WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:08.199 Chapter fifty four of Great Expectations. This is a LibriVox recording. 2 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:12.240 All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more 3 00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:18.079 information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. This 4 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:23.800 recording is by Mark Smith of Simpsonville, South Carolina. Great 5 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:30.039 Expectations by Charles Dickens, chapter fifty four. It was one 6 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:32.719 of those March days when the sun shines hot and 7 00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:35.679 the wind blows cold, when it is summer in the 8 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:38.759 light and winter in the shade. We had our pea 9 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:42.000 coats with us, and I took a bag of all 10 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:44.600 my worldly possessions. I took no more than the few 11 00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:48.640 necessaries that filled the bag. Where I might go, what 12 00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:51.759 I might do, or when I might return were questions 13 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.320 utterly unknown to me. Nor did I vex my mind 14 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:58.520 with them, for it was wholly set on provis's safety. 15 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:02.079 I only wondered for the passing moment, as they stopped 16 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:05.799 at the door and looked back, under what altered circumstances 17 00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:10.719 I should next see those rooms? If ever, we loitered 18 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:14.159 down to the temple stairs and stood loitering there, as 19 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:16.400 if we were not quite decided to go upon the 20 00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:19.680 water at all. Of course, I had taken care that 21 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:22.879 the boats should be ready and everything in order. After 22 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.200 a little show of indecision, which there were none to 23 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:29.159 see but the two or three amphibious creatures belonging to 24 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:32.840 our temple stairs, we went on board and cast off 25 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:36.879 Herbert in the bow, I steering. It was then about 26 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:42.159 high water half past eight. Our plan was this, the 27 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.359 tide beginning to run down at nine, and being with 28 00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:49.000 us until three. We intended still to creep on after 29 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:52.599 it had turned, and row against it until dark. We 30 00:01:52.640 --> 00:01:55.959 should then be well in those long reaches below Gravesend, 31 00:01:56.439 --> 00:02:00.280 between Canton, Essex, where the river is broad and solid terry, 32 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:04.120 where the water side inhabitants are very few, and where 33 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:07.519 lone public houses are scattered here and there, of which 34 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:11.120 we could choose one for a resting place. There we 35 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:14.919 meant to lie by all night. The steamer for Hamburg 36 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:17.639 and the steamer for Rotterdam would start from London at 37 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:21.400 about nine on Thursday morning. We should know at what 38 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:24.879 time to expect them according to where we were, and 39 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:28.800 would hail the first, so that if by any accident 40 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:32.159 we were not taken aboard, we should have another chance. 41 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:37.360 We knew the distinguishing marks of each vessel. The relief 42 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.120 of being at last engaged in the execution of the 43 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.680 purpose was so great to me that I felt it 44 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:45.719 difficult to realize the condition in which I had been 45 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:50.319 a few hours before. The crisp bare, the sunlight, the 46 00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:54.120 movement on the river, and the moving river itself, the 47 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.400 road that ran with us, seeming to sympathize with us, 48 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:02.439 animate us, and encourage us on, freshened me with new hope. 49 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.719 I felt mortified to be of so little use in 50 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:08.560 the boat, But there were few better oarsmen than my 51 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:11.520 two friends, and they rowed with a steady stroke that 52 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:16.159 was to last all day. At that time, the steam 53 00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:19.319 traffic on the Thames was far below its present extent, 54 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:24.520 and the watermen's boats were far more numerous. Of barges, sailing, 55 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:29.039 colliers and coasting traders there were perhaps as many as now, 56 