forces with Johnson and Leach and working for his death. Right here, I think, entered the austere conscience of my Puritan ancestry, impelling me toward lurid deeds and sanctioning even murder as right conduct. I dwelt upon the idea. It would be a most moral act to rid the world of such a monster. Humanity would be better and happier for it, life fairer and sweeter. V tom, chto on govoril, byla nepriyatnaya pravda. Byt' mozhet, ya i v samom dele prazdnoval trusa. CHem bol'she ya razmyshlyal ob etom, tem yasnee soznaval, chto moj dolg pered samim soboj -- sdelat' to, k chemu Larsen podstrekaet menya, to est' primknut' k Dzhonsonu i Lichu i vmeste s nimi postarat'sya ubit' ego. V etom, mne kazhetsya, skazalos' nasledie moih surovyh predkov puritan, opravdyvavshih dazhe ubijstvo, esli ono sovershaetsya dlya blagoj celi. YA ne mog otdelat'sya ot etih myslej. Osvobodit' mir ot takogo chudovishcha kazalos' mne aktom vysshej morali. CHelovechestvo stanet ot etogo tol'ko luchshe i schastlivee, a zhizn' chishche i priyatnee. I pondered it long, lying sleepless in my bunk and reviewing in endless procession the facts of the situation. I talked with Johnson and Leach, during the night watches when Wolf Larsen was below. Both men had lost hope - Johnson, because of temperamental despondency; Leach, because he had beaten himself out in the vain struggle and was exhausted. But he caught my hand in a passionate grip one night, saying: YA razdumyval ob etom, vorochayas' na svoej kojke v dolgie bessonnye nochi, i snova i snova perebiral v ume vse sobytiya. Vo vremya nochnyh vaht, kogda Volk Larsen byl vnizu, ya besedoval s Dzhonsonom i Lichem. Oba oni poteryali vsyakuyu nadezhdu: Dzhonson -- po mrachnomu skladu svoego haraktera, a Lich -- potomu, chto istoshchil sily v tshchetnoj bor'be. Odnazhdy on vzvolnovanno shvatil moyu ruku i skazal: "I think yer square, Mr. Van Weyden. But stay where you are and keep yer mouth shut. Say nothin' but saw wood. We're dead men, I know it; but all the same you might be able to do us a favour some time when we need it damn bad." -- Vy chestnyj chelovek, mister Van-VejdenNo ostavajtes' na svoem meste i pomalkivajte. Nasha pesenka speta, ya znayu. I vse-taki v trudnuyu minutu vy, mozhet, sumeete pomoch' nam. It was only next day, when Wainwright Island loomed to windward, close abeam, that Wolf Larsen opened his mouth in prophecy. He had attacked Johnson, been attacked by Leach, and had just finished whipping the pair of them. Na sleduyushchij den', kogda na traverze u nas s navetrennoj storony vyros ostrov Uenrajt, Volk Larsen izrek prorocheskie slova. On tol'ko chto pokolotil Dzhonsona, a zaodno i Licha, kotoryj prishel tovarishchu na podmogu. "Leach," he said, "you know I'm going to kill you some time or other, don't you?" -- Lich, -- skazal on, -- ty znaesh', chto ya kogda-nibud' ub'yu tebya? A snarl was the answer. Matros v otvet tol'ko zarychal. "And as for you, Johnson, you'll get so tired of life before I'm through with you that you'll fling yourself over the side. See if you don't." -- A tebe, Dzhonson, tak v konce koncov ostocherteet zhizn', chto ty sam brosish'sya za bort, ne ozhidaya, chtoby ya tebya prikonchil. Pomyani moe slovo! "That's a suggestion," he added, in an aside to me. "I'll bet you a month's pay he acts upon it." -- |to -- vnushenie, -- dobavil on, obrashchayas' ko mne. -- Derzhu pari na vashe mesyachnoe zhalovan'e, chto on tak i sdelaet. I had cherished a hope that his victims would find an opportunity to escape while filling our water-barrels, but Wolf Larsen had selected his spot well. The Ghost lay half-a-mile beyond the surf- line of a lonely beach. Here debauched a deep gorge, with precipitous, volcanic walls which no man could scale. And here, under his direct supervision - for he went ashore himself - Leach and Johnson filled the small casks and rolled them down to the beach. They had no chance to make a break for liberty in one of the boats. YA pital nadezhdu, chto ego zhertvy najdut sluchaj bezhat', kogda my budem napolnyat' vodoj bochonki, no Volk Larsen horosho vybral mesto, gde brosit' yakor'. "Prizrak" leg v drejf v polumile za liniej priboya, okajmlyavshej pustynnyj bereg. Zdes' otkryvalos' glubokoe ushchel'e, okruzhennoe otvesnymi skalami vulkanicheskogo proishozhdeniya, po kotorym nevozmozhno bylo vskarabkat'sya naverh. I zdes', pod neposredstvennym nablyudeniem samogo kapitana, s®ehavshego na bereg, Lich i Dzhonson napolnyali presnoj vodoj bochonki i skatyvali ih k beregu. Udrat' na shlyupke u nih ne bylo nikakoj vozmozhnosti. Harrison and Kelly, however, made such an attempt. They composed one of the boats' crews, and their task was to ply between the schooner and the shore, carrying a single cask each trip. Just before dinner, starting for the beach with an empty barrel, they altered their course and bore away to the left to round the promontory which jutted into the sea between them and liberty. Beyond its foaming base lay