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NicholasSynovic
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room was darkened till it was only just possible to distinguish the of the cards and the very white faces of the players a tattered rotten of was the hot air and at each stroke outside by gloom of a november day in london there was neither sky sun nor horizon but a at the end of the passage brown purple haze of heat it was as though the earth were dying of from time to time clouds of dust rose from the ground without wind or warning flung themselves table cloth wise among the tops of the trees and came down again then a whirling dust devil would across the plain for a couple of miles break and fall outward though there was nothing to check its flight save a long low line of piled railway white with the dust a cluster of huts made of mud condemned rails and canvas and the one that belonged to the assistant engineer in charge of a section of the state line then under construction the four stripped to the of played with as to leads and returns it was not the best kind of but they had taken some trouble to arrive at it of the indian survey had ridden thirty and one hundred miles from his lonely post in the desert since the night before of the civil service on special duty in the political department had come as far to escape for an instant the miserable of an native state whose king alternately and for more money from the contributed by hard wrung and despairing the doctor of the line the phantom had left a stricken camp of to look after itself for forty eight hours while he associated with white men once more the assistant engineer was the host he stood st and received his friends thus every sunday if they could come in when one of them failed to appear he would send a to his last address in order that he might know whether the de were dead or alive there are very many places in the east where it is not good or kind to let your acquaintances drop out of sight even for one short week the players were not conscious of any special regard for each other they whenever they met but they desired to meet as men without water desire to drink they were lonely folk who understood the dread meaning of loneliness they were all under thirty years of age which is too soon for any man to possess that knowledge said after the second rubber his forehead beer s out i m sorry to say and there s hardly enough water for to night said what filthy bad management can t help it i ve written and but the trains don t come through regularly last week the ice ran out as knows at the end of the passage glad i didn t come i could ha sent you some if i had known though it s too hot to go on playing this with a savage at who only laughed he was a hardened rose from the table and looked out of a in the shutters what a sweet day said he the company yawned all together and themselves to an investigation of all s possessions guns tattered novels spurs and the like they had them a score of times before but there was really nothing else to do got anything fresh said last week s of india and a cutting from a home paper my father sent it out it s rather amusing one of those that call m p s again is it said who read his newspapers when he could get them yes listen to this it s to your address the man was making a speech to his and he piled it on here s a and i assert that the civil service in india is the preserve the pet preserve of the aristocracy of england what does the what do the masses get from that country which we have step by step the phantom fi i answer nothing whatever it is with a single eye to their own interests by the of the aristocracy they take good care to maintain their lavish scale of to avoid or any inquiries into the nature and conduct of their while they themselves force the unhappy peasant to pay with the sweat of his brow for all the luxuries in which they are waved the cutting above his head e r ear said his audience then i d give i d give three months pay to have that gentleman spend one month with me and see how the free and independent native prince works things old this was his title for an honoured and decorated prince has been wearing my life out this week past for money by jove his latest performance was to send me one of his women as a bribe good for you i you accept it said no i rather wish i had now she was a pretty little person and she away to me about the horrible among the king s women folk the haven t had any new clothes for nearly a month and the old man wants to buy a new drag from solid silver and silver lamps and trifles of that kind at the end of the passage i ve tried to make him understand that he has played the deuce with the for the last twenty years and must go slow he can t see it but he has the treasure to draw on there must be three millions at least in jewels and coin under his palace said catch a native king disturbing the family treasure the priests forbid it except as the last resort old has added something like a quarter of a million to	39
the deposit in his reign where the mischief does it all come from said the country the state of the people is enough to make you sick i ve known the tax men wait by a till the was bom and then hurry off the mother for and what can i do i can t get the court clerks to give me any accounts i can t raise anything more than a fat smile from the commander in chief when i find out the troops are three months in and old begins to weep when i speak to him he has taken to the king s heavily brandy for and for that s what the of took to even a native can t last long at that said he ll go out the phantom and a good thing too then i suppose we ll have a council of and a for the young prince and hand him back his kingdom with ten years whereupon that young prince having been taught all the vices of the english will play ducks and with the money and undo ten years work in eighteen months i ve seen that business before said i should tackle the king with a light hand if i were you they ll hate you quite enough under any circumstances that s all very well the man who looks on can talk about the light hand but you can t clean a pig with a pen dipped in rose water i know my risks but nothing has happened yet my servant s an old and he for me they are hardly likely to bribe him and i don t accept food from my true friends as they call themselves oh but it s weary work i d sooner be with you there s shooting near your camp would you i don t think it about fifteen deaths a day don t a man to shoot anything but himself and the worst of it is that the poor devils look at you as though you ought to save them lord knows i ve tried everything my last attempt was but it pulled an old man through he was brought to me apparently past hope and i gave him gin and at the end of the passage with it cured him but i don t recommend it how do the cases run generally said very simply indeed bricks to the feet and then the burning the last seems to be the only thing that stops the trouble it s black you know poor devils but i will say little lai my works like a demon i ve recommended him for promotion if he comes through it all alive and what are your chances old man said don t know don t care much but i ve sent the letter in what are you doing with yourself generally sitting under a table in the tent and on the to keep it cool said the man of the survey washing my eyes to avoid which i shall certainly get and trying to make a sub understand that an error of five degrees in an angle isn t quite so small as it looks i m altogether alone y know and shall be till the end of the hot weather s the lucky man said flinging himself into a long chair he has an actual roof torn as to the ceiling cloth but still a roof over his head he sees one train daily the phantom he can get beer and water and ice cm god is good he has books pictures were torn from the and the society of the excellent sub besides the pleasure of receiving us weekly smiled grimly yes i m the lucky man i suppose is how not yes went out last monday by his own hand said quickly the suspicion that was in everybody s mind there was no near s section ven fever gives a man at least a week s grace and sudden death generally implied i judge no man this weather said he had a touch of the sun i for last week after you fellows had left he came into the and told me chat he was going home to see his wife in market street liverpool that evening i got the in to look at him and tried to make him lie down after an hour w two he rubbed his eyes and said he believed he had had a bt hoped he hadn t said anything rude had a great idea of himself he was very like in bis language well at the end of the passage then he went to his own and began cleaning a rifle he told the servant that he was going to shoot buck in the morning naturally he with the and shot himself through the head accidentally the sent in a report to my chief and is buried somewhere out there have to you if you could have done anything you re a queer chap said if you d killed the man yourself you couldn t have been more quiet about the business lord what does it matter said calmly i ve got to do a lot of his work in addition to my own i m the only person that suffers is out of it by pure accident of course but out of it the was going to write a long on suicide trust a to when he gets the chance why didn t you let it go in as suicide i said no direct proof a man hasn t many privileges in this country but he might at least be allowed to his own rifle besides some day i may need a man to up an accident to myself live and let live die and let die you take a said who	39
had been watching s white narrowly take a and don t be an ass that sort of talk is the phantom anyhow suicide is your work if i were job ten times over i should be so interested in what was going to happen next that i d stay on and watch ah i ve lost that curiosity said liver out of order said no can t sleep that s worse by jove it is said i m that way every now and then and the fit has to wear itself what do you take for it nothing what s the use i haven t had ten minutes sleep since friday poor chap you ought to attend to this said now you mention it your eyes are rather and swollen still watching laughed lightly i ll patch him up later on is it too hot do you think to go for a ride where to said wearily wc shall have to go away at eight and there ll be riding enough for us then i hate a horse when i have to use him as a necessity oh heavens what is there to do begin again at points a is supposed to be eight shillings and a gold on the rub said promptly a month s pay all round for the pool no limit and fifty raises somebody would be broken before we got up said at the end of the passage can t say that it would give me any pleasure to break any man in this company said there isn t enough excitement in it and it s foolish he crossed over to the worn and battered little camp piano of a married household that had once held the and opened the case it s used up long ago said the servants have picked it to pieces the piano was indeed hopelessly out of order but managed to bring the rebellious notes into a sort of agreement and there rose from the ragged something that might once have been the ghost of a popular music hall song the men in the long chairs turned with evident interest as the more that s good said by jove the last time i heard that song was in or just before i came out ah said with pride i was home in and he mentioned a song of the streets popular at that date executed it roughly and volunteered dashed into another not of the music hall character and made as if to rise sit down said i didn t know that you had any music in your composition go on playing until you can t think of anything more the phantom ril have that piano up before you come again play something very simple indeed were the tunes to which s art and the of the piano could give effect but the men listened with pleasure and in the pauses talked all together of what they had seen or heard when they were last at home a dense dust storm sprung up outside and swept roaring over the house it in the choking darkness of t but continued and the crazy reached the ears of the listeners above the flapping of the tattered ceiling cloth in the silence after the storm he glided from the more directly personal songs of scotland half humming them as he played into the evening sunday said he nodding his head go on don t for it said laughed long and play it by all means you re full of surprises to day i didn t know you had such a gift of finished how does that thing go took up the tune too slow by half you miss the note of said it ought to go to the s this way and be to thee god par ill the of the it t at the end of the passage that shows we really feel our blessings how it go on if in the night i sleepless lie my soul with sacred thoughts supply may no ill dreams disturb my rest quicker or powers of darkness me what an old you are don t be an ass said you are at full liberty to make fun of anything else you like but leave that hymn alone it s associated in my mind with the most sacred recollections summer evenings in the country window light going out and you and she your heads together over one said yes and a fat old you in the eye when you walked home smell of hay and a moon as big as a sitting on the top of a roses milk and said also mothers i can just recollect my mother singing me to sleep with that when i was a little chap said the darkness had fallen on the room they could hear in his chair consequently said he you sing it the phantom when you are seven deep in hell i an insult to the intelligence of the deity to pretend we re anything but tortured take two said that s tortured liver the usually placid is in a vile bad temper i m sorry for his to morrow said as the servants brought in the lights aod prepared the table for dinner as they were settling into their places about the miserable goat and the smoked took occasion to whisper to well done david i look after then was the reply what are you two whispering about said suspiciously only saying that you are a damned poor host this fowl can t be cut returned with i sweet smile call this a dinner i can t help it you don t expect a banquet do you throughout that meal contrived laboriously to insult directly and all his guests in succession and at each insult kicked the persons under the table but he dared	39
for if i m caught i die i die yes yes we all do that sooner or later thank heaven who has set a term to our miseries the phantom said settling the cushions under head it occurs to mc that unless i drink something i shall go out before my time i ve stepped and i wear a inch he himself hot tea which is an excellent remedy against heat if you take three or four cups of it in time then he watched the a blind that cries and can t wipe its a blind face that him down h m decidedly ou t to go cm leave as soon as possible and sane or otherwise he undoubtedly did himself most cruelly well heaven send us understanding at mid day rose with an evil taste in his mouth but an eye and a joyful heart i was pretty bad last night wasn t i said he i have seen men you must have had a touch of the sun look here if i write you a medical will you apply for leave on the spot no why not you want il yes but i can hold on till the weather s a cooler why should you if you can get relieved on the spot is the only man who could be sent and he s a bom fool k at the end of the passage oh never mind about the line you aren t so important as all that wire for leave if necessary looked very uncomfortable i can hold on till the rains he said you can l wire to for i won l if you want to know why particularly is married and his wife s just had a kid and she s up at in the cool and has a very nice that takes him into from saturday to monday that little woman isn t at all well if was transferred she d try to follow him if she left the baby behind she d fret herself to death if she came and s one of those selfish little beasts who are always talking about a wife s place being with her husband she d die it s murder to bring a woman here just now hasn t the of a rat if he came here he d go out and i know she hasn t any money and i m pretty sure she d go out too i m in a sort of way and i m not married wait till the rains and then can get thin down here it ll do him heaps of good do you mean to say that you intend to what you have faced till the rains break oh it won t be so bad now you ve shown me a way out of it i can always wire to you be the phantom sides now i ve once got into the way of sleeping it ll be all right anyhow i sha n t put in for leave s the long and the short of it my great scott i thought all that sort of thing was dead and done with you d do the same yourself i a new man thanks to that case you re going over to camp now aren t you yes but i ll try to look you up every other day if i can i m not bad enough for that i don t want you to bother give the gin and then you feel all right fit to fight for my life but not to stand out in the sun talking to you go along old man and bless you turned on his heel to ice the echoing desolation of his and the first thing be saw standing in the was the figure of himself he had met a similar apparition once before when he was suffering fi om and the strain of the hot weather this is bad already he said rubbing his eyes if the thing away fi om me all in one piece like a ghost i shall know it is only my eyes and stomach that are out of order if it walks my head is going he approached the figure which naturally kept at an distance from him as is the use of at the end of the passage all that are bom of it slid through the house and dissolved into swimming within the as soon as it reached the burning light of the garden went about his business till even when he came in to dinner he found himself sitting at the table the vision rose and walked out hastily except that it cast no shadow it was in all respects real no living man knows what that week held for an increase of the kept in camp among the and all he could do was to telegraph to bidding him go to the and sleep there but was forty miles away from the nearest telegraph and knew nothing of anything save the needs of the survey till he met early on sunday morning and heading towards s for the weekly gathering hope the poor chap s in a better temper said the former swinging himself off his horse at the door i suppose he isn t up yet ru just have a look at him said the doctor if he s asleep there s no need to wake him and an instant later by the tone of s voice calling upon them to enter the men knew what had happened there was no need to wake him the was still being pulled over the the phantom bed but had departed this life at least three hours the body lay on its back hands by the side as had seen it lying seven nights previously in the staring eyes was written terror	39
beyond the expression of any pen who had entered behind bent over the dead and touched the forehead lightly with his lips oh you lucky lucky devil he whispered but had seen the eyes and withdrew shuddering to the other side of the room poor chap poor old chap and the last time i met him i was angry we should have watched him has he continued his ending by a search round the room no he hasn t he snapped there s no trace of anything call the servants they came eight or ten of them whispering and peering over each other s shoulders when did your go to bed said at eleven or ten we think said s personal servant he was well then but how should you know he was not ill as far as our comprehension extended but he had slept very little for three at the end of the passage nights this i know because i saw him walking much and specially in the heart of the night as was arranging the sheet a big straight hunting spur tumbled on the ground the doctor groaned the personal servant peeped at the body what do you think said catching the look on the dark face heaven bom in my poor opinion this that was my master has descended into the dark places and there has been caught because he was not able to escape with sufficient speed we have the spur for evidence that he fought with fear thus have i seen men of my race do with thorns when a spell was laid upon them to overtake them in their sleeping hours and they dared not sleep you re a mud head go out and prepare to be set on the s property god has made the heaven bom god has made me who are we to inquire into the of god i will bid the other servants hold aloof while you are reckoning the tale of the s property they are all thieves and would steal as far as i can make out he died from oh anything of the heart s action or some other said the phantom to his companions we must make an of his effects and so on he was scared to death insisted look at those eyes for pity s sake don t let him be buried with them open whatever it was he s clear of all the trouble now said softly was peering into the open eyes come here said he can you see anything there i can t face it cover up the j ce is there any fear on earth that can turn a man into that likeness it s ghastly oh cover it up no fear on earth said leaned over his shoulder and looked intently i see nothing except some gray in the pupil there can be nothing there you know even so well let s think it ll take half a day to knock up any sort of and he must have died at midnight old man go out and tell the to break ground next to s grave go round the house with and see that the are put on things send a couple of men to me here and i ll arrange the strong armed servants when they returned to their own kind told a strange story of the doctor s k at the end of the passage vainly trying to call their master back to life by magic arts to wit the holding of a little green box that to each of the dead man s eyes and of a bewildered muttering on the part of the doctor who took the little green box away with him the of a coffin lid is no pleasant thing to hear but those who have experience maintain that much more terrible is the soft of the bed linen the and of the bed when he who has by the roadside is for burial sinking gradually as the are tied over till the shape touches the floor and there is no protest against the of hasty disposal at the last moment was seized with scruples of conscience ought you to read the service from beginning to end said he to i intend to you re my senior as a you can take it if you like i didn t mean that for a moment i only thought if we could get a from somewhere i m willing to ride anywhere and give poor a better chance that s all said as he framed his lips to the tremendous words that stand at the head of the burial service the phantom after break ist they smoked a pipe in silence to the memory of the dead then said t in medical science what things in a dead man s eye for goodness sake leave that horror alone said i ve seen a native die of pure fright when a tiger him i know what killed the deuce you do i m going to try to see and the doctor retreated into the bath room with a after a few minutes there was the sound of something being to pieces and he emerged very white indeed have you got a picture said what does the thing look like it was impossible of course you needn t look i ve torn up the there was nothing there it was impossible that said very distinctly watching the shaking hand striving to the pipe is a damned lie laughed uneasily s right he said we re all in such a state now that we d believe for pity s sake let s try to be rational there was no further speech for a long time the hot wind whistled without and the dry trees i at the end of the passage sobbed presently the daily train brass steel and	39
steam pulled up ing in the intense glare we d better go on on that said go back to work i ve written my we can t do any more good here and work u keep our wits together come on no one moved it is not pleasant to face railway journeys at mid day in june up his hat and whip and turning in the doorway said t there may be heaven there must be hell meantime there is our life here we ell neither nor had any answer to the question the children of the though thou love her as as a self of purer clay though her parting dim the stealing grace from all alive heartily know when half gods go the gods arrive a thousands of years ago when men were greater than they are to day die children of the lived in the world there were six children oi the the ram the bull the lion the and the girl and they were afraid of the six houses which belonged to the the balance the the fishes the and the even when they first stepped down upon the earth and knew that they were immortal gods they carried this fear with them and the fear grew as they became better acquainted with mankind and heard stories of the six houses men treated the children as d and came to them with prayers and long stories of wrong while d ton ic co the children of the the children of the listened and could not understand a mother would fling herself before the feet of the or the bull crying my husband was at work in the fields and the shot him and he died and my son will also be killed by the help me the bull would lower his huge head and answer what is that to me or the would smile and continue their play for they could not understand why the water ran out of people s eyes at other times a man and a woman would come to or the girl crying we two are newly married and we are very happy take these flowers as they threw the flowers they would make mysterious sounds to show that they were happy and and the girl wondered even more than the why people shouted ha ha ha for no cause this continued for thousands of years by human reckoning till on a day met the girl walking across the hills and saw that she had changed entirely since he had last seen her the girl looking at saw that he too had changed altogether then they decided that it would be well never to separate again in case even more startling changes should occur when the one was not at hand to help the other kissed the girl and all earth felt that kiss and the girl sat down on a hill and the water ran out of her eyes and the phantom this had never happened before in the memory of the children of the as they sat together a man and a woman came by and the man said to the woman what is the use of wasting on those dull gods they will never understand darling the girl jumped up and put her arms round the woman crying i understand give me the flowers and i will give you a kiss said beneath his breath to the man what was the new name that i heard you give to your woman just now the man answered darling of course why of course said and if of course what does it mean it means very dear and you have only to look at your wife to see why i see said you are quite right and when the man and the woman had gone on he called the girl darling wife and the girl wept again from sheer happiness i think she said at last wiping her eyes think that we two have neglected men and women too much what did you do with the sacrifices they made to you i let them bum said i could not eat them what did you do with the flowers i let them i could not wear them i the children of the had so many of my own said the girl and now i am sorry there is nothing to grieve for said wc belong to each other as they were talking the years of men s life slipped by unnoticed and presently the man and the woman came back both white headed the man carrying the woman we have come to the end of things said the man quietly this that was my wife as i am s wife said the girl quickly her eyes staring was my wife has been killed by one of your houses the man set down his burden and laughed which house said angrily for he hated all the houses equally you are gods you should know said the man we have lived together and loved one another and i have left a good farm for my son what have i to complain of except that i still live as he was bending over his wife s body there came a whistling through the air and he started and tried to run away crying it is the arrow of the let me live a little longer only a little longer the arrow struck him and he died looked at the girl and she looked at him and both were puzzled he wished to die said he said that the phantom he wished to die and when death came he tried to run away he is a coward no he is not said the girl i think i feel what he felt we must more about this for their for their said very loudly because we are never going to	39
that vast back and the motionless eyes now and again he thought that he heard some one but the noise was very faint the children of the cannot tell when the may choose to send his arrow at me perhaps before the people a mile down the road have seen me the ram lowered his head that a newly arrived might throw a wreath of wild leaves over it and waited patiently while the farmers his do you like this cried over the shoulders of the crowd no said the ram as the dust of the feet made him and he at the piled before him turned back intending to his steps to the houses but as he was passing down a street he saw two small children very dusty rolling outside a cottage door and playing with a cat they were the what are you doing here said indignant playing said the calmly cannot you play on the banks of the way said we did said they till the fishes swam down and told us that some day they would come for us and not hurt us at all and carry us away so now we are playing at being babies down here the people like it do you like it said no said the but there are no cats the phantom fore you came hen i was afraid but now she put her head down on his shoulder and si ed a sigh of contentment i am afraid now said that is on my account said the girl i know it is because i am afraid for your sake let us go husband they went out of the darkness together and came back to the earth very silent and the girl striving to cheer him my brother s is the better one would repeat from time to time and at last he said let us each go our own way and live alone till we die we were bom into the house of and he will come for us i know i know but where shall i go and where will you sleep in the evening but let us try i will stay here do you go on took six steps forward very slowly and three long steps backward very quickly and the third step set him again at the side this time it was she who was begging him to go away and leave her and he was forced to comfort her all through the night that night decided them both never to leave each other for an instant and when they had come to this decision they looked back at the darkness of the house of above their heads and with their arms round each other s necks laughed ha ha ha exactly as the children of the the children of men laughed and that was the first time in their lives that they had ever laughed next morning they returned to their proper home and saw the flowers and the sacrifices that had been laid before their doors by the villagers of the hills stamped down the fire with his heel and the girl flung the flower wreaths out of sight shuddering as she did so when the villagers returned as of custom to sec what had become of their they found neither roses nor burned flesh on the but only a man and a woman with frightened white faces sitting hand in hand on the altar steps are you not said a woman to the girl i sent you flowers yesterday little sister said the girl flushing to her forehead do not send any more flowers for i am only a woman like yourself the man and the woman went away doubtfully now what shall we do said we must try to be cheerful i think said the girl we know the very worst that can happen to us but we do not know the best that love can bring us we have a great deal to be glad of the certainty of death said all the children of men have that certainty also yet they laughed long before we ever knew how to laugh we must learn to laugh we have laughed once already the phantom people who consider themselves gods as the children of the did find it hard to laugh the know nothing worth ter or tears rose up with a very heavy heart and he and the girl together went to and fro among men their new fear of death behind them first they laughed at a naked baby attempting to thrust its t toes into its foolish pink mouth next they laughed at a chasing her own tail and then they laughed at a boy trying to steal a kiss from a girl and getting his ears lastly they laughed because the wind blew in their as they ran down a hill side together and broke panting and breathless into a knot of villagers at the bottom the villagers laughed too at their flying clothes and wind faces and in the evening gave them food and invited them to a dance on the grass where everybody laughed through the mere joy of being able to dance that night jumped up from the girl s side crying every one of those people we met just now will die so shall we said the girl lie down again dear could not see that her ce was wet with tears but was up and far across the fields i forward by the fear of death for himself and for the girl who was dearer to him than presently he came across the bull in the the children of the moonlight after a hard day s work and looking through half shut eyes at the beautiful straight that he had made ho said the bull so you have been told these things too which of the houses holds your death pointed	39
upwards to the dark house of the and groaned and he will come for the girl too he said well said the bull what will you do sat down on the and said that he did not know you cannot pull a plough said the bull with a little touch of contempt i can and that prevents me from thinking of the was angry and said nothing till the dawn broke and the came to yoke the bull to his work sing said the bull as the muddy and strained my shoulder is sing one of the songs that we sang when we thought we were all gods together stepped back into the and lifted up his voice in a song of the children of the the war of the young gods who are afraid of nothing at first he dragged the song along unwillingly and then the song dragged him and his voice rolled across the fields and the bull stepped to the tune and the the phantom his out of sheer light and the rolled away behind the plough more and more swiftly then the girl came across the fields looking for and found him singing in the cane she joined her voice to his and the s wife brought her spinning into the open and listened with all her children round her when it was time for the and the girl had sung themselves both thirsty and hungry but the and his wife gave them bread and milk and many thanks and the bull found occasion to say you have helped me to do a full half more than i should have done but the hardest part of the day is to come brother wished to lie down and brood over the words of the the girl went away to talk to the s wife and baby and die noon began help us now said the bull the tides of the day are running down my legs are very stiff sing if you never sang before to a mud said he is under the same doom as ourselves are you a coward said the bull flushed and began again with a sore throat and a bad temper little by little he dropped away from the songs of the children and made up a song as he went along and this was a thing the children of the he could never have done had he not met the face to face he remembered facts concerning and and rice fields that he had not particularly noticed before the interview and he strung them all together growing more interested as he sang and he told the much more about himself and his work than the knew the bull approval as he toiled down the for the last time that day and the song ended leaving the with a very good opinion of himself in his aching bones the girl came out of the hut where she had been keeping the children quiet and talking woman talk to the wife and they all ate the evening meal together now yours must be a very pleasant life said the sitting as you do on a all day and singing just what comes into your head have you been at it long you two ah the bull from his that s all the thanks you will ever get from men brother no we have only just begun it said the girl but we are going to keep to it as long as we live are we not yes said he and they went away hand in hand you can sing beautifully said she as a wife will to her husband what were you doing said he the phantom i was talking to the mother and the babies she said you would not understand the little things that make us women laugh and and i am to go on with this this work said yes dear and i will help you there is no written record of the life of and of the girl so we cannot tell how took to his new employment which he detested we are only sure that the girl loved him when and wherever he sang even when after the song was done she went round with the equivalent of a and collected the pence for the daily bread there were times too when it was s very hard task to console the girl for the of horrible praise that people gave him and her for the silly feathers that they stuck in his cap and the buttons and pieces of cloth that they on his coat woman like she could advise and help to the end but the meanness of the means what does it matter would say so long as the songs make them a little happier and they would go down the road and begin again on the old old refrain that whatever came or did not come the children of men must not be afraid it was heavy teaching at first but in process of years discovered that he could make men laugh and hold them listening to him the children of the even when the rain fell yet there were people who would sit down and cry softly though the crowd was yelling with delight and there were people who maintained that made them do this and the girl would talk to them in the pauses of the performance and do her best to comfort them people would die too while was talking and singing and laughing for the and the and the and the other houses were as busy as ever sometimes the crowd broke and were frightened and strove to keep them steady by telling them that this was cowardly and sometimes they at the houses that were killing them and explained that this was even more cowardly than running away in their wanderings they came	39
across the bull or the ram or the but all were too busy to do more than nod to each other across the crowd and go on with their work as the years rolled on even that recognition ceased for the children of the had forgotten that they had ever been gods working for the sake of men the star was with dirt on the bull s forehead the ram s was dusty and torn and the were only babies fighting over the cat on the door step it was then that said let us stop singing and making jokes and it was then that the girl said no but the phantom she did not know why she no so maintained that it was till she herself at the end of a dusty day made the same suggestion to him and he said most not and they quarrelled miserably between the forgetting the meaning of the stars above them other singers and other sprang up in the course of the years and forgetting that there could never be too many of these hated them for dividing the applause of the children of men which he thought should be all his own the girl would grow angry too and then the songs would be broken and the fell flat for weeks to come and the children of men would shout go home you two go home and learn something worth singing after one of these sorrowful shameful days the walking by s side through the fields the full moon coming up over the trees and she clutched s arm crying the time has come now oh forgive me what is it said he was thinking of the other singers my husband i she answered and she laid his hand upon her breast and the breast that he knew so well was hard as stone groaned remembering what the had said surely we were gods once he cried surely we are gods still said the girl do the children of the you not remember when you and i went to the house of the and were not very much afraid and since then we have forgotten what we were singing for we sang for the pence and oh we fought for them we who are the children of the it was my fault said how can there be any fault of yours that is not mine too said the girl my time has come but you will live longer and the look in her eyes said all she could not say yes i will remember that we are gods said it is very hard even for a child of the who has forgotten his to see his wife dying slowly and to know that he cannot help her the girl told in those last months of all that she had said and done among the wives and the babies at the back of the roadside performances and was astonished that he knew so little of her who had been so much to him when she was dying she told him never to fight for pence or quarrel with the other singers and above all to go on with his singing immediately after she was dead then she died and after he had buried her he went down the road to a village that he knew and the people hoped that he would begin quarrelling with a new singer that had up while he had been away but called him the phantom my brother the new singer was newly married and knew it and when he had finished singing straightened himself and sang the song of the girl which he had made coming down the road every man who was married or hoped to be married whatever his rank or colour understood that song even die bride leaning on the new husband s arm understood it too and presently when the song ended and s heart was bursting in him the men sobbed that was a sad tale they said at last now make us laugh because had known all the sorrow that a man could know including the full knowledge of his own fall who had once been a god he changing his song quickly made the people laugh till they could laugh no more they went away feeling ready for any trouble in reason and they gave more feathers and pence than he could count knowing that pence led to quarrels and that feathers were hateful to the girl he put them aside and went away to look for his brothers to remind them that they too were he found the bull the in a ditch for the had stung him and he was dying not slowly as the girl had died but quickly i know all the bull groaned as came up i had forgotten too but i remember now the children of the and look at the fields i the are straight i forgot that i was a god but i drew the plough perfectly straight for all that and you brother i am not at the end of the said does death hurt no but dying does said the bull and he died the who then owned him was much annoyed for there was a field still it was after this that made the song of the bull who had been a god and forgotten the fact and he sang it in such a manner that half the young men in the world conceived that they too might be gods without knowing it a half of that half grew conceited and died early a half of the remainder strove to be gods and failed but the other half accomplished four times more work than they would have done under any other delusion later years later always wandering up and down and making the children of men laugh	39
wait now for this debt i owe and for her far borne cheer must i make haste and go with tribute to her pier the seven seas and she shall touch and after the use of kings orderly ancient fit my deep sea and purchase in all lands and this we do for a sign her power is over mine and mine i hold at her hands contents page the cities are full of pride the seven seas a song of the english fair is our lot o goodly is our the our brows are bound with and the weed is on our knees the of the dead hear now the song of the dead in the north by the torn edges the deep sea the above us their dust drops down from afar the song of the sons one from the ends of the earth gifts at an open lo the of the cities page and royal i e ye of the blood to bless than to ban the first was the woman to me i her the last said the lord in the drew m hymn hast made this e of a dream the miracles i sent a m e to hj dear the native born to ke god bless her the king romance ke care men said the rhyme of the three away by the lands of ke the i was the of our contents the answer page a rose in on the garden path the song of the you couldn t pack a half a mile q the she s a lady the she s a lady an she never looks nor s contract the fear was on the cattle for the gale was on the sea anchor song walk her round heave ah heave her short the lost there s a that never was the sea wife there dwells a wife by the northern gate hymn before action the earth is full of anger to the true romance thy face is far from this our war the flowers buy my english the last rhyme of true thomas the king has called for priest and cup contents in the age in the age savage warfare did i the story of once on a glittering ice field ages and ages ago the three full thirty foot she from to rail an american if the led call it a strike the mary paid for your fancies humoured your whim of the tramp royal in general i ave tried em all room back to the army again i m ere in a an a broken cock at birds of prey march march the mud is good about our soldier an sailor too as i was into the ditch aboard o the ig when the waters were dried an the earth did appear contents that day page it got beyond all orders an it got beyond all the men that fought at the men that fought at they was in their time camp we ve got the in camp it s worse than forty fights the ladies i ve taken my fun where i ve found it bill as anybody seen bill the mother lodge there was station master follow me ome there was no one like im or foot s e was warned er the jacket through the of we was the the in is blindness bows down to wood an stone the shut eye the junior orderly contents pity women you s man x j for to admire the an smiles l earth s last picture is painted ind ihe twisted and the seven seas a song of the english fair is our lot o goodly is our humble ye my people and be fearful in mirth for the lord our god most high he hath made the deep as dry he hath smote for us a pathway to the ends of all the earth yea though we and our rulers went from deep in all though we stained our garments hem oh be ye not dismayed though we stumbled and we strayed we were led by evil the lord shall deal with them the seven seas hold ye the faith the faith our fathers us not with visions and except ye pay the lord single heart and single sword of your children in their bondage shall he ask them keep ye the law he swift in all obedience clear the of evil drive the road and bridge the ford make ye sure to each his own that he reap where he hath sown by the peace among our men know we serve the lord hear now a a song of broken a song of little cunning of a singer nothing worth through the naked words and m an may ye see the truth between as the singer knew and touched it in the ends of all the earth i a song of the the lights our brows are bound with and the weed is on our knees our are battered us by the swinging smoking seas from and rock and over ness and the lights of england watch the ships of england go through the endless summer evenings on the level floors through the yelling channel tempest when the and by day the dipping house flag and by night the s trail as the sheep that behind us so we know them where they hail the s seas we bridge across the dark and bid the have a care the flash that inland wakes his sleeping wife to prayer from our vexed head to gale we bind in burning chains the lover from the sea rim drawn his love in english lanes we greet the wing and wing that race the southern wool we warn the crawling cargo of and to	39
each and all our equal lamp at peril of the sea the white wall sided or the of come up come in from eastward from the of the mom beat up beat in from o of the a song of the swift of an empire s loom that us main to main the lights of england give you welcome back go get you gone up channel with the sea crust on your plates go get you into london with the burden of your haste for they talk of empire there and say if any seek the lights of england sent you and by silence shall ye speak the song of the dead ar now the song of the dead in the north by the torn edges ihey that look still to the pole asleep by their hide stripped the seven seas song of the dead in the south in the sun by their skeleton horses where the and through the dust of the river courses song of the dead in the east in the heat hollows where the dog in the in the of the song of the dead in the west in the the snow that betrayed them where the their from the camp and the grave mound they made them hear now the song of the dead we were dreaming greatly in the town we beyond the sky line where the strange roads go down came the whisper came the vision came the power with the need a song of th till the soul that is not man s soul was lent us to lead as the deer breaks as the steer breaks from the herd where they in the faith o children we went on our ways then the wood failed then the food failed then the last water dried in the faith of little children we lay down and died on the sand drift on the side in the we lay that our sons might follow after by the bones on the way follow after follow after we have watered the root and the bud has come to blossom that for fruit follow after we are waiting by the that we lost for the sounds of many footsteps for the tread of a host follow after follow after for the harvest is sown by the bones about the ye shall come to your the seven seas when went down to the horn and england was crowned thereby seas and shores our lodge our lodge was horn and england was crowned thereby which never shall close again by day nor yet by night while man shall take his life to stake at risk of or main by day nor yet by night but even so as now we witness here while men depart of joyful heart adventure for to know as now bear witness here n we have fed our sea for a thousand years and she calls us still though there s never a wave of all her waves but marks our english dead a song of the english we have our best to the weed s to the and the if blood be the price of lord god we ha paid in there s never a flood goes now but lifts a we there s never an ebb goes now but drops our dead on the sand but our dead on the sands from the to the if blood be the price of if blood be the price of lord god we ha paid it in we must feed our sea for a thousand years for that is our doom and pride as it was when they sailed with the golden hind or the wreck that struck last tide or the wreck that lies on the where the ghastly blue lights the seven seas if blood be the price of if blood be the price of if blood be the price of lord god we ha bought it fair the deep sea the above us their dust drops down from afar down to the dark to the utter dark where the blind white sea are there is no sound no echo of sound in the deserts of the deep or the great grey level plains of the shell creep here in the of the world here on the of earth words and the words of men and flutter and beat warning sorrow and gain salutation and mirth for a power troubles the still that has neither voice nor feet a song of the english they have the things they have killed their father time joining hands in the gloom a league from the last of the sun hush men talk to day o er the waste of the ultimate and a new word runs between whispering let us be one the song of the sons one from the ends of the earth gifts at an open door treason has much but we mother thy sons have more from the of a dying man from the of a wolf pack freed turn and the world is thine mother be proud of thy seed count are we feeble or few hear is our speech so rude the seven seas look are we poor in the land judge are we men of the blood those that have stayed at thy knees mother go call them in we that were bred wait and would speak with our kin not in the dark do we fight and and selling our love for a price our hearts for a bribe gifts have we only to day love without promise or fee hear for thy children speak from the uppermost parts of the seal the song of the cities royal and e royal i the queen thy richest sea with richer	39
the gate of the world huge and amazing this we beheld and we live the pit of the then the god spoke to the tree for our returning back to the beach of our flight fearless and slowly back to our went he but we were holy men that were hot in that hunt women that followed that were promised our bones trembled and over the necks of the tribe crouching and and we came back from the dawning the last and there was no more sea thus said the lord in the vault above the calling to the angels and the souls in their degree lo earth has passed away on the smoke of judgment day that our word may be established shall we gather up the sea loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly plague upon the that made us and flee but the war is done between us in the deep the lord hath seen us our bones well leave the and god may sink the seal the seven seas then said the soul of that betrayed him lord hast thou forgotten thy with me how once a year i go to cool me on the and ye take my day of mercy if ye take away the sea then said the soul of the angel of the off shore wind he that bits the thunder when the bull mouthed flee i have watch and ward to keep o er thy wonders on the deep and ye take mine honour from me if ye take away the sea loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly nay but we were angry and a hasty folk are we if we worked the ship together till she in foul weather are we that we should for a vengeance on the sea the last then said the souls of the slaves that men threw overboard m the a weary band were we but thy arm was strong to save and it touched us on the wave and we the long tides idle till thy trumpets tore the sea then cried the soul of the stout paul to god once we a ship and she there were fourteen score of these and they blessed thee on their knees when they learned thy grace and glory under by the sea loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly at their and they plucked our are rough and and the tune is something hard may we lift a such as use at sea the seven seas then said the souls of the gentlemen wrist to bar all for red ho we in our chains o er the sorrow that was spain s heave or sink it leave or drink it we were masters of the seal up the soul of a gray he that led the in the of fair oh the ice white and near and the clear will ye them all for that in the sea loud sang the souls of the jolly jolly crying under heaven here is neither lead nor must we sing for on the floor take back your golden and we ll beat to open sea the last then stooped the lord and he called the good sea up to him and his borders unto all eternity that such as have no pleasure for to praise the lord by measure they may enter into and serve him on the sea sun wind and cloud shall fail not from the face of it ringing nor the flying free and the ships shall go abroad to the glory of the lord who heard the silly sailor folk and gave them back their sea the king solomon drew because of his desire for and ivory from unto with out of which down but we be only that use in london town cross seas round the world and back again where the flaw shall head us or the full trade suits plain sail storm sail lay your board and tack again and that s the way we ll pay for his boots we bring no store of of or precious stones but that we have we gathered with sweat and aching in flame beneath the in frost upon the and of every wind that does between them go and some we got by purchase and some we had by trade and some we found by courtesy of and at midnight mid sea meetings for charity to keep and light the rolling homeward bound that rode a foot too deep by sport of bitter weather we re strained and from the on the to the upon the yard the king solomon drew because of his desire for and ivory from unto with out of which down but we be only that use in london town cross seas round the world and back again where the flaw shall head us or the full trade suits plain sail storm sail lay your board and tack again and that s the way we ll pay for his boots im we bring no store of of or precious stones but that we have we gathered with sweat and aching bones s in beneath the in frost upon the and of every wind that does between them go and some we got by purchase and some we had by trade and some we found by courtesy of and at midnight mid sea meetings for charity to keep and light the rolling homeward bound that rode a foot too deep by sport of bitter weather we re strained and from the on the to the upon the yard the seven seas six had their will of us to all away our s in the and our boom s in bay off the with we ve slipped from with the at our heels we ve beyond the	39
