CHAPTER XIV

IN DISTRESS

The clear night was falling when Jimmy leaned on the bridge-rails as the _Shasta_ steamed out of the Inlet beneath a black wall of pines. Over her port quarter the pale lights of the climbing city twinkled tier on tier, with dim forest rolling away behind them into the creeping mist. Beyond that, in turn, a faint blink of snow still gleamed against the dusky blueness of the east. All this was familiar, but he was leaving it behind, and ahead there lay an empty waste of darkening water, into which the _Shasta_ pushed her way with thumping engines and a drowsy gurgle at the bows. It seemed to Jimmy, in one sense, appropriate that it should be so. He had cut himself adrift from all that he had been accustomed to, and where the course he had launched upon would lead him he did not know.

That, however, did not greatly trouble him. His character was by no means a complex one, and it was sufficient for him to do the obvious thing, which, after all, usually saves everybody trouble. It was clear that Tom Wheelock needed him, and he could, at least, look back a little, though this was an occupation to which he was not greatly addicted. He understood now how his father, who had perhaps never been a strong man, had slowly broken down under a load of debt that was too heavy for him, though the nature of the man who had with deliberate intent laid it on his shoulders was incomprehensible. Jimmy, in fact, could scarcely conceive the possibility of any man scheming and plotting to ruin a fellow-being for the value of two old schooners. The apparently insufficient motive made the thing almost devilish. Merril, he felt, was outside the pale of humanity, a noxious creature to be shunned or, on opportunity, crushed by honest men.

Answer the following questions:
1. What was the night like when jimmy leaned on the bridge rails?
2. What boat traveled out of the inlet beneath a black wall of pines?
3. Was his character a complex one?
4. What did this allow him to do sufficiently?
5. What twinkled over the quarter of the Shasta's port?
6. Was the place he was Familiar to him?
7. Even though it was familar what was he going to do?
8. Who broke down under a load of debt?
9. Who in the storey is said to of needed Jimmy?
10. What is it Jimmy couldn't possibly conceive?
11. What had Jimmy cut himself adrift from?
12. Did he know where his life was taking him?
13. What rolled away behind the city?
14. What was beyond that?

Numbered answers:
1. clear
2. the Shasta
3. No
4. the obvious thing
5. the pale lights of the climbing city
6. yes
7. he was going to leave it behind
8. Jimmy's father
9. Tom Wheelock
10. the possibility of any man scheming and plotting to ruin a fellow-being for the value of two old schooners.
11. from all that he had been accustomed to,
12. no
13. dim forest
14. a faint blink of snow still gleamed against the dusky blueness of the east.