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:33.479 but of steamships great and small, not a tithe or 57 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:37.439 a twentieth part so many. Early as it was, there 58 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:40.319 were plenty of scullers going here and there that morning, 59 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:44.080 and plenty of barges dropping down with the tide. The 60 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:47.719 navigation of the river between bridges in an open boat 61 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.960 was a much easier and commoner matter in those days 62 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.919 than it is in these. And we went ahead among 63 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:59.240 many skiffs and werries, briskly. Old London Bridge was soon 64 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:03.319 passed an old Billingscape market, with its oyster boats and dutchmen, 65 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:07.080 and the White Tower and Trader's Gate, and we were 66 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.919 in among the tiers of shipping. Here were the Leith, 67 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:15.120 Aberdeen and Glasgow steamers, loading and unloading goods, and looking 68 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:18.439 immensely high out of the water as we passed alongside. 69 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:23.079 Here were colliers by the score, and score were the 70 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:27.439 coal whippers plunging off stages on deck as counterweights to 71 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:31.000 measures of coals swinging up, which were then rattled over 72 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:34.920 the side into barges. Here at her moorings was Tomorrow's 73 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:38.759 steamer for Rotterdam, of which we took good notice. And 74 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:44.000 here Tomorrow's for Hamburg, under whose bowsprit we crossed. And 75 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:47.240 now I, sitting in the stern, could see with a 76 00:04:47.279 --> 00:04:51.560 faster beating heart, mill pond bank and mill pond stairs. 77 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:58.279 Is he there? Said Herbert? Not yet right. He was 78 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.079 not to come down till he saw us. Can you 79 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:06.439 see his signal? Not well from here? But I think 80 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:11.240 I see it now. I see him pull both easy 81 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:16.759 herbert oars. We touched the stairs lightly for a single moment, 82 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:19.360 and he was on board, and we were off again. 83 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:22.360 He had a boat cloak with him in a black 84 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:25.439 canvas bag, and he looked as like a river pilot 85 00:05:25.480 --> 00:05:29.920 as my heart could have wished. Dear boy, he said, 86 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.000 putting his arm on my shoulder as he took his seat. Faithful, 87 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:39.439 dear boy, well done, thank ye, thank ye again. Among 88 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:43.680 the tiers of shipping in and out, avoiding rusty chain cables, 89 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.079 frayed hempen hawsers and bobbing buoys, sinking for the moment, 90 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:52.639 floating broken baskets, scattering floating chips of wood, and shaving 91 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:57.519 cleaving floating scum of coal, in and out under the 92 00:05:57.560 --> 00:06:00.480 figurehead of the John of Sunderland making his speech to 93 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:04.319 the winds, as is done by many Johns, and the 94 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:07.720 Betsy of Yarmouth, with a firm formality of bosom and 95 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:10.560 her knobby eyes starting two inches out of her head. 96 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:16.079 In and out, Hammers going in, shipbuilders yards, saws going 97 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:21.279 at timber, clashing, engines going at things unknown, pumps going 98 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:26.160 in leaky ships, capstans going ships going out to sea, 99 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:30.319 and unintelligible sea creatures, roaring curses over the bulwarks that 100 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:35.519 responded lightermen in and out out at last upon the 101 00:06:35.560 --> 00:06:39.319 clearer river, where the ship's boys might take their fenders 102 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:42.639 in no longer fishing in troubled waters with them over 103 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.040 the side, and where the festooned sails might fly out 104 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:50.040 to the wind at the stairs where we had taken 105 00:06:50.120 --> 00:06:53.600 him aboard. And ever since I had looked warily for 106 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:57.959 any token of our being suspected, I had seen none. 107 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:00.680 We certainly had not been, And at that time, as 108 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:04.079 certainly we were not either attended or followed by any boat. 109 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:07.319 If we had been waited on by any boat, I 110 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:10.120 should have run into shore and have obliged her to 111 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:13.399 go on, or to make her purpose evident. But we 112 