the pretty villages of the Japanese colonists and smiling valleys which penetrated deep into the interior. Once in the fastnesses they promised, and the two men could defy Wolf Larsen. No Garrison i Kelli sdelali takuyu popytku. Na ih obyazannosti lezhalo kursirovat' na svoej shlyupke mezhdu shhunoj i beregom, perevozya kazhdyj raz po odnomu bochonku. Pered samym obedom, dvinuvshis' s pustym bochonkom k beregu, oni vnezapno izmenili kurs i otklonilis' vlevo, stremyas' obognut' mys, daleko vystupavshij v more i otdelyavshij ih ot svobody. Tam, za belymi penistymi burunami, raskinulis' zhivopisnye derevushki yaponskih kolonistov i privetlivye doliny, uhodyashchie v glub' ostrova. Esli by matrosam udalos' skryt'sya tuda. Volk Larsen byl by im uzhe ne strashen. I had observed Henderson and Smoke loitering about the deck all morning, and I now learned why they were there. Procuring their rifles, they opened fire in a leisurely manner, upon the deserters. It was a cold-blooded exhibition of marksmanship. At first their bullets zipped harmlessly along the surface of the water on either side the boat; but, as the men continued to pull lustily, they struck closer and closer. Odnako Genderson i Smok vse utro brodili po palube: i teper' ya ponyal, s kakoj cel'yu. Dostav vintovki, oni netoroplivo otkryli ogon' po beglecam. |to byla hladnokrovnaya demonstraciya metkoj strel'by. Snachala ih puli, ne nanosya vreda, shlepalis' v vodu po obeim storonam shlyupki. No matrosy prodolzhali gresti izo vseh sil, i togda puli nachali lozhit'sya vse blizhe i blizhe. "Now, watch me take Kelly's right oar," Smoke said, drawing a more careful aim. -- Smotrite, sejchas ya prostrelyu pravoe veslo Kelli, -- skazal Smok i pricelilsya bolee tshchatel'no. I was looking through the glasses, and I saw the oar-blade shatter as he shot. Henderson duplicated it, selecting Harrison's right oar. The boat slewed around. The two remaining oars were quickly broken. The men tried to row with the splinters, and had them shot out of their hands. Kelly ripped up a bottom board and began paddling, but dropped it with a cry of pain as its splinters drove into his hands. Then they gave up, letting the boat drift till a second boat, sent from the shore by Wolf Larsen, took them in tow and brought them aboard. YA uvidel v binokl', kak lopast' vesla razletelas' v shchepy. Genderson prodelal to zhe samoe s pravym veslom Garrisona. SHlyupku zavertelo na meste. Dva ostal'nyh vesla bystro podverglis' toj zhe uchasti. Matrosy pytalis' gresti oblomkami, no i te byli vybity u nih iz ruk. Togda Kelli otorval dosku ot dna shlyupki i nachal bylo gresti etoj doskoj, no tut zhe vyronil ee, vskriknuv ot boli: pulya rasshchepila dosku, i zanoza vonzilas' emu v ruku. Togda beglecy pokorilis' svoej dole, i shlyupku nosilo po volnam, poka vtoraya shlyupka, poslannaya Volkom Larsenom, ne vzyala ee na buksir i ne dostavila beglecov na bort. Late that afternoon we hove up anchor and got away. Nothing was before us but the three or four months' hunting on the sealing grounds. The outlook was black indeed, and I went about my work with a heavy heart. An almost funereal gloom seemed to have descended upon the Ghost. Wolf Larsen had taken to his bunk with one of his strange, splitting headaches. Harrison stood listlessly at the wheel, half supporting himself by it, as though wearied by the weight of his flesh. The rest of the men were morose and silent. I came upon Kelly crouching to the lee of the forecastle scuttle, his head on his knees, his arms about his head, in an attitude of unutterable despondency. K vecheru my snyalis' s yakorya. Teper' nam predstoyalo celyh tri ili chetyre mesyaca ohotit'sya na kotikov. Mrachnaya perspektiva, i ya s tyazhelym serdcem zanimalsya svoim delom. Na "Prizrake" carilo pohoronnoe nastroenie. Volk Larsen valyalsya na kojke: u nego opyat' byl odin iz etih strannyh muchitel'nyh pristupov golovnoj boli. Garrison s unylym vidom stoyal u shturvala, navalivshis' na nego vsem telom, slovno nogi ne derzhali ego. Ostal'nye hranili ugryumoe molchanie. YA natknulsya na Kelli: on sidel s podvetrennoj storony u lyuka matrosskogo kubrika v poze bezyshodnogo otchayaniya, uroniv golovu v koleni i ohvativ ee rukami. Johnson I found lying full length on the forecastle head, staring at the troubled churn of the forefoot, and I remembered with horror the suggestion Wolf Larsen had made. It seemed likely to bear fruit. I tried to break in on the man's morbid thoughts by calling him away, but he smiled sadly at me and refused to obey. Dzhonson rastyanulsya na samom nosu i sledil, kak penyatsya volny u forshtevnya. YA s uzhasom vspomnil prorochestvo Volka Larsena, i u menya mel'knula mysl', chto ego vnushenie nachinaet dejstvovat'. Mne zahotelos' otvlech' Dzhonsona ot ego dum, i ya okliknul ego, no on tol'ko grustno ulybnulsya mne i ne tronulsya s mesta. Leach approached me as I returned aft. Na korme ko mne podoshel Lich. "I want to ask a favour, Mr. Van