Keziah Coffin

by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

ain'tleakin' none to speak of, that's sure. Rides's light's a feather.Christmas! look at them decks; dirty hogs, whoever they was."

  The decks were dirty, and the sails, sloppily furled, were dirtylikewise. The brig, as she rolled and jerked at her anchor rope, wasdirty--and unkempt from stem to stern. To Ellery's mind she made alonesome picture, even under the clear, winter sky and bright sunshine.

  Thoph led the way aft. The cabin companion door was open and they peereddown.

  "Phew!" sniffed Burgess. "She ain't no cologne bottle, is she? Well,come on below and let's see what'll we see."

  The cabin was a "mess," as Bill expressed it. The floor was coveredwith scattered heaps of riff-raff, oilskins, coats, empty bottles, andpapers. On the table a box stood, its hinged lid thrown back.

  "Medicine chest," said Burgess, examining it. "And rum bottles aplenty.Somebody's been sick, I shouldn't wonder."

  The minister opened the door of one of the little staterooms. The lightwhich shone through the dirty and tightly closed "bull's-eye" windowshowed a tumbled bunk, the blankets soiled and streaked. The smell wasstifling.

  "Say, fellers," whispered Thoph, "I don't like this much myself. I'm forgettin' on deck where the air's better. Somethin's happened aboard thiscraft, somethin' serious."

  Charlie and Bill nodded an emphatic affirmative.

  "Hadn't we better look about a little more?" asked Ellery. "There'sanother stateroom there."

  He opened the door of it as he spoke. It was, if possible, in a worsecondition than the first. And the odor was even more overpowering.

  "Skipper's room," observed Burgess, peeping in. "And that bunk ain'tbeen slept in for weeks. See the mildew on them clothes. Phew! I'm fairsick to my stomach. Come out of this."

  On deck, in the sunlight, they held another consultation.

  "Queerest business ever I see," observed Charlie. "I never--"

  "I see somethin' like it once," interrupted Bill. "Down in the Gulf'twas. I was on the old Fishhawk. Eben Salters's dad from over toBayport skippered her. We picked up a West Injy schooner, derelict,abandoned same as this one, but not anchored, of course. Yeller jack wasthe trouble aboard her and--Where you bound, Thoph?"

  "Goin' to take a squint at the fo'castle," replied Theophilus, movingforward. The minister followed him.

  The fo'castle hatchway was black and grim. Ellery knelt and peered down.Here there was practically no light at all and the air was fouler thanthat in the cabin.

  "See anything, Mr. Ellery?" asked Thoph, looking over his shoulder.

  "No, I don't see anything. But I thought--"

  He seemed to be listening.

  "What did you think?"

  "Nothing. I--"

  "Hold on! you ain't goin' down there, be you? I wouldn't. No tellin'what you might find. Well, all right. I ain't curious. I'll stay up hereand you can report."

  He stepped over and leaned against the rail. Bill came across the deckand joined him.

  "Where's Charlie?" asked Thoph.

  "Gone back to the cabin," was the answer. "Thought likely he might findsome of her papers or somethin' to put us on the track. I told him toheave ahead; I didn't want no part of it. Too much like that yeller-jackschooner to suit me. What's become of the parson?"

  Thoph pointed to the open hatch.

  "Down yonder, explorin' the fo'castle," he replied. "He can have thejob, for all me. Phew! Say, Bill, what IS this we've struck, anyhow?"

  Ellery descended the almost perpendicular ladder gingerly, holding onwith both hands. At its foot he stopped and tried to accustom his eyesto the darkness.

  A room perhaps ten feet long, so much he could make out. The floorstrewn, like that of the cabin, with heaps of clothing and odds andends. More shapes of clothes hanging up and swaying with the roll of thebrig. A little window high up at the end, black with dirt. And cavities,bunks in rows, along the walls. A horrible hole.

  He took a step toward the center of the room, bending his head toavoid hitting the fo'castle lantern. Then in one of the bunks somethingstirred, something alive. He started violently, controlled himself withan effort, and stumbled toward the sound.

  "What is it?" he whispered. "Who is it? Is anyone there?"