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:18.199 held our own without any appearance of molestation. He had 113 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:20.720 his boat cloak on him, and it looked, as I 114 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:25.000 have said, a natural part of the scene. It was remarkable, 115 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:28.360 but perhaps the wretched life he had led accounted for it. 116 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:31.079 That he was the least anxious of any of us. 117 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:34.399 He was not indifferent, for he told me that he 118 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:36.680 hoped to live to see his gentlemen. One of the 119 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.040 best of gentlemen in a foreign country. He was not 120 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.560 disposed to be passive or resigned, as I understood it, 121 00:07:44.120 --> 00:07:46.800 But he had no notion of meeting danger half way. 122 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.560 When it came upon him, he confronted it. But it 123 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:55.639 must come before he troubled himself. If you know, dear boy, 124 00:07:56.240 --> 00:07:58.839 he said to me, what it is to sit here 125 00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:02.040 no longer? My dear dear boy, and have my smoke. 126 00:08:02.600 --> 00:08:07.000 Ar'd been day by day betwixt four walls. You'd envy me, 127 00:08:07.639 --> 00:08:11.360 but you don't know what it is. I think I 128 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:17.160 know the delights of freedom, I answered, ah, said, he 129 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:21.279 shaking his head gravely. But you don't know it equal 130 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.279 to me. You must have been under lock and key, 131 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:27.800 dear boy, to know it equal to me. But I 132 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:31.800 ain't a goin to be low. It occurred to me 133 00:08:31.879 --> 00:08:36.080 as inconsistent that for any mastering idea, he should have 134 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:40.480 endangered his freedom and even his life. But I reflected 135 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:44.000 that perhaps freedom without danger was too much, apart from 136 00:08:44.039 --> 00:08:47.480 all the habit of his existence, to be to him 137 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:50.399 what it would be to another man. I was not 138 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:55.279 far out, since he said, after smoking a little, you see, 139 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:58.320 dear boy, when I was over yonder to the other 140 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:01.279 side of the world. I was always a lookin to 141 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:04.399 this side, and it come flat to be there. For 142 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:09.440 all I was a growing rich everybody knowed Magwitch, and 143 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:13.840 Magwitch could come and Magwitch could go, and nobody's head 144 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:17.840 will be troubled about him. They ain't so easy concerning 145 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:21.799 me here, dear boy, wouldn't be leastwise if they knowed 146 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:26.960 where I was. If all goes well, said I, you 147 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:31.879 will be perfectly free and safe again within a few hours. Well, 148 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:39.240 he returned, drawing a long breath. I hope so, and 149 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:43.159 think so. He dipped his hand in the water over 150 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.840 the boat's gunnel and said, smiling with that softened air 151 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.679 upon him, which was not new to me. Ay, I 152 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:54.679 suppose I think so, dear boy. We'd be puzzled to 153 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:57.799 be more quiet and easy going than we are at present. 154 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:02.559 But it's a flowin so soft and pleasant through the water, 155 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:06.879 perhaps as makes me think it. I was a thinkin 156 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:10.399 through my smoke just then, that we can no more 157 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:12.879 see to the bottom of the next few hours than 158 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:15.399 we can see to the bottom of this river what 159 00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:19.080 I catches hold of. Nor yet we can't no more 160 00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:23.200 hold there tide than I can hold this and it's 161 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:27.320 run through my fingers and gone, you see holding up 162 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:31.000 his dripping hand. But for your face, I should think 163 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:35.279 you were a little despondent, said I. Not a beit 164 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:39.480 on it, dear boy. It comes a flowing on so quiet, 165 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:42.320 and of that there rippling at the boat's head, making 166 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:46.480 a sort of a Sunday tune. Maybe I'm growing a 167 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:50.879 trifle old. Besides, he put his pipe back in his 168 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.639 mouth with an undisturbed expression of face, and sat as 169 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.000 composed and contented as if we were already out of England. 