"Kond j'aytay malade don ma tate, kee a pree mon money-belt?"
It was the ship's cook this time, and he turned and stared at Jimmy as
though he had seen a ghost. When he found tongue he uttered a volume
of opinion and abuse which Jimmy knew by instinct was not fit to be
translated, and then he fled up the ladder.
On the fourth day, toward evening, James had a visitor. All day the
yacht had been pitching and rolling, and by afternoon she was laboring
in the violence of a storm and was listing badly.
James was a fearless seaman, but it crossed his mind more than once
that if he were captain, and if there were a port within reach, he
would put into it before midnight. But he could tell nothing of the
ship's course. He turned the subject over in his mind as he lay on his
bunk in that peculiar state half-way between sickness and health, when
the body is relaxed by a purely accidental illness and the mind is
abnormally alert. He wished intensely for a bath, a shave, and a fair
complement of clothes. He longed also to go up the hatchway for a
breath of air, and was considering the possibility of doing this later,
with a blanket and darkness for a shield, when he became conscious of a
pair of neatly trousered legs descending the ladder. It was quite a
different performance from the catlike climbing up and down of the
sailors.
Jimmy watched in the dim light until the whole figure was complete,
fantastically supplying, in his imagination, the coat, the shirt, the
collar and the tie to go with the trousers--all the things which he
himself lacked. Was there also a hat? Jimmy couldn't make out, and so
he asked.
"Have you got on a hat?"
A frigid voice answered, "I beg your pardon!"
"I said, are you wearing a hat? I couldn't see, you know."
"Monsieur takes the liberty of being impertinent."
"Oh, excuse me--I beg your pardon. But it's so beastly hot and dark in
here, you know, and I've never been seasick before."
"No? Monsieur is fortunate." The visitor advanced a little, drew from
a recess a shoe-blacking outfit, pulled over it one of the stiff
blankets from a neighboring bunk, and sat down rather cautiously.
Little by little James made out more of the look of the man. He was
large and rather blond, well-dressed, clean-shaven. He spoke English
easily, but with a foreign accent.
"I wish to inquire to what unfortunate circumstances we are indebted
for your company on board the _Jeanne D'Arc_." The voice was cool, and
sharp as a meat-ax.
"Why, to your own kind-heartedness. I was a derelict and you took me
in--saved my life, in fact; for which I am profoundly grateful. And I
hope my presence here is not too great a burden?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account