Before I had been long in bed he entered. He was, as far as I could see, a very tall man, very thin, very pale, with sandy hair and whiskers and colorless grey eyes. He had about him, I thought, an air of rather dubious fashion; the short of man you might see in Wall Street, without being able precisely to say what he was doing there the sort of man who frequents the Café Anglais, who always seems to be alone and who drinks champagne; you might meet him on a racecourse, but he would never appear to be doing anything there either. A little over-dressed a little odd. There are three or four of his kind on every ocean steamer. I made up my mind that I did not care to make his acquaintance, and I went to sleep saying to myself that I would study his habits in order to avoid him. If he rose early, I would rise late; if he went to bed late, I would go to bed early. I did not care to know him. If you once know people of that kind they are always turning up. Poor fellow! I need not have taken the trouble to come to so many decisions about him, for I never saw him again after that first night in one hundred and five.
I was sleeping soundly when I was suddenly waked by a loud noise. To judge from the sound, my room-mate must have sprung with a single leap from the upper berth to the floor. I heard him fumbling with the latch and bolt of the door, which opened almost immediately, and then I heard his footsteps as he ran at full speed down the passage, leaving the door open behind him. The ship was rolling a little, and I expected to hear him stumble or fall, but he ran as though he were running for his life. The door swung on its hinges with the motion of the vessel, and the sound annoyed me. I got up and shut it, and groped my way back to my berth in the darkness. I went to sleep again; but I have no idea how long I slept.
When I awoke it was still quite dark, but I felt a disagreeable sensation of cold, and it seemed to me that the air was damp. You know the peculiar smell of a cabin which has been wet with sea-water. I covered myself up as well as I could and dozed off again, framing complaints to be made the next day, and selecting the most powerful epithets in the language. I could hear my room-mate turn over in the upper berth. He had probably returned while I was asleep. Once I thought I heard him groan, and I argued that he was sea-sick. That is particularly unpleasant when one is below. Nevertheless I dozed off and slept till early daylight.
The ship was rolling heavily, much more than on the previous evening, and the grey light which came in through the porthole changed in tint with every movement according as the angle of the vessels side turned the glass seawards or skywards. It was very cold unaccountably so for the month of June. I turned my head and looked at the porthole, and saw to my surprise that it was wide open and hooked back. I believe I swore audibly. Then I got up and shut it. As I turned back I glanced at the upper berth. The curtains were drawn close together; my companion had probably felt cold as well as I. It struck me that I had slept enough. The state-room was uncomfortable, though, strange to say, I could not smell the dampness which had annoyed me in the night. My room-mate was still asleep excellent opportunity for avoiding him, so I dressed at once and went on deck. The day was warm and cloudy, with an oily smell on the water. It was seven oclock as I came out much later than I had imagined. I came across the doctor, who was taking his first sniff of the morning air. He was a young man from the West of Ireland a tremendous fellow, with black hair and blue eyes, already inclined to be stout; he had a happy-go-lucky, healthy look about him which was rather attractive.
Fine morning, I remarked, by way of introduction.
Well, said he, eyeing me with an air of ready interest, its a fine morning and its not a fine morning. I dont think its much of a morning.
Well, no it is not so very fine, said I.
Its just what I call fuggy weather, replied the doctor.
It was very cold last night, I thought, I remarked. However, when I looked about, I found that the porthole was wide open. I had not noticed it when I went to bed. And the state-room was damp, too.
Damp! said he. Whereabouts are you?
One hundred and five
To my surprise the doctor started visibly, and stared at me.
What is the matter? I asked.
Oh nothing, he answered; only everybody has complained of that state-room for the last three trips.
I shall complain too, I said. It has certainly not been properly aired. It is a shame!
I dont believe it can be helped, answered the doctor. I believe there is something well, it is not my business to frighten passengers.
You need not be afraid of frightening me, I replied. I can stand any amount of damp. If I should get a bad cold I will come to you.
I offered the doctor a cigar, which he took and examined very critically.
It is not so much the damp, he remarked. However, I dare say you will get on very well. Have you a room-mate?
Yes; a deuce of a fellow, who bolts out in the middle of the night, and leaves the door open.