170 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:02.200 Yet he was as to a word of advice as 171 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:05.200 if he had been in constant terror. For when we 172 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:07.960 ran ashore to get some bottles of beer into the boat, 173 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:11.120 and he was stepping out, I hinted that I thought 174 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.200 he would be safest where he was, and he said, 175 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:20.519 do you, dear boy, and quietly sat down again. The 176 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.240 air felt cold upon the river, but it was a 177 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:27.600 bright day, and the sunshine was very cheering. The tide 178 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.519 ran strong. I took care to lose none of it, 179 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:34.519 and our steady stroke carried us on thoroughly well by 180 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.720 imperceptible degrees. As the tide ran out, we lost more 181 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:41.159 and more of the nearer woods and hills, and dropped 182 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:44.519 lower and lower between the muddy banks. But the tide 183 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:48.039 was yet with us when we were off Gravesend. As 184 00:11:48.039 --> 00:11:51.360 our charge was wrapped in his cloak, I purposely passed 185 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.559 within a boat or two's length of the floating custom house, 186 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:58.559 and so out to catch the stream alongside of two 187 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:02.320 emigrant ships, and under the bows of a large transport, 188 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:05.960 with troops on the forecastle looking down at us. And 189 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:08.879 soon the tide began to slacken, and the craft lying 190 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:12.559 at anchor to swing, and presently they had all swung round, 191 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:15.159 and the ships that were taking advantage of the new 192 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:18.159 tide to get up to the pool began to crowd 193 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:20.919 upon us in a fleet, and we kept under the 194 00:12:20.960 --> 00:12:23.759 shore as much out of the strength of the tide 195 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:27.480 now as we could, standing carefully off from low shallows 196 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:32.360 and mud banks. Our oarsmen were so fresh by dint 197 00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:35.080 of having occasionally let her drive with the tide for 198 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:37.840 a minute or two, that a quarter of an hour's 199 00:12:37.879 --> 00:12:41.399 rest proved full as much as they wanted. We got 200 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:44.720 ashore among some slippery stones while we ate and drank 201 00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:48.159 what we had with us, and looked about. It was 202 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:52.559 like my own marsh country, flat and monotonous and with 203 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:56.480 a dim horizon, while the winding river turned and turned, 204 00:12:56.799 --> 00:12:59.720 and the great floating buoys upon it turned and turned, 205 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:04.600 and everything else seemed stranded and still. For now, the 206 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:07.120 last of the fleet of ships was round the last 207 00:13:07.159 --> 00:13:10.480 low point we had headed, and the last green barge 208 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:15.200 straw laden with brown sail had followed, And some ballast 209 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:19.120 liders shaped like a child's first rude imitation of a boat, 210 00:13:19.639 --> 00:13:22.919 lay low in the mud, and a little squat shoal 211 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:26.440 lighthouse on open piles stood crippled in the mud, on 212 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:31.000 stilts and crutches, and slimy stakes stuck out of the mud, 213 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:34.919 and slimy stones stuck out of the mud, and red 214 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:38.639 landmarks and tide marks stuck out of the mud, and 215 00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:42.240 an old landing stage and an old roofless building slipped 216 00:13:42.279 --> 00:13:47.559 into the mud, and all about us was stagnation and mud. 217 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:51.600 We pushed off again and made what way we could. 218 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:54.960 It was much harder worked now, but Herbert and star 219 00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:59.039 Top persevered and rowed and rowed and rowed until the 220 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:02.720 sun went down. By that time the river had lifted 221 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.799 us a little so that we could see above the 222 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:08.399 bank there was the red sun on the low level 223 00:14:08.440 --> 00:14:12.360 of the shore in a purple haze fast deepening into black, 224 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:16.559 And there was the solitary flat marsh, and far away 225 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:20.279 there were the rising grounds, between which and us there 226 00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:23.080 seemed to be no life save here and there in 227 