The Open Boat and Other Stories

ere don't seem to be any signs of

e cook. "Funny t

he roar of the surf was plain, and sometimes they could see the white lip of a wave as it spun up the beach.

ing the dingey northward. "Funny

hunderous and mighty. As the boat swam over the great rollers, the

men did not know this fact, and in consequence they made dark and opprobrious remarks concerning the eyesight of

hey don'

y to conjure pictures of all kinds of incompetency and blindness and, indeed, cowardice. There w

make a try for ourselves. If we stay out here too long, we'll

e boat straight for the shore. There was a sudde

n. "If we don't all get ashore, I suppose you

and contemplate sand and trees? Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life? It is preposterous. If this old ninny-woman, Fate, cannot do better than this, she should be deprived of the management of men's fortunes. She is an old hen who knows not her intention. If she has decided to d

tory and long growl in the speech of them. No mind unused to the sea would have concluded that the dingey could ascend these sheer heights in time. The shore was still

ead!" said

t and steady oarsmanship, turned the boat in the m

furrowed sea to deeper water. Then somebody in gloom spoke.

late east. A squall, marked by dingy clouds, and clouds brick-red,

those life-saving peop

ey haven'

sport! Maybe they think we're fishin'

and wave said northward. Far ahead, where coast-line, sea, and sky formed their

Augus

his head. "Too nea

become the seat of more aches and pains than are registered in books for the composite anatomy of a regiment. It is a lim

o row, Billie?" aske

the oiler

-water swashing to and fro in the boat, and he lay in it. His head, pillowed on a thwart, was within an inch of the swirl of a wave crest, and sometimes a particularly obstreperous sea came in-board and drenche

e's a man o

he

See 'im?

! He's wal

pped. Look! H

waving

is! By

re all right! There'll be a boat

running. He's going u

he captain saw a floating stick and they rowed to it. A bath-towel was by some weird chance in the boat, and, tying

he doi

, I think.... There he goes again. Towar

waving

ow! he was

re comes a

runn

him go, w

he's met the other man. The

something u

devil is t

looks lik

tainly it

's on w

st be the life-boat. They dra

he life-b

it's-it's

u it's a l

I can see it plain. See? One

. What do you suppose they are doing with an omnibus? Ma

ing on the steps of the omnibus. There come those other two fellows. Now they're

? That's his coat. Why ce

t off and is waving it around his head

. That's just a winter resort hotel omnibus that ha

h the coat mean? What'

tell us to go north. There must

g. Just giving us a merry h

mething out of those signals.

anything. He'

go north, or go south, or go to hell-there would be some reason in it. But look

ome more

e a mob. Look! Is

where you mean. No

is still wavi

him do that. Why don't he qu

ake us go north. It must be that there's

tired yet. Lo

sight of us. He's an idiot. Why aren't they getting men to bring a boat out? A fishing

s all ri

e for us in less than no tim

and. The shadows on the sea slowly deepened. The win

ess his impious mood, "if we keep on monkeying out

't you worry. They've seen us now, and it won't b

owed in the same manner the omnibus and the group of people. The spray, when it dashed upro

o waved the coat. I feel like s

hat did

then he seemed s

eaden oars. The form of the lighthouse had vanished from the southern horizon, but finally a pale star appeared, just lifting from the sea. The streaked saffron in the

f the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees? Wa

er the water-jar, was sometimes

ad up! Keep

' sir." The voices

oat's bottom. As for him, his eyes were just capable of noting the tall black waves that

water under his nose. He was deep in other scenes. Finally he spoke.