As a man struggles in the throes of nightmare, so Jerry struggled in the vexed, salt-suffocating sea. And so he whimpered and cried, lost child, lost puppy-dog that he was, only half a year existent in the fair world sharp with joy and suffering. And he wanted Skipper. Skipper was a god.
* * *On board the Arangi, relieved by the lowering of her mainsail, as the fierceness went out of the wind and the cloudburst of tropic rain began to fall, Van Horn and Borckman lurched toward each other in the blackness.
A double squall, said Van Horn. Hit us to starboard and to port.[105]
Must a-split in half just before she hit us, the mate concurred.
And kept all the rain in the second half
Van Horn broke off with an oath.
Hey! Whats the matter along you fella boy? he shouted to the man at the wheel.
For the ketch, under her spanker which had just then been flat-hauled, had come into the wind, emptying her after-sail and permitting her headsails to fill on the other tack. The Arangi was beginning to work back approximately over the course she had just traversed. And this meant that she was going back toward Jerry floundering in the sea. Thus, the balance, on which his life titubated, was inclined in his favour by the blunder of a black steersman.
Keeping the Arangi on the new tack, Van Horn set Borckman clearing the mess of ropes on deck, himself, squatting in the rain, undertaking to long-splice the tackle he had cut[106]. As the rain thinned, so that the crackle of it on deck became less noisy, he was attracted by a sound from out over the water. He suspended the work of his hands to listen, and, when he recognized Jerrys wailing, sprang to his feet, galvanized into action.
The pups overboard![107] he shouted to Borckman. Back your jib to windard![108]
He sprang aft, scattering a cluster of return boys right and left.
Hey! You fella boats crew! Come in spanker sheet! Flatten her down good fella!
He darted a look into the binnacle and took a hurried compass bearing of the sounds Jerry was making.
Hard down your wheel! he ordered the helmsman, then leaped to the wheel and put it down himself, repeating over and over aloud, Noreast by east a quarter, noreast by east a quarter.
Back and peering into the binnacle, he listened vainly for another wail from Jerry in the hope of verifying his first hasty bearing. But not long he waited. Despite the fact that by his manoeuvre the Arangi had been hove to[109], he knew that windage and sea-driftage would quickly send her away from the swimming puppy. He shouted Borckman to come aft and haul in the whaleboat, while he hurried below for his electric torch and a boat compass.
The ketch was so small that she was compelled to tow her one whaleboat astern on long double painters[110], and by the time the mate had it hauled in under the stern, Van Horn was back. He was undeterred by the barbed wire, lifting boy after boy of the boats crew over it and dropping them sprawling into the boat, following himself, as the last, by swinging over on the spanker boom, and calling his last instructions as the painters were cast off.
Get a riding light on deck, Borckman. Keep her hove to. Dont hoist the mainsail.[111] Clean up the decks and bend the watch tackle on the main boom.
He took the steering-sweep and encouraged the rowers with: Washee-washee, good fella, washee-washee! which is the bêche-de-mer for row hard.
As he steered, he kept flashing the torch on the boat compass so that he could keep headed northeast by east a quarter east. Then he remembered that the boat compass, on such course, deviated two whole points from the Arangis compass, and altered his own course accordingly.
Occasionally he bade the rowers cease, while he listened and called for Jerry. He had them row in circles, and work back and forth, up to windward and down to leeward[112], over the area of dark sea that he reasoned must contain the puppy.
Now you fella boy listen ear belong you, he said, toward the first. Maybe one fella boy hear m pickaninny dog sing out, I give m that fella boy five fathom calico, two ten sticks tobacco.
At the end of half an hour he was offering Two ten fathoms calico and ten ten sticks tobacco to the boy who first heard pickaninny dog sing out.
* * *Jerry was in bad shape. Not accustomed to swimming, strangled by the salt water that lapped into his open mouth, he was getting loggy when first he chanced to see the flash of the captains torch. This, however, he did not connect with Skipper, and so took no more notice of it than he did of the first stars showing in the sky. It never entered his mind that it might be a star nor even that it might not be a star. He continued to wail and to strangle with more salt water. But when he at length heard Skippers voice he went immediately wild. He attempted to stand up and to rest his forepaws on Skippers voice coming out of the darkness, as he would have rested his forepaws on Skippers leg had he been near. The result was disastrous. Out of the horizontal, he sank down and under, coming up with a new spasm of strangling.
6
Irish terrier ирландский терьер, гладкошерстная порода собак золотисто-рыжего цвета, 18 дюймов в холке
7
By word and sound (уст.) Одним словом
8
bent to the oars (мор.) налегли на весла
9
Ware niggers! (разг.) Опасайся негров!
10
Still more. (разг.) И это еще не все; мало того.
11
given him a delightful thrashing (разг.) задал ему восхитительную трепку
12
Proper afinities (разг.) Отличная порода
13
adding weight to his sure intuition that dire fate, he knew not what, was upon him усиливая предчувствие того, что злая судьба он не знал, какая надвигается на него
14
without wince or whimper (разг.) не пискнув и не поморщившись
15
willy-nilly (разг.) поневоле; хочешь не хочешь
16
lazily resolved upon no course of action (разг.) лениво отказывался от какого-либо действия
17
Out of the unknown (уст.) Неведомо откуда
18
as a matter of course (разг.) как дело само собой разумеющееся
19
Charon (греч. миф.) перевозчик умерших через реки земного царства до врат Аида
20
Styx (греч. миф.) Стикс, река в царстве мертвых
21
a fin-keel of bronze (мор.) медный киль
22
the cross beams of her crown deck had not been weakened by deck-houses (мор.) палубные надстройки не ослабляли подпалубных бимсов
23
your heartd failed you at the last moment (разг.) в последний момент у вас не хватит мужества
24
barrin (разг.) не считая; за исключением
25
being salt-water men (разг.) были хорошими моряками; знали морское дело
26
Carnegie Эндрю Карнеги (18351919), американский бизнесмен, филантроп, мультимиллионер, занимался благотворительностью, на его деньги был построен Карнеги-Холл (огромный концертный комплекс в Нью-Йорке)
27
No fear (разг.) Я и не боюсь
28
Ive got their goat (разг.) Козыри у меня на руках
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cant get the hang of it (разг.) не могут понять, в чем тут дело
30
If aught happens you (уст.) Если с вами что-нибудь случится
31
Rembrandt Рембрандт ван Рейн (16061669), голландский живописец (портреты, религиозная и мифологическая тематика)
32
New Amsterdam до английской колонизации эта территория была заселена голландскими поселенцами, которые называли ее Нью-Амстердам
33
Caruso Энрике Карузо (18731921), итальянский певец
34
didnt have anything on (разг.) и в подметки не годился
35
Get him! Shake him down! Sick him! Хватай его! Вали! Кусай его!
36
gust of the south-east trade (мор.) порыв юго-восточного пассата
37
like a bolt from the blue (разг.) как гром среди ясного неба
38
with a second crash of blocks on traveler (мор.) раздался еще один треск блока на бугеле
39
to grapple with the huge unknown (разг.) схватиться с чудовищным неизвестным
40
for the time being (разг.) на какое-то время
41
the mainsail was ever swooping across from port tack to starboard tack and back again грот то и дело перелетал с левого галса на правый и обратно
42
to starboard or to port, at the bow or over the stern (мор.) кренился ли корабль направо или на левый борт, зарывался носом в волны или вода покрывала корму
43
had never voluntarily fought against odds (разг.) никогда по своей воле не бились с превосходящими силами противника