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:28.080 the foreground of melancholy gull. As the night was fast falling, 228 00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:30.919 and as the moon being past the full would not 229 00:14:31.080 --> 00:14:35.080 rise early, we held a little council, a short one, 230 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:37.600 for clearly our course was to lie by at the 231 00:14:37.639 --> 00:14:41.879 first lonely tavern we could find. So they plied their 232 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:45.039 oars once more, and I looked out for anything like 233 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:49.360 a house. Thus we held on, speaking little for four 234 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:53.360 or five dull miles. It was very cold, and a 235 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:57.039 collier coming by us with her galley fire smoking and flaring, 236 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:01.759 looked like a comfortable home. The night was as dark 237 00:15:01.799 --> 00:15:04.720 by this time as it would be until morning, and 238 00:15:04.840 --> 00:15:07.480 what light we had seemed to come more from the 239 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:10.639 river than the sky, as the oars, in their dipping 240 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:15.799 struck at a few reflected stars. At this dismal time, 241 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:18.639 we were evidently all possessed by the idea that we 242 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:23.039 were followed. As the tide made it flapped heavily at 243 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:27.159 irregular intervals against the shore, and whenever such a sound came, 244 00:15:27.480 --> 00:15:29.840 one or other of us was sure to start and 245 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:33.159 look in that direction. Here and there the set of 246 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:35.840 the current had worn down the bank into a little creek. 247 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.639 And we were all suspicious of such places and eyed 248 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:44.799 them nervously. Sometimes what was that ripple? One of us 249 00:15:44.840 --> 00:15:48.679 would say in a low voice, or another is that 250 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:52.440 a boat yonder? And afterwards we would fall into a 251 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:56.240 dead silence, and I would sit impatiently thinking with what 252 00:15:56.360 --> 00:16:01.360 an unusual amount of noise the oars worked in the fowls. 253 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:04.759 At length we descried a light and a roof, and presently, 254 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:08.759 afterwards ran alongside a little causeway made of stones that 255 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.000 had been picked up hard by leaving the rest in 256 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:15.000 the boat. I stepped ashore and found the light to 257 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:18.080 be in the window of a public house. It was 258 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.399 a dirty place enough, and I dare say not unknown 259 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:24.720 to smuggling adventurers. But there was a good fire in 260 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:27.360 the kitchen, and there were eggs and bacon to eat, 261 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:31.960 and various liquors to drink. Also, there were two double 262 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:37.440 bedded rooms, such as they were. The landlord said no 263 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:40.759 other company was in the house than the landlord, his wife, 264 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:45.000 and a grizzled mail creature, the Jack of the little causeway, 265 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.080 who was as slimy and smeary as if he had 266 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:52.559 been a low water mark too. With this assistant, I 267 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:54.879 went down to the boat again, and we all came 268 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:57.960 ashore and brought out the oars and rudder and boat 269 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:01.120 hook and all else, and hauled her up for the night. 270 00:17:01.960 --> 00:17:04.279 We made a very good meal by the kitchen fire, 271 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:08.400 and then apportioned the bedrooms. Herbert and Startop were to 272 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:13.240 occupy one I and our charge the other. We found 273 00:17:13.319 --> 00:17:16.640 the air as carefully excluded from both as if air 274 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:20.119 were fatal to life, and there were more dirty clothes 275 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:22.759 and bam boxes under the beds than I should have 276 00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:27.599 thought the family possessed. But we considered ourselves well off, 277 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:31.960 notwithstanding for a more solitary place we could not have found. 