“His starting eyes had a terrible fixity. Mr. Powell’s irresistible thought, ‘he resembles a boiled lobster in distress,’ was followed by annoyance. ‘Good Lord,’ he said, ‘you don’t mean to hint that Captain Anthony has fallen into bad company. What is it you want to save him from?’
“ ‘I do mean it,’ affirmed the mate, and the very absurdity of the statement made it impressive—because it seemed so absolutely audacious. ‘Well, you have a cheek,’ said young Powell, feeling mentally helpless. ‘I have a notion the captain would half kill you if he were to know how you carry on.’
“ ‘And welcome,’ uttered the fervently devoted Franklin. ‘I am willing, if he would only clear the ship afterwards of that … You are but a youngster and you may go and tell him what you like. Let him knock the stuffing out of his old Franklin first and think it over afterwards. Anything to pull him together. But of course you wouldn’t. You are all right. Only you don’t know that things are sometimes different from what they look. There are friendships that are no friendships, and marriages that are no marriages. Phoo! Likely to be right—wasn’t it? Never a hint to me. I go off on leave and when I come back, there it is—all over, settled! Not a word beforehand. No warning. If only: “What do you think of it, Franklin?”—or anything of the sort. And that’s a man who hardly ever did anything without asking my advice. Why! He couldn’t take over a new coat from the tailor without … first thing, directly the fellow came on board with some new clothes, whether in London or in China, it would be: “Pass the word along there for Mr. Franklin. Mr. Franklin wanted in the cabin.” In I would go. “Just look at my back, Franklin. Fits all right, doesn’t it?” And I would say: “First rate, sir,” or whatever was the truth of it. That or anything else. Always the truth of it. Always. And well he knew it; and that’s why he dared not speak right out. Talking about workmen, alterations, cabins … Phoo! … instead of a straightforward—“Wish me joy, Mr. Franklin!” Yes, that was the way to let me know. God only knows what they are—perhaps she isn’t his daughter any more than she is … She doesn’t resemble that old fellow. Not a bit. Not a bit. It’s very awful. You may well open your mouth, young man. But for goodness’ sake, you who are mixed up with that lot, keep your eyes and ears open too in case—in case of … I don’t know what. Anything. One wonders what can happen here at sea! Nothing. Yet when a man is called a jailer behind his back.’
“Mr. Franklin hid his face in his hands for a moment and Powell shut his mouth, which indeed had been open. He slipped out of the mess-room noiselessly. ‘The mate’s crazy,’ he thought. It was his firm conviction. Nevertheless, that evening, he felt his inner tranquillity disturbed at last by the force and obstinacy of this craze. He couldn’t dismiss it with the contempt it deserved. Had the word ‘jailer’ really been pronounced? A strange word for the mate to even imagine he had heard. A senseless, unlikely word. But this word being the only clear and definite statement in these grotesque and dismal ravings was comparatively restful to his mind. Powell’s mind rested on it still when he came up at eight o’clock to take charge of the deck. It was a moonless night, thick with stars above, very dark on the water. A steady air from the west kept the sails asleep. Franklin mustered both watches in low tones as if for a funeral, then approaching Powell:
“ ‘The course is east-south-east,’ said the chief mate distinctly.
“ ‘East-south-east, sir.’
“ ‘Everything’s set, Mr. Powell.’
“ ‘All right, sir.’
“The other lingered, his sentimental eyes gleamed silvery in the shadowy face. ‘A quiet night before us. I don’t know that there are any special orders. A settled, quiet night. I dare say you won’t see the captain. Once upon a time this was the watch he used to come up and start a chat with either of us then on deck. But now he sits in that infernal stern-cabin and mopes. Jailer—eh?’
“Mr. Powell walked away from the mate and when at some distance said, ‘Damn!’ quite heartily. It was a confounded nuisance. It had ceased to be funny; that hostile word ‘jailer’ had given the situation an air of reality.
“Franklin’s grotesque mortal envelope had disappeared from the poop to seek its needful repose, if only the worried soul would let it rest a while. Mr. Powell, half sorry for the thick little man, wondered whether it would let him. For himself, he recognized that the charm of a quiet watch on deck when one may let one’s thoughts roam in space and time had been spoiled without remedy. What shocked him most was the implied aspersion of complicity on Mrs. Anthony. It angered him. In his own words to me, he felt very ‘enthusiastic’ about Mrs. Anthony. ‘Enthusiastic’ is good; especially as he couldn’t exactly explain to me what he meant by it. But he felt enthusiastic, he says. That silly Franklin must have been dreaming. That was it. He had dreamed it all. Ass. Yet the injurious word stuck in Powell’s mind with its associated ideas of prisoner, of escape. He became very uncomfortable. And just then (it might have been half an hour or more since he had relieved Franklin) just then Mr. Smith came up on the poop alone, like a gliding shadow and leaned over the rail by his side. Young Powell was affected disagreeably by his presence. He made a movement to go away but the other began to talk—and Powell remained where he was as if retained by
