The sun., 1903-10-18

he did in the water -You hear me, you
dogs!
Il kan swim. and swim clear to hell
before l gives up! / will swim to Homo
lulu, and If l can't tow my blasted carcass
dat far-I swim in spirit.
Il will haunt you-on de night vatches-I
will haunt you till you yump overboard!"
DE doesn't say 80, but you know that he
peeled OF his clothes and struck out after
the ship. His powerful jaw ia set. and the
muscles under his ears are like huge wal
nuts.
Then he sees the bark, by the light of the
breaking dawn, miles ahead, and they
have hove her to. As he mounts the crest
OF wave he sees a boat put of Here he
usually laughs.
By gum-it vas funny You know
dat damn skipper-he tink he find me.
Dey hunt all overland vas six miles
astern-ha, ha, ha, halt was funny.
don't even shout. Vat's de use? joost
larfs and lar's-vay out dere in de vater."
And he goes off into another spasm of
merriment. Here he pauses, nor does he
resume until he has disposed of two more
beers. His mustache droops again, the
fierce glare returns into those sea-gray
eyes.
Den dey brace up de fore yards again
and go on. You see, dey goes on, vile I
s"ims alter. six seven-eight miles astern.
"You tink l will drown7 Not much!
| kan swim--clear to Honoulu-or hell.
l doesn't care vitch-only l gets to dose
fel!ers. wants to meet dem again.
ha
heard OF, to leave a shipmate to drown in
a smood SEQ. Would you do dat to your
worst enemy?"
here he wakes sentimental and slobbers
through dissertation on the ethics of
shipmate fellowship. He wants you to
Understand he Fever hit fellow when
he was down, especially a shipmate.
Would you see fellow drop overheard
and not raise the cryl No, you wouldn't
hot even il it was the Chinese cook"
few more drinks wash away the tears
Again he bristles
But | gets even wild deml I will not
CROWN will not-I will not"
He fairly roars this, and Trig's roar is a
few keys lower than a bulls below.
No! viii swim after dot gang of larri-
On he goes. With him you see the white
sails face out on the horizon, and with him
you are alone in the great circle. Drunk
as he is. he speaks distinctly now, care
fully articulates each word.
Have you ever been out in a small boat.
alone with tho guis. clear horizon. and
land thousand miles away? MOI He
has. It's sensation that sets the entrails
wriggling within you.
But think. then" he continues, pointing
huge gnarled forefnger at you. think.
then-how would you feel without boat
in mdocean with clear horizon about
you? How would you feel them"
You know-with his eyes looking into
yours. You know you would throw up
your hands and sink.
But no-not with that fiery hate in you
that burns into your very bowels. You
would swim-swi wim-swim -swiml
You are always with him-with him
as he treads water, or strikes out, or floats,
looking up into the blue, cloudless sky.
You see the froth in his fiery hair, the spume
in his tawny mustaches, sometimes floating
about his mouth like seaweed, and those
huge white limbs moving under water.
And you see that broad, square chin
beat against the waveets like the prov
of a Viking pirate ship.
So he fought ten long hours-fought
while the sun climbed up the centre of the
metallic dome of the heavens and began
to descend again. and the screaming gulls
circled about his head and even lighted
near by
Here he pauses once more, and tells
YOU he sank; only for second, mind you,
but he sank. A picture flashed before
him.
He saw the men of his watch stalking
about the streets of Honolulu. He saw
them in the drinking shops leanirg against
the bars.
He heard them telling how he had drowned
ard they chuckled and ogled one another.
He saw big Steve grin, as he said:
Poor su cker, we'd a picked him I'D
if we could!"
Sink7 Never! He could swm-a thou
sand miles! He could swim in spite of
hell itself.
He must have been fearsomo sight
then, shooting up again above the sur
face, like g aea demon shoutirg ver ges nee
Never! He will swim swim-swirn swim
BY this time he is pretty drunk. If he
were an orc.iTary man you would say he
was nervously urstrlrg. But Trig Olaf-
son has TO rerves, he's only beastly
drunk But still, you feel the thrill of fire
in that last spurt.
Here nc gets maudlin and funny at orce
and you cant quite make out what hap
pened. You know he saw the foresnils
of square rgged ship, but he doesn't
tell how he got aboard it,
Figuratively speaking, he sobbers ard
falls all over the captain and bosn of the
Garnet. Then he laughs again
"You know, dey ask me, We're you come
from?' Ha, he, ha, ha! tell dem vas in
O. whales belly like Yona. He, ha. ha, ha !
/ don't tell dem rothing till rcxt day"
BY this time he is too drunk TO toll more.
but you have the tale. You look at the
huge, drunken brute before you-ugly,
uncouth, heroic, drunkard in spite of
all d thrill of admiration GENES over you.
And You feel that the Viking rs must have
been Just such heroic brutes.