things
nautical,"  she said, nodding her  head with  grave  approval at my steering
contrivance.

     --  Dejstvuet kak budto neploho, --  skazala Mod,  odobritel'no  kivnuv
golovoj v storonu moego  rulevogo  prisposobleniya. -- Vprochem, ya ved' nichego
ne smyslyu v morehodstve.


     "But it will serve only when  we are sailing by the wind," I explained.
"When running more freely, with the wind astern abeam, or on the quarter, it
will be necessary for me to steer."

     --  |to ustrojstvo  budet sluzhit', tol'ko  poka my  idem  bejdevind, --
ob®yasnil  ya.  --  Pri  bolee blagopriyatnom vetre  --  s kormy,  galfvind ili
bakshtag -- mne pridetsya pravit' samomu.


     "I must  say I don't understand  your technicalities," she said, "but I
do your conclusion, and I don't like it.  You cannot steer night and day and
for  ever. So I shall expect, after breakfast, to  receive my first  lesson.
And then  you shall lie down and sleep. We'll stand watches just as they  do
on ships."

     -- YA, priznat'sya,  ne ponimayu vseh  etih terminov, no vyvod  yasen, i on
mne ne ochen'-to nravitsya. Ne mozhete zhe vy kruglye  sutki bessmenno sidet' na
rule! Posle zavtraka izvol'te dat' mne pervyj urok. A potom  vam nuzhno budet
lech' pospat'. My ustanovim vahty kak na korable.


     "I  don't  see how  I  am  to  teach  you,"  I made protest. "I am just
learning for myself. You little thought when you trusted yourself to me that
I had had no  experience whatever with small boats. This is the first time I
have ever been in one."

     -- Nu kak ya budu  uchit'  vas, --  zaprotestoval ya,  -- kogda ya sam  eshche
tol'ko  uchus'!  Vy  doverilis' mne  i, verno,  ne  podumali, chto  u menya net
nikakogo  opyta v upravlenii parusnoj  shlyupkoj. YA  vpervye  v zhizni popal na
nee.


     "Then we'll  learn together, sir. And since you've had a  night's start
you  shall teach me what you have learned. And now, breakfast. My! this  air
does give one an appetite!"

     -- V takom sluchae, ser, my budem uchit'sya vmeste. I tak  kak vy na celuyu
noch' operedili menya, vam pridetsya podelit'sya so mnoj vsem, chto vy uzhe uspeli
postich'. A teper' zavtrakat'Na vozduhe razygryvaetsya appetit!


     "No coffee," I said regretfully, passing her buttered  sea-biscuits and
a slice of canned tongue. "And  there will be no tea, no soups, nothing hot,
till we have made land somewhere, somehow."

     --  Da,  no  kofe ne  budet! -- s  sokrusheniem skazal  ya,  peredavaya ej
namazannye maslom galety s lomtikami  yazyka. --  Ne budet ni chaya, ni supa --
nikakoj  goryachej  edy,  poka  my  gde-nibud' i kogda-nibud' ne  pristanem  k
beregu.


     After the simple  breakfast, capped with a cup of cold water, Maud took
her  lesson in steering. In teaching  her I  learned  quite  a  deal myself,
though  I was  applying the knowledge already  acquired by sailing the Ghost
and by  watching  the  boat-steerers sail  the  small boats.  She was an apt
pupil, and soon learned to keep the course, to luff in the puffs and to cast
off the sheet in an emergency.

     Posle nashego nezamyslovatogo  zavtraka, zavershivshegosya chashkoj  holodnoj
vody,  ya  dal  Mod urok  vozhdeniya  shlyupki.  Obuchaya  ee,  ya uchilsya sam,  hotya
koe-kakie poznaniya u menya uzhe byli, -- ya priobrel ih, upravlyaya "Prizrakom" i
nablyudaya za dejstviyami rulevyh na shlyupkah.  Mod okazalas' sposobnoj uchenicej
i  bystro  nauchilas'  derzhat' kurs, privodit'sya  k vetru i  otdavat',  kogda
nuzhno, shkot.


     Having grown tired, apparently, of the task, she relinquished  the  oar
to me. I  had  folded up the blankets, but  she now proceeded to spread them
out on the bottom. When all was arranged snugly, she said:

     Potom, ustav, kak vidno,  ona peredala mne veslo i prinyalas' rasstilat'
na  dne shlyupki  odeyala,  kotorye  ya uspel  svernut'. Ustroiv  vse kak  mozhno
udobnee, ona skazala:


     "Now,  sir,  to  bed.  And  you  shall   sleep   until  luncheon.  Till
dinner-time," she corrected, remembering the arrangement on the Ghost.