we met the silent that know the seven seas for down a cruel ice lane that opened as he sped we saw dead henry steer north by west his dead so dealt god s waters with us beneath the roaring skies so walked his signs and all naked to our eyes but we were heading homeward with trade to lose or make good lord they slipped behind us in the of our let go let go the now at heart are we to bring so poor a cargo home that had for gift the sea let go the great bow ah fools were we and blind the worst we stored with utter toil the best we left behind the cross seas round the world and back again whither flaw shall fail us or the trades drive down plain sail storm sail lay your and tack again and all to bring a cargo up to london town the seven seas m hymn lord thou hast made this world below the shadow of a dream an taught by time i it so always steam from to guide i see thy hand o god in the stride o yon rod john might ha the same enormous certain slow ay wrought it in the furnace flame my i cannot get my sleep to night old bones are hard to please i ll stand the middle watch up here alone wi god an these my engines after ninety days o race an rack an strain m hymn through all the seas of all thy world home again bang too much they knock a the are loose but thirty thousand mile o sea has them fair excuse fine dear an dark a full draught breeze wi out o sight an hay old girl ye u walk tonight his wife s at seventy one two three since he began three turns for mistress and who s to blame the man there s none at any port for me by fast or slow since went to thee lord thirty years ago the year the sands was burned oh roads we used to tread to to the seven seas not but they re on the board yell hear sir say good m back again an how s your to day but me my chair to drink wi three the fleet engineer that started as a when steam and he were low i mind the time we used to serve a broken pipe wi tow ten pound was all the pressure then eh eh a man drive an here our give one fifty five we re on wi each new less weight an larger power there ll be the next an thirty knots an hour thirty an more what i ha seen since ocean steam began leaves me no for the machine but what about the man m hymn the man that counts wi all his runs one million mile o sea four time the span from earth to moon how far o lord from thee that beside him night an day ye mind my first it the on his way to wi the saloon three feet were on the floor just to an fro an cast me on a furnace floor i have the marks to show marks i ha marks o more than burns deep in my soul an black an times like this when things go smooth my comes back the sins o four and forty years all up an down the seas an repeat like half fed s our nights when i d come on deck to mark wi envy in my gaze the seven the couples in the dark between the stays years when i the ports wi pride to fill my cup o wrong judge not o lord my steps aside at gay street in blot out the hours of mine in sin when i abode jane s an number nine the an grant road an than all my sin rank an wild i was not four and twenty then ye judge a child seen the first that run new new smells new air how could i tell blind wi sim the was there by day like scenes the shore slid past our sleepy eyes by night those soft stars fi om those velvet skies m in port we used no cargo steam down the streets an in a dream for shells an an sticks o carved an stuffed an dried my wi the chief put till off head ye mind i heard a ca milk warm wi breath o an bloom m come t firm clear an low no haste no hate the ghostly whisper went just facts all argument your s god s a the shadow o got out o books by clean oil heaven an hell they him in the o cold an dirt a jealous lad that s only strong to hurt the seven seas ye ll not go back to him again an kiss les rod but come wi us now who were th y an know the god that does not souls for sport or break a life in jest but the an the woman s breast an there it stopped cut off no more that quiet certain voice for me six months o twenty four to leave or take at choice twas on me like a it me through an through temptation past the show o speech an new the sin against the holy ghost an under all our screw that storm blew by but left behind her swell all my heart an mind thou lord i fell m hymn third m the mary then and first that night in yet	39
midnight that calls the black deep down ay thrice we ve heard the the thing that may not drown on frozen and the her hosts when by more than signed with us we passed the isle o ghosts and north amid the a toss below we met the silent that know the seven seas that holds in spite o knock and scale o waste an slip an by that light now mark my word we ll build the perfect ship i ll never last to judge her lines or take her curve not l but i ha lived an i ha worked be thanks to thee most high an i ha done what i ha done judge thou if or well always thy grace me yon s the stand by bell pilot so soon his it is the watch is set well god be thanked as i was sa i m no yet now i ll on man have ye ever thought what your good costs in coal burn em down to port the miracles i sent a message to my dear a thousand and more to her the dumb sea thrilled to hear and lost bore to her behind my message hard i came and nigh had found a grave for me but that i launched of steel and flame did war against the wave for me the deep by gale on gale to bid me change my mind again he broke his teeth along my rail and roaring swung behind again i stayed the sun at noon to tell my way across the waste of it i read the storm before it fell and made the better haste of it the seven seas afar i hailed the land at night the towers i built had heard of me and ere my reached its height had flashed my love the word of me earth sold her chosen men of strength they and strove and died for me to drive my road a nation s length and toss the miles aside for me i snatched their toil to serve my needs too slow their flew for me i tired twenty smoking and bade them bait a new for me i sent the forth to see where hour by hour she waited me among ten million one was she and surely all men hated me dawn ran to meet me at my goal ah day no tongue shall tell again and little folk of little soul rose up to buy and sell again the native born we ve drunk to the queen god bless her drunk to our mothers land we ve drunk to our english brother but he does not understand we ve drunk to the wide creation and the cross low for the mom last toast and of obligation a health to the native bom i they change their skies above them but not their hearts that we learned from our wistful mothers to call old england home we read of the english sky lark of the spring in the english lanes but we screamed with the painted as we rode on the dusty plains the seven seas they passed with their old l ends their tales of wrong and our fathers held by but we by the ri t of birth our heart s where they rocked our cradle our love where we spent our toil and our faith and our hope and our honour we pledge to our native soil i charge you charge your glasses i charge you drink with me to the men of the four new nations and the islands of the sea to the last least lump of coral that none may stand outside and our own good pride shall teach us to praise our comrade s pride to the hush of the breathless morning on the thin tin roofs to the haze of the back and the dust of the hoofs the native born to the risk of a death by drowning to the risk of a death by to the men of a million acres to the sons of the golden south to the sons of the golden south stand up and the life we live and know let a fellow sing o the little things he cares about if a fellow fights for the little things he cares about with the weight of a single blow to the smoke of a hundred to the sheep on a thousand hills to the sun that never to the rain that never to the land of the waiting to our five meal meat fed men to the tall deep women and the children nine and ten and the children nine and ten stand and the life we live and know the seven seas let a fellow sing o the little things he cares about if a fellow fights for the little things he cares about with the weight of a two fold blow to the far flung where the quick shadows trail to our neighbour s barn in the and the line of the new cut rail to the plough in her league long with the grey lake behind to the weight of a half year s winter and the warm wet western wind to the home of the floods and thunder to her pale dry healing blue to the lift of the great cape and the smell of the baked to the growl of the stamp head to the and the water gold to the last and the largest empire to the map that is half the native born to our dear dark foster mothers to the heathen songs they sung to the heathen speech we ere we came to the white man s tongue to the cool of our deep to the blaze of	39
our main to the night to the palms in the moonlight and the fire fly in the cane to the hearth of our people s people to her well windy sea to the hush of our dread high altar where the abbey makes us we to the of the slow ground ages to the gain that is yours and mine to the bank of the open credit to the power house of the line we ve drunk to the queen god bless her we ve drunk to our mothers land we ve drunk to our english brother and we hope he ll the seven seas we ve drunk as much as we re able and the cross low for the mom last toast and your foot on the table a health to the native born a health to the native born stand up wire six white men all hound to sing d the little things we care about all bound to fight for the little things we care about with the weight of a six fold blow by the might of our cable tow take hands from the to the horn all round the world and a little to pull it by all round the world and a little to it a health to the native bom the king farewell romance the cave men said with bone well carved he went away flint arms the and tips the spear to day changed are the gods of hunt and dance and he with these farewell romance it farewell romance the lake folk sighed we lift tiie weight of years the of the mountain side him who our lost hills whereby we dare not dwell guard ye his rest romance farewell farewell romance the soldier spoke by of sword we may not win but mid smoke of and f s the ne mind rod w up c d be ri n oar l said he with ve bom our dial full steam ahead our speed is timed to half a torn sure as the ve port and part romance good bye romance the season j never ran to his train but passed with and guard and horn and left the local late again p confound romance and all unseen romance brought up the nine fifteen the king his hand was on the laid his oil can soothed the his whistle the grade his fog horn cut the banks by dock and deep and mine and mill the boy god reckless still i crowned and he his spell where heart blood beat or hearth smoke curled with miracle in a backward gazing world then taught his chosen bard to say our king was with us yesterday the rhyme of the three away by the lands of the where the paper glow and the of all the shipping drink in the house of blood street joe at twilight y when the breeze brings up the harbour noise and ebb of bay chattering through the in s dining rooms they tell the tale anew of a hidden sea and a hidden fight when the ran from the northern light and the fought the two now this is the law of the that he proves with shot and steel when ye come by his in the smoky sea ye must not take the seal the rhyme of the three where the grey sea goes between the shelves and the little blue fox he is bred for his skin and the seal they breed for themselves for when the seek the shore to drop their the great man seal haul out of the sea band by band and when the first september have their wrath the great man seal haul back to the sea and no man knows their path then dark they lie and they lie and and the northern lights come down o nights to dance with the snow and god who the and the grinding he hears the cry of the little fox and the wind along the snow but since our women must walk gay and money their gear tb i t nor at rd be hid mat cm the ink and be but t and the be h was the lift seas e a a were bo of a er y tt and st came to a d lit bet her men tip the seal to and and there kindred skins and proper the rhyme of the three when the light drove into the and the sea mist drove with her the called her men and weighed she could not choose but run for a seen through the closing mist it shows like a four inch gun and loss it is that is sad as death to lose both trip and ship and lie for a on slip she turned and in the sea as a rabbit in the and the northern light sent up her boats to steal the stolen skins they had not brought a load to side or slid their clear when they were aware of a of war ghost white and very near her flag she showed and her guns she showed three of them black and a white with the salt but never a show of steam the seven seat the seven seas there was no time to man the they the free and the northern light stood out again to open sea for life it is that is worse than death by force of russian law to work in the mines of that loose the teeth in your jaw they had not run a mile from shore they heard no shots behind when the smote his hand on his and threw her up in the wind raised out on a bluff said he for if my name s tom hall you must set a thief	39
to catch a thief and a thief has caught us all by every butt in and every in the hand that the wind from her sail was the hand of he has and her with paint and and faith he has her well the rhyme of the three but know the s yet from here to the o hell oh once we ha met at and twice on boston pier but the day for you was the day that you came here the day that you came here my lad to scare us from our seal with your made o painted cloth and your guns o rotten deal ring and blow for the now and head her back to the bay and we ll come into the game with a double deck to play they rang and blew the the cry of the sea and they raised the out of the mist and an angry ship was she and blind they through the whirling white and blind to the bay again the seven seas honour is lost and none may tell who paid good blows romance farewell farewell romance the cried our ha lain with every sea the dull returning wind and tide heave up the wharf where we would be the known and noted breezes swell our sail romance farewell good bye romance the said he vanished with the coal we burn our dial marks full steam ahead our speed is timed to half a turn sure as the we port and port romance good bye romance the season tickets mourn he never ran to catch his train but passed with coach and guard and horn and left the local late again confound romance and all unseen romance brought up the nine fifteen the king his hand was on the laid his oil can soothed the his whistle the grade his fog horn cut the banks by dock and deep and mine and mill the boy god reckless still i crowned and he his spell where heart blood beat or hearth smoke curled with miracle in a backward gazing world then taught his chosen bard to say our king was with us yesterday the rhyme of the three away by the lands of the where the paper glow and the of all the shipping drink in the house of blood street joe at twilight j when the breeze brings up the harbour noise and ebb of bay chattering through the in s dining rooms they tell the tale anew of a hidden sea and a hidden fight when the ran from the northern light and the fought the two now this is the law of the that he proves with shot and steel when ye come by his in the smoky sea ye must not take the seal the rhyme of the three where the grey sea goes between the shelves and the little blue fox he is bred for his skin and the seal they breed for themselves for when the seek the shore to drop their the great man seal haul out of the sea band by band and when the first september have their wrath the great man seal haul back to the sea and no man knows their path then dark they lie and they lie and and the northern lights come down o nights to dance with the snow and god who the and the grinding he hears the cry of the little fox and the wind along the snow but since our women must walk gay and money their gear o the seven seas the boats they that way at hazard by year english they be and that hang on the brown bear s flank and some be but the worst god and the thieves be it was the northern light to the smoky seas she bore with a stuck from a port and the russian flag at her fore and northern light oh they were birds of a feather slipping away to the smoky seas three seal thieves together and at last she came to a sandy and the lay therein but her men were up with the seal to drive and and skin there were fifteen hundred skins cool and proper fur the rhyme of the when the northern light drove into the and the sea mist drove with her the called her men and weighed she could not choose but run for a seen through the mist it shows like a four inch gun and loss it is that is sad as death to lose both trip and ship and lie for a on slip she turned and in the sea as a rabbit in the and the northern light sent up her boats to steal the stolen skins they had not brought a load to side or slid their clear when they were aware of a of war g white and very near her flag she showed and her guns she showed three of them black and a white with the salt but never a show of steam the seven seas the seven seas there was no time to man the they knocked the free and the northern light stood out again to open sea for life it is that is worse than death by force of russian law to work in the mines of that loose the teeth in your jaw they had not run a mile from shore they heard no shots behind when the smote his hand on his and threw her up in the wind raised out on a said he for if my name s tom hall you must set a thief to catch a thief and a thief has caught us all by every butt in and every in the hand that the wind from her sail was the hand of he has and her	39
had bade them see and a little breeze blew over the rail that made the lift but no man stood by wheel or sheet and they let the drift and the rattle rose in s throat and he cast his soul with a cry and gone tom hall he said then it s time for me to die his eyes were heavy with great sleep and yearning for the land and he spoke as a man that talks in dreams his wound beneath his hand oh there comes no good o the wind that backs against the sun ihe rhyme of the three wash down the decks they re all too red and share the skins and run and northern light dean share and share for all find the off but you will not find tom hall evil he did in water and sin on the deep le but now he s sick of watch and trick and now he ll turn and sleep i he ll have no more of the crawling sea that made him suffer so but he ll lie down on the killing grounds where the go l and west u sail and south again beyond the sea fog s rim and tell the girls to bum a stick for him and you ll not weight him by the heels and him but carry him up to the sand hollows to die as died the seven seas and make a place for that knows the fight was fair and leave the two that did the wrong to talk it over there steam ahead by guess and lead for the sun is mostly veiled through fog to fog by luck and log sail ye as sailed and if the light shall lift aright to give your plain north and by west from crest ye raise the crosses twain fair marks are they to the inner bay the reckless knows what time the see lead their sleek ever they hear the pack clear and the blast of the old bull whale and the deep seal roar that beats off shore above the gale the rhyme of the three ever they wait the winter hate as the thundering calls where northward look they to st george and west ward to st s they greet the hunted fleet lone off head lands when the that way at hazard year by year ever in port men tell the tale anew of a hidden sea and a hidden fight when the ran from the northern light and the fought the two the and reports the still at sea shipping news was the of our fleet till the sea rose beneath our feet in hatred past all measure into his he stamped my crew blinded bound and threw bidding me wait upon his pleasure man made me and my will is to my maker still whom now the currents con the steer lifting forlorn to spy smoke along the sky falling afraid lest any come near as the lips of thirst dried and split and burst bone my decks wind to the the and at every roll the gear that was my soul answers the anguish of my beams complaining for life that crammed me full of the that shriek and on the for roar that the gale my pipes wail my heart out through the watches blind in the hot blue ring through all my points i swing swing and return to shift the sun anew blind in my well known sky i hear the stars go by mocking the that can not hold one true white on my wasted path wave after wave in wrath his fellow where to send me flung forward heaved aside and dazed i bide the mercy of the that shall end me the seven seas north where the the spray of seas unseen round my head and in the falling south where the breed the floating weed folds me and me on i that was dean to run my race against the sun strength on the deep am to all disaster whipped forth by night to meet my sister s careless feet and with a kiss betray her to my master man made me and my will is to my maker still to him and his our at their pier lifting in hope to spy smoke along the sky falling afraid lest any come near the answer a rose in on the garden path cried out to god and murmured his wrath because a sudden wind at twilight s hush had snapped her stem alone of all the bush and god who hears both sun dried dust and sun had pity whispering to that one sister in that thou we did not well what voices thou when thy fell and the rose answered in that evil hour a voice said father wherefore falls the flower for lo the very are still and a voice answered son by s will then softly as a rain mist on the came to the rose the answer of the lord sister before we smote the dark in twain ere yet the stars saw one another plain seven seas the seven seas time tide and space we bound unto the task that thou fall and such an one should ask the withered flower all content died as they die whose days are innocent while he who questioned why the flower fell caught hold of god and saved his soul from hell the song of the you couldn t pack a half a mile you mustn t leave a fiddle in the damp you couldn t an organ up the and play it in an swamp travel with the cooking pots and tm the coffee and the pork and when	39
pride the she s a to the she s a lady hut if she wasn m there would he the for iu trade the man o war s er hut if we wasn t ere e wouldn t have to fight at all for ome an so dear an friends so dear the yard all the way by down to ard any thin for business an we re old ome an friends so dear in the s contract the fear was on the cattle for the gale was on the sea an the pens broke up on the lower deck an let the creatures free an the lights went out on the lower deck an no one near but me i had been to them to keep em quiet there for the lower deck is the constant care an give to me as the strongest man though used to drink and swear i see my chance was certain of bein or trod for the lower deck was packed with thicker n peas in a an more pens broke at every roll so i made a contract with god s contract an by the terms of the contract as i have read the same if he got me to port alive i would his name an praise his holy majesty till further orders came he saved me from the cattle an he saved me from the sea for they foimd me two ones where the roll had landed me an a four inch crack on top of my head as crazy as could be but that were done by a an not by a at all an i lay still for seven weeks of the fall an the shiny scripture in the seaman s hospital an i spoke to god of our contract an he says to my prayer i lo the seven seas i never puts on my ministers no more than they can bear so back you go to the cattle boats an preach my gospel there for human life is at any kind of trade but most of all as well you know when the are mad afraid so you go back to the cattle boats an preach em as i ve said they must quit an they mustn t knife on a blow they must quit their wages and you must preach it so for now those boats are more like hell than anything else i know i didn t want to do it for i knew what i should get an i wanted to preach religion handsome an out of the wet but the word of the lord were lain on me an i done what i was set s contract til i have been an bruised as warned would be the case an turned my cheek to the exactly as says but following that i knocked him down an led him up to grace an we have preaching on sundays whenever the sea is calm an i use no knife or pistol an i never take no harm for the lord back of me to guide my fighting arm an i sign for four pound ten a month and save the money clear an i am in charge of the lower deck an i never lose a steer an i believe in almighty god an preach his gospel here the seven seas walk her round break ah break it out o that break our bower out and dear port port she casts with the harbour beneath her foot and that s the last o bottom we shall see this year well ah fare you well for we ve got to take her out again take her out in riding light and and it s time to dear and quit when the the so we ll pay you with the and a promise from the sea on aft and walk away with her handsome to the now o on the stop seize and fish and easy on the up well up the of her and haul anchor song from many inventions walk her round ah heave her short again over snatch her over there and hold her on the loose all sail and brace your yards back and full ready to pay her off and heave short all well ah fare you well we can stay no more with you my love down set down your liquor and your girl from off your knee for the wind has come to say you must take me while you may if you d go to mother walk her down to mother oh we re bound to mother where she her at sea seven seas the seven seas walk her round break ah break it out o that break our bower out and dear port port she casts with the harbour beneath her foot and that s the last o bottom we shall see this year well ah fare you well for we ve got to take her out again take her out in riding light and and it s time to dear and quit when the the so we ll pay you with the and a promise from the sea on aft and walk away with her handsome to the now o on the stop seize and fish and easy on the up well up the of her and haul anchor song well ah fare you well for the channel wind s took hold of us choking down our voices as we snatch the free and it s blowing up for night and she s dropping light on light and she s under for a breath of open sea wheel full and by but she ll smell her road alone to night sick she is and harbour sick o sick to clear the land roll down to with the old red over us carry on and her	39
out with all she ll stand well ah fare you well and it s the door on us whirling like a through the dirty to il the seven seas till the last last goes from the tumbling water rows and we re off to mother walk her down to mother oh we re bound for mother where she her at sea the lost there s a l on that never was that carries no colours or crest but split in a thousand is breaking the road for the rest our fathers they left us their blessing they taught us and us and crammed but we ve shaken the clubs and the to go and find out and be damned dear bo rs to go and get shot and be damned so some of us the and some of us cherish the black and some of us hunt on the oil coast and some on the track il the seven seas and some of us drift to and some of us drift up the fly and some share our with and some with the gentle dear boys take tea with the giddy we ve painted the islands we ve on half shares in the bay we ve shouted on seven we ve starved on a s pay we ve laughed at the world as we found it its women and cities and men from in a to the smoke eyes of dear boys we ve a little account with the ends o the earth were our portion the ocean at large was our share there was never a to but the was there the lost yes somehow and somewhere and always we were first when the trouble began from a row in to an ld b race on the pan dear boys with the police on the pan we preach in advance of the army we ahead of the church with never a to help us when we re and left in the but we know as the finish and we re filed on our last little shelves that the that never was will send us as good as ourselves good men five hundred as good as ourselves then a health we must drink it in whispers to our wholly to the line of our dusty the gentlemen abroad i i the seven seas yes a health to ourselves ere we scatter for the steamer won t wait for the train and the that never was goes back into quarters again regards goes back under canvas again the and the again here s how the trail and the again the and the again the sea wife l dwells a wife by the northern gate and a wealthy wife is she she a breed o men and casts them over sea and some are in deep water and some in sight o shore and word goes back to the weary wife and ever she sends more for that wife had gate or gear or hearth or or she willed her sons to the white harvest and that is a bitter yield she wills her sons to the wet ing to ride the horse of tree and her sons come back again far spent from out the sea the seven seas the good wife s sons come home again with little into their hands but the lore of men that ha dealt with men in the new and naked lands but the faith of men that ha men by more than easy breath and the eyes o men that ha read wi men in the open books of death rich are they rich in wonders seen but poor in the goods o men so what they ha got by the skin o their teeth they sell for their teeth again for whether they lose to the naked life or win to their hearts desire they tell it all to the weary wife that beside the fire her hearth is wide to every wind that makes the white ash spin and tide and tide and the tides her sons go out and in the sea wife i out with great mirth that do desire hazard of ways in with content to wait their watch and warm before the blaze and some return by failing light and some in waking dream for she hears the heels of the dripping ghosts that ride the rough roof beam home they come home from all the ports the living and the dead the good wife s sons come home again for her blessing on their hymn before action the earth is full of anger the seas are dark with wrath the nations in their harness go up against our path ere yet we loose the ere yet we draw the blade of the lord god of battles aid high lust and bearing proud heart rebellious brow deaf ear and soul we seek thy mercy now the sinner that thee the fool that passed thee by our times are known before thee lord grant us strength to before action for those who kneel beside us at not thine own who lack the lights that guide us lord let their if wrong we did to call them by honour bound they came let not thy wrath befall them but deal to us the blame from panic pride and terror revenge that knows no rein light haste and lawless error protect us yet again thou our make firm the shuddering breath in silence and to taste thy lesser death ah mary pierced with sorrow remember reach and save the soul that comes to morrow before the god that the seven seas since each was bom of woman for each at utter need true comrade and true e en now their e en now we face the as thou help our fathers help thou our host to day fulfilled of signs and	39
wonders in life in death made dear of the lord god of battles heart to the true romance from many inventions thy face is far from this our war our call and counter cry i shall not find thee quick and kind nor know thee till i die enough for me in dreams to see and touch thy garments hem thy feet have trod so near to god i may not follow them through if men profess they weary of thy parts e en let them die at and perish with their arts the seven seas but we that love but we that prove thine excellence august while we discover more thee perfect wise and just since spoken word man s spirit stirred beyond his belly need what is is thine of fair design in thought and craft and deed each stroke aright of toil and fight that was and that shall be and hope too high wherefore we die has birth and worth in thee who holds by thee hath heaven in fee to his thereby and knowledge sure that he endure a child until he die for to make plain that man s disdain is but new beauty s birth for to possess in loneliness the joy of all the earth to the as teach all speech and life au so thou b eveiy till lore and long die who or the lights were set a whisper in the void who shalt be sung through young when this is dean destroyed beyond the bounds our staring rounds across the pressing the children wise of outer skies look and mark a light that a glare that thus and thus not all for thou hast borne strange tales to them of us time hath no tide but must abide the servant of thy will tide hath no time for to thy rhyme the stars stand still the seven seas of that lock our fears our hopes invisible oh twas at thy we fashioned heaven and pure wisdom hath no certain path that thy and captains bold by thee controlled most like to gods design thou art the voice to boys to lift them through the fight and of to give the dead good night a veil to draw god his law and man s infirmity a shadow kind to dumb and blind the where we die a rule to trick th too base of odds the spur of trust the of lust thou of the gods to the true romance i o ad patiently abiding and faith that meets ten thousand yet drops no of devil and brute dost to higher show who art in that lovely truth the careless angels know thy face is far from this our war our call and counter cry may not find thee quick and kind nor know thee till i die may i look with heart on blow brought home or missed may i hear with equal ear the down the list yet set my lance above and ride the re hit or miss how little tis my lady is not there i the flowers to our private taste there is always something a little almost artificial in songs which under an english aspect and dress are yet so the product of other skies they affect us like the very and are alien remote the dog s tooth violet is but an tu substitute for the nor can we ever believe that the wood robin sings as sweetly in april as the english the um buy my english and may of the wet with channel spray from a buy my english and i ll sell your heart s desire i buy my english you that scorn the may won t you greet a friend from home half the world away the flowers green against the faint and frail and first buy my northern blood root and know where were nursed robin down the lo ing road come to me spring has found the grove the sap is ng all the winds of canada call the rain take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english here s to match your need buy a of royal heath buy a bunch of weed white as sand of spun before the gale buy my heath and lilies and ru tell you whence you hail under hot broad the lie and the aching the n seas slow below the the take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english you that will not turn buy my hot wood buy a o gathered where the leaps down the road to buy my christmas and ril say where you were born west away from dust holidays begin they that mock at paradise at through the great south sings the great south main take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english here s your choice buy a blood red m bloom buy the s gold the flowers flung for gift on s face sign that spring is come buy my clinging and i ll give you back your home behind the windy town o the pine bell bird in the leafy deep where the above the saddle bow upon the plain take the flower and turn the hour and kiss your love again buy my english ye that have your own buy them for a brother s sake alone weed ye floods his heart bird ye never oh she calls his dead to him far and far our homes are set round the seven seas woe for us if we forget we that hold by these unto each his mother beach bloom and bird and land masters of the seven seas oh love and understand the	39
last rhyme of true thomas the king has called for priest and cup the king has taken spur and blade to true thomas a knight and all for the sake o the songs he made they have sought him high they have sought him low they have sought him over down and they have found him by the milk white thorn that guards the gates o twas bent beneath and blue above their eyes were held that they might not see the that beneath the oh they were the queens o now cease your song the king he said oh cease your song and get you to vow your vow and watch your arms for i will you a knight the last of true thomas i for i will give ou a horse o pride wi and spur and page aod squire wi keep and tail and and law and land to hold at your desire true thomas smiled above his harp and turned his face to the naked sky where blown before the wind the down she floated by i ha vowed my vow in another and bitter oath it was on me i ha watched my arms the lee long night where five score fighting men would flee my lance is tipped o the flame my shield is beat o the moonlight cold and i won my spurs in the middle world a thousand beneath the mould and what should i make wi a horse o pride and what should i make wi a sword so b but the rings o the gentle folk and my kin in the town the seven seas and what should i make wi and belt wi keep and tail and and fee and what should i do wi page and squire that am a king in my own for i send east and i send west and i send far as my will may flee by dawn and dusk and the drinking rain and my return to me they come wi news of the earth they come wi news o the sea wi word of and ghost and flesh and man that s among the three the king he bit his lip and smote his hand upon his knee by the faith o my soul true thomas he said ye waste no wit in as i desire unto my pride can i make by three and three to run before and ride behind and serve the sons o my body the last rhyme of true thomas i and what care i for your row foot or all the sons o your body before they win to the pride o name i they all ask leave o me for i make honour wi mouth as i make shame wi feet to sing wi the priests at ae market cross or run wi the dogs in the naked street and some they give me the good red gold and some they give me the white money and some they give me a o meal for they be people o low degree and the song i sing for the counted gold the same i sing for the white money but best i sing for the o meal that simple people given me the king cast down a silver a silver o money if i come wi a poor man s he said true thomas will ye harp to me the seven seas i harp to the children small they press me dose on either hand and who are you true thomas said that you should ride while they must stand light down light down from your horse o pride i ye talk too loud and hie and i will make you a triple word and s me if ye dare ye shall noble me he has lighted down from his horse o pride and set his back against the stone now guard you well true thomas said ere i your heart from your breast bone true thomas played upon his harp the fairy harp that lee and the first least word the proud king heard it the salt tear out o his e e oh i see the love that i lost long i touch the hope that i may not see and all that i did o hidden shame like little they hiss at me the last of true thomas i the sun is lost at noon at noon i the dread o doom has me true thomas hide me under your god i m little fit to bent beneath and blue above twas open field and running ood where hot on heath and and wall the high sun warmed the s brood lie down lie down true thomas said the god shall judge when all is done but i will bring you a better word and lift the cloud that i laid on true thomas played upon his harp that and to his hand and the next least word true thomas made it the king take horse and brand oh i hear the tread o the men i see the sun on and spear i mark the arrow the that flies so low and sings so clear ihe seven seas advance my standards to that war and bid my good knights and ride the shall watch as fierce a fight as e er was fought on the border side i twas bent beneath and blue above nodding grass and naked sky where ringing up the wind the stooped upon the true thomas sighed above his harp and turned the song on the string and the last least word true thomas made he his dead youth back to the ring now i am prince and i do well to love my love fear to walk wi man in fellowship and breathe my horse behind the deer my hounds they bay the death the buck has be the bum my love she	39
waits at her window to wash my hands when i return the last rhyme of true thomas for that i am i content oh i have seen my true love s eyes to stand wi adam in and run in the woods o paradise twas nodding grass and naked sky twas blue above and bent below where checked against the the red deer to call the true thomas laid his harp away and low at the saddle side he has taken and rein and set the king on his horse o pride sleep ye or wake true thomas said that sit so still that muse so long sleep ye or wake till the latter sleep i ye ll not forget my song i ha a shadow out o the sun to stand before your face and cry i ha armed the earth beneath your heel and over your head i ha the sky seven seas i ha ye up to the throne o god i ha your soul in three i ha ye down to the hinges o hell and ye would make a knight o me i in the age in the age savage warfare did i for food and fame and two horses i was singer to my dan in that dim red dawn of man and i sang of all we fought and feared and felt yea i sang as now i sing when the spring made the piled ice pack split and and the and and and the gods of and were about me and beneath me and above but a rival of told the tribe my style was a hammer of he fell and i left my views on art and below the heart of a at the seven seas lo the seven seas then i stripped them from skull and my hunting dogs fed full and their teeth i neatly on a and i wiped my mouth and said it is well that they are dead for i know my work is right and theirs was wrong but my saw the shame from his shrine he came and he told me in a vision of the night there are nine and sixty ways of lays and every single one of them is right then the silence upon me till they put new on me of weaker flesh and bone more and i stepped beneath time s finger once again a singer and a poet by tr in the age still they to and fro men my on the snow when we headed off the turn for turn when the rich never kept and our only plots were piled in lakes at still a christian age sees us and rage still we pinch and slap and scratch and still we let our business slide as we dropped the half dressed hide to show a fellow savage how to work still the world is wondrous large seven seas from to and it holds a vast of various kinds of man and the wildest dreams of are the facts of and the crimes of in ihe seven seas here s my wisdom for your use as i learned it when the and the roared where paris tonight there are nine and sixty ways of lays and every single one of them is bright the story of once on a glittering ice field ages and ages ago a maker of pictures fashioned an image of snow fashioned the form of a gaily he whistled and sung the snow with his fingers read ye the story of pleased was his tribe with that image came in their hundreds to handled it smelt it and verily this is a man thus do we carry our thus is a war belt lo it is even as we are glory and honour to ihe seven seas there would be no of the flung down at thy cave for a gift nor of the timber that comes on the drift no store of well needles nor of pale no new cut tongues of the nor meat of the whale t ou hast not toiled at the fishing when the nor worked the war boats outward through the rush of the rock seas yet they bring thee fish and meal and an easy bed and all for the sake of thy pictures and held down his head hast not stood to the when the red snow of the fight men have no time at the to count his curls aright the story of and the heart of the hairy thou they do not see yet they save it whole from the and the best for thee and now do they press to thy pictures with opened mouth and eye and a little gift in the doorway and the praise no gift can buy but sure they have doubted thy pictures and that is a grievous stain son that can see so dearly return them their gifts again and looked down at his their broad shell bands and drew downward his and looked at his naked hands and he himself and departed and he heard his father behind son that can see so clearly rejoice that thy tribe is blind the seven seas straight on the glittering ice field by the of the lost a maker of pictures fell to his on bone even to gaily he whistled and sung blessing his tribe for their blindness heed ye the story of the three tf three volume novel is extinct full thirty foot she fix m to rail it cost a watch to steer her and a week to sail but spite all modem notions i found her first and best the only certain packet for the islands of the y	39
fair held the breeze behind us twas warm with lovers prayers we d stolen wills for and a crew of missing they as able till the wicked nurse confessed and they worked the old three to the islands of the the seven seas by ways no gaze could follow a course of cook per fancy in man our berth we took with maids of beauty and and a church of england parson for the islands of the we asked no social questions we no hidden shame we never talked when the little stranger came we left the lord in heaven we left the in hell we weren t exactly but didn t tell no moral doubt assailed us so when the port we the villain had his at the and we cheered th three twas fiddle in the s le twas on the mast for got married and i went ashore at last i left em all in couples a kissing on the decks i left the lovers loving and the parents in endless english comfort by county folk i left the old three at the islands of the that route is barred to you ll never lift again our purple painted or the keeps of spain they re just beyond your er so far you in a ram you damn you with a brace of swing round your aching search light show no haven s peace ay blow your shrieking to the deaf seas the seven seas boom out the dripping oil bags to skin the deep s and you aren t one knot the nearer to the islands of the but when you re crippled with broken bridge and rail at a of dead convictions to hold you head to gale calm as the flying from to dressed you ll see the old three for the islands of the you ll see her canvas in silver spread you ll hear the long drawn thunder her leaping figure head while far so far above you her tall shine by wind or weather like the candles round a shrine i the three down down and under she to a speck with noise of pleasant music and dancing on her deck all s well all s well aboard her she s left you far behind with a scent of old world roses through the fog that ties you blind her crew are or her port is all to make you re by truth and science and you steam for steaming s sake well up your engines you know your business best she s taking tired people to the islands of the i y an american the american spirit speaks if the led call it a strike or the papers call it a war they know not much what i am like nor what he is my through many roads by me possessed he forth in guise he is the and the jest and he the text himself applies the is in his heart and hand the is in his brain and nerve where planned he guards the s dry reserve an american l l his easy hearth he from to till out by friends he at on the stoop calm eyed he at sword and crown or panic blinded and he the world bow down or a crust of praise or sombre drunk at mine and he his dreary brethren kings his hands are black with blood his heart leaps as a babe s at little things but through the shift of mood and mood mine ancient humour him whole the devil in his blood that bids him mock his hurrying soul that bids him the law he makes that bids him make the law he till dazed by many doubts he wakes the guns that have no doubts seven seas the seven seas that him foolish hot and fond that through his deepest ire that the of his but the goal of his desire shrill the mirth that leaves him careless mid his dead the scandal of the elder earth how shall he clear himself how reach your bar or weighed defence prefer a brother with alien speech and lacking all which knowledge him a space but while reproof around him rings he a keen face home to the instant needs ef things he th embarrassed ner fears to shake the iron hand of fate or match with destiny fer an l he rules vast and in the teeth of all the schools i i shall save him at the the mary paid for your fancies i ve humoured your whim dick it s your dying you ve got to listen to him good for a fortnight am i the doctor told you he lied i shall go under by morning and put that nurse outside never seen death yet well now is your time to learn and you ll wish you held my record before it comes to your turn not counting the line and the the yards and the village too i ve made myself and a million but i m damned if i made you the weary master at two and twenty and married at ten thousand men on the pay roll and forty at sea fifty years between em and every year of it fight and now sir dying a for i with his royal what was it the papers a had not least of our merchant princes that s me your didn t begin with took my job and i stuck and i took the chances they wouldn t an now they re calling it luck lord what boats handled rotten and and old ran em or opened the cock precisely as i was told that ud bind you crazy and that ud turn you grey and a big fat lump of	39
to cover the risk on the way the seven seas the others they t do it they said they valued their life they ve served me as went and i took my wife over the world i drove em married at and your mother saving the money and making a man of me was content to be master but she said there was better behind she took the chances i wouldn t and i followed your mother blind she me to borrow the money an she helped me to dear the loan when we bought half shares in a cheap un and hoisted a flag of our own and on credit and living the lord knew how we started the red ox we ve ei t now and those were the days of and the were the mary i and we knew we were making our fortune but she died in straits by the little as you come to the union and we dropped her in fourteen i pricked it off where she sank owners we were full owners and the boat was for her and she died in the mary my heart how yoimg we were so i went on a round and well nigh ran her ashore but your mother came and warned me and i wouldn t liquor no more strict i stuck to my business afraid to stop or i d think saving the money she warned me and letting the other men drink and i met m in london i d turned five then and us we started the three and twenty men the seven seas boom out the dripping oil bags to skin the deep s and you aren t one knot the nearer to the islands of the but when you re crippled with broken bridge and rail at a of dead convictions to hold you head to gale calm as the flying from to dressed you ll see the old three for the islands of the you ll see her canvas in silver spread you ll hear the long drawn thunder her leaping figure head while far so far above you her tall shine by wind or weather like the candles round a shrine i the three down down and under she to a speck with noise of pleasant music and dancing on her deck airs well all s well aboard her she s left you far behind with a scent of old world roses through the fog that ties you blind her crew are or her port is all to make you re by truth and science and you steam for steaming s sake well up your engines you know your business best she s taking tired people to the islands of the y an american the american spirit speaks if the led call it a strike or the papers call it a war they know not much what i am like nor what he is my through many roads by me possessed he forth in guise he is the and the jest and he the text himself applies the is in his heart and hand the is in his brain and nerve where planned he guards the s dry reserve an american l l his easy hearth he from to till out by friends he at on the stoop calm eyed he at sword and crown or panic blinded and he the world bow down or a crust of praise or sombre drunk at mine and he his dreary brethren kings his hands are black with blood his heart leaps as a babe s at little things but through the shift of mood and mood mine ancient humour him whole the devil in his blood that bids him mock his hurrying soul that bids him the law he makes that bids him make the law he till dazed by many doubts he wakes the guns that have no doubts the seven seas the seven seas that him foolish hot and fond that through his deepest ire that the of his but the goal of his desire shrill the mirth that leaves him careless mid his dead the scandal of the elder earth how shall he clear himself how reach your bar or weighed defence prefer a brother with alien speech and lacking all which knowledge him a space but while reproof around him rings he turns a keen face home to the instant needs ef things he th embarrassed ner fears to shake the iron hand of fate or match with destiny fer an american lo he rules vast and in the teeth of all the schools i i shall save him at the ii the mary paid for your fancies i ve humoured your whim dick it s your dying you ve got to listen to him good for a fortnight am i the doctor told you he lied i shall go under by morning and put that nurse outside never seen death yet well now is your time to learn and you ll wish you held my record before it comes to your turn not counting the line and the the yards and the village too i ve made myself and a million but i m damned if i made you the mary master at two and twenty and married at ten thousand men on the pay roll and forty at sea fifty years between em and every year of it fight and now sir a for i with his royal j what was it the papers a had not least of our merchant princes that s me your i didn t begin with took my job and i stuck and i took the chances they wouldn t an now they re calling it luck lord what boats i ve handled rotten and and old ran em or opened	39
the cock precisely as i was told that ud bind you crazy and that ud turn you grey and a big fat lump of to cover the risk on the way th seas they do it th said they valued their t ed me since js went d my wife i w the w ld i drove vm at an w c er ti e money and making a ti at m me jt to be le said there was better he the i n oa and i blind me to the money an k bi me to dear the loan we k half shares in a a our own j d on credit the knew bow we started red ox pe h e f now and were the days of a nd the fa were n ts th mary and we knew we were making our fortune but she died in straits by the little as you come to the union and we dropped her in fourteen i pricked it off where she sank owners we were full owners and the boat was for her and she died in the mary my heart how young we were so i went on a round and well nigh ran her ashore but your mother came and warned me and i wouldn t liquor no more strict i stuck to my business afraid to stop or think saving the money she warned me and letting the other men drink and i met m in london turned five then and us we started the three and twenty men seven seas cheap for the cheap it paid and the business grew for i bought me a steam patent and that was a gold mine too to build em than buy em said but m he and we wasted a year in talking before we moved to the and the lines were all beginning and we all of us started fair building our engines like houses and staying the square but m e wanted with marble and and all and an velvet and and a hall and pipes for all over and cutting the frames too light but m he died in the and well i m dying to night i knew knew what was coming when we bid on the s the they and with iron given my orders for steel steel and the first it paid i tell you it paid when we came with our nine knot and the long run trade and they asked me how i did it and i gave em the scripture text you keep your light so shining a httle in front o the next they copied all they could follow but they couldn t copy my mind and i left em and stealing a year and a half behind then came the but that was m s side he was always best in the but better perhaps he died i went through his private papers the notes was than print and i m no to finish if a man give me a hint the seven seas i remember his widow was angry so i saw what the drawings meant and i started the six inch and it paid me sixty per cent per cent with failures and more than twice we could do and a quarter million to credit and i saved it all for you i thought it doesn t matter you seemed to favour your ma but you re nearer forty than thirty and i know tiie kind you are an college i ought to ha sent you to sea but i stood you an education an what have you done for me the things i knew was proper you wouldn t thank me to give and the things i knew was rotten you said was the way to live for you with books and pictures an china an s an the mary i and your ro s at college was more like a h o re than a man s till you married that thin woman as white and as stale as a bone an she gave you your nonsense but where s that kid o your own seen your carriages the half o the road but never the doctor s to help the isn t even a an the y s done u not like your mother she isn t oi carried her run but th ji ed the pore little beggars sea she em they died only you an you stood it you haven t stood much beside weak a liar and idle and mean as a s for scraps in the no help my son was no help t so he gets three m and the interest i k see i made it in trade from and if you h te no it all comes to the von your wise be wild and calls m her her up to er eye dear is and doing her best to ay oh yes bat keep her away from here your mother md never h stood er and women are queer there s women will say ive a second time not quite but pore ie a and her your lawyers fight she was the best o the boiling meet her before h ends the mary in for a row with the mother leave you settle my friends for a man he must go with a woman which women don t understand or the sort that say they can see it they aren t the marrying brand but i wanted to speak o your mother that s lady w still i m to up and see her without it s the wiu here take your hand the bell five thousand s waiting for you if you ll only listen a minute and do as i	39
