Chapter VIII: Part 8

"The silence lengthened between us, as we gazed across the placid harbour, thinking our own thoughts. In the brilliant moonlight, every object in the roadstead was plainly discernible. 'I see your friend has arrived' said Bert suddenly 'He's anchored pretty close to your vessel. By Jove, that must have been his chain..' 'It was' I answered, musing on the fortuitousness of events that shape our lives. 'Now he seems to be getting a boat into the water. Where are your night glasses?' In a moment Bert brought them to me. Aboard the new arrival there was an unaccountable flurry, but I couldn't make out the scene below the rail. In a short while, however, a boat appeared out of the shadow there, and swam toward us through the bright moonlight. 'I wonder why he's coming ashore, at this time of night' I murmured. 'Can't imagine' Bert replied. Soon we heard the chunking of oars in the rowlocks, and two or three quick commands. The boat was nearing the beach. She passed for a moment behind the point of the jetty. Now she had reached the landing. A confusion of voices broke out, loud and jarring, pitched in a key of anger and violence. Then, cutting the stillness like a knife, came a sudden sharp cry.

"My heart leaped into my mouth. 'My God, did you hear that?' asked Bert, breathlessly. 'Keep still--it sounded like a woman's voice' said I. We leaned across the rail, straining our eyes, but couldn't see what was taking place; the landing lay too close under the trees. After the cry, an absolute silence had fallen. This lasted a full minute. Then a man's voice started up, the same angry, jarring tone 'Give way, boys!' Almost immediately, we heard the sound of the oars again.

"The unexpectedness of the occurrence had held us spellbound; we stood gazing at each other like two wooden images. Then, in the same instant, we found our voices, began to confer hurriedly, and started on the run for the centre of the verandah, where a broad flight of steps led down to the jetty path. At the head of the path we both halted as if transfixed. Someone was coming up from the landing. The moonlight plainly showed it to be a woman. She advanced slowly, stopping now and then, staggering as she walked. When she drew nearer, we could see that she was hatless and empty-handed. She walked like a somnambulist, gazing fixedly on the ground before her, now and then holding out a hand as if to feel the way. At the last turn of the path, she stopped and raised her head. Bert, at my side, made a low strangling sound. Evidently discovering us, she started forward again. Her face was quite terrible. All hope seemed gone from it, like the dead face of a suicide that I once saw; her eyes stared at us blankly, and she clutched with one hand at the bosom of her dress.

"'Who is there?' she asked brokenly.

"Bert left my side and flung himself toward her. 'Helen!' he cried. She would have fallen, but he caught her in his arms. 'Helen!' said he again, with his face close to hers.

"'Bert?' she asked in eager fearfulness. Her low voice seemed to tear the heart. She gazed at him long and deep, while desperation turned to wonder in her eyes.

"For the second time that evening I fled the scene of life's amazing hazard. This time I hurried down the path with all haste, making for the jetty; by shouting, I should be able to raise the ship and have a boat sent ashore for me. As I glanced back at the corner, I saw Bert help the woman up the steps. I thought I heard her sobbing; but, in a moment, I realized that the sound came from another direction. Off among the trees, in the heavy shadow, someone was uttering smothered, choking cries. I broke into a run. The ways of the land were getting too damnably complicated altogether; I wanted to surround myself again with a safe strip of water.

*VII*

Nichols reached for another cigar. "And that's the way he found her" he went on "For it wouldn't be true to say that she had found him; until the moment in front of the bungalow when he took her in his arms, she hadn't dreamed that he was there.

"I heard the final chapter of their romance while we were going up the China Sea; I'd waited for him, after all, and had taken them both north with me. After Bert had left Melbourne, she had missed him, and had awakened to the realization that she'd driven him out of her life. So she discovered what it meant to her, what she'd been doing, and bowed before the law that through any wrong keeps the heart pure and the spirit ready to fulfil itself. She had determined to follow, but couldn't locate him. Some said he was in Singapore, some in Hong Kong; the consensus of many vague rumours, however, agreed that he had gone north into the China Sea region. It was familiar ground to her; she had friends there, and sources of information. She's always known of Halsted's packet service; the next time he came around, she had taken passage in the _Senegal_ for an indeterminate trip up the coast.

"Unfortunately, Halsted also knew of her. He was a beastly sort of character. The moment they got outside he grew familiar, and soon was making forthright approaches. She was the only woman on the vessel; the other passenger was an elderly man, to whom she couldn't hope to look for protection. She, of course, was a woman of experience, as capable of protecting herself as is humanly possible; but there are limits to the power of the mind over brute force, when passion is engaged. Make no mistake--her aversion from him was virginal, and nothing could have induced her submission.