     -- Nu, ser,  postel' gotova! I  spat' vy dolzhny do vtorogo zavtraka. To
est' do obeda, -- popravilas' ona, vspomniv rasporyadok dnya na "Prizrake".


     What could I do? She  insisted, and said, "Please, please," whereupon I
turned  the oar over to  her and obeyed.  I  experienced a positive sensuous
delight as I crawled into the bed she had made with her  hands. The calm and
control which were so much a part of her seemed to have been communicated to
the blankets, so that I was aware of  a soft dreaminess and content,  and of
an oval face and  brown eyes framed in a fisherman's cap and tossing against
a background now of grey cloud, now of grey sea, and then I was aware that I
had been asleep.

     CHto  mne ostavalos' delat'? Ona  tak nastojchivo povtoryala: "Pozhalujsta,
proshu  vas",  chto ya  v konce koncov podchinilsya i  otdal ej  kormovoe  veslo.
Zabirayas'  v  postel',  postлannuyu  ee  rukami, ya ispytal  neobychajnoe
naslazhdenie.  Kazalos',   v  etih  odeyalah   bylo  chto-to   uspokaivayushchee  i
umirotvoryayushchee, slovno eto peredalos' im ot nee samoj, i chuvstvo pokoya srazu
ohvatilo  menya. Skvoz'  sladkuyu dremu ya videl nezhnyj  oval ee lica i bol'shie
karie  glaza... Obramlennoe  zyujdvestkoj  lico  ee kolyhalos'  peredo  mnoj,
vyrisovyvayas' to na fone serogo morya, to na fone takih zhe seryh oblakov... i
ya usnul.


     I looked at my watch. It was one o'clock.  I had slept seven hours! And
she had been steering  seven hours! When I took the steering-oar I had first
to unbend her cramped  fingers. Her modicum of  strength had been exhausted,
and she was unable even to move from her position. I was compelled to let go
the sheet  while I helped  her to the nest of blankets and  chafed her hands
and arms.

     YA ponyal, chto krepko spal, kogda, vnezapno ochnuvshis', vzglyanul  na chasy.
Byl chas dnya. YA prospal celyh sem' chasov! I celyh sem' chasov ona odna pravila
shlyupkojPrinimaya ot nee veslo, ya dolzhen  byl pomoch' ej  razognut' okochenevshie
pal'cy. Ona ischerpala ves' nebol'shoj zapas svoih sil i teper'  ne mogla dazhe
pripodnyat'sya. YA  vynuzhden  byl  brosit' parus,  chtoby pomoch' ej dobrat'sya do
posteli, i, ulozhiv ee, prinyalsya rastirat' ej ruki.


     "I am  so tired," she said,  with  a quick intake  of the breath and  a
sigh, drooping her head wearily.

     --  Kak ya ustala! --  proiznesla  ona  s  glubokim  vzdohom i bessil'no
ponikla golovoj.


     But she straightened  it the  next moment. "Now don't scold, don't  you
dare scold," she cried with mock defiance.

     No cherez sekundu ona vstrepenulas'.
     -- Tol'ko ne  vzdumajte  branit'sya, ne smejte,  slyshite! --  s shutlivym
vyzovom skazala ona.


     "I hope my face does not  appear angry," I  answered seriously;  "for I
assure you I am not in the least angry."

     -- Razve u menya  takoj serdityj vid?  --  otozvalsya ya  bez  ulybki.  --
Uveryayu vas, ya ne serzhus'.


     "N-no," she considered. "It looks only reproachful."

     -- Da-a... -- protyanula ona. -- Ne serdityj, no ukoriznennyj.


     "Then it is an honest face, for it looks what I feel. You were not fair
to yourself, nor to me. How can I ever trust you again?"

     -- Znachit, moe lico tol'ko chestno vyrazhaet to, chto ya chuvstvuyu. A vot vy
postupili  nechestno  -- i po otnosheniyu k sebe i ko mne. Kak teper' prikazhete
doveryat' vam?


     She looked penitent. "I'll be good," she said, as a naughty child might
say it. "I promise - "

     Ona vinovato vzglyanula na menya.
     --  YA  budu pain'koj, -- skazala  ona, kak  naprokazivshij  rebenok.  --
Obeshchayu vam...