Again the doctor glanced curiously at me. Then he lit the cigar and looked grave.
Did he come back? he asked presently.
Yes. I was asleep, but I waked up, and heard him moving. Then I felt cold and went to sleep again. This morning I found the porthole open.
Look here, said the doctor quietly, I dont care much for this ship. I dont care a rap for her reputation. I tell you what I will do. I have a good-sized place up here. I will share it with you, though I dont know you from Adam.
I was very much surprised at the proposition. I could not imagine why he should take such a sudden interest in my welfare. However, his manner as he spoke of the ship was peculiar.
You are very good, doctor, I said. But, really, I believe even now the cabin could be aired, or cleaned out, or something. Why do you not care for the ship?
We are not superstitious in our profession, sir, replied the doctor, but the sea makes people so. I dont want to prejudice you, and I dont want to frighten you, but if you will take my advice you will move in here. I would as soon see you overboard, he added earnestly, as know that you or any other man was to sleep in one hundred and five.
Good gracious! Why? I asked.
Just because on the last three trips the people who have slept there actually have gone overboard, he answered gravely.
The intelligence was startling and exceedingly unpleasant, I confess. I looked hard at the doctor to see whether he was making game of me, but he looked perfectly serious. I thanked him warmly for his offer, but told him I intended to be the exception to the rule by which every one who slept in that particular state-room went overboard. He did not say much, but looked as grave as ever, and hinted that, before we got across, I should probably reconsider his proposal. In the course of time we went to breakfast, at which only an inconsiderable number of passengers assembled. I noticed that one or two of the officers who breakfasted with us looked grave. After breakfast I went into my state-room in order to get a book. The curtains of the upper berth were still closely drawn. Not a word was to be heard. My room-mate was probably still asleep.
As I came out I met the steward whose business it was to look after me. He whispered that the captain wanted to see me, and then scuttled away down the passage as if very anxious to avoid any questions. I went toward the captains cabin, and found him waiting for me.
As I came out I met the steward whose business it was to look after me. He whispered that the captain wanted to see me, and then scuttled away down the passage as if very anxious to avoid any questions. I went toward the captains cabin, and found him waiting for me.
Sir, said he, I want to ask a favor of you.
I answered that I would do anything to oblige him.
Your room-mate had disappeared, he said. He is known to have turned in early last night. Did you notice anything extraordinary in his manner?
The question coming, as it did, in exact confirmation of the fears the doctor had expressed half an hour earlier, staggered me.
You dont mean to say he has gone overboard? I asked.
I fear he has, answered the captain.
This is the most extraordinary thing I began.
Why? he asked.
He is the fourth, then? I exclaimed. In answer to another question from the captain, I explained, without mentioning the doctor, that I had heard the story concerning one hundred and five. He seemed very much annoyed at hearing that I knew of it. I told him what had occurred in the night.
What you say, he replied, coincides almost exactly with what was told me by the room-mates of two of the other three. They bolt out of bed and run down the passage. Two of them were seen to go overboard by the watch; we stopped and lowered boats, but they were not found. Nobody, however, saw or heard the man who was lost last night if he is really lost. The steward, who is a superstitious fellow, perhaps, and expected something to go wrong, went to look for him, this morning, and found his berth empty, but his clothes lying about, just as he had left them. The steward was the only man on board who knew him by sight, and he has been searching everywhere for him. He has disappeared! Now, sir, I want to beg you not to mention the circumstance to any of the passengers; I dont want the ship to get a bad name, and nothing hangs about an ocean-goer like stories of suicides. You shall have your choice of any one of the officers cabins you like, including my own, for the rest of the passage. Is that a fair bargain?
Very, said I; and I am much obliged to you. But since I am alone, and have the state-room to myself, I would rather not move. If the steward will take out that unfortunate mans things, I would as leave stay where I am. I will not say anything about the matter, and I think I can promise you that I will not follow my room-mate.
The captain tried to dissuade me from my intention, but I preferred having a state-room alone to being the chum of any officer on board. I do not know whether I aced foolishly, but if I had taken his advice I should have had nothing more to tell. There would have remained the disagreeable coincidence of several suicides occurring among men who had slept in the same cabin, but that would have been all.
