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

amusements Of the town. and late in tn
afternoon found myself several miles to tn
southwark of it, Emerging from the tan
gled pathway through which I had beef
| struggling with the luxuriant greenery.
struck the sand Of lovely little blight tina
commanded an uninterrupted view to sea
ward. Less than a mile out a reef o
black rocks occasionally barred their ugl,
fangs for brief space amidst the sleel
waters, until the sleepiIy advancing swell
finding its progress thus hindered. ros,
high over their grim SUBMITS in a league
long fleece Of dazzling foam, whose spra!
glittered like jewels in the diagonal ray
of the declining sun.
Upon a little knoll left by the recedinl
tide sat a man staring stolidly out to sea
As / drew near. my approach making NJ
noise upon the yielding sand, I saw tina
he was white. BY his riga shirt aBt
trousers, big grass hat, and bare feet
took him for beach-comber. These char
acters are not often desirable companion!
human weeds cast ashore in such places
and getting precariOus living in dark ant
devious ways without work. But | fell
inclined for company and q rest after my
long tramp, so | made for him direct. He
| raised his head at my nearing him, showed
face as of a man some sixty years old
There was a peculiar boiled look about his
I 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,
persoOm." Yes l replied; boat header
stantly, but yewre no Yank, meow, air
/ ye?" mo, I'm Cockney-little as ye
| think that likely" said /: but it's a
fact" wall, don no" he drawled I've
! a'met Cockneys good s ! 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. l ventured to ask him
| what had given him that glazy. soaked
| appearance so strange and CHASTITY to see
! Look aheah young Teller" said he, alb
ruptly, "heOuw old We reckon l mout be?'
| Without the slightest hesitation l replied.
Sixty or Whereabouts" He gave quiet
chuckle. and then said slowly. WAL. l
doan' blame ye, nuther; n as TO feeln'-
wall. sumtimes l feels if I'd been a Twin
right on frum the beginnin' ov things. My
age, which S about the one solid fact
kin freeze Onter now days, is thutty-two.
Yew won't b'lieve it, of course; but thets
nothin' ter what We will hear ef yew wait
awhile.
what Tn soin' ter tell We happened
femme see-wall. | dOan 'nO-mebbe two,
mebbe four er five years sence. l wuz
mate of pearlin' schooner b'longing ter
Sevuka, lyin' daOuwn to ROtUmah. Ware
we'd been working the reef WIZ middlin'
deep-deep 'nuf ter make eour b'ys fall
on deck when they come up with a load,
n lie there like dead uns fer bout ten
minnits befo' they KID move ag'in Twuz
slaughterin divin'; but the shell wuz
thick n no mistake: n eour ole man
wuz a hustler-s longs he got shell he
didn't vally 4 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 I doan reckon
We sh'd a-got any more stuff tibet trip t
ALL But . he warn't the kind er blossom
to play any games on, they KEEP at it, n
We 'uz film up fast. The land wuz bout
ten mile of, m they wuz bout fifty er
mebbe sixty fathom Of water b'tween the
reef we WIZ fshin' on n the neares'
pint. Wall. long bout eight bells in the
afternoon l w a-standin' by the galley
door watchin Kanaker crawlin' inboard
very slow bein most done up. Five er
six ov EN- w hangin' round bout ter start
below agen. n the ole man w a-blars-
femiu 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 helt
up in front ov him S if he w skeered
most ter de'th " he wuZ, too. There
cum lickin inboard after him long grey
slitherin' thing like a snake 18th no head
but lot of saucers stuck onto it bottom
up. ~ 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 N tight 18th a 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 |
cd see. But them snaky grey things went
quicker n hinkin all over her. n befo'
yew ed say knife every galoot, includin'
me, wuz a-goin' long with EN- 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 5 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 | Wuz sane m cool n collected.
The eyes wuz black n foot or more
across. n when / looked into 'em l see
meself 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 !
shipmate thet's good Then he went on |
again.
The whole Thing went back ards. tax !
in US along; n ! remember thinkin ez |
we went OF the other .Kanakers below that |
hedn't come back. I herd the bubbles S |
each OF us left the sunshine, but never |
cry, never another SCUM. The las thing |
[ remember seem 'boye me Wuz tn eend |
of the schooners main boom. which wuz |
guyed out to larberd some, n looked like |
q, big arm struck stiff an helpless. S though |
wishful to save. Down 1 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 diSCOnYenience frum bein' |
below the water. ~ at last, when l
reached the coral. though ! dessay | look
ed corpse enough. 'twuz only my looks, fur
] felt, laCkin my not bein' able ter move,
breathe, er speak, ez peart n fresh cz l
dew naow The clutch tibet he'd ben
me so ALFRED tight began to
slack, n | felt conf bic; n eff t 'adn't
ben fer the reck lection Nv them eyes n
that berryin' -grOun ov mouth, doanno
but wut / might ha' been Almost happy
But ! lay thar with the rest w my late
5hipmates. sort er ready for consumpshun,
like the flies in the corner of a spiders
web; n thet guy me a pow full heap oy 4
bad time.