     "To obey as a sailor would obey his captain?"

     -- Povinovat'sya, kak matros povinuetsya kapitanu?


     "Yes," she answered. "It was stupid of me, I know."

     -- Da, -- otvetila ona. -- YA znayu: eto bylo glupo.


     "Then you must promise something else," I ventured.

     -- Raz tak, obeshchajte mne eshche koe-chto.


     "Readily."

     -- Ohotno!


     "That you  will not  say,  'Please, please,' too often; for when you do
you are sure to override my authority."

     -- Obeshchajte mne ne tak chasto govorit': "Pozhalujsta, proshu vas". A to vy
bystro svedete vlast' kapitana na net.


     She laughed  with amused appreciation. She, too, had noticed  the power
of the repeated "please."

     Ona rassmeyalas', i ya pochuvstvoval, chto moya pros'ba ne tol'ko pozabavila
ee, no i pol'stila ej. Ona  uzhe sama zametila, kakuyu vlast' imeyut  nado mnoj
eti slova.


     "It is a good word - " I began.

     -- Pozhalujsta -- horoshee slovo... -- nachal ya.


     "But I must not overwork it," she broke in. But she laughed weakly, and
her head drooped again. I left  the oar  long  enough to  tuck the  blankets
about her feet and to  pull a single fold across her face. Alas! she was not
strong. I looked with misgiving toward the south-west and thought of the six
hundred miles of hardship before us - ay, if it were no worse than hardship.
On this  sea a storm might blow up at any moment  and destroy us. And  yet I
was  unafraid. I  was  without confidence in the future, extremely doubtful,
and yet I felt no underlying fear. It must come right, it must come right, I
repeated to myself, over and over again.

     -- ...No ya ne dolzhna  zloupotreblyat' im, -- dokonchila ona za menya.  Ona
snova rassmeyalas', no uzhe chut'  slyshno,  i  uronila golovu. YA ostavil veslo,
chtoby zakutat' odeyalom ee nogi i prikryt'  ej lico. Uvy, u nee bylo tak malo
sil! S nedobrym predchuvstviem posmotrel ya na yugo-zapad i podumal o shestistah
milyah, otdelyavshih nas ot berega, i o vseh predstoyavshih  nam ispytaniyah. Da i
bog vest', chto  eshche zhdalo nas vperediV etoj chasti okeana v lyubuyu  minutu mog
razygrat'sya gibel'nyj dlya nas  shtorm. I vse zhe  ya ne ispytyval straha.  YA ne
byl  spokoen za budushchee, o net,  -- samye tyazhkie somneniya gryzli menya, -- no
za  vsem etim  ne  bylo straha. "Vse obojdetsya,  --  tverdil ya sebe,  -- vse
obojdetsya!"


     The wind freshened in the  afternoon, raising a stiffer sea  and trying
the boat and  me severely. But the supply  of food and the nine breakers  of
water enabled the  boat to stand up  to the sea and wind, and I held  on  as
long as I  dared. Then I removed the sprit, tightly hauling down the peak of
the sail, and we raced along under what sailors call a leg-of-mutton.

     Posle  poludnya   veter   posvezhel   i  podnyal  bol'shie  volny,  kotorye
osnovatel'no  trepali shlyupku i zadavali mne rabotu. Vprochem, zapasennaya nami
proviziya i devyat' bochonkov vody pridavali shlyupke dostatochnuyu ustojchivost', i
ya shel pod parusom, poka eto ne stalo slishkom opasnym.  Togda ya ubral shprint,
tugo prityanul i zakrepil verhnij ugol parusa, prevrativ ego v treugol'nyj, i
my poplyli dal'she.


     Late in the  afternoon  I sighted a steamer's smoke  on the  horizon to
leeward, and I knew it  either for  a Russian cruiser, or,  more likely, the
Macedonia still seeking the Ghost. The sun had not shone all day, and it had
been  bitter cold. As night  drew  on,  the clouds  darkened  and  the  wind
freshened, so that when Maud and I ate supper it was with our mittens on and
with me still steering and eating morsels between puffs.

