Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1916-02-01

went undressed and from which suf-
fered for weary months, and the name
OF Hump" which Wolf Larsen had
called me from the poop. Thereafter.
fore and aft, was known by no other
name, until the term became a part
OF my thought processes and / identi-
fed it with myself. thought of myself
as Hump, as though Hump were and
, had always been I.
1t was 10 easy task. waiting on the
cabin table, where sat Wolf Larsen,
Johansen and the six hunters. The
cabin was small, to begin with, and to
move around, as | was compelled to,
was not made easier by the schooner's
violent pitching and wallowing. But
what struck me most forcibly was
the total lack Of sympathy on the part
Of the men whom l served. l could
feel my knee through my clothes.
swelling and swelling, and l was sick
and faint from the pain Of it. I could
catch gIimpses Of my face, white and
CHASTITY, distorted with pain, in the
cabin mirror. All the men must have
seen my condition, but not one spoke
or took notice Of me, till l was almost
grateful to Wolf Larsen. later on q
was washing the dishes), when he
said
Don't let little thing like that
bother you. You'll get used to such
things in time. It may cripple you
some, but all the same you'll be learn
ing to walk.
That's what you call a paradox,
isn't it?" he added.
He seemed pleased when 1 nodded
my head with the customary Yes,
sir"
Il suppose you know bit about lit
erary things? En-? Good. I'll have
some talks with you sometime"
And then, taking no further account
Of me, he turned his back and went
up on deck.
That night, when I had finished an
endless amount Of work, was sent to
sleep in the steerage, where I made
up a spare bunk. l was glad to get out
of the detestahle presence Of the cook
anu " NC I'll LIZ LCCI- IL NY SUI lSGs
my clothes had dried on me and there
seemed no indications Of catching cold,
either from the last soaking or from
the prolonged soaking from the foun-
dering of the Martinez. Under ordi-
nary circumstances, after all that |
had undergone, l should have been fit
for bed and a trained nurse.
But my knee was bothering me ter
ribly. AS well as 1 could make out,
the kneecap seemed turned up on
edge in the midst Of the swelling. As
| I sat in my bunk examining it (the
six hunters were all in the steerage,
smoking and talking in loud voices),
Henderson took passing glance at it.
Looks nasty" he commented. "Tie
a rag around it and it'll be all right. -
| Like the savage, the attitude Of
these men was stoical in great things,
childish in little things. l remember,
/ later in the voyage. seeing Kerfoot,
another Of the hunters, lose a finger
! bv having it smashed to a Jelly, and
he did not even murmur or change the
expression his face. Yet I have
seen the same man. time and again,
fly into the most outrageous passion
over a trife.
He was doing It now, vociferating,
believing, waving his arms, and ours
ing like a fend, and all because Of a
disagreement with another hunter as
to whether a seal pup knew instinc-
! lively how to swim.
For the most part, the remaining
four hunters leaned on the table or lay
in their hunks and left the discussion
to the two antagonists.
| And they smoked. necessarily
smoked. using a coarse, cheap and Of
| fensive-smelling tobacco. The air
was thick and murky with the smoke
Of it, and this, combined with the vio-
lent movement of the ship as she
struggled through the storm. would
surely have made me seasick, had ]
been a victim to that malady. As it
was, it made me quite squeamish,
| though this nausea might have been
due to the pain of my leg and exhaus-
! ton.
AS lay there thinking, naturally
dwelt upon myself and my situation.
It was unparalleled. undreamed-of.
that I. Humphrey Van Weyden, q
| scholar and a dilettante, If you please,
| in things artistic and literary. should
be lying here on a Bering sea seal-hunt-
| ing schooner. Cabin-boy! / had never
done any hard manual labor. or soul
lion labor, in my life. My muscles were
small and soft, like a woman's. or so
the doctors had said time and again
! in the course Of their attempts to per
suade me to go in for physical culture
fads. But I had preferred to use my
head rather than my body, and here
/ was, in no fit condition for the rough
life in prospect
These are merely few Of the things
| that went through my mind and are
related for the sake Of indicating NY
self in advance in the weak and help
| less role was destined to play. But
I thought. also, Of my mother and sis
tiers. and pictured their grief l was
among the missing dead Of the Mar
| tinez disaster, an unrecovered body.
I could see the headlines in the pa
pers; the fellows at the University club
and the Bibelot shaking their heads
and saying. Poor chapI" And I could
see Charley Furuseth. as I had said
good-by to him that morning. lounging
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