That was not the end of the matter, however, by any means. I obstinately made up my mind that I would not be disturbed by such tales, and I even went so far as to argue the question with the captain. There was something wrong about the state-room, I said. It was rather damp. The porthole had been left open last night. My room-mate might have been ill when he came on board, and he might have become delirious after he went to bed. He might even now be hiding somewhere on board, and might be found later. The place ought to be aired and the fastening on the port looked to. If the captain would give me leave, I would see that what I thought necessary were done immediately.
Of course you have a right to stay where you are if you please, he replied, rather petulantly; but I wish you would turn out and let me lock the place up, and be done with it.
I did not see it in the same light, and left the captain, after promising to be silent concerning the disappearance of my companion. The latter had had no acquaintances on board, and was not missed in the course of the day. Towards evening I met the doctor again, and he asked me whether I had changed my mind. I told him I had not.
Then you will before long, he said, very gravely.
Chapter III
We played whist in the evening, and I went to bed late. I will confess now that I felt a disagreeable sensation when I entered my state-room. I could not help thinking of the tall man I had seen on the previous night, who was now dead, drowned, tossing about in the long swell, two or three hundred miles astern. His face rose very distinctly before me as I undressed, and I even went so far as to draw back the curtains of the upper berth, as though to persuade myself that he was actually gone. I also bolted the door of the state-room. Suddenly I became aware that the porthole was open, and fastened back. This was more than I could stand. I hastily threw on my dressing-gown and went in search of Robert, the steward of my passage. I was very angry, I remember, and when I found him I dragged him roughly to the door of one hundred and five, and pushed him towards the open porthole.
What the deuce do you mean, you scoundrel, by leaving that port open every night? Dont you know it is against the regulations? Dont you know that if the ship heeled and the water began to come in, ten men could not shut it? I will report you to the captain, you blackguard, for endangering the ship!
I was exceedingly wroth. The man trembled and turned pale, and then began to shut the round glass plate with the heavy brass fittings.
Why dont you answer me? I said roughly.
If you please, sir, faltered Robert, theres nobody on board as can keep this ere port shut at night. You can try it yourself, sir. I aint a-going to stop hany longer on board o this vessel, sir; I aint, indeed.[15] But if I was you, sir, Id just clear out and go and sleep with the surgeon, or something, I would. Look ere, sir, is that fastened what you may call securely, or not, sir? Try it, sir, see if it will move a hinch.
I tried the port, and found it perfectly tight.
Well, sir, continued Robert triumphantly, I wager my reputation as a A1 steward that in arf[16] an hour it will be open again; fastened back, too, sir, thats the horful[17] thing fastened back!
I examined the great screw and the looped nut that ran on it.
If I find it open in the night, Robert, I will give you a sovereign. It is not possible. You may go.
Soverin did you say, sir? Very good, sir. Thank ye, sir. Good-night, sir. Pleasant repose, sir, and all manner of hinchantin[18] dreams, sir.
Robert scuttled away, delighted at being released. Of course, I thought he was trying to account for his negligence by a silly story, intended to frighten me, and I disbelieved him. The consequence was that he got his sovereign, and I spent a very peculiarly unpleasant night.
I went to bed, and five minutes after I had rolled myself up in my blankets the inexorable Robert extinguished the light that burned steadily behind the ground-glass pane near the door. I lay quite still in the dark trying to go to sleep, but I soon found that impossible. It had been some satisfaction to be angry with the steward, and the diversion had banished that unpleasant sensation I had at first experienced when I thought of the drowned man who had been my chum; but I was no longer sleepy, and I lay awake for some time, occasionally glancing at the porthole, which I could just see from where I lay, and which, in the darkness, looked like a faintly-luminous soup-plate suspended in blackness. I believe I must have lain there for an hour, and, as I remember, I was just dozing into sleep when I was roused by a draught of cold air, and by distinctly feeling the spray of the sea blown upon my face. I started to my feet, and not having allowed in the dark for the motion of the ship, I was instantly thrown violently across the state-room upon the couch which was placed beneath the port-hole. I recovered myself immediately, however, and climbed upon my knees. The port-hole was again wide open and fastened back!