The Complete Novels of Herman Melville - All 10 Novels in One Edition. Герман Мелвилл
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little more than a year's time, would be going round Cape Horn.
I did not, however, covenant to remain in the vessel for the residue of the voyage; which would have been needlessly binding myself. I merely stipulated for the coming cruise, leaving my subsequent movements unrestrained; for there was no knowing that I might not change my mind, and prefer journeying home by short and easy stages.
The next day I paddled off to the ship, signed and sealed, and stepped ashore with my "advance"—fifteen Spanish dollars—tasseling the ends of my neck-handkerchief.
I forced half of the silver on Long Ghost; and having little use for the remainder, would have given it to Po-Po as some small return for his kindness; but, although he well knew the value of the coin, not a dollar would he accept.
In three days' time the Prussian came to Po-Po's, and told us that the captain, having made good the number of his crew by shipping several islanders, had determined upon sailing with the land breeze at dawn the following morning. These tidings were received in the afternoon. The doctor immediately disappeared, returning soon after with a couple of flasks of wine concealed in the folds of his frock. Through the agency of the Marquesan, he had purchased them from an understrapper of the court.
I prevailed upon Po-Po to drink a parting shell; and even little Loo, actually looking conscious that one of her hopeless admirers was about leaving Partoowye for ever, sipped a few drops from a folded leaf. As for the warm-hearted Arfretee, her grief was unbounded. She even besought me to spend my last night under her own palm-thatch; and then, in the morning, she would herself paddle me off to the ship.
But this I would not consent to; and so, as something to remember her by, she presented me with a roll of fine matting, and another of tappa. These gifts placed in my hammock, I afterward found very agreeable in the warm latitudes to which we were bound; nor did they fail to awaken most grateful remembrances.
About nightfall, we broke away from this generous-hearted household, and hurried down to the water.
It was a mad, merry night among the sailors; they had on tap a small cask of wine, procured in the same way as the doctor's flasks.
An hour or two after midnight, everything was noiseless; but when the first streak of the dawn showed itself over the mountains, a sharp voice hailed the forecastle, and ordered the ship unmoored.
The anchors came up cheerily; the sails were soon set; and with the early breath of the tropical morning, fresh and fragrant from the hillsides, we slowly glided down the bay, and were swept through the opening in the reef. Presently we "hove to," and the canoes came alongside to take off the islanders who had accompanied us thus far. As he stepped over the side, I shook the doctor long and heartily by the hand. I have never seen or heard of him since.
Crowding all sail, we braced the yards square; and, the breeze freshening, bowled straight away from the land. Once more the sailor's cradle rocked under me, and I found myself rolling in my gait.
By noon, the island had gone down in the horizon; and all before us was the wide Pacific.
MARDI
Chapter 3. A King For A Comrade
Chapter 4. A Chat In The Clouds
Chapter 5. Seats Secured And Portmanteaus Packed
Chapter 8. They Push Off, Velis Et Remis
Chapter 9. The Watery World Is All Before Them
Chapter 10. They Arrange Their Canopies And Lounges, And Try To Make Things Comfortable
Chapter 11. Jarl Afflicted With The Lockjaw
Chapter 12. More About Being In An Open Boat
Chapter 13. Of The Chondropterygii, And Other Uncouth Hordes Infesting The South Seas
Chapter 15. A Stitch In Time Saves Nine
Chapter 17. In High Spirits, They Push On For The Terra Incognita
Chapter 18. My Lord Shark And His Pages
Chapter 20. Noises And Portents
Chapter 22. What Befel The Brigantine At The Pearl Shell Islands
Chapter 23. Sailing From The Island They Pillage The Cabin
Chapter 24. Dedicated To The College Of Physicians And Surgeons
Chapter 25. Peril A Peace–Maker
Chapter 26. Containing A Pennyweight Of Philosophy
Chapter 27. In Which The Past History Op The Parki Is Concluded
Chapter 28. Suspicions Laid, And Something About The Calmuc
Chapter 29. What They Lighted Upon In Further Searching The Craft, And The Resolution They