"'I took my revolver on deck one morning, to show him my marksmanship' said she 'I shot a bird on the end of the spanker gaff. Then I got him on one side, and told him what I would do. I told him that I should be constantly on the watch, and that I would shoot him dead if he came near me. It was the only way--but I knew he was a coward'

"So this was the situation on board the _Senegal_--on the one hand defiance, on the other baulked and fermenting desire. Halsted watched her as a cat watches a mouse, trying to catch her off guard. Throughout the afternoon while they had been coming up the straits, even while my glass had been looking them over, the silent battle had been going on. The presence of the land had filled her with nameless apprehension. Then they had run into the calm; in this condition, the supper hour had arrived. She had waited on deck until she thought the others would be nearly finished; when she entered the forward cabin, she saw that she had waited too long. The mate and the old gentleman had gone on deck forward; Halsted sat there alone. She had to pass him to reach her seat. As she attempted to slip by, he rose suddenly and crushed her in his arms. The Chinese steward in the pantry turned his back on the scene.

"'My hand fell on a table knife' said she 'I fought him with it--succeeded in cutting him badly about the hands. The blood frightened him; he had to let me go. I've never seen a human being in such a dreadful rage. He swore he wouldn't keep me on board an hour longer'

"The rage had persisted; as soon as the sails had been furled, after dropping the anchor, he had put a boat overboard and bundled her into it, bag and baggage--well he knew that she was in no position to make trouble for him. She had thought of trying to attract the attention of the other vessel, but finally had decided that she had better take her chances on land. She had supposed there were white people ashore; at the landing, where her things had been pitched at her feet, she had asked Halsted the way to the settlement. When he'd told her brutally what an abandoned place it was, she'd suddenly lost heart. It was then that we had heard her cry out.

"'Go up to the consulate bungalow' Halsted had told her 'See the lights? Somebody must live up there'

"So she had climbed the hill, trusting to luck, which had already arranged the scene. It might have been vastly different, you know. Suppose she had found him with the native woman? Well, suppose it--the renunciation would merely have changed hands. Inexorable formula!--for them, one or the other; for him, heads I win, tails you lose"

*VIII*

Nichols went to the rail, and stood for some time in silence, facing the land. "And I have seen the other" said he slowly "It was about a year later that my course led me again through Sunda Straits, and I arrived at Anjer on another evening of moonlight and stillness and awakened memory. After the anchor was down I ordered a boat to be set overboard, and went ashore in the late evening to revisit the bungalow. As I went up the path, the shadows seemed to start and move about me, and a wandering breeze stirred the palm trees with a quick rustle as of departing feet. I found the wreck of a rattan chair standing on the verandah, pulled it to the railing, and sat there a long while facing the oval of grass flooded with moonlight, the fixed scene, as it were, where the actors of this unseen drama had stalked through their extravagant business and said their futile words.

"Nothing had changed; I seemed as if I had left the place but yesterday. I turned to the heavy shadow where I had seen and heard her last, the shadow that must have marked the end of a hillside trail; and it wasn't surprising to me, but only natural, to see her standing there once more, her form drawn back as if from a sight she didn't dare behold. In a moment the tense figure moved. She walked like a tiger, with a crouching step of absolute grace, cautious yet unafraid. Crossing the oval, she came directly to the railing. I got up hastily, in excitement and alarm; and we faced each other without speaking for quite a period.

"'You?...' said she at last in a low voice, drawing back. Her hand tightened on the rail. She was regally beautiful.

"'For what do you wait?' I asked, striving to be calm.

"She threw down her arms with a violent gesture. 'A word, a message!' she cried 'Can you tell me nothing? Has he come?'

"'He is far away' I answered.

"She put her hand on mine. 'You are his friend' said she 'I do not blame you now; I see that it rested with him alone. But keep nothing from me. Has he sent no word by you?'

"'He does not know that I have come' said I.

"'Ah, I have waited, night upon night!' she cried 'Whenever ships stop, I have waited here--in darkness, in rain--always!--thinking to see you, or that he might come, or that a message.... Will he not come? Tell me!'

"'He will never come' said I.

"She drew her hand away, and stepped back sharply. Her voice rang out, fierce with hate. 'He was a child. The woman took him! Tell me, why?...'

"'The woman was his wife' I felt obliged to say.

"'Enough!' she cried. Her form became rigid, as if every muscle were stretched to the point of breaking. Suddenly she relaxed, and turned to me for the last time.

"'He is happy?' she asked quietly.

"I nodded--for the moment I couldn't speak.

"'She loves him?'

"Again I nodded.

"Her voice caught at the next question, but rallied bravely. 'He loves her?--you are sure?...'

"I cursed myself for having come--but there could be no kindness in sustaining the delusion. 'I am certain' I answered 'He will never tire of her. He loves her better than all the world'

"She gave a quick cry, like one who has received a mortal wound. Before I could recognize the significance of the moment, she had moved swiftly into the open. For an instant she stood with arms outstretched; but not until the dagger flashed above her breast did I see what she held in her hand. When I reached her she'd fallen in the rank grass, and life had gone.

"And that's the way I left her, a figure very beautiful, crouching low as if to spring, the tall grass closing over her, the mystery dissolved in mystery. Aha!--these high spirits, this gruelling difficulty of life. But she, you'll note, had solved the difficulty, had met it boldly and triumphantly, with the master stroke that levels fate itself to the dust. As for the others, they had solved it, too, though not so keenly, had triumphed, though not so magnificently--had gone away, had found their home, were happy, for a little longer.... What did it signify?"

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