bid you do they ll try to prove me crazy and if you they can and i ve only you to trust to o god why ain t he a man there s some waste money on the same as m tried and but i call that sinful pride ihe seven seas so he gets thousand in trust and the interest paid i wouldn t give it yoa see i made it in trade yoa ie saved from fingers and if yoa have no ft an bade to the business wont your wife be wild calls and in her her op to cr e dear s and doing her best to cry oh yes fm grateful but keep her away your mother ad never ha stood cr and anyhow women are there s women will say a second time not quite but give pore a and her your fight she was the best o the boiling meet her before it ends im m jim mm me t for a x wiu or lie can x et th i il speak o r s to i g bo it tb take off i e m yoa if a and do as i l da to me p d if they can and only yon to to o god he a man there s some waste mon on the at m tried and but i call that mm pride the seven seas there s some ship bodies for burial we ve carried em and packed down in their wills they wrote it and nobody called them cracked but me too much money and people might all my fault it come o hoping for and buying that vault sick o the dam business i m going back where i came dick you re the son o my body and you ll take charge o the same i want to lie by your mother ten thousand mile away and they ll want to send me to and that s where you ll earn your pay i ve thought it out on the quiet the same as it ought to be done quiet and decent and proper an here s your orders my son you know the line you don t though you write to the board and tell the father s death has upset you an you re goin to for a spell an you d like the mary i ve held her ready for this they ll put her in working order and you ll take her out as she is yes it was money idle when i patched her and put her aside thank god i can pay for my fancies the boat where your mother died by the little as you come to the union bank we dropped her i think i told you and i pricked it off where she sank tiny she looked on the grating that sea hundred and eighteen east remember and south just three easy bearings to carry three south three to dot but i gave m a copy in case of th seven seas and so you ll write to m he s chief of the line they ll give him leave if you ask em and say it s business o mine i built three boats for the an very well pleased they were an i ve known since the and knew me and her after the first stroke warned me i sent him the money to keep against the time you d claim it your to the deep for you are the son o my body and was my oldest friend i ve never asked im to dinner but he ll see it out to the end beggar i ve heard he s prayed for my soul but he couldn t lie if you paid him and he d starve before he stole he ll take the mary in you ll find her a lively ship ihe i and take sir that goes od is wedding trip lashed in oar ad de d cabin with three wide the o the screw him and the round blue seas outside sir s carriage our flag ten thousand men on the pay roll and forty at seal he made himself and a million but this world is a show and hell go to the wife of is bosom the same as he ought to go by the heel of the there a chance to mistake and pay you the money as soon as the break five thousand for six weeks the st afloat and hell give you your the out o the boat the seven seas he ll take you round to and you ll come back alone he knows what i want o the mary do what i please with my own your mother ud call it but i ve seven more i ll come in my private carriage and bid it wait at the door for my son e was never a credit e with books and art and e lived on sir s money and e broke sir s heart there isn t even a and the family s done the only one you left me o mother the only one and college me early an late an he thinks i m dying crazy and you re in strait flesh o my flesh my for ever an ever amen that first stroke come for a warning i ought to ha gone to you then ihe i cheap for a un the doctors said rd do why warn me to you i know about women bat are a spirit now an y wife was only women and i was a man s how an a man	39
e most go with a as yoa could not but i never talked em secrets i paid em out o hand thank i can pay for my fancies now five thousand to me for a berth oflf the in the haven where i would be j believe in the if i read my bible plain but i wouldn t trust em at we re safer at sea again for the heart it shall go with the treasure go down to the sea in ships l ihe seven seas sick of the hired women kiss my girl on her lips ni be content with my i ll drink from my own well and the wife of my youth shall charm me an the rest can go to hell he will that s certain til lie in our bed an u take her in an she best by the head down by the head an her fires are drawn and cold and the water s hollow on the skin of the empty hold an choking and ng quiet and and dark full to her lower and steady hark that was the after she s from stem to stern never seen death yet well now is your time to learn of the tramp royal in general i ave tried em all the roads that take you o er the world in general i ave found them good for such as cannot use one bed too long but must get ence the same as i ave done an go matters till they die what do it matter where or ow we die so long as we ve our to watch it all the different ways that different things are done an men an women in this world our chances as they come along an when they ain t they are good in cash or credit no it aren t no good you ave to ave the or you d die unless you lived your life but one day long the seven seas nor didn t nor fret at all but drew your some ow from the world an never what you might ha done but what things are they i t done i ve turned my and to most an turned it good in various situations the world for im that doth not work must surely die but that s no reason man should labour all is life on one same shift life s none so long therefore from job to job i ve moved along pay couldn t old me when my time was done for something in my upset me all till i ad dropped whatever twas for good an out at sea be the dock lights die an met my mate the wind that the world it s like a book i think this world which you can read and care for just so long but presently you feel that you will die of the tramp unless you get the p e you re done an turn another likely not so good but what you re is to turn em all bless this world whatever she when long i ve found it good so write before i die e liked it all room when smote is he d men sing by land an sea an what he thought e might require e went an took the same as me the market girls an the an the sailors too they old songs turn up again but it quiet as you they knew e stole e knew they they didn t tell nor make a fuss but winked at down the road an e winked hack the same as us back to the army again ere in a an a broken at a on to the i don t know a gun from a bat my shirt s duty for jacket my s out o my boots an i m the damned old goose step along o the new back to the army again back to the army again don t look so ard for i t back to the again i done my six years service r day you ll please to come when you re rung your back room an four pence a day for an gen too an now you can make your fortune the same as your do back to the army again back to the army again ow did i learn to do right about turn i m back to the army again a man o four an twenty that t learned of a trade beside reserve him e d better be never made i tried my luck for a quarter an that was enough for me an i thought of er s an i thought i d go an see back to the army again back to the army again t my fault if i dress when i i m back to the army again to the army the no but e winked the eye e to me an i the same as in days gone by for e saw the set o my shoulders an i couldn t straight when me an the other under the gate back to the army again back to the army again oo would ha thought i could carry an port i m back to the army again i took my bath an i for i needed it so i smelt the smell o the i the go i the feet cm the gravel the feet o the men what an i to my strings i to em peace be still i go room back to the army again back to the army again oo said i knew when the was due fm back to the army again i carried my to the tailor	39
i to im none o your lip you tight em over the shoulders an loose em over the ip for the set o the s an e to me strike me dead but i thought you was used to the business an so e done what i said back to the army again back to the army again rather too free with my fancies me i m back to the army again next week i ll ave em fitted i ll buy me a they ll let me free o the to walk on the again back to the again in the name o william that used to be edward an any pore beggar that wants it can draw my a day i back to the army again back to the army again out the cold an the rain out o the cold an the rain go s there a man too good to be lost you a man that is an made a man that will pay what e cost you in the others their trade you re the pick the because you don t em remain but drives em to cheat to get out o the an back to the birds of prey march march the mud is good about our front eyes front an watch the colour s front the faces of the women in the ain t the kind o things to take aboard the ship cheer an we ll never match to victory cheer an we ll never live to ear the cannon the large birds o prey they will carry us away an you ll never see your soldiers any more wheel oh keep your touch we re goin round a comer time mark time an let the men be ind us dose lord the transport s full an our lot not on er cheer o cheer we re going off where no one knows birds of march i the devil s none so black as e is painted cheer well ave some before we re put away ah an and er oat a woman s gone and fainted cheer get on the married men today come up you b to yer sorrow ear them say they want their tea an want it quick you won t have no mind for not to morrow no you ll put the decks stove out bein sick the married as all to go before us course it s blocked the up again cheer o cheer the guards tender o er us us since eight this in the rain stuck in order and sick before our time to watch er an fall ere s your ome at last an stop your fall in along the troop deck silence all ttie seven seas room cheer for we ll never live to see no victory cheer an we ll never live to ear the cannon roar i one cheer more the an the ave an appetite an you ll never see your soldiers any more i the eagle an the crow they are ever so an you ll never see your soldiers any more yes the large birds o prey they will carry us away an you ll never see your soldiers any more soldier an sailor too as i was into the ditch aboard o the i seed a man on a man o war got up in the style e was the paint from off of er plates an i to im oo are you e a jolly er majesty s jolly soldier an sailor too now is work begins by knows when and is work is never through e isn t one o the lar line nor e isn t one of the crew e s a kind of a giddy soldier an sailor too an after i met im all over the world a all kinds of things like with a gun to talk to them kings room e sleeps in an instead of a cot an e with the deck on a an e like a jolly er majesty s jolly soldier an sailor too for there isn t a job on the top o the earth the beggar don t know nor do you can leave im at night on a bald man s to is own e s a sort of a soldier an sailor too we ve fought em in we ve fought em in dock and drunk em in when they called us the ry maids an we called em the ass but when we was down for a double fatigue from to we sent for the er majesty s soldier an sailor too they think for an they steal for and they never ask what s to do an sailor too ig but they re an fed an they re up an fed before our s blew ho they ain t no soldier an too yon may say we are fond of an cut or in yards or a board school along o the guards but in a while we can finish in style for the ends of the earth to view the same as the er majesty s soldier an sailor tool they come of our lot they was brothers to us they was b we d met an knew yes an inch in the chest an the arm they was o me an you for they weren t no special soldier an sailor too to take your chance in the thick of a rush all about room is nothing so bad when youve cover to and an leave an to shout but to stand an be still to the is a damn tough bullet to an they done it the er majesty s soldier an sailor tool their work was done when	39
not to forget an you swear an curse or only catch it worse for make you soldiers yet the men that fought at they ad stocks beneath their six inch an more room but fatigue it was their pride and they would not be denied to clean the cook floor the men that fought at they had served to em by name of and but they got it in the eye same as you will by an by when they their field the men that fought at they ad buttons up an down two an twenty dozen of em told but they didn t an at an hour s work they kept em bright as gold the men that fought at they was armed with also they was by i don t know what they were but the good care they washed be ind their ears the men that fought at g the men that fought at they ad ever cash in and which they did not bank nor save but spent it gay an free on their such as me for the good advice i gave the men that fought at they was civil they was never didn t talk o rights an wrongs but they got it with the toe same as you will get it so for interrupting songs the men that fought at they was several other things which i don t remember clear but s the reason why now the six year men are dry the will stand the beer then do not be discouraged is your e per we ll learn you not to forget seven seas r io room an you mustn t swear an curse or you ll only catch it worse and we ll make you soldiers yet soldiers yet if you ve got it in you all for the sake of the core soldiers yet if we ave to skin you run get the beer raw raw i ho run an get the beer raw camp we ve got the in camp worse than fights we re in the wilderness the same as it s before ns an us an we cannot get away an the doctor s just reported we ve ten more today oh strike your camp an go t e rains are the dead are an to keep em safe the band s a ail she knows to us e s gone and prayed to to ear to ear us o lord for it s a of us room since august when it started it s been to our tail though they ve ad us out by an they ve ad us back by rail but it runs as fast as troop trains and we can not get away an the sick list the colonel makes ten more today there ain t no fun in women nor there ain t no bite to drink it s much too wet for we can only march and think an at down the we can ear the say get up you rotten beggars you ve ten more today make a cough to see our way o things companies an captains wings i camp an file to obey for lots ten deaths a day our colonel s white an e gets no sleep nor but mu s about in where nothing does no good sends us o all bought from is pay but there aren t much comfort on ten deaths a day our s got a an a mule e rides an the stuff e an sings us lord it makes us split our sides with is black coat tails a to ta ra ra ay e s the proper kind o for ten deaths a day ro ml an father victor im with our roman he knows an ea p of irish songs an s an the two they works together when it comes to play or pray so we keep the ball a on ten deaths a day we ve got the in camp we ve got it ot an sweet it no christmas dinner but if s an we must eat we ve gone beyond the cause we ve found it doesn t pay an we re round the on ten deaths a day strike your camp an go the rains are the s i the dead are an to keep em safe below an them that do not like it they can lump it camp arc that can not stand it they can jump it w ve got to die somewhere some way some ow we might as well begin to do it now then number one let down the tent pole slow knock out the an old the comers so fold in the flies up the ropes oh strike oh strike your camp an go i us the ladies i ve taken my fun where i ve found it i ve an i ve ranged in my time i ve ad my o sweet an four o the lot was prime one was an caste widow one was a woman at one was the wife of a an one is a girl at ome now i aren t no and with the ladies for em all along you never can say till tried em an then you are like to be wrong times when you ll think that you t times when know that you might but the things you will learn from the yellow an brown they ll you a lot with the white head groom the ladies i was a young un at shy as a girl to begin de she made me an was clever as sin older than me but my first un more like a mother she were showed me the way	39
to promotion an pay an i learned about women from then i was ordered to in charge o an i got me a live through supplies off er pa funny an an faithful doll in a she were but we lived on the square like a true married pair an i learned about women firom er then we was shifted to or i might ha been er now an i took with a shiny she devil the wife of a at li room taught me the folks kind o she were for she me one night cause i wished she was white and i learned about women from er then i come ome in the long of a kid o sixteen girl from a at the i ever ave seen love at first sight was er trouble she didn t know what it were an i wouldn t do such cause i liked er too much but i learned about women from taken my fun where i ve found it an now i must pay for my fun for the more you ave known o the others the less will you settle to one the ladies an the end of it s and an hell fires to see so be warned by my lot which i know you will not an learn about women from me what did the lady think nobody never knew somebody asked ike s wife an she told em true when you get to a man in the ease they re like as a row of pins for the lady an o art sisters under their bill as anybody seen bill now ow in the devil would i know i e s taken my girl out i an i ve got to tell im so bless im i ve got to tell im so d yer know what e s like bill now what in the devil would i care e s the image of an organ s monkey with a pound of in is air bless im an a pound o in is air an s pose you met bill now what in the devil ud ye do bill open is cheek to is chin an up is both eyes too bless im an up is both eyes too look ere where e comes bill now what in the devil will you say it isn t fit an proper to be on a sunday so i ll pass im the time o day bless im i ll pass im the time o day the mother lodge there was station master an of the rail an an o the jail an conductor our master twice was e with im that kept the europe shop old outside i sir i salute inside brother an it doesn t do no arm we met upon the level an we parted on the square an i was junior in my mother lodge out there we d an the jew an din of the survey office too the mother lodge there was an the an from the sheds the roman we t good an our lodge was old an bare but we knew the ancient an we em to a hair an on it backwards it often strikes me thus there ain t such things as per it s us for monthly after labour we d all sit down and smoke we t give no lest a brother s caste were broke an man on man got religion an the rest an every man of the god e knew the best room so man on man got an not a brother stirred till the an that dam brain fever bird we d say twas curious an we d all ride ome to bed with mo god an in our full oft on ment service this foot pressed an bore s to the east an west as commanded from to but i wish that i might see them in my mother lodge once i wish that i might see them my brethren black an brown with the pleasant an the dam down cigar lighter the mother lodge an the old on the bottle floor like a master in good standing with my mother lodge once more sir salute inside brother an it doesn t do no arm we met upon the level an we parted on the square an i was junior in my mother lodge out there seven seas t follow mb ome there was no one like im or foot nor any o the guns i knew an because it was so why o course e went an died which is just what the best men so it s knock out your pipes an follow me an it s finish up your an follow met oh ark to the big drum follow me follow me is mare she the day long she the night through an she won t take er feed cause o for is step which is just what a beast would do w he ome is girl she goes with a before er month is through an the are up in church for she s got the b ar which is just what a girl would do we fought bout a last week it were no more than a round or two but i im cruel ard an i wish i t now which is just what a man can t do e was all that i ad in the way of a friend an ad to find one new but give my pay an for to get the beggar back which it s just too late to da sc il s knock out your pipes an follow me an it s finish off your an follow me ok ark to the a	39
t follow me ome is room take im away i e s gone where the best men go take im away an the gun w heels slow take im away there s more from the place e come take im away with the ah the drum for it s three rounds blank an follow me an it s thirteen rank an follow me oh the love o women follow me follow me ome the s e was warned er that s what made im look she was warned again im that is why she took wouldn t ear no reason went an done it blind we know all about em they ve got all to find cheer for the s give em one cheer more grey gun in the a rogue is married to etc what s the use o the lot she s been e s a robber an e keeps room ow did e get is you needn t ask made is forty out of every watch im with is air cut count us by won t the colonel praise is pop u lar i ty we ave scores to settle scores for more than beer she s the girl to pay em that is why we re ere see the see the women smile the married as they take the aisle keep your side quiet by the band ho you beggars be ind your and the s now it s done an over ear the organ voice thai breathed o er ain t she got the cheek white an ribbons think yourself so fine rd pray to take yer fore i made yer mine escort to the wish im luck the brute the slippers after pity taint a boot like a lady like a lad oo would say to see em both is rotten bad cheer for the s give em one cheer more grey gun in the an a rogue is married to etc the jacket through the of we was down an in the sun an you might ave called us dirty an you might ha called us dry an you might ave card us at the gun but the captain ad is jacket an the jacket it was new listen to my song an the of the jacket is the proper thing to do nor we didn t keep im waiting very long one day they gave us orders for to shell a sand down the arms with case but the captain knew is an he took the out an he put some proper liquor in its place the jacket an the saw the which is thirty dear to my song will you draw the weight e or will you draw the beer an we didn t keep im very long for the captain etc then we trotted gentle not to break the glass though the ad all their marked but we gallop for the most was bass an we d dreamed of it since we was so we fired with the shells we ad in and listen to my song but the beggars under cover ad the to stand an we couldn t keep em very long and the captain etc room so we finished the liquor an the captain took champagne an the was all the while an we left our wounded with the oa the plain an we used the guns for tile we up an galloped there were else to do listen to my song an the battery came a like a but they didn t watch us very long as the captain etc we was goin most extended we was very fine an the were an wide till the captain took the with a right an we dropped upon their the other side the jacket then we give em quarter such as up and cut listen to my song an the captain stood a of but we leave it very long for the captain etc we might ha been court but it all come out all tight when they us to join the main command there was every round expended there was every ti an the captain waved a in is and but the captain ad it jacket etc the the in is blindness bows down to wood an stone e don t obey no orders unless they is is own e keeps is side arms awful e leaves em all about an then comes up the regiment an the out all along all along o mess all along things rather more or less all along of nay an ho mind you keep your rifle an yourself so the young is e s from knows where they bid im show is s an lay is square not now to wait a bit the e calls it nonsense e doesn t know no an then up comes is company an im round the the young is e takes it very ard e is an e about the yard e talks o cruel e ll swing for by an by an the others ears an im an the boy goes to cry the young is silly e thinks o suicide e s lost is devil e t got is pride but day by day they im which im on a bit till e finds one with a full an proper clear getting done with mess shut things rather more or less not so fond of nay nor ho to keep is rifle an room the young is e throws a chest to suit you see im grow you ear im slap is boot e to drop the from every word e an e shows an when e for bars an rings the cruel tyrant they watch im a year	39
they watch im with is they watch im with is beer they watch im with the women at the dance and the cruel tyrant send is name along for lance an now e s o an all a private yet is room they up an rags im to see what they will get they rags im low an each dirty trick they can but e to sweat is temper an e to sweat is man the an last a colour as such to be obeyed e schools is men at e tells em on parade they sees em quick an uncommon set an smart an so e talks to which ave the core at e to do is without it plain e to save a an im straight again e to check a that s leave to an e to make men like im so they ll learn to like their work an when it comes to he ll see their are right an when it comes to action e shows em ow to sight e knows their ways of and just what s in their mind e knows when they are on an when they ve fell be ind room knows each that leads a astray e feels is is way e sees the blue white faces all ard to grin an e stands an waits an suffers till it s time to cap em in an now the bullets come through the dust an no one wants to face em but every beggar must so like a man in irons which isn t glad to go they moves em off by companies uncommon an slow of all is five years they don t remember much the not the step an touch it looks like wasted when they duck an spread an op but if e t learned em they d be all about the shop the an now it s oo goes backward an now it s oa comes on and now it s get the an now the captain s gone an now it s bloody murder but all the while they ear is voice the same as a the rear e s just as sick as they are is is like to split but e works em works em works em till he feels em take the bit the rest is steady till the watchful play an e lifts em lifts em lifts em through the charge that wins the day the in is blindness bows down to wood an stone e don t obey no orders unless they is is own the in is blindness must end where e began but the of the army is the non man i the seven seas room keep away from keep away from mess don t get into things rather more or less ha done with nay an ho mind you keep your rifle an yourself the shut eye the junior orderly to the senior orderly man our orderly s you im all you can for the wine was old and the ni t is cold an the best we may go wrong so fore e to the box you pass the word along so it was rounds what rounds at two of a frosty night e s on by the s but shut your eye an it was pass all s well oh ain t e tight e ll need an pretty badly by an by i room the moon was white on the the road was white an wide an the orderly took it all an the ten foot ditch beside an the pulled an the pushed an the three they danced along but i d shut my eyes in the box so i didn t see wrong though it rounds what rounds o old im up e s is cap as it shouldn t he used hut shut your eye an it was pass all s well ho the cup e ll need etc twas after four in the we ad to stop the fun an we sent im ome on a cart with is belt an stock undone the shut eye but we im down an we washed im out an a first class job we made when we saved im smart as a for six o clock parade it ad been rounds what rounds oh im straight again e s is sword for a but shut your eye an it was pass all s well je s called me jane e ll need etc f the was long an the sky was ot an blue an is eye was wild an is au was wet but is pulled im through our men was good old they d done it on their but you ought to ave em time to the things e said i room for it was right wheel for an stand at an left extend for centre close shut your eye an it was ere sir ere before the colonel sees so he needed pretty badly by an by there was two an thirty there was forty one there was just nine rank an file to swear to a touch o sun there was me e d kissed in the box as i ave not told in my song but i took my oath which were bible truth i t seen wrong there s them that s ot an there s them s cold an ard but there comes a night when the best gets tight and then turns out the guard the shut eve seen them their liquor in every kind way but most depends on friends with thomas a l when it u what rounds e s it nose e s tight but shut your eye an it is all s well a the way it goes we ll im for is mother an tip us mary pity women you call yourself a man for all	39
ward ii he must needs stand up to it swaying with the sway of the flat and send a grinding shriek through the fog excuse i cried d you suppose i d fall overboard into your dirty little boat for fun the we re here i ll lay my an share he s over a hundred a few seconds later a hissing wave top smote uncle between the shoulders and him from head to foot for an hour long jack walked his prey up and down teaching as he said things man must know blind or asleep i captains courageous a story of the grand banks chapter i the weather door of the smoking room had been left open to the north atlantic fog as the big rolled and lifted whistling to warn the fleet that boy s the biggest nuisance aboard said a man in a overcoat shutting the door with a bang he is n t wanted here he s too fresh a white haired german reached for a and between i know der breed is full of dot kind i you you should ropes ends free under your there is n t any real harm to him he s more to be pitied than anything a man from new york as he lay at captains courageous full length along the cushions under the wet they ve dragged him around from hotel to hotel ever since he was a kid i was talking to his mother this morning she s a lovely lady but she don t pretend to manage him he s going to europe to finish his education education is n t begun yet this was a curled up in a corner that boy gets two hundred a month pocket money he told me he is n t sixteen either y his father t it said the german that and mines and lumber and shipping built one place at san the old man has another at los owns half a dozen half the lumber on the pacific slope and lets his wife spend the money the went on lazily the west don t suit her she says she just tracks around with the boy and her nerves trying to find out what amuse him i guess hot springs new york and round again he is n t much more than a second hand hotel clerk now when he s finished in europe he be a holy terror captains courageous what s the matter with the old man attending to him personally said a voice from the d man s up the rocks don t want to be disturbed i guess he ii find out his error a few years from now because there s a heap of good in the boy if you could get at it a rope s end a rope s end growled the german once more the door and a slight slim built boy perhaps fifteen years old a half smoked hanging from one corner of his mouth leaned in over the high his yellow complexion did not show well on a person of his years and his look was a mixture of and very cheap he was dressed in a cherry colored red stockings and shoes with a red flannel cap at the back of the head after whistling between his teeth as he eyed the company he said in a loud high voice say it s thick outside you can hear the fish boats all around us say would n t it be great if we ran down one shut the door said the new captains courageous shut the door and stay outside you re not wanted here who stop me he answered deliberately did you pay for my passage martin guess i ve as good right here as the next man he picked up some from a and began throwing right hand against left say gen this is n mud can t we make a game of between us there was no answer and he puffed his swung his legs and on the table with rather dirty fingers then he pulled out a roll of bills as if to count them how s your this afternoon a man said i did n t see her at lunch in her state room i guess she s most always sick on the ocean i m going to give the fifteen dollars for looking after her i don t go down more n i can avoid it makes me feel mysterious to pass that butler s place say this is the first time i ve been on the ocean oh don t who s this is the first captains courageous lit the thing with a flourish he felt that he was getting on in society it would take more n this to me over he said ignorant that he was lighting that terrible article a dot we shall see said the german where are we now mr just there or mr said the engineer we ll be on the grand bank to night but in a general way o we re all among the fishing fleet now we ve shaved three an near the boom off a frenchman since noon an that s close ye may say you like my cigar eh the german asked for s eyes were full of tears fine full flavor he answered through shut teeth guess we ve down a little have n t we i out and see what the log says i might if i you said the german staggered over the wet decks to the nearest rail he was very unhappy but he saw the deck steward chairs together and since he had boasted before the man that captains courageous he was never his pride made him go aft to the second saloon deck at the stern which was finished in a back the deck was deserted and he crawled	39
to the extreme end of it near the flag pole there he doubled up in limp agony for the joined with the and jar of the screw to out his soul his head swelled sparks of fire danced before his eyes his body seemed to lose weight while his heels wavered in the breeze he was fainting from and a roll of the ship him over the rail on to the smooth lip of the back then a low gray mother wave swung out of the fog tucked under one arm so to speak and pulled him off and away to the great green closed over him and he went quietly to sleep he was roused by the sound of a such as they used to blow at a he had once attended in the slowly he remembered that he was drowned and dead in but was too weak to fit things together a new smell filled his nostrils wet and ran down his back and he was helplessly full of salt water when he opened his lo captains courageous eyes he perceived that he was still on the top of the sea for it was running round him in silver colored hills and he was lying on a pile of half dead fish looking at a broad human back clothed in a blue it s no good thought the boy i m dead sure enough and this thing is in charge he groaned and the figure turned its head showing a pair of little gold rings half hidden in curly black hair you feel some pretty well now it said lie still so we trim better with a swift jerk he the flickering boat head on to a sea that lifted her twenty full feet only to slide her into a pit beyond but this mountain climbing did not interrupt blue s talk fine good job say that i catch you eh at better good job say your boat not catch me how you come to fall out i was sick said sick and could n t help it just in time i blow my horn and your boat she a little then i see you come all down eh at i think you are cut into by the screw but you to me and i make a big fish of you so you shall not die this time then a low mother wave swung out of the too tucked under one arm so to speak pulled him off and away captains courageous where am i said who could not see that life was particularly safe where he lay you are with me in the my name and i come from we re here of i live to by and by we get supper eh at he seemed to have two pairs of hands and a head of cast iron for not content with blowing through a big shell he must needs stand up to it swaying with the sway of the flat and send a grinding shriek through the fog how long this entertainment lasted could not remember for he lay back terrified at the sight of the smoking he fancied he heard a g n and a horn and shouting something bigger than the but quite as lively loomed alongside several voices talked at once he was dropped into a dark heaving hole where men in gave him a hot drink and took off his clothes and he fell asleep when he he listened for the first breakfast bell on the steamer wondering why his state room had grown so small turning he looked into a narrow cave lit captains courageous by a lamp hung against a huge square beam a three table within arm s reach ran from the angle of the bows to the at the after end behind a well used stove sat a boy about his own age with a flat red face and a pair of twinkling gray eyes he was dressed in a blue and high rubber boots several pairs of the same sort of foot wear an old cap and some lay on the floor and black and yellow swayed to and fro beside the the place was packed as full of smells as a is of cotton the had a peculiarly thick flavor of their own which made a sort of background to the smells of fish burnt paint and stale tobacco but these again were all together by one smell of ship and salt water saw with disgust that there were no sheets on his bed place he was lying on a piece of dingy full of and then too the boat s motion was not that of a steamer she was neither sliding nor rolling but rather herself about in a silly way like a at the end of a ran by close to his ear and beams needs stand up to it with the sway or the flat and send a through the captains courageous and about him all these things made him and think of his mother better said the boy with a grin some coffee he brought a tin cup full and it with is n t there milk said looking round the dark double tier of as if he expected to find a cow there well no said the boy ner there ain t likely to be till mid september t ain t bad coffee i made it drank in silence and the boy handed him a plate full of pieces of crisp pork which he ate i ve dried your clothes guess they ve shrunk some said the boy they ain t our style much none of em twist round an see ef you re hurt any stretched himself in every direction but could not report any injuries that s good the boy said heartily fix an go on deck wants to see you i	39
m his son dan they call me an i m cook s an everything else aboard that s too dirty for the men there ain t no boy here me went overboard an he i captains courageous was only a an twenty year old at that how d you come to fall off in a dead flat ca am t was n t a calm said it was a gale and i was guess i must have rolled over the rail there was a little common swell yes day an last night said the boy but ef s your notion of a he whistled you know more fore you re through hurry s like many other unfortunate young people had never in all his life received a direct order never at least without long and sometimes tearful explanations of the advantages of obedience and the reasons for the request mrs lived in fear of breaking his spirit which perhaps was the reason that she herself walked on the edge of nervous he could not see why he should be expected to hurry for any man s pleasure and said so your can come down here if he s so anxious to talk to me i want him to take me to new york right away it pay him dan opened his eyes as the size and beauty of this joke dawned on him say captains courageous he shouted up the he says you kin slip down an see him ef you re anxious that way hear the answer came back in the deepest voice had ever heard from a human chest quit dan and send him to me dan and threw his shoes there was something in the tones on the deck that made the boy his extreme rage and console himself with the thought of gradually the tale of his own and his father s wealth on the voyage home this rescue would certainly make him a hero among his friends for life he hoisted himself on deck up a perpendicular ladder and stumbled aft over a score of to where a small clean shaven man with gray eyebrows sat on a step that led up to the quarter deck the swell had passed in the night leaving a long sea dotted round the horizon with the sails of a dozen fishing boats between them lay little black showing where the were out fishing the with a riding sail on the played easily at anchor and except for the man by the cabin roof house they call it she was deserted captains courageous good afternoon i should say you ve nigh the clock around young was the greeting said he did not like being called young and as one rescued from drowning expected sympathy his mother suffered agonies whenever he got his feet wet but this did not seem excited let s hear all it it s quite first an last fer all concerned what might be your name where from we it s york an where we it s europe gave his name the name of the steamer and a short history of the accident winding up with a demand to be taken back immediately to new york where his father would pay anything any one chose to name h m said the shaven man quite unmoved by the end of s speech i can t say we think special of any man or boy even that falls overboard from that kind o packet in a flat ca am least of all when his excuse is he s excuse cried d you suppose i d fall overboard into your dirty little boat for fun j s s w t captains courageous not what your notions o fun may be i can t rightly say young but if i was i would n t call the boat which under providence was the means o ye names in the first place it s blame in the second it s to my s an v m troop o the here o which you don t seem rightly to know i don t know and i don t care said i m grateful enough for being saved and all that of course but i want you to understand that the sooner you take me back to new york the better it pay you troop raised one shaggy over a suspiciously mild blue eye dollars and cents said delighted to think that he was making an impression cold dollars and cents he thrust a hand into a pocket and threw out his stomach a little which was his way of being grand you ve done the best day s work you ever did in your life when you pulled me in i m all the son has he s bin favored said d captains courageous and if you don t know who is you don t know much that s all now turn her around and let s hurry had a notion that the greater part of america was filled with people discussing and his father s dollars i do an i don t take a in your young it s full o my heard a chuckle from dan who was pretending to be busy by the stump and the blood rushed to his face we pay for that too he said when do you suppose we shall get to new york i don t use york any ner boston we may see eastern point september an your pa i m real sorry i t tell of him may give me ten dollars all your talk then o course he may n t ten dollars why see here i into his pocket for the of bills all he brought up was a packet of not lawful an bad for the lungs heave em overboard young and ty it s been	39
stolen cried hotly captains courageous you to wait till you see your pa to reward me then a hundred and thirty four dollars all stolen said hunting wildly through his pockets give them back a curious change flitted across old troop s hard face what might you have been at your time o life with one hundred an thirty four dollars young it was part of my pocket money for a month this thought would be a knock down blow and it was indirectly oh one hundred and thirty four dollars is only part of his pocket money for one month only you don t remember anything when you fell over do you crack a le s say old man o the east wind troop seemed to be talking to himself he tripped on a an the with his head three weeks afterwards old man he would it that the east wind was a commerce man o war an so he declared war on island because it was an the run too far they him up in a his head an feet fer the captains courageous o the trip an now he s to home in with little rag choked with rage but troop went on we ve sorry fer you we ve very sorry fer you an so young we won t say no more the money i guess course you won t you stole it suit yourself we stole it ef it s any comfort to you goin back we could do it which we can t you ain t in no fit state to go back to your home an we ve jest come on to the banks fer our bread don t see the ha af of a hundred dollars a month let alone pocket money an with good luck we be ashore again the first weeks o september but but it s may now and i can t stay here nothing just because you want to fish i can i i tell you right an jest jest an right no one asks you to do there s a heap as you can do for he went overboard on le have i he lost his grip in a gale we fund there he never come back to deny it you ve turned up plain captains courageous y for all concerned i though there s few things you kin do ain t so can make it lively for you and your crowd when we get ashore said with a vicious nod murmuring vague threats about at which troop almost not quite smiled talk i d forgot that you ain t asked to talk more n you ve a mind to aboard the we re here keep your eyes open an help dan to do he s bid an an i give you you ain t it but i give ten an a ha af a month say thirty five at the end o the trip a little work will ease up your head an you kin tell us all your an your ma an your money she s on the steamer said his eyes filling with tears take me to new york at once poor woman poor woman when she has you back she it all though there s eight of us on the we we here an ef we went back it s more n a thousand mile we d lose the season the men they would n t it i was agreeable captains courageous it but my father would make it all right he d try i don t doubt he d try said troop but a whole season s catch is eight men s bread an you ll be better in your health when you see him in the fall go forward an help dan it s ten an a ha af a month i said an o course all fund same the rest o us do you mean i m to clean pots and and things said an other things you ve no call to shout young i won t my father will give you enough to buy this dirty little fish kettle stamped on the deck ten times over if you take me to new york safe and and you re in a hundred and thirty by me anyway ha ow said troop the iron face darkening how you know how well enough on top of all that you want me to do work was very proud of that till the fall i tell you i will you hear troop regarded the top of the with deep interest for a while as fiercely all around him captains courageous he said at last i m out my in my own mind it s a matter o dan stole up and plucked by the elbow don t go to with any more he pleaded you ve called him a thief two or three times over an he don t take that from any bein i won t almost shrieked the advice and still troop meditated seems kinder he said at last his eye down to i don t blame you not a young nor you won t blame me when the s out o your be sure you sense what i say ten an a ha af fer second boy on the an all found fer to teach you an fer the sake o your health yes or no no said take me back to new york or i ll see you he did not exactly remember what followed he was lying in the holding on to a nose that while troop looked down on him serenely dan he said to his son i was this young when i first saw him on account o hasty	39
captains courageous ft said your an his say that your dollars i what was in your pockets when i dried your fer i didn t look to see but i m say using the very same words you used jest now neither me nor an we was the only two that you after you was brought aboard knows the money s my say the blood letting had certainly cleared s brain and maybe the loneliness of the sea had something to do with it that s all right he said then he looked down seems to me that for a fellow just saved from drowning i have n t been over and above grateful dan well you was shook up and silly said dan anyway there was only an mc aboard to see it the cook he don t count i might have thought about losing the bills that way said half to himself instead of calling everybody in sight a thief where s your father in the cabin what d you want o him again you ll see said and he stepped rather for his head was still singing t s if il a s mm i i m f captains courageous to the cabin steps where the little ship s clock hung in plain sight of the wheel troop in the and yellow painted cabin was busy with a note book and an enormous black pencil which he sucked hard from time to time i have n t acted quite right said surprised at his own what s wrong said the walked into dan ye no it s about you i m here to listen well i i m here to take things back said very quickly when a man s saved from drowning he ey you ll make a man yet ef you go on this way he ought n t begin by calling people names jest an right right an jest said troop with the ghost of a dry smile so r m here to say i m sorry another big troop heaved himself slowly off the he was sitting on and held out an eleven inch hand i t would do you sights o good an this shows i were n t in captains courageous my a smothered chuckle on deck caught his ear i am very in my the eleven inch hand closed on s it to the elbow we ll put a little more to that fore we ve done with you young an i don t think any worse of ye fer s gone by you was n t responsible go right your business an you won t take no hurt you re white said dan as regained the deck flushed to the tips of his ears i don t feel it said he i did n t mean that way i heard what said when allows he don t think the worse of any man s give himself away he hates to be in his judgments too ho ho has a he d sooner dip his colors to the british than change it i m glad it s settled right up s right when he says he can t take you back it s all the we make here the men be back like after a dead whale in ha af an hour what for said supper o course don t your tell you you ve a heap to captains courageous n guess i have said looking at the of ropes and blocks overhead she s a said dan misunderstanding the look wait till our s bent an she walks home with all her salt wet there s some work first though he pointed down into the darkness of the open main between the two what s that for it s all empty said you an me an a few more got to fill it said dan that s where the fish goes alive said well no they re so s to be dead an flat an salt there s a hundred o salt in the an we t more n covered our to now where are the fish though in the sea they say in the boats we pray said dan quoting a s proverb you come in last night with forty of em he pointed to a sort of wooden pen just in front of the quarter deck you an me we that out when p captains courageous they re through send we full pens to night i ve seen her down ha af a foot with fish to clean an we stood to the tables till we was ourselves o them we was so sleepy yes they re in dan looked over the low at half a dozen toward them over the shining sea i ve never seen the sea from so low down said it s fine the low sun made the water all purple and with golden lights on the barrels of the long and blue and green shades in the hollows each in sight seemed to be pulling her towards her by invisible strings and the little black figures in the tiny boats pulled like toys they ve struck on good said dan between his half shut eyes t room fer another fish low a lily in still water ain t he which is i don t see how you can tell em way off as you do last boat to the south ard he fund you last night said dan pointing rows ye can t mistake captains courageous east o him he s a heap better n he rows is loaded with by the looks of him east o him see how pretty they string out all along with the shoulders is long jack he s a man south boston where they all live mostly an	39
tom laughing guess they was eyed then fer it did n t home and i know who find his boots on the main ef he don t leave us alone haul ahead i m busy can t ye see ye lie on the cable an sleep all day said long jack you re the an i m persuaded ye corrupt our in a week his name s said dan waving two strangely shaped knives an he be worth five of any sou boston fore long he laid the knives on the table cocked his head on one side and admired the effect think it s forty two said a small voice and there was a roar of laughter as another voice answered then my luck s turned fer i m forty five though i be stung outer all shape forty two or forty five i ve lost count the small voice said it s an uncle catch this beats the any day said dan jest look at em captains courageous come in come in roared long jack it s wet out children forty two ye said this was uncle i count again then the voice replied meekly the two swung together and into the s side patience o snapped uncle water with a splash what a farmer like you to set foot in a boat beats me you ve nigh stove me all up i am sorry mr i came to sea on account of nervous you advised me i think you an your be drowned in the whale hole roared uncle a fat and little man you ve down on me did ye say forty two or forty five i ve forgotten mr let s count don t see as it could be forty five m forty five said uncle you count troop came out of the cabin you pitch your fish in at once he said in the tone of authority captains courageous don t the catch dan murmured them two are on y jest mother delight he s them wan by wan howled long jack as uncle got to work laboriously the little man in the other counting a line of on the that was last week s catch he said looking up his forefinger where he had left off dan who darted to the after tackle and leaning far slipped the hook into the stern rope as made her fast forward the others pulled gallantly and swung the boat in man fish and all one two four nine said tom counting with a practised eye you ve it dan let the run and slid him out of the stern on to the deck amid a torrent of his own fish hold on roared uncle by the waist hold on i m a bit mixed in my he had no time to protest but was and treated like forty one said tom beat by a farmer an you a sailor too i captains courageous t were n t fair said he stumbling out of the pen an i m stung up all to pieces his thick hands were and white some folks will find bottom said dan addressing the newly risen moon ef they to fer it seems to me an others said uncle eats the fat o the land in an their own blood kin seat ye seat ye a voice had not heard called from the troop tom long jack and went forward on the word little bent above his square deep sea and the tangled lay down full length on the deck and dan dropped into the hold where heard him with a hammer salt he said returning soon as we re through supper we to dressing down you pitch to tom an they together an you hear em we re second ha af you an me an an the youth an beauty o the boat what s the good of that said m hungry captains courageous they be through in a minute she smells good to night ships a good cook ef he do suffer with his brother it s a full catch to day ain t it he pointed at the pens piled high with what water did ye twenty father said the they strike on good an some day i show you the moon was beginning to walk on the still sea before the elder men came aft the cook had no need to cry second half dan and were down the and at table ere tom last and most deliberate of the elders had finished wiping his mouth with the back of his hand followed and sat down before a tin pan of s tongues and sounds mixed with scraps of pork and a loaf of hot and some black and powerful coffee hungry as they were they waited while solemnly asked a blessing then they in silence till dan drew breath over his tin cup and demanded of how he felt most full but there s just room for another piece the cook was a huge jet black negro an captains courageous unlike all the had met did not talk himself with smiles and dumb show invitations to eat more see said dan with his fork on the table it s jest as i said the young an handsome men like me an an you an we re second ha af an we eats when the first ha af are through they re the old fish and they re mean an an their has to be so they come first which they don t deserve ain t that so doctor the cook nodded can t he talk said in a whisper to along not much o anything we know his natural tongue s kinder curious comes from the of cape he does where the farmers speak scotch cape s full o whose folk run in there war an	39