  A groan answered him. Then a voice, weak and quavering, said:

  "Gimme a drink! Gimme a drink! Can't none of you God-forsaken devilsgive me a drink?"

  He stooped over the bunk. A man was lying in it, crumpled into adreadful heap. He stooped lower, looked, and saw the man's face.

  There was a shout from the deck, or, rather, a yell. Then more yells andthe sound of running feet.

  "Mr. Ellery!" screamed Burgess, at the hatchway. "Mr. Ellery, for theAlmighty's sake, come up here! Come out of that this minute. Quick!"

  The minister knew what was coming, was sure of it as he stepped to thefoot of the ladder, had known it the instant he saw that face.

  "Mr. Ellery!" shrieked Burgess. "Mr. Ellery, are you there?"

  "Yes, I'm here," answered the minister, slowly. He was fighting with allhis might to keep his nerves under control. His impulse was to leapup those steps, rush across that deck, spring into the dory and row,anywhere to get away from the horror of that forecastle.

  "Come up!" called Burgess. "Hurry! It's the smallpox! The darnedhooker's rotten with it. For God sakes, come quick!"

  He ran to the rail, yelling order to Bill and Thoph, who werefrantically busy with the dory. Ellery began to climb the ladder. Hishead emerged into the clean, sweet air blowing across the deck. He drewa breath to the very bottom of his lungs.

  Then from behind and below him came the voice again.

  "Gimme a drink!" it wailed. "Gimme a drink of water. Ain't one of youcussed swabs got decency enough to fetch me a drink? I'm dyin' for adrink, I tell you. I'm dyin'!"

  The minister stood still, his feet on the ladder. The three men by therail were working like mad, their faces livid under the sunburn andtheir hands trembling. They pushed each other about and swore. They werenot cowards, either. Ellery knew them well enough to know that. Burgesshad, that very winter, pulled a skiff through broken ice in the faceof a wicked no'theaster to rescue an old neighbor whose dory had beencapsized in the bay while he was hauling lobster pots. But now Burgesswas as scared as the rest.

  Thoph and Bill sprang over the rail into the boat. Burgess turned andbeckoned to Ellery.

  "Come on!" he called. "What are you waitin' for?"

  The minister remained where he was.

  "Are you sure--" he faltered.

  "Sure! Blast it all! I found the log. It ain't been kept for a fortni't,but there's enough. It's smallpox, I tell you. Two men died of it threeweeks ago. The skipper died right afterwards. The mate--No wonder themthat was left run away as soon as they sighted land. Come on! Do youwant to die, too?"

  From the poison pit at the foot of the ladder the man in the bunk calledonce more.

  "Water!" he screeched. "Water! Are you goin' to leave me, you d--ncowards?"

  "For Heaven sakes!" cried Burgess, clutching the rail, "what's that?"

  Ellery answered him. "It's one of them," he said, and his voice soundedodd in his own ears. "It's one of the crew."

  "One of the--Down THERE? Has he--"

  "Yes, he has."

  "Help! help!" screamed the voice shrilly. "Are you goin' to leave me todie all alone? He-elp!"

  The minister turned. "Hush!" he called, in answer to the voice, "hush!I'll bring you water in a minute. Burgess," he added, "you and the restgo ashore. I shall stay."

  "You'll stay? You'll STAY? With THAT? You're crazy as a loon. Don't bea fool, man! Come on! We'll send the doctor and somebody else--some onethat's had it, maybe, or ain't afraid. I am and I'm goin'. Don't be afool."

  Thoph, from the dory, shouted to know what was the matter. Elleryclimbed the ladder to the deck and walked over to the rail. As heapproached, Burgess fell back a few feet.

  "Thoph," said the minister, addressing the pair in the dory, "there isa sick man down in the forecastle
. He has been alone there for hours,I suppose, certainly since his shipmates ran away. If he is left longerwithout help, he will surely die. Some one must stay with him. You andthe rest row ashore and get the doctor and whoever else you can. I'llstay here till they come."

  Thoph and his companions set up a storm of protest. It was foolish, itwas crazy, the man