Weyden," he said. "If it's yer luck to ever make 'Frisco once more, will you hunt up Matt McCarthy? He's my old man. He lives on the Hill, back of the Mayfair bakery, runnin' a cobbler's shop that everybody knows, and you'll have no trouble. Tell him I lived to be sorry for the trouble I brought him and the things I done, and - and just tell him 'God bless him,' for me." -- YA hochu poprosit' vas koe o chem, mister VanVejden, -- skazal on. -- Esli vam povezet i vy vernetes' vo Frisko, ne otkazhite razyskat' Matta Mak-Karti. |to moj starik. On sapozhnik, zhivet na gore, za pekarnej Mejfera. Ego tam vse znayut, i vam ne trudno budet ego najti. Skazhite stariku, chto ne hotel ogorchat' ego i zhaleyu o tom, chto ya nadelal, i... i skazhite emu eshche tak ot menya: "Da hranit tebya bog". I nodded my head, but said, "We'll all win back to San Francisco, Leach, and you'll be with me when I go to see Matt McCarthy." YA kivnul i pribavil: -- My vse vernemsya v San-Francisko, Lich, i ya vmeste s vami pojdu povidat' Matta Mak-Karti. "I'd like to believe you," he answered, shaking my hand, "but I can't. Wolf Larsen 'll do for me, I know it; and all I can hope is, he'll do it quick." -- Horosho, kaby tak, -- otvechal on, pozhimaya mne ruku. -- Da ne veryu ya v eto. Volk Larsen prikonchit menya, ya znayu. Da pust' by uzh poskoree! And as he left me I was aware of the same desire at my heart. Since it was to be done, let it be done with despatch. The general gloom had gathered me into its folds. The worst appeared inevitable; and as I paced the deck, hour after hour, I found myself afflicted with Wolf Larsen's repulsive ideas. What was it all about? Where was the grandeur of life that it should permit such wanton destruction of human souls? It was a cheap and sordid thing after all, this life, and the sooner over the better. Over and done with! I, too, leaned upon the rail and gazed longingly into the sea, with the certainty that sooner or later I should be sinking down, down, through the cool green depths of its oblivion. On ushel, a ya pochuvstvoval, chto i sam zhelayu togo zhe. Pust' neizbezhnoe sluchitsya poskoree. Obshchaya podavlennost' peredalas' i mne. Gibel' kazalas' neotvratimoj. I chas za chasom shagaya po palube, ya chuvstvoval vse otchetlivee, chto nachinayu poddavat'sya otvratitel'nym ideyam Volka Larsena. K chemu vedet vse na svete? Gde velichie zhizni, raz ona dopuskaet takoe razrushenie chelovecheskih dush po kakomu-to bessmyslennomu kaprizu? ZHizn' -- deshevaya i skvernaya shtuka, i chem skoree pridet ej konec, tem luchshe. Pokonchit' s nej, i bastaPo primeru Dzhonsona ya peregnulsya cherez bort i ne otryval glaz ot morya, ispytyvaya glubokuyu uverennost' v tom, chto rano ili pozdno budu opuskat'sya vniz, vniz, vniz, v holodnye zelenye puchiny zabveniya. CHAPTER XVII GLAVA XVII Strange to say, in spite of the general foreboding, nothing of especial moment happened on the Ghost. We ran on to the north and west till we raised the coast of Japan and picked up with the great seal herd. Coming from no man knew where in the illimitable Pacific, it was travelling north on its annual migration to the rookeries of Bering Sea. And north we travelled with it, ravaging and destroying, flinging the naked carcasses to the shark and salting down the skins so that they might later adorn the fair shoulders of the women of the cities. Kak ni stranno, no, nesmotrya na mrachnye predchuvstviya, ovladevshie vsemi, na "Prizrake" poka nikakih osobennyh sobytij eshche ne proizoshlo. My plyli na severo-zapad, poka ne dostigli beregov YAponii i ne natknulis' na bol'shoe stado kotikov. YAvivshis' syuda otkuda-to iz bezgranichnyh Prostorov Tihogo okeana, oni sovershali svoe ezhegodnoe pereselenie na sever, k lezhbishcham u beregov Beringova morya. Povernuli za nimi k severu i my, svirepstvuya i istreblyaya, brosaya obodrannye tushi akulam i zasalivaya shkury, kotorye vposledstvii dolzhny byli ukrasit' prelestnye plechi gorozhanok. It was wanton slaughter, and all for woman's sake. No man ate of the seal meat or the oil. After a good day's killing I have seen our decks covered with hides and bodies, slippery with fat and blood, the scuppers running red; masts, ropes, and rails spattered with the sanguinary colour; and the men, like butchers plying their trade, naked and red of arm and hand, hard at work with ripping and flensing-knives, removing the skins from the pretty sea-creatures they had killed. |to bylo bezzhalostnoe izbienie, sovershavsheesya vo slavu zhenshchin. Myasa i zhira nikto ne el. Posle dnya uspeshnoj ohoty nashi paluby byli zavaleny tushami i shkurami, skol'zkimi ot zhira i krovi, i v shpigaty stekali alye ruchejki. Machty, snasti i borta -- vse bylo zabryzgano krov'yu. A lyudi s obnazhennymi okrovavlennymi rukami, slovno myasniki, userdno rabotali nozhami, sdiraya shkury s ubityh imi krasivyh morskih zhivotnyh. It was my task to tally the pelts as they came aboard from the boats, to oversee