they talk like the farmers all that is not scotch said that is so i read in a book reads a heap most of what he says is so when it comes to a o fish eh does your father just let them say how captains courageous many they ve caught without checking them said why yes where s the sense of a man fer a few old was a man once lied for his catch put in lied every day ten twenty more fish than come he say there was where was that said dan none o folk frenchman of ah them west shore don t anyway stands to reason they can t ef you run any of their soft hooks you know why said dan with an awful contempt always more and never less every time we come to dress long jack roared down the and the second ha af scrambled up at once the shadow of the and with the never riding sail rolled to and fro on the heaving deck in the moonlight and the pile of fish by the stern shone like a of silver in the hold there were rs and where troop and captains courageous tom moved among the salt dan passed a and led him to the end of the rough table where uncle was impatiently with a knife a tub of salt water lay at his feet you pitch to an tom down the an take uncle don t cut yer eye out said dan swinging himself into the hold til pass salt below and stood knee deep among in the pen flourishing drawn knives long jack a basket at his feet and on his hands faced uncle at the table and stared at the and the tub hi shouted stooping to the fish and bringing one up with a finger under its and a finger in its eye he laid it on the edge of the pen the knife blade with a sound of tearing and the fish from throat to vent with a nick on either side of the neck dropped at long jack s feet hi said long jack with a of his hand the s liver dropped in the basket another and sent the head and flying and the empty fish captains courageous across to uncle who fiercely there was another sound of tearing the flew over the and the fish and open in the tub sending the salt water into s astonished mouth after the first yell the men were silent the moved along as though they were alive and long ere had ceased wondering at the miraculous dexterity of it all his tub was full pitch uncle without turning his head and pitched the fish by and down the hi pitch em shouted dan don t scatter uncle is the best in the fleet watch him mind his book indeed it looked a little as though the round uncle were cutting magazine pages against time s body cramped over from the stayed like a statue but his long arms the fish without ceasing little toiled but it was easy to see he was weak once or twice found time to help him without breaking the chain of supplies and once howled because he had caught his finger in a french s captains courageous man s hook these hooks are made of soft metal to be after use but the very often get away with them and are again elsewhere and that is one of the many reasons why the boats despise the down below the sound of rough salt rubbed on rough flesh sounded like the of a a steady to the click nick of the knives in the pen the and of torn heads dropped liver and flying the of uncle s knife away and the of wet opened bodies falling into the tub at the end of an hour would have given the world to rest for fresh wet weigh more than you would think and his back ached with the steady but he felt for the first time in his life that he was one of a working gang of men took pride in the thought and held on sullenly knife oh shouted uncle at last doubled up gasping among the fish bowed back and forth to himself and long jack leaned over the the cook appeared noiseless as a black captains courageous shadow collected a mass of and heads and retreated blood ends for breakfast an head said long jack his lips knife oh repeated uncle waving the flat curved s weapon look by your foot cried dan below saw half a dozen knives stuck in a in the he dealt these around taking over the ones water said troop butt s for ard an the s alongside hurry said dan he was back in a minute with a big of stale brown water which tasted like and the jaws of and tom these are said they ain t tom nor yet silver bars i ve told you that every single time we ve sailed together a matter o seven seasons returned tom coolly good s good all the same an there s a right an a wrong way o even if you d ever seen four hundred ton o iron set into the hi with a yell from the work o captains courageous began again and never stopped till the pen was empty the instant the last was down troop rolled aft to the cabin with his brother and long jack went forward tom only waited long enough to slide home the ere he too disappeared in half a minute heard deep in the cabin and he was staring at dan and i did a little better that time said whose eyelids were heavy with sleep but i think it is my duty to help clean would n t your conscience	39
fer a thousand said dan turn in you ve no call to do boy s work draw a bucket oh these in the butt fore you sleep kin you keep awake that long took up the heavy basket emptied them into a with a top lashed by the then he too dropped out of sight in the cabin boys clean up after down an first watch in ca am weather is boy s watch on the we re here dan the pen the table set it up to captains courageous i dry in the moonlight ran the red knife blades through a of and began to them on a tiny as threw and overboard under his direction at the first splash a silvery white ghost rose bolt upright from the water and sighed a weird whistling sigh started back with a shout but dan only laughed said he fer fish heads they up way when they re hungry breath on him like the t he a horrible of decayed fish filled the air as the pillar of white sank and the water t ye never seen a up before you see em by hundreds fore ye re through say it s good to a boy aboard again was too old an a at that him an me we fought ble would n t ha fer ef he d a christian tongue in his head sleepy dead sleepy said nodding forward must n t sleep on watch rouse up an see ef our anchor light s bright an you re on watch now captains courageous what s to hurt us bright s day jest when things happen says fine weather s good sleeping an tore you know you re cut in two by a an seventeen brass bound officers ail gen lift their hand to it that your lights was an there was a thick fog i ve kinder took to you but ef you nod more i lay into you with a rope s end the moon who sees many strange things on the banks looked down on a slim youth in and a red staggering around the decks of a seventy ton while behind him waving a knotted rope walked after the manner of an a boy who yawned and nodded between the blows he dealt the lashed wheel groaned and kicked softly the riding sail a little in the of the light wind the and the miserable procession continued threatened and at last wept outright while dan the words on his tongue spoke of the beauty of and away with the rope s end the as often as captains courageous he hit at last the clock in the cabin struck ten and upon the tenth stroke little crept on deck he found two boys in two tumbled heaps side by side on the main so deeply asleep that he actually rolled them to their chapter iii it was the forty slumber that the soul and eye and heart and sends you to breakfast they emptied a big tin dish of fragments of fish the blood ends the cook had collected they cleaned up the plates and of the elder mess who were out fishing pork for the midday meal down the filled the lamps drew coal and water for the cook and the fore hold where the boat s stores were it was another perfect day soft mild and clear and breathed to the very bottom of his lungs more had crept up in the night and the long blue seas were full of sails and far away on the horizon the smoke of some her invisible the blue and to eastward a big ship s sails just lifting made a square nick captains courageous in it troop was smoking by the roof of the cabin one eye on the craft around l and the other on the little fly at the head when that way said dan in a whisper he s some fer all hands i lay my an share we make berth soon he knows the an the fleet they know knows see em up one by one fer in particular o course but on us all the time there s the prince she s a chat ham boat she s up last night an see that big one with a patch in her an a new she s the from west chat ham she won t keep her canvas long her luck s changed since last season she don t do much drift there ain t an anchor made ii hold her when the smoke up in little rings like that s the fish ef we speak to him now he mad time i did he jest took an a boot at me troop stared forward the pipe between his teeth with eyes that saw nothing as his son said he was studying the fish captains courageous his knowledge and experience on the banks against the in his own sea he accepted the presence of the inquisitive on the horizon as a compliment to his powers but now that it was paid he wished to draw away and make his berth alone till it was time to go up to the virgin and fish in the streets of that roaring town upon the waters so troop thought of recent weather and currents and other domestic arrangements from the point of view of a twenty pound was in fact for an hour a himself and looked remarkably like one then he removed the pipe from his teeth said dan we ve done our can t we go a piece it s good weather not in that cherry colored ner them ha af baked brown shoes give him fit to wear s pleased that settles it said dan dragging into the cabin while troop pitched a key down the steps keeps my spare	39
gray creature with unspeakable pride he had seen many times on marble ashore but it had never occurred to him to ask how they came inland now he knew and every inch of his body ached with fatigue ef was along said dan up he d read the signs plain s print the fish are smaller an smaller an you ve took as a s we re apt to i ll lay my an share hb s over a captains courageous j find this trip yesterday s catch did notice it was all big fish an no he d read them signs right off says on the banks is signs an can be read wrong er right s deeper n the whale hole even as he spoke some one fired a pistol on the we we here and a basket was run up in the fore what did i say that s the call fer the whole crowd s outer something er he d never break this time o day up an we pull back they were to of the just ready to the over the still sea when sounds of woe half a mile off led them to who was around a fixed point for all the world like a gigantic the little man backed away and came down again with enormous energy but at the end of each his swung round and herself on her rope we to help him else he root an seed here said dan what s the matter said this was a new world where he could not lay down the law to his elders but had to ask captains courageous questions humbly and the sea was horribly big and anchor s s always losing em lost two this trip a ready on sandy bottom too an says next one he loses sure s he give him the that break s heart what s a said who had a vague idea it might be some kind of marine torture like in the big stone of an anchor you kin see a in the bows fur s you can see a an all the fleet knows what it means they d him dreadful could n t stand that no more n a dog with a to his tail he s so sensitive stuck again don t try any more o your come up on her and keep your straight up an down it does n t move said the little man panting it does n t move at all and indeed i tried everything what s all this s nest for ard said dan pointing to a wild of spare oars and all together by the hand of captains courageous oh that said proudly is a spanish mr showed me how to make it but even that does n t move her dan bent low over the to hide a smile once or twice on the and behold the anchor drew at once haul up he said laughing er she stuck again they left him regarding the weed hung of the little anchor with big pathetic blue eyes and thanking them oh say while i think of it said dan when they were out of ear shot ain t quite all he ain t dangerous but his mind s give out see is that so or is it one of your father s judgments asked as he bent to his oars he felt he was learning to handle them more easily ain t this time s a no he ain t exactly so much a harmless it was this way you re quite so an i tell you cause it s right you know he was a preacher once jacob his name told me an he lived with his wife an four children out captains courageous way well he took his folks along to a camp most like an they stayed over jest one night in you ve talk o considered yes i have but i don t know why it sticks in my head same as both was big accidents s why well that one single night and his folks was to the hotel was wiped out dam bust an her an the houses struck adrift an into each other an sunk i ve seen the pictures an they re he saw his folk drowned all n a heap fore he rightly knew what was his mind give out from that on he happened up to but for the poor life of him he could n t remember what an he jest drifted an he did n t know what he was nor what he bin an way he run uncle who was n city ha af my mother s folks they live scattered inside o an uncle he visits uncle he captains courageous kinder adopted well what his trouble an he brought him east an he give him work on his farm why i heard him calling a farmer last night when the boats is your uncle a farmer farmer shouted dan there ain t water enough here an to wash the off n his boots he s jest farmer why i ve seen man up a bucket long towards an set the to the butt same s ef t a cow s bag he s much farmer well an he they ran the farm up way t uncle he sold it this spring to a from boston as wanted to build a summer an he got a heap for it well them two scratched along till one day s church he d belonged to the found out where he drifted an an wrote to uncle never they said exactly but uncle mad he s a mostly but he jest let em it both sides o the bow s if he was a an he war n t	39
an hour long jack walked his prey up and down teaching as he said things at the sea that man must know blind or asleep there is not much gear to a seventy ton with a stump but long jack had a gift of expression when he wished to draw s attention to the peak he dug his into the back of the boy s neck and kept him at gaze for half a minute he difference between fore and aft generally by rubbing s nose along a few feet of the boom and the lead of each rope was fixed in s mind by the end of the rope itself the lesson would have been easier had the deck been at all free but there appeared to be a place on it for everything and anything except a man forward lay the and captains courageous its tackle with the chain and all very unpleasant to trip over the and the by the to hold the fish aft of these the and of the main took all the space that was not needed for the and dressing pens then came the nests of lashed to ring by the quarter deck the house with and lashed all around it and last the sixty foot main boom in its things to duck and under every time tom of course could not keep his oar out of the business but ranged alongside with enormous and unnecessary descriptions of sails and on the old mind he says to me tom this s not the an you re mixing the bad he be ruined for life on a fore an after this way tom pleaded give him a chance to know a few principles s an art as i d show you if i had ye in the fore top o i know ut ye d talk him dead an tom now after all captains courageous i ve said how d you the take your time haul that in said pointing to the north no the boom then run that rope you showed me back there that s no way tom burst in quiet he s an has not the names good yet go on oh it s the i d hook the tackle on to the and then let down lower the sail child lower said tom in a professional agony lower the throat and peak went on those names stuck in his head lay your hand on said long jack obeyed lower till that on the after no it s till the was down on the boom then i d tie her up the way you said and then i d up the peak and throat again you ve forgot to pass the tack but time and help ye lam there s for an long jack walked his prey up down as he said things han know blind ok asleep captains courageous good and just reason for rope aboard or else t would be overboard d ye follow me t is dollars an cents i m into your pocket ye little so that ye ve filled out ye can ship from boston to an tell long jack you now i chase ye around a piece the ropes an you lay your hand on as i call he began and who was feeling rather tired walked slowly to the rope named a rope s end licked round his ribs and nearly knocked the breath out of him when you own a boat said tom with severe eyes you can walk till then take all orders at the run once more to make sure was in a glow with the exercise and this last cut warmed him thoroughly now he was a singularly smart boy the son of a very clever man and a very sensitive woman with a fine resolute temper that had nearly turned to obstinacy he looked at the other men and saw that even dan did not smile it was evidently all in the day s work though it hurt so he swallowed the hint with captains courageous a and a gasp and a grin the same that led him to take such advantage of his mother made him very sure that no one on the boat except maybe would stand the least nonsense one a great deal from a mere tone long jack called over half a dozen more ropes and danced over the deck like an at ebb tide one eye on tom ver good ver good done said after supper i show you a little i make with all her ropes so we shall learn class fer a passenger said dan he s jest allowed you be your salt maybe fore you re s a heap fer i learn you more our next watch together taller peering through the fog as it smoked over the bows there was nothing to be seen ten feet beyond the boom while alongside rolled the endless procession of solemn pale waves whispering and one to the other now i learn you something long jack can t shouted tom as from a by the stern he produced a battered deep sea lead at one end the hollow captains courageous from a full of mutton and went forward i learn you how to fly the blue pigeon did something to the wheel that checked the s way while with to help and a proud boy was let down the in a lump on the boom the lead sung a deep song as tom whirled it round and round go ahead man said long jack impatiently we re not twenty five off fire island in a fog there s no trick to ut don t be jealous the released lead into the sea far ahead as the slowly forward is a trick though said dan when your lead s all the eye you	39
re like to for a week what d you make it s face relaxed his skill and were involved in the march he had stolen on the rest of the fleet and he had his reputation as a master artist who knew the banks sixty ef i m any judge he replied with a glance at the tiny compass in the window of the house v captains sixty sung out tom in great wet the gathered way once more heave said after a quarter of an hour what d you make it dan whispered and he looked at proudly but was too proud of his own performances to be impressed just then fifty said the father i we ve right over the nick o green bank on old sixty fifty fifty roared tom they could scarcely see him through the fog she s bust within a yard like the shells at fort bait up said dan for a line on the the seemed to be pro through the her wildly the men waited and looked at the boys who began fishing dan s lines on the and rail now in thunder did know help us here it s a big un too they hauled together and landed a captains courageous eyed twenty pound he had taken the bait right into his stomach why he s all covered with little cried turning him over by the great hook block they re already said long jack ye your spare eyes under the splash went the anchor and they all heaved over the lines each man taking his own place at the are they good to eat panted as he in another covered sure when they re it s a sign they ve all been together by the thousand and when they take the bait that way they re hungry never mind how the bait sets they bite on the bare hook say this is great cried as the fish came in gasping and nearly all as dan had said why can t we always fish fi om the boat instead of firom the can till we begin to dress the heads and u d scare the fish to boat ain t reckoned though unless ye know as much as knows guess we run captains courageous to night harder on the back this than the ain t it it was rather back breaking work for in a the weight of a is water borne till the last minute and you are so to speak abreast of him but the few feet of a s make so much extra dead and stooping over the the stomach but it was wild and furious sport so long as it lasted and a big pile lay aboard when the fish ceased biting where s and uncle asked the off his and up the line in careful imitation of the others s coffee and see under the yellow glare of the lamp on the post the table down and opened utterly unconscious of fish or weather sat the two men a board between them uncle at s every move what s the matter said the former as one hand in the leather at the head of the ladder hung shouting to the cook big fish and heaps and heaps captains courageous replied quoting long jack how s the game little s jaw dropped t were n t none o his fault snapped uncle s were n t it said dan as staggered aft with the steaming coffee in a tin that lets us out o up to night s a jest man they have to do it an two young i know bait up a tub or so o while they re said the wheel to his taste um guess i d clean up don t doubt it ye t though dress dress pitch while you two bait up why in thunder did n t them blame boys tell us you d struck on said uncle shuffling to his place at the table this knife s blunt dan ef out cable don t wake ye guess you d better hire a boy o your own said dan about in the dusk over the full of line lashed to of the house oh don t ye want to slip down an s bait loo captains courageous bait we are said i will pay better things go that meant the boys would bait with selected of the as the fish were cleaned an improvement on in the little bait barrels below the were full of neatly line carrying a big hook each few feet and the and of every single hook with the of the line so that it should run clear when shot from the was a scientific business dan managed it in the dark without looking while caught his fingers on the and his fate but the hooks flew through dan s fingers like on an old maid s lap i helped bait up ashore fore i could well walk he said but it s a job all the same oh this shouted towards the where and tom were how many you reckon we need three hurry there s three hundred to each tub dan explained more n enough to lay out to night slipped up there i did he stuck his finger in his mouth i you there ain t money in captains courageous ter hire me to ship on a lar it may be but that it s the est business top of earth i don t know what this is if t is n t regular said my fingers are all cut to this is jest one o s blame experiments he don t less there s mighty good reason fer it knows s why he s he is we her full when we take her up er we won t see a fin	39
and uncle cleaned up as had ordained but the boys little no sooner were the furnished than tom and long jack who had been exploring the inside of a with a lantern snatched them away loaded up the and some small painted and the boat overboard into what regarded as an exceedingly rough sea they be drowned why the s loaded like a freight car he cried we be back said long jack an in case you not be for us we lay into you both if the s i captains courageous the up on the crest of a wave and just when it seemed impossible that she could avoid against the s side slid over the ridge and was swallowed up in the damp dusk take here an keep steady said dan passing the of a bell that hung just behind the rang for he felt two lives depended on him but in the cabin in the log book did not look like a murderer and when he went to supper he even smiled at the anxious this ain t no weather said dan why you an me could set they ve only gone out jest far so s not to foul our cable they don t need no bell cling kept it up varied with occasional rub a for another half hour there was a and a alongside and dan to the hooks of the tackle long jack and tom arrived on deck together it seemed one half the north atlantic at their backs and the followed them in the air landing with a clatter captains courageous said tom as he you do yet the pleasure your company to the said long jack the water from his boots as he like an elephant and stuck an oil arm into s face we do be to honor the second half our presence and off they all four rolled to supper where stuffed himself to the brim on fish and and fell fast asleep just as produced from a a lovely model of the his first boat and was going to show the ropes never even his fingers as pushed him into his it must be a sad thing a very sad thing said watching the boy s face for his mother and his father who think he is dead to lose a child to lose a out o this said dan go aft and finish your game with uncle tell i stand s watch ef he don t keen he s played ver good boy said slipping out of his boots and disappearing into the black i captains courageous shadows of the lower he make good man i no see he is any so mad as your he says eh at v dan chuckled but the chuckle ended in a it was thick weather outside with a rising wind and the elder men stretched their watches the hours struck clear in the cabin the bows and with the seas the stove pipe and as the spray caught it and the boys slept on while long jack tom and uncle each in turn aft to look at the wheel forward to see that the anchor held or to out a little more cable against with a glance at the dim anchor light between each round chapter iv to find the first half at breakfast the door drawn to a crack and every square inch of the singing its own tune the black bulk of the cook balanced behind the tiny over the glare of the stove and the pots and in the pierced wooden board before it and to each plunge up and up the climbed yearning and and quivering and then with a clear like came down into the seas he could hear the bows cut and and there was a pause ere the divided waters came down on the deck above like a of followed the sound of the cable in the hole a and of the a a and a kick and the ive we here gathered herself together to repeat the motions now ashore he heard long jack say io captains courageous ing ye ve an ye must do in any weather here we re well clear of the fleet an we ve no an that s a good night all he passed like a big snake from the table to his and began to smoke tom followed his example uncle with fought his way up the ladder to stand his watch and the cook set for the second half it came out of its as the others had entered theirs with a shake and a it ate till it could eat no more and then filled his pipe with some terrible tobacco himself between the post and a forward cocked his feet up on the table and smiled tender and indolent smiles at the smoke dan lay at length in his with a gaudy gilt stopped whose tunes went up and down with the of the we re here the cook his shoulders against the where he kept the dan was fond of potatoes with one eye on the stove in event of too much water finding its way down the pipe and the general smell and were past all description considered affairs wondered that i captains courageous he was not sick and crawled into his again as the and safest place while dan struck up i don t want to play in your yard as accurately as the wild allowed how long is this for asked of till she get a little quiet and we can row to perhaps to night perhaps two days more you do not like eh at v i should have been crazy sick a week ago but it does n t seem to upset me now much that is because we make you these days if i was you when i come to i	39
would give two three big candles for my good luck give who to be sure the virgin of our church on the hill she is very good to all the time that is why so few of us men ever are drowned you re a roman catholic then i am a man i am not a boy shall i be then eh at i always give candles two three more when i come to the good virgin she never forgets me lo captains courageous i don t sense it that way tom put in from his his face lit up by the glare of a match as he sucked at his pipe it stands to reason the sea s the sea and you jest about what s goin candles or fer that matter t is a mighty good thing said long jack to have a at though i m o s way o about tin years back i was crew to a sou boston market boat we was off s ledge a butt first of us thicker n the ould man was his chin on the an i to myself if i stick my boat into t wharf again i show the saints manner o craft they saved me out now i m here as ye can well see an the model of the ould that took me a month to make i gave ut to the priest an he hung ut up the altar there s more sense in a model that s by way o bein a work art than any candle ye can buy candles at store but a model shows the good saints ye ve trouble an are grateful captains courageous d you believe that irish said tom turning on his elbow would i do ut if i did not wa al fuller he made a model o the old and she s to museum now mighty pretty model too but i guess he never done it fer no sacrifice an the way i take it is there were the of an hour long discussion of the kind that love where the talk runs in shouting circles and no one proves anything at the end had not dan struck up this cheerful rhyme up jumped the with his striped back in the and haul on the tack for it s windy weather here long jack joined in and it s weather when the winds begin to blow pipe all hands together i dan went on with a cautious look at tom holding the low in the up jumped the with his chuckle head went to the main chains to heave at the lead fer it s windy weather etc no captains courageous tom seemed to be hunting for something dan crouched lower but sang louder up jumped the that to the ground chuckle head chuckle head i mind where ye sound tom s huge rubber boot whirled across the and caught dan s uplifted arm there was war between the man and the boy ever since dan had discovered that the mere whistling of that tune would make him angry as he heaved the lead thought i d fetch yer said dan returning the gift with precision ef you don t like my music out your fiddle i ain t goin to lie here all day an listen to you an long jack candles fiddle tom or i learn ve here the tune tom leaned down to a and brought up an old white fiddle s eye and from somewhere behind the post he drew out a tiny thing with wire strings which he called a t is a concert said long jack beaming through the smoke a lar boston concert captains courageous there was a burst of spray as the opened and in yellow descended ye re just in time s she outside jest this he dropped on to the with the push and heave of the we re here we re to our down ye lead course said long jack guess there ain t more n two old songs i know an ye ve them both his excuses were cut short by tom into a most tune like unto the of winds and the creaking of with his eyes fixed on the beams above began this ancient ancient tom flourishing all round him to make the tune and words fit a little there is a crack packet crack packet o fame she from york an the s her name you may talk o your swallow tail and black ball but the s the packet that can beat them all captains courageous now the she lies in the river because of the boat to take her to sea but when she s you shortly will know chorus she s the liverpool packet o lord let her go i now the she s the banks o where the water s all shallow and the bottom s all sand all the little fishes that swim to an fro chorus she s the liverpool packet o lord let her go i there were scores of verses for he worked the every mile of the way between liverpool and new york as as though he were on her deck and the and the fiddle beside him tom followed with something about the rough and tough who would pilot the vessel in then they called on who felt very flattered to contribute to the entertainment but all that he could remember were some pieces of s ride that he had been taught at the camp school in the it seemed that they might be appropriate to the time and place but he had captains courageous no more than mentioned the title when brought down one foot with a bang and cried don t go on young that s a mistaken one o the worst	39
kind too it s to the ear i ha warned you said dan what s wrong said surprised and a little angry all you re goin to say said all dead wrong from start to finish an he s to blame i have no special call to right any man but t were n t no fault o s my father he told me the tale time an again an this is the way t for the wan time put in long jack under his breath ben he was o the young home the banks that was before the war of but is at all times they fund the active o an o that town he was her they fund her off cape light there was a ble gale on an they was the home s fast as they could her well he said there war n t any sense to a boat in that sea ii captains courageous the men they would n t it and he laid it before them to stay by the active till the sea run a piece they would n t that either the cape in any weather or no they jest up stays an quit rally with em folks to was mad at him not the risk and day when the sea was ca am they never stopped to think o tha y some of the active s folk was took off by a man they come into with their own tale to tell how had his town an so forth an so on an s men they was scared public em an they went back on an swore he was ble for the act t were n t the women neither that and him women don t act that way t was a o men an boys an they him town in an old till the bottom fell an he told em they d be sorry for it some day well the facts come later same s they usually do too late to be any ways useful to an honest man an he come along an picked up the slack of a tale an and ben all over more after he captains courageous was dead t was the only time ever slipped up an t were n t fair i dan good when he brought that piece back from school you don t know no better o course but i ve give you the facts hereafter an to be remembered ben were n t no kind o man as makes my father he knew him well before an after that business an you beware o hasty young next had never heard talk so long and with burning cheeks but as dan said promptly a boy could only learn what he was taught at school and life was too short to keep track of every lie along the coast then touched the little to a queer tune and sang something in about ending with a full handed sweep that brought the song up with a jerk then obliged with his second song to an old fashioned tune and all joined in the chorus this is one is over and melted the snow and outer we shortly must tow yes out o we shortly must clear we re the that never see wheat in the ear ii captains courageous here the fiddle went very softly for a while by itself and then wheat in the ear my true love s win wheat in the ear we re goin off to sea wheat in the ear i left you fit for when i come back a loaf o bread you be i that made almost weep though he could not tell why but it was much worse when the cook dropped the potatoes and held out his hands for the fiddle still leaning against the door he struck into a tune that was like something very bad but sure to happen whatever you did after a little he sang in an unknown tongue his big chin down on the fiddle tail his white glaring in the lamp light swung out of his to hear better and amid the straining of the and the wash of the waters the tune and moaned on like lee surf in a blind fog till it ended with a wail christmas gives me the blue said dan what in thunder is it the song of fin said the cook when he going to his captains courageous was not thick but all clear cut as though it came from a faith i ve been to but i did n t make that noise t is like some of the old songs though said long jack sighing don t let s another between said dan and the struck up a rattling tune that ended it s six an twenty sundays we saw the land with fifteen an fifteen old an grand i hold on roared tom d ye want to nail the trip dan that s sure less you sing it after all our salt s wet no t ain t is it not unless you sing the very verse you can t learn me anything on what s that said what s a a s anything that spoils the luck sometimes it s a man sometimes it s a boy or a bucket i ve known a knife two till we was on to her said tom captains courageous there s all sorts o jim was one till he was drowned on i d never ship with jim not if i was there a green on the flood was a too the worst sort o drowned four men she did an used to shine fiery o nights in the nest and you believe that said remembering what tom had said about candles and models have n t we all got to take what s served a	39
of ran round the yes things can happen said don t you go a mock of young well ain t no day after we him dan cut in we had a good catch the cook threw up his head and laughed suddenly a queer thin laugh he was a most murder said long jack don t do again doctor we ain t used to ut what s wrong said dan ain t he our and did n t they strike on good a er we d struck him captains courageous oh said the cook i know that but the catch not finish yet he ain t goin to do us any harm said dan hotly where are ye an to i j all right no harm no but one day he will be your master that all said dan placidly he t not by a master said the cook pointing to man and he pointed to dan that s news soon said dan with a laugh in some years and i shall see it master and man man and master how in thunder d ye work that out said tom in my head where i can see this from all the others at once i do not know but so it will be he dropped his head and went on the potatoes and not another word could they get out of him well said dan a heap o things to come fore s any master o mine but i m glad the doctor ain t to mark him for a now i y f captains courageous uncle fer the in the fleet his own special luck ef it s same s he ought to be on the that boat s her own sure an gear make no differ to her she loose in a flat ca am we re well clear o the fleet anyway said pit an all there was a on the deck uncle has his luck said dan as his father departed it s blown clear cried and all the tumbled up for a bit of fresh air the fog had gone but a sullen sea ran in great behind it the we we here slid as it were into long sunk avenues and which felt quite and if they would only stay still but they changed without rest or mercy and flung up the to crown one peak of a thousand gray hills while the wind through her as she down the slopes far away a sea would burst in a sheet of foam and the others would follow suit as at a signal till s eyes swam with the vision of and four or five mother captains courageous s chickens round in circles shrieking as they swept past the bows a rain or two strayed over the hopeless waste ran down wind and back again and melted away seems to me i saw jest over yonder said uncle pointing to the can t be any of the fleet said peering under his eyebrows a hand on the as the solid bows into the sea s over fast don t you want to up a piece an see how lays in his big boots trotted rather than climbed up the main this consumed with envy himself around the cross trees and let his eye till it caught the tiny black flag on the shoulder of a mile away swell she s all right he hailed sail o dead to the no th ard down like smoke she be too they waited yet another half hour the sky clearing in patches with a of sickly sun from time to time that made patches of olive green water then a stump captains courageous lifted and disappeared to be followed on the next wave by a high stern with wooden s horn the sails were red shouted dan no t ain t neither da ad that s no french said your blame luck holds n a screw in a head i ve eyes it s uncle you can t tell fer sure the head king of all groaned tom oh why was n t you an asleep how could i tell said poor as the swung up she might have been the very flying so foul and was every rope and stick aboard her was some four or five feet high and her flew knotted and tangled like weed at a wharf end she was running before the wind her let down to act as a sort of extra they call it and her out over the side her cocked up like an old fashioned captains courageous s her boom had been and and nailed and beyond further repair and as she herself forward and sat down on her broad tail she looked for all the world like a bad old woman at a decent girl that s said full o gin an men an the judgments o providence fer him an never good he s run in to bait way he run her under said long jack that s no fer this weather not he r he d v done it long ago replied looks s if he to run us under ain t she by the head more n natural tom ef it s his style o her she ain t safe said the sailor slowly ef she s her he d better to his mighty quick the creature up wore round with a clatter and rattle and lay head to wind within ear shot a gray beard over the and a thick voice something could not understand but s face dark captains courageous he d every stick he to carry bad news says we re in fer a shift o wind he s in fer worse he waved his arm up and down with the gesture of a man at the and pointed forward the crew him	39
and laughed ye an strip ye an trip ye uncle a gale a gale cast up fer your last trip all you you won t see no more no more crazy full as usual said tom wish he had n t us though she drifted out of hearing while the something about a dance at the bay of and a dead man in the shuddered he had seen the decks and the savage eyed crew an that s a fine little hell fer her draught said long jack i what mischief he s been at ashore he s a dan explained to an he runs in fer bait all along the coast oh no not home he don t go he along the south an east shore up yonder he nodded in the direction of the pitiless won t captains courageous never take me ashore there they re a mighty tough crowd an s the you saw his boat well she s nigh seventy year old they say the last o the old heel they don t make them any more don t use though he ain t wanted there he in debt an like you ve heard bin a fer years an years he liquor the boats fer an selling winds an such crazy i guess t won t be any use the to night said tom with quiet despair he come alongside special to us i d give my an share to see him at the o the old fore we quit jest six dozen an sam em on cross the heel danced down wind and all eyes followed her suddenly the cook cried in his voice it his own death made him speak so he i tell you look she sailed into a patch of watery sunshine three or four miles distant the patch and faded out and even as the captains courageous light passed so did the she dropped into a hollow and was not run under by the great hook block shouted jumping aft drunk or sober we ve got to help em heave short and break her out smart was thrown on the deck by the shock that followed the setting of the and for they short on the cable and to save time jerked the anchor bodily from the bottom heaving in as they moved away this is a bit of brute force seldom resorted to except in matters of life and death and the little we we here complained like a human they ran down to where s craft had vanished found two or three a gin bottle and a stove in but nothing more let em go said though no one had hinted at picking them up i would n t a match that belonged to aboard guess she run clear under must ha been her fer a week an they never thought to pump her that s one more boat gone along o port all hands drunk glory be said long jack we d ha been obliged to help em if they was top o water captains courageous o that myself said tom said the cook rolling his eyes he taken his own luck with him i ver good thing i to tell the fleet when we see eh said if you that way before the wind and she work open her he threw out his hands with an indescribable gesture while sat down on the house and sobbed at the sheer horror and pity of it all could not realize that he had seen death on the open waters but he felt very sick then dan went up the cross trees and them back to within sight of their own just before the fog the sea once again we go mighty quick when we do go was all he said to you think on that fer a spell young that was liquor after dinner it was calm enough to fish from the decks and uncle were very zealous this time and the catch was large and large fish has took his luck with bim said the wind t backed i captains courageous er how the superstition anyway insisted that they had much bet the thing and make a new berth due uie cook said the luck in two pieces you will find it so when you look know this so long jack that he tom and the two went out together a means pulling it in on one side of the picking off the fish the hooks and passing them back to the sea again something like and linen on a wash line it is a business and rather dangerous for the long line may a boat under in a flash but when they heard and to thee o out of the fog the crew of the we we here took heart the alongside well loaded tom yelling for to act as relief boat the luck s cut square in two pieces said long jack in the fish while stood open mouthed at the skill with which the plunging was saved from destruction one half was jest tom wanted to haul her an ha done ut but i captains courageous said i back the doctor that has the second sight an the other half come up full o big hurry man an bring s a tub o bait there s luck afloat to night the fish bit at the newly hooks from which their brethren had just been taken and tom and long jack moved up and down the length of the the boat s nose under the wet line of hooks the sea that they called off the fresh caught against the and s till dusk i ll take no risks said then not with him around so near won t sink fer a week heave in the an we dress after supper that was	39
quite fifteen but all the presents were solid silver protested that this kind of was desperately wicked if not indeed positively but he listened as as the others and their at the end gave entirely new notions on clothes with gold leaf tips rings watches scent small dinner parties champagne card playing and hotel i captains courageous little by little he changed his tone when speaking of his friend whom long jack had the crazy kid the gilt edged baby the and other pet names and with his sea feet cocked up on the table would even invent histories about silk and specially imported to the friend s was a very person with a keen eye and ear for every face and tone about him before long he knew where kept the old green that they called the yoke under the bed bag in his when he took the sun and with the help of the old farmer s found the latitude would jump down into the cabin and scratch the reckoning and date with a nail on the of the stove pipe now the chief engineer of the could have done no more and no engineer of thirty years service could have assumed one half of the ancient air with which first careful to spit over the side made public the s position for that day and then and not till then relieved of the there is an etiquette in all these things captains courageous the said yoke an the farming coast pilot and s were all the weapons needed to guide him except the lead that was his spare eye nearly with it when tom taught him first how to fly the blue pigeon and though his strength was not equal to continuous sounding in any sort of a sea for calm weather with a seven pound lead on water used him freely as dan said t ain t s wants it s her up good would the cup at the end and carefully bring the sand shell or whatever it might be to who and smelt it and gave judgment as has been said when thought of he thought as a and by some long tested mixture of instinct and experience moved the we we here from berth to berth always with the fish as a player moves on the unseen board but s board was the grand bank a two hundred and fifty miles on each side a waste of sea with fog vexed with with captains courageous on come and he rowed to the to find tom and the others at the because for once he had led them to the edge of the barren the blank hole of the grand bank they made another berth through the fog and that time the hair of s head stood up when he went out in s a whiteness moved in the whiteness of the fog with a breath like the breath of the grave and there was a roaring a plunging and it was his first introduction to the dread summer of the banks and he in the bottom of the boat while laughed there were days though clear and soft and warm when it seemed a sin to do anything but loaf over the hand lines and the drifting sun with an oar and there were days of light airs when was taught how to steer the from one berth to another it thrilled through him when he first felt the answer to his hand on the and slide over the long hollows as the back and forth against the blue sky that was magnificent in spite of saying that it would break a snake s back to captains courageous follow his wake but as usual pride ran before a fall they were sailing on the wine with the an old one luckily set and her right into it to show dan how completely he had mastered the art the went over with a bang and the and through the which was of course prevented from going over by the they lowered the wreck in awful silence and spent his leisure hours for the next few days under tom s lee learning to use a needle and palm dan with joy for as he said he had made the very same blunder himself in his early days all the men by turns till he had combined s peculiar stoop at the wheel long jack s swinging when the lines were hauled s round shouldered but effective stroke in a and tom s generous stride along the deck t is beautiful to see how he takes to ut said long jack when was looking out by the one thick noon i lay my an share t is more n half to him an he himself he s a captains courageous watch his little bit a back now that s the way we all begin said tom the boys they make believe all the time till they ve cheated into bein men an so till they die an done it on the old i know stood my first watch harbor watch finer n dan s full o the same kind o notions see em now to be moss backs every hair a an blood tar he spoke down the cabin stairs guess you re in your judgments fer once what in rome made ye tell us all here the kid was crazy he replied crazy a when he come aboard but i say he s up ble i cured him he good said tom t other night he told us a kid of his own size a little an four up an down i think t was an to a crowd o sim lar cur us kind o fairy tale but blame he knows scores of em guess he	39
strikes em his own head captains courageous called from the cabin where he was busy with the log book stands to reason that sort is all made up it don t take in no one but dan an he laughs at it i ve heard him behind my back y ever hear what sim on peter ca said when they up a match his sister an an the boys put up that joke on him to uncle who was dripping under the lee of the nest tom puffed at his pipe in scornful silence he was a cape man and had not known that tale more than twenty years uncle went on with a chuckle sim on peter ca he said an he was jest right ha af on the he said an t other ha af blame fool an they told me she s married a man sim on peter ca he n t no roof to his mouth an talked that way he did n t talk any dutch tom replied you d better leave a cape man to tell that tale the ca was way back i don t profess to be any captains courageous ist said i m to the moral o things that s jest what be ha af on the an t other ha af blame fool an there s some believe he s a rich man did ye ever think how sweet t would be to sail a full crew o said long jack ha af in the an other ha af in the heap as ca did not say an makes out he s a a little laugh went round at s expense held his tongue and wrought over the log book that he kept in a faced square hand this was the kind of thing that ran on page after soiled page july this day thick fog and few fish made berth to northward so ends this day july this day comes in with thick fog caught a few fish july this day comes in with light breeze from n e and fine weather made a berth to eastward caught plenty fish july thi y the sabbath comes in with fog and light winds so ends this day total fish caught this week ti iso captains courageous they never worked on sundays but shaved and washed themselves if it were fine and sang hymns once or twice he suggested that if it was not an impertinence he thought he could preach a little uncle nearly jumped down his throat at the mere notion reminding him that he was not a preacher and must n t think of such things we d him next explained an what would happen then so they on his reading aloud from a book it was an old volume smelling of a hundred voyages very solid and very like the bible but with accounts of battles and and they read it nearly from cover to otherwise was a silent little body he would not utter a word for three days on end sometimes though he played listened to the songs and laughed at the stories when they tried to stir him up he would answer i don t wish to seem but it is because i have nothing to say my head feels quite empty i ve almost forgotten my name he would turn to uncle with an expectant smile captains courageous why would shout you me next no never would say shutting his lips firmly of course he would repeat over and over sometimes it was uncle who forgot and told him he was or rich or but was equally content till next time he was always very tender with whom he pitied both as a lost child and as a lunatic and when saw that liked the boy he relaxed too was not an amiable person he esteemed it his business to keep the boys in order and the first time in fear and trembling on a still day managed to up to the main dan was behind him ready to help he esteemed it his duty to hang s big sea boots up there a sight of shame and derision to the nearest with took no liberties not even when the old man dropped direct orders and treated him like the rest of the crew to don t you want to do so and so and guess you d better and so forth there was something about the clean shaven lips and the comers captains courageous of the eyes that was to young blood showed him the meaning of the and pricked which he said laid over any government publication whatsoever led him pencil in hand from berth to berth over the whole string of banks le have western st green and grand talking meantime taught him too the principle on which the was worked in this dan for he had inherited a head for figures and the notion of stealing information from one glimpse of the sullen bank sun appealed to all his keen wits for other sea matters his age him as said he should have begun when he was ten dan could bait up or lay his hand on any rope in the dark and at a pinch when uncle had a sore on his palm could dress down by sense of touch he could steer in anything short of half a gale from the feel of the wind on his face the we re here just when she needed it these things he did as as he about the or made his a part of his own will and body captains courageous but he could not communicate his knowledge to still there was a good deal of general information flying about the on stormy days when they lay up in the or sat on the cabin while spare eye leads and rings rolled and rattled	39
in the pauses of the talk spoke of voyages in the of great she slain beside their young of death agonies on the black tossing seas and blood that forty feet in the air of boats smashed to of patent that went off wrong end first and the trembling i in and boiling down and that terrible of when twelve hundred men were made on the ice in three days wonderful tales all true but more wonderful still were his stories of the and how they argued and reasoned on their private deep down below the long jack s tastes ran more to the supernatural he held them silent with ghastly stories of the yo on beach that mock and lonely of sand and who were never properly buried of hidden treasure on captains courageous fire island guarded by the spirits of s men of ships that sailed in the fog straight over of that harbor in where no one but a stranger will lie at anchor twice in a certain place because of a dead crew who row alongside at midnight with the anchor in the bow of their old fashioned boat whistling not calling but whistling for the soul of the man who broke their rest had a notion that the east coast of his native land from mount desert south was chiefly by people who took their horses there in the summer and entertained in country houses with floors and he laughed at the ghost tales not as much as he would have done a month before but ended by sitting still and shuddering tom dealt with his interminable trip round the horn on the old in the days with a navy more extinct than the the navy that passed away in the great war he told them how red hot shot are dropped into a cannon a of wet clay between them and the how they and when they strike wood and how the little captains courageous ship boys of the miss jim buck water over them and shouted to the fort to and he told tales of long weeks of swaying at anchor varied only by the departure and return of that had used up their coal there was no change for the sailing ships of and cold cold that kept two hundred men night and day and at the ice on cable blocks and when the was as red hot as the fort s shot and men drank by the bucket tom had no use for steam his service closed when that thing was comparatively new he admitted that it was a invention in time of peace but looked for the day when sails should come back again on ten thousand ton with hundred foot s talk was slow and gentle all about pretty girls in washing clothes in the dry beds of streams by moonlight under waving legends of saints and tales of queer dances or fights away in the cold ports was mainly agricultural for though he read and it his mis captains courageous sion in life was to prove the value of green and specially of against every form of whatsoever he grew about he dragged greasy orange books from his and them his finger at to whom it was all greek little was so pained when made fun of s lectures that the boy gave it up and suffered in polite silence that was very good for the cook naturally did not join in these conversations as a rule he spoke only when it was absolutely necessary but at times a queer gift of speech descended on him and he held forth half in half in broken english an hour at a time he was especially with the boys and he never withdrew his prophecy that one day would be dan s master and that he would see it he told them of in the winter up cape way of the dog train that goes to and of the ram steamer that breaks the ice between the and prince edward island then he told them stories that his mother had told him of life far to the south captains courageous ward where water never and he said that when he died his soul would go to lie down on a warm white beach of sand with palm trees waving above that seemed to the boys a very odd idea for a man who had never seen a palm in his life then too regularly at meal he would ask and alone whether the cooking was to his taste and this always made the second half laugh yet they had a great respect for the cook s judgment and in their hearts considered something of a by consequence and while was taking in knowledge of new things at each pore and hard health with every of the good air the re here went her ways and did her business on the bank and the silvery gray of well pressed fish mounted higher and higher in the hold no one day s work was out of the common but the average days were many and close together naturally a man of s reputation was closely watched upon dan called it by his neighbors but he had a very pretty of giving them the slip through the fog banks l o captains courageous avoided company for two reasons he wished to make his own experiments in the first place and in the second he objected to the mixed of a fleet of all nations the bulk of them were mainly boats with a scattering from and some of the ports but the drew from goodness knows where risk and when is added there are fine chances for every kind of accident in the crowded fleet which like a mob of sheep is huddled round some leader let the two lead em said	39
