The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-18
BENEATH THE SURFACE.

ainusements of the town, and late in the
afternoon found myself several miles to the
southwark of it. Emerging from the tan.
gled pathway through which 1 had beer
struggling with the luxuriant greenery,
struck the sand Of lovely little blight tina;
commanded an uninterrupted view to sea-
| ward. Less than mile out a reef OF
| black rocks occasionally barred their ugly
fangs for a brief space amidst the sleek
| waters, until the sleepily advancing swell
finding its progress thus hindered. rose
high over their grim submits in a league
| long fleece of dazzling foam, whose spray
| gittered like jewels in the diagonal rays
of the declining sun.
| Upon 4 little knoll left by the receding
tide sat a man staring stolidly out to sea
| AS l drew near, my approach making no
noise upon the yielding sand, | saw that
he was white. BY his riga shirt and
trousers, big grass hat, and bare feet
took him for a beach-comber. These char
| acters are not often desirable companions
human weeds cast ashore in such places
and getting precarious living in dark and
| devious ways without work. But | felt
| inclined for company and a rest after my
| long tramp. so made for him direct. He
raised his head at my nearing him, showed
a grizzled beard framing a weather beaten
| face as of u man some sixty years old.
| There was peculiar boiled look about his
face. too, as IL he had once been drowned,
by no means pleasant to see.
He gave me Good evening"" cheerfully
enough as | sat down beside him and Of
| fered my plug of tobacco. Cutting himself
a liberal quid, he returned it with the
query. "B'long ter wun er the spouters, 1
persoom." Yes" replied; boat header
in the Cachalot." All" he replied, In
stantly, but yew're no Yank, meow. air
/ ye?" mo, I'm Cockney-little as ye
| think that likely said /: but it's a
| fact" wall, domino. he drawled, I've
| a'met Cockneys good S I want ter know;
n why not?''
The conversation then drifted desulto
rily from topic to topic in an aimless,
time killing fashion. till at last. feeling
better acquainted, | ventured to ask him
| what had given him that glazy. soaked
appearance. SO strange and CHASTITY to see.
Look a-heah. young feller." said he, alb
ruptly, "heouw old We reckon | mout be?'
Without the slightest hesitation | replied.
Sixty or thereabouts." He gave quiet
chuekle. and then said slowly. WAL. l
doan' blame ye. nuther; n as to feelin-
wall. sumtmes | feels il I'd been Twin
right on frum the beginnin' ov things. My
age, which S about the one solid fact l
Yew won't b'lieve it, of course; but thet's
nothin ter what We will hear, ef yew wait
awhile.
what Tn ;soin' ter tell We happened
femme see-wall. 1 doan' nO-mebbe two,
mebbe four er five years sence. | wuz
mate of a pearlin' schooner blonging ter
Seyuka, lynn daOuwn to Rotumah. Ware
we'd been working the reef wuZ middlin
deep--deep 'nuf ter make eour b'ys fall
on deck when they come up with load.
n lie there like dead uns fer bout ten
minnits befo' they KID move agin. 'Twuz
slaughterin divin'; but the shell wuz
thick. n no mistake n eour ole man
WIZ hustler-s'lo longs he got shell he
didn yally few dern Kanakers peggin
eout neouw n then. We'd a-lost three
with sharks. n eff 'twan't tibet tn b'ys
WIZ more skeered OF old Hardhead than
they wuz of anything else | doan reckon
we sh'd a-got any more stuff tibet trip t
all. But 2 he warn't the kind er blossom
to play any games on, they KEEP at ii, n
We uz film up fast. The land wuz bout
ten mile off, m they wuz bout fifty er
mebbe sixty fathom of water btween the
reef we WIZ fishn' on n the neares'
pint. Wall long bout eight bells in the
afternoon | w a-standin by the galley
door Watchin' a Kanaker crawlin' inboard
very slow, bein' most done up. Five er
six ov 'em w hangin' round bout ter start
below agen. 'n'-the ole man w a-blars-
femin gashly at 'em fer bein' so slow.
Right in the middle ov his sermont | seed
i'm go green in the face, n make a step
back from the rail, with both hans heit
up in front ov him S if he uz skeered
most ter de'th. N he wuZ, too. There
cum lickin inboard after him long grey
slitherin' thing like snake 18th no head
but lot of saucers stuck onto it bottom
up. N befo I'd time ter move, bein'
most sort er paralized. several more ov
the dern things w a-sneakin' around all
over the deck. The fust one got the skip
per good m tight 18th round turn above
his arms. n | saw him a-slidin' away.
The schooner wuz a-rollin' S II in big
swell-which Their warnt sign of. S l
ed see. But them snaky grey things went
quicker n thinkin' all over her. n befo'
yew cd say knife every galoot, includin'
me, wuz a-goin' long with 'em back to
where they'd come from.
Say. dyew ever wake up all alive. 'cep'
yew couldn' move ner speak, only knaw all
wuz goin' on. n do the pow fest tbinkin'
bout things yew ever did in yer life? Yes.
N that's haow | wuz then. When tibet
cold gristly sarpint cum cuddlin' roun' me.
n the saucers got on to me s if they'd
suck out me very bowls, I'd a-gi'n Mount
Morgan ter died. but | couldn't ey'n go
mad. | saw the head ov the Thing them
arms b'longed ter, n 'twuz n the horrors
cause l wuz sane n cool N collected.
The eyes wuz black n foot or more
across. n when l looked into 'em 1 see
meseif a-comin'.'
He was silent for a minute but shaking
as if with palsy. | laid my hand on his
arm. not knowing what to say. and he
looked up wistfully, saying. "Thenks.
shpmate; thet's good" Then he went on
again
The whole Thing went back ards. tax
in us along: n ] remember thinkln' ez
We went Of the other Kanakers below that
hedn't come back. l herd the bubbles S
each OF us left the sunshine, but never a
cry. never another SCUM. The las thing |
| remember seem 'boye me wuZ TIL eend
of the schooner's main boom. which wuz |
guyed out t1 larberd some. N looked like |
al big arm struck stiff an helpless. S though |
wishful to save. Down | went that cling |
in snaky coil round me tighter n my |
skin But wut wuZ Strangest ter me wux |
the fact that not only l didn't drown, but |
felt no sort er disconvenience frum bein' |
below the water. N at last when l !
reached the coral though | dessay l look
ed corpse enough. 'twuz only my looks, fur
felt lackln' my not bein' able ter move.
breathe. er speak, ez peart N fresh ez l |
dew naow. The clutch tibet he'd ben |
me so ALTERED tight began to
slack. n | felt conf bic; N eff I admit |
ben fer the reck lection NV them eyes n
that berryin' -groun' ov a mouth, / doan' no
but wut / might ha' been Almost happy.
But lay thar. with the rest Nv my late
sort err ready for consumpshun,
like the flies in the corner of a spiders
web: n tibet guy me pOw'ful heap ov a
bad time.
"After a while the ouiet Df the Diaca |