Joseph Hergesheimer

“ But after a minute he partly revived; his gaze, comparatively steady, met the other's.
"John," he breathed faintly.
"Don't talk," Woolfolk replied. He turned and went below, where he made up Jerry Annis's berth. Then he carried his companion in, undressed him, and put him under blankets. Jerry's hands and feet were deathly cold. A lamp, burning in gimbals by the hatchway, cast an unwavering glow over the contracted cabin. John Woolfolk sat on the engine-box, studying the closed eyes and white countenance against the white pillow. ”

“ But Woolfolk, annoyed, ignored the sailor, and the latter finally moved away, muttering. Even in the scintillating day the island remained a place of black shadows, metallic foliage. Not a sign of life was visible except a blue drift of smoke from a hidden chimney. John Woolfolk sat somberly thinking, and Jerry rested extended on the deck. At times there were involuntary twitchings of his hands and facial muscles. He said:
"The collection of instincts and emotions huddled in the human frame is rather appalling. ”

“ Ignorance is a fine thing for the ordinary mortal. There is a great deal that it is better for him not to understand. There are some strange things walking about to-day in chiffon and fur, in white and scarlet ribbons and little silk slippers. Disease, John, the worst kind, is an isolation of one trait, a link in a normal chain, and its exaggeration into an entire energy of emotion. ”

“ Jerry Annis replied, "I 'm willing to intrude. You may put me ashore in the morning. If you can't listen to an impersonal discussion of your mental condition, you 're worse than I thought. You simply cannot keep this up; your brain is too vivid. The good qualities in men destroy them quite as often as the bad; where a human clod will flourish and grow fat, a more sensitive organization will beat itself to death. ”

“ It will be different from a comparatively comfortable sickness; you will be tormented out of reason with horrors utterly beyond words, sink into a living blackness without a gleam."
John Woolfolk thought again of the repulsive life lifting toward him from the bottom of the watery pass, and of the pictured converse ease with which such humanity as his might go down. His resentment of Jerry Annis's speech perished before the eager kindliness of the other's face, his insistent honesty and affection. ”

“ Halvard immediately came aft and dropped into the tender. A fever of impatience, a vague, inexplicable dread, seized Woolfolk. "Hurry," he called after the boat slipping away over the silver expanse.
He saw Halvard reach the island, but there the tender was lost in obscurity. Almost immediately, however, it shot back into the refulgent light, with the sailor rowing in a panic of haste. He blundered inexcusably in coming alongside the ketch, scraping away the paint, and clattered his oars inboard. John Woolfolk could see no trace of Annis, but Halvard cried out, "Give him an arm." ”

“ I mean psychic illness, slight, but such conditions have incalculable reflexes; they determine almost every area of the human entity. They can increase until the whole brain is involved and darkened permanently. I notice that when we make a port you send Halvard or me ashore for any necessities; you shrink from even casual contact with people, and your thought is almost entirely centripetal. That 's all wrong; in fact, it is a damnable weakness. I don't shrink from telling you that it's even cowardly."
"You had better stop, Annis," Woolfolk told him coldly. ”

“ At last he recognized the cause of the unpleasant sensation filling him with mingled revulsion and faint dread: it was the emotion he now experienced in the presence of women unusually compelling to the normal man, the heritage of the shock of Ellen's tragic accident He had never before experienced it to such an overwhelming degree. Standing beyond the table from the door his muscles grew rigid, his mouth closed in a hard line, his narrowed gaze challenged the corridor without. ”

“ You can see that. Extraordinary place to come on a patient. I wish I 'd brought my bag. Suppose she will be safer without it," he added humorously.
"Halvard," John Woolfolk called reluctantly, "row Doctor Annis ashore. Take the Chinaman in the tender and tow his skiff. You have a whistle, Jerry; signal when you want to come on board."
The moonlight increased in brilliancy, sinking into the water, its gay luster dulling the ceaseless sparkle of phosphorescence about the water-line of the Gar, Halvard sculled, standing, from the island, and left the oars in the tender against Dr. Annis's return. ”