we re to lay among em fer a spell on the eastern though ef luck holds we won t to lay long where we are ain t considered good ain t it said who was drawing water he had learned just how to the bucket after an unusually long should n t mind striking some poor ground for a change then all the i want to see don t want to strike her is eastern point said dan say it looks s if we would n t to lay more n two weeks on the captains courageous i i you meet all the company you want then that s the time we begin to work no meals fer no one then up when ye re hungry an sleep when ye can t keep awake good job you was n t picked up a month later than you was or we d never ha had you dressed in shape fer the old virgin understood from the that the old virgin and a nest of curiously named were the turning point of the and that with good luck they would wet the balance of their salt there but seeing the size of the virgin it was one tiny dot he wondered how even with the yoke and the lead could find her he learned later that was entirely equal to that and any other business and could even help others a big four by five hung in the cabin and never understood the need of it till after some blinding thick days they heard the of a foot power fog horn a machine whose note is as that of a elephant they were making a short berth the anchor under their foot to save trouble square fer his latitude said captains courageous long jack the dripping red of a bark glided out of the fog and the here rang her bell thrice using sea the larger boat backed her with shrieks and frenchman said uncle scornfully boat from st the farmer had a sea eye i m most outer too same here said tom hi you where you from st eh ah ha out out st st et cried the other crowd waving caps and laughing then all together bring up the board beats me how them fetch america s forty six forty nine s good enough fer them an i guess it s right too dan the figures on the board and they hung it in the main to a chorus of from the bark t u i sir captains courageous seems kinder to let em off like this suggested feeling in his pockets ye learned french then last trip said don t want no more stone at us long o your boats same s you did off le have rush he said that was the way to rise em plain united states is good enough fer me we re all short on young don t you speak french oh yes said and he hi say pour ah they cried and laughed again that hit em let s heave a over anyway said tom i don t exactly hold no on french but i know another that goes i guess come on an interpret the and confusion when he and were hauled up the bark s black side was indescribable her cabin was all stuck round with glaring colored prints of the virgin chapter vi the thing that struck him most was the exceedingly casual way in which some craft about the broad atlantic fishing boats as dan said were naturally dependent on the courtesy and wisdom of their neighbors but one expected better things of that was after another interesting interview when they had been chased for three miles by a big old all over on the upper deck that smelt like a thousand cattle pens a very excited officer at them through a speaking trumpet and she lay and helplessly on the water while ran the we we here under her lee and gave the a piece of his mind where might ye be eh ye don t deserve to be you barn yard go the road on the high seas with no blame consideration fer your neighbors an your eyes in your coffee cups o in your silly heads x captains courageous at this the danced on the bridge and said something about s own eyes we have n t had an observation for three days d you suppose we can run her blind he shouted wa al can retorted what s come to your lead et it can t ye smell bottom or are them cattle too rank what d ye feed em said uncle with intense seriousness for the smell of the pens woke all the farmer in him they say they fall off on a v as it s any o my business but i ve a kind o notion that oil cake broke small an sprinkled thunder said a cattle man in a red as he looked over the side what asylum did they let his whiskers out of young began standing up in the fore let me tell fore we go any further that i ve the officer on the bridge took off his cap with immense politeness excuse me he said but i ve asked for my reckoning if the agricultural person with the hair will kindly shut his head the sea green with the wall eye may per condescend to us i captains courageous you ve made a show o me said angrily he could not stand up to that particular sort of talk and snapped out the latitude and without more lectures well that s a boat load of sure said the as he rang up the and tossed a bundle of newspapers into the of the blamed fools next to you him an his crowd are the i	39
ve ever seen said as the ive re here slid away i was jest him my on round these waters like a lost child an you must cut in with your fool can t ye never keep things rate dan and the others stood back one to the other and full of joy but and seriously till evening arguing that a cattle boat was practically a barn on blue water and that even if this were the case decency and pride demanded that he should have kept things rate long jack stood it in silence for a time an angry makes an unhappy crew and then he spoke across the table after supper captains courageous s the good o they say said he they tell that tale us fer years that s all said oil cake sprinkled with salt o course said reading the farming reports from a week old new york paper it s to all my s the went on can t see ut that way said long jack the look at here is there another packet afloat this day in this weather ha met a tramp an over an above her her over an above that i say ha her quite intelligent on the management an such at sea ut they will not t was the most conversation that double game an twice all to us dan kicked under the table and choked in his cup well said who felt that his honor had been somewhat i said i did n t know as t any business o mine fore i spoke captains courageous an right there said tom experienced in discipline and etiquette right there i take it you should ha asked him to stop ef the conversation likely in your to be what it should n t but that s so said who saw his way to an honorable retreat from a t of the why o course it was so said you bein here an i d cheerful stopped on a hint not from any or conviction but fer the sake o an example to these two blame boys of did n t i tell you t would come to us fore we d done always those blame boys but i would n t have missed the show fer a half share in a dan whispered things should ha been rate said and the light of new argument lit in s eye as he cut into his pipe there s a power in things rate said long jack intent on the storm that s captains courageous ij of and hare s fund when he sent fer on the d o cap that was took with try an could n t go the we called him nick he never went aboard fer a night a pond o rum in the manifest said tom playing up to the lead he used to bum the c mission houses to boston fer the lord to make him captain of a tow boat on his merits sam up to atlantic give him his board free fer a year or more on account of his stories the dead these fifteen year ain t he seventeen i guess he died the year the mc was built but he could keep things rate him fer the reason the thief the hot stove there was else that season the men was all to the banks and he up an hard crowd fer crew rum ye ha floated the an all in they aboard her they boston harbor for the great grand bank a nor behind captains courageous em an all hands full to the an the looked after for a watch did they set an a rope did they lay hand to till they d seen the bottom a fifteen o that was about wan week so far as remembered if i only tell the tale as he told ut all that the wind blew like ould glory an the t was summer and they d give her a struck her gait and kept ut then the yoke an over it for a an made out that an the an the in his head that they was to the south ard o island along glorious but then they another an quit about fer another spell the she lay down she dropped boston light and she never her lee rail up to that time on one an the same but they saw no weed nor nor an they they d bin out a matter o fourteen days and they the bank had payment so they sounded an got sixty that s me that s me iv ry time i ve captains courageous run her on the bank fer you an when we get thirty we turn in like little men is the b y he the cast they got ninety either the lead line s to or else the bank s sunk they hauled ut up bein just about in that state when ut seemed right an reasonable and sat down on the deck the knots an her up the she d struck her gait an she ut an along come a tramp an spoke her ye seen any boats now he quite casual there s s them off the irish coast the tramp go shake have i to do the irish coast then are ye here the tramp christianity he always said that his sucked an he was not good christianity he where am i at thirty five mile west sou west o cape captains courageous clear the tramp if that s any consolation to you fetched wan jump four feet inches measured by the cook consolation he as brass d ye take me fer a dialect thirty five mile from cape clear an fourteen days firom boston light christianity t is a record an by	39
the same token i ve a mother to think ut the um but ye see he could keep things the crew was mostly cork an men one that wanted to go back but they called him a an they ran the ould into an they had an time around with on the ould sod fer a week thin they back an it cost em two an thirty days to beat to the banks again t was on towards fall and was low so ran her back to boston no more bones to ut and what did the firm say demanded could they the fish was on the banks an was at t wharf captains courageous his record trip east they their satisfaction out that an ut all came not the crew and the rum separate in the first place an in the second the rest his he was an citizen once i was in the said ia his gentle voice they not want any of her in eh at r give us no price so we go across the water and think to sell to some man then it blow fresh and we cannot see well eh at then it blow some more fresh and we go down below and drive very fast no one know where by and by we see a land and it get some hot then come two three in a brick eh at we ask where we are and they say now what you all think grand said after a moment shook his head smiling said tom no worse than that we was below and the brick she was from so we sell our there not bad so eh at captains courageous can a like this go right across to africa said go the horn ef there s worth goin fer and the holds said my father he run his packet an she was a kind o fifty ton i guess the he run her over to green land s icy mountains the year ha af our fleet was after there an what s more he took my mother along with him to show her the money was earned i an they was all up an i was born at don t remember it o course we come back when the ice in the spring but they named me fer the place kinder mean trick to put up on a baby but we re all to make mistakes in lives sure sure said his head all to make mistakes an i tell you two boys here after you ve made a mistake ye don t make fewer n a hundred a day the next best thing s to own up to it like men long jack winked one tremendous wink that embraced all hands except and and the incident was closed captains courageous then they made berth after berth to the northward the out almost every day running along the east edge of the grand bank in thirty to forty water and fishing steadily it was here first met the who is one of the best but uncertain in his moods they were out of their one black night by of o from and for an hour and a half every soul aboard hung over his a piece of lead painted red and armed at the lower end with a circle of pins bent backward like half opened umbrella ribs the for some unknown reason likes and himself round this thing and is hauled up ere he can escape from the pins but as he leaves his home he first water and next ink into his s face and it was curious to see the men weaving their heads from side to side to the shot they were as black as sweeps when the ended but a pile of fresh lay on the deck and the large thinks very well of a little shiny piece of at the tip of a hook next day they caught many fish and met the to whom they shouted their l o captains courageous luck and she wanted to trade seven for one fair sized but would not agree at the price and the dropped sullenly to and half a mile away in the hope of striking on to some for herself said nothing till after supper when he sent dan and out to the we we here s cable and announced his intention of turning in with the broad axe dan naturally repeated these remarks to a from the who wanted to know why they were their cable since they were not on rocky bottom he would n t trust a within five mile o you dan howled cheerfully why don t he out then who s said the other you ve jest the same lee bowed him an he don t take that from any boat not to speak o a butt as you be she ain t any this trip said the man angrily for the had an reputation for breaking her ground tackle captains courageous l i then d you make said dan it s her best p int o an ef she s quit what in thunder are you with a new boom that shot went home hey you organ take your monkey back to go back to school dan troop was the answer o ver ver dan who knew that one of the carries crew had worked in an factory the winter before you to call a man a is not well received dan answered in kind yourself ye ye with your brick in your and the forces separated but had the worst of it i knew t would be said she s the wind already some one put a on packet she till midnight an jest when we re our sleep she strike adrift	39
good job we ain t crowded with craft s but i ain t goin to up anchor fer she may hold i captains courageous the wind which had hauled round rose at and blew steadily there was not enough sea though to disturb even a s tackle but the was a law unto herself at the end of the boys watch they heard the crack crack crack of a huge revolver aboard her glory glory sung dan here she comes butt end first in her sleep same s she done on had she been any other boat would have taken his chances but now he cut the cable as the with all the north atlantic to play in down directly upon them the we we here under and riding sail gave her no more room than was absolutely necessary did not wish to spend a week hunting for his cable but up into the wind as the passed within easy hail a silent and angry boat at the mercy of a of bank good said raising his head gear an does your garden grow go to an hire a mule said uncle we don t want no farmers here captains courageous n will i lend you my anchor cried i long jack your an stick it in the mud said tom say dan s voice rose shrill and high as he stood on the wheel box sa ay is there a strike in the o ver all factory or they hired girls ye out the lines cried and nail em to the bottom that was a salt jest he had been put up to by tom leaned over the stern and play the organ he flourished his broad thumb with a gesture of unspeakable contempt and derision while little covered himself with glory by up a little come here they rode on their chain for the rest of the night a short uneasy motion as found and wasted half the recovering the cable but the boys agreed the trouble was cheap at the price of triumph and glory and they thought with grief over all the beautiful things that they might have said to the x l x chapter vii next day they fell in with more sails all slowly from the east towards the west but just when they expected to make the by the virgin the fog shut down and they surrounded by the of invisible bells there was not much fishing but occasionally met in t e fog and exchanged news that night a little before dawn dan and who had been sleeping most of the day tumbled out to hook there was no reason why they should not have taken them openly but they tasted better so and it made the cook angry the heat and smell below drove them on deck with their plunder and they found at the bell which he handed over to keep her goin said he i i hear ef it s anything i m best where i am so s to get at things captains courageous it was a forlorn little the thick air seemed to pinch it off and in the pauses heard the muffled shriek of a s and he knew enough of the banks to know what that meant it came to him with horrible distinctness how a boy in a cherry colored he despised fancy now with all a s contempt how an ignorant boy had once said it would be great if a steamer ran down a fishing boat that boy had a with a hot and cold bath and spent ten minutes each morning picking over a gilt edged bill of fare and that same boy no his very much older brother was up at four of the dim dawn in streaming literally for the dear life on a bell smaller than the d s breakfast bell while somewhere close at hand a thirty foot steel stem was along it twenty miles an hour the bitterest thought of all was that there were folks asleep in dry who would never learn that they had a boat before breakfast so rang t e bell yes they one o their blame said dan applying himself is captains courageous to s fer to keep inside the law an that s when we re all at the bottom hark to her she s a f went the went the bell went the while sea and sky were all up in fog then felt that he was near a moving body and found himself looking up and up at the wet edge of a cliff like bow leaping it seemed directly over the a little feather of water curled in front of it and as it lifted it showed a long ladder of roman xv xvi and so forth on a salmon colored gleaming side it forward and downward with a the ladder disappeared a line of brass port holes flashed past a jet of steam puffed in s helplessly uplifted hands a of hot water roared along the rail of the we re here and the little staggered and shook in a rush of screw torn water as a s stern vanished in the fog got ready to faint or be sick or both when he heard a crack like a trunk thrown on a and all small in his ear a far away captains courageous voice heave to you ve sunk us is it us he gasped no boat out yonder ring we re goin to look said dan running out a in half a minute all except and the cook were and away presently a s stump snapped clean across drifted past the bows then an empty green came by knocking on the we we here s side as though she wished to be taken in then followed face down in a	39
blue but it was not the whole of a man changed color and caught his breath with a click at the bell for he feared they might be sunk at any minute and he jumped at dan s hail as the crew came back the said dan cut clean in half up an on at that not a quarter of a mile away s got the old man there ain t any one else and there was his son too oh i can t stand it i ve seen he dropped his head on his arms and sobbed while the others dragged a gray headed man aboard l captains what did you pick me up for the stranger groaned what did you pick me up for dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder for the man s eyes were wild and lips trembled as he stared at the silent crew then up and spoke who was also or rich or when uncle forgot and his face was changed on him from the face of a fool to the countenance of an old wise man and he said in a strong voice the lord gave and the lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the lord i was i am a minister of the gospel leave him to me oh you be be you said the man then pray my son back to me pray back a nine thousand dollar boat an a thousand of fish if you d left me alone my widow could ha gone on to the an worked fer her board an never known an never known now i to tell her there ain t to say better lie down a piece when a man has lost his only son his summer s work and his means of captains js in thirty counted seconds it is hard to give consolation a men was n t they said tom helplessly with a oh that don t make no odds said wringing the wet from his beard i be summer east this fall he rolled heavily to the rail singing happy birds thai sing and fly round thine o most high i come with me come below said as though he had a right to give orders their eyes met and fought for a quarter of a minute i no who you be but i come said i get back some o the some o the nine thousand dollars led him into the cabin and slid the door behind that ain t cried uncle it s jacob an he s remembered i never seed such eyes in any man s head what s to do what i do captains courageous they could hear s voice and s together then s went on alone and slipped off his hat for was praying presently the little man came up the steps huge drops of sweat on his face and looked at the crew dan was still sobbing by the wheel he don t know us groaned it s all to do over again and everything an what he say to spoke they could hear that it was to strangers i have prayed said he our people believe in prayer i have prayed for the life of this man s son mine were drowned before my eyes she and my eldest and the others shall a man be more wise than his maker i prayed never for their lives but i have prayed for this man s son and he will surely be sent him looked at to see if he remembered how long have i been mad asked suddenly his mouth was you were n t never mad began only a little distracted like i saw the houses strike the bridge before captains courageous the fires broke out i do not remember any more how long ago is that i can t stand it i can t stand it cried dan and in sympathy five year said in a shaking voice then i have been a charge on some one for every day of that time who was the man pointed to ye t ye t cried the sea farmer twisting his hands together ye ve more n earned your keep twice told an there s money you besides ha af o my quarter share in the boat which is yours fer value received you are good men i can see that in your faces but mother mercy whispered long jack an he s been us all these he s clean a s bell struck up alongside and a voice hailed through the fog o heard the they have found his son cried stand you still and see the of the lord captains courageous got aboard here answered but his voice there war n t any one else we ve i und one though run him up in a mess o lumber might ha bin a his head s cut some who is he the we re heart beats answered one another guess it s young the voice raised his hands and said something in german could have sworn that a bright sun was shining upon his lifted face but the went on sa ay you us considerable t other night we don t feel like in any now said i know it but to tell the honest truth we was kinder kinder when we run young it was the irrepressible and a roar of unsteady laughter went up from the deck of the we we here n t you s well send the old man aboard we re in fer more ins bait an tackle guess you v on t want him anyway c v this blame work makes us short handed we take care of him he married my woman s aunt i give you anything in the boat said	39
was seen riding the boom and shouting to a friend as black as himself after they had the cable all around the virgin is rocky bottom and carelessness means ground tackle and danger from drifting after they had the cable their went forth to join the mob of boats about a mile away the rocked and dipped at a safe distance like mother ducks watching their brood while the behaved like as they drove into the confusion boat boat s ears at the comments on his every dialect from to long island with french and with songs and and new oaths rattled round him and he seemed to be the butt of it all for the first time in his life he felt shy perhaps that came from living so long with only the we re among the scores of wild faces captains courageous that rose and fell with the small craft a gentle breathing swell three from to barrel would quietly shoulder up a string of painted they hung for an instant a wonderful against the sky line and their men pointed and hailed next moment the open mouths waving arms and bare disappeared while on another swell came up an entirely new line of characters like paper figures in a toy theatre so stared watch out said dan flourishing a when i tell you dip you dip the school any time from on u we lay tom pushing and greeting old friends here and warning old enemies there tom led his little fleet well to of the general crowd and immediately three or four men began to haul on their with intent to lee bow the we we but a yell of laughter went up as a shot from her station with ig speed its pulling madly on the give her slack roared twenty voices let him shake it out captains courageous t what s the matter said as the boat away to the southward he s is n t he sure enough but his s kinder said dan laughing whale s it dip here they come the sea round them clouded and dark and then up in showers of tiny silver fish and over a space of five or six acres the began to leap like in may while behind the three or four broad gray black backs broke the water into then everybody shouted and tried to haul up his anchor to get among the school and his neighbor s line and said what was in his heart and dipped y with his dip net and shrieked and advice to his companions while the deep like opened water and men and together flung in upon the bait was nearly knocked overboard by the handle of dan s net but in all the wild tumult he noticed and never forgot the wicked set little eye something like a jt s eye of a whale that drove captains courageous along almost level with the water and so he said winked at him three boats found their by these reckless mid sea and were half a mile ere their horses shook the line free then the moved off and five minutes later there was no sound except the splash of the the flapping of the and the of the as the men stunned them it was wonderful fishing could see the glimmering below swimming slowly in biting as steadily as they swam bank law strictly more than one hook on one line when the are on the virgin or the eastern but so close lay the boats that even single hooks and found himself in hot argument with a gentle hairy on one side and a howling on the other worse than any of fishing lines was the confusion of the below water each man had where it seemed good to him drifting and round his fixed point as the fish struck on less quickly each man wanted to haul up and get to better ground but every third man found himself it was wonderful fishing could see the below biting as steadily as but so close lay the boats that even hooks captains courageous intimately connected with some four or five neighbors to cut another s is crime unspeakable on the banks yet it was done and done without detection three or four times that day tom caught a man in the black act and knocked him over the with an oar and served a fellow in the same way but s anchor line was cut and so was s and they were turned into relief boats to carry fish to the we we here as the filled the once more at twilight when the mad was repeated and at dusk they rowed back to dress down by the light of lamps on the edge of the pen it was a huge pile and they went to sleep while they were dressing next day several boats right above the cap of the virgin and with them looked down on the very weed of that lonely rock which rises to within twenty feet of the surface the were there in marching solemnly over the when they bit they bit all together and so when they stopped there was a slack time at noon and the began to search for amusement it was o captains courageous dan who sighted the hope of coming up and as her boats joined the company they were greeted with the question who s the meanest man in the fleet three hundred voices answered cheerily nick it sounded like an organ chant who stole the lamp that was dan s contribution nick sang the boats who the salt bait fer soup this was an unknown a quarter of a mile away again the joyful chorus now was not especially mean but he had that reputation and the fleet made the most of it then they discovered a man from	39
a boat who six years before had been convicted of using a tackle with five or six hooks a they call it on the naturally he had been jim and though he had hidden himself on the ever since he found his honors waiting for him full blown they took it up in a sort of fire chorus jim o jim jim l o jim ij captains courageous jim that pleased everybody and when a poetical man he had been making it up all day and talked about it for weeks sang the s anchor does n t hold her for a cent the felt that they were indeed fortunate then they had to ask that man how he was off for beans because even poets must not have things all their own way every and nearly every man got it in turn was there a careless or dirty cook anywhere the sang about him and his food was a badly found the fleet was told at full length had a man tobacco from a he was named in meeting the name tossed from to s judgments long jack s market boat that he had sold years ago dan s sweetheart oh but dan was an angry boy s bad luck with s views on s little slips from virtue ashore and s handling of the oar all were laid before the public and as the fog fell around them in silvery sheets beneath the sun the voices sounded like a bench of invisible judges sentence ao captains courageous the and and till a swell the sea then they drew more apart to save their sides and some one called that if the swell continued the virgin would break a reckless man with his nephew denied this hauled up anchor and rowed over the very rock itself many voices called them to come away while others dared them to hold on as the smooth backed passed to the southward they the high and high into the mist and dropped her in ugly water where she spun round her anchor within a foot or two of the hidden rock it was playing with death for mere and the boats looked on in uneasy silence till long jack rowed up behind his countrymen and quietly cut their can t ye hear ut he cried pull for your miserable lives pull the men swore and tried to argue as the boat drifted but the next swell checked a little like a man on a carpet there was a deep sob and a gathering roar and the virgin flung up a couple of acres of foaming water white furious and ghastly over the sea then all the boats greatly ap captains courageous long jack and the men held their tongue ain t it elegant said dan like a young seal at home she break about once every ha af hour now less the swell piles up good what s her lar time when she s at work tom once fifteen minutes to the you ve s en the greatest thing on the banks an but for long jack you d seen some men too there came a sound of merriment where the fog lay thicker and the were ringing their bells a big bark cautiously out of the mist and was received with shouts and cries of come along from the another frenchman said t you eyes she s a boat goin in fear an said dan we the very sticks out of her guess it s he t me her ever met up with the fleet this way she was a black eight craft her was up and her in what little wind was moving now a bark is feminine io captains courageous beyond all other daughters of the sea and this tall hesitating creature with her white and gilt looked just like a bewildered woman half lifting her skirts to cross a muddy street under the of bad little boys that was very much her situation she knew she was somewhere in the neighborhood of the virgin had caught the roar of it and was therefore asking her way this is a small part of what she heard from the dancing the virgin are you of this is le have on a sunday go home an sober up go home ye go home an tell em we re half a dozen voices together in a most chorus as her stern went down with a roll and a into the she strikes hard up hard up fer your life you re on top of her now hard let go everything all hands to the an pole her here the lost his temper and said captains courageous things instantly fishing was suspended to answer him and he heard many curious facts about his boat and her next port of call they asked him if he were and whence he had stolen his anchor because they said it belonged to the they called his boat a mud and accused him of to frighten the fish they offered to tow him and charge it to his wife and one audacious youth slipped almost under the counter it with his open palm and up buck the cook emptied a pan of ashes on him and he replied with heads the bark s crew fired small coal from the and the threatened to come aboard and her they would have warned her at once had she been in real peril but seeing her well clear of the virgin they made the most of their chances the fun was spoilt when the rock spoke again a half mile to and the tormented bark set everything that would draw and went her ways but the felt that the honors lay with them all that night the virgin roared hoarsely and next morning over an angry sea saw the	39
fleet with captains courageous ing waiting for a lead not a was out till ten o clock when the two of the days eye imagining a lull which did not exist set the example in a minute half the boats were out and in the but troop kept the we re at work dressing down he saw no sense in dares and as the storm grew that evening they had the pleasure of receiving wet strangers only too glad to any refuge in the gale the boys stood by the with the men ready to haul one eye cocked for the sweeping wave that would make them drop everything and hold on for the dear life out of the dark would come a yell of they would hook up and haul in a ed man and a half sunk boat till their decks were down with nests of and the were full five times in their watch did with dan jump at the fore where it lay lashed on the boom and cling with arms legs and teeth to rope and and canvas as a big wave filled the decks one was d to pieces and t e sea pitched the man lead first on to the decks cutting his captains courageous forehead open and about dawn when the racing seas white all along their cold edges another man blue and ghastly crawled in with a hand asking news of his brother seven extra mouths sat down to breakfast a a a boy from one and three men there was a general out among the fleet next day and though no one said anything all ate with b ter when boat after boat reported full aboard only a couple of and an old man from were drowned but many were cut or bruised and two had parted their tackle and been blown to tha southward three days sail a man died a frenchman it was the same bark that had tobacco with the re she slipped away quite quietly one wet white morning moved to a patch of deep water her sails all hanging anyhow and saw the funeral through s spy glass it was only an bundle slid they did not seem to have any form of service but in the night at ao or captains courageous heard them across the star powdered black water singing something that sounded like a hymn it went to a very slow tune la qui va et s incline pour m oh pour adieu adieu i tom visited her because he said the dead man was his brother as a it came out that a wave had doubled the poor fellow over the heel of the and broken his back the news spread like a for contrary to general custom the frenchman held an of the dead man s he had no friends at st or and everything was spread out on the top of the house from his red cap to the leather belt with the knife at the back dan and were out on twenty water in the s and naturally rowed over to join the crowd it was a long pull and they stayed some little time while dan bought captains courageous the knife which had a curious brass handle when they dropped and pushed off into a of rain and a of sea it occurred to them that they might get into trouble for the lines guess t won t hurt us any to be warmed up said dan shivering under his and they rowed on into the heart of a white fog which as usual dropped on them without warning there s too much blame tide to trust to your he said heave over the anchor and we fish a piece till the thing lifts bend on your biggest lead three pound ain t any too much in this water see how she s on her already there was quite a little at the bows where some bank current held the full stretch on her rope but they could not see a boat s length in any direction turned up his collar and himself over his with the air of a wearied fog had no special terrors for him now they awhile in silence and found the struck on well then dan drew the knife and tested the edge of it on the ai captains courageous that s a said how did you get it so cheap on account o their blame said dan with the bright blade they don t fancy iron off of a dead man so to speak see them step back when i bid but an ain t taking anything off a dead man it s business we know it ain t but there s no goin in the teeth o superstition that s one o the advantages o in a country and dan began whistling oh double how are you now eastern point comes inter view the girls an boys we soon shall see at anchor cape ann why did n t that man bid then he bought his boots ain t they don t know enough or they t got money enough to paint their in i ve seen em the man h old me that the knife had been used so the french captain told him used up on the french coast last cap courageous if cut a man heave s the hauled in his fish and threw over killed him course when i heard i was n ever to get it christmas i did n t know it said turning round i give you a dollar for it when i get my wages say i give you two dollars honest d you like it as much as all that said dan flushing well to tell the truth i kinder got it for you to give but i did	39
n t let on till i saw how you d take it it s yours and welcome because we re mates and so on and so forth an catch a he held it out belt and all but look at here dan i don t see take it t ain t no use to me i wish you to it the temptation was irresistible dan you re a white man said hj r ey i keep h s long as i live that s good said dan with a pleasant laugh and then anxious to change the subject look s if your line was fast to is captains courageous i guess said before he pulled up he fastened the belt round him and with deep delight heard the tip of the click on the concern the thing he cried she acts as though she were on bottom it s all sand here ain t it dan reached over and gave a act that way f he s sulky s no bottom her once or twice she gives sure guess we d better haul up an make certain they pulled together making fast at each turn on the and the hidden weight rose prize oh haul shouted dan but the shout ended in a shrill double shriek of horror for out of the sea came the body of the dead frenchman buried two days before the hook had caught him under the right and he swayed erect and horrible head and shoulders above water his arms were tied to his side and he had no face the boys fell over each other in a heap at the bottom of the and there they lay while the thing alongside held on the line the tide the tide brought him said captains courageous with quivering lips as he at the clasp of the belt oh lord oh groaned dan be quick he s come for it let him have it take it off i don t want it don t want it cried i can t find the bu quick he s on your line sat up to the belt facing the head that had no face under its streaming hair he s fast still he whispered to dan who slipped out his knife and cut the line as flung the belt far the body shot down with a and dan cautiously rose to his knees than the fog he come for it he come for it i ve seen a stale one hauled up on a and i did n t much care but he come to us special i wish i wish i had n t taken the knife then he d have come on your line as would ha made any differ we re both scared out o ten years growth oh did ye see his head did i i never forget it but look at here dan it could n t have been meant it was only the tide tide he come for it why i i captains courageous they sunk him six mile to southward o the fleet an we re two miles from where she s now they told me he was with a an a half o chain cable wonder he did with the knife i r on the french coast something bad guess he s bound to take it with him to the judgment an so what are you with the fish heaving em overboard said what for we sha n t eat em i don t care i had to look at his face while i was the belt off you can keep your catch if you like i ve no use for mine dan said nothing but threw his fish over again guess it s best to be on the safe side he murmured at last i d give a month s pay if this fog u d lift things go in a fog that ye don t see in clear weather yo an and such like i m relieved he come the way he did o he might ha walked do on t dan we re right on top of him now wish i was safe aboard bein by s captains courageous i they be fer us in a little the dan took the tin dinner horn but paused before he blew go on said i don t want to stay here all night question is he d take it there was a man down the coast told me once he was in a where they n t ever blow a horn to the the not the man he was with but a captain that had run her five years before he d a boy alongside in a drunk fit an ever after that boy he d row alongside too and shout with the rest a muffled voice cried through the fog they again and the horn dropped from dan s hand hold on cried it s the cook what made me think o fool tale either said dan it s the doctor sure enough dan dan we re here sung both boys together they heard oars but could see nothing till the cook shining and dripping rowed into them captains courageous what happened said he you will be beaten at home s what we want s what we re for said dan anything s good enough fer us we ve had kinder company as the cook passed them a line dan told him the tale he come for hiss knife was all he said at the end never had the little rocking we re here looked so home like as when the cook born and bred in rowed them back to her there was a warm glow of light from the cabin and a satisfying smell of food forward and it was heavenly to hear and the others all quite alive	39
and solid leaning over the rail and promising them a first class but the cook was a black master of he did not get the aboard till he had given the more striking points of the tale explaining as he backed and round the counter how was the to destroy any possible bad luck so the boys came as rather heroes and every one asked them questions instead of them for making trouble little captains courageous delivered quite a speech on the folly of but public opinion was against him and in favor of long jack who told the most ghost stories till nearly midnight under that influence no one except and said anything about when the cook put a lighted candle a cake of flour and water and a pinch of salt on a and floated them out to keep the frenchman quiet in case he was still restless dan lit the candle because he had bought the belt and the cook and muttered charms as long as he could see the point of flame said to dan as they turned in after watch how about progress and catholic i guess i m as enlightened and as the next man but when it comes to a dead st deck hand a couple o pore boys stiff fer the sake of a thirty cent knife why then the cook can take hold fer all o me i or dead next morning all except the cook were rather ashamed of the ceremonies and went captains courageous to work double tides speaking to one another the we re here was racing neck and neck for her last few loads against the and so close was the struggle that the fleet took sides and tobacco all hands worked at the lines or dressing down till they fell asleep where they stood beginning before dawn and ending when it was too dark to see they even used the cook as and turned into the hold to pass salt while dan helped to dress down luckily a man his ankle falling down the and the we we gained could not see how one more fish could be crammed into her but and tom and and the mass down with big stones from the and there was always jest another day s work did not tell them when all the salt was he rolled to the aft the cabin and began out the big this was at ten in the morning the riding sail was down and the main and were up by noon and came alongside with letters for home their good fortune at last she cleared down on captains courageous decks hoisted her flag as is the right of the first boat oflf the banks up and began to move pretended that he wished to accommodate folk who had not sent in their mail and so worked her gracefully in and out among the in reality that was his little triumphant procession and for the fifth year running it showed what kind of he was dan s and tom s fiddle supplied the music of the magic verse you must not sing till all the salt is wet i i i send your letters all our salt is an the anchor s off the bend oh bend your l we re back to with fifteen an fifteen old an grand the last letters pitched on deck wrapped round pieces of coal and the men shouted messages to their wives and and owners while the we re here finished the musical ride through the fleet her quivering like a man s hand when he raises it to say good by captains courageous very soon discovered that the we re here with her riding sail strolling from berth to berth and the we re h headed west by south under home canvas were two very different boats there was a bite and kick to the wheel even in boy s weather he could feel the dead weight in the hold flung forward across the and the streaming line of made his eyes dizzy kept them busy with the sails and when those were like a racing s dan had tc wait on the big which was put over by hand every time she went about in spare moments they for the packed fish which does not improve a cargo but since there was no fishing had time to look at the sea from another point of view the i sided w naturally on most intimate terms with h surroundings they saw little of the horizon save when she a swell and usually she was and her steadfast way through gray gray blue or black hollows across and across with streaks of shivering foam or rubbing herself along the flank of captains courageous some bigger water hill it was as if she said you would n t hurt me surely i m only ae little we re here then she would slide away softly to herself till she was brought up by some fresh obstacle the of folk cannot see this kind of thing hour after hour through long days without noticing it and being anything but dull began to comprehend and enjoy the dry chorus of wave tops turning over with a sound of incessant tearing hurry of the winds working across open spaces and the purple blue cloud shadows the splendid of the red sunrise the folding and packing away of the morning mists wall after wall withdrawn across the white floors the glare and blaze of noon the kiss of rain falling over thousands of dead flat square miles the chilly of everything at the day s end and the million wrinkles of the sea under the moonlight when the boom solemnly at the low stars and y went down to get a from the cook but the best fun was when the boys were put on the wheel	39
together tom within hail and she her lee rail down to the crashing blue and kept a little home made captains courageous rainbow unbroken over her then the jaws of the against the and the sheets and the sails filled with roaring and when she slid into a hollow she trampled like a woman tripped in her own silk dress and came out her wet half way up yearning and peering for the tall twin lights of s island they left the cold gray of the bank sea saw the lumber ships making for by the straits of st with the salt from spain and found a friendly off bank that drove them within view of the east light of island a sight did not linger over and stayed with them past western and le have to the northern fringe of george s from there they picked up the deeper water and let her go merrily s pulling on the string dan confided to an ma next sunday you be a boy to throw water on the windows to make ye go to sleep guess you keep with us till your folks come do you know the best of ashore again ik captains courageous hot bath said his eyebrows were all white with dried spray that s good but a night shirt s better i ve been o night shirts ever since we bent our ye can your toes then ma a new one fer me all washed soft it s home it s home ye can sense it in the air we ve into the of a hot wave an i can smell the wonder if we get in fer supper port a trifle the hesitating sails and in the close air as the deep smoothed out blue and round them when they whistled for a only the rain came in rods and and behind the rain the thunder and the lightning of mid august they lay on the deck with bare feet and arms telling one another what they would order at their first meal ashore for now the land was in plain sight a boat drifted alongside a man in the little pulpit on the flourishing his his bare head down with the wet and all s well he sang cheerily as though he were watch on a big s waiting fer you what s the news o the fleet a captains courageous shouted it and passed on while the wild summer storm overhead and the lightning along the from four different quarters at once it gave the low circle of hills round harbor ten pound island the fish sheds with the broken of house roofs and each and on the water in blinding photographs that came and went a dozen times to the minute as the we re here crawled in on and the whistling moaned and mourned behind her then the storm died out in long separated vicious of flame followed by a single roar like the roar of a mortar battery and the shaken air under the stars as it got back to silence the flag the flag said suddenly pointing upward what is ut said long jack ha af mast they can see us shore now i d clean forgot he s no folk to has he girl he was goin to be married to this fall mary pity said long jack and with ous lowered the little flag half mast for the sake of swept overboard in a gale off le have three months before wiped the wet from his eyes and led the we re here to s wharf giving his orders in whispers while she swung round and night hailed her from the ends of black over and above the darkness and the mystery of the procession could feel the land close round him once more with all its thousands of people asleep and the smell of earth after rain and the familiar noise of a engine to herself in a freight yard and all those things made his heart beat and his throat dry up as he stood by the they heard the on a into a pocket of darkness where a lantern on either side somebody with a threw them a rope and they made fast to a silent wharf with great iron sheds full of warm and lay there without a sound then sat down by the wheel and sobbed and sobbed as though his heart would break and a tall woman who had been sit captains courageous ting on a weigh scale dropped down into the and kissed dan once on the cheek for she was his mother and she had seen the we we here by the lightning flashes she took no notice of till he had recovered himself a little and had told her his story then they went to s house together as the dawn was breaking and until the telegraph office was open and he could wire to his folk was perhaps the boy in all america but the curious thing was that and dan seemed to think none the worse of him for crying was not ready for s prices till sure that the we we here was at least a week ahead of any other boat had given him a few days to swallow them so all hands played about the streets and long jack stopped the rocky neck on principle as he said till the conductor let him ride free but dan went about with his nose in the air of mystery and most haughty to his family dan i to lay inter you ef you act this way said troop captains courageous come ashore this time you ve bin a heap too fresh i m lay into him ef he was mine said uncle he and with the troops said dan shuffling with the round the back yard ready to leap the fence if the	39
enemy advanced you re welcome to your own judgment but remember i ve warned ye your own flesh an blood ha warned ye t ain t any o my fault ef you re but i be on deck to watch ye an fer uncle s chief butler ain t in it o you you watch an wait you be under like your own blamed but me dan troop i flourish like a green bay tree because war n t stuck on my own opinion was smoking in all his shore dignity and a pair of beautiful carpet you re crazy as poor you two go an an each other under the table till there s no peace in the said he there s goin to be a heap less fer some folks dan replied you wait an see captains courageous he and went out on the to east where they through the bushes to the and lay down on the big red and laughed themselves hungry had shown dan a and the two swore to keep silence till the shell burst s folk said dan with an face after supper well i guess they don t amount to much ot anything or we d ha heard em by his pop keeps a kind o store out west maybe he give you s much as five dollars what did i tell ye said don t over your dan chapter ix whatever his private sorrows may be a like any other should keep abreast of his business senior had gone east late in june to meet a woman broken down half mad who dreamed day and night of her son drowning in the gray seas he had surrounded her with doctors trained nurses women and even faith cure companions but they were useless mrs lay still and moaned or talked of her boy by the hour together to any one who would listen hope she had none and who could offer it all she needed was assurance that drowning did not hurt and her husband watched to guard lest she should make the experiment of his own sorrow he spoke little hardly realized the depth of it till he caught himself asking the on his writing desk what s the use of going on s captains courageous there had always lain a pleasant notion at the back of his head that some day when he off everything and the boy had left college he would take his son to his heart and lead him into his possessions then that boy he argued as busy fathers do would in become his companion partner and ally and there would follow splendid years of great works carried out together the old head the young fire now his boy was dead lost at sea as it might have been a sailor from one of s big the wife was dying or worse he himself was trodden down by of women and doctors and maids and attendants worried almost beyond endurance by the shift and change of her poor restless hopeless with no heart to meet his many enemies he had taken the wife to his raw new palace in san where she and her people occupied a wing f great price and in a room between a secretary and a who was also a toiled along wearily from day to day there was a war of among four western in which he was supposed to be inter captains courageous a strike had developed in his lumber in and the of the state of which has no love for its makers was preparing open war against him ordinarily he would have accepted battle ere it was offered and have a pleasant and campaign but now he sat his soft black hat pushed forward on to his nose his big body shrunk inside his loose clothes at his boots or the chinese in the bay and to the secretary s questions as he opened the saturday mail was wondering how much it would cost to drop everything and pull out he carried huge could buy himself royal and between one of his places in and a little society that would do the wife good say in washington and the south islands a man might forget plans that had come to nothing on the other hand the click of the stopped the girl was looking at the secretary who had turned white captains courageous he passed a repeated from san picked up by fishing we re here having fallen off boat great times on banks fishing all well waiting mass care troop for money or orders wire what shall do and how is n the father let it fall laid his head down on the top of the shut desk and breathed heavily the secretary ran for mrs s doctor who found pacing to and fro what what d you think of it is it possible is there any meaning to it i can t quite make it out he cried i can said the doctor i lose seven thousand a year that s all he thought of the struggling new york practice he had dropped at s imperious bidding and returned the with a sigh you mean you d tell her may be a fraud what s the motive said the doctor coolly detection s too certain it s the boy sure enough ik captains courageous enter a french maid as an indispensable one who is kept on only by large wages mrs she say you must come at once she think you are seek the master of thirty millions bowed his head meekly and followed and a thin high voice on the upper landing of the great white wood square staircase cried what is it what has happened no doors could keep out the shriek that rang through the echoing house a moment later	39
