Part 4 (1/2)

”Then on a day she sailed; but when she went My mind was clear on what I had to try: To see the sea and s.h.i.+ps, and what they meant, That was the thing I longed to do; so I Drew and worked hard, and studied and put by, And thought of nothing else but that one end, But let all else go hang--love, money, friend.

”And now I've s.h.i.+pped as Dauber I've begun.

It was hard work to find a dauber's berth; I hadn't any friends to find me one, Only my skill, for what it may be worth; But I'm at sea now, going about the earth, And when the s.h.i.+p's paid off, when we return, I'll join some Paris studio and learn.”

He stopped, the air came moist, Si did not speak; The Dauber turned his eyes to where he sat, Pressing the sail-room hinges with his cheek, His face half covered with a drooping hat.

Huge dewdrops from the stay-sails dropped and spat.

Si did not stir, the Dauber touched his sleeve; A little birdlike noise came from a sheave.

Si was asleep, sleeping a calm deep sleep, Still as a warden of the Egyptian dead In some old haunted temple buried deep Under the desert sand, sterile and red.

The Dauber shook his arm; Si jumped and said, ”Good yarn, I swear! I say, you have a brain-- Was that eight bells that went?” He slept again.

Then waking up, ”I've had a nap,” he cried.

”Was that one bell? What, Dauber, you still here?”

”Si there?” the Mate's voice called. ”Sir,” he replied.

The order made the lad's thick vision clear; A something in the Mate's voice made him fear.

”Si,” said the Mate, ”I hear you've made a friend-- Dauber, in short. That friends.h.i.+p's got to end.

”You're a young gentleman. Your place aboard Is with the gentlemen abaft the mast.

You're learning to command; you can't afford To yarn with any man. But there ... it's past.

You've done it once; let this time be the last.

The Dauber's place is forward. Do it again, I'll put you bunking forward with the men.

”Dismiss.” Si went, but Sam, beside the Mate, Timekeeper there, walked with him to the rail And whispered him the menace of ”You wait”-- Words which have turned full many a reefer pale.

The watch was changed; the watch on deck trimmed sail.

Sam, going below, called all the reefers down, Sat in his bunk and eyed them with a frown.

”Si here,” he said, ”has soiled the half-deck's name Talking to Dauber--Dauber, the s.h.i.+p's clout.

A reefer takes the Dauber for a flame, The half-deck take the round-house walking out.

He's soiled the half-deck's honour; now, no doubt, The Bosun and his mates will come here sneaking, Asking for smokes, or blocking gangways speaking.

”I'm not a vain man, given to blow or boast; I'm not a proud man, but I truly feel That while I've bossed this mess and ruled this roast I've kept this hooker's half-deck d.a.m.ned genteel.

Si must ask pardon, or be made to squeal.

Down on your knees, dog; them we love we chasten.

Jao, pasea, my son--in English, Hasten.”

Si begged for pardon, meekly kneeling down Before the reefer's mess a.s.sembled grim.

The lamp above them smoked the gla.s.s all brown; Beyond the door the dripping sails were dim.

The Dauber pa.s.sed the door; none spoke to him.

He sought his berth and slept, or, waking, heard Rain on the deck-house--rain, no other word.

IV

Our of the air a time of quiet came, Calm fell upon the heaven like a drouth; The bra.s.s sky watched the bra.s.sy water flame.

Drowsed as a snail the clipper loitered south Slowly, with no white bone across her mouth; No rus.h.i.+ng glory, like a queen made bold, The Dauber strove to draw her as she rolled.

There the four leaning spires of canvas rose, Royals and skysails lifting, gently lifting, White like the brightness that a great fish blows When billows are at peace and s.h.i.+ps are drifting; With mighty jerks that set the shadows s.h.i.+fting, The courses tugged their tethers: a blue haze Drifted like ghosts of flocks come down to graze.

There the great skyline made her perfect round, Notched now and then by the sea's deeper blue; A smoke-s.m.u.tch marked a steamer homeward bound, The haze wrought all things to intenser hue.

In tingling impotence the Dauber drew As all men draw, keen to the shaken soul To give a hint that might suggest the whole.

A naked seaman was.h.i.+ng a red s.h.i.+rt Sat at a tub whistling between his teeth; Complaining blocks quavered like something hurt.