End of the Tether

ower of five hundred pounds, had kept his command for three years, might have been suspected of never having seen that

and the perspiration poured from under his hat as if a second sun had suddenly blazed up at the zenith by the side o

drops rolled down his cheeks, fell like rain upon the white hairs of his beard, and brusquely, as if guide

ll upon her from the luminous blue dome without a stain arching over a flat sea without a stir. The faint breeze she had made for herself expired, as if all at once the air had become too thick to budge; even the slight hiss of the water on her stem died out. The narrow, long hull, carrying its way without a ripple, see

n the bridge he had occupied before. A slow, lingering grin exposed his set of big white teet

o himself in excessive astoni

nes now. What

rs, his head bowed, his glance obliq

remark I would say that you

e lascar at the lead. The languid monotony of his sing-song changed to a swift, sharp clamor. The weight flew after a single whir, the line whistle

een, fifteen! Fourt

f by its own weight; no other part of his towering body stirred; and the swif

n the silvery, close-cropped back of the steady old head. The ship herself

anxiously below the bridge. And suddenly the barefooted Ser

f fourteen. There was a childlike impulsiveness in the curiosity with which he watched the spread of the voluminous, yellowish convolutions rolling up from below to the surface of the blue water like massive clouds dri

en his name on a document as Serang of the fire-ship Sofala. Since that time he had repeatedly looked at that estuary, upon that coast, from this bridge and from this side of the bar. The record of the visual world fell through his eyes upon his unspeculating mind as on a sensitized plate through the lens of a camera. His knowledge was absolute and precise; nevertheless, had he been asked his opinion, and especially if questioned in the downright, alarming manner of white men, he would have displayed the hesitation of ignorance. He was certain of his facts — but such a certitude counted for little against the doubt what answer would be pleasing. Fifty years ago, in a jungle village, and before he was a day old, his father (who

eglect) would have been inclined to doubt the testimony of his senses. It was some such feeling that kept Massy motionless, with his teeth laid bare by an anxious grin. Not so the Serang. He was not troubled by any intellectual mistrust of his sense

to have observed the movements of his Serang. Holding h

ead still

” answered the Malay. Then a

om the lascar swung in the canvas belt over the Sofala’s side. Captain Whalley ordered the lead in, set the engines ahead

of his hand with a loud

she left. You can see it plainly. Upon my soul, I thought you would! What made y

arily, it was the clear sense of a wrong suffered undeservedly that made him hate the man who, for a beggarly five hundred pounds, claimed a sixth part of the prof

life out of me. I would not have thought t

the slightest movement in the deck-chair, as though expecting to be con

trying to frighten me. You very nearly planted her on the bar for at least twelve hours, besides getting the engines choked with mud. S

very corners of his eyes, left Captain Whalley unmoved. He looked at the deck with

ree years are out. You will do yet something that will give me the chance to dismiss you, and make you wait a twelvemonth for your money before you can take yourself off and pull out your five hundred, and leave me wit

parent exasperation,

in Whalley, I say, what do you do with your money? You must have stacks of money somewhere — a

a long flat spit of black slime. The Sofala had entered the river; the trail she had stirred up over the bar was a mile astern of her now, out of sight, had disappeared utterly; and the smooth, empty sea along the coast was left behind in the glittering desolation o

t’s all of a piece, when I look back at it. You allowed me to insert that clause about intemperance without saying anything, only looking very sick when I made a point of it going in black on white. How could I

med inconceivable that Captain Whalley should not laugh at the expression of disgust that overspread the heavy, yellow

upset, too, when I read my draft in the lawyer’s office that morning, Captain Whalley,— you looked so crestfallen, that I made sure I had gone home on your weak spot. A s

feet slightly. A dull animosity beca

fool as you try to make me out to be. You have been careless of late — leaving everything to that Serang. Why! I’ve seen you letting that old fool of a Malay take bearings for you, as if

at the second engineer, who had come up for a moment, and stood in the engine-room companion. Wiping his hands on a bunch of c

ir. The character of his whi

ss you and freeze to your m

whose money had come in the nick of time to save hi

to be friends and renew the agreement, if you will consent to find another couple of hundred to help with the new boilers,

wl at the end hung down from his thick lips. It had gone out. Sudde

ust the pipe bowl into the poc

u don’t seem to see me at all. What does it mean? Upon my soul, you terrify me with this deaf and dumb trick. What’s going on in that head of yours? What are you plotting against me there so

ptain Whalley sudden

er started

can only beg yo

helmsman; and the Sofala began to swin

n, with your high talk and your money — tempting me? I always wondered what was your motive? You fastened yourself on me to have eas

,” interrupted Capt

ang. Massy turned away wit

e. Captain Whalley made no movement. “There you s

both the banks in one blank unseeing cir