the captain was not very far out in his reckoning when he prophesied that the unusual calm of the previous evening betokened the approach of a storm. every one who has had experience of the mediterranean is aware with what little warning gales spring up. at daybreak the weather may be all that can be desired, and in the evening your ship is fighting her way along in the teeth of a hurricane. in this particular instance, when i turned into my bunk after the fright pharos had given me, as narrated in the preceding chapter, the sea was as smooth as glass and the sky innocent of a single cloud. when i opened my eyes on the morning following, the yacht was being pitched up and down and to and fro like a cork. a gale of wind was blowing overhead, while every timber sent forth an indignant protest against the barbarity to which it was being subjected. from the pantry, beyond the saloon companion-ladder, a clatter of breaking glass followed every roll, while i was able to estimate the magnitude of the seas the little vessel was encountering by the number of times her propeller raced as she hung suspended in mid-air. for upward of an hour i remained in my bunk, thinking of the singular events of the night before and telling myself that were it not for the fr?ulein valerie i could find it in my heart to wish myself out of the yacht and back in my own comfortable studio once more. by seven o’clock my curiosity was so excited as to what was doing on deck that i could no longer remain inactive. i accordingly scrambled out of bed and dressed myself, a proceeding which, owing to the movement of the vessel, was attended with no small amount of difficulty, and then, clutching at everything that would permit of a grip, i passed out of the saloon and made my way up the companion-ladder. on glancing through the portholes there, a scene of indescribable tumult met my eye. in place of the calm and almost monotonous stretch of blue water across which we had been sailing so peacefully less than twenty-four hours before, i now saw a wild and angry sea, upon which dark, leaden clouds looked down. the gale was from the north-east and beat upon our port quarter with relentless fury.
my horizon being limited in the companion, i turned the handle and prepared to step on to the deck outside. it was only when i had done so that i realised how strong the wind was; it caught the door and dashed it from my hand as if it had been made of paper, while the cap i had upon my head was whisked off and carried away into the swirl of grey water astern before i had time to clap my hand to it. undaunted, however, by this mishap, i shut the door, and, hanging on to the hand-rail, lest i too should be washed overboard, made my way forward and eventually reached the ladder leading to the bridge. by the time i put my foot upon the first step i was quite exhausted and had to pause in order to recover my breath; and yet, if it was so bad below, how shall i describe the scene which greeted my eyes when i stood upon the bridge itself? from that dizzy height i was better able to estimate the magnitude of the waves and the capabilities of the little vessel for withstanding them.
the captain, sea-booted and clad in sou’wester and oilskins, came forward and dragged me to a place of safety as soon as he became aware of my presence. i saw his lips move, but what with the shrieking of the wind in the shrouds and the pounding of the seas on the deck below, what he said was quite inaudible. once in the corner to which he led me, i clung to the rails like a drowning man and regarded the world above my canvas screen in silent consternation. and i had excellent reasons for being afraid, for the picture before me was one that might have appalled the stoutest heart. violent as the sea had appeared from the port of the companion hatch, it looked doubly so now; and the higher the waves, the deeper the valleys in between. tossed to and fro, her bows one moment in mid-air and the next pointing to the bottom of the ocean, it seemed impossible so frail a craft could long withstand the buffeting she was receiving. she rolled without ceasing, long, sickening movements followed on each occasion by a death-like pause that made the heart stand still and forced the belief upon one that she could never right herself again. times out of number i searched the captain’s face in the hope of deriving some sort of encouragement from it; but i found none. on the other hand, it was plain, from the glances he now and again threw back along the vessel, and from the strained expression that was never absent from his eyes, that he was as anxious as myself, and, since he was more conversant with her capabilities, with perhaps greater reason. only the man at the wheel — a tall, gaunt individual, with bushy eyebrows and the largest hands i have ever seen on a human being — seemed undisturbed. despite the fact that upon his handling of those frail spokes depended the lives of twenty human creatures, he was as undaunted by the war of the elements going on around him as if he were sitting by the fireside, smoking his pipe, ashore.
