Sea and Shore Part 6

"Do--do! Mr. Garth," entreated Miss Lamarque, whose penetration showed her by this time that the pilot was only playing on our fears, for want of a better instrument for his skill. "I quite enjoy the idea that you have actually been astride a fragment of the arctic glacier, and that we may perhaps make the acquaintance of a white bear ourselves when we get near our iceberg, or a gentle seal. Wouldn't you like one for a pet, Miss Harz?"

"It is very cold," I said, digressively. "I feel the chill of that fragment of Greenland freeze my marrow. I must go fetch my shawl; but first rea.s.sure us, Mr. Garth, if possible."

He laughed. "I have paid you now for making fun of me to-day," he said, saucily. "I saw your drawing of me in your books, and heard the ladies laughing. I peeped as I pa.s.sed when Myers took the helm, and I wanted to see what all the fun was about; then I said to myself, 'I will give her a skeer for that if I have a chance'--but, all the same, the chill you feel is a real one, for as sure as death that lump of darkness is an iceberg. I have told you no yarn, as you will find out to-morrow when you ask the captain. I'll steer you clear of the iceberg though, ladies, never fear. Hans Schuyler has not got the wheel to-night--you see he was three sheets in the wind anyhow, and the captain says, 'Hans,' says he, 'don't tech another drop this night, or we'll never see another mornin'

till we are resurrected,' and so he turned into his hammock and swung himself to sleep--a way he had, for he didn't keer for nothin' where his comfort was concerned, having been raised up in the Injies."

"Come, Miss Lamarque," I interrupted. "I must not hear another word.

'Macbeth doth murder sleep,' and I shall be nervous for a month after this. So, good-night, Mr. Garth, and be sure you merit your first name by taking good care of us while we imitate the example of your worthy captain and 'swing ourselves to sleep,' or rather let the waves perform that office for us. I shall make it my care to-morrow morning early, if you still hold the helm, to show you my sketch, and convince you that it was never made for fun at all, but that it is a real portrait of a very fine-looking seaman, a real viking in appearance, and somewhat better than one at heart, I trust. I shall hope to earn your good opinion instead of ill-will, when you have only seen my sketch."

"You have it already, you have it already, young gal--young miss, I mean," he said, with a wave of the hand, which meant to be courteous, no doubt, but seemed only defiant. "An' this much I kin say without injury to Sall--that I'd rather hear you talk and see you smile, as I has been watchin' of you constant do to-day, than go to the circus in New York, or even to a Spanish bull-fight, or hear a Fourth-of-July oration, or 'tend camp-meetin'--and that's saying no little--an' no iceberg shall come near you while Christian Garth lays a hand upon this helm. But don't be skeered, ladies; no harm will come to the good s.h.i.+p Kosciusko."

"I declare our pilot is quite chivalrous, as far as you are concerned, for I marked his glance, Miss Harz," said Miss Lamarque, archly, as we turned our faces cabinward, under the protection of our helmsman's promised vigilance. "See what it is to be young and pretty, and remark the truth of the old proverb, as exemplified in his case, that 'extremes meet.' Victoria herself is not more independent of me or my position--established facts as both are in the eyes of some--than is Christian Garth. To him, this outsider of the world of fas.h.i.+on, I am only a homely old woman; no prestige comes in to garnish the unvarnished fact--a plain old maid, my dear--with not even the remembrance of beauty as a consolation, nor its remnant as a sign of past triumphs, 'only this and nothing more,' as that wonderful man Poe makes his raven say. We never find our level until we go among people who know and care nothing about us, who have never 'heard of us'--that exordium of most greetings from folks of our own cla.s.s. It is absolutely refres.h.i.+ng to be so unaffectedly despised and slighted--it does one a world of good, there is no doubt of that, especially when one's grandfather was a Revolutionary notability, and other antecedents of a piece--but men are all alike at heart, only the worldly ones wear flimsy masks, you know, and pretend to adore intellect and ugliness, when beauty is the only thing they care for--all a sham, my dear, in any case."

