XXXIX
WHY MY CAT CALLED OUT TO ME
I had thought that I had struck the bed-rock of misery when I waswandering in the dead depths of the wreck-pack, with the convictionstrong upon me that in a little while I would be dead there too. Butas I look back upon that long suffering of lonely sorrow I think nowthat the worst of it came to me after I had left the wreck-packbehind. In that last round that I fought with misfortune the strengthof my body was exhausted so completely that it could give no supportto my spirit; and as the days went on and on--always with the sameweed-covered sea around me and the same soft golden mist over me, andI always working wearily but with the stolid steadiness of amachine--so deadening a numbness took hold of me that I seemed tomyself like some far-away strange person--yet one with whom I had adirect connection, and must needs sorrow for and sympathizewith--struggling interminably through the dull jading mazes of anight-mare dream.
Once only was I aroused from this stupor of spirit that went with myvigorous yet apathetic bodily action. Just at sunset one evening Isighted a vessel of some sort far ahead of me--a black mass loominguncertainly against the rich glow of crimson that filled the west--andfor some reason or another I took into my head the fancy that I wasnearing open water and that this was not a wreck but a living ship onboard of which I would find living men: and at the thought of meetingwith live men again I fairly cried with joy. Then darkness fell andshut her out from me; leaving me so eager that I could not sleep forthinking of her, and almost tempting me to press on through the nightthat I might be close up to her by dawn. But when in the first faintgrey light of early morning I made her out again, and saw that she wasin just the same position and at just the same distance ahead of me, Iwas almost as sorry as I would have been had she vanished; for I knewthat had she been a living ship in that long night-time she would havesailed away. And by noon, being then close upon her, I could see thatshe was floating bottom upwards: and so knew certainly that she wasonly a dead wreck drifting in slowly to take her place among the deadwrecks which I had left behind me; and beyond her, instead of openwater, I saw only the weed--covered ocean stretching onward unbrokenuntil it was lost in the golden haze.
Even then, though, I had a foolish hope that there might be living menclinging to her, and I edged my boat off its course a little so that Imight run close under her stern. But no one showed on her hull as Ineared her, and only my own voice broke the heavy silence as I crazilyhailed her again and again. And then I fell into a dull rage with her,so weary was I of my loneliness and so bitter was my disappointment atfinding her deserted--until suddenly a very different train ofemotions was aroused in me as I made out slowly the weathered invertedlettering on her up-tilting stern, and so read her name there:_Golden Hind_!
Like a flash I had before me clearly all the details of my lastmoments aboard of her: my quick sharp words with Captain Luke, my stepbackward with my arms up as he and the mate pressed upon me, thesmasher that I got in on the mate's jaw, the crack on my own head thatstunned me--and then my revival of consciousness as I found myselfadrift in the ocean and saw the brig sailing away. And while thesethoughts crowded upon me my boat went onward through the weedslowly--and presently I had again parted company with the _GoldenHind_, and this time for good and all.
After that break in it my dull despairing weariness settled down uponme again--as the heavy days drifted past me and I pressed steadily on,and on, and on. How time went I do not know. I could keep no track ofdays which always were the same. But I must have been on my voyage fornearly a month when I fell in with the _Golden Hind_: as I knowbecause a little while after passing her I used the last of the coalthat was on the raft and cast it off--and my calculation at startinghad been that the coal aboard the raft would last me for aboutthirty days.
Getting rid of the raft was a good thing for me in one way, for whenthe boat was relieved from that heavy mass dragging through the weedafter her she went almost twice as fast. But in another way it was abad thing for me, for it left me with only what coal I had on the boatherself and, so far as I could judge from my surroundings, I was nonearer to being over the wall of my prison than I was on that firstmorning when I put off from the _Ville de Saint Remy_. Still the weedstretched away endlessly on all sides of me, and still the golden mistceaselessly hung over me--only it did seem to me, though I did nottrust myself to play much with this hopeful fancy, that the mist was agood deal thinner than it had been during the earlier part ofmy voyage.
