The Frozen Pirate by William Clark Russell

  CHAPTER XIV.

  AN EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE.

  After the many great mercies which had been vouchsafed me, such as mybeing the only one saved of all the crew of the _Laughing Mary_, mydeliverance from the dangers of an open boat, my meeting with thisschooner and discovering within her everything needful for the supportof life, I should have been guilty of the basest ingratitude had Irepined because there was no boat in the ship. Yet for all that I couldnot but see it was a matter that concerned me very closely. Should thevessel be crushed, what was to become of me? It was easy to propose tomyself the making of a raft or the like of such a fabric; but everythingwas so hard frozen that, being single-handed, it was next to impossibleI should be able to put together such a contrivance as would be fit tolive in the smallest sea-way.

  However, I was resolved not to make myself melancholy with theseconsiderations. The good fortune that had attended me so far mightaccompany me to the end, and maybe I was the fitter just then to take ahopeful view of my condition because of the cheerfulness awakened in meby the noble show of coal in the forepeak. At twelve o'clock by thewatch in my pocket I got my dinner. I had a mind for a lighter drinkthan brandy, and went to the lazarette and cut out a block of the winein the cask I had opened; I also knocked out the head of a tierce ofbeef, designing a hearty regale for supper. You smile, perhaps, that Ishould talk so much of my eating; but if on shore, amid the security ofexistence there, it is the one great business of life, that is to say,the one great business of life after love, what must it be to a poorshipwrecked wretch like me, who had nothing else to think of but hisfood?

  Yet I could not help smiling when I considered how I was carrying mydrink about in my fingers. What the wine was I do not know; it lookedlike claret but was somewhat sweet, and was the most generous wine Iever tasted, spite of my having to drink it warm, for if I let the cupout of my hand to cool, lo! when I looked it was ice!

  Whilst I sat smoking my pipe it entered my head to presently turn thosetwo silent gentlemen in the cabin out of it. It was a task from which Ishrank, but it must be done. To be candid, I dreaded the effects oftheir dismal companionship on my spirits. I had been in the schooner twodays only; I had been heartened by the plenty I had met with, a soundnight's rest, the fire, and my escape from the fate that had certainlyovertaken me had I gone away in the boat. But being of a superstitiousnature and never a lover of solitude, I easily guessed that in a fewdays the weight of my loneliness would come to press very heavily uponme, and that if I suffered those figures to keep the cabin I should findmyself lying under a kind of horror which might end in breaking down mymanhood and perhaps in unsettling my reason.

  But how was I to dispose of them? I meditated this matter whilst Ismoked. First I thought I would drag them to the fissure or rent in theice just beyond the stern of the schooner and tumble them into it. Buteven then they would still be with me, so to speak--I mean, they wouldbe neighbours though out of sight; and my eagerness was to get them awayfrom this island altogether, which was only to be done by casting theminto the sea. Why, though I did not mention the matter in its place, Iwas as much haunted last night by the man on deck and the meditatingfigure on the rocks as by the fellows in the cabin; and, laugh as youmay at my weakness, I do candidly own my feeling was, if I did notcontrive that the sea should carry those bodies away, I should comebefore long to think of them as alive, no matter in what part of theisland I might bear them to, and at night-time start at every sound,hear their voices in the wind, see their shapes in the darkness, andeven by day dread to step upon the cliffs.

  That such fancies should possess me already shows how necessary it was Ishould lose no time to provide against their growth; so I settled myscheme thus: first I was to haul the figures as best I could on to thedeck; then, there being three, to get them over the side, and afterwardsby degrees to transport the four of them to some steep whence they wouldslide of themselves into the ocean. Yet so much did I dread theundertaking, and abhor the thought of the tedious time I foresaw itwould occupy me, that I cannot imagine any other sort of painful anddistressing work that would not have seemed actually agreeable ascompared with this.

  My pipe being smoked out, I stepped into the cabin, and ascending theladder threw off the companion-cover and opened the doors, and then wentto the man that had his back to the steps, but my courage failed me; hewas so lifelike, there was so wild and fierce an earnestness in theexpression of his face, so inimitable a picture of horror in hisstarting posture, that my hands fell to my side and I could not lay holdof him. I will not stop to analyse my fear or ask why, since I knew thatthis man was dead, he should have terrified me as surely no living mancould; I can only repeat that the prospect of touching him, and layinghim upon the deck and then dragging him up the ladder, was indescribablyfearful to me, and I turned away, shaking as if I had the ague.