the skinning and afterward the cleansing of the decks and bringing things ship-shape again. It was not pleasant work. My soul and my stomach revolted at it; and yet, in a way, this handling and directing of many men was good for me. It developed what little executive ability I possessed, and I was aware of a toughening or hardening which I was undergoing and which could not be anything but wholesome for "Sissy" Van Weyden. Na moej obyazannosti lezhalo schitat' shkury, postupavshie na bort so shlyupok, i nablyudat' za tem, kak vedetsya svezhevan'e i posleduyushchaya uborka palub. Neveseloe zanyatie! Vse vo mne vozmushchalos' protiv nego. No vmeste s tem mne eshche nikogda ne prihodilos' rasporyazhat'sya stol'kimi lyud'mi, i eto razvivalo moi dovol'no slabye administrativnye sposobnosti. YA chuvstvoval, chto stanovlyus' tverzhe i reshitel'nee, i eto ne moglo ne pojti na pol'zu "nezhenke Van-Vejdenu". One thing I was beginning to feel, and that was that I could never again be quite the same man I had been. While my hope and faith in human life still survived Wolf Larsen's destructive criticism, he had nevertheless been a cause of change in minor matters. He had opened up for me the world of the real, of which I had known practically nothing and from which I had always shrunk. I had learned to look more closely at life as it was lived, to recognize that there were such things as facts in the world, to emerge from the realm of mind and idea and to place certain values on the concrete and objective phases of existence. YA nachinal ponimat', chto mne nikogda uzhe ne stat' prezhnim Hemfri Van-Vejdenom. Hotya moya vera v cheloveka i v zhizn' vse eshche protivilas' razrushitel'noj kritike Volka Larsena, koe v chem on vse zhe uspel sil'no povliyat' na menya. On otkryl mne real'nyj mir, s kotorym ya prakticheski ne byl znakom, tak kak vsegda stoyal ot nego v storone. Teper' ya nauchilsya blizhe prismatrivat'sya k okruzhayushchemu, spustilsya iz mira otvlechennostej v mir faktov. I saw more of Wolf Larsen than ever when we had gained the grounds. For when the weather was fair and we were in the midst of the herd, all hands were away in the boats, and left on board were only he and I, and Thomas Mugridge, who did not count. But there was no play about it. The six boats, spreading out fan-wise from the schooner until the first weather boat and the last lee boat were anywhere from ten to twenty miles apart, cruised along a straight course over the sea till nightfall or bad weather drove them in. It was our duty to sail the Ghost well to leeward of the last lee boat, so that all the boats should have fair wind to run for us in case of squalls or threatening weather. S teh por kak nachalas' ohota, mne bol'she chem kogda-libo prihodilos' provodit' vremya v obshchestve Volka Larsena. Kogda pogoda byvala horosha i my okazyvalis' posredi stada, ves' ekipazh byl zanyat v shlyupkah, a na bortu ostavalis' tol'ko my s nim da Tomas Magridzh, kotoryj v schet ne shel. Vprochem, my tozhe ne sideli bez dela. SHest' shlyupok veerom rashodilis' ot shhuny, poka rasstoyanie mezhdu pervoj navetrennoj i poslednej podvetrennoj shlyupkami ne dostigalo desyati, a to i dvadcati mil'. Potom oni plyli pryamym kursom, i tol'ko noch' ili plohaya pogoda zagonyali ih obratno. My zhe dolzhny byli napravlyat' "Prizrak" v podvetrennuyu storonu, k krajnej shlyupke, dlya togo chtoby ostal'nye mogli s poputnym vetrom podojti k nam v sluchae shkvala ili ugrozy shtorma. It is no slight matter for two men, particularly when a stiff wind has sprung up, to handle a vessel like the Ghost, steering, keeping look-out for the boats, and setting or taking in sail; so it devolved upon me to learn, and learn quickly. Steering I picked up easily, but running aloft to the crosstrees and swinging my whole weight by my arms when I left the ratlines and climbed still higher, was more difficult. This, too, I learned, and quickly, for I felt somehow a wild desire to vindicate myself in Wolf Larsen's eyes, to prove my right to live in ways other than of the mind. Nay, the time came when I took joy in the run of the masthead and in the clinging on by my legs at that precarious height while I swept the sea with glasses in search of the boats. Nelegkaya eto zadacha dlya dvuh chelovek, osobenno pri svezhem vetre, spravlyat'sya s takim sudnom, kak "Prizrak": upravlyat' rulem, sledit' za shlyupkami, stavit' ili ubirat' parusa. YA dolzhen byl ovladet' vsem etim, i ovladet' bystro. Upravlenie rulem dalos' mne legko. No vzbirat'sya naverh na saling i podtyagivat'sya na rukah, kogda nuzhno bylo lezt' eshche vyshe, uzhe bez vyblenok, okazalos' potrudnee. Odnako ya skoro nauchilsya i etomu, tak kak chuvstvoval kakoe-to neob®yasnimoe zhelanie podnyat' sebya v glazah Volka Larsena, dokazat' svoe pravo na zhizn' i dokazat' ne putem odnih tol'ko rassuzhdenii. I nastalo vremya, kogda mne dazhe dostavlyalo radost' vzbirat'sya na samuyu verhushku machty i, ohvativ ee nogami, osmatrivat' s