The Stone Ship - William Hope Hodgson (best non fiction books to read .TXT) 📗

I stood dumb, where I was. The hair rose up in a horrible living fashion on the great head, waving and moving. It rippled down over the forehead, and spread abruptly over the whole gargantuan stone face, hiding the features completely. Suddenly, I swore at the thing madly, and I hove my axe at it. Then I was backing crazily for the door, slumping the scum as high as the deck beams, in my fierce haste. I reached the stairs, and caught at the stone rail, that was modelled like a rope; and so hove myself up out of the water. I reached the deck-house, where I had seen the great head of hair. I jumped through the doorway, out on to the decks, and felt the night air sweet on my face…. Goodness! I ran forward along the decks. There was a Babel of shouting in the waist of the ship, and a thudding of feet running. Some of the men were singing out, to get into the boat; but the Third Mate was shouting that they must wait for me.

“He’s coming,” called someone. And then I was among them.

“Turn that lamp up, you idiot,” said the Captain’s voice. “This is just where we want light!”

I glanced down, and realised that my lamp was almost out. I turned it up, and it flared, and began again to dwindle.

“Those damned boys never filled it,” I said. “They deserve their necks breaking.”

The men were literally tumbling over the side, and the Skipper was hurrying them.

“Down with you into the boat,” he said to me. “Give me the lamp. I’ll pass it down. Get a move on you!”

The Captain had evidently got his nerve back again. This was more like the man I knew. I handed him the lamp, and went over the side. All the rest had now gone, and the Third Mate was already in the stern, waiting.

As I landed on the thwart, there was a sudden strange noise from aboard the ship—a sound, as if some stone object were trundling down the sloping decks, from aft. In that one moment, I got what you might truly call the “horrors.” I seemed suddenly able to believe incredible possibilities.

“The stone men!” I shouted. “Jump, Captain! Jump! Jump!” The vessel seemed to roll oddly.

Abruptly, the Captain yelled out something, that not one of us in the boat understood. There followed a succession of tremendous sounds, aboard the ship, and I saw his shadow swing out huge against the thin mist, as he turned suddenly with the lamp. He fired twice with his revolver.

“The hair!” I shouted. “Look at the hair!”

We all saw it—the great head of red hair that we had seen grow visibly on the monstrous stone head, below in the cabin. It rose above the rail, and there was a moment of intense stillness, in which I heard the Captain gasping. The Third Mate fired six times at the thing, and I found myself fixing an oar up against the side of that abominable vessel, to get aboard.

As I did so, there came one appalling crash, that shook the stone ship fore and aft, and she began to cant up, and my oar slipped and fell into the boat. Then the Captain’s voice screamed something in a choking fashion above us. The ship lurched forward and paused. Then another crash came, and she rocked over towards us; then away from us again. The movement away from us continued, and the round of the vessel’s bottom showed, vaguely. There was a smashing of glass above us, and the dim glow of light aboard vanished. Then the vessel fell clean from us, with a giant splash. A huge wave came at us, out of the night, and half filled the boat.

The boat nearly capsized, then righted and presently steadied.

“Captain!” shouted the Third Mate. “Captain!” But there came never a sound; only presently, out of all the night, a strange murmuring of waters.

“Captain!” he shouted once more; but his voice just went lost and remote into the darkness.

“She’s foundered!” I said.

“Out oars,” sung out the Third. “Put your backs into it. Don’t stop to bail!”

For half an hour we circled the spot slowly. But the strange vessel had indeed foundered and gone down into the mystery of the deep sea, with her mysteries.

Finally we put about, and returned to the Alfred Jessop.

Now, I want you to realize that what I am telling you is a plain and simple tale of fact. This is no fairy tale, and I’ve not done yet; and I think this yarn should prove to you that some mighty strange things do happen at sea, and always will while the world lasts. It’s the home of all mysteries; for it’s the one place that is really difficult for humans to investigate. Now just listen:—

The Mate had kept the bell going, from time to time, and so we came back pretty quickly, having as we came, a strange repetition of the echoey reduplication of our oar-sounds; but we never spoke a word; for not one of us wanted to hear those beastly echoes again, after what we had just gone through. I think we all had a feeling that there was something a bit hellish aboard that night.

We got aboard, and the Third explained to the Mate what had happened; but he would hardly believe the yarn. However, there was nothing to do, but wait for daylight; so we were told to keep about the deck, and keep our eyes and ears open.

One thing the Mate did show he was more impressed by our yarn than he would admit. He had all the ships’ lanterns lashed up round the decks, to the sheerpoles; and he never told us to give up either the axes or cutlass.