But I was too broken to take much notice of my surroundings. Still Iworked on and on, with the steadfastness and the hopelessness of amachine: up and down over the bows with my saw interminably, withonly little breaks for rest and eating and to keep my fires up or fora struggle with a bit of wreckage that barred my way; and at night toweary sleep that did not rest me; and then up before sunrise to beginit all again with a fresh day that had no freshness in it--and waslike all the many days of desperate toil which had gone before it, andlike the others which still were to come.
Even when I saw ahead of me one morning a long lane of open water, awide break in the weed, I was too dull to think much about it beyondsteering my way into it thankfully--and then feeling a slow wonder asthe boat slid along with no rustling noise on each side of her at whatseemed to me an almost breathless speed. But as that day went on andthe mist grew lighter and lighter about me and I came to more and moreof these open spaces, and at the same time found that the weed betweenthem was so much thinner that the boat almost could push through itwithout having a path cut for her, I began faintly to realize thatperhaps I had got to the beginning of the end. And then, for the firsttime since I had lapsed into my stolid insensibility, a little weakthrill of hope went through me and I seemed to be waking from mydespairing dream.
With the next day, however, hope full and strong fairly got hold ofme: for I was out of the mist completely, and the weed was so thinthat I brought my saw inboard and finally had done with it, and thestretches of open water were so many and so large that I knew that theblessed free ocean must be very near at hand. And I think that my catknew as well as I did that our troubles were close to a good ending;for all of a sudden he gave over his moping and fell to frisking aboutme and to going through all the tricks which I had taught him of hisown accord; and thence onward he spent most of his time on the roof ofthe cabin--looking about him with a curious intentness, for all theworld as though I had stationed him there to watch out for a shipbearing down on us, or for land. Even when I found that day that onlya dozen bags of coal were left to me--for I had fed my furnace whilemy heaviness was upon me without paying any attention to how thingswere going with my stock of fuel--my spirits were none the worse formy discovery; for with every mile that I went onward the weed wasgrowing thinner and I felt safe enough about continuing my voyageunder sail.
Because my rousing out of my lethargy had been so slow, this change inmy chances seemed to come upon me with a startling suddenness--when inreality, I suppose, I might have seen signs of it a good while soonerthan I did see them had my mind been clear. But the actual end of myadventure, the resolving of my hopes into a glad certainty of rescue,really did come upon me with a rush at last.
We fairly were in open water, and the cat and I were dining in thecabin together very cheerfully--with the helm lashed and the boatgoing on her course at half speed. I was disposed to linger over mymeal a little, for I was beginning to enjoy once more the luxury ofgetting rest when I rested, and when my cat suddenly left me and wenton deck by himself--a thing that he never before had done--I took hisdesertion of me in ill part. A moment later I heard the padding of hisfeet on the roof of the cabin over me, and smiled to myself as Ithought of him going on watch there; and then, presently, I heard himcalling me--for I had come to understand a good many of his turns oflanguage--with a lively "Miau!" But it was not until he called meagain, and more urgently, that the oddness of his conduct came home tome and made me hurry on deck after him; and my first glance at himmade me look in the direction in wh
ich he was looking eagerly: andthere I saw the smoke of a steamer trailing black to the horizon, andbeneath it her long black hull--and she was heading straight for me,and coming along at such a ripping rate that within twenty minutes shewould be across my bows.
Half an hour more brought matters to a finish. I had only to waitwhere I was until the steamer was close down upon me, and then to runin under her counter so that her people might throw me a line. Herwhole side was crowded with faces as she stopped her way and I came upwith her, and on her rail a tall officer was standing--holding fastwith one hand to the rigging and having in the other a coil of ropeall ready to cast.
One face among the many clustered there, and a mighty friendly one,was familiar to me; but I could not place it until a jolly voicehailed me that I recognized with a warm thrill--and the sound of itfilled me with joy as I thought of my bag of jewels in the cabinlocker, and of how at last my doctor's bill would be paid.
"And so it's yourself, my fine big young man, and at your old tricksagain. But it's this time that you have the good luck of a black catfor company in your cruising all alone by yourself over the open sea!"
And then the tall officer with the coil of rope sung out "Catch!"--andsent the line whizzing down to me, and I caught the end of it inmy hand.
THE END
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
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