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.And even more important, did Judith love him? Could she love him, after Harriet, and after an upbringing such as hers, and after he had raped her?A drop of rain landed on his hand, large and stinging.The afternoon had grown quite dark, and the sun was lost behind the cloud.And the drop had been only the advance guard.He could see the rain approaching him in a solid sheet, like a quick travelling mist.Haiti had already disappeared.And with the rain, the first of the wind, soughing over the water.Gibson was at the break of the poop, bawling his orders, and the yards were being trimmed; they had already been stripped of most of their sails.Now the helm was put up to take the coming squall on the bow.The Cormorant rose and dipped again, a violent movement.Yet the sea remained surprisingly calm, flattened by the deadening rain, which swept across the ship, smothered the deck and poured into the scuppers as if it had been a wave, flowed through the fairleads and cascaded down the sides.Dick discovered he was wet through, and the water continued to pound on his hair, flood down his neck.He staggered across the deck, grasped a stay close by the wheel, where two men were on duty, waiting for the real wind, with the captain close at hand.'You'd best below, Mr Hilton,' Gibson bawled.'No sense in staying up here.Helm.Helm.Up.'The two sailors leaned on the wheel, and the Cormorant's bows came up again.Now the wind was fresh, and now the ship was moving, slicing into the suddenly large, and growing waves, tossing spray aft, taking green combers over the bow to flood the forecastle and come pouring down the ladders into the waist.And now too, she heeled, port scuppers well down, making the already slippery deck the harder to stand on.'Due west,' Gibson shouted in Dick's ear.'It'll veer, but slowly.We'll make the passage, if it lasts.Then we'll be safe enough.'The open Atlantic.Would he ever turn back then? But no man could be asked to risk his ship for the sake of an unwanted passenger.Dick found the top of the ladder, made his way down, slowly, being thrown against the rail by each lurch of the ship, staring in fascination as the bows went up, up, as she climbed the ever increasing swell, to hang there for a moment, seeming to be pointing at the sky and attempting to launch herself into space, and then plunging down, down, with a stomach-tumbling force, bowsprit now pointing only at surging green water, and apparently intent on hitting the very bottom of the ocean.Then the seas broke, or the bowsprit plunged in, he could not be sure which, and tons of water landed on the foredeck, with a crash which seemed about to stave the timbers, before roaring aft, bursting into the waist, whipping at the canvas covers for the longboat, flooding the deck, crashing against the foot of the ladder like a wave on a shore, filling his boots and splashing up his breeches to join the rain damp already there.But the Cormorant was lifting her bows again, the bowsprit, undamaged, slicing through the heaving sea to aim once more at the sky, the sea itself tumbling over the sides to leave the deck momentarily clear, while all the while the wind increased, from a sough to a whine, from a whine to a scream, and then suddenly to a gigantic roar, a noise which even drowned out memories of the factory, which took away the powers of the mind even as its very force seemed to take away the powers of the body, ripping at the buttons of his coat to send the tails flying, making him gasp for breath, his muscles discovering the ache of a long wrestling match.He reached the door to the cabin in the midst of a wave, hung there for a moment with water surging at his thighs, wrenched it open and half fell down the ladder to the floor of the cabin.'Aaagh,' screamed the boy.'Aaagh.We're sinking.''Only a wave,' Dick gasped, grasping the table to pull himself up, and being struck on the side of the head by the lantern swinging from the low deck beams.'Oh, God,' said the boy, falling to Ins knees beside Dick.'Oh, God.Lost, we are, sir.Lost.''You've not been in a storm before?''A gale, sir.Aye.Nothing like this.We're too close to land.Too close, sir.Too close.''Lie down,' Dick recommended, and did so himself, not entirely by design; the Cormorant entered a trough sideways and skidded down before bringing up short.There was a crack which seemed to tear the entire ship from top to bottom, and this was followed by a boom which cut across even the wind, and brought another terrified screech from the boy.Dick found himself lying on one of the berths which walled the cabin, pushed himself up again.But his head continued to swing, and now his stomach was threatening to rebel as well.With fear? Certainly he was sweating.'What was that noise?' he bawled.The boy grovelled on the deck, moaning.And now the Cormorant was behaving very oddly, no longer surging to the waves, but rather being slapped, from side to side, each blow shaking the timbers and sending the table creaking, and being followed by water seeping through the deck above his head.The door was thrown open, and Captain Gibson fell in, accompanied by half the ocean; water cascaded down the steps and swirled over the cabin floor, hurled back the door to the galley and put out the fire with a gigantic hiss of steam.'God,' screamed the boy.'Help me, oh God.''Shut your trap,' shouted the captain.'The foremast has gone, Mr Hilton.'Dick sat up.'Will she sink?''I've men cutting it away.We can run.But there'll be no beating.'Tis a question of how far the wind will go; she's veering all the time.''And how much of this pounding your ship will stand’ Dick said.'Aye, well, she's stout enough.I've sent Chips down to sound the well.But you'd best come up again.Lash yourself to the mizzen, sir.There's your best chance.'Dick seized the boy under the armpits, pulled him up.'Come on deck’ he shouted in his ear.'Oh, God/ howled the boy.'Oh, God.Help me, oh, God.''On deck/ Dick screamed, and climbed the companion ladder.The captain had already gone, but the door swung open as he reached the top and another wave burst in, pounding on his chest, clouding on his face, splashing on the floor behind him, and chaining into the bilges.Sound or not, he thought, she'll not take much of that
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