     Pod vecher ya zametil na gorizonte s podvetrennoj storony dymok parohoda.
|to mog byt' libo russkij krejser,  libo skoree  vsego "Makedoniya", vse  eshche
razyskivayushchaya shhunu. Solnce za ves' den' ni razu ne vyglyanulo iz-za oblakov,
i bylo ochen' holodno. K nochi  oblaka sgustilis'  eshche bol'she, veter  okrep, i
nam prishlos' uzhinat', ne  snimaya  rukavic, prichem ya ne mog  vypustit' iz ruk
rulevogo   vesla  i  uhitryalsya  otpravlyat'  v  rot  kusochki  pishchi  tol'ko  v
promezhutkah mezhdu poryvami vetra.


     By  the time it was dark, wind and  sea had  become too  strong for the
boat, and  I reluctantly took in the  sail  and  set  about making a drag or
sea-anchor. I had learned of the device from the talk of the hunters, and it
was a simple  thing to manufacture. Furling the sail and lashing it securely
about the  mast, boom, sprit,  and two  pairs of  spare  oars,  I  threw  it
overboard. A line  connected it with the bow, and as it  floated low in  the
water,  practically unexposed to the wind, it drifted less rapidly  than the
boat. In consequence it held  the  boat  bow  on to the  sea  and wind - the
safest position in  which to escape being swamped  when the  sea is breaking
into whitecaps.

     Kogda stemnelo, shlyupku stalo tak shvyryat' na volnah,  chto ya vynuzhden byl
ubrat' parus i prinyalsya masterit' plavuchij yakor'. |to byla nehitraya shtuka, o
kotoroj  ya znal iz rasskazov  ohotnikov. Snyav machtu, ya zavernul ee  vmeste s
shprintom,  gikom i  dvumya  parami  zapasnyh  vesel v parus, nakrepko obvyazal
verevkoj i brosil za bort.  Konec  verevki  ya zakrepil  na nosu, i  plavuchij
yakor' byl gotov. Malo vystupaya iz vody i  pochti ne ispytyvaya  vliyaniya vetra,
on  tormozil  shlyupku  i uderzhival ee  nosom k vetru. Kogda more  pokryvaetsya
belymi barashkami, eto nailuchshij sposob, chtoby shlyupku ne zahlestnulo volnoj.


     "And now?" Maud asked cheerfully, when the task was  accomplished and I
pulled on my mittens.

     --  A  teper' chto? -- veselo  sprosila Mod,  kogda ya spravilsya so svoej
zadachej i snova natyanul rukavicy.


     "And  now we are no longer travelling toward Japan,"  I  answered. "Our
drift is to the south-east, or south-south-east, at the rate of at least two
miles an hour."

     -- A  teper' my uzhe ne plyvem k  YAponii, -- skazal ya. -- My drejfuem na
yugo-vostok ili na yugo-yugo-vostok  so skorost'yu po krajnej mere  dvuh  mil' v
chas.


     "That will be only twenty-four miles," she urged,  "if the wind remains
high all night."

     -- Do utra eto sostavit vsego dvadcat' chetyre mili, -- zametila ona, --
da i to, esli veter ne utihnet.


     "Yes, and only  one hundred and forty miles if  it  continues for three
days and nights."

     --  Verno.  A vsego sto  sorok mil',  esli etot veter  proderzhitsya troe
sutok.


     "But  it won't continue," she said with easy confidence.  "It will turn
around and blow fair."

     -- Ne proderzhitsya!  -- bodro zayavila Mod. --  On nepremenno povernet  i
budet dut' kak sleduet.


     "The sea is the great faithless one."

     -- More -- velikij predatel'.


     "But the wind!"  she retorted. "I have heard you grow eloquent over the
brave trade-wind."

     -- A veter? -- vozrazila ona. --  YA ved' slyshala, kak vy peli difiramby
"bravym passatam".


     "I wish I had thought to bring Wolf  Larsen's chronometer and sextant,"
I said, still gloomily.  "Sailing one direction, drifting another direction,
to  say nothing of the set of the current in  some third  direction, makes a
resultant which  dead  reckoning can  never calculate.  Before long we won't
know where we are by five hundred miles."

     -- ZHal', chto  ya ne  zahvatil  sektant  i  hronometr Larsena, --  mrachno
proiznes ya. -- Kogda my sami plyvem  v odnom napravlenii, veter snosit nas v
drugom, a techenie, byt' mozhet, -- v tret'em, i ravnodejstvuyushchaya ne poddaetsya
tochnomu ischisleniyu. Skoro my ne smozhem opredelit',  gde nahodimsya, ne sdelav
oshibki v pyat'sot mil'.