278 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:36.640 While we were comforting ourselves by the fire after our meal, 279 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:40.079 the jack, who was sitting in a corner, and who 280 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:43.079 had a bloated pair of shoes on which he had 281 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:46.359 exhibited while we were eating our eggs and bacon as 282 00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:48.960 interesting relics that he had taken a few days ago 283 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:52.880 from the feet of a drowned seaman wash ashore, ask 284 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.839 me if we had seen a fore ord galley going 285 00:17:55.920 --> 00:17:59.240 up with the tide. When I told him no, he 286 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:02.400 said she must have gone down then, and yet she 287 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:07.680 took up too when she left there. They must have 288 00:18:07.799 --> 00:18:11.240 thought better on it for some reason or other, said 289 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:16.480 the jack, and gone down a four ord galley? Did 290 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:21.799 you say, said I? A four said the jack, and 291 00:18:21.960 --> 00:18:27.640 two sitters. Did they come ashore? Here? They put in 292 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:31.400 with a stone two gallon jar for some beer. I'd 293 00:18:31.400 --> 00:18:34.799 have been glad to pison the beer myself, said the jack, 294 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:41.480 or put some rattling physic in it. Why I know why, 295 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.319 said the jack. He spoke in a slushy voice, as 296 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:49.279 if much mud had washed into his throat. He thinks, 297 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:53.160 said the landlord, a weakly meditative man with a pale eye, 298 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:57.039 who seemed to rely greatly on his jack. He thinks 299 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:02.799 they was what they wasn't. I knows what I thinks, 300 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:09.400 observed the jack. You think's customs us, jack, said the landlord. 301 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:18.000 I do, said the Jack. Then you're wrong, jack, am I? 302 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.000 In the infinite meaning of his reply and his boundless 303 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:25.799 confidence in his views, that jack took one of his 304 00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:29.440 bloated shoes off, looked into it, knocked a few stones 305 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:31.519 out of it on the kitchen floor, and put it 306 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:34.200 on again. He did this with the air of a 307 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:36.920 jack who was so right that he could afford to 308 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:41.440 do anything. Why what do you make out that they 309 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:46.960 done with their buttons? Then, Jack asked the landlord, vacillating weakly, 310 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:53.599 done with their buttons? Returned the jack, chucked em overboard, 311 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.920 swallered em sewed em to come up small salad, done 312 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:04.559 with their buttons? Don't be cheeky, Jack, remonstrated the landlord 313 00:20:04.599 --> 00:20:10.920 in a melancholy and pathetic way. Accustom us officer knows 314 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:14.960 what to do with his buttons, said the jack, repeating 315 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:18.960 the obnoxious word with the greatest contempt. When they comes 316 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:23.640 betwixt him and his own light, A four and two sitters, 317 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:27.480 don't go hanging and hovering up with one tide and 318 00:20:27.720 --> 00:20:31.839 down with another. I'm both with and against another without 319 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:35.960 there being custom us at the bottom of it, saying 320 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.799 which he went out in disdain, and the landlord, having 321 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:42.400 no one to reply upon, found it impracticable to pursue 322 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:47.359 the subject. The dialog made us all uneasy, and me 323 00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:51.759 very uneasy. The dismal wind was muttering round the house, 324 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:55.119 The tide was flapping at the shore, and I had 325 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:58.759 a feeling that we were caged and threatened. A fore 326 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:02.240 ared galley hovered about in so unusual a way as 327 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:05.839 to attract this notice. Was an ugly circumstance that I 328 00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:09.039 could not get rid of. When I had induced provis 329 00:21:09.079 --> 00:21:11.119 to go up to bed, I went outside with my 330 00:21:11.200 --> 00:21:14.880 two companions. Star Top by this time knew this state 331 00:21:14.920 --> 00:21:19.240 of the case, and held another council. Whether we should 332 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:22.799 remain at the house until near the steamer's time, which 333 00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:25.799 would be about one in the afternoon, or whether we 334 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:28.680 should put off early in the morning, was the question 335 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:32.079 we discussed on the whole. We deemed it the better 336 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:35.440 course to lie where we were until within an hour 337 00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:38.039 or so of the steamer's time, and then to get 338 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:42.039 out in our track and drift easily with the tide. 339 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:45.000 Having settled to do this, we returned into the house 340 00:21:45.400 --> 00:21:48.279 and went to bed. I lay down with the greater 341 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:51.160 part of my clothes on, and slept well for a 342 