etoj zhutkoj vysoty more v binokl', razyskivaya shlyupki. I remember one beautiful day, when the boats left early and the reports of the hunters' guns grew dim and distant and died away as they scattered far and wide over the sea. There was just the faintest wind from the westward; but it breathed its last by the time we managed to get to leeward of the last lee boat. One by one - I was at the masthead and saw - the six boats disappeared over the bulge of the earth as they followed the seal into the west. We lay, scarcely rolling on the placid sea, unable to follow. Wolf Larsen was apprehensive. The barometer was down, and the sky to the east did not please him. He studied it with unceasing vigilance. Pomnyu, kak v odin yasnyj tihij den' ohotniki vyehali spozaranku i zvuki vystrelov postepenno udalyalis' i zamerli: shlyupki rasseyalis' po bezgranichnomu prostoru okeana. S zapada dunul chut' primetnyj veterok. My edva uspeli vypolnit' nash obychnyj manevr v podvetrennuyu storonu, kak veter upal sovsem. S verhushki machty ya sledil za shlyupkami: vse shest', odna za drugoj, ischezli za gorizontom, presleduya plyvshih na zapad kotikov. My stoyali, chut' pokachivayas' na vodnoj gladi. Larsen nachal bespokoit'sya. Barometr upal, i nebo na vostoke ne predveshchalo nichego horoshego. Larsen neotstupno vsmatrivalsya vdal'. "If she comes out of there," he said, "hard and snappy, putting us to windward of the boats, it's likely there'll be empty bunks in steerage and fo'c'sle." -- Esli nagryanet ottuda, -- skazal on, -- i otneset nas ot shlyupok, mnogo koek opusteet v oboih kubrikah. By eleven o'clock the sea had become glass. By midday, though we were well up in the northerly latitudes, the heat was sickening. There was no freshness in the air. It was sultry and oppressive, reminding me of what the old Californians term "earthquake weather." There was something ominous about it, and in intangible ways one was made to feel that the worst was about to come. Slowly the whole eastern sky filled with clouds that over-towered us like some black sierra of the infernal regions. So clearly could one see canon, gorge, and precipice, and the shadows that lie therein, that one looked unconsciously for the white surf-line and bellowing caverns where the sea charges on the land. And still we rocked gently, and there was no wind. K odinnadcati chasam more stalo gladkim, kak zerkalo. K poludnyu zhara sdelalas' nevynosimoj, hotya my nahodilis' uzhe dovol'no daleko v severnyh shirotah. V vozduhe -- ni malejshego dunoveniya. Dushnaya, gnetushchaya atmosfera; v Kalifornii v takih sluchayah govoryat: "kak pered zemletryaseniem". Vo vsem etom bylo chto-to zloveshchee, i voznikalo oshchushchenie priblizhayushchejsya opasnosti. Ponemnogu vse nebo na vostoke zatyanulo tuchami; oni nadvigalis' na nas, slovno chudovishchnye chernye gory, i tak yasno mozhno bylo razlichit' v nih ushchel'ya, peshchery i propasti, gde sgustilis' chernye teni, chto glaz nevol'no iskal tam beluyu liniyu priboya, s revom b'yushchego o bereg. A shhuna vse tak zhe plavno pokachivalas' na mertvoj zybi, i vetra ne bylo. "It's no square" Wolf Larsen said. "Old Mother Nature's going to get up on her hind legs and howl for all that's in her, and it'll keep us jumping, Hump, to pull through with half our boats. You'd better run up and loosen the topsails." -- |to ne shkval, -- skazal Volk Larsen. -- Priroda sobiraetsya vstat' na dyby, i kogda burya zarevet vo vsyu glotku, pridetsya nam poplyasat'. Boyus', Hemp, chto my ne uvidim poloviny nashih shlyupok. Polezajte-ka naverh i otdajte topselya! "But if it is going to howl, and there are only two of us?" I asked, a note of protest in my voice. -- No chto zhe my budem delat', esli i v samom dele "zarevet"? Ved' nas tol'ko dvoe! -- otvetil ya s notoj protesta v golose. "Why we've got to make the best of the first of it and run down to our boats before our canvas is ripped out of us. After that I don't give a rap what happens. The sticks 'll stand it, and you and I will have to, though we've plenty cut out for us." -- My dolzhny vospol'zovat'sya pervymi poryvami vetra i dobrat'sya do nashih shlyupok prezhde, chem u nas sorvet parusa. A tam bud' chto budet. Machty vyderzhat, i nam s vami tozhe pridetsya vyderzhat', hotya budet ne sladko! Still the calm continued. We ate dinner, a hurried and anxious meal for me with eighteen men abroad on the sea and beyond the bulge of the earth, and with that heaven-rolling mountain range of clouds moving slowly down upon us. Wolf Larsen did not seem affected, however; though I noticed, when we returned to the deck, a slight twitching of the nostrils, a perceptible quickness of movement. His face was stern, the lines of it had grown hard, and yet in his eyes - blue, clear blue this day - there was a strange brilliancy, a bright scintillating light. It struck me that he was joyous, in a ferocious sort of way; that he was glad there was an impending struggle; that