     Then I begged her pardon and promised I should not  be disheartened any
more. At her  solicitation I  let her take the watch till midnight, - it was
then nine  o'clock, but I wrapped her in blankets  and  put an oilskin about
her before  I lay down.  I slept only cat-  naps.  The  boat was leaping and
pounding as it fell over the crests, I could hear the seas rushing past, and
spray  was  continually  being thrown  aboard. And  still, it was not a  bad
night,  I mused -  nothing to the nights I  had  been through on the  Ghost;
nothing, perhaps,  to the nights we should go through in this  cockle-shell.
Its planking was three-quarters of an inch thick. Between us  and the bottom
of the sea was less than an inch of wood.

     Posle etogo ya poprosil u Mod proshcheniya i  obeshchal bol'she ne padat' duhom.
Ustupiv ee ugovoram, ya rovno  v devyat' ostavil ee na vahte do  polunochi, no,
prezhde  chem  lech' spat',  horoshen'ko zakutalsya v odeyala, a poverh nih  --  v
nepromokaemyj plashch.  Spal  ya  lish'  uryvkami.  SHlyupku shvyryalo, s  grebnya  na
greben', volny gulko udaryalis' o dno. YA  slyshal, kak oni revut  za bortom, i
bryzgi ezheminutno obdavali mne  lico. I vse zhe, razmyshlyal ya, ne takaya uzh eto
skvernaya noch' -- nichto po sravneniyu s tem, chto mne noch' za noch'yu prihodilos'
perezhivat'  na "Prizrake", i  s tem,  chto  nam,  byt' mozhet,  predstoit  eshche
perezhit', poka nas budet nosit' po  okeanu na etom  utlom sudenyshke. YA znal,
chto obshivka  u nego vsego v tri chetverti  dyujma tolshchinoj. Sloj dereva ton'she
dyujma otdelyal nas ot morskoj puchiny.


     And  yet, I aver it, and  I aver  it  again,  I was unafraid. The death
which Wolf Larsen and even Thomas  Mugridge had  made me fear, I  no  longer
feared. The coming  of Maud Brewster into my life seemed to have transformed
me. After all, I thought, it  is better and finer to  love than to be loved,
if it makes something  in life  so worth while that one is  not loath to die
for it. I  forget my own life in the  love of another life; and yet, such is
the paradox, I never wanted so much to live as  right  now  when I place the
least value upon my own life. I  never had so much reason for living, was my
concluding thought; and after  that,  until I dozed, I contented myself with
trying  to  pierce  the  darkness  to where I knew Maud  crouched low in the
stern-sheets,  watchful of  the  foaming  sea  and  ready to call me  on  an
instant's notice.

     I tem  ne  menee, gotov utverzhdat' eto snova i  snova, ya  ne boyalsya.  YA
bol'she uzhe ne ispytyval togo straha smerti, kotoryj kogda-to nagonyal na menya
Volk Larsen i dazhe  Tomas Magridzh.  Poyavlenie v moej zhizni Mod  Bruster, kak
vidno, pererodilo menya. Lyubit', dumal ya, -- ved' eto eshche luchshe i prekrasnee,
chem byt' lyubimym! |to  chuvstvo daet cheloveku to, radi chego stoit zhit' i radi
chego on gotov umeret'.  V silu lyubvi  k drugomu sushchestvu ya zabyval o sebe, i
vmeste s  tem -- strannyj paradoks! -- mne nikogda tak ne hotelos' zhit', kak
teper',  kogda ya  men'she vsego dorozhil svoej  zhizn'yu. Ved' nikogda eshche zhizn'
moya ne byla napolnena takim smyslom, dumal ya. Poka dremota podkradyvalas' ko
mne, ya lezhal i  s chuvstvom neiz®yasnimogo  dovol'stva vglyadyvalsya  v temnotu,
znaya,  chto tam, na korme, priyutilas' Mod,  chto ona  zorko  neset svoyu  vahtu
sredi bushuyushchih voln i gotova kazhduyu minutu pozvat' menya na pomoshch'.



        CHAPTER XXVIII

        GLAVA XXVIII


     There is no need of going into an extended recital of  our suffering in
the small  boat  during  the many  days we were driven and drifted, here and
there, willy-nilly, across the ocean. The high wind blew from the north-west
for  twenty-four hours, when it fell calm,  and  in the night sprang up from
the south-west. This was dead in our teeth, but I took in the sea-anchor and
set  sail,  hauling   a   course   on  the   wind  which   took  us   in   a
south-south-easterly direction.  It was an even choice between  this and the
west-north-westerly  course which  the wind permitted; but  the warm airs of
the south fanned my desire for a warmer sea and swayed my decision.

