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.He made as though he had not heard me, and steered in silence till I was ready to relieve him.He surrendered the wheel, picked up the tray, and for a parting shot informed me that Mr.Burns was awake and seemed to have a mind to come up on deck.»I don't know how to prevent him, sir.I can't very well stop down below all the time.«It was clear that he couldn't.And sure enough Mr.Burns came on deck dragging himself painfully aft in his enormous overcoat.I beheld him with a natural dread.To have him around and raving about the wiles of a dead man while I had to steer a wildly rushing ship full of dying men was a rather dreadful prospect.But his first remarks were quite sensible in meaning and tone.Apparently he had no recollection of the night scene.And if he had he didn't betray himself once.Neither did he talk very much.He sat on the skylight looking desperately ill at first, but that strong breeze, before which the last remnant of my crew had wilted down, seemed to blow a fresh stock of vigour into his frame with every gust.One could almost see the process.By way of sanity test I alluded on purpose to the late captain.I was delighted to find that Mr.Burns did not display undue interest in the subject.He ran over the old tale of that savage ruffian's iniquities with a certain vindictive gusto and then concluded unexpectedly:»I do believe, sir, that his brain began to go a year or more before he died.«A wonderful recovery.I could hardly spare it as much admiration as it deserved, for I had to give all my mind to the steering.In comparison with the hopeless languor of the preceding days this was dizzy speed.Two ridges of foam streamed from the ship's bows; the wind sang in a strenuous note which under other circumstances would have expressed to me all the joy of life.Whenever the hauled-up mainsail started trying to slat and bang itself to pieces in its gear, Mr.Burns would look at me apprehensively.»What would you have me do, Mr.Burns? We can neither furl it nor set it.I only wish the old thing would thrash itself to pieces and be done with it.This beastly racket confuses me.«Mr.Burns wrung his hands, and cried out suddenly:»How will you get the ship into harbour, sir, without men to handle her?«And I couldn't tell him.Well – it did get done about forty hours afterwards.By the exercising virtue of Mr.Burns' awful laugh, the malicious spectre had been laid, the evil spell broken, the curse removed.We were now in the hands of a kind and energetic Providence.It was rushing us on.I shall never forget the last night, dark, windy, and starry.I steered.Mr.Burns, after having obtained from me a solemn promise to give him a kick if anything happened, went frankly to sleep on the deck close to the binnacle.Convalescents need sleep.Ransome, his back propped against the mizzenmast and a blanket over his legs, remained perfectly still, but I don't suppose he closed his eyes for a moment.That embodiment of jauntiness, Frenchy, still under the delusion that there was ›a jump‹ left in him, had insisted on joining us; but mindful of discipline, had laid himself down as far on the forepart of the poop as he could get, alongside the bucket-rack.And I steered, too tired for anxiety, too tired for connected thought.I had moments of grim exultation and then my heart would sink awfully at the thought of that forecastle at the other end of the dark deck, full of fever-stricken men – some of them dying.By my fault.But never mind.Remorse must wait.I had to steer.In the small hours the breeze weakened, then failed altogether.About five it returned, gentle enough, enabling us to head for the roadstead.Daybreak found Mr.Burns sitting wedged up with coils of rope on the stern-grating, and from the depths of his overcoat steering the ship with very white bony hands; while Ransome and I rushed along the decks letting go all the sheets and halliards by the run.We dashed next up on to the forecastle head.The perspiration of labour and sheer nervousness simply poured off our heads as we toiled to get the anchors cock-billed.I dared not look at Ransome as we worked side by side
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