he was thrilled and upborne with knowledge that one of the great moments of living, when the tide of life surges up in flood, was upon him. SHtil' prodolzhalsya. My poobedali na skoruyu ruku. Menya trevozhila sud'ba vosemnadcati chelovek, skryvavshihsya gde-to za gorizontom, v to vremya kak na nas medlenno nadvigalis' chernye gromady tuch. No Volka Larsena eto, po-vidimomu, ne osobenno bespokoilo, hotya, kogda my vyshli na palubu, ya zametil, chto u nego slegka razduvayutsya nozdri i dvizheniya stali bystree. Lico ego bylo surovo i zhestko, no glaza -- yasno-golubye v tot den' -- kak-to osobenno pobleskivali. Menya porazilo, chto Larsen byl vesel -- svirepo vesel, slovno on radovalsya predstoyashchej bor'be, likoval v predvkushenii velikoj minuty, kogda stihii obrushatsya na nego. Once, and unwitting that he did so or that I saw, he laughed aloud, mockingly and defiantly, at the advancing storm. I see him yet standing there like a pigmy out of the ARABIAN NIGHTS before the huge front of some malignant genie. He was daring destiny, and he was unafraid. Ne zametiv menya, on prezritel'no i, dolzhno byt', bessoznatel'no rashohotalsya, slovno brosaya vyzov priblizhayushchemusya shtormu. I sejchas eshche vizhu ya, kak on stoyal, slovno pigmej iz "Tysyachi i odnoj nochi" pered ispolinskim zlym geniem. Da, on brosal vyzov sud'be i nichego ne boyalsya. He walked to the galley. Potom on proshel v kambuz. "Cooky, by the time you've finished pots and pans you'll be wanted on deck. Stand ready for a call." -- Kok, ty mozhesh' ponadobit'sya na palube. Kogda pokonchish' so svoimi kastryulyami i skovorodkami, bud' nagotove -- tebya pozovut! "Hump," he said, becoming cognizant of the fascinated gaze I bent upon him, "this beats whisky and is where your Omar misses. I think he only half lived after all." -- Hemp, -- skazal on, zametiv, chto ya smotryu na nego vo vse glaza, -- eto poluchshe viski, hotya vash Omar Hajam etogo ne ponimal. V konce koncov on ne tak uzh umel pol'zovat'sya zhizn'yu! The western half of the sky had by now grown murky. The sun had dimmed and faded out of sight. It was two in the afternoon, and a ghostly twilight, shot through by wandering purplish lights, had descended upon us. In this purplish light Wolf Larsen's face glowed and glowed, and to my excited fancy he appeared encircled by a halo. We lay in the midst of an unearthly quiet, while all about us were signs and omens of oncoming sound and movement. The sultry heat had become unendurable. The sweat was standing on my forehead, and I could feel it trickling down my nose. I felt as though I should faint, and reached out to the rail for support. Teper' i zapadnaya polovina neba nahmurilas'. Solnce pomerklo i skrylos' vo mgle. Bylo dva chasa dnya, a vokrug nas sgustilsya prizrachnyj polumrak, prorezyvaemyj beglymi bagrovymi luchami. V etom prizrachnom svete lico Volka Larsena pylalo, i moemu rastrevozhennomu voobrazheniyu mereshchilos' kak by nekoe siyanie vokrug ego golovy. Stoyala neobychajnaya, sverh®estestvennaya tishina, i v to zhe vremya vse vokrug predveshchalo priblizhenie shuma i dvizheniya. Duhota i znoj stanovilis' nevynosimy. Pot vystupil u menya na lbu, i ya pochuvstvoval, kak on kaplyami stekaet po licu. Mne kazalos', chto ya teryayu soznanie, i ya uhvatilsya za poruchni. And then, just then, the faintest possible whisper of air passed by. It was from the east, and like a whisper it came and went. The drooping canvas was not stirred, and yet my face had felt the air and been cooled. V etu minutu pronessya ele zametnyj vzdoh veterka. Budto legkij shepot, priletel on s vostoka i rastayal. Navisshie parusa ne shelohnulis', no lico moe oshchutilo eto dunovenie, kak priyatnuyu svezhest'. "Cooky," Wolf Larsen called in a low voice. -- Kok, -- negromko pozval Volk Larsen. Thomas Mugridge turned a pitiable scared face. Pokazalos' zhalkoe, vse v shramah, lico Tomasa Magridzha. "Let go that foreboom tackle and pass it across, and when she's willing let go the sheet and come in snug with the tackle. And if you make a mess of it, it will be the last you ever make. Understand?" -- Otdaj tali foka-gika i perelozhi gik. Kogda fok nachnet napolnyat'sya, potravi shkot i opyat' zalozhi tali. Esli naputaesh', eto budet poslednej oshibkoj v tvoej zhizni. Ponyal? "Mr. Van Weyden, stand by to pass the head-sails over. Then jump for the topsails and spread them quick as God'll let you - the quicker you do it the easier you'll find it. As for Cooky, if he isn't lively bat him between the eyes." -- Mister Van-Vejden, bud'te gotovy perenesti perednie parusa. Potom postav'te topselya, i kak mozhno skoree; chem bystree vy eto sdelaete, tem legche vam budet spravit'sya s nimi. Esli kok zameshkaetsya, dajte emu v zuby. I was aware of the compliment and pleased, in that no threat had accompanied my instructions. We were lying head to north-west, and it was his intention to jibe over all with the first puff. YA pochuvstvoval v etih slovah skrytuyu