     Stoit  li  rasskazyvat' o vseh stradaniyah,  perenesennyh nami na  nashej
malen'koj  shlyupke,  kogda  nas  dolgie  dni  nosilo i  motalo  po  okeanskim
prostoram? Sil'nyj severo-zapadnyj  veter  dul celye sutki. Potom  nastupilo
zatish'e, no k nochi podnyalsya veter s yugo-zapada, to est' pryamo nam v lob. Tem
ne menee  ya vtyanul plavuchij yakor', postavil parus i napravil  lodku kruto  k
vetru s kursom  na yugo-yugovostok.  Veter pozvolyal vybirat'  lish'  mezhdu etim
kursom i kursom na  zapad-severo-zapad, no teploe dyhanie yuga vleklo menya  v
bolee teplye morya, i eto opredelilo moe reshenie.


     In three hours - it was midnight, I well remember, and as dark as I had
ever  seen  it on  the sea - the wind,  still blowing out of the south-west,
rose furiously, and once again I was compelled to set the sea-anchor.

     Odnako cherez tri  chasa, -- kak sejchas  pomnyu, rovno v polnoch', -- kogda
nas okruzhal  nepronicaemyj mrak,  etot yugo-zapadnyj veter  tak razbushevalsya,
chto ya vnov' byl prinuzhden vybrosit' plavuchij yakor'.


     Day broke  and found me wan-eyed and the ocean lashed white,  the  boat
pitching, almost on end,  to its drag.  We were  in imminent danger of being
swamped by the  whitecaps. As  it was, spray  and  spume came aboard in such
quantities that I  bailed  without  cessation.  The  blankets  were soaking.
Everything  was wet except Maud,  and  she, in  oilskins, rubber  boots, and
sou'wester,  was dry, all but her face and hands  and a stray  wisp of hair.
She relieved me at the bailing-hole from time to time, and bravely she threw
out the  water and faced the storm. All things are relative. It was  no more
than a stiff  blow, but to us, fighting  for life in our frail craft, it was
indeed a storm.

     Rassvet  zastal menya  na  korme. Vospalennymi ot napryazheniya  glazami  ya
vsmatrivalsya  v  pobelevshij  vspenennyj  okean, sredi  kotorogo  nasha  lodka
bespomoshchno vzletala i nyryala, derzhas' na svoem plavuchem yakore. My nahodilis'
na krayu gibeli -- kazhduyu sekundu nas moglo zahlestnut' volnoj. Bryzgi i pena
nizvergalis' na nas neskonchaemym  vodopadom, i ya  dolzhen byl  bezostanovochno
vycherpyvat'  vodu.  Odeyala promokli naskvoz'.  Promoklo vse, i tol'ko Mod, v
svoem  plashche, rezinovyh sapogah i zyujdvestke,  byla  horosho  zashchishchena,  hotya
ruki,  lico i vybivshayasya iz-pod zyujdvestki pryad' volos byli u nee sovershenno
mokrye.  Vremya ot vremeni  ona  brala u menya cherpak i,  ne  strashas' shtorma,
prinimalas'  energichno  vycherpyvat'  vodu.  Vse  na  svete  otnositel'no:  v
sushchnosti,  eto byl  prosto svezhij veter, no dlya nas,  borovshihsya za zhizn' na
nashem zhalkom sudenyshke, eto byl nastoyashchij shtorm.


     Cold and cheerless, the wind  beating  on  our  faces,  the  white seas
roaring  by, we  struggled through the day. Night  came, but  neither of  us
slept. Day came,  and still the wind beat  on  our faces and  the white seas
roared past. By the second  night Maud was falling asleep from exhaustion. I
covered her with oilskins  and a  tarpaulin. She was  comparatively dry, but
she was  numb with the  cold. I  feared  greatly  that she  might die in the
night; but day  broke,  cold and  cheerless,  with  the same clouded sky and
beating wind and roaring seas.

