Morgan Robertson

“ The quarter boat was proved leaky, and had been left behind. All others were inboard, stowed upside down on the forward house. The ship's one life-buoy had gone with Bridge.
She procured a piece of spun yarn from the booby hatch, triced her skirts up to her waist, and, unseen by the sleepy anchor watch forward, went down the side on a rope's end belayed to a pin. There was a brisk wind blowing in from the open sea, and a short, crispy wave motion with which she must contend; but she struck out bravely for the beach.
"I am coming!" she called wildly. "I am coming—coming!" ”

“ There was still the gaping hole where once had been the forward turret, and the commander seemed to be studying this, as Felton, sick at heart and furious with impotent rage, lifted his gaze from the wreck, which, rolling slowly from filled compartments, smoking with inward flame, and covered with crawling dots seeking escape from the inferno beneath, had lately been his refuge and his home—the invincible, impregnable Argyll—queen among battleships.
"I say, there," called the captain to Felton. "What blew up that forward turret? No gun fire can reach a magazine, and it wasn't I that did it." ”

“ They were not in uniform. Their dress and faces were as commonplace as could be found in a factory; only the tall, thin young captain showing in voice and expression the signs of study and thought. He twirled the wheel, manipulated levers and valves within reach, and watched, downward through the slits, the big craft beneath.
The sun was rising in the east, and Felton could make out the details of the ship below—his own ship, with its familiar bridge, turrets, and superstructure, and an enormous, gaping hole forward where once had been the twelve-inch turret. ”

“ Sleep yourself! Let me alone, or I'll be as mad as you are!"
She got out the chart and spread it on the cabin table. Then, with her eyes gleaming with the concentrated stare of the insane, she traced out the drift of the ship since the last plotting, and from the point reached drew a line south by west, half west. It struck a large, irregular island, and she read its name, Desolation Island. She went on deck, disheveled and careless, her hair flying in the wind, and asked the officer of the watch to heave the log and give her the best of his judgment as to the ship's drift through the night. ”

“ Again, each mate, unknown to the other, stopped the morning coffee of his watch on the flimsiest pretexts.
This communion of soul, mutually strengthened, became a force which pervaded the entire ship's company. The captain grew peevish, fretful, suspicious, and unkind to all. The steward became insolent as he recovered his health. The men quarreled and divided among themselves, uniting only in their hatred of the mates. ”

“ What d'you s'pose, captain, that I've stuck to this ship for? To have everything taken by him, and then remain satisfied? Well, I s'pose I'll have to be satisfied. He's evidently just the kind of man she likes. Some women prefer a brute to a man."
I paused for lack of breath, and Captain Merwin remained silent for a moment or two; then he said quietly, "You are unfit to talk or to think, much less to work. I will choose your men and stand your watch until you are well. ”

“ But they did not struggle with each other, only with the life-buoy and with the sea. They drifted to leeward into the lagoon, past the wreckage that might have saved them both, and by which they could have regained the ship. With only their heads showing occasionally, for their struggles kept them under, they went out of sight in the smudge of rain and spindrift, gripping with all their strength the small life-buoy that would have supported one, but not two. ”

“ I landed them at Honolulu and saw no more of them.
Their going left the manual work of exercising the freak to Dartmoor, and I grinned shamelessly. At this juncture I had half a mind to run over to San Francisco and make another appeal to Ella, but gave it up. She might not have grown away from him yet; and at any rate I could keep Dartmoor on the island as long as I pleased. To such dark depths of knavery does jealousy bring a man.
I ran back to the island, and no sooner was the anchor down than Dartmoor and the dominie appeared on the beach, shouting and gesticulating like lunatics. ”

“ Dunbar released his hold on Lance, and while the terror-stricken scoundrel rushed to the companion, he turned toward the girl, his face twisting with the conflicting emotions of his brain. I staggered to my feet, reached her side and supported her.
"John Dunbar," she continued, "you are too big, and strong, and brave, to do this thing—to kill yourself so that you may kill another. Live, so that I may live, too. God will care for him." ”