pohvalu i byl dovolen, chto otdannoe mne prikazanie ne soprovozhdalos' ugrozoj. Nos shhuny byl obrashchen k severo-zapadu, i kapitan hotel sdelat' povorot fordevind pri pervom zhe poryve vetra. "We'll have the breeze on our quarter," he explained to me. "By the last guns the boats were bearing away slightly to the south'ard." -- Veter budet dut' nam v kormu, -- ob®yasnil on mne. -- Sudya po poslednim vystrelam, shlyupki otklonilis' nemnogo k yugu. He turned and walked aft to the wheel. I went forward and took my station at the jibs. Another whisper of wind, and another, passed by. The canvas flapped lazily. On povernulsya i poshel k shturvalu. YA zhe napravilsya na bak i zanyal svoe mesto u kliverov. Snova i snova proneslos' dyhanie veterka. Parusa lenivo zapoloskali. "Thank Gawd she's not comin' all of a bunch, Mr. Van Weyden," was the Cockney's fervent ejaculation. -- Nashe schast'e, chto burya naletela ne srazu, mister Van-Vejden! -- vozbuzhdenno kriknul mne kok. And I was indeed thankful, for I had by this time learned enough to know, with all our canvas spread, what disaster in such event awaited us. The whispers of wind became puffs, the sails filled, the Ghost moved. Wolf Larsen put the wheel hard up, to port, and we began to pay off. The wind was now dead astern, muttering and puffing stronger and stronger, and my head-sails were pounding lustily. I did not see what went on elsewhere, though I felt the sudden surge and heel of the schooner as the wind-pressures changed to the jibing of the fore- and main-sails. My hands were full with the flying-jib, jib, and staysail; and by the time this part of my task was accomplished the Ghost was leaping into the south-west, the wind on her quarter and all her sheets to starboard. Without pausing for breath, though my heart was beating like a trip-hammer from my exertions, I sprang to the topsails, and before the wind had become too strong we had them fairly set and were coiling down. Then I went aft for orders. YA tozhe byl etomu rad, tak kak znal uzhe dostatochno, chtoby ponimat', kakoe neschast'e grozilo nam -- ved' vse parusa byli postavleny. Veter dul sil'nymi poryvami, parusa napolnilis', i "Prizrak" dvinulsya vpered. Volk Larsen kruto polozhil rulya pod veter, i my poshli bystree. Teper' veter dul nam pryamo v kormu; on zavyval vse gromche, i perednie parusa oglushitel'no hlopali. YA ne mog videt', chto delaetsya na ostal'noj palube, no pochuvstvoval, kak shhuna vnezapno nakrenilas', kogda fok i grot napolnilis' vetrom. YA vozilsya s kliverom, bom-kliverom i stakselem, i kogda spravilsya nakonec so svoej zadachej, "Prizrak" uzhe mchalsya na yugo-zapad pod vsemi parusami, vynesennymi na pravyj bort. Ne uspev perevesti duh, s besheno b'yushchimsya serdcem, ya brosilsya k topselyam i uspel vovremya ubrat' ih. Zatem otpravilsya na kormu za novymi prikazaniyami. Wolf Larsen nodded approval and relinquished the wheel to me. The wind was strengthening steadily and the sea rising. For an hour I steered, each moment becoming more difficult. I had not the experience to steer at the gait we were going on a quartering course. Volk Larsen odobritel'no kivnul i peredal mne shturval. Veter krepchal, volnenie usilivalos'. YA stoyal u shturvala okolo chasu, i s kazhdoj minutoj pravit' stanovilos' vse trudnee. U menya ne bylo dostatochno opyta, chtoby vesti shhunu bakshtag pri takom vetre. "Now take a run up with the glasses and raise some of the boats. We've made at least ten knots, and we're going twelve or thirteen now. The old girl knows how to walk." -- Teper' podnimites' s binoklem naverh i poishchite shlyupki. My proshli ne men'she desyati mil', a sejchas delaem po krajnej mere dvenadcat' ili trinadcat' uzlov. Moya starushka bystra na hodu! I contested myself with the fore crosstrees, some seventy feet above the deck. As I searched the vacant stretch of water before me, I comprehended thoroughly the need for haste if we were to recover any of our men. Indeed, as I gazed at the heavy sea through which we were running, I doubted that there was a boat afloat. It did not seem possible that such frail craft could survive such stress of wind and water. YA ogranichilsya tem, chto vzobralsya na saling, v semidesyati futah nad paluboj, i vyshe ne polez. Osmatrivaya pustynnoe prostranstvo okeana, ya ponyal, chto nam neobhodimo ochen' speshit', esli my hotim podobrat' nashih lyudej. Menya ohvatyvalo somnenie, mogut li shlyupki ucelet' sredi etih bushuyushchih voln. Kazalos' neveroyatnym, chtoby taкie hrupkie sudenyshki ustoyali protiv dvojnogo napora vetra i voln. I could not feel the full force of the wind, for we were running with it; but from my lofty perch I looked down as though outside the Ghost and apart from her, and saw the shape of her outlined sharply against the foaming sea as she tore along instinct with life. Sometimes she would lift and send across some great wave, burying her starboard-rail from view, and covering her deck to the hatches