"Yes, all alike," I repeated, making, as I spoke, one mental entire reservation. "All _vain_ alike, I mean; flatter their vanity ever so little and they are at your very feet, asking 'for more,' like Oliver Twist; more bread for _amour propre_, the insatiable! It was that sketch of mine that wrought the spell, though unintentionally, of course, and the sly fellow knew very well that it was no caricature--that is, if he peeped, as he pretends--but a tolerably correct likeness that might have satisfied Sall herself. By-the-by, I have a great mind to bestow it upon him as a 'sop for Cerberus,' should her jealousy ever be aroused by your reports of his devotion to me, or admiration rather, most unequivocally avowed, it must be acknowledged. I really had no intention of injuring Sally, and, if you think it best, will make the _amende honorable_ by being as cross as possible to him to-morrow."

"No, no, carry out your first intention and conciliate him; for, remember, he has us in the hollow of his hand. Bestow the picture, by all means, and just as many smiles and compliments as he can stand, or you can afford to squander; for you are worse than a mermaid, Miss Harz, for fascination, all the gentlemen say so; and, as to Captain Falconer--"

"They are malignants," I rejoined, ignoring purposely the last clause of the sentence which I had interrupted; "and you are perfidious to hear them slander me so. I hate fascinating people; they always make my flesh crawl like serpents. The few I have known have been so very base." "Good specimens of '_thorough_ ba.s.s,'" she interpolated, laughing.--"I am sure I am glad I have no attributes of fascination, if a strange old work I met with at Beauseincourt may be considered responsible. Did you ever see it, Miss Lamarque, you who see every thing? Hieronymus Frascatorius tells of certain families in Crete who fascinated by praising, and to avert this evil influence some charm was used consisting of a magic word (I suppose this was typical of humility, though related as literal). This _navete_ on the part of the old chronicler was simply _impayable_, as Major Favraud would say, with his characteristic shrug.

One _Varius_ related (you see my theme has full possession of me, and the book is a collation of facts on the subject of fascination of all kinds, even down to that of the serpent) that a friend of his saw a fascinator with a look break in two a precious gem in the hands of a lapidary--typical this, I suppose, of some fond, foolish, female heart.

Fire, according to this author, represents the quality of fascination; and toads and moths are subject to its influence, as well as some higher animals--deer, for instance, who are hunted successfully with torches; and he relates, further, that in Abyssinia artificers of pottery and iron are thus fearfully endowed, and are consequently forbidden to join in the sacred rites of religion, as fire is their chief agent. Isn't this a strange, quaint volume, to set before a king? and how do you like my lecture delivered _extempore_?"

"Oh, vastly! but I did not know that was your style before. Don't cultivate it, dear, if you hope to win manly hearts. Men like to do all the lecturing themselves, and I find it diplomatic to feign profound ignorance on all subjects outside of a bandbox; it delights them so to enlighten us. No wonder they fancy us fools when we feign foolishness so admirably--lapwings that we are!"

"But I never do, in such society. My experience is different from yours.

I always pretend to know twice as much as I do, when they are about; it bluffs them off, and they are credulous sometimes as well as ignorant, notwithstanding their boasted ac.u.men."

"Your lamp of experience needs tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, my pretty Miriam," she said, shaking her head, "if you really believe this. They never forgive superiority, a.s.sumed or real; none but the n.o.ble ones, I mean; who, of course, are in the minority. Give a pair of tongs pantaloons, and it a.s.serts itself. Trousers, my dear, are at the root of manly presumption.

I discovered that long ago. A man in petticoats would be as humble as a woman. This is my theory, at least; take it for what it is worth. And now to sleep, with what heart we may, an iceberg being in our vicinity;"

and, taking my face in her hand, she kissed me cordially. "It is very early in our acquaintance for such manifestations to be allowable," she said, kindly, "but I am a sort of spoiled child of society, and dare to be natural. I consider that the best privilege that attaches to my condition, that of the 'bell-wether' of Savannah _ton_--the universally-accepted bore! You know--Favraud has told you, of course; he always characterizes as he goes."

"He has called you the most agreeable woman in Savannah, I remember, young or old, and was truly glad, on my account, to know that you were on board. Of your brother he spoke very kindly also, even admiringly."

