immediately afterwards, we came upon a
great mass of seaweed swung up on the crest of a sea, and, presently,
another. And so we drifted on, and theseas grew less with astonishing
rapidily, so that, in a little, we stript off the cover so far as the
midship thwart; for the rest of the men were sorely in need of the
fresh air, after so long a time below the canvas covering.
It was after we had eaten, that one of them made out that there was
another low bank astern upon which we were drifting. At that, the
bo'sun stood up and made an examination of it, being much exercised in
his mind to know howwe might come clear of it with safety. Presently,
however, we had come so near to it that we discovered it to be
composed of seaweed, and so we let the boat drive upon it, making
nodoubt but that the other banks, which we had seen, were of a similar
nature.
In a little, we had driven in among the weed; yet, though our speed
was greatly slowed, we madesome progress, and so in time came out upon
the other side, and now we found the sea to be near quiet, so that we
hauled in our sea anchor--whichhad collected a great mass of weed
about it--and removed the whaleback and canvas coverings, after which
we stepped the mast, and set a tiny storm-foresail upon the boat; for
we wished to have her under control, and could set no more than this,
because of the violence of the breeze.
Thus we drove on beforethe wind, the bo'sun steering, and avoiding all
such banks as showedahead, and ever the sea grew calmer. Then, when it
was near on to evening, we discovered a huge stretch of the weed that
seemed to block all the sea ahead, and, at that, we hauled down the
foresail, and took to our oars, and began to pull, broadside on to it,
towards the West. Yet so strong was the breeze, that we werebeing
driven down rapidly upon it. And then, just before sunset, we opened
out the end of it, and drew in our oars, very thankful to set the
little foresail, and run off again before the wind.
And so, presently, the night came down upon us, and the bo'sun made us
take turn and turn about to keep a look-out; for the boat was going
some knots through the water, and we were among strange seas; but he
took no sleep all that night, keeping always to the steering oar.
I have memory, during my time of watching, of passing odd floating
masses, which I make no doubt were weed, and once we drove right atop
of one; but drew clear without much trouble. And all the while,
through the dark to starboard, I could make out the dim outline of
that enormousweed extent lying low upon the sea, and seeming without
end. And so, presently, my time to watch being at an end, I returned
to my slumber, and when next I waked it was morning.
Now the morning discovered to me that there was no end to the weed
upon our starboard side; for it stretched away into the distance ahead
of us so far as we could see; while all about us the sea was full of
floating masses of the stuff. And then, suddenly, one of the men cried
out that there was a vessel in among the weed. At that,as may be
imagined, we were very greatly excited, and stood upon the thwarts
that we might get better view of her. Thus I saw her a great way in
from the edge of the weed, and I noted that her foremast was gone near
to the deck, and she had no main topmast; though, strangely enough,
her mizzen stood unharmed. And beyond this, I could make out but
little, because of the distance; though the sun, which was upon our
larboard side, gave me some sightof her hull, but not much, because of
the weed in which she was deeply embedded; yet it seemed to me that
her sides were very weather-worn, and in one place some glistening
brown object, which may have been a fungus, caught the rays of the
sun, sending off a wet sheen.
There we stood, all of us,upon the thwarts, staring and exchanging
opinions, and were like to have overset the boat;but that the bo'sun
ordered us down. And after this we made our breakfast, and had
muchdiscussion regarding the stranger, as we ate.
Later, towards midday, we were able to set our mizzen; for the storm
had greatly modified, and so, presently, we hauled away to the West,to
escape a great bank of the weed which ran out from the main body. Upon
rounding this, we let the boat off again, and set the main lug, and
thus made very good speed before the wind. Yet though we ranall that
afternoon parallel with the weed tostarboard, we came not to its end.
And three separate times we saw the hulks of rotting vessels, some of
them having the appearance of a previous age, so ancient did they
seem.
Now, towards evening, the wind dropped to a very little breeze, so
that we made but slow way, and thus we had better chance to study the
weed. And now we saw that it was full of crabs; though for the most
partso very minute as to escape the casual glance;yet they were not
all small, for in a while I discovered a swaying among the weed, a
little way in from the edge, and immediately I saw the mandible of a
very great crab stir amid the weed. At that, hoping to obtain it for
food, I pointed it out to the bo'sun, suggesting that we should try
and capture it. And so, there being by now scarce any wind, he bade us
get outa couple of the oars, and back the boat up to the weed. This we
did, after which he made fast a piece of salt meat to a bitof spun
yarn, and bent this on to the boat-hook.Then he made a running
bowline, and slipped theloop on to the shaft of the boat-hook, after
which he held out the boat-hook, after the fashion of a fishing-rod,
over the place where I had seen the crab. Almost immediately, there
swept up an enormous claw, and grasped the meat, and atthat, the
bo'sun cried outto me to take an oar and slide the bowline along the
boat-hook, so that it should fall over the claw,and this I did, and
immediately some of us hauled upon the line, taughtening it about
thegreat claw. Then the bo'sun sung out to us to haul the crab aboard,
that we had it most securely; yet on the instant we had reason towish
that we had been less successful; for the creature, feeling the tug of
our pull upon it, tossed the weed in all directions, and thus we had
full sight of it, and discovered it to be so great a crab as is scarce
conceivable--a very monster. And further, it was apparent to us that
the brute had no fear of us, nor intention to escape; but rather made
to come at us; whereat the bo'sun, perceiving our danger, cut the
line, and bade us put weight upon the oars, and so in a moment we were
in safety, and very determined to have no more meddlings with such
creatures.