     Prodrogshie,  izmuchennye,  ves'  den'  srazhalis'  my  s  razbushevavshimsya
okeanom  i svirepym  vetrom,  hlestavshim nam  v lico. Nastala noch', no my ne
spali. Opyat' rassvelo, i  po-prezhnemu veter bil nam v lico i penistye valy s
revom neslis' navstrechu. Na vtoruyu noch' Mod nachala zasypat'  ot iznemozheniya.
YA ukutal ee plashchom i brezentom. Odezhda na  nej ne ochen' promokla, no devushka
zakochenela ot holoda. YA  boyalsya za ee zhizn'. I snova zanyalsya  den', takoj zhe
holodnyj  i  bezradostnyj, s  takim zhe sumrachnym  nebom,  yarostnym vetrom  i
groznym revom voln.


     I had had no sleep for forty-eight hours. I was wet and  chilled to the
marrow, till I felt more dead than alive. My body was stiff from exertion as
well as  from cold,  and  my aching  muscles  gave me the  severest  torture
whenever I used them, and I used  them continually. And all the time we were
being driven  off  into the north-east, directly away from  Japan and toward
bleak Bering Sea.

     Dvoe sutok ya ne  smykal glaz. YA  ves' promok, prodrog  do  kostej i byl
polumertv ot ustalosti. Vse  telo u menya nylo ot holoda i  napryazheniya, i pri
malejshem dvizhenii natruzhennye muskuly davali sebya znat', -- dvigat'sya zhe mne
prihodilos'  besprestanno.  A  nas   tem  vremenem  vse  neslo  i  neslo  na
severo-vostok -- vse dal'she ot beregov YAponii, v storonu holodnogo Beringova
morya.


     And still we lived, and the boat lived, and  the wind blew unabated. In
fact, toward  nightfall of the third day it increased a trifle and something
more. The boat's bow plunged under a crest, and we came through quarter-full
of water. I bailed like a madman. The liability of shipping another such sea
was enormously increased by the water that weighed the boat down  and robbed
it of its  buoyancy. And another such sea meant the end. When I had the boat
empty  again I was forced to take away the  tarpaulin which covered Maud, in
order that I might  lash it down across the bow.  It was  well I did, for it
covered the boat fully a  third of the way aft, and three times, in the next
several hours, it flung off the bulk of the down-rushing  water when the bow
shoved under the seas.

     No my derzhalis',  i  shlyupka  derzhalas', hotya veter dul s neoslabevayushchej
siloj. K koncu tret'ego dnya on eshche okrep. Odin raz shlyupka tak zarylas' nosom
v volnu, chto ee na chetvert' zalilo vodoj. YA rabotal cherpakom, kak oderzhimyj.
Voda, zapolnivshaya shlyupku, tyanula ee knizu, umen'shala ee plavuchest'. Eshche odna
takaya volna -- i nas zhdala  neminuemaya gibel'. Vycherpav vodu, ya vynuzhden byl
snyat' s Mod  brezent  i zatyanut' im  nosovuyu  chast'  shlyupki. On zakryl soboyu
shlyupku na tret' i sosluzhil  nam  horoshuyu  sluzhbu, trizhdy  spasaya nas,  kogda
lodka vrezalas' nosom v volnu.


     Maud's condition  was pitiable. She  sat crouched in the bottom of  the
boat,  her  lips blue,  her  face  grey and  plainly showing  the  pain  she
suffered. But ever  her eyes looked bravely at me, and ever her lips uttered
brave words.

     Na Mod bylo zhalko smotret'. Ona s®ezhilas' v  komochek na dne lodki, guby
ee  posineli, na  beskrovnom lice otchetlivo  byli  napisany  ispytyvaemye eyu
muki.  No ee  glaza, obrashchennye na menya, vse tak  zhe svetilis' muzhestvom,  i
guby proiznosili obodryayushchie slova.


     The worst of the storm  must  have  blown  that night, though little  I
noticed it. I had succumbed and slept where  I sat in the stern- sheets. The
morning of the fourth day found the wind diminished to a gentle whisper, the
sea dying  down and the  sun shining upon  us. Oh,  the blessed sun!  How we
bathed our  poor bodies  in its  delicious  warmth, reviving  like  bugs and
crawling things after a storm.  We smiled again,  said amusing  things,  and
waxed  optimistic over our situation. Yet  it  was, if anything,  worse than
ever. We were farther from Japan than the night we left the Ghost. Nor could
I  more than roughly guess our latitude and longitude. At a calculation of a
two-mile drift per  hour, during the seventy and odd hours of  the storm, we
had been driven  at least one hundred and fifty miles to the north-east. But
was such  calculated drift correct? For  all I knew, it might have been four
miles per hour  instead of two. In which  case we were another  hundred  and
fifty miles to the bad.