when her husband out the news and that s all right said the doctor serenely to the about the only medical statement in novels with any truth to it is that joy don t kill miss i know it but we ve a heap to do first miss was from somewhat direct of speech and as her fancy leaned towards the secretary she divined there was work in hand he was looking at the vast map of america on the wall we re going right across private car straight through boston fix the connections shouted down the staircase s captains courageous i thought so the secretary turned to the and their eyes met out of that was a a story nothing to do with this story she looked doubtful of his resources he signed to her to move to the as a general brings into action then he swept his hand wise through his hair regarded the ceiling and set to work while miss s white ers called up the continent of america k h los the is at los is n t she miss miss nodded between as the secretary looked at his watch ready send private car and arrange for special to leave here sunday in time to connect with new york limited at sixteenth street tuesday next click click click could n t you better that not on those that gives sixty hours from here to they won t gain anything by taking a special east of that ready also arrange with lake captains courageous shore and southern to take con on new york al and river to a und b and a the same a to boston indispensable i should reach boston wednesday evening be sure nothing prevents have also and sign miss nodded and the secretary went on now then and of course ready please take my private car from fi at sixteenth street next tuesday p m on n y limited through to and deliver n y c for ever bin to n york miss we ll go some day ready take car to on limited tuesday p m that s ic n t bin to york but i know that with a toss of the head beg pardon now boston and same instructions from through to boston leave three five p m you need n t wire that arrive nine five p m wednesday that covers everything will do but it pays t up the it captains courageous it s great said miss with a look of admiration this was the kind of man she understood and appreciated t is n t bad said modestly now any one but me would have lost thirty hours and spent a week working out the run instead of handing him over to the f straight through to but see here about that york limited himself could n t his car to her miss suggested recovering herself yes but this is n t it s lightning it goes even so guess we d better wire the boy you ve forgotten that anyhow i ask when he returned with the father s message bidding meet them in boston at an appointed hour he found miss laughing over the keys then laughed too for the frantic from los ran we want to know why why why general uneasiness developed and spreading ten minutes later appealed to miss in these words if crime o captains courageous is please warn friends in time we are all getting to cover here this was by a message from and wherein was concerned even could not guess shoots colonel we ii come down smiled grimly at the consternation of his enemies when the were laid before him they think we re on the tell em we don t feel like fighting just now tell em what we re going for i guess you and miss had better come along though it is n t likely i shall do any business on the road tell em the truth for once so the truth was told miss in the sentiment while the secretary added the memorable quotation let us have peace and in board rooms two thousand miles away the representatives of sixty three million dollars worth of railroad interests breathed more freely was flying to meet the only son so restored to him the bear was seeking his not the hard men who had their knives drawn to fight for their financial lives put away the weapons and wished him god captains courageous speed while half a dozen panic smitten tin pot roads up their heads and spoke of the wonderful things they would have done had not buried the it was a busy week end among the wires for now that their anxiety was removed men and cities hastened to accommodate los called to san and that the southern might know and be ready in their lonely passed the word to the atlantic and pacific and flung it the whole length of the and f management even into an engine combination car with crew and the great and gilded private car were to be over those two thousand three hundred and fifty miles the train would take of one hundred and seventy seven others meeting and passing and of every one of those said trains must be sixteen sixteen and sixteen would be needed each and every one the best available two and one half minutes would be allowed for changing engines three for watering and two for warn the captains courageous men and arrange and accordingly for is in a hurry a hurry a hurry sang the wires forty miles an hour will be expected and division will accompany this special over their respective divisions from san to sixteenth street let the magic carpet be laid down hurry oh hurry it will	39
be hot said as they rolled out of san in the dawn of sunday we re going to hurry just as fast as ever we can but i really don t think there s any good of your putting on your bonnet and gloves yet you d much better lie down and take your medicine i d play you a game o but it s sunday i be good oh i will be good only taking off my bonnet makes me feel as if we d never get there try to sleep a little and we be in before you know but it s boston father tell them to hurry the six foot drivers were their way to san and the but this was no grade for speed captains courageous that would come later the heat of the desert followed the heat of the hills as they turned east to the needles and the river the car cracked in the utter and glare and they put crushed ice to mrs s neck and toiled up the long long past ash fork towards where the forests and are under the dry remote skies the needle of the and to and fro the rattled on the roof and a whirl of dust sucked after the whirling wheels the crew of the combination sat on their panting in their shirt sleeves and found himself among them shouting old old stories of the railroad that every knows above the roar of the car he told them about his son and how the sea had given up its dead and they nodded and and rejoiced with him asked after her back there and whether she could stand it if the engineer let her out a piece and thought she could accordingly the great fire horse was let out from to till a division protested but mrs in the state captains courageous room where the french maid sallow white with fear clung to the silver door handle only moaned a little and begged her husband to bid them hurry and so they dropped the dry sands and moon struck rocks of behind them and on till the crash of the and the of the told them they were at by the continental divide three bold and experienced men cool confident and dry when they began white quivering and wet when they finished their trick at those terrible wheels swung her over the great lift from to and beyond up and up to the on the state line whence they dropped rocking into la had sight of the and tore down the long slope to city where took comfort once again from setting his watch an hour ahead there was very little talk in the car the secretary and sat together on the stamped spanish leather cushions by the plate glass observation window at the rear end watching the and ripple of the ties crowded back behind them and it is believed ss captains courageous making notes of the scenery moved nervously between his own extravagant and the naked necessity of the combination an cigar in his teeth till the pitying forgot that he was their enemy and did their best to entertain him at night the lit up that palace of all the luxuries and they swinging on through the of abject desolation now they heard the of a water and the voice of a the of that tested the steel wheels and the oath of a tramp chased off the now the solid crash of coal shot into the tender and now a beating back of noises as they flew past a waiting train now they looked out into great a beneath their tread or up to rocks that barred out half the stars now and changed and rolled back to jagged mountains on the horizon s edge and now broke into hills lower and lower till at last came the true plains at city an unknown hand threw in a copy of a paper containing some captains courageous sort of an interview with who had evidently fallen in with an on from boston the joyful revealed that it was beyond question their boy and it soothed mrs for a while her one word hurry was conveyed by the to the at and where the are easy and they brushed the continent behind them towns and villages were close together now and a man could feel here that he moved among people i can t see the dial and my eyes ache so what are we doing the very best we can there s no sense in getting in before the limited we d only have to wait i don t care i want to feel we re moving sit down and tell me the miles sat down and read the dial for her there were some miles which stand for records to this day but the seventy foot car never changed its long steamer like roll moving through the heat with the hum of a giant bee yet the speed was not enough for mrs and the heat the august heat was making her giddy the clock captains courageous hands would not move and when oh when would they be in it is not true that as they changed engines at fort passed over to the brotherhood of an sufficient to enable them to fight him and his fellows on equal terms for he paid his obligations to and as he believed they deserved and only his bank knows what he gave the who had with him it is on record that the last crew took entire charge of operations at sixteenth street because she was in a at last and heaven was to help any one who her now the highly paid who the lake shore and southern limited from to is something of an and he does not approve of being told how to back up to a	39
car none the less he handled the as if she might have been a load of and when the crew him they did it in whispers and dumb show said the and f men discussing life later we were captains courageous n t for a record s wife she were sick back an we did n t want to her come to think of it our time from san to was you can tell that to them eastern way trains when we re for a record we ii let you know to the western man though this would not please either city and boston are cheek by and some encourage the delusion the limited whirled the into and the arms of the new york central and river illustrious with white whiskers and gold charms on their watch chains her here to talk a little business to who slid her gracefully into where the boston and completed the run from tide water to tide water total time eighty seven hours and thirty five minutes or three days fifteen hours and one half was waiting for them after violent emotion most people and all boys demand food they the returned prodigal behind drawn curtains cut off in their great happiness while the trains roared captains courageous in and out around them h ate drank and enlarged on his adventures all in one breath and when he had a hand free his mother it his voice was with living in the open salt air his palms were rough and hard his wrists dotted with the marks of and a fine full flavor of fish hung round rubber boots and blue the father well used to judging men looked at him keenly he did not know what enduring harm the boy might have taken indeed he caught himself thinking that he knew very little whatever of his son but he remembered an faced youth who took delight in calling down the old man and his mother to tears such a person as adds to the gaiety of public rooms and hotel where the young of the wealthy play with or the bell boys but this well set up youth did not looked at him with eyes steady clear and and spoke in a tone distinctly even respectful there was that in his voice too which seemed to promise that the change might be permanent and that the new had come to stay captains courageous some one s been him thought now would never have allowed that don t see as europe could have done it any better but why did n t you tell this man troop who you were the mother repeated when had expanded his story at least twice troop dear the best man that ever walked a deck i don t care who the next is why didn t you tell him to put you ashore you know papa would have made it up to him ten times over i know it but he thought i was crazy i m afraid i called him a thief because i could n t find the bills in my pocket a sailor found them by the that that night sobbed mrs that explains it then i don t blame troop any i just said i would n t work on a banker too and of course he hit me on the nose and oh i like a stuck my poor darling they must have abused you horribly quite well after that i saw a light his leg and chuckled this o captains courageous was going to be a boy after his own hungry heart he had never seen precisely that twinkle in s eye before and the old man gave me ten and a half a month he s paid me half now and i took hold with dan and pitched right in i can t do a man s work yet but i can handle a most as well as dan and i don t get rattled in a fog much and i can take my trick in light winds that s dear and i can most bait up a and i know my ropes of course and i can pitch fish till the cows come home and i m great on old and i show you how i can clear coffee with a piece of fish skin and i think i have another cup please say you ve no notion what a heap of work there is in ten and a half a month i began with eight and a half my son said that so you never told me sir you never asked i tell you about it some day if you care to listen try a stuffed olive troop says the most interesting thing in the world is to find out how the next man gets his it s great to have a trimmed captains courageous up meal again we were well fed though best on the fed us he s a great man and dan that s his son dan s my partner and there s uncle and his an he reads he s sure i m crazy yet and there s poor little and he is crazy you must n t talk to him about because and oh you must know tom and long jack and saved my life i m sorry he s a he can t talk much but he s an everlasting he found me struck adrift and drifting and hauled me in i wonder your nervous system is n t completely wrecked said mrs what for i worked like a horse and i ate like a and i slept like a dead man that was too much for mrs who began to think of her visions of a corpse rocking on the seas she went to her and curled up beside	39
his father explaining his you can depend upon me to do everything i can for the crowd they seem to be good men on your showing fo captains courageous best in the fleet sir ask at said but believes still he s cured me of being crazy dan s the only one i ve let on to about you and our private cars and all the rest of it and i m not quite sure dan believes i want to em to morrow say can t they run the q over to don t look fit to be moved anyway and we re bound to finish cleaning out by to morrow takes our fish you see we re first off the banks this season and it s four twenty five a we held out till he paid it they want it quick you mean you ii have to work to morrow then i told troop i would i m on the scales i ve brought the with me he looked at the greasy with an air of importance that made his father choke there is n t but three no two ninety four or five more by my reckoning hire a substitute suggested to see what would say can t sir fm man for the troop says i ve a better head for figures than dan troop s a mighty just man captains courageous well suppose i don t move the to night how you fix it looked at the clock which marked twenty past eleven then i sleep here till three and catch the four o clock freight they let us men from the fleet ride free as a rule that s a notion but i think we can get the around about as soon as your men s freight better go to bed now spread himself on the sofa kicked off his boots and was asleep before his father could shade the sat watching the young face under the shadow of the arm thrown over the forehead and among many things that occurred to him was the notion that he might perhaps have been as a father one never knows when one s taking one s biggest risks he said it might have been worse than drowning but i don t think it has i don t think it has if it has n t i have n t enough to pay troop that s all and i don t think it has morning brought a fresh sea breeze through the windows the was side a captains courageous among freight cars at and had gone to his business then he fall overboard again and be drowned the mother said bitterly we ll go and look ready to throw him a rope in case you ve never seen him working for his bread said the father what nonsense as if any one expected well the man that hired him did he s about right too they went down between the stores full of s to s wharf where the we we here rode high her bank flag still flying all hands busy as in the glorious morning light stood by the main and uncle at the tackle dan was swinging the loaded baskets as long jack and tom filled them and with a represented the s interests before the clerk of the scales on the salt sprinkled wharf edge ready cried the voices below haul cried hi said here said dan swinging the basket then they captains courageous f heard s voice clear and fresh checking the the last of the fish had been whipped out and leaped from the string piece six feet to a as the shortest way to hand the shouting two ninety seven and an empty hold what s total said eight sixty five three thousand six hundred and seventy six dollars and a quarter wish i d share as well as well i won t go so far as to say you n t deserved it don t you want to slip up to s office and take him our who s that boy said to dan well used to all manner of questions from those idle called summer well he s a kind o was the answer we picked him up struck adrift on the banks fell overboard from a he he was a passenger he s by way o bein a now is he worth his keep ye this man wants to know ef s worth his keep say would you s captains courageous like to go aboard we fix a ladder for her i should very much indeed ht won t hurt you and you be able to see for yourself the woman who could not lift her head a week ago scrambled down the ladder and stood aghast amid the mess and aft be you interested in said well ye es he s a good boy an right hold jest as he s bid you ve heard we found him he was from nervous i guess r else his head had hit when we hauled him aboard he s all over that yes this is the cabin t ain t in order but you re quite welcome to look around those are his figures on the stove pipe where we keep the mostly did he sleep here said mrs sitting on a yellow and surveying the no he forward madam an only fer him an my boy an up when they ought to ha been captains courageous y asleep i as i ve any special fault to find with him there were n t wrong with said uncle descending the steps he hung my boots on the main and he ain t over an above respectful to such as knows more n he do specially about but he were mostly by dan dan in the meantime by dark hints from early	39
that morning was a war dance on deck tom tom he whispered down the his folks has come an t caught on yet an they re in the cabin she s a an he s all claimed he was by the looks of him smoke said long jack climbing out covered with salt and fish skin d ye his tale the kid an the little was i knew it all along said dan come an see in his judgments they came just in time to hear say i m glad he has a good character because he s my son s jaw fell long jack always vowed that he heard the click of it and s captains courageous he stared alternately at the man and the woman i got his in san four days ago and we came over in a private car said dan said ye might in a private car of course dan looked at his father with a of there was a tale he us four little in a his own said long jack was that now very likely said was it he had a little drag when we were in i think said the mother long jack whistled oh said he and that was all i i am in my worse n the men o said as though the words were being out of him i don t mind to you as i the boy to be crazy he talked kinder odd about money so he told me did he tell ye anything else cause captains courageous i him once this with a somewhat anxious glance at mrs oh yes replied i should say it probably did him more good than anything else in the world i t necessary er i would n t ha done it i don t want you to think we abuse our boys any on this packet i don t think you do mr troop mrs had been looking at the faces s ivory yellow iron uncle s with its rim of hair s bewildered simplicity j s quiet smile long jack s grin of delight and tom s rough by her standards they certainly were but she had a mother s wits in her eyes and she rose with outstretched hands oh tell me which is who said she half sobbing i want to thank you and bless you all of you faith that pays me a time said long jack introduced them all in due the captain of an old time could have done no better and mrs she nearly threw herself no captains courageous into s arms when she understood that he had first found but how shall i leave him said poor what do you yourself if you find him so eh at we are in one good boy and i am ever so pleased he come to be your son and he told me dan was his partner she cried dan was already sufficiently pink but he turned a rich crimson when mrs kissed him on both cheeks before the assembly then they led her forward to show her the at which she wept again and must needs go down to see s identical and there she found the cook cleaning up the stove and he nodded as though she were some one he had expected to meet for years they tried two at a time to explain the boat s daily life to her and she sat by the post her hands on the greasy table laughing with trembling lips and crying with dancing eyes and who s ever to use the we we here after this said long jack to tom i feel it as if she m made a cathedral ut all cathedral sneered tom oh captains courageous ef it had bin even the fish c boat o this o ef we only some decency an order an when she goes over she have to climb that ladder like a hen an we we ought to be the yards then was not mad said slowly to no indeed thank god the big replied stooping down tenderly it must be terrible to be mad except to lose your child i do not know anything more terrible but your child has come back let us thank god for that said looking down upon them from the wharf i i said swiftly holding up a hand i in my ye need n t rub it in any more guess i take care o that said dan under his breath you be goin off won t ye well not without the balance of my wages less you want to have the we we here attached s so i d clean forgot and he captains courageous counted out the remaining dollars you done all you contracted to do and you done it l s well as ef you d been brought up here brought himself up he did not quite see where the sentence was going to end outside of a private car suggested dan come on and i tl show her to you said stayed to talk to but the others made a procession to the with mrs at the head the french maid shrieked at the invasion and laid the glories of the before them without a word they took them in in equal silence stamped leather silver door handles and rails cut velvet plate glass bronze iron and the rare woods of the continent i told you said i told you this was his crowning revenge and a most ample one mrs a meal and that nothing might be lacking to the tale long jack told afterwards in his boarding house she waited on them herself men who are ac k captains courageous to eat at tiny tables in howling have curiously neat and finished but mrs who did	39
not know this was surprised she longed to have for a butler so silently and easily did he himself among the frail and dainty silver tom remembered great days on the and the manners of foreign who dined with the officers and long jack being irish supplied the small talk till all were at their ease in the we re here s cabin the fathers took stock of each other behind their cigars knew well enough when he dealt with a man to whom he could not offer money equally well he knew that no money could pay for what had done he kept his own counsel and waited for an opening i n t done anything to your boy or fer your boy make him work a piece an learn him how to handle the yoke said he has twice my boy s head for by the way answered casually what d you calculate to make of your boy a captains courageous removed his cigar and waved it round the cabin dan s jest plain boy an he don t allow me to do any of his he this able little packet when i m laid by he ain t anxious to quit the business i know that ever been west mr troop bin s fer york once in a boat i ve no use for no more dan salt water s good enough fer the troops i ve been most everywhere in the way o course i can give him all the salt water he s likely to need till he s a s that i thought you a kinder railroad king told me so when i was in my we re all apt to be mistaken i fancied perhaps you might know i own a line of san to six of em iron built about seventeen hundred and eighty tons apiece blame that boy he never told i d ha listened to o his an pony carriages he did n t know captains courageous little thing like that slipped his mind i guess no i only took hold of the blue m and s old line this summer where he sat beside the stove great caesar almighty i i ve bin from one end to the other why he went from this very town six year back no seven an he s mate on the san now twenty six days was her time out his sister she s here yet an she reads his letters to my woman an you own the blue m nodded if i d known that i d ha jerked the we re here back to port all on the word perhaps that would n t have been so good for ef i d only known ef he d only said about the line i d ha understood i never stand on my own again never they re well found he says so i m glad to have a recommend from that captains courageous quarter s of the san now what i was getting at is to know whether you d lend me dan for a year or two and we see if we can t make a mate of him would you trust him to it s a taking a raw boy i know a man who did more for me that s look at here i ain t dan special because he s my own flesh an blood know bank ways ain t ways but he t much to learn steer he can no boy better ef say it an the rest s in our blood an get but i could wish he war n t so weak on will attend to that he ship as a boy for a voyage or two and then we can put him in the way of doing better suppose you take him in hand this winter and i send for him early in the spring i know the pacific s a long ways off we troops an dead are all around the earth an the seas thereof but i want you to understand and i mean this any time you think you d like to see him tell me and i attend to the t won t cost you a cent captains courageous ef you walk piece with me we go to my house an talk this to my woman i ve bin so crazy in all my it don t seem to me this was like tp be real they went over to troop s eighteen hundred blue trimmed white house with a retired full of in the front yard and a parlor which was a museum of plunder there sat a large woman silent and grave with the dim eyes of those who look long to sea for the return of their beloved addressed himself to her and she gave consent wearily we lose one hundred a year from only mr she said one hundred boys an men and i ve come so s to hate the sea as if t alive an god never made it fer to anchor on these o yours they go straight out i take it and straight home again as straight as the winds let em and i give a for record passages tea don t improve by being at sea when he little he used to play at keeping store an i had hopes he might follow that up but soon s he could a o captains courageous i knew that were goin to be denied me they re square mother an well found remember what s sister reads you when she his letters i ve never known as told lies but he s too like most of em that use the sea ef dan sees fit mr he can go fer all	39
o me she jest the ocean explained an i i to act polite i guess er i d thank you better my father my own eldest brother two an my second sister s man she said dropping her head on her hand would you care fer any one that took all those was relieved when dan turned up and accepted with more delight he was able to put into words indeed the offer meant a plain and sure road to all desirable things but dan thought most of commanding watch on and looking into far away mi privately to the k the matter of s rescue r to have no desire for said that he would captains courageous take five dollars because he wanted to buy something for a girl otherwise how shall i take money when i make so easy my eats and you wilt some if like or no eh at then you shall me money but not that way you shall all you can think he introduced her to a priest with a list of as long as his as a strict mrs could not with the creed but she ended by respecting the brown little man faithful son of the church appropriated all the blessings on her for her charity that me out said he i have now ver good for six months and he strolled forth to get a handkerchief for the girl of the hour and to break die hearts of all the others went west for a season with and left no address behind he had a dread that these people with private cars might take undue interest in his companion it was better to visit inland relatives till the coast was clear never you be adopted by rich folk he said in the or i u take n break this board captains courageous over your head ef you your name which is you remember you belong with troop an set down right where you are till i come fer you don t go after them whose eyes out with to chapter x but it was otherwise with the we we here s silent cook for he came up his in a handkerchief and the pay was no particular object and he did not in the least care where he slept his business as revealed to him in dreams was to follow for the rest of his days they tried argument and at last persuasion but there is a difference between one cape and two and the matter was referred to by the cook and porter the only laughed he presumed might need a some day or other and was sure that one was worth five let the man stay therefore even though he called himself and swore in the car could go back to boston where if he were still of the same mind they would take him west captains courageous with the which in his heart of hearts he departed the last remnant of s and he gave himself up to an energetic idleness this was a new town in a new land and he to take it in as of old he had taken in all the cities from to san of that world whence he hailed they made money along the crooked street which was half wharf and half ship s store as a leading professional he wished to learn how the noble game was played men said that four out of every five fish balls served at new england s sunday breakfast came from and overwhelmed him with figures in proof of boats gear capital invested packing wages and profits he talked with the owners of the large whose were little more than hired men and whose were almost all or then he conferred with one of the few who owned their craft and compared notes in his vast head he himself away on chain in marine shops asking questions with cheerful western curiosity till all captains courageous the water front wanted to know what in thunder that man was after anyhow he into the mutual rooms and demanded explanations of the mysterious remarks up on the day by day and that brought down upon him of every s widow and orphan aid society within the city limits they begged each man anxious to beat the other institution s record and at his beard and handed them all over to mrs she was resting in a boarding house near eastern point a strange establishment managed apparently by the where the table were red and white and the population who seemed to have known one another intimately for years rose up at midnight to make if it felt hungry on the second morning of her stay mrs put away her diamond before she came down to breakfast they re most delightful people she confided to her husband so friendly and simple too though they are all boston nearly that is n t he said looking across the behind the apple captains courageous trees where the were it s the other thing that we that i have n t got it can t be said mrs quietly there is n t a woman here owns a dress that cost a hundred dollars why we i know it dear we have of course we have i guess it s only the style they wear east are you having a good time i don t see very much of he s always with you but i wn i near as nervous as i was have n t had such a good time since died i never rightly understood that i had a son before this s got to be a great boy anything i can fetch you dear cushion under your head well we go down to the wharf again and look around was his father s shadow	39
of life the scenes shifting from state after western state from cities that sprang up in a month and in a season utterly withered away to wild in that are now laborious paved it covered the building of three and the deliberate wreck of captains courageous a fourth it told of forests and mines and the men of every nation under heaven creating and digging these it touched on chances of gigantic wealth flung before eyes that could not see or missed by the merest accident of time and travel and through the mad shift of things sometimes on horseback more often now rich now poor in and out and back and forth deck hand train hand boarding house keeper engineer real estate agent dead beat rum mine owner cattle man or tramp moved alert and quiet seeking his own ends and so he said the glory and advancement of his country he told of the faith that never deserted him even when he hung on the ragged edge of despair the faith that comes of knowing men and things he enlarged as though he were talking to himself on his very great courage and resource at all times the thing was so evident in the man s mind that he never even changed his tone he described how he had his enemies or forgiven them exactly as they had or captains courageous forgiven him in those careless days how he had entreated and towns companies and all for their enduring good crawled round through or under mountains and dragging a string and iron railroad after him and in the end how he had sat still while tore the last fragments of his character to the tale held almost breathless his head a little cocked to one side his eyes fixed on his father s face as the twilight deepened and the red cigar end lit up the cheeks and heavy eyebrows it seemed to him like watching a across country in the dark a mile between each glare of the opened fire door but this could talk and the words shook and stirred the boy to the core of his soul at last pitched away the and the two sat in the dark over the water i ve never told that to any one before said the father gasped it s just the greatest thing that ever was said he that s what i of now i m coming to captains courageous what i did n t get it won t sound much of anything to you but i don t wish you to be as old as i am before you find out i can handle men of course and i m no fool along my own lines but but i can t with the man who has been taught i ve picked up as i went along and i guess it sticks out all over me i ve never seen it said the son indignantly you will though you will just as soon as you re through college don t i it don t i know the look on men s faces when they think me a a as they call it out here i can break them to little pieces yes but i can t get back at em to hurt em where they live i don t say they re way way up but i feel i m way way way off somehow now you ve got your chance you ve got to up all the learning that s around and you live with a crowd that are doing the same thing they be doing it for a few thousand dollars a year at most but remember you be doing it for millions you learn law enough to look after your own property when i m out o the light and you have captains courageous to be solid with the best men in the they are useful later and above all you have to away the plain common with your chin on your elbows nothing pays like that and it s bound to pay more and more each year in our country in business and in politics you see there s no sugar my end of the deal said four years at college wish i d chosen the and the never mind my son insisted you re your capital where it bring in the best returns and i guess you won t find our property shrunk any when you re ready to take hold think it over and let me know in the morning hurry we be late for supper as this was a business talk there was no need for to tell his mother about it and naturally took the same point of view but mrs saw and feared and was a little jealous her boy who rode rough shod over her was gone and in his stead reigned a keen faced youth silent who addressed most of his conversation to his father she understood it was captains courageous business and therefore a matter beyond her premises if she had any doubts they were resolved when went to boston and brought back a new diamond ring what have you two been doing now she said with a weak little smile as she turned it in the light talking just talking there s nothing mean about there was not the boy had made a treaty on his own account he explained gravely interested him as little as lumber real estate or what his soul after was control of his father s newly purchased sailing ship if that could be promised him within what he conceived to be a reasonable time he for his part diligence and at college for four or five years in he was to be allowed full access to all details connected with the line he had asked	39
not more than two thousand questions about it from his father s most private papers in the safe to the in san harbor it s a deal said at the last you alter your mind twenty times before you leave college o course but if you take i captains courageous hold of it in proper shape and if you don t tie it up before you re twenty three i make the thing over to you how s that never pays to split up a going concern there s too much competition in the world anyway and says blood kin to stick together his crowd never go back on him that s one reason he says why they make such big say the we we here goes off to the on monday they don t stay long ashore do they well we ought to be going too i guess i ve left my business hung up at loose ends between two and it s time to connect again i just hate to do it though have n t had a holiday like this for twenty years we ca it go without seeing off said and monday s memorial day let s stay over that anyway what is this memorial business they were talking about it at the boarding house said weakly he too was not anxious to spoil the golden days well as far as i can make out this business is a sort of song and dance act up for the summer don t captains courageous think much of it he says because they take up a collection for the and s independent have n t you noticed that well yes a little in spots is it a town show then the summer is they read out the names of the fellows drowned or gone astray since last time and they make speeches and and all then says the of the aid societies go into the back yard and fight over the catch the real show he says is in the spring the ministers all take a hand then and there are n t any summer around i see said with the brilliant and perfect comprehension of one born into and bred up to city pride we stay over for memorial day and get off in the afternoon guess i go down to s and make him bring his crowd up before they sail i u have to stand with them of course oh that s it is it said i m only a poor summer and you re a banker full blooded banker called back as he a and captains courageous went on with his dreams for the future had no use for public functions where appeals were made for charity but pleaded that the glory of the day would be lost so far as he was concerned if the we re themselves then made conditions he had heard it was astonishing how all the world knew all the world s business along the water front he had heard that a philadelphia was going to take part in the exercises and he that she would deliver s ride personally he had as little use for as for summer but justice was justice and though he himself here dan had once slipped up on a matter of judgment this thing must not be so came back to east and spent half a day explaining to an amused with a royal reputation on two the of the mistake she contemplated and she admitted that it was justice even as had said knew by old experience what would happen but anything of the nature of a captains courageous s lie was meat and drink to the man s soul he saw the hurrying west in the hot morning full of women in light dresses and white faced straw men fresh from boston the of outside the post office the go of busy officials greeting one another the slow and of in the heavy air and the important man with a the brick mother he said suddenly don t you remember after was burned out and they got her going again mrs nodded and looked down the crooked street like her husband she understood these all the west over and compared them one against another the began to mingle with the crowd about the town hall doors their women bare headed or for the most part clear eyed and men of the provinces french and with outside of and everywhere women in black who saluted one another with a gloomy pride for this was their day of great days and there were captains courageous ministers of many of great gilt edged at the for a rest with of the regular work from the priests of the church on the hill to bush bearded ex sailor hail fellow with the men of a score of boats there were owners of lines of large to the societies and small men their few craft to the with and marine agents captains of and water boats boat and and all the mixed population of the water front they drifted along the line of seats made gay with the dresses of the summer and one of the town officials and till he shone all over with pure pride had met him for five minutes a few days before and between the two there was entire understanding well mr and what d you think of our city yes madam you can sit anywhere you please you have this kind of thing out west i presume yes but we are n t as old as you that s so of course you ought to have been at the exercises when we celebrated our captains courageous s two hundred and birthday i tell you mr the old city did herself credit so i heard it	39
pays too what s the matter with the town that it don t have a hotel though right over there to the left heaps o room for you and your why that s what tell em all the time mr there s big money in it but i presume that don t affect you any what we want is a heavy hand fell on his shoulder and the flushed of a coal and ice spun him half round what in thunder do you fellows mean by the law on the town when all decent men are at sea this way town s dry as a bone an smells a sight worse i quit might ha left us one saloon for soft drinks anyway don t seem to have your nourishment this morning i ll go into the politics of it later sit down by the door and think over your arguments till i come back what good is to me in champagne s eighteen dollars a case captains courageous and the into his seat as an organ silenced him our new organ said the official proudly to cost us four thousand dollars too we ll have to get back to high license next year to pay for it i was n t going to let the ministers have all the religion at their those are some of our standing up to sing my wife taught em see you again later mr i m wanted on the platform high clear and true children s voices bore down the last noise of those settling into their places all ye works of the bless ye the lord praise him and him for the women throughout the hall leaned forward to look as the filled the air mrs with some others began to breathe short she had hardly imagined there were so many in the world and instinctively searched for he had found the we re at the back of the audience and was standing as by right between dan and uncle returned the night before with from sound received him suspiciously captains courageous t your folk gone yet he what are you here young ye seas and floods bless ye the lord f raise and him for ever t he good right said dan he s bin there same as the rest of us not in them clothes shut your head said your s gone back on you stay right where ye are then up and spoke the orator of the occasion another pillar of the bidding the world welcome to and incidentally pointing out wherein the rest of the world then he turned to the sea wealth of the city and spoke of the price that must be paid for the yearly harvest they would hear later the names of their lost dead one hundred and seventeen of them the stared a little and looked at one another here could not boast any overwhelming mills or her sons worked for such as the sea gave and they all knew that neither nor the banks were cow pastures the utmost that folk ashore could accomplish was to help the and the and after a few o captains courageous general remarks he took this opportunity of thanking in the name of the city those who had so public consented to in the exercises of the occasion i jest despise the pieces in it growled it don t give folk a fair notion of us ef folk won t be fore handed an put by when they ve the chance returned it stands in the nature o things they to be you take by that young riches but for a season ef you scatter them on but to lose everything everything said what can you do then once i the watery blue eyes stared up and down as looking for something to steady them once i read in a book i think of a boat where every one was run down except some one and he said to me said cutting in you read a little less an take more int in your and you come nearer your keep among the felt a thrill that began in captains courageous the back of his neck and ended at his boots he was cold too though it was a stifling day that the from philadelphia said troop at the platform you ve fixed it about old man t ye ye know why it was not s ride that the woman delivered but some sort of poem about a fishing port called and a fleet of beating in against storm by night while the women made a guiding fire at the head of the with everything they could lay hands on they took the s blanket who shivered and bade them go they took the baby s cradle who could not say them no said dan peering over long jack s shoulder that s great must ha bin expensive though ground case said the man badly lighted port and knew not all the while if they were lighting a or only a funeral pile captains courageous the wonderful voice took hold of people by their and when she told how the were flung ashore living and dead and they carried the bodies to the glare of the fires asking child is this your father or wife is this man you could hear hard breathing all over the benches and when the boats of go out to face the think of the love that travels like light upon their sails i there was very little applause when she finished the women were looking for their handkerchiefs and many of the men stared at the ceiling with shiny eyes h m said that cost ye a dollar to hear at any maybe two some folk i can afford it seems downright waste to me	39
child s back not a tooth even scratched the skin as he laid it down among the how little how naked and how bold said mother wolf softly the baby was pushing his way between the to get close to the warm hide he is taking his meal with the others and so this is a man s now was there ever a wolf that could boast of a man s among her children have heard now and again of such a thing but never in our pack or in my time said father wolf he is altogether without hair and i could kill him with a touch of my foot but see he looks up and is not afraid s brothers the moonlight was blocked out of the mouth of the cave for s great square head and shoulders were thrust into the entrance behind him was my lord my lord it went in here does us great honour said father wolf but his eyes were very angry what does need my a man s went this way said its parents have run off give it to me had jumped at a wood camp fire as father wolf had said and was furious from the pain of his burned feet but father wolf knew that the mouth of the cave was too narrow for a tiger to come in by even where he was s shoulders and fore were cramped for want of room as a man s would be if he tried to fight in a barrel the wolves are a free people said father wolf they take orders from the head of the pack and not from any striped cattle the man s is ours to kill if we choose ye choose and ye do not choose what talk is this of choosing by the bull that i killed am i to stand into your dog s den for my fair it is i who speak the tiger s roar filled the cave with thunder the book mother wolf shook herself clear of the and sprang forward her eyes like two green in the darkness facing the blazing eyes of u and it is i the demon who answer the man s is mine mine to me he shall not be killed he shall live to run with the pack and to hunt with the pack and in the end look you hunter of little naked fish he shall hunt thee now get hence or by the that i killed eat no starved cattle back thou to thy mother burned beast of the than ever thou earnest into the world go father wolf looked on amazed he had almost forgotten the days when he won mother wolf in fair fight from five other wolves when she ran in the pack and was not called the demon for compliment s sake might have faced father wolf but he could not stand up against mother wolf for he knew that where he was she had all the advantage of the ground and would fight to the death so he backed out of the cave mouth growling and when he was clear he shouted each dog in his own yard we will see what the pack will say to this of man the is mine and to my teeth he will come in the end o bush thieves s brothers t other wolf threw herself down panting ng the and father wolf said to her speaks this much truth the must be shown to the pack wilt thou still him mother keep him she gasped he came naked night alone and very hungry yet he was not look he has pushed one of my i one side already and that lame butcher have killed him and would have run ff to the while the villagers here through all our in revenge keep aim assuredly i will keep him lie still little o thou for the i will call thee the time will come when thou wilt hunt as he has hunted thee but what will our pack say said father f wolf the law of the lays down very clearly i that any wolf may when he withdraw i from the pack he belongs to but as soon as his i are old enough to stand on their feet he i must bring them to the pack council which is generally held once a month at full moon in order that the other wolves may identify them after that inspection the are free to run where they please and until they have killed their first buck no excuse is accepted if a grown wolf the book of the pack one of them the punishment is death where the murderer can be found and if you think for a minute you will see that this must be so father wolf waited till his could run a little and then on the night of the pack meeting took them and and mother wolf to the council rock a covered with stones and where a hundred wolves could hide the great gray lone wolf who led all the pack by strength and cunning lay out at full length on his rock and below him sat forty or more wolves of every size and color from who could handle a buck alone to young black three year who thought they could the lone wolf had led them for a year now he had fallen twice into a wolf trap in his youth and once he had been beaten and left for dead so he knew the manners and customs of men there was very little talking at the rock the tumbled over one another in the of the circle where their mothers and fathers sat and now and again a senior wolf would go quietly up to a look i s brothers the law	39
ye know the law look well o wolves and the anxious mothers would take up the call look look well o wolves at last and mother neck lifted as the time came father wolf pushed the as they called him into the where he sat laughing and playing with some pebbles that in the moonlight never raised his head from his but went on with the monotonous cry look well a muffled roar came up from behind the rocks the voice of crying the is mine give him to me what have the free people to do with a man s never even his ears all he said was look well o wolves what have the free people to do with the orders of any save the free people look well there was a chorus of deep and a young wolf tn his fourth year flung back s question to what have the free people to do with a man s the law of the lays down that if is any dispute as to the right of a to be d by the pack he must be spoken for by members of the pack who are not his for this said e people who speaks there the book was no answer and mother wolf got ready for what she knew would be her last fight if things came to fighting then the only other creature who is allowed at the pack council the sleepy brown bear who teaches the wolf the law of the old who can come and go where he pleases because he eats only nuts and roots and honey rose up on his hind quarters and the man s the man s he said i speak for the man s there is no harm in a man s i have no gift of words but i speak the truth let him run with the pack and be entered with the others i myself will teach him we need yet another said has spoken and he is our teacher for the young who speaks besides a black shadow dropped down into the circle it was the black black all over but with the showing up in certain lights like the pattern of watered silk everybody knew and nobody cared to cross his path for he was as cunning as as bold as the wild and as reckless as the wounded elephant but he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree and a skin softer than down o and ye the free people he i have no right in your assembly but the law s brothers of the says that if there is a doubt which is not a killing matter in regard to a new the life of that may be bought at a price and the law does not say who may or may not pay that price am i right good good said the young wolves who are always hungry i listen to the can be bought for a price it is the law knowing that i have no right to speak here i ask your leave speak then cried twenty voices to kill a naked is shame besides he may make better sport for you when he is grown has spoken in his behalf now to s word i will add one bull and a fat one newly killed not half a mile from here if ye will accept the man s according to the law is it difficult there was a of scores of voices saying t what matter he will die in the winter rains he will in the sun what harm can a naked do us let him run with the pack where is the bull let him be accepted and then came s deep bay crying look well look well o wolves was still playing with the pebbles and he did not notice when the wolves came and looked at him one by one at last they all went down the hill for the dead bull and only the book and s own wolves were left roared still in the night for he was very angry that had not been handed over to him ay roar well said under his whiskers for the time comes when this naked thing will make thee roar to another tune or i know nothing of man it was well done said men and their are very wise he may be a help in time truly a help in time of need for none can hope to lead the pack forever said said nothing he was thinking of the time that comes to every leader of every pack when his strength goes from him and he gets and till at last he is killed by the wolves and a new leader comes up to be killed in his turn take him away he said to father wolf and train him as one of the free people and that is how was entered into the wolf pack for the price of a bull and on s good word now you must be content to ten or eleven whole years and only guess at all the wonderful life that led among the wolves because if it were written out it would fill ever so many books he grew up with the though they w s brothers of course were grown wolves almost before he was a child and father wolf taught him his business and the meaning of things in the till every rustle in the grass every breath of the warm night air every note of the above his head every scratch of a bat s claws as it for a while in a tree and every splash of every little fish jumping in a pool meant just as much to him as the work of	39