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:55.039 few hours. When I awoke, the wind had risen, and 343 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:58.599 the sign of the house the ship was creaking and 344 00:21:58.680 --> 00:22:03.440 banging about with no noises that startled me, rising softly 345 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:06.640 for my charge lay fast asleep. I looked out of 346 00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:10.039 the window. It commanded the causeway where we had hauled 347 00:22:10.119 --> 00:22:13.279 up our boat, and as my eyes adapted themselves to 348 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:16.440 the light of the clouded moon, I saw two men 349 00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:20.240 looking into her. They passed by under the window, looking 350 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:23.039 at nothing else, and they did not go down to 351 00:22:23.079 --> 00:22:25.799 the landing place, which I could discern to be empty, 352 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:29.359 but struck across the marsh in the direction of the nore. 353 00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:33.759 My first impulse was to call up Herbert and show 354 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:37.680 him the two men going away, but reflecting before I 355 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:40.200 got into his room, which was at the back of 356 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:43.480 the house, and adjoined mine that he and star Top 357 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:46.440 had had a harder day than I and were fatigued. 358 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:51.000 I forbore. Going back to my window, I could see 359 00:22:51.039 --> 00:22:54.920 the two men moving over the marsh in that light. However, 360 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:58.759 I soon lost them, and, feeling very cold, lay down 361 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:03.400 to think of the matter, and fell asleep again. We 362 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:06.400 were up early. As we walked to and fro, all 363 00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:10.720 four together before breakfast, I deemed it right to recount 364 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:13.839 what I had seen. Again. Our charge was the least 365 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:16.599 anxious of the party. It was very likely that the 366 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:20.279 men belonged to the custom house, he said quietly, and 367 00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:23.480 that they had no thought of us. I tried to 368 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:27.519 persuade myself that it was so, as indeed it might 369 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:31.440 easily be. However, I proposed that he and I should 370 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:34.079 walk away together to a distant point we could see, 371 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:37.920 and that the boat should take us aboard there, or 372 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:41.119 as near there as might prove feasible, at about noon, 373 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:46.119 this being considered a good precaution. Soon after breakfast, he 374 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:49.400 and I set forth, without saying anything. At the tavern. 375 00:23:51.160 --> 00:23:54.279 He smoked his pipe as we went along, and sometimes 376 00:23:54.279 --> 00:23:57.200 stopped to clap me on the shoulder. One would have 377 00:23:57.240 --> 00:24:00.400 supposed that it was I who was in danger, not he, 378 00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:04.559 and that he was reassuring me. We spoke very little. 379 00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:08.759 As we approached the point. I begged him to remain 380 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:11.920 in a sheltered place while I went on to reconnoiter, 381 00:24:12.559 --> 00:24:14.920 for it was towards it that the men had passed 382 00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:18.880 in the night. He complied, and I went on alone. 383 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:21.839 There was no boat off the point, nor any boat 384 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:25.079 drawn up anywhere near it, nor were there any signs 385 00:24:25.079 --> 00:24:28.799 of the men having embarked there. But to be sure, 386 00:24:29.160 --> 00:24:31.160 the tide was high and there might have been some 387 00:24:31.240 --> 00:24:35.519 footprints under water. When he looked out from his shelter 388 00:24:35.640 --> 00:24:38.079 in the distance and saw that I waved my hat 389 00:24:38.119 --> 00:24:41.279 to him to come up, he rejoined me, and there 390 00:24:41.319 --> 00:24:45.599 we waited, sometimes lying on the bank, wrapped in our coats, 391 00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:49.960 and sometimes moving about to warm ourselves, until we saw 392 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:54.079 our boat coming round. We got aboard easily and rowed 393 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:57.519 out into the track of the steamer. By that time 394 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:00.480 it wanted but ten minutes of one o'clock. We began 395 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:04.519 to look out for her smoke, but it was half 396 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:07.640 past one before we saw her smoke, and soon afterwards 397 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:11.720 we saw behind it the smoke of another steamer, as 398 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:13.920 they were coming on at full speed. We got the 399 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:17.279 two bags ready and took that opportunity of saying good 400 00:25:17.319 --> 00:25:21.920 bye to Herbert and startop. We'd all shaken hands cordially, 401 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:26.480