with the boiling ocean. At such moments, starting from a windward roll, I would go flying through the air with dizzying swiftness, as though I clung to the end of a huge, inverted pendulum, the arc of which, between the greater rolls, must have been seventy feet or more. Once, the terror of this giddy sweep overpowered me, and for a while I clung on, hand and foot, weak and trembling, unable to search the sea for the missing boats or to behold aught of the sea but that which roared beneath and strove to overwhelm the Ghost. YA ne oshchushchal vsej sily vetra, tak kak my mchalis' vmeste s nim. No ya smotrel s vysoty vniz, i poroj mne kazalos', chto ya nahozhus' ne na sudne, a smotryu na nego kak by so storony. Kontury mchashchejsya shhuny rezko vydelyalis' na fone penistyh vod. Poroj, nakrenivshis' pravym bortom, ona vzletala na ogromnuyu volnu, i togda palubu do samyh lyukov zalivalo vodoj. V takie mgnoveniya, kogda shhuna perevalivalas' s odnogo borta na drugoj, ya s golovokruzhitel'noj bystrotoj opisyval v vozduhe dugu, i mne kazalos', chto ya nahozhus' na konce ogromnogo perevernutogo mayatnika, amplituda kolebanij kotorogo dostigaet semidesyati futov. Uzhas ohvatil menya ot etoj beshenoj kachki. Drozhashchij i obessilennyj, ya rukami i nogami ucepilsya za machtu i uzhe ne mog iskat' v more propavshie shlyupki, -- vzor moj byl v strahe prikovan k bushevavshej podo mnoj raz®yarennoj stihii, grozivshej poglotit' "Prizrak". But the thought of the men in the midst of it steadied me, and in my quest for them I forgot myself. For an hour I saw nothing but the naked, desolate sea. And then, where a vagrant shaft of sunlight struck the ocean and turned its surface to wrathful silver, I caught a small black speck thrust skyward for an instant and swallowed up. I waited patiently. Again the tiny point of black projected itself through the wrathful blaze a couple of points off our port-bow. I did not attempt to shout, but communicated the news to Wolf Larsen by waving my arm. He changed the course, and I signalled affirmation when the speck showed dead ahead. No mysl' o pogibavshih lyudyah zastavila menya opomnit'sya, i ya v trevoge prinyalsya iskat' glazami shlyupki, zabyv o sebe. Celyj chas ya ne videl nichego, krome pustynnyh kipyashchih voln. No vot vdali, tam, gde odinokij luch solnca, prorvavshis' skvoz' tuchi, prevratil mutnuyu poverhnost' okeana v rasplavlennoe serebro, ya zametil malen'koe chernoe pyatnyshko. Ono to vzletalo na greben' volny, to skryvalos' iz vidu. YA stal terpelivo vyzhidat'. Snova kroshechnaya chernaya tochka mel'knula sredi svirepyh valov, sleva po nosu ot nas. Krichat' bylo by bespolezno, no ya zhestami soobshchil Volku Larsenu o svoem otkrytii. On izmenil kurs, i kogda pyatnyshko mel'knulo pryamo vperedi nas, ya utverditel'no mahnul rukoj. It grew larger, and so swiftly that for the first time I fully appreciated the speed of our flight. Wolf Larsen motioned for me to come down, and when I stood beside him at the wheel gave me instructions for heaving to. Pyatnyshko roslo tak bystro, chto tol'ko tut ya vpervye vpolne ocenil skorost' nashego bega po volnam. Volk Larsen dal mne znak spustit'sya vniz i, kogda ya podoshel k shturvalu, velel polozhit' shhunu v drejf i rastolkoval, chto ya dolzhen dlya etogo predprinyat'. "Expect all hell to break loose," he cautioned me, "but don't mind it. Yours is to do your own work and to have Cooky stand by the fore-sheet." -- Teper' ves' ad obrushitsya na vas, -- predostereg on menya, -- no vy ne robejte. Delajte svoe delo i smotrite, chtoby kok stoyal u foka-shkota. I managed to make my way forward, but there was little choice of sides, for the weather-rail seemed buried as often as the lee. Having instructed Thomas Mugridge as to what he was to do, I clambered into the fore-rigging a few feet. The boat was now very close, and I could make out plainly that it was lying head to wind and sea and dragging on its mast and sail, which had been thrown overboard and made to serve as a sea-anchor. The three men were bailing. Each rolling mountain whelmed them from view, and I would wait with sickening anxiety, fearing that they would never appear again. Then, and with black suddenness, the boat would shoot clear through the foaming crest, bow pointed to the sky, and the whole length of her bottom showing, wet and dark, till she seemed on end. There would be a fleeting glimpse of the three men flinging water in frantic haste, when she would topple over and fall into the yawning valley, bow down and showing her full inside length to the stern upreared almost directly above the bow. Each time that she reappeared was a miracle. Mne udalos' koe-kak probrat'sya na bak, hotya to s odnogo, to s drugogo borta palubu zalivalo vodoj. Otdav rasporyazheniya Tomasu Magridzhu, ya vzobralsya na neskol'ko futov po for-vantam. SHlyupka byla teper' ochen' blizko i drejfovala protiv vetra na svoej machte i paruse, vybroshennyh za bort i sluzhivshih plavuch