It was while we were keeping about the decks, that I took the chance to have a look at what I had grabbed. I tell you, what I found, made me nearly forget the Skipper, and all the rummy things that had happened. I had twenty-six stones in my pocket and four of them were diamonds, respectively 9, 11, 131/2 and 17 carats in weight, uncut, that is. I know quite something about diamonds. I’m not going to tell you how I learnt what I know; but I would not have taken a thousand pounds for the four, as they lay there, in my hand. There was also a big, dull stone, that looked red inside. I’d have dumped it over the side, I thought so little of it; only, I argued that it must be something, or it would never have been among that lot. Lord! but I little knew what I’d got; not then. Why, the thing was as big as a fair-sized walnut. You may think it funny that I thought of the four diamonds first; but you see, I know diamonds when I see them. They’re things I understand; but I never saw a ruby, in the rough, before or since. Good Lord! And to think I’d have thought nothing of heaving it over the side!

You see, a lot of the stones were not anything much; that is, not in the modern market. There were two big topazes, and several onyx and corelians—nothing much. There were five hammered slugs of gold about two ounces each they would be. And then a prize—one winking green devil of an emerald. You’re got to know an emerald to look for the “eye” of it, in the rough; but it is there—the eye of some hidden devil staring up at you. Yes, I’d seen an emerald before, and I knew I held a lot of money in that one stone alone.

And then I remembered what I’d missed, and cursed myself for not grabbing a third time. But that feeling lasted only a moment. I thought of the beastly part that had been the Skipper’s share; while there I stood safe under one of the lamps, with a fortune in my hands. And then, abruptly, as you can understand, my mind was filled with the crazy wonder and bewilderment of what had happened. I felt how absurdly ineffectual my imagination was to comprehend anything understandable out of it all, except that the Captain had certainly gone, and I had just as certainly had a piece of impossible luck.

Often, during that time of waiting, I stopped to take a look at the things I had in my pocket; always careful that no one about the decks should come near me, to see what I was looking at.

Suddenly the Mate’s voice came sharp along the decks:—

“Call the doctor, one of you,” he said. “Tell him to get the fire in and the coffee made.”

“‘I, Sir,” said one of the men; and I realized that the dawn was growing vaguely over the sea.

Half an hour later, the “doctor” shoved his head out of the galley doorway, and sung out that coffee was ready.

The watch below turned out, and had theirs with the watch on deck, all sitting along the spar that lay under the port rail.

As the daylight grew, we kept a constant watch over the side; but even now we could see nothing; for the thin mist still hung low on the sea.

“Hear that?” said one of the men, suddenly. And, indeed, the sound must have been plain for a half a mile round.

“Ooaaze, ooaaze, arr, arrrr, oooaze—”

“By George!” said Tallett, one of the other watch; “that’s a beastly sort of thing to hear.”

“Look!” I said. “What’s that out yonder?”

The mist was thinning under the effect of the rising sun, and tremendous shapes seemed to stand towering half-seen, away to port. A few minutes passed, while we stared. Then, suddenly, we heard the Mate’s voice—

“All hands on deck!” he was shouting, along the decks.

I ran aft a few steps.

“Both watches are out, Sir,” I called.

“Very good!” said the Mate. “Keep handy all of you. Some of you have got the axes. The rest had better take a caps-n-bar each, and stand-by till I find what this devilment is, out yonder.”

“‘I, ‘i Sir,” I said, and turned forrard. But there was no need to pass on the Mate’s orders; for the men had heard, and there was a rush for the capstanbars, which are a pretty hefty kind of cudgel, as any sailorman knows. We lined the rail again, and stared away to port.

“Look out, you sea-divvils,” shouted Timothy Galt, a huge Irishman, waving his bar excitedly, and peering over the rail into the mist, which was steadily thinning, as the day grew.

Abruptly there was a simultaneous cry—”Rocks!” shouted everyone.

I never saw such a sight. As at last the mist thinned, we could see them. All the sea to port was literally cut about with far-reaching reefs of rock. In places the reefs lay just submerged; but in others they rose into extraordinary and fantastic rock-spires, and arches, and islands of jagged rock.

“Jehosaphat!” I heard the Third Mate shout. “Look at that, Mister! Look at that! Lord! how did we take the boat through that, without stoving her!”

Everthing was so still for the moment, with all the men just staring and amazed, that I could hear every word come along the decks.

“There’s sure been a submarine earthquake somewhere,” I heard the First Mate. “The bottom of the sea’s just riz up here, quiet and gentle, during the night; and God’s mercy we aren’t now a-top of one of those ornaments out there.”

And then, you know, I saw it all. Everything that had looked mad and impossible, began to be natural; though it was, none the less, all amazing and wonderful.

There had been during the