  But it had to be done, nevertheless; and after a great deal of reasoningand self-reproach I seized him on a sudden, and, kicking away the bench,let him fall to the deck. He was frozen as hard as stone and fell likestone, and I looked to see him break, as a statue might that fallslumpishly. His arms remaining raised put him into an attitude ofentreaty to me to leave him in peace; but I had somewhat masteredmyself, and the hurry and tumult of my spirits were a kind of hottemper; so catching him by the collar, I dragged him to the foot of thecompanion-steps, and then with infinite labour and a number of sickeningpauses hauled him up the ladder to the deck.

  I let him lie and returned, weary and out of breath. He had been a veryfine man in life, of beauty too, as was to be seen in the shape of hisfeatures and the particular elegance of his chin, despite the distortionof his last unspeakable dismay; and with his clothes I guessed hisweight came hard upon two hundred pounds, no mean burden to haul up aladder.

  I went to the cook-house for a dram and to rest myself, and then cameback to the cabin and looked at the other man. His posture has beenalready described. He made a very burly figure in his coat, and if hisweight did not exceed the other's it was not likely to be less. Nothingof his head was visible but the baldness on the top and the growth ofhair that ringed it, and the fluffing up of his beard about his arms inwhich his face was sunk. I touched his beard with a shuddering finger,and noted that the frost had made every hair of it as stiff as wire. Itwould not do to stand idly contemplating him, for already there wasslowly creeping into me a dread of seeing his face; so I took hold ofhim and swayed him from the table, and he fell upon the deck sideways,preserving his posture, so that his face remained hidden. I dragged hima little way, but he was so heavy and his attitude rendered him as aburthen so surprisingly cumbrous that I was sure I could never of my ownstrength haul him up the ladder. Yet neither was it tolerable that heshould be there. I thought of contriving a tackle called a whip, andmaking one end fast to him and taking the other end to the littlecapstan on the main deck; but on inspecting the capstan I found that thefrost had rendered it immovable, added to which there was nothingwhatever to be done with the iron-hard gear, and therefore I had to givethat plan up.

  Then, thought I, if I was to put him before the fire, he might presentlythaw into some sort of suppleness, and so prove not harder than theother to get on deck. I liked the idea, and without more ado dragged himlaboriously into the cook-room and laid him close to the furnace,throwing in a little pile of coal to make the fire roar.

  I then went on deck, and easily enough, the deck being slippery, got myfirst man to where the huge fellow was that had sentinelled the vesselwhen I first looked down upon her; but when I viewed the slopes, brokeninto rocks, which I, though unburdened, had found hard enough to ascend,I was perfectly certain I should never be able to transport the bodiesto the top of the cliffs, I must either let them fall into the greatsplit astern of the ship, or lower them over the side and leave thehollow in which the schooner lay to be their tomb.

  I paced about, not greatly noticing the cold in the little valley, andrelishing the brisk exercise, scheming to convey the bodies to the sea
,for I was passionately in earnest in wishing the four of them away; butto no purpose. I had but my arms, and scheme as I would, I could notmake them stronger than they were. It was still blowing a fresh brightgale from the south; the sea, as might be known by the noise of it, beatvery heavily against the cliffs of ice; and the extremity of the hollow,where it opened to the ocean but without showing it, was again and againveiled by a vast cloud of spray, the rain of which I could hear ringinglike volleys of shot as the wind smote it and drove it with incredibleforce against the rocks past the brow of the north slope. I thought tomyself there should be power in this wind to quicken the sliding of evenso mighty a berg as this island northwards. Every day should steal it bysomething, however inconsiderable, nearer to warmer regions, and nogale, nay, no gentle swell even, but must help to crack and loosen itinto pieces. "Oh," cried I, "for the power to rupture this bed, that theschooner might slip into the sea! Think of her running north before sucha gale as this, steadily bearing me towards a more temperate clime, andinto the road of ships!" I clenched my hands with a wild yearning in myheart. Should I ever behold my country again? should I ever meet aliving man? The white and frozen steeps glared a bald reply; and I heardnothing but menace in the shrill noises of the wind and the deep andthunderous roaring of the ocean.

