Raft, taking the girl by the arm, drew her back into the cave; she was trembling. It seemed to her that this was no storm, that something had gone wrong with the scheme of things, that this Voice steadily being keyed up was the voice of some string keeping everything together, stretched to its utmost and sure to snap.
Then it snapped.
The whole of Kerguelen seemed to burst like a bomb-sh.e.l.l with a blaze of light shewing islands and sea.
Then again it seemed to burst with a light struggling through a deluge.
The boom of the rain on the sea came between the thunder crashes whilst a giant on the hills seemed to stand steadily working a flashlight, a light so intense that now and again through broken walls of rain the islands could be seen like far white ghosts wreathed in mist.
They sat down on the floor of the cave and the man put his arm about the girl as if to protect her; then something came sniffing at them, it was a little sea elephant that had got astray and scared by the work outside had crept in for shelter and company. The girl rested her hand on it and it lay still.
It seemed to her now that she could hear the G.o.ds of the storm as they battled, hear their cries and breathing and trampling, whilst every moment a thousand foot giant in full armour would come crashing to earth, knee, shoulder and helmet hitting the rocks in succession.
"It"s a big blow," came Raft"s voice, "no call to be scared."
He was holding her to him like a child whilst she held to her the little sea elephant, and so they remained, the three of them until the big blow, failing to tear Kerguelen from its foundations, began to pause like a spent madman.
The flashlight man on the hills began to work his apparatus more slowly and now the thunder seemed doing its vast work away out at sea and all sounds became gradually merged in the enormous, continuous sound of the rain.
The little sea elephant seemed suddenly to take fright at the strange company it found itself in and went tumbling and sniffing out to find its mates, whilst through the night came the occasional "woof" of a bull as if giving praise that the worst was over.
"The old sea cows know it"s done," said Raft, "now you"d better get under your blankets,--you aren"t afraid to be alone?"
"I"m not afraid a bit now," said she. She patted his hand as a child might and he crawled out and she heard him swearing at the rain as he made for his hole in the cliff.
She remembered the porpoises and fell to thinking of what would have happened had she and Raft started on their expedition yesterday or the day before. That wind, which sent rocks flying on to the beach, would have blown them away.
She said this next morning as they stood watching the sea. The sea was worth watching. The due-south wind had stirred the heart of the ocean from west of Enderby land, and, like a trumpeter, was leading a vast flood that split on Heard Island only to re-form and burst on the southern sh.o.r.es of Kerguelen.
They could hear the vague far-off roar of it all those leagues away beyond the mountains, mixed with the cry of the wind still blowing a full gale, and beyond the shelter of the land they could see the islands getting it, bombarded by the waves and up to their shoulders in sea-smoke and foam.
Then as they stood, suddenly and like a thing shot dead, the wind ceased, and in the silence the roar of the beaches far and near arose like a fume of sound. Then, as suddenly, the wind came shouting out of the west, piling up a cross sea that leapt like the water in a boiling pot.
"I"m thinking when this blow is over we may have a spell of fine weather," said Raft, "and it will be just as well for us to be making our plans and getting things ready so"s we won"t be behind hand when the fine spell comes."
"I think so too," said she, "we will have to take food with us--how much?"
"Enough for a month," said he, "who knows, we may have to come back, and there"s not much to be had elsewhere." Then he fell into thought for a moment, "maybe stuff for a fortnight will be enough for there"s birds and rabbits to be got, and gulls" eggs. Them old penguins let you screw their necks as if it come natural to them, we don"t want to take too big a load."
Then they found themselves at a loss, it was quite easy to arrange to take a fortnight"s food, but how much did that mean?
They determined to use two blankets for sacks and then made a rough calculation, based on imagination, and collected together tins of meat and vegetables and the remaining biscuits, the result was a burden that two people might have carried but not very far.
"We"ve overshot it," said Raft.
"We"ll never be able to carry all that," said the girl, "or if we did we would have to go so slowly that the journey would be much longer--it cuts both ways."
They reduced the load by nearly a half.
