75 лучших рассказов / 75 Best Short Stories

‘Wait,’ I replied. ‘I think somehow he’ll come back. He must have been badly needing that food.’

‘And the lady,’ said Will. For a moment he was silent; then he continued, ‘It’s the queerest thing ever I’ve tumbled across since I’ve been fishing.’

‘Yes,’ I said, and fell to pondering.

And so the time slipped away – an hour, another, and still Will stayed with me; for the queer adventure had knocked all desire for sleep out of him.

The third hour was three parts through when we heard again the sound of oars across the silent ocean.

‘Listen!’ said Will, a low note of excitement in his voice.

‘He’s coming, just as I thought,’ I muttered.

The dipping of the oars grew nearer, and I noted that the strokes were firmer and longer. The food had been needed.

They came to a stop a little distance off the broadside, and the queer voice came again to us through the darkness:

‘Schooner, ahoy!’

‘That you?’ asked Will.

‘Yes,’ replied the voice. ‘I left you suddenly, but – but there was great need.’

‘The lady?’ questioned Will.

‘The – lady is grateful now on earth. She will be more grateful soon in – in heaven.’

Will began to make some reply, in a puzzled voice, but became confused and broke off. I said nothing. I was wondering at the curious pauses, and apart from my wonder, I was full of a great sympathy.

The voice continued, ‘We – she and I have talked, as we shared the result of God’s tenderness and yours—’

Will interposed, but without coherence

‘I beg of you not to – to belittle your deed of Christian charity this night,’ said the voice. ‘Be sure that it has not escaped His notice.’

It stopped, and there was a full minute’s silence. Then it came again. ‘We have spoken together upon that which – which has befallen us. We had thought to go out, without telling anyone of the terror which has come into our – lives. She is with me in believing that tonight’s happenings are under a special ruling, and that it is God’s wish that we should tell to you all that we have suffered since – since—’

‘Yes?’ said Will softly.

‘Since the sinking of the Albatross .’

‘Ah!’ I exclaimed involuntarily. ‘She left Newcastle [286] for ’Frisco [287] some six months ago, and hasn’t been heard of since.’

‘Yes,’ answered the voice. ‘But some few degrees to the north of the line, she was caught in a terrible storm and dismasted. When the calm came, it was found that she was leaking badly, and presently, it falling to a calm, the sailors took to the boats, leaving – leaving a young lady – my fiancée – and myself upon the wreck.

‘We were below, gathering together a few of our belongings, when they left. They were entirely callous, through fear, and when we came up upon the decks, we saw them only as small shapes afar off upon the horizon. Yet we did not despair, but set to work and constructed a small raft. Upon this we put such few matters as it would hold, including a quantity of water and some ship’s biscuit. Then, the vessel being very deep in the water, we got ourselves onto the raft and pushed off.

‘It was later that I observed we seemed to be in the way of some tide or current, which bore us from the ship at an angle, so that in the course of three hours, by my watch, her hull became invisible to our sight, her broken masts remaining in view for a somewhat longer period. Then, toward evening, it grew misty, and so through the night. The next day we were still encompassed by the mist, the weather remaining quiet.

‘For four days we drifted through this strange haze, until, on the evening of the fourth day, there grew upon our ears the murmur of breakers at a distance. Gradually it became plainer, and somewhat after midnight, it appeared to sound upon either hand at no very great space. The raft was raised upon a swell several times, and then we were in smooth water, and the noise of the breakers was behind.

‘When the morning came, we found that we were in a sort of great lagoon, but of this we noticed little at the time; for close before us, through the enshrouding mist, loomed the hull of a large sailing vessel. With one accord we fell upon our knees and thanked God, for we thought that here was an end to our perils. We had much to learn.

‘The raft drew near to the ship, and we shouted on them to take us aboard; but none answered. Presently the raft touched against the side of the vessel, and seeing a rope hanging downward, I seized it and began to climb. Yet I had much ado to make my way up, because of a kind of gray, lichenous fungus that had seized upon the rope and blotched the side of the ship lividly.