for upward of half an hour i remained where the captain had placed me, drenched by the spray, listening to the dull thud of the seas as they broke upon the deck below, and watching with an interest that amounted almost to a pain the streams of water that sluiced backward and forward across the bridge every time she rolled. then, summoning all my courage, for i can assure you it was needed, i staggered toward the ladder and once more prepared to make my way below. i had not reached the deck, however, and fortunately my hands had not quitted the guide rails, when a wave larger than any i had yet seen mounted the bulwark and dashed aboard, carrying away a boat and twisting the davits, from which it had been suspended a moment before, like pieces of bent wire. had i descended a moment earlier, nothing could have prevented me from being washed overboard. with a feeling of devout thankfulness in my heart for my escape, i remained where i was, clinging to the ladder long after the sea had passed and disappeared through the scuppers. then i descended and, holding on to the rails as before, eventually reached the saloon entrance in safety.
to be inside, in that still, warm atmosphere, out of the pressure of the wind, was a relief beyond all telling, though what sort of object i must have looked, with my hair blown in all directions by the wind and my clothes soaked through and through by the spray that had dashed upon me on the bridge, is more than i can say. thinking it advisable i should change as soon as possible, i made my way to my own cabin, but, before i reached it, the door of that occupied by the fr?ulein valerie opened and she came out. that something unusual was the matter i saw at a glance.
“mr. forrester,” she said, with a scorn in her voice that cut like a knife, “come here. i have something curious to show you.”
i did as she wished, and forthwith she led me to her cabin. i was not prepared, however, for what i found there. crouching in a corner, almost beside himself with fear, and with the frightened face of the monkey pehtes peering out from beneath his coat, was no less a person than pharos, the man i had hitherto supposed insensible to such an emotion. in the presence of that death, however, which we all believed to be so imminent, he showed himself a coward past all believing. terror incarnate stared from his eyes and rendered him unconscious of our scorn. at every roll the vessel gave he shrank farther into his corner, glaring at us meanwhile with a ferocity that was not very far removed from madness.
at any other time and in any other person such an exhibition might have been conducive of pity; in his case, however, it only added to the loathing i already felt for him. one thing was very certain, in his present condition he was no fit companion for the woman who stood clinging to the door behind me. i accordingly determined to get him either to his own cabin or to mine without delay.
“come, come, monsieur pharos,” i said, “you must not give way like this. i have been on deck, and i can assure you there is no immediate danger.”
as i said this i stooped and placed my hand upon his shoulder. he threw it off with a snarl and a snap of his teeth that was more like the action of a mad dog than that of a man.
“you lie, you lie!” he cried in a paroxysm of rage and fear. “i am cursed, and i shall never see land again. but i will not die — i will not die! there must be some way of keeping the yacht afloat. the captain must find one. if any one is to be saved it must be me. do you hear what i say? it must be me.”
for the abominable selfishness of this remark i could have struck him.
“are you a man that you can talk like this in the presence of a woman?” i cried. “for shame, sir, for shame! get up and let me conduct you to your own cabin.”
with this i lifted him to his feet and, whether he liked it or not, half led and half dragged him along the saloon to his own quarters. once there i placed him on his settee, but the next roll of the vessel brought him to the floor and left him crouching in the corner, still clutching the monkey, his knees almost level with his shoulders, and his awful face looking up at me between them. the whole affair was so detestable that my gorge rose at it, and when i left him i returned to the saloon with a greater detestation of him in my heart than i had felt before. i found the fr?ulein valerie seated at the table.
“fr?ulein,” i said, seating myself beside her, “i am afraid you have been needlessly alarmed. as i said in there, i give you my word there is no immediate danger.”
“i am frightened,” she answered. “see how my hands are trembling. but it is not death i fear.”
“you fear that man,” i said, nodding my head in the direction of the cabin i had just left; “but i assure you, you need not do so, for to-day, at least, he is harmless.”
“ah! you do not know him as i do,” she replied. “i have seen him like this before. as soon as the storm abates he will be himself again, and then he will hate us both the more for having been witnesses of his cowardice.” then, sinking her voice a little, she added: “i often wonder, mr. forrester, whether he can be human. if so, he must be the only one of his kind in the world, for nature surely could not permit two such men to live.”