Presently, the night cameupon us, and, the wind remaining low, there
was everywhere about us a great stillness, most solemn after the
continuous roaring of the storm which had beset us in the previous
days. Yet now and again a little wind would rise and blow across the
sea, and where it met the weed, there would comea low, damp rustling,
so that I could hear the passage of it for no little time after the
calm had come once more all about us.
Now it is a strange thing that I, who had slept amid the noise of the
past days, should find sleeplessness amid so much calm; yet so it was,
and presently I took the steering oar, proposing that the rest should
sleep, and to this the bo'sun agreed, first warning me, however, most
particularly to havecare that I kept the boat off the weed (for we
hadstill a little way on us), and, further, to call him should
anything unforeseen occur. And after that, almost immediately he fell
asleep, as indeed did themost of the men.
From the time that relieved the bo'sun, untilmidnight, I sat upon the
gunnel of the boat, with the steering oar under my arm, and watched
and listened, most full of a sense of the strangeness of the seas into
which we had come.It is true that I had heardtell of seas choked up
with weed--seas that were full of stagnation, having no tides; but I
had not thought to comeupon such an one in my wanderings; having,
indeed, set down such tales as being bred of imagination, and without
reality in fact.
Then, a little before the dawn, and when the sea was yet full of
darkness, Iwas greatly startled to hear a prodigious splash amid the
weed, mayhapsat a distance of some hundred yards from the boat. Then,
as I stood fullof alertness, and knowing not what the next moment
might bring forth, there came to me across the immense waste of weed,a
long, mournful cry, andthen again the silence. Yet, though I kept very
quiet, there came no further sound, and I was about to re-seat myself,
when, afar off in that strange wilderness, there flashed out a sudden
flame of fire.
Now upon seeing fire in the midst of so much lonesomeness, I was as
one mazed, and could donaught but stare. Then, my judgement returning
to me, I stooped and waked the bo'sun; for it seemed to me that this
was a matter for his attention. He, after staring at it awhile,
declared that he could see the shape of a vessel's hull beyond the
flame; but, immediately, he was in doubt, as, indeed, I had been all
the while. And then, even as we peered, the light vanished, and though
we waited for the space of some minutes; watching steadfastly, there
came no further sight of that strange illumination.
From now until the dawn, the bo'sun remained awake with me, and we
talked much upon that which we had seen; yet could come to no
satisfactory conclusion; for it seemedimpossible to us that a place of
so much desolation could contain any living being. And then, just as
the dawn was upon us, there loomed up a fresh wonder--the hull of a
great vessel maybe a couple or three score fathoms in from the edge of
the weed. Now the wind was still very light, being no more than an
occasional breath, so that we went past her at a drift, thus the dawn
had strengthened sufficientlyto give to us a clear sightof the
stranger, before we had gone more than a little past her. And nowI
perceived that she lay full broadside on to us, and that her three
masts were gone close down to the deck. Her side wasstreaked in places
with rust, and in others a green scum overspread her; but it was no
more than a glance that I gave at any of those matters; for I had
spied something which drew all my attention--great leathery arms
splayed all across her side, some of them crooked inboard over the
rail, and then, low down, seen just above the weed, the huge, brown,
glistening bulk of so great a monster as ever I had conceived. The
bo'sun saw it in the same instant and cried out in ahoarse whisper
that it was a mighty devil-fish, and then, even as he spoke, two of
the arms flickered up into the coldlight of the dawn, as though the
creature had been asleep, and we hadwaked it. At that, the bo'sun
seized an oar, and I did likewise, and, so swiftly as we dared, for
fear of making any unneedful noise, we pulled the boat to a
saferdistance. From there anduntil the vessel had become indistinct by
reason of the space we put between us, we watched that great creature
clutched to the old hull, as it might be a limpet to a rock.
Presently, when it was broad day, some of the men began to rouse up,
and in a little we broke our fast, which was not displeasing to me,
who had spent the night watching. And so through the day we sailed
with a very light wind upon our larboard quarter. And all the while we
kept the great waste of weed upon our starboard side, and apartfrom
the mainland of theweed, as it were, there were scattered about an
uncountable number of weed islets and banks, and there were thin
patches of it that appeared scarce above the water, and through these
later we let the boat sail; for they had not sufficient density to
impede our progress more than a little.