“ I thought at the time that the Gar, with your knowledge and love of the sea, and a companion like Halvard, pure gold, was a godsend. It was then; but you have been out long enough, perhaps too long.
"Whatever the people may be on these isolated fragments of decaying coral, man is a gregarious animal; he needs the companionship, the stimulus, of his kind, and without it he is apt to get ratty. I realize what it meant in the way of personal sacrifice for you to take me on the ketch, and I don't need to tell you what it has done for me ”

“ As the latter drew near a coil of dead-black hair was visible, a rich sheen of orange silk.
"It 's a woman!" Jerry Annis exclaimed in his facile, youthful excitement.
"No," Woolfolk corrected him, "it 's a Chinaman."
The skiff came alongside, the oars were unskilfully unshipped, and the figure rose, grasping the Gar's mahogany rail. A flat Oriental face confronted them like a placid mask in yellow clay.
"Lady sick," he said; "gentleman please come and look."
"Get up on deck," John Woolfolk commanded curtly. ”

“ He passed by the kitchen, with a glimpse of the orange jacket of the Chinaman, walked deliberately up on the gallery, and let himself into the corridor.
A shrill exclamation sounded from the shadow of the stairs; but he ignored it, and turned into the sitting-room. As he advanced, Miss Saphron rose to meet him. He held out the coat, with the pistol advanced, his finger hovering on the trigger.
"Why did you kill him?" he asked. "Why and how?" If he had expected any cowering on the woman's part, any terrified denial, he was completely surprised. Suddenly her face was suffused with color ”

“ I 'll break the ketch out as smooth as glass. It 's as easy to sail now as by day. We can make our way in by the mainland."
"Go forward," the master commanded curtly. "The superstitious ass!" he thought. Jerry Annis turned his face from the moonlight and muttered unintelligibly. A fine, glistening sweat appeared on his brow, and an expression of agonized emotion contorted his features. He lifted his arms before him, as if to repel a near presence. His arms fell heavily, his head sank forward. John Woolfolk thought he was dead. ”

“ She is here, you see, for a rest."
"I want to speak to Doctor Annis," he proceeded. "He came ashore perhaps an hour ago. Tell him Mr. Woolfolk 's here."
"But the doctor is n't," the woman assured him. "And such a nice young man, but thin. Not since last night. Oh,"—she clasped her fingers, ringed in fat—"I hope he has n't been drowned. The currents are dreadful' swift about the island."
"He is not the sort to fall out of a boat," Woolfolk replied. "Perhaps he is with Miss Saphron now. See, please." ”

“ He had an immediate duty to perform—oh, yes, search for Jerry Annis among the crabs. Arousing himself with an effort, John Woolfolk walked unsteadily out of the house.
He began a thorough investigation among the rusty cabbage-palmettoes and patches of saw-grass. Halvard, he saw, had taken the tender out a length from the shore and anchored. Woolfolk was suddenly adverse to the sailor's assistance. However vain his task seemed for one man, he did n't want the other to come on what might be found. He proceeded with a savage industry, a painful forcing of his way through clumps like knives ”

“ Who are about the house?"
"Just Miss Saphron, a companion, enormously fat, and the Chinaman, M'gu."
Halvard appeared at the hatch with a sullen countenance, and John Woolfolk moved aside from the preparations for breakfast. He went up on deck; after along interval Jerry Annis followed, his throat covered by shirt-collar, and wearing a worsted coat. He shivered, although the day was already ablaze with a fiery sun. Annis walked slowly, and performed the morning ablutions with movements of utter weariness; but he was palpably recovering. He laid a hand on John Woolfolk's shoulder. ”

“ Then, for your comfort, Jerry, and I 'm greatly obliged, I 'll add that this is n't as strong as it was; I think I can feel it diminishing. Only the more extreme cases move me now, and you know that exceptionally beautiful or compelling women are rare. ”