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It was late of a dirty night, but the schooner lay in shelter from the roaring wind; and the forecastle lamp was alight, the bogie snoring, the crew sprawling at case, purring in the light and warmth and security of the hour.... By and by, when the skipper's allowance of tea and hard biscuit had fulfilled its destiny, Tumm, the clerk, told the tale of Whooping Harbor, wherein the maid met Fate in the person of the fool from Thunder Arm; and I came down from the deck from the black, wet wind of the open, changed to a wrathful flutter by the eternal barrier in time to hear.
I hateth t' tell you, Tumm, says she, 'what it ith. But all the other maidth hath un, Tumm, an' I wanth one, too. I 'low they ithn't no woman happy without one, Tumm. An' I ithn't never had no chanth afore. No chanth, Tumm, though God knowth they ithn't nothin' I wouldn't do, says she, 't' get what I wanth! I'll wed the fool, says she. 'It ithn't a man I wanth tho much; no, it ithn't a man.
"'That's right, says the cook. 'Tumm, you're right. "'T' thpeak t' me! says she. "I wisht she hadn't spoke quite that way. Lord! it wasn't nice. It makes a man feel bad t' see a woman hit her buzzom for a little thing like that. "'Ay, Liz, says I, 't' speak t' you. An' I'm thinkin', Liz, says I, 'he'll say things no man ever said afore t' you. "'That's right, Tumm, says the cook.
If He's got to get out of it somehow, thinks I, 'why, I don't know no better way. Tumm, thinks I, 'you sheer off. Let Nature, thinks I, 'have doo course an' be glorified. So I looks Liz in the eye an' says nothin'. "'Tumm, says she, 'doth you think he "'Don't you be scared o' nothin', says I. 'He's a lad o' good feelin's, says I, 'an' he'll treat you the best he knows how.
Ith "'What you wantin', Liz? says I. "'It ithn't a man, Tumm, says she. "'No? says I. 'What is it, Liz? "'Ith a baby, says she. "God! I felt bad when she told me that...." Tumm stopped, sighed, picked at a knot in the table. There was silence in the forecastle. The Good Samaritan was still nodding to the swell lying safe at anchor in Heart's Ease Cove.
An' I hopes, ol girl, says he, 'that you'll be able t' boil the water 'ithout burnin' it. "'Ay, Liz. I been makin' a awful fist o' b'ilin' the water o' late. "She gave him one look an' put her clean pinny to her eyes. "'What you cryin' about? says the cook. "'I don't know, says she; 'but I 'low 'tith becauthe now I knowth you ith a fool! "'She's right, Tumm, says the cook.
Tumm, says he, ''tis a c-c-cold night, says he, 'but I'm sweatin' like a p-p-porp-us! I cheered un up so well as I could; an' by an' by we was on the path t' Liz Jones's house, up on Gray Hill, where she lived alone, her mother bein' dead an' her father shipped on a barque from St. Johns t' the West Indies.
An' we found Liz sittin' on a rock at the turn o' the road, lookin' down from the hill at the White Lily: all alone sittin' there in the moonlight, all alone thinkin' o' God knows what! "'Hello, Liz! says I. "'Hello, Tumm! says she. 'What vethel'th that? "'That's the White Lily, Liz, says I. An' here's the cook o' that there craft, says I, 'come up the hill t' speak t' you.
Tumm, says he, 'is sort o' shipmates with Liz, says he, 'an' I 'low he'll see you through the worst of it. "'Will you, Tumm? says the cook. "'Well, says I, 'I'll see.
'But I ithn't got nothin' t' boatht of. God made me, says she, 'an' I ithn't mad that He done it. I 'low He meant me t' take the firth man that come, an' be content. I 'low I ithn't got no right t' thtick up my nothe at a fool. For, Tumm, says she, 'God made that fool, too. An', Tumm, says she, 'I wanth thomethin' elthe. Oh, I wanth thomethin' elthe!
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