  It was mighty comforting, however, on returning to the cabin to find itvacant, to be freed from the scare of the sight of the two silentfigures. I drew my breath more easily and stopped to glance around. Itwas the barest cabin I was ever in--uncarpeted, with no other seats thanthe little benches. I looked at the crucifix, and guessed from the sightof it that, whatever might be the vessel's nation, she had not beensailed by Englishmen. I peeped into poor Polly's cage--if a parrot itwas--and the sight of the rich plumage carried my imagination to skiesof brass, to the mysterious green solitude of tropic forests, to islandsfringed with silver surf, in whose sunny flashing sported nude girls offaultless forms, showing their teeth of pearl in merry laughter, windingamorously with the blue billow, and filling the aromatic breeze with themelody of their language of the sun. Ha! thought I, sailors see somechanges in their time; and with a hearty sigh I stepped into thecook-room.

  I started, stopped, and fell back a pace with a cry. When I had put thefigure before the fire he was in the same posture in which he had sat atthe table, that is, leaning forward with his face hid in his arms; I hadlaid him on his side, with his face to the furnace, and in that attitudeyou would have supposed him a man sound asleep with his arms over hisface to shield it from the heat. But now, to my unspeakableastonishment, he lay on his back, with his arms sunk to his side andresting on the deck, and his face upturned.

  I stared at him from the door as if he was the Fiend himself. I couldscarce credit my senses, and my consternation was so great that I cannotconceive of any man ever having laboured under a greater fright. Ifaintly ejaculated 'Good God!' several times, and could hardly preventmy legs from running away with me. You see, it was certain he must havemoved of his own accord to get upon his back. I was prepared for thefire to thaw him into limberness, and had I found him straightenedsomewhat I should not have been surprised. But there was no power infire to stretch him to his full length and turn him over on his back.What living or ghostly hand had done this thing? Did spirits walk thisschooner after all? Had I missed of something more terrible than anynumber of dead men in searching the vessel?

  I had made a great fire and its light was strong, and there was also thelight of the lanthorn; but the furnace flames played very lively,completely overmastering the steady illumination of the candle, and theman's figure was all a-twitch with moving shadows, and a hundredfantastic shades seemed to steal out of the side and bulkheads anddisappear upon my terrified gaze. Then, thought I, suppose after allthat the man should be alive, the vitality in him set flowing by theheat? I minded myself of my own simile of the current checked by frost,yet retaining unimpaired the principle of motion; and getting myagitation under some small control, I approached the body on tiptoe andheld the lanthorn to its face.

  He looked a man of sixty years of age; his beard was grey and verylong, and lay upon his breast like a cloud of smoke. His eyes wereclosed; the brows shaggy, and the dark scar of a sword-wound ran acrosshis forehead from the corner of the left eye to the top of the rightbrow. His nose was long and hooked, but the repose in his countenance,backed by the vague character of the light in which I inspected him,left his face almost expressionless. I was too much alarmed to put myear to his mouth to mark if he breathed, if indeed the noise of theburning fire would have permitted me to distinguish his respiration. Idrew back from him, and put down the lanthorn and watched him. ThoughtI, it will not do to believe there is anything supernatural here. I canswear there is naught living in this ship, and am I to suppose, assumingshe is haunted, that a ghost, which I have always read and heard of asan essence, has in its shadowy being such quality of _muscle_ as wouldenable it to turn that heavy man over from his side on to his back? No,no, thought I! depend upon it, either he is alive and may presently cometo himself, or else in some wonderful way the fire in thawing him has sowrought in his frozen fibres as to cause him to turn.

  Presently his left leg, that was slightly bent towards the furnace,stretched itself out to its full length, and my ear caught a faintsound, as of a weak and melancholy sigh. Gracious heaven, thought I, he_is_ alive! and with less of terror than of profound awe, now that I sawthere was nothing of a ghostly or preternatural character in thisbusiness, I approached and bent over him. His eyes were still shut, andI could not hear that he breathed; there was not the faintest motion ofrespiration in his breast nor stir in the hair, that was now soft, abouthis mouth. Yet, so far as the light would suffer me to judge, there wasa complexion in his face such as could only come with flowing blood,however languid its circulation, and putting this and the sigh and themovement of the leg together, I felt convinced that the man was alive,and forthwith fell to work, very full of awe and amazement to be sure,to help nature that was struggling in him.