"Oh, yea, I know; but of Raguet there is little question now. His wife's death has crushed him. I never saw so changed a man; he is half idiotic, I believe; and I am with him now just to keep those children from completing the work of destruction. Six little motherless ones--only think--and as bad as they can possibly be; for poor Lucilla was no manager. Isn't it strange, the influence those little cottony women get over their husbands? You and I might try forever to establish such absolute despotism, all in vain. It is your whimpering sort that rule with the waving of a pocket-handkerchief; but poor, dear little woman, she is powerless now; and I suppose the next will be like unto her.

Raguet would never look at any thing feminine that hadn't white eyes and pink hair (yellow, I mean, of course)--his style, you know, being dark and stern, he likes the downy, waxy kind. All this is shockingly egotistical; but the question is, who that has a spark of individuality is otherwise? Good-night, again, and may all sweet dreams attend you; for my part, I never dream, being past the dreaming age, and realities fortunately disappear with daylight; even cross children are wheedled into quietness, and servants forget to fidget and giggle; and, for mosquitoes, there are bars. Adieu."

And thus we parted, never to meet again in mutual mood like this!

Yet, had the free agency of which some men boast been ours, we had scarcely chosen to face the awful change--to look into each other's eyes through gathering death-doom!

CHAPTER III.

Before my dreaming eyes was the terror of a hungry, crunching tooth, fixed in the vessel's side, that of the iceberg, lying black in the moonlight like a great coal crystal, grimly awaiting our approach, but the reality, as well as the figment, had disappeared when I emerged at sunrise from the suffocating cabin, to the atmosphere of the cool and quiet quarter-deck, which had just undergone its matutinal.

Armed with an orange and a biscuit for physical refreshment, I depended on sea and sky for my mental entertainment; and in my hand I bore a slender scroll, destined as a propitiatory offering to our offended helmsman.

I was glad to find again at the wheel our pilot of yesterday.

"Your iceberg has disappeared, Mr. Garth," I said, as I extended to him the sketch I had made of his n.o.ble _physique_ the day before, "and here is a picture for your wife, which she will see was not drawn for fun.

Women are sharper than men about such matters. There, I bestow it not without regret." He received my offering with a smile, and nod of his great curly head, opened it, gazed long and seriously upon it, and, with the single word "Good," rolled it up again, and consigned it to some bosom pocket in his flannel s.h.i.+rt, into which it seemed to glide as a telescope into its case, revealing, as he did so, glimpses of a hairy breast, and vigorous chest, more admirable for strength than beauty, certainly.

"I will keep it there," he said, "young miss," pressing it closely against his side with his colossal hand, "until I get safe home to the Ja.r.s.eys, and to Sall, or go to Davy's locker, one or other, but which it will be, young gal--young miss, I should be saying--is not for me to know."

"Nor for anyone," I rejoined, solemnly; "all rests with G.o.d."

"With G.o.d and our engineer," he resumed, tersely; "them sails is of little account, now the mainmast is struck away; them floppen petticoats, wat the wind loves to play in and out, layin' along like a lazy lubber that it is, and leaving its work for others to do. It was a n.o.ble mast, though, while it stood--and you could smell the turpentine blood in its heart to the very last. It was as limber as a sapling, and never growed brittle, like some wood, with age and dryness. No storm could splinter it, and it would fling itself over into the high waves sometimes, rayther than snap and lash them like a whip. But there it lies, burned with the fire of heaven's wrath, at last, and leaving its fires of h.e.l.l behind, in the heart of the Kosciusko."

"You have changed your mind on the subject of engines, Mr. Garth, I am glad to see. Truly, ours seems to be doing giant's work; now we are flying, to be sure."

"Rus.h.i.+ng, not flying, young lady--that's the word; our wings are little use to-day, you see, such as are left to us. Runnin' for dear life, we'd better say, for that's the truth of the matter, and may the merciful Lord speed us, and have in his care all helpless ones this day!"

The lifted hand, the bared head, the earnest accents, with which these words were spoken, gave to this simple utterance of good-will all the solemnity of a benediction or prayer.