"There"s one thing," said he, "there"s no call to take water with us, there"s holes full of water everywhere, seems to me in this place."
Then he turned to look at the weather.
The wind was less and the clouds were thinning and the air had the feel of a break coming. Then, just before sunset the clouds parted in the west and the sun went down in a sky red as blood.
"We"ll start tomorrow," said Raft.
PART V
CHAPTER XXVII
THE CORRIDOR
The next morning broke grey and fair.
When the girl came out she found that Raft had collected the things to be taken in one bundle tied up in a blanket. He had also set out breakfast. The remainder of the stores he had stacked at the back of the cave where he slept.
These stores, with what was still in the cache, would be useful if they had to come back to the beach.
"But what am I to carry?" asked she.
"Oh, there"s no call for you to trouble," answered he, "you"ve got your oilskins. I reckon that"ll be enough for you to bother with. Them things in the bundle is no weight for a man."
She tried to argue the question. It seemed to her impossible that any single person could carry that load for long, but she might just as well have argued with the gentle wind blowing now sh.o.r.ewards from the islands. He lifted the bundle with one great hand to demonstrate its lightness; he was also going to take the harpoon as a sort of walking stick.
It seemed to her that she had never realized his strength before, nor his placid determination that seemed more like an elemental force than the will of a man.
She gave in and sat down to the meal, biscuits and the remains of a stew, and as she ate she watched the great sea bulls and the cows and the young ones that now were able to land, boosting through the foam like their elders, and as she watched she wondered whether she would ever see these things again, there, against the setting of the sea and the great islands.
She had put on her boots for the journey and a pair of men"s soft woollen socks from the store in the cache. They were small men"s socks and the wool was so fine and soft that the size did not trouble her. In her pocket she still carried the few odds and ends including the tobacco box in which she had placed her rings. She wore the sou"wester, and the oilskin lay beside her folded and ready to be carried on her arm.
Then, when the meal was finished, Raft washed the plates and stored them in the cave. He stood looking at the stored things for a moment as if to make sure they would be all right, then he kicked an old tin away into a cleft of the rocks as though to tidy the place, then he took up the harpoon and slung the bundle on his shoulder.
The girl rose and looked around her. This place where she had suffered and nearly died was still warm with memories, and the sea creatures were like friends, she had grown to love them just as people love trees or familiar inanimate things.
To a.s.sociate the idea of home with that desolate beach, those moving monsters, those caves, would seem absurd. Well, it was like leaving home, and as she stood looking around her a tightness came in her throat and her eyes grew misty. But Raft was moving now and she followed him, glancing back now and then until they crossed the river where she looked back for the last time. The river was almost deserted now by the young sea elephants, except at its mouth. A few little girl seals lay about, delicate or unadventurous creatures whose lives would doubtless be short in a world that is only for the strong. These little girl seals had attracted her attention before, they had almost the ways of fine ladies.
It was as though some germ of civilization in the herd had become concentrated in them and she had wondered whether they would ever pull through the rough and tumble of life, recognising vaguely that nature is opposed to civilization at heart. They seemed allied to herself and their future seemed as doubtful as her own here where nothing helped, where everything opposed.
She caressed them with her eyes for the last time; then as she turned and followed Raft she forgot them. Her brave mind, that nothing could daunt but loneliness, faced the great adventure ahead not only undaunted but uplifted. The way was terrific, the chances were small, so small, so remote, that they could scarcely be called chances, and the penalty of failure was return and a winter here when the beach would be deserted by all but the gulls. The very desperation of the business made it great, and from the greatness came the uplift.
They pa.s.sed the figure-head with its sphinx-like face staring over the sea, and the great skull half sanded over by the recent blow. Then they drew near the caves and the boat.
The boat had been blown over on its other side by the wind and lay with one gunnel deep buried in the sand and its keel presented to the cliffs; she glanced only once at the caves, deserted now by the birds who had no doubt picked the last fragments of the dead man.
Then they climbed the Lizard rocks and at the highest point sat down to rest for a moment.