  My first step was to heat some brandy, and whilst this was doing Ipulled open his coat and freed his neck, fetching a coat from the cabinto serve as a pillow for his head. I next removed his boots and laidbare his feet (which were encased in no less than four pairs of thickwoollen stockings, so that I thought when I came to the third pair Ishould find his legs made of stockings), and after bathing his feet inhot water, of which there was a kettleful, I rubbed them with hot brandyas hard as I could chafe. I then dealt with his hands in the likemanner, having once been shipmate with a seaman who told me he had seena sailor brought to by severe rubbing of his extremities after he hadbeen carried below supposed to be frozen to death, and continued thisexercise till I could rub no longer. Next I opened his lips and, findinghe wanted some of his front teeth, I very easily poured a dram of brandyinto his mouth. Though I preserved my astonishment all this while, Isoon discovered myself working with enthusiasm, with a most passionatelonging indeed to recover the man, not only because it pleased me tothink of my being an instrument under God of calling a human being, soto speak, out of his grave, but because I yearned for a companion, someone to address, to lighten the hideous solitude of my condition and toassist me in planning our deliverance.

  I built up a great fire, and with much trouble, for he was very heavy,disposed him in such a manner before it that the heat was reflected allover the front of him from his head to his feet. I likewise continued tochafe his extremities, remitting this work only to rest, and findingthat the brandy had stolen down his throat, I poured another dram in andthen another, till I think he had swallowed a pint. This went on for anhour, during which time he never exhibited the least signs of life; buton a sudden he sighed deep, a tremor ran through him, he sighed againand partly raised his right hand, which fell to the deck with a blow;his lips twitched, and a small convulsion of his face compelled thefeatures into the similitude of a grin that instantly faded; then hefetched a succession of sighs and opened his eyes full upon me.
r />   I was warm enough with my work, but when I observed him looking at me Iturned of a death-like cold, and felt the dew of an intolerable emotionwet in the palms of my hands. There was no speculation in his stare atfirst; his eyes lay as coldly upon me as those of a fish; but as lifequickened in him so his understanding awoke; he slightly knitted hisbrows, and very slowly rolled his gaze off me to the furnace and so overas much of the cook-room as was before him. He then started as if to situp, but fell back with a slight groan and looked at me again.

  "What is this?" said he in French, in a very hollow feeble voice.

  I knew enough of his language to enable me to know he spoke in French,but that was all. I could not speak a syllable of that tongue.

  "You'll be feeling better presently; you must not expect your strengthto come in a minute," said I, taking my chance of his understanding me,and speaking that he might not think me a ghost, for I doubt not I wasas white as one; since, to be plain, the mere talking to a figure that Ihad got to consider as sheerly dead as anybody in a graveyard wasalarming enough, and then again there was the sound of my own voice,which I had not exerted in speech for ages, as it seemed to me.

  He faintly nodded his head, by which I perceived he understood me, andsaid very faintly in English, but with a true French accent, "This is ahard bed, sir."

  "I'll speedily mend that," said I, and at once fetched a mattress fromthe cabin next mine; this I placed beside him, and dragged him on to it,he very weakly assisting. I then brought clothes and rugs to cover himwith, and made him a high pillow, and as he lay close to the furnace hecould not have been snugger had he had a wife to tuck him up in his ownbed.

  I was very much excited; my former terrors had vanished, but my awecontinued great, for I felt as if I had wrought a miracle, and Itrembled as a man would who surveys some prodigy of his own creation. Itwas yet to be learnt how long he had been in this condition; but I wasperfectly sure he had formed one of the schooner's people, and as I hadguessed her to have been here for upwards of fifty years, the notion ofthat man having lain torpid for half a century held me under a perpetualspell of astonishment; but there was no more horror in me nor fright. Hefollowed me about with his eyes but did not offer to speak; perhaps hecould not. I put a lump of ice into the kettle, and when the waterboiled made him a pint of steaming brandy punch, which I held to hislips in a pannikin whilst I supported his back with my knee; he suppedit slowly and painfully but with unmistakable relish, and fetched a sighof contentment as he lay back. But he would need something moresustaining than brandy and water; and as I guessed his stomach, after soprodigious a fast, would be too weak to support such solids as beef orpork or bacon, I mused a little, turning over in my mind the contents ofthe larder (as I call it), all which time he eyed me with bewildermentgrowing in his face; and I then thought I could not do better thanmanufacture him a broth of oatmeal, wine, bruised biscuit, and a pieceof tongue minced very small.

  This did not take me long in doing, the tongue being near the furnaceand soft enough for the knife, and there was nothing to melt but thewine. When the broth was ready I kneeled as before and fed him. He ategreedily, and when the broth was gone looked as if he would have beenglad for more.

  "Now, sir," says I, "sleep if you can;" with which he turned his headand in a few minutes was sound asleep, breathing regularly and deeply.