NAT--[_Bitterly._] He seems to be heading straight for the open sea. He’s taking quite a sail, it seems to me. BARTLETT--[_As if he couldn’t believe his eyes._] He’s passed the p’int--and now--headin’ her out to sea--so’east by east. By God, that be the course I charted for her! [SUE _bursts out sobbing. He wheels on her, his mouth fallen open, his face full of a stupid despair._] They be somethin’ wrong here. What be it, Sue? What be it, Nat? [_His voice has begun to quiver with passion._] That schooner--she’s sailin’ without me---- [_He suddenly springs at_ NAT _and grabs him by the throat--with hoarse fury, shaking him_.] What be it, ye whelp? It’s your doin’--because I wouldn’t let ye go. Answer me! SUE--[_Rushing to them with a scream._] Pa! [_She tugs frantically at his hands._ BARTLETT _lets them fall to his side, stepping back from_ NAT _who sinks weakly to the ground, gasping for breath_. BARTLETT _stands looking at him wildly_.] SUE--Nat didn’t know, Pa. It’s all my fault. I had to do it. There was no other way---- BARTLETT--[_Raging._] What d’ye mean, girl? What is it ye’ve done? Tell me, I say! Tell me or I’ll---- SUE--[_Unflinchingly._] You had to be stopped from going someway. You wouldn’t listen to reason. So I asked Danny if he wouldn’t make the trip in your place. He’s just got his captain’s papers--and oh, Pa, you can trust him, you know that! That man Horne said he knows about everything you wanted done, and he promised to tell Danny, and Danny’ll come back---- BARTLETT--[_Chokingly._] So--that be it---- [_Shaking his clenched fist at the sky as if visualizing the fate he feels in all of this._] Curse ye! Curse ye! [_He subsides weakly, his strength spent, his hand falls limply at his side._] MRS. BARTLETT--[_Appears in the doorway. Her face is pale with anguish. She gives a cry of joy when she sees her son._] Nat! [_Then with a start of horror at her eyes fall on her husband._] Isaiah! [_He doesn’t seem to hear._] Then--you ain’t sailed yet? SUE--[_Going to her--gently._] No, Ma, he isn’t going to sail. He’s going to stay home with you. But the schooner’s gone. See. [_She points and her mother’s eyes turn seaward._] BARTLETT--[_Aloud to himself--in a tone of groping superstitious awe and bewildered fear._] They be somethin’ queer--somethin’ wrong--they be a curse in this somewhere---- MRS. BARTLETT--[_Turning accusing eyes on him--with a sort of fanatical triumph._] I’m glad to hear you confess that, Isaiah. Yes, there be a curse--God’s curse on the wicked sinfulness o’ men--and I thank God He’s saved you from the evil of that voyage, and I’ll pray Him to visit His punishment and His curse on them three men on that craft you forced me to give my name---- [_She has raised her hand as if calling down retribution on the schooner she can dimly see._] SUE--[_Terrified._] Ma!