“ Bill caught his pet, and shut it in with him, while he smoked, and thought, and deduced, with the logic of a poor man, on the never-solved problem—the inscrutability of women.
In half an hour he was aroused by a shout, and went on deck. His men were tumbling out of the forecastle; stewards, cooks, and guests were scrambling forward, and a glance down from the head of the steps showed Bill the cause. Miss Mayhew lay prone on the deck, the scissors still gripped in her small hand, but the points driven into her side, and a pool of blood drifting down to the scuppers from the wound. ”

“ He pointed at Felton, and sprang toward him.
"Why should I jump?" asked Felton, wonderingly, and prepared for defense. The others came at him, each shouting his loudest: "Jump, jump for your life! Overboard with you! Quick, you fool!"
Then one sprang to the rail, poised a moment and threw himself out into space. Another followed, and another.
"Jump, will you?" yelled the captain, gesticulating earnestly. "I'm in command. I must be last to go. Over with you. Over with you all."
They were crowding to the rail, where one after another, the rest of the crew took the leap. ”

“ After breakfast that morning the body of the mate was given sea burial; then there followed a curious court of inquiry at the mizzen hatch—a court in which the two accused prisoners were also witnesses against each other, and in which the testimony of the only positive witness was invalidated by lack of identification. Mabel could only say that she had seen one of them draw his head and shoulders out of the mate's window just as his agonized scream had smitten her ears, and look into her face as she peered at him from the head of the steps. ”

“ As I own the ship, I shall decide what to do with her."
"What do you want to do?"
"Go back to the middle of the Indian Ocean. There is a man there who needs help."
"Daughter, Zaza, my poor girl! Your mind has left you. Don't be so absurd. He is dead. He could not have lived. You know I'm sorry. I'll never forgive myself. But this will do no good."
"He is not dead. He is calling me all the time. I hear it strongest as I waken from sleep. I hear it as I have heard it all my life. He calls me the name I called myself when little, before I knew my own name. I called myself Zenie. ”

“ The 'mate' aboard ship is the first mate, always—not the second, or the third."
"But I will tell him, all right, sir," he said.
"Don't trouble yourself," I responded angrily. "Let the matter drop. The mate put the fire out, and that's all that's important."
So the matter dropped. It was my watch below from eight to twelve that night, and I slept well, in spite of my anger and chagrin. It was my watch on deck from twelve to four, and I stood it in the tranquil poise of mind that usually comes to men after a sleep. I forgave the poor, vain weakling, knowing that I was the stronger. ”

“ He looked at the picture with eyes that almost bulged, muttering to himself: "Pango Sam, Wong Fing, Landy Jim." Then he turned to me, and said excitedly: "Were you on board that bark?"
I wondered if he had gone crazy, and did not answer.
"No," he said. "It happened before you were born. What manner of man are you—to see into the past? It is not prophecy. Wait!"
He darted out of my studio and into his own, where I heard him throwing things about, opening trunks and closets, and talking to himself. I relighted my pipe, seated myself, and waited, wondering what had upset him. ”

“ He knew, as all men know under such conditions, that the small, sweet girl loved him as the little kitten loved him, just because he was big, and strong, and protective. And while he could not, under the circumstances, manifest his response to the girl, he took it out of the kitten when off duty; he would grab the little thing, bring it up to his lips, kiss it, and fondle it, and hug it—all of which brought response from the cat in the shape of scratch marks on Bill's face; for cats are not psychologists; they know nothing of the workings of the male human mind. ”

“ As we sailed into the lagoon I observed through the glass the whole colony, Dartmoor, the missionary, and the gang of coolies mustered on the beach. And with them was the baby. They had taught him to walk. Clumsy and huge, he lumbered around among them, and occasionally dropped to all-fours. Even at the distance I could hear his thundering "Da, da da!"
"Nice prospect for Ella," I thought gloomily. "Heaven help the poor girl!"
I lowered the quarter-boat and sent mother and daughter ashore, for I was determined not to witness Dartmoor's meeting with the girl I loved. ”

“ Since the death of Fred, I have never dreamed of monsters and cylindrical things. But in later years I have studied deeply of psychology and the occult. And these problems remain unsolved. Did I, who dreamed of monsters before Fred was born, obsess him and drive him to the drink that killed him?
Or did Fred, after he had begun drinking, obsess me with the dream vision of the thing, which found physical manifestation in an innocent fire extinguisher in which he kept the whiskey? ”