     V etu  noch' shtorm,  dolzhno byt',  busheval  osobennoj yarost'yu, no ya  uzhe
pochti nichego ne  soznaval, ustalost' odolela menya,  i  ya zasnul na  korme. K
utru chetvertogo dnya veter upal do edva primetnogo dunoveniya, volny uleglis',
i  nad  nami  yarko zasiyalo solnce.  O,  blagodatnoe  solnce!  My nezhili svoi
izmuchennye  tela v ego  laskovyh luchah i ozhivali, kak bukashki posle buri. My
snova nachali  ulybat'sya,  shutit'  i bodro  smotret'  na  budushchee.  A  ved' v
sushchnosti polozhenie nashe bylo plachevnee prezhnego. My  teper' byli eshche  dal'she
ot YAponii, chem v tu noch', kogda pokinuli "Prizrak"; a o tom, na kakoj shirote
i dolgote my nahodimsya, ya mog tol'ko gadat', i pritom ves'ma priblizitel'no.
Esli  my v techenie semidesyati s  lishnim  chasov  drejfovali so skorost'yu dvuh
mil' v  chas, nas dolzhno bylo snesti po krajnej mere na sto pyat'desyat mil'  k
severo-vostoku.  No byli  li verny  moi  podschety?  A esli  my drejfovali so
skorost'yu chetyreh  mil' v  chas? Togda  nas sneslo eshche na sto  pyat'desyat mil'
dal'she ot celi.


     Where we were I  did not know, though there was quite a likelihood that
we were in  the vicinity of the Ghost. There  were seals about us, and I was
prepared to sight a sealing-schooner at any time.  We did  sight one, in the
afternoon, when the north-west breeze  had sprung  up freshly once more. But
the  strange schooner lost itself on the sky-line and we  alone occupied the
circle of the sea.

     Itak, gde my  nahodimsya, ya ne znal i ne udivilsya  by, esli  by my vdrug
snova uvideli "Prizrak". Vokrug plavali kotiki, i ya vse vremya  zhdal,  chto na
gorizonte poyavitsya promyslovaya  shhuna. Vo vtoroj  polovine  dnya, kogda snova
podnyalsya  svezhij  severo-zapadnyj  veter,  my  dejstvitel'no  uvideli  vdali
kakuyu-to shhunu, no ona tut zhe  skrylas' iz glaz,  i opyat' my  ostalis'  odni
sredi pustynnogo morya.


     Came  days  of fog, when even Maud's spirit drooped  and there were  no
merry words  upon  her lips;  days of calm, when we  floated  on the  lonely
immensity of sea,  oppressed  by  its greatness and  yet  marvelling  at the
miracle  of  tiny  life, for we still lived  and struggled  to live; days of
sleet and wind and snow-squalls, when nothing could keep us warm; or days of
drizzling rain, when we filled our  water-breakers from the  drip of the wet
sail.

     Byli dni nepronicaemogo tumana, kogda dazhe  Mod padala duhom i s ee gub
uzhe ne sletali veselye slova; byli dni shtilya, kogda my plyli po bezmolvnomu,
bezgranichnomu  prostoru,  podavlennye velichiem  okeana, i divilis' tomu, chto
vse eshche  zhivy  i boremsya  za zhizn', nesmotrya na vsyu nashu bespomoshchnost'; byli
dni purgi i snezhnyh shkvalov, kogda my promerzali do kostej, i byli dozhdlivye
dni, kogda my napolnyali nashi bochonki stekavshej s parusa vodoj.


     And ever I loved Maud with  an increasing love. She was so many- sided,
so many-mooded - "protean-mooded"  I called her. But  I called her this, and
other  and  dearer things, in my thoughts only. Though the declaration of my
love urged and trembled on my tongue a thousand times, I knew that it was no
time for such a declaration.  If  for no  other reason, it was no time, when
one was  protecting  and trying to save a woman, to ask  that  woman for her
love. Delicate as was the situation, not  alone in this but in other ways, I
flattered  myself  that I was able  to deal delicately with  it; and  also I
flattered  myself that by look or sign I gave no advertisement of the love I
felt for her. We were like good comrades, and we grew better comrades as the
days went by.

     I  vse eti dni moya  lyubov' k  Mod neprestanno rosla. |ta  devushka  byla
takoj mnogogrannoj, takoj bogatoj nastroeniyami -- "proteevoj", kak ya nazyval
ee, -