And then, when the day was far spent, we came in sight of another
wreck amid the weeds. She lay in from the edge perhaps so much as the
half of a mile, and she had all three of her lower masts in, and her
lower yards squared. Butwhat took our eyes morethan aught else was a
great superstructure which had been built upward from her rails,
almost half-way to her main tops, and this, as we were able to
perceive, was supported by ropes let down from the yards; but of what
material the superstructure was composed, I have no knowledge; for it
was so over-grown with some form of green stuff--as was so much of the
hull as showed above the weed--as to defy our guesses. And because of
this growth, it was borneupon us that the ship must have been lost to
the world a very great age ago. At this suggestion, I grew full
ofsolemn thought; for it seemed to me that we had come upon the
cemetery of the oceans.
Now, in a little while after we had passed this ancient craft, the
night came down upon us, andwe prepared for sleep, and because the
boat was making some little way through the water, the bo'sun gave out
that each of us should stand our turn at the steering-oar, and that he
was to be called should any fresh matter transpire. And so we settled
down for the night, and owing to my previous sleeplessness, I was full
weary, so that I knew nothing until the one whom I was to relieve
shook me into wakefulness. So soon as Iwas fully waked, I perceived
that a low moon hung above the horizon, and shed a very ghostly light
across the great weed world to starboard. For the rest, the night was
exceeding quiet, so that no sound came to me in all that ocean, save
the rippling of the water upon our bends as the boat forgedslowly
along. And so I settled down to pass the time ere I should be allowed
to sleep; but first I asked the man whom I had relieved, how long a
time had passed since moon-rise; to which he replied that it was no
more than the half of an hour, and afterthat I questioned whether he
had seen aught strange amid the weed during his time at the oar; but
he had seen nothing, except that once he had fancied a light had shown
in the midst of the waste; yet it could have been naught save a humor
of the imagination; though apart from this, he had heard a strange
crying a little after midnight, and twice there had been great
splashes among the weed. And after that he fell asleep, being
impatient at my questioning.
Now it so chanced that my watch had come just before the dawn; for
which I was full of thankfulness, being in that frame of mind whenthe
dark breeds strange and unwholesome fancies. Yet, though I was so near
to the dawn,I was not to escape free of the eerie influence of that
place; for, as I sat, running my gaze to and fro over its grey
immensity, it came to methat there were strange movements among the
weed, and I seemed to see vaguely, as one may see things in dreams,
dim white faces peer outat me here and there; yetmy common sense
assured me that I was but deceived by the uncertain light and the
sleep in my eyes; yet for all that, it put my nerves on the quiver.
A little later, there came to my ears the noise of a very great splash
amid the weed; but though I stared with intentness, I could nowhere
discern aught as likely to be the cause thereof. And then, suddenly,
between me and the moon, there drove up from out of that great waste a
vast bulk, flinging huge masses of weed in all directions. It seemed
to be no more than a hundred fathoms distant, and, against the moon, I
saw the outline of it most clearly--a mighty devil-fish. Then ithad
fallen back once more with a prodigious splash, and so the quiet fell
again, finding me sore afraid, and no little bewildered that so
monstrous a creature could leap with such agility. And then (in my
fright I had let the boat come near to the edge ofthe weed) there came
a subtle stir opposite to our starboard bow, and something slid down
into the water. I swayed upon the oar to turn the boat's head outward,
and with the same movement leant forwardand sideways to peer, bringing
my face near tothe boat's rail. In the same instant, I found myself
looking down into a white demoniac face, human save that the mouth and
nose had greatly the appearance of a beak. The thing was gripping at
the side of the boat with two flickering hands--gripping the bare,
smooth outer surface, in a way that woke in my mind a sudden memory of
the great devil-fish which had clung to the side of the wreck we
hadpassed in the previous dawn. I saw the face come up towards me, and
one misshapen handfluttered almost to my throat, and there came a
sudden, hateful reek in my nostrils--foul and abominable. Then, I came
into possession of my faculties, and drew back with great haste and a
wild cry of fear. And then I had the steering-oar by the middle, and
was smiting downward with the loom over the side of theboat; but the
thing was gone from my sight. I remember shouting out to the bo'sun
and to the men to awake, and then the bo'sun had me by the shoulder,
was callingin my ear to know what dire thing had come about. At that,
I cried outthat I did not know, and,presently, being somewhat calmer,
I told them of the thing that I had seen; but even as I told of it,
there seemed to be no truth in it, so that they were all at a loss to
know whether I had fallen asleep, or thatI had indeed seen a devil.
And presently the dawn was upon us.
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