“ Two manlike apes grapple on the bough of a tree, and, locked in vicious embrace, with teeth buried in each other's flesh, fall to a common death on the ground. Two apelike men battle with clubs and crack each other's skull. Two human beings duel with sword or pistol and kill each other. Two babies meet in a park and squall. And never, from the beginning, victory for one or forgiveness from either.
Fate gave them another meeting and another chance. Four years later both were paid off at San Francisco, and in looking for berths each met a skipper looking for mates, but at different times. ”

“ We are sailing south with a crew and a first mate that think Jim a fugitive from justice, protected by the skipper, and with a second mate who thinks me the devil and Jim my familiar. There is a white-haired, happy woman growing young in her aroused mother-love; and there is a former very promising hobo developing surprising qualities of mind and seamanship under mine and Jack's tutelage. But from none of these can I get any light. I am only a village practitioner, and I submit the question to others: What is the human soul? ”

“ An Irishman, damned at the wheel by Jones for bad steering, was set to work in his watch below by Smith for the small matter of eating his breakfast on deck. Other resemblances of thought and action occurred, more or less unfortunate, such as both showing kindness to the sick steward until they met at his bedside, then ignoring and neglecting him; and Mr. Jones's untactful appearance with his sextant when Mr. Smith was taking the sun at midday—an uncalled-for and regrettable piece of assumption on his part; for a second mate is not shipped to navigate, no matter what his proficiency. ”

“ Smith drank deeper from the news of Jones, and went to sea further committed to the blind worship of force. Jones insanely struck the man in irons, and in a week had ironed three others whom he had goaded into mutinous resentment of his abuse. Two strong, positive souls at the opposite ends of the earth, united by the first and lowest of primordial emotions—hatred and fear—were reinforcing each other to their mutual undoing. Had the kindergarten teacher done her duty and brought them together in childhood, or had they fought it out as boys, this might have been averted. ”

“ Dunbar shook like a man with the ague, and it was some time before he could control his voice in answer.
"I can live," he stammered, "for you. But, is it possible? You love him."
"I do not. He killed my child—his child."
Dunbar stiffened up and looked around.
"Mr. Wright," he called to the first mate. "Put the owner in irons and lock him in his room."
"Aye, aye, sir," answered the officer.
And so, with the help of four husky, able seamen, Mr. George Lance, owner of the yacht Sylph, was ironed and confined by order of his sailing-master, charged with the crime of murder. ”

“ His last intelligent speech was given as he fell to the deck, which was about a second or so after I fell myself. While at the wheel, a few days later, I heard the skipper quote it to the mate. It was: 'God have mercy upon my soul!' After that he uttered nothing but gibberish."
Behind us the sound of footsteps came to our ears: but before we could turn, or arise, a voice, fervent and agonized, repeated: "God have mercy upon my soul!" And Old Bill launched headlong between us, and lay unconscious on the floor at the foot of the easel.
"Another spell," said my neighbor. ”

“ Bill again cleared the bridge stairs at a jump, and met him.
"Dying, captain," gasped the steward. "Dying from loss of blood."
Bill went aft—he never remembered whether he walked or ran—and bolted down the stairs, shoving aside the small Arsdale, the big Muggins, the athletic Parsons, and even the gentlemanly Elkins, all of them white in the face, as they hovered near the stateroom door, and burst into the room, where the grief-stricken father, the anxious doctor, and the weeping Mrs. Calkins hovered over the quiet, unconscious form on the bed. ”

“ The steward, who slept off the forward cabin, had come out, rubbing his eyes, palpably stupid from recent sleep; and he had no motive—the mate had liked him. When I had sprung on deck the strong moonlight had shown it clear of men as far forward as the main hatch, from which a few were arousing themselves. The murderer could not have run forward.
Who else? I asked myself. Mabel? She could have run forward by the lee alley after I had gone down by the other; but why? She had no motive for the crime, and if she had why would she have chosen such a moment, when discovery was inevitable? ”

“ The friends of such people smile with them, laugh with them, frown with them, and suffer with them, and each thinks it emotion of his own. She had smiled upon Bill, and he went forward, smiling himself, and happier than he had been for years—for all the years since he had hoped for his commission, and failed to pass the test. He spared a few moments to the kitten, fondling, stroking, and caressing it, then tucking it snugly beneath his blanket against the time when he would come again. ”