his office means to a business man when he was not learning he sat out in the sun and slept and ate and went to sleep again when he felt dirty or hot he swam in the forest pools and when he wanted honey told him that honey and nuts were just as pleasant to eat as raw meat he climbed up for it and that showed him how to do would lie out on a branch and call t come along little brother and at first would cling like the but afterward he would fling himself through the branches almost as boldly as the gray he took his place at the council rock too when the pack met and there he discovered that if he stared hard at any wolf the wolf would be forced to drop his eyes and so he used to stare for fun at other times he would pick the long thorns out of the of his friends for wolves suffer terribly from thorns and in their coats he would go down the into the cultivated the book lands by night and look very curiously at the villagers in their huts but he had a of men because showed him a square box with a drop gate so hidden in the that he nearly walked into it and told him it was a trap he loved better than anything else to go with into the dark warm heart of the forest to sleep all through the drowsy day and at night see how did his killing killed right and left as he felt hungry and so did with one exception as soon as he was old enough to understand things told him that he must never touch cattle because he had been bought into the pack at the price of a bull s life all the is thine said and thou kill everything that thou art strong enough to kill but for the sake of the bull that bought thee thou must never kill or eat any cattle young or old that is the law of the obeyed faithfully and he grew and grew strong as a boy must grow who does not know that he is learning any lessons and who has nothing in the world to think of except things to eat mother wolf told him once or twice that was not a creature to be trusted and that some day he must kill but though a young wolf would have remembered that advice fl ei s s brothers every hour forgot it because he was only a boy though he would have called himself a wolf if he had been able to speak in any human tongue was always crossing his path in the for as grew older and the lame tiger had come to be great friends with the younger wolves of the pack who followed him for scraps a thing would never have allowed if he had dared to push his authority to the proper bounds then would flatter them and wonder that such fine young hunters were content to be led by a dying wolf and a man s they tell me would say that at council ye dare not look him between the eyes and the young wolves would growl and who had eyes and ears everywhere knew something of this and once or twice he told in so many words that would kill him some day and would laugh and answer i have the pack and i have thee and though he is so lazy might strike a blow or two for my sake why should i be afraid it was one very warm day that a new notion came to born of something that he had heard perhaps the had told him but he said to when they were i i the book deep in the as the boy lay with his head on s beautiful black skin little brother how often have i told thee that is thy enemy as many times as there are nuts on that palm said who naturally could not count what of it i am sleepy and is all long tail and loud talk like the but this is no time for sleeping knows it i know it the pack know it and even the foolish foolish deer know has told thee too ho ho said came to me not long ago with some rude talk that i was a naked man s and not fit to dig pig nuts but i caught by the tail and swung him twice against a palm tree to teach him better manners that was foolishness for though is a mischief maker he would have told thee of something that concerned thee closely open those eyes little brother dares not kill thee in the for fear of those that love thee but remember is very old and soon the day comes when he cannot kill his buck and then he will be leader no more many of the wolves that looked thee over when thou brought to the council first are old too and the m na brothers young wolves believe as has taught them that a man has no place with the pack in a little time thou wilt be a man and what is a man that he should not run with his brothers said i was born in the i have obeyed the law of the and there is no wolf of ours from whose i have not pulled a thorn surely they are my brothers stretched himself at full length and half shut his eyes little brother said he feel under my jaw put up his strong brown hand and just under s chin where the giant rolling muscles were ail hid by the glossy hair he came upon a little bald spot there is no one in the that	39
knows that i carry that mark the mark of the collar and yet little brother i was born among men and it was among men that my mother died in the of the king s palace at it was because of this that i paid the price for thee at the council when thou a little naked yes i too was born among men i had never seen the they fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night i felt that i was the and no man s and i broke the silly lock with one blow of my and came away and because i had learned the book the ways of men i became more terrible in the than is it not so yes said all the fear all except oh thou art a man s said the black very tenderly and even as i returned to my so thou must go back to men at last to the men who are thy brothers if thou art not killed in the council but why but why should any wish to kill me said look at me said and looked at him steadily between the eyes the big turned his head away in half a minute bat is why he said shifting his on the leaves not even i can look thee between the eyes and i was born among men and i love thee little brother the others they hate thee because their eyes cannot meet thine because thou art wise because thou hast pulled out thorns from their feet because thou art a man i did not know these things said sullenly and he frowned under his heavy black eyebrows what is the law of the strike first and then give tongue by thy very carelessness they know that thou art a man but be wise it is in my heart that when his next kill and at each hunt it costs him more to pin brothers the buck the pack will turn against him and against thee they will hold a council at the rock and then and then i have it said leaping up go thou down quickly to the men s huts in the valley and take some of the red flower which they grow there so that when the time comes thou have even a stronger friend than i or or those of the pack that love thee get the red flower by red flower meant fire only no creature in the will call fire by its proper name every beast lives in deadly fear of it and a hundred ways of describing it the red flower said that grows outside their huts in the twilight i will get some there speaks the man s said proudly remember that it grows in little pots get one swiftly and keep it by thee for time of need good said i go but art thou sure o my he slipped his arm round the splendid neck and looked deep into the big eyes art thou sure that all this is s doing by the broken lock that freed me i am sure little brother then by the bull that bought me i will pay full tale for this and it may the book be a little over said and he bounded away that is a man that is all a man said to himself lying down again oh never was a hunting than that of thine ten years ago was far and far through the forest running hard and his heart was hot in him he came to the cave as the evening mist rose and drew breath and looked down the valley the were out but mother wolf at the back of the cave knew by his breathing that something was troubling her what is it son she said some bat s chatter of he called back i hunt among the fields tonight and he plunged downward through the bushes to the stream at the bottom of the valley there he checked for he heard the yell of the pack hunting heard the of a hunted and the as the buck turned at bay then there were wicked bitter from the young wolves let the lone wolf show his strength room for the leader of our pack spring the lone wolf must have sprung and missed his hold for heard the snap of his teeth and then a as the knocked him over with his fore foot s brothers he did not wait for anything more but dashed on and the grew fainter behind him as he ran into the crop lands where the villagers lived spoke truth he panted as he down in some cattle by the window of a hut to morrow is one day for and for me then he pressed his face close to the window and watched the fire on the hearth he saw the s wife get up and feed it in the night with black and when the morning came and the mists were all white and cold he saw the man s child pick up a pot inside with earth fill it with of put it under his blanket and go out to tend the cows in the is that all said if a can do it there is nothing to fear so he strode around the corner and met the boy took the pot from his hand and disappeared into the mist while the boy howled with fear they are very like me said blowing into the pot as he had seen the woman do this thing will die if i do not give it things to eat and he dropped twigs and dried bark on the red stuff half way up the hill he met with the morning dew shining like on his coat has	39
missed said the they the book would have killed him last night but they needed thee also they were looking for thee on the hill i was among the lands i am ready look held up the fire pot good now i have seen men thrust a dry branch into that stuff and presently the red flower at the end of it art thou not afraid no why should i fear i remember now if it is not a dream how before i was a i lay beside the red flower and it was warm and pleasant all that day sat in the cave tending his fire pot and dipping dry branches into it to see how they looked he found a branch that satisfied him and in the evening when came to the cave and told him rudely enough that he was wanted at the council rock he laughed till ran away then went to the council still laughing the lone wolf lay by the side of his rock as a sign that the of the pack was open and with his following of scrap fed wolves walked to and fro openly being flattered lay close to and the fire pot was between s knees when they were all gathered together began to speak a thing he would never have dared to do when was in his prime h s brothers he has no right whispered say so he is a dog s son he will be frightened sprang to his feet free people he cried does lead the pack what has a tiger to do with our seeing that the is yet open and being asked to speak began by whom said are we all to on this cattle butcher the of the pack is with the pack alone there were of silence thou man s let him speak he has kept our law and at last the of the pack thundered let the dead wolf speak when a leader of the pack has missed his kill he is called the dead wolf as long as he lives which is not long as a rule raised his old head wearily free people and ye too of for twelve seasons i have led ye to and from the kill and in all that time not one has been or now i have missed my kill ye know how that plot was made ye know how ye brought me up to an buck to make my weakness known it was cleverly done your right is to kill me here on the council rock now therefore i ask who comes to make an end of the lone wolf for it is my right by the law of the that ye come one by one the book there was a long hush for no single wolf cared to fight to the death then roared what have we to do with this fool he is doomed to die it is the man who has lived too long free people he was my meat from the first give him to me i am weary of this man wolf folly he has troubled the for ten seasons give me the man or i will hunt here always and not give you one bone he is a man a man s child and from the of my bones i hate him then more than half the pack a man a man what has a man to do with us let him go to his own place and turn all the people of the villages against us no give him to me he is a man and none of us can look him between the eyes lifted his head again and said he has eaten our food he has slept with us he has driven game for us he has broken no word of the law of the also i paid for him with a bull when he was accepted the worth of a bull is little but s honour is something that he will perhaps fight for said in his voice a bull paid ten years ago the pack what do we care for bones ten years old or for a pledge said his white s brothers teeth under his lip well are ye called the free people no man s can run with the people of the roared give him to me he is our brother in all but blood went on and ye would kill him here in truth i have lived too long some of ye are of cattle and of others i have heard that under s teaching ye go by dark night and snatch children from the s door step therefore i know ye to be and it is to i speak it is certain that i must die and my life is of no worth or i would offer that in the man s place but for the sake of the honour of the pack a little matter that by being without a leader ye have forgotten i promise that if ye let the man go to his own place i will not when my time comes to die bare one tooth against ye i will die without fighting that will at least save the pack three lives more i cannot do but if ye will i can save ye the shame that comes of killing a brother against whom there is no fault a brother spoken for and bought into the pack according to the law of the he is a man a man a man the pack and most of the wolves began to gather round whose tail was beginning to the book now the business is in thy hands said to we can do no more except fight stood upright the fire pot in his hands then he stretched out his	39
arms and yawned in the face of the council but he was furious with rage and sorrow for wolf like the wolves had never told him how they hated him m listen you he cried there is no need for this dog s ye have told me so often to night that i am a man though indeed i would have been a wolf with you to my life s end that i feel your words are true so i do not call ye my brothers any more but dogs as a man should what ye will do and what ye will not do is not yours to say that matter is with me and that we may see the matter more plainly i the man have brought here a little of the red flower which ye dogs fear he flung the fire pot on the ground and some of the red coals lit a of dried moss that up as all the council drew back in terror before the leaping flames thrust his dead branch into the fire till the twigs lit and and whirled it above his head among the wolves thou art the master said in an save from the death he was ever thy friend s brothers the grim old wolf who had never asked for mercy in his life gave one piteous look at as the boy stood all naked his long black hair tossing over his shoulders in the light of the blazing branch that made the shadows jump and quiver good said staring around slowly and thrusting out his lower lip i see that ye are dogs i go from you to my own people if they be my own people the is shut to me and i must forget your talk and your companionship but i will be more merciful than ye are because i was all but your brother in blood i promise that when i am a man among men i will not betray ye to men as ye have betrayed me he kicked the fire with his foot and the sparks flew up there shall be no war between any of us and the pack but here is a debt to pay before i go he strode forward to where sat at the flames and caught him by the on his chin followed close in case of accidents up dog cried up when a man speaks or i will set that coat s ears lay flat back on his head and he shut his eyes for the blazing branch was very near this cattle said he would kill me in the council because he had not killed me when i was the book a thus and thus then do we beat dogs when we are men stir a and i ram the red flower down thy he beat over the head with the branch and the tiger and in an agony of fear cat go now but remember when next i come to the council rock as a man should come it will be with s hide on my head for the rest goes free to live as he pleases ye will not kill him because that is not my will nor do i think that ye will sit here any longer out your tongues as though ye were instead of dogs whom i drive out thus go the fire was burning furiously at the end of the branch and struck right and left round the circle and the wolves ran howling with the sparks burning their fur at last there were only and perhaps ten wolves that had taken s part then something began to hurt inside him as he had never been hurt in his life before and he caught his breath and sobbed and the tears ran down his face what is it what is it he said i do not wish to leave the and i do not know what this is am i dying no little brother those are only tears such s brothers as men use said now i know thou art a man and a man s no longer the is shut indeed to thee let them fall they are only tears so sat and cried as though his heart would break and he had never cried in all his life before now he said i will go to men but first i must say farewell to my mother and he went to the cave where she lived with father wolf and he cried on her coat while the four howled miserably ye will not forget me said never while we can follow a trail said the come to the foot of the hill when thou art a man and we will talk to thee and we will come into the crop lands to play with thee by night come soon said father wolf oh wise little come again soon for we be old thy mother and i come soon said mother wolf little naked son of mine for listen child of man i loved thee more than ever i loved my will surely come said and when i come it will be to lay out s hide upon the council rock do not forget me tell them in the never to forget me the dawn was beginning to break when went down the alone to the crops to meet those mysterious things that are called men the book hunting song of the pack as the dawn was breaking the once twice and again and a leaped up and a leaped up from the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup this i alone beheld once twice and again as the dawn was breaking the once twice and again and a wolf stole and a wolf stole back to carry the word to the waiting pack and we sought and we found and we	39
on his track once twice and again as the dawn was breaking the wolf pack once twice and again feet in the that leave no mark eyes that can see in the dark the dark tongue give tongue to it hark o hark once twice and again s hunting i r m i z s mi n i i r li his spots are the joy of the his horns are the s pride be clean for the strength of the hunter is known by the of his hide if ye find that the can toss you or the heavy can ye need not stop work to inform us we knew it ten seasons before not the of the stranger but hail them as sister and brother for though they are little and it may be the bear is their mother there is none like says the in the pride of his earliest kill but the is large and the he is small let him think and be still f s hunting all that is told here happened some time before was turned out of the wolf pack it was in the days when was teaching him the law of the the big serious old brown bear was delighted to have so quick a pupil for the young wolves will only learn as much of the law of the as applies to their own pack and tribe and run away as soon as they can repeat the hunting verse feet that make no noise eyes that can see in the dark ears that can hear the winds in their and sharp white teeth all these things are the marks of our brothers except and the whom we hate but as a man had to learn a great deal more than this sometimes the black would come lounging through the to see how his pet was getting on and would with his head against a tree while the day s lesson to the boy could climb almost as well as he could swim and swim almost as well as he could run so the teacher of the law taught him the the book wood and water laws how to tell a rotten branch from a sound one how to speak politely to the wild bees when he came upon a hive of them fifty feet what to say to the bat when he disturbed him in the branches at midday and how to warn the in the pools before he down among them none of the people like being disturbed and all are very ready to fly at an intruder then too was taught the strangers hunting call which must be repeated aloud till it is answered whenever one of the people outside his own grounds it means translated give me leave to hunt here because i am hungry and the answer is hunt then for food but not for pleasure all this will show you how much had to learn by heart and he grew very tired of repeating the same thing a hundred times but as said to one day when had been and had run off in a temper a man s is a man s and he must learn all the law of the but think how small he is said the black who would have spoiled if he had had his own way how can his little head carry all thy long talk is there anything in the too little to be killed no that is why i teach him these s hunting things and that is why i hit him very softly when he forgets softly what dost thou know of softness old iron feet his face is all bruised to day by thy softness better he should be bruised from head to foot by me who love him than that he should come to harm through ignorance answered very earnestly i am now teaching him the master words of the that shall protect him with the birds and the snake people and all that hunt on four feet except his own pack he can now claim protection if he will only remember the words from ail in the is not that worth a little beating well look to it then that thou dost not kill the man he is no tree trunk to thy blunt claws upon but what are those master words i am more likely to give help than to ask it stretched out one and admired the steel blue at the end of it still i should like to know will call and he shall say them if he will come little brother my head is ringing like a bee tree said a sullen voice over their heads and slid down a tree trunk very angry and indignant adding as he reached the ground i come for and not for old i mm i i the book that is all one to me said though he was hurt and grieved tell then the master words of the that i have taught thee this day master words for which people said mo delighted to show off the has many tongues i know them all a little thou but not much see o they never thank their teacher not one small has come back to thank old for his say the word for the hunting people then great scholar we be of one blood ye and i said giving the words the bear accent which all the hunting people of the use good now for the birds repeated with the s whistle at the end of the sentence now for the snake people said the answer was a perfectly indescribable hiss and kicked up his feet behind clapped his hands together to himself and jumped on s back where he	39
sat sideways with his heels on the glossy skin and making the worst faces that he could think of at there there that was worth a little said the brown bear tenderly some day thou wilt remember me then he turned s hunting aside to tell how he had begged the master words from the wild elephant who knows all about these things and how had taken down to a pool to get the snake word from a water snake because could not pronounce it and how was now reasonably safe against all accidents in the because neither snake bird nor beast would hurt him no one then is to be feared wound up patting his big stomach with pride except his own tribe said under his breath and then aloud to have a care for my ribs little brother what is all this dancing up and down had been trying to make himself heard by pulling at s shoulder fur and kicking hard when the two listened to him he was shouting at the top of his voice and so i shall have a tribe of my own and lead them through the branches all day long what is this new folly little of dreams said yes and throw branches and dirt at old went on they have promised me this ah s big off s back and as the boy lay between the big fore he could see the bear was angry the book said thou hast been talking with the log the monkey people looked at to see if the was angry too and s eyes were as hard as stones thou hast been with the monkey people the gray the people without a law the of everything that is great shame when hurt my head said he was still down on his back i went away and the gray came down from the trees and had pity on me no one else cared he a little the pity of the monkey people the stillness of the mountain stream the cool of the summer sun and then man and then and then they gave me nuts and pleasant things to eat and they they carried me in their arms up to the top of the trees and said i was their blood brother except that i had no tail and should be their leader some day they have no leader said they lie they have always lied they were very kind and bade me come again why have i never been taken among the monkey people they stand on their feet as i do they do not hit me with hard they play all day let me get up bad let me up i will go play with them again s hunting listen man said the bear and his voice like thunder on a hot night i have taught thee all the law of the for all the of the except the monkey folk who live in the trees they have no law they are they have no speech of their own but use the stolen words which they when they listen and peep and wait up above in the branches their way is not our way they are without leaders they have no remembrance they boast and chatter and pretend that they are a great people about to do great affairs in the but the falling of a nut turns their minds to laughter and all is forgotten we of the have no dealings with them we do not drink where the drink we do not go where the go we do not hunt where they hunt we do not die where they die hast thou ever heard me speak of the log till to day no said in a whisper for the forest was very still now that had finished the people put them out of their mouths and out of their minds they arc very many evil dirty and they desire if they have any fixed desire to be noticed by the people but we do not notice them even when they throw nuts and on our heads he had hardly spoken when a shower of nuts the book and twigs down through the branches and they could hear and and angry high up in the air among the thin branches the monkey people are forbidden said forbidden to the people remember forbidden said but i still think should have warned thee against them i how was i to guess he would play with such dirt the monkey people a fresh shower came down on their heads and the two trotted away taking with them what had said about the was perfectly true they belonged to the tree tops and as beasts very seldom look up there was no occasion for the and the people to cross one another s path but whenever they found a sick wolf or a wounded tiger or bear the would torment him and would throw sticks and nuts at any beast for fun and in the hope of being noticed then they would howl and shriek senseless songs and invite the people to climb up their trees and fight them or would start furious battles over nothing among themselves and leave the dead where the people could see them they were always just going to have a leader and laws and customs of their own but they never s hunting did because their memories would not hold over from day to day and so they settled things by making up a saying what the log think now the will think later and that comforted them a great deal none of the beasts could reach them but on the other hand none of the beasts would notice them and that was why they were so pleased when came to play with them and when they heard how angry was	39
they never meant to do any more the log never mean anything at all but one of them invented what seemed to him a brilliant idea and he told all the others that would be a useful person to keep in the tribe because he could sticks together for protection from the wind so if they caught him they could make him teach them of course as a wood s child inherited all sorts of instincts and used to make little play huts of fallen branches without thinking how he came to do it the monkey people watching in the trees considered these huts most wonderful this time they said they were really going to have a leader and become the wisest people in the so wise that every one else would notice and envy them therefore they followed and and through the very quietly till it was time for the midday nap and the book who was very much ashamed of himself slept between the and the bear to have no more to do with the monkey people the thing he remembered was feeling hands on his legs and arms hard strong little hands and then a of branches in his face and then he was staring down through the swaying boughs as woke the with his deep cries and bounded up the trunk with every tooth the log howled with triumph and away to the upper branches where dared not follow shouting he has noticed us has noticed us all the people admire us for our skill and our cunning then they began their flight and the flight of the monkey people through tree land is one of the things nobody can describe they have their regular roads and cross roads and all laid out from fifty to seventy or a hundred feet and by these they can travel even at night if necessary two of the strongest caught under the arms and swung off with him through the tree tops twenty feet at a bound had they been alone they could have gone twice as fast but the boy s weight held them back sick and giddy as was he could not help enjoying the wild rush though the glimpses of earth far s hunting down below frightened him and the terrible check and jerk at the end of the swing over nothing but empty air brought his heart between his teeth his escort would rush him up a tree till he felt the weak branches and bend under them and then with a cough and a would fling themselves into the air outward and downward and bring up hanging by their hands or their feet to the lower limbs of the next tree sometimes he could see for miles and miles over the still green as a man on the top of a mast can see for miles across the sea and then the branches and leaves would lash him across the face and he and his two guards would be almost down to earth again so bounding and crashing and and yelling the whole tribe of log swept along the tree roads with their prisoner for a time he was afraid of being dropped then he grew angry but he knew better than to struggle and then he began to think the first thing was to send back word to and for at the pace the were going he knew his friends would be left far behind it was useless to look down for he could see only the top sides of the branches so he stared upward and saw far away in the blue the and as he kept watch over the the waiting for things to die noticed that the were carrying something and dropped a few hundred yards to find out whether their load was good to eat he whistled with surprise when he saw being dragged up to a tree top and heard him give the call for we be of one blood thou and i the waves of the branches closed over the boy but balanced away to the next tree in time to see the little brown face come up again mark my trail shouted tell of the pack and of the council rock in whose name brother had never seen before though of course he had heard of him the man they call me mark my il the last words were shrieked as he was being swung through the air but nodded and rose up till he looked no bigger than a speck of dust and there he hung watching with his eyes the swaying of the tree tops as s escort whirled along they never go far he said with a chuckle they never do what they set out to do always at new things are the log this time if i have any they have down trouble for themselves for is no and can as i know kill more than m s hunting then he rocked on his wings his feet gathered up under him and waited meanwhile and were furious with rage and grief climbed as he had never climbed before but the branches broke beneath his weight and he slipped down his claws foil of bark why thou not warn the man he roared to poor who had set off at a clumsy trot in the hope of the what was the use of half him with blows if thou not warn him haste o haste we we may catch them yet panted at that speed it would not tire a wounded cow teacher of the law a mile of that rolling to and fro would burst thee open sit still and think make a plan this is no time for chasing they may drop him if we follow too close they may have dropped him already being tired of carrying him who can	39
trust the log put dead on my head give me black bones to eat roll me into the of the wild bees that i may be stung to death and bury me with the for i am the most miserable of bears o why did i not warn thee against the monkey folk instead of breaking the book thy head now perhaps i may have knocked the day s lesson out of his mind and he will be alone in the without the master words clasped his over his ears and rolled to and fro moaning at least he gave me all the words correctly a little time ago said impatiently thou hast neither memory nor respect what would the think if i the black curled myself up like the and howled what do i care what the thinks he may be dead by now unless and until they drop him from the branches in sport or kill him out of idleness i have no fear for the man he is wise and well taught and above all he has the eyes that make the people afraid but and it is a great evil he is in the power of the log and they because they live in trees have no fear of any of our people licked his one fore thoughtfully fool that i am oh fat brown root digging fool that i am said himself with a jerk it is true what the wild elephant says ic fo each his fear and they the log fear the rock snake he can climb as well as they can he the s hunting young in the night the mere whisper of his name makes their wicked tails cold let us go to what will he do for us he is not of our tribe being and with most evil eyes said he is very old and very cunning above all he is always hungry said promise him many he sleeps for a full month after he has once eaten he may be asleep now and even were he awake what if he would rather kill his own who did not know much about was naturally suspicious then in that case thou and i together old hunter may make him see reason here rubbed his faded brown shoulder against the and they went off to look for the rock they found him stretched out on a warm ledge in the afternoon sun admiring his beautiful new coat for he had been in retirement for the last ten days changing his skin and now he was very splendid darting his big blunt head along the ground and twisting the thirty feet of his body into fantastic knots and curves and his lips as he thought of his dinner to come he has not eaten said with a of relief as soon as he saw the beautifully the book brown and yellow jacket be careful he is always a little blind after he has changed his skin and very quick to strike was not a poison snake in fact he rather despised the poison for but his strength lay in his and when he had once his huge round anybody there was no more to be said good hunting cried sitting up on his like all of his breed was rather deaf and did not hear the call at first then he curled up ready for any accident his head lowered good hunting for us all he answered what dost thou do here good hunting one of us at least needs food is there any news of game a now or even a young buck i am as empty as a dried well we are hunting said carelessly he knew that you must not hurry he is too big give me permission to come with you said a blow more or less is nothing to thee or but i i have to wait and wait for days in a wood path and climb half a night on the mere chance of a young now the branches are not what they were when i was young rotten twigs and dry boughs are they all maybe thy great weight has something to do with the matter said s hunting i am a fair length a fair length said with a little pride but for all that it is the fault of this new grown timber i came very near to falling on my last hunt very near indeed and the noise of my slipping for ray tail was not tight wrapped round the tree the and they called me most evil names yellow said under his whiskers as though he were trying to remember something have they ever called me that said something of that kind it was that they shouted to us last moon but we never noticed them they will say anything even that thou hast lost all thy teeth and dare not face anything bigger than a kid because they are indeed these log because thou art afraid of the he horns went on sweetly now a snake especially a wary old like very seldom shows that he is angry but and could see the big on either side of s throat ripple and the log have shifted their grounds he said quietly when i came up into the sun today i heard them among the tree tops it it is the log that we follow now said but the words stuck in his throat for the book this was the first time in his memory that one of the people had owned to being interested in the doings of the beyond doubt then it is no small thing that takes two such hunters leaders in their own i am certain on the trail of the replied courteously as he swelled with curiosity indeed began i am no more than	39
the old and sometimes very foolish teacher of the law to the wolf and here c is said the black and his jaws shut with a snap for he did not believe in being humble the trouble is this those nut and of palm leaves have stolen away our man of whom thou hast perhaps heard i heard some news from his make him of a man thing that was entered into a wolf pack but i did not believe is full of stories half heard and very badly told but it is true he is such a man as never was said the best and wisest and of man my own pupil who shall make the name of famous through all the and besides i we love him s hunting tj tj said shaking his head to and fro i also have known what love is there are tales i could tell that ft that need a clear night when we are all well fed to praise properly said quickly our man is in the hands of the log now and we know that of all the people they fear alone they fear me alone they have good reason said chattering foolish vain vain foolish and chattering are the but a man thing in their hands is in no good luck they grow tired of the nuts they pick and throw them down they carry a branch half a day meaning to do great things with it and then they snap it in two that is not to be envied they called me also yellow fish was it not a worm worm said as well as other things which i cannot now say for shame we must remind them to speak well of their master we must help their wandering memories now whither went they with thy the alone knows toward the sunset i believe said we had thought that thou know i how i take them when they come in f j e the book my way but i do not hunt the log or or green on a water hole for that matter up up up up look up of the wolf pack looked up to see where the voice came from and there was the sweeping down with the sun shining on the of his wings it was near s but he had ranged all over the looking for the bear and missed him in the thick foliage what is it said i have seen among the log he bade me tell you i watched the have taken him beyond the river to the monkey city to the cold they may stay there for a t night or ten nights or an hour i have told the to watch through the dark time that is my message good hunting all you below full and a deep sleep to you cried u i will remember thee in my next kill and put aside the head for thee alone o best of it is nothing it is nothing the boy held the master word i could have done no less and up again to his he has not forgotten to use his tongue said with a chuckle of pride to think of s hunting one so young remembering the master word for the birds white he was being pulled across trees it was most firmly driven into him said but i am proud of him and now we must go to the cold they all knew where that place was but few of the people ever went there because what they called the cold was an old deserted city lost and buried in the and beasts seldom use a place that men have once used the wild will but the hunting tribes do not besides the lived there as much as they could be said to live anywhere and no self respecting animal would come within eye shot of it except in times of when the half ruined and held a little water it is half a night s journey at full speed said looked very serious i will go as fast as i can he said anxiously we dare not wait for thee follow we must go on the quick foot and i feet or no feet i can keep abreast of all thy four said shortly made one effort to hurry but had to sit down panting and so they left him to come on later while hurried forward at the rocking said nothing but strive as might the huge rock held the book level with him when they came to a hill stream gained because he bounded across while swam his head and two feet of his neck clearing the water but on level ground made up the distance by the broken lock that freed me said when twilight had fallen thou art no slow i am hungry said besides they called me worm and yellow to boot all one let us go on and seemed to pour himself along the ground finding the shortest road with his steady eyes and keeping to it in the cold the monkey people were not thinking of s friends at all they had brought the boy to the lost city and were very pleased with themselves for the time had never seen an indian city before and though this was almost a heap of ruins it seemed very wonderful and splendid some king had built it long ago on a little hill you could still trace the stone that led up to the ruined gates where the last of wood hung to the worn hinges trees had grown into and out of the walls the were tumbled down and decayed and wild hung out of the windows of the towers on the walls in hanging s hunting a great palace crowned the hill	39
and the marble of the and the fountains was split and stained with red and green and the very in the where the king s used to live had been thrust up and apart by and young trees from the palace you could see the rows and rows of houses that made up the city looking like empty filled with blackness the block of stone that had been an idol in the square where four roads met the and at street corners where the public wells once stood and the shattered of temples with wild on their sides the called the place their city and pretended to despise the people because they lived in the forest and yet they never knew what the buildings were made for nor how to use them they would sit in circles on the hall of the king s council chamber and scratch for and pretend to be men or they would run in and out of the houses and collect pieces of plaster and old bricks in a corner and forget where they had hidden them and fight and cry in crowds and then break off to play up and down the of the king s garden where they would shake the rose trees and the in sport to see the fruit and flowers fall they all the passages and dark r i the book in the palace and the hundreds of little dark rooms but they never remembered what they had seen and what they had not and so drifted about in ones and or crowds telling one another that they were doing as men did they drank at the and made the water ail muddy and then they fought over it and then they would all rush together in and shout there are none in the so wise and good and clever and strong and gentle as the then all would begin again till they grew tired of the city and went back to the tree tops hoping the people would notice them who had been trained under the law of the did not like or understand this kind of life the dragged him into the cold late in the afternoon and instead of going to sleep as would have done after a long journey they joined hands and danced about and sang their foolish songs one of the made a speech and told his companions that s capture marked a new thing in the history of the log for was going to show them how to sticks and together as a protection against rain and cold picked up some and began to work them in and out and the tried to imitate but in a very few minutes they lost interest and began to pull their s hunting friends tails or jump up and down on all i want to eat said i am a stranger in this part of the bring me food or give me leave to hunt twenty or thirty bounded away to bring him nuts and wild but they fell to fighting on the road and it was too much trouble to go back with what was left of the fruit was sore and angry as well as hungry and he through the empty city giving the strangers hunting call from time to time but no one answered him and felt that he had reached a very bad place indeed all that has said about the log is true he thought to himself they have no law no hunting call and no leaders nothing but foolish words and little picking hands so if i am starved or killed here it will be all my own fault but i must try to return to my own will surely beat me but that is better than chasing silly rose leaves with the log but no sooner had he walked to the city wall than the pulled him back telling him that he did not know how happy he was and him to make him grateful he set his teeth and said nothing but went with the shouting to a terrace above the red sand r j the book stone that were half full of rain water there was a ruined summer house of white marble in the of the terrace built for queens dead a hundred years ago the roof had half fallen in and blocked up the passage from the palace by which the queens used to enter but the walls were made of of marble beautiful milk white set with and and and and as the moon came up behind the bill it shone through the casting shadows on the ground like black velvet sore sleepy and hungry as he was could not help laughing when the log began twenty at a time to tell him how great and wise and strong and gentle they were and how foolish he was to wish to leave them we are great we are free we are wonderful we are the most wonderful people in all the we all say so and so it must be true they shouted now as you are a new listener and can carry our words back to the people so that they may notice us in future we will tell you all about our most excellent selves made no objection and the gathered by hundreds and hundreds on the terrace to listen to their own singing the praises of the log and whenever a speaker s hunting stopped for want of breath they would all shout together this is true we all say so nodded and and said yes when they asked him a question and his head spun with the noise the must have bitten all these people he said to himself and now they have the madness certainly this is the madness do they never go to sleep now there is a cloud	39
coming to cover that moon if it were only a big enough cloud i might try to run away in the darkness but i am tired that same cloud was being watched by two good friends in the ruined ditch below the city wall for and knowing well how dangerous the monkey people were in large numbers did not wish to run any risks the never fight unless they are a hundred to one and few in the care for those odds i will go to the west wall whispered and come down swiftly with the slope of the ground in my favour they will not throw themselves upon my back in their hundreds but know it said would that were here but we must do what we can when that cloud covers the moon i shall go to the terrace they hold some sort of council there over the boy i the book good hunting said grimly and glided away to the west wall that happened to be the least ruined of any and the big snake was delayed a while before he could find a way up the stones the cloud hid the moon and as wondered what would come next he heard s light feet on the terrace the black had up the slope almost without a sound and was striking he knew better than to waste time in biting right and left among the who were seated round in circles fifty and sixty deep there was a howl of fright and rage and then as tripped on the rolling kicking bodies beneath him a monkey shouted there is only one here kill him kill a mass of biting scratching tearing and pulling closed over while five or six laid hold of dragged him up the wall of the summer house and pushed him through the hole of the broken dome a boy would have been badly bruised for the fall was a good ten feet but fell as had taught him to fall and landed light stay there shouted the till we have killed thy friend later we will play with thee if the poison people leave thee alive we be of one blood ye and i said quickly giving the snake s call he could hear s hunting rustling and hissing in the rubbish all round him ind gave the call a second time to make sure down all said half a dozen low voices every old ruin in india becomes sooner r later a dwelling place of and the old house was alive with stand still little brother lest thy feet do us harm stood as quietly as he could peering through the and listening to the furious din of the fight round the black the and and and s deep hoarse cough as he backed and and twisted and plunged under the heaps of enemies for the first time since he was bom was fighting for his life must be at hand would not have come alone thought and then he called aloud to the roll to the water roll and plunge get to the water heard and the cry that told him was safe gave him new courage he worked his way desperately inch by inch straight for the in silence then from the ruined wall nearest the rose up the war shout of the old bear had done his best but be could not come before he shouted i am here i climb i haste the stones slip mi n m m suit the book under my feet wait my coming o most infamous log he panted up the terrace only to disappear to the head in a wave of but he threw himself on his and spreading out his fore as many as he could hold and then began to hit with a regular bat like the strokes of a wheel a crash and a splash told that had fought his way to the where the could not follow the lay gasping for breath his head just out of water while the stood three deep on the red stone steps dancing up and down with rage ready to spring upon him from all sides if he came out to help it was then that lifted up his dripping chin and in despair gave the snake s call for protection we be of one blood ye and i for he believed that had turned tail at the last minute even half smothered under the on the edge of the terrace could not help as he heard the big black asking for help had only just worked his way over the west wall landing with a that a stone into the ditch he had no intention of losing any advantage of the ground and and himself once or twice to be s hunting sure that every foot of his long body was in working order all that while the fight with went on and the in the round and the bat flying to and fro carried the news of the great battle over the till even the wild elephant and far away scattered bands of the monkey folk woke and came leaping along the tree roads to help their comrades in the cold and the noise of the fight roused all the day birds for miles round then came straight quickly and anxious to kill the fighting strength of a is in the driving blow of his head backed by all the strength and weight of his body if you can imagine a lance or a ram or a hammer weighing nearly half a ton driven by a cool quiet mind handle of it you can imagine roughly what was like when he fought a four or five feet long can knock a man down if he him fairly in the chest and was thirty feet long as you know his first stroke	39
was delivered into the heart of the crowd round was sent home with shut mouth in silence and there was no need of a second the scattered with cries of it is run run generations of had been scared into the book good behaviour by the stories their elders told them of the night thief who could slip along the branches as quietly as moss grows and steal away the strongest monkey that ever lived of old who could make himself look so like a dead branch or a rotten stump that the wisest were deceived till the branch caught them and then was everything that the feared in the for none of them knew the limits of his power none of them could look him in the face and none had ever come alive out of his and so they ran with terror to the walls and the roofs of the houses and drew a deep breath of relief his fur was much thicker than s but he had suffered sorely in the fight then opened his mouth for the first time and spoke one long hissing word and the far away hurrying to the of the cold stayed where they were till the loaded branches bent and under them the on the walls and the empty houses stopped their cries and in the stillness that fell upon the city heard shaking his wet sides as he came up from the then the broke out again the leaped higher up the walls they clung round the necks of the big stone and shrieked as they along the while dancing in the summer house s hunting put his eye to the and between his front teeth to show his derision and contempt get the man out of that trap i can do no more gasped let us take the and go they may attack again they will not move till i order them stay you and the city was silent once more could not come before brother but i think i heard thee call this was to i may have cried out in the battle answered art thou hurt i am not sure that they have not pulled me into a hundred little said gravely shaking one leg after the other i am sore we owe thee i think our lives and i no matter where is the here in a trap i cannot climb out cried the curve of the broken dome was above his head take him away he dances like the he will crush our young said the inside said with a chuckle he has friends everywhere this stand back and hide you o poison people i break down the wall looked carefully till he found a j a the book crack in the marble showing a weak spot made two or three light with his head to get the distance and then lifting up six feet of his body clear of the ground sent home half a dozen full power blows nose first the broke and fell away in a cloud of dust and rubbish and leaped through the opening and flung himself between and an arm round each big neck art thou hurt said him softly i am sore hungry and not a little bruised but oh they have handled ye my brothers ye others also said his lips and looking at the monkey dead on the terrace and round the it is nothing it is nothing if thou art safe o my pride of all little of that we shall judge later said in a dry voice that did not at all like but here is to whom we owe the battle and thou thy life thank him according to our customs turned and saw the great s head swaying a foot above his own so this is the said very soft is his skin and he is not so unlike the log have a care that i do s hunting not mistake thee for a monkey some twilight when i have newly changed my coat we be of one blood thou and i answered i take my life from thee to night my kill shall be thy kill if ever thou art hungry all thanks little brother said though his eyes and what may so bold a hunter kill i ask that i may follow when next he goes abroad kill nothing i am too little but i drive toward such as can use them when thou art empty come to me and see if i speak the truth i have some skill in these he held out his hands and if ever thou art in a trap i may pay the debt which i owe to thee to and to here good hunting to ye ail my masters well said growled for had returned thanks very prettily the dropped his head lightly for a minute on s shoulder a brave heart and a courteous tongue said he they shall carry thee far through the but now go hence quickly with thy friends go and sleep for the moon sets and what follows it is not well that thou see the moon was sinking behind the hills and the lines of trembling huddled together on the walls and looked like ragged i the book of things went down to the for a drink and began to put his fur in order as glided out into the of the terrace and brought his jaws together with a ringing snap that drew all the eyes upon him the moon sets he said is there yet light to see from the walls came a moan like the wind in the tree tops we see o n good begins now the dance the dance of the hunger of sit still and watch he turned twice or thrice in a big circle weaving his head from	39
right to left then he began making and figures of eight with his body and soft that melted into squares and five sided figures and never resting never hurrying and never stopping his low humming song it grew darker and darker till at last the dragging shifting disappeared but they could hear the rustle of the scales and stood still as stone growling in their throats their neck hair and watched and wondered log said the voice of at last can ye stir foot or hand without my order speak without thy order we cannot stir foot or hand o s hunting good come all one pace nearer to me the lines of the swayed forward helplessly and and took one stiff step forward with them nearer and they all moved again laid his hands on and to get them away and the two great beasts started as though they had been from a dream keep thy hand on my shoulder whispered keep it there or i must go back must go back to it is only old making circles on the dust said let us go and the three slipped off through a gap in the walls to the u n said when he stood under the still trees again never more will i make an ally of and he shook himself all over he knows more than we said trembling in a little time had i stayed i have walked down his throat many will walk that road before the moon rises again said he will have good hunting after his own fashion but what was the meaning of it all said who did not know anything of a s powers of fascination i saw no more than a big snake making foolish circles till the dark came and his nose was all sore ho ho the book said angrily his nose was sore on thy account as my ears and sides and and s neck and shoulders are bitten on thy account neither nor will be able to hunt with pleasure for many days it is nothing said we have the man again true but he has cost us most heavily in time which might have been spent in good hunting in wounds in hair i am half plucked along my back and last of all in honour for remember i who am the black was forced to call upon for protection and and i were both made stupid as little birds by the hunger dance all this man came of thy playing with the log true it is true said sorrowfully i am an evil man and my stomach is sad in me what says the law of the did not wish to bring into any more trouble but he could not with the law so he sorrow never stays punishment but remember he is very little i wilt remember but he has done mischief and blows must be dealt now hast thou anything to say s hunting nothing i did wrong and thou art wounded it is just gave him half a dozen love from a s point of view they would hardly have one of his own but for a old boy they amounted to as severe a beating as you could wish to avoid when it was all over and picked himself up without a word now said jump on my back little brother and we will go home one of the beauties of law is that punishment settles all scores there is no afterward laid his head down on s back and slept so deeply that he never when he was put down by mother side in the home cave road song of the log here we go in a flung half way up to the jealous moon don t you envy our bands don t you wish you had extra hands wouldn t you like if your tails were curved in the shape of a s bow now you re angry never mind brother thy tail down behind i the book here we in a row thinking of beautiful thing we know dreaming of that we mean to do all complete in a minute or two something noble and grand and good won by merely wishing we could now we re going to never mind thy tail hangs behind all the talk we ever have heard uttered by bat or beast or bird hide or fin or scale or feather it quickly and all together excellent wonderful once again now we are talking just like men let s pretend we are never mind thy tail this is the way of the monkey kind leaping lines thai the that by light and wild by rubbish in wait and it noise at bt it sure toe re tt da if things how fear came how fear came the law of the which is by far the oldest law in the world has arranged for almost every kind of accident that may befall the people till now its code is as perfect as time and custom can make it if you have read about you will remember that he spent a great part of his life in the wolf pack learning the law from the brown bear and it was who told him when the boy grew impatient at the constant orders that the law was like the giant because it dropped across every one s back and no one could escape when thou hast lived as long as i have little brother thou wilt see how all the at least one law and that will be no pleasant sight said this talk went in at one ear and out at the other for a boy who his life eating and sleeping does not worry about anything till it actually him in the face but one year s words came true	39