I noticed that, after replacing his tarpaulin, the lips of Garth continued to move silently, then were compressed gravely for a time, while his eye, large, clear, and expressive, was fixed on s.p.a.ce.

"Do you still see an iceberg, Mr. Garth? Do you really apprehend danger for us now?" I asked, after studying his countenance for a moment, "or, are you again desirous to try the nerves of your female pa.s.sengers? I think I must apply to the captain this time for information."

"Yes, danger," he replied, in low, sad tones, ignoring my last remark, or perhaps not hearing it at all--"danger, compared with which an iceberg might be considered in the light of a heavenly marcy. There is a chance of grazing one of them snow-bowlders, or of its drifting away from a s.h.i.+p, when the ripples reach it, or, if the wust comes, a body can scramble overboard, and manage to live on the top of one of them peaks, or in one of their ice-caves, with a few blankets, and a little bread and junk and water, fur a s.p.a.ce, so as to get a chance of meetin'

a s.h.i.+p, or a schooner; but, when there is something wrong in a s.h.i.+p's heart, there a'n't much hope for rescue, onless it comes from above."

He hesitated, smiling grimly, rolled his quid, crammed his hat down over his eyes, and again addressed himself to his wheel, and, for a few moments, I stood beside him silently.

"The s.h.i.+p is leaking, I suppose," I said, at last, "so that you apprehend her loss, perhaps," and my heart sank coldly within me, as I spoke; "but, if this be true, why does not the captain apprise us? No, you are quizzing me again, and very cruelly this time, very unwarrantably."

Yet I did not think exactly as I spoke, strive as I might to believe the man in jest. Too much solemnity and sorrow both were discernible in his worn and rugged features, hewn grandly as if from granite, to admit of a hope like this. His words were earnest, and some great calamity was in store, I could not doubt, or at least he apprehended such. For some time he replied not, then, slowing pointing to the base of the stricken mainmast, which still showed an elevation of some inches above the deck, he revealed to me the truth without a word.

As my eyes followed his guiding finger, I saw, with terror unspeakable, a thin blue wavering smoke-wreath, float upward from the floor, and, after curling feebly about the truncated mast, disappear in the clear sunlit atmosphere, again to arise from the same point, that of the juncture of the mast and deck, creeping through some invisible crevice, as it seemed to form itself eternally in filmy folds, and successively elude the eye as soon as it shaped to sight. I understood him then.

There was fire in the heart of the s.h.i.+p, and I knew the hold was filled with cotton; it was smouldering slowly, and our safety was a question of time alone!

Pale, transfixed, frozen, I lifted my eyes to the man, who seemed to represent my fate for the moment. "Was it the lightning?" I asked, after a pause, during which his pitying eye rested on me drearily. "Did the fire occur in that way?"

"Yes, the lightning it was; and G.o.d's hand, which sent the shaft direct, alone can deliver us."

I seemed to hear the voice of Bertie speak these words. Things grew confused; I wavered as I stood, lifted my hand to my head; the face of Christian Garth grew large and dim, then faded utterly. I knew no more until I found myself seated on a coil of rope, leaning against the bulwark, while a young girl stood beside me, fanning and bathing my face, and offering me a gla.s.s of water.

"You are better now," she said, kindly; "the man at the wheel called me as I was pa.s.sing, and pointed out your condition, and I led you here, and ran for water. Being up so early is apt to disagree with some people."

"What are these people crawling about the deck for? Is all hope over, or was it only a dream?" I asked.

"Oh, you are quite wild yet from your swoon; it is only the calkers stopping up the seams, one of the captain's queer whims they say; but how they are to dance to-night, those _magnificos_ I mean, without ruining their slippers with this pitch, I cannot see! Thank Goodness! I belong to a church, and am not of this party, and don't care on my own account, nor does the captain, I believe. I was placed under his care at Savannah, and I suppose it is only to stop the ball that--"

She was interrupted by the approach of the officer under discussion, but he pa.s.sed us gloomily and went on to inspect the workmen so unseasonably employed, as it seemed, in a labor that, save in a case of long voyages, is always performed in port.

His melancholy air, and the preoccupation of his manner, confirmed my worst fears.