and saw all the working under the law by the book it began when the winter rains failed almost entirely and the meeting m in a thicket told him that the wild were drying up now everybody knows that is fastidious in his choice of food and will eat nothing but the very best and so laughed and said what is that to me not much now said rattling his in a stiff uncomfortable way but later we shall see is there any more into the deep below the bee rocks little brother no the foolish water is going all away and i do not wish to break my head said who in those days was quite sure that he knew as much as any five of the people put together that is thy loss a small crack might let in some wisdom quickly to prevent from pulling his nose and told what had said looked very grave and half to himself if i were alone i would change my hunting grounds now before the others began to think and yet hunting among strangers ends in fighting and they might hurt the man we must wait and see how the that spring the tree that was so fond o never the cream col how fear came blossoms were heat killed before they were born and only a few bad smelling came down when he stood on his hind legs and shook the tree then inch by inch the heat crept into the heart of the turning it yellow brown and at last black the green in the sides of the burned up to broken wires and curled of dead stuff the hidden pools sank down and over keeping the last least on their edges as if it had been cast in iron the fell away from the trees they clung to and died at their feet the withered when the hot winds blew and the moss off the rocks deep in the till they were as bare and as hot as the quivering blue in the bed of the stream the birds and the monkey people went north early in the year for they knew what was coming and the deer and the wild pig broke far away to the perished fields of the villages dying sometimes before the eyes of men too weak to kill them the stayed and grew fat for there was a great deal of and evening after evening he brought the news to the beasts too weak to force their way to fresh hunting grounds that the sun was killing the for three days flight in every direction who had never known what real hunger the book meant fell back on stale honey three years old scraped out of deserted rock honey black as a and dusty with dried sugar he hunted too for deep under the bark of the trees and robbed the of their new the game in the was no more than skin and bone and could kill thrice in a night and hardly get a full meal but the want of water was the worst for though the people drink seldom they must drink deep and the heat went on and on and sucked up all the moisture till at last the main channel of the was the only stream that carried a of water between its dead banks and when the wild elephant who lives for a hundred years and more saw a long lean blue ridge of rock show dry in the very of the stream he knew that he was looking at the peace rock and then and there he lifted up his trunk and proclaimed the water as his father before him had proclaimed it fifty years ago the deer wild pig and took up the cry hoarsely and the flew in great circles far and wide whistling and shrieking the warning by the law of the it is death to kill at the drinking places when once the water has been declared the reason of this is that drinking comes before eating every one in the can scramble along somehow when only how fear came game is scarce but water is water and when there is but one source of supply all hunting stops while the people go there for their needs in good seasons when water was plentiful those who came down to drink at the or anywhere else for that matter did so at the risk of their lives and that risk made no small part of the fascination of the night s doings to move down so that never a leaf stirred to knee deep in the roaring that drown all noise from behind to drink looking backward over one shoulder every muscle ready for the first desperate bound of keen terror to roll on the sandy margin and return wet and well out to the admiring herd was a thing that all tall young took a delight in precisely because they knew that at any moment or might leap upon them and bear them down but now all that life and death fun was ended and the people came up starved and weary to the river tiger bear deer and pig all together drank the waters and hung above them too exhausted to move off the deer and the pig had all day in search of something better than dried bark and withered leaves the had found no to be cool in and no green crops to steal the book the had left the and come down to the river in the hope of finding a stray they curled round wet stones and never offered to strike when the nose of a pig them the river had long ago been killed by of hunters and the fish had buried themselves deep in the dry mud only the peace rock lay across the like a long snake	39
and the little tired as they dried on its hot side it was here that came nightly for the cool and the companionship the most hungry of his enemies would hardly have cared for the boy then his naked hide made him seem more lean and wretched than any of his fellows his hair was to tow color by the sun his ribs stood out like the ribs of a basket and the on his knees and elbows where he was used to track on all gave his limbs the look of knotted grass stems but his eye under his was cool and quiet for was his adviser in this time of trouble and told him to go quietly hunt slowly and never on any account to lose his temper it is an evil time said the black one furnace hot evening but it will go if we can live till the end is thy stomach full there is stuff in my stomach but i get no how fear came good of it think you the rains have forgotten us and will never come again not i we shall see the in blossom yet and the little all fat with new grass come down to the peace rock and hear the news on my back little brother this is no time to carry weight i can still stand alone but indeed we be no we two looked along his ragged dusty flank and whispered last night i killed a under the yoke so low was i brought that i think i should not have dared to spring if he had been loose laughed yes we be great hunters now said he am very bold to eat and the two came down together through the to the river bank and the lace work of that ran out from it in every direction the water cannot live long said joining them look across yonder are like the roads of man on the level plain of the further bank the stiff grass had died standing and dying had the beaten tracks of the deer and the pig all heading toward the river had striped that plain with dusty driven through the ten foot grass and early as it was each long the book avenue was full of first comers hastening to the water you could hear the does and in the snuff like dust up stream at the bend of the pool round the peace rock and of the water stood the wild elephant with his sons gaunt and gray in the moonlight rocking to and fro always rocking below him a little were the of the deer below these again the pig and the wild and on the opposite bank where the tall trees came down to the water s edge was the place set apart for the of flesh the tiger the wolves the and the bear and the others we are under one law indeed said into the water and looking across at the lines of horns and starting eyes where the deer and the pig pushed each other to and fro good hunting all you of my blood he added lying down at full length one flank thrust out of the and then between his teeth but for that which is the law it would be very good hunting the quick spread ears of the deer caught last sentence and a frightened whisper ran along the ranks the remember the peace there peace the wild elephant the holds this is no time to talk of hunting how fear came who should know better than i answered rolling his yellow eyes up stream i am an of a of would i could get good from branches we wish so very greatly a young who had only been born that spring and did not at all like it wretched as the people were even could not help while lying on his elbows in the warm water laughed aloud and beat up the with his feet well spoken little bud horn when the ends that shall be remembered in thy favor and he looked keenly through the darkness to make sure of the again gradually the talking spread up and down the drinking places one could hear the pig asking for more room the among themselves as they out across the sand bars and the deer telling pitiful stories of their long foot sore wanderings in quest of food now and again they asked some question of the of flesh across the river but all the news was bad and the roaring hot wind of the came and went between the rocks and the rattling branches and scattered twigs and dust on the water the book the men folk too they die beside their said a young i passed three between sunset and night they lay still and n their with them we also shall lie still in a little the river has fallen since last night said o hast thou ever seen the like of this it will pass it will pass said water along his back and sides we have one here that cannot endure long said and he looked toward the boy he i said indignantly sitting up in the water i have no long fur to cover my bones but but if thy hide were taken off shook all over at the idea and said severely man that is not to tell a teacher of the law never have i been seen without my hide nay i meant no harm but only that thou art as it were like the in the and i am the same all naked now that brown of thine was sitting cross legged and explaining things with his forefinger in his usual way when put out a and pulled him over backward into the water how fear came worse and worse said the black as the	39
boy rose first is to be and now he is a be careful that he does not do what the ripe do and what is that said off his guard for the minute though that is one of the oldest catches in the break thy head said quietly pulling him under again it is not good to make a jest of thy teacher said the bear when had been for the third time not good what would ye have that naked thing running to and fro makes a of those who have once been good hunters and the best of us by the for sport this was the lame tiger down to the water he waited a little to enjoy the sensation he made among the deer on the opposite bank then he dropped his square head and began to lap growling the has become a ground for naked now look at me man looked stared rather as as he knew how and in a minute turned away uneasily man this and that he going on with his drink the is neither man nor or he would the book have been afraid next season i shall have to beg his leave for a drink that may come too said looking him steadily between the eyes that may come too what new shame hast thou brought here the lame tiger had dipped his chin and in the water and dark streaks were floating from it down stream man said coolly i killed an hour since he went on and growling to himself the line of beasts shook and wavered to and fro and a whisper went up that grew to a cry man man he has killed man then all looked toward the wild elephant but he seemed not to hear never does anything till the time comes and that is one of the reasons why he lives so long at such a season as this to kill man was no other game said scornfully drawing himself out of the water and shaking each cat fashion as he did so i killed for choice not for food the whisper began again and s watchful little white eye cocked itself in s direction for choice now come i to drink and make me clean again is there any to forbid how fear came s back began to curve like a in a high wind but lifted up his and spoke quietly thy kill was from choice he asked and when asks a question it is best to answer even so it was my right and my night thou o spoke almost courteously yes i know answered and after a little silence hast thou drunk thy fill for to night yes go then the river is to drink and not to none but the lame tiger would so have boasted of his right at this season when when we suffer together man and people alike clean or get to thy the last words rang out like silver trumpets and s three sons rolled forward half a pace though there was no need away not daring to growl for he knew what every one else knows that when the last comes to the last is the master of the what is this right speaks of whispered in s ear to kill man is always shameful the law says so and yet says ask him i do not know little brother right or no right if had not spoken i the book would have taught that lame butcher his lesson to come to the peace rock fresh from a of man and to boast of it is a s trick besides he the good water waited for a minute to pick up his courage because no one cared to address directly and then he cried what is s right o v both banks echoed his words for all the people of the are intensely curious and they had just seen something that none except who looked very thoughtful seemed to understand it is an old tale said a tale older than the keep silence along the banks and i will tell that tale there was a minute or two of pushing and among the pigs and the and then the leaders of the herds one after another we wait and strode forward till he was nearly knee deep in the pool by the peace rock lean and wrinkled and though he was he looked what the knew him to be their master ye know children he began that of all things ye most fear man and there was a of agreement this tale touches thee little brother said to i i am of the pack a hunter of the free how fear came people m answered what have i to do with man and ye do not know why ye fear man w went on this is the reason in the beginning of the and none know when that was we of the walked together having no fear of one another in those days there was no and leaves and flowers and fruit grew on the same tree and we ate nothing at all except leaves and flowers and grass and fruit and bark am glad i was not born in those days said bark is only good to claws and the lord of the was tha the first of the he drew the out of deep waters with his trunk and where he made in the ground with his there the rivers ran and where he struck with his foot there rose of good water and when he blew through his trunk thus the trees fell that was the manner in which the was made by tha and so the tale was told to me it has not lost fat in the telling whispered and laughed behind	39
to the new made sky which is now so old said give me back my power o tha i am made ashamed before all the and i have run away from a the book less one and he has called me a shameful name and why said tha because i am with the mud of the said the first of the swim then and roll on the wet grass and if it be mud it will wash away said tha and the first of the swam and rolled and rolled upon the grass till the ran round and round before his eyes but not one little bar upon all his hide was changed and tha watching him laughed then the first of the said what have i done that this comes to me tha said thou hast killed the buck and thou hast let death loose in the and with death has come fear so that the people of the are afraid one of the other as thou art afraid of the one the first of the said they will never fear me for i knew them since the beginning tha said go and see and the first of the ran to and fro calling aloud to the deer and the pig and the and the and all the and they all ran away from who had been their judge because they were afraid then the first of the came back and his pride was broken in him and beating his head upon the ground he tore up the earth with all his feet and said remember that i was once the master of the do not forget me o tha let my children remember that i was once with how fear came out shame or fear and tha said this much i will do because thou and i together saw the made for one night in each year it shall be as it was before the buck was killed for thee and for thy children in that one night if ye meet the one and his name is man ye shall not be afraid of him but he shall be afraid of you as though ye were judges of the and masters of all things show him mercy in that night of his fear for thou hast known what fear is then the first of the answered am content but when next he drank he saw the black upon his flank and his side and he remembered the name that the one had given him and he was angry for a year he lived in the waiting till tha should keep his promise and upon a night when the of the moon the evening star stood clear of the he felt that his night was upon him and he went to that cave to meet the one then it happened as tha promised for the one fell down before him and lay along the ground and the first of the struck him and broke his back for he thought that there was but one such thing in the and that he had killed fear then above the kill he heard tha coming down from the woods of the north and presently the voice of the first of the book the which is the voice that we hear now the thunder was rolling up and down the dry hills but it brought no rain only that along the and went on that was the voice he heard and it said is this thy mercy the first of the licked his lips and said what matter i have killed fear and tha said o blind and foolish thou hast the feet of death and he will follow thy trail till thou thou hast taught man to kill the first of the standing stiffly to his kill said he is as the buck was there is no fear now i will judge the once more and tha said never again shall the come to thee they shall never cross thy trail nor sleep near thee nor follow after thee nor by thy only fear shall follow thee and with a blow that thou not see he shall bid thee wait his pleasure he shall make the ground to open under thy feet and the to twist about thy neck and the tree trunks to grow together about thee higher than thou leap and at the last he shall take thy hide to wrap his when they are cold thou hast shown him no mercy and none will he show thee the first of the was very bold for his how fear came night was still on him and he said the promise of tha is the promise of tha he will not take away my night and tha said the one night is thine as i have said but there is a price to pay thou hast taught man to kill and he is no slow u the first of the said he is here under my foot and his back is broken let the know i have killed fear then tha laughed and said thou hast killed one of many but thou shalt tell the for thy night is ended so the day came and from the mouth of the cave went out another one and he saw the kill in the path and the first of the above it and he took a pointed stick they throw a thing that cuts now said rustling down the bank for was considered uncommonly good eating by the they called him ho and he knew something of the wicked little axe that across a clearing like a fly it was a pointed stick such as they put in the foot of a pit trap said and throwing it he struck the first of the deep in the flank thus it happened as tha said	39
for the first of the ran howling up and down the till he tore out the stick and all the knew that the one could strike from far son the book off and they feared more than before so it came about that the first of the taught the one to kill and ye know what harm that has since done to all our through the and the and the hidden trap and the flying stick and the fly that comes out of white smoke meant the rifle and the red flower that drives us into the open yet for one night in the year the one fears the tiger as tha promised and never has the tiger given him cause to be less afraid where he finds him there he him remembering how the first of the was made ashamed for the rest fear walks up and down the by day and by night said the deer thinking of what it all meant to them and only when there is one great fear over all as there is now can we of the lay aside our little fears and meet together in one place as we do now for one night only does man fear the tiger said for one night only said but i but we but all the knows that man twice and thrice in a moon even so then he springs from behind and turns his head aside as he strikes for he is full how fear came of fear if man looked at him he would run but on his one night he goes openly down to the village he walks between the houses and his head into the doorway and the men fall on their faces and there he does his kill one kill in that night oh said to himself rolling over in the water now i see why it was bade me look at him he got no good of it for he could not hold his eyes steady and and i certainly did not fall down at his feet but then i am not a man being of the free people said deep in his throat does the tiger know his night never till the of the moon stands clear of the evening mist sometimes it falls in the dry summer and sometimes in the wet rains this one night of the tiger but for the first of the this would never have been nor would any of us have known fear the deer sorrowfully and s lips curled in a wicked smile do men know this tale said he none know it except the and we the the children of tha now ye by the pools have heard it and i have spoken dipped his trunk into the water as a sign that he did not wish to talk but but but said turning to the book why did not the first of the continue to eat grass and leaves and trees he did but break the buck s neck he did not eat what led him to the hot meat the trees and the marked him lit tie brother and made him the striped thing that we see never again would he eat their fruit but from that day he himself upon the deer and the others the of grass said then the tale why have i never heard because the is full of such tales if i made a beginning there would never be an end to them let go my ear little brother the law of the to give yon in idea of the immense variety of the law i have translated into verse always them in a sort of ling few of the laws that apply to the wolves there are of coarse hundreds and hundreds more but these will do for specimen of the is the if as aid and as true at b and web shall keep it may but that shall break it mast die c f i it j the law of the the that the tree trunk the law and hack per the strength f the pack is the wolf and the strength of the the pack wash daily from nose tip to tail tip drink deeply but never too deep and remember the night is for hunting and forget not the day is for sleep the may follow the tiger but when thy whiskers are grown remember the wolf is a hunter go forth and get food of thine own keep peace with the lords of the the tiger the the bear and trouble not the silent and mock not the in his when pack meets with pack in the and neither will go from the trail lie down till the leaders have spoken it may be fair words shall prevail when ye fight with a wolf of the pack ye must fight him alone and afar lest others take part in the quarrel and the pack be diminished by war the of the wolf is his refuge and where he has made him his home not even the head wolf may enter not even the council may come the book the of the wolf ii hit refuge bat where he ho it too plain the council shall tend him t and to he thai change it again if ye kill before midnight be silent and wake not the with your bay ye frighten the deer from the and the brother go empty away ye may kill for and your mate and your at they need and ye can but kill not for pleasure of killing and seven times never kill aft if ye plunder hit kill from a weaker not all in thy pride pack right it the right of the meanest to leave him the head aad	39
the hide the kill of the pack it the meat of the pack ye eat where it j and no one may carry away of that meat to his or he diet the kill of the wolf it the meat of the wolf he may do what he will but till he hat given permission the pack may not eat of that kill right ii the right of the from all of hit pack he may full when the hat eaten and none may him the tame the law of the dr right is the right of the mother from all of her year she may claim one of each kill for her litter and none may deny her the same cave right is the right of the father to hunt by himself for his own he is freed of all calls to the pack he is judged by the council alone because of his age and his cunning because of his and his in all that the law open the word of the head wolf is law new these are the laws of the and many and mighty are they but the head and the he law and the and the is obey tiger tiger what of the hunter bold br watch c u what of the ye went to kill br be in still where u the power that made your pride br it m where u the that ye hurry by i g t my tiger tiger now we must go back to the last tale but two when left the cave after the fight with the pack at the council rock he went down to the lands where the villagers lived but he would not stop there because it was too near to the and he knew that he had made at least one bad enemy at the council so he hurried on keeping to the rough road that ran down the valley and followed it at a steady trot for nearly twenty miles till he came to a country that he did not know the valley opened out into a great plain dotted over with rocks and cut up by at one end stood a little village and at the other the thick came down in a sweep to the grounds and stopped there as though it had been cut off with a all over the plain cattle and were and when the little boys in charge of the herds saw they shouted and ran away and the yellow dogs that hang about every indian village walked on for he was feeling hungry and when he came to the village gate he saw the big thorn bush that was drawn up before the gate at twilight pushed to one side the book he said for he had come across more than one such in his night after things to eat so men are afraid of the people of the here also he sat down by the gate and when a man came out be stood up opened his mouth and pointed down it to show that he wanted food the man stared and ran back up the one street of the village shouting for the priest who was a big fat man dressed in white with a red and yellow mark on his forehead the priest came to the gate and with him at least a hundred people who stared and talked and shouted and pointed at they have no manners these men folk said to himself only the gray would behave as they do so he threw back his long hair and frowned at the crowd what is there to be afraid of said the priest look at the marks on his arms and legs they are the of wolves he is but a wolf child run away from the of course in playing together the had often harder than they intended and there were white over bis arms and legs but he would have been the last person in the world to call these for he knew what real biting meant said two or three women together to be bitten by wolves poor child no tiger tiger he is a handsome boy he has eyes like red fire by my honour he is not unlike thy boy that was taken by the tiger let me look said a woman with heavy copper rings on her wrists and ankles and she peered at under the palm of her hand indeed he is not he is thinner but he has the very look of my boy the priest was a clever man and he knew that was wife to the richest in the place so he looked up at the sky for a minute and said solemnly what the has taken the has restored take the boy into thy house my sister and forget not to honour the priest who sees so far into the lives of men by the bull that bought me said to himself but all this talking is like another looking over by the pack well if i am a man a man i must become the crowd parted as the woman beckoned to her hut where there was a red a great grain chest with curious raised patterns on it half a dozen copper an image of a god in a little and on the wall a real looking glass such as they sell at the country she gave him a long drink of milk and some bread and then she laid her hand on his head and looked into his eyes for she thought perhaps that ill the book he might be her real son come back from the where the tiger had taken him so she said o did not show that he knew the name dost thou not remember the day when i gave thee thy new shoes she touched his foot and it	39
one wonderful story to another and s shoulders shook was explaining how the tiger that had carried away s son was a ghost tiger and his body was inhabited by the ghost of a wicked old money who had died some years ago and i know that this is true he said because always from the blow that he got in a riot when his account books were burned and the tiger that i speak of be too for die tracks of his are unequal true true that must be the truth said the nodding together are all these tales such and said that tiger because he was born lame as every one knows to talk tiger tiger of the soul of a money in a beast that never had the courage of a is child s talk was speechless with surprise for a moment and the head man stared it is the is it said if thou art so wise better bring his hide to for the government has set a hundred on his life better still do not talk when thy elders speak rose to go all the evening i have lain here listening he called back over his shoulder and except once or twice has not said one word of truth concerning the which is at his very doors how then shall i believe the tales of ghosts and gods and which be says he has seen it is full time that boy went to said the head man while puffed and at s impertinence the custom of most indian villages is for a few boys to take the cattle and out to in the early morning and bring them back at night and the very cattle that would a white man to death allow themselves to be and and shouted at by children that hardly come up to their noses so long as the boys keep with the herds they are safe for not even the tiger will charge a mob of cattle but if they to pick flowers or hunt they are sometimes the book carried off went through the village street in the dawn sitting on the back of the great herd bull and the blue with their long backward sweeping and savage eyes rose out of their one by one and followed him and made it very clear to the children with him that he was the master he beat the with a long polished and one of the boys to the cattle by themselves while he went on with the and to be very careful not to stray away from the herd an indian ground is all rocks and and and little among which the herds scatter and disappear the generally keep to the pools and muddy places where they lie or in the warm mud for hours drove them on to the edge of the plain where the river came out of the then he dropped from s neck trotted off to a and found gray brother ah said gray brother i have waited here very many days what is the meaning of this cattle work it is an order said i am a village herd for a while what news of he has come back to this country and has waited here a long time for thee now he has tiger tiger gone off again for the game is scarce but he means to kill thee very good said so long as he is away do thou or one of the brothers sit on that rock so that i can see thee as i come out of the village when he comes back wait for me in the by the t tree in the of the plain we need not walk into s mouth then picked out a shady place and lay down and slept while the round him in india is one of the things in the world the cattle move and and lie down and move on again and they do not even low they only and the very seldom say anything but get down into the muddy pools one after another and work their way into the mud till only their noses and staring china blue eyes show above the surface and there they lie like logs the sun makes the rocks dance in the heat and the herd children hear one never any more whistling almost out of sight overhead and they know that if they died or a cow died that would sweep down and the next miles away would see him drop and follow and the next and the next and almost before they were dead there would be a score of hungry come out of nowhere then they sleep and wake and sleep again and little baskets of dried grass and put in the book them or catch two praying and make them fight or string a of red and black nuts or watch a on a rock or a snake hunting a near the then they sing long long songs with odd native at the end of them and the day seems longer than most people s whole lives and perhaps they make a mud castle with mud figures of men and horses and and put into the men s hands and pretend that they are kings and the figures are their armies or that they are gods to be then evening comes and the children call and the lumber up out of the mud with noises like going off one after the other and they all string across the gray plain back to the twinkling village lights day after day would lead the out to their and day after day he would see gray brother s back a mile and a half away across the plain so he knew that had not come back and day after day he would lie on the grass listening to the noise	39
round him and dreaming of old days in the if had made a false step with his lame up in the by the would have heard him in those long still mornings at last a day came when he did not see gray brother at the signal place and he laughed and tiger tiger headed the for the by the which was all covered with golden red flowers there sat gray brother every on his back lifted he has hidden for a month to throw thee off thy guard he crossed the last night with hot foot on thy trail said the wolf panting frowned i am not afraid of but is very cunning have no fear said gray brother his lips a little i met in the dawn now he is telling all his wisdom to the but he told me everything before i broke his back s plan is to wait for thee at the village gate this evening for thee and for no one else he is lying up now in the big dry of the has he eaten to day or does he hunt empty said for the answer meant life or death to him he killed at dawn a pig and he has drunk too remember could never fast even for the sake of revenge oh fool fool what a s it is eaten and drunk too and he thinks that i shall wait till he has slept now where does he lie up if there were but ten of us we might pull him down as he lies these will not the book charge unless they wind him and i cannot speak language can we get behind his track so that they may smell it he swam far down the to cut that off said gray brother told him that i know he would never have thought of it alone stood with his finger in his mouth thinking the big of the that opens out on the plain not half a mile from here i can take the herd round through the to the head of the and then sweep down but he would out at the foot we must block that end gray brother thou cut the herd in two for me not i perhaps but i have brought a wise gray brother trotted off and dropped into a hole then there lifted up a huge gray head that knew well and the hot air was filled with the most desolate cry of all the the hunting howl of a wolf at midday said clapping his hands i might have known that thou not forget me we have a big work in hand cut the herd in two keep the cows and together and the and the by themselves the two wolves ran ladies chain fashion in and out of the herd which and threw up tiger tiger its head and separated into two in one the cow stood with their in the and glared and ready if a wolf would only stay still to charge down and the life out of him in the other the and the young and stamped but though they looked more imposing they were much less dangerous for they had no to protect no six men could have divided the herd so neatly what orders panted they are trying to join again slipped on to s back drive the away to the left gray brother when we are gone hold the cows together and drive them into the foot of the how far said gray brother panting and snapping till the sides are higher than can jump shouted keep them there till we come down the swept off as and gray brother stopped in front of the cows they charged down on him and he ran just before them to the foot of the as drove the far to the left well done another charge and they are fairly started careful now careful a snap too much and the will charge this is work than driving black buck the book thou think these creatures could move so swiftly called i have have hunted these too in my time gasped in the dust shall i turn them into the ay turn swiftly turn them is mad with rage oh if i could only tell what i need of him to day the were turned to the right this time and into the standing thicket the other herd children watching with the cattle half a mile away hurried to the village as fast as their legs could carry them crying that the had gone mad and run away but s plan was simple enough all he wanted to do was to make a big circle and get at the head of the and then take the down it and catch between the and the cows for he knew that after a meal and a full drink would not be in any condition to fight or to up the sides of the he was soothing the now by voice and had dropped far to the rear only once or twice to hurry the rear guard it was a long long circle for they did not wish to get too near the and give warning at last rounded up the bewildered herd at the head of the on a grassy patch that down to the tiger tiger itself from that height you could see across the tops of the trees down to the plain below but what looked at was the sides of the and he saw with a great deal of satisfaction that they ran nearly straight up and down and the vines and that hung over them would give no to a tiger who wanted to get out let them breathe he said holding up his hand they have not him yet let them breathe i must tell	39
who comes we have him in the trap he put his hands to his mouth and shouted down the it was almost like shouting down a and the echoes jumped from rock to rock after a long time there came back the sleepy of a full fed tiger just awakened who calls n said and a splendid fluttered up out of the u i cattle thief it is time to come to the council rock down hurry them down down down the herd paused for an instant at the edge of the slope but gave tongue in the full hunting yell and they pitched over one after the other just as shoot the sand and the book stones up round them once started there was no chance of stopping and before they were fairly in the bed of the and ha ha said on his back now thou and the torrent of black horns foaming and staring eyes whirled down the like in flood time the weaker being shouldered out to the sides of the where they tore through the they knew what the business was before them the terrible charge of the herd against which no tiger can hope to stand heard the thunder of their hoofs picked himself up and down the looking from side to side for some way of escape but the walls of the were straight and he had to keep on heavy with his dinner and his drink willing to do anything rather than fight the herd through the pool he had just left till the narrow cut rang heard an answering from the foot of the saw turn the tiger knew if the worst came to the worst it was better to meet the than the cows with their and then tripped stumbled and went on again over something soft and with the at his heels full into the other herd while the weaker were lifted clean off their feet by tiger tiger the shock of the meeting that charge carried both herds out into the plain and stamping and watched his time and slipped off s neck laying about him right and left with his stick quick break them up scatter them or they will be fighting one another drive them away hat hat bat bat my children softly now softly it is all over and gray brother ran to and fro the legs and though the herd wheeled once to charge up the again managed to turn and the others followed him to the needed no more he was dead and the were coming for him already brothers that was a dog s death said feeling for the knife he always carried in a round his neck now that he lived with men but he would never have shown fight his hide will look well on the council rock we must get to work swiftly a boy trained among men would never have dreamed of a ten foot tiger alone but knew better than any one else how an animal s skin is fitted on and how it can be taken off but it was hard work and and tore and for an hour while the wolves the book out their tongues or came forward and as he ordered them presently a hand fell on his shoulder and looking up he saw with the tower the children had told the village about the and went out angrily only too anxious to correct for not taking better care of the herd the wolves dropped out of sight as soon as they saw the man coming what is this folly said angrily to think that thou skin a tiger where did the kill him it is the lame tiger too and there is a hundred on his head well well we will overlook thy letting the herd run off and perhaps i will give thee one of the of the reward when i have taken the skin to he in his waist cloth for flint and steel and stooped down to s whiskers most native hunters a tiger s whiskers to prevent his ghost haunting them hum said half to himself as he back the skin of a fore so thou wilt take the hide to for the reward and perhaps give me one now it is in my mind that i need the skin for my own use old man take away that fire what talk is this to the chief hunter of the village thy luck and the stupidity of thy tiger tiger have helped thee to this kill the tiger has just fed or he would have gone twenty miles by this time thou not even skin him properly little beggar and i must be told not to his whiskers i will not give thee one of the reward but only a very big beating leave the by the bull that bought me said who was trying to get at the shoulder must i stay to an old all noon here this man me who was still stooping over s head found himself on the grass with a gray wolf standing over him while went on as though he were alone in all india ye es he said between his teeth thou art altogether right thou wilt never give me one of the reward there is an old war between this lame tiger and myself a very old war and i have won to do justice if he had been ten years younger he would have taken his chance with had he met the wolf in the woods but a wolf who obeyed the orders of this boy who had private wars with man eating was not a common animal it was magic of the worst kind thought and he wondered the book whether the round his neck would protect him he lay as still as still expecting every	39
minute to see turn into a tiger too great king he said at last in a whisper yes said without turning his head a little i am an old man i did not know that thou anything more than a herd boy may i rise up and go away or will thy servant tear me to pieces go and peace go with thee only another time do not with my game let him go away to the village as fast as he could looking back over his shoulder in case should change into something terrible when he got to the village he told a tale of magic and enchantment and that made the priest look very grave went on with his work but it was nearly twilight before he and the wolves had drawn the great gay skin clear of the body now we must hide this and take the home help me to herd them the herd rounded up in the misty twilight and when they got near the village saw lights and heard the and bells in the temple blowing and half the village tiger tiger seemed to be waiting for him by the gate that is because i have killed he said to himself but a shower of stones whistled about his ears and the villagers shouted demon go away get hence quickly or the priest will turn thee into a wolf again shoot shoot the old tower went off with a bang and a young in pain more shouted the villagers he can turn bullets that was thy now what is this said bewildered as the stones flew thicker they are not unlike the pack these brothers of thine said sitting down it is in my head that if bullets mean anything they would cast thee out wolf go away shouted the priest waving a of the sacred plant again last time it was because i was a man this time it is because i am a wolf let us go a woman it was ran across to the herd and cried oh my son my son they say thou art a who can turn himself into a beast at will i do not believe but go away or they will kill thee says thou art a but i know thou hast s death i the book come back shouted the crowd come back or we will stone thee laughed a little short ugly laugh for a stone had hit him in the mouth run back this is one of the foolish tales they tell under the big tree at dusk i have at least paid for thy son s life farewell and run quickly for i shall send the herd in more swiftly than their i am no farewell now once more he cried bring the herd in the were anxious enough to get to the village they hardly needed s yell but charged through the gate like a scattering the crowd right and left keep count shouted scornfully it may be that i have stolen one of them keep count for i will do your no more fare you well children of men and thank that i do not come in with my wolves and you up and down your street he turned on his heel and walked away with the lone wolf and as he looked up at the stars he felt happy no more sleeping in traps for me let us get s skin and go away no we will not hurt the village for was kind to me when the moon rose over the plain making it look all the villagers saw tiger tiger with two wolves at his heels and a bundle on his head trotting across at the steady trot that eats up the long miles like fire then they the temple bells and blew the louder than ever and cried and embroidered the story of his adventures in the till he ended by saying that stood up on his hind legs and talked like a man the moon was just going down when and the two wolves came to the hill of the council rock and they stopped at mother cave they have cast me out from the man pack mother shouted but i come with the hide of to keep my word mother wolf walked stiffly from the cave with the behind her and her eyes glowed as she saw the skin i told him oh that day when he crammed his head and shoulders into this cave hunting for thy life little i told him that the hunter would be the hunted it is well done little brother it is well done said a deep voice in the thicket we were lonely in the without thee and came running to s bare feet they up the council rock together and spread the skin out on the flat stone where used to sit and it down with four of and lay down upon it and called the old the book call to the council look look well o wolves exactly as he had called when was first brought there ever since had been the pack had been without a leader hunting and fighting at their own pleasure but they answered the call from habit and some of them were lame from the they had fallen into and some from wounds and some were from eating bad food and many were missing but they came to the council rock ail that were left of them and saw s striped hide on the rock and the huge claws dangling at the end of the empty dangling feet it was then that made up a song without any a song that came up into his throat all by itself and he shouted it aloud leaping up and down on the rattling skin and beating time with his heels till he had no more breath left while	39
gray brother and howled between the verses look well o wolves have i kept my word said when he had finished and the wolves yes and one tattered wolf howled lead us again o lead us again o man for we be sick of this and we would be the free people once more nay that may not be when ye are full fed the madness may come tiger tiger upon ye again not for nothing are ye called the free people ye fought for freedom and it is yours eat it o wolves man pack and wolf pack have cast me out said now i will hunt alone in the and we will hunt with thee said four so went away and hunted with the in the from that day on but he was not always alone because years afterward he became a man and married but that is a story for grown song that hi sang at the council rock when he danced on here i hide the song of i am let the listen to the things i have done said he would kill would kill at the gates in the twilight he would kill the he ate and he drank drink deep for when wilt thou drink again sleep and dream of the kill i am alone on the grounds gray brother come to me come to me lone wolf for there is big game bring up the great bull the blue herd with the angry drive them to and fro as i order thou still wake o wake here come i and the are behind the book the king of the stamped with hit foot waters of the whither went i he ii not to dig holes nor the that he should fly he is not the bat to hang in the little that together tell me where he ran ow he is there he is there under the feet of lies the lame one up up and kill here is meat break the necks of the he is asleep we will not wake him for bis strength is very great the have come down to see it the black have come up to know it there is a great assembly in his honor i have no cloth to wrap me the will see that i am naked i am ashamed to meet all these people lend me thy coat lend me thy gay striped coat that i may go to the council rock by the bull that bought me i have made a promise a little promise only thy coat is lacking before i keep my with the knife with the knife that men use with the knife of the hunter the man i will stoop down for my gift waters of the bear witness that gives me his coat for the love that he bears me pull gray brother pull heavy is the hide of the man pack arc angry they throw stones and talk child s talk my mouth is bleeding let us run away through the night through the hot night run swiftly with me my brothers we will leave the lights of the village and go to the low moon waters of the the man pack have cast me out i did them no but they were afraid of me why r wolf pack ye have cast me out too the is shut to me and the village gates are shut why i tiger tiger as flies between the beasts and the birds so fly i between the village and the why i dance on the hide of but my heart is very heavy my mouth is cut and wounded with the stones from the village but my heart is very light because i have come back to the why these two things fight together in me as the fight in the spring the water comes out of my eyes yet i laugh while it falls why i am two but the hide of is under my feet all the knows that i have killed look well o wolves ah at my heart is heavy with the things that i do not understand letting in the veil them cover them mil them round and and weed let ui forget the tight and the sound the smell and the touch of the breed pat black ash by the altar stone here is the white foot rain and the does bring forth in the fields and none them again and the blind walls unknown o and none shall again letting in the you will remember that after had pinned s hide to the council rock he told as many as were left of the pack that he would hunt in the alone and the four children of mother and father wolf said that they would hunt with him but it is not easy to change one s life all in a minute particularly in the the first thing did when the pack had off was to go to the home cave and sleep for a day and a night then he told mother wolf and father wolf as much as they could understand of his adventures among men and when he made the morning sun up and down the blade of his knife the same he had with they said he had learned something then and gray brother had to explain their share of the great drive in the and toiled up the hill to hear all about it and scratched himself all over with pure delight at the way in which had managed his war the book it was long after sunrise but no one dreamed of going to sleep and from time to time during the talk mother wolf would throw up her head and a deep snuff of satisfaction as the wind brought her the smell	39
of the tiger skin on the council rock but for and gray brother here said at the end i could have done nothing oh mother mother if thou seen the black herd pour down the or hurry through the gates when the man pack flung stones at me i am glad i did not see that last said mother wolf stiffly it is not my custom to suffer my to be driven to and fro like would have taken a price from the man pack but i would have spared the woman who gave thee the milk yes i would have spared her alone peace peace said father wolf lazily our has come back again so wise that his own father must his feet and what is a cut more or less on the head leave men alone and both echoed leave men alone his head on mother side smiled and said that for his own part he never wished to see or hear or smell man again but what said one ear letting in the but what if men do not leave thee alone little brother we said gray brother looking round at the company and snapping his jaws on the last word we also might attend to that hunting said with a little of his tail looking at but why think of men now for this reason the lone wolf answered when that yellow thief s hide was hung up on the rock i went back along our trail to the village stepping in my tracks turning aside and lying down to make a mixed trail in case one should follow us but when i had the trail so that i myself hardly knew it again the bat came between the trees and hung up above me said the village of the man pack where they cast out the man like a s nest it was a big stone that i threw chuckled who had often amused himself by throwing ripe into a s nest and racing off to the nearest pool before the caught him asked of what he had seen he said the red flower at the gate of the village and men sat about it carrying guns now know for i have good cause looked h the book down at the old dry on his flank and side that men do not carry guns for pleasure presently little brother a man with a gun follows our trail if indeed he be not already on it but why should he men have cast me out what more do they need said angrily thou art a man little brother returned it is not for us the free hunters to tell thee what thy brethren do or why he had just time to snatch up his as the knife cut deep into the ground below struck quicker than an average human eye could follow but was a wolf and even a dog who is very far removed from the wild wolf his can be out of deep sleep by a cart wheel touching his flank and can spring away before that wheel comes on another time said quietly returning the knife to its speak of the man pack and of in two not one that is a sharp tooth said at the blade s cut in the earth but living with the man pack has spoiled thine eye little brother i could have killed a buck while thou striking sprang to his feet thrust up his head as tar as he could and through every curve in his body gray brother followed his example quickly keeping a little to his left to letting in the get the wind that was blowing from the right while bounded fifty yards up wind and half crouching too looked on he could smell things as very few human beings could but he had never reached the hair like of a nose and his three months in the smoky village had set him back sadly however he his finger rubbed it on his nose and stood erect to catch the upper scent which though it is the faintest is the truest man growled dropping on his said sitting down he follows our trail and yonder is the sunlight on his gun look it was no more than a splash of sunlight for a of a second on the brass of the old tower but nothing in the with just that flash except when the clouds race over the sky then a piece of or a little pool or even a highly polished leaf will flash like a but that day was and still knew men would follow said triumphantly not for nothing have i led the pack the four said nothing but ran down hill on their melting into the thorn and as a into a lawn h the book where go ye and without word called h sh we roll his skull here before midday gray brother answered back back and wait man does not eat man shrieked who was a wolf but now who drove the knife at me for thinking he might be man said as the four wolves turned back sullenly and dropped to heel am i to give a reason for all i choose to do said furiously that is man there speaks man muttered under his whiskers even so did men talk round the king s at we of the know that man is wisest of all if we trusted our ears we should know that of all things he is most foolish raising his voice he added the man is right in this men hunt in to kill one unless we know what the others will do is bad hunting come let us see what this man means toward us we will not come gray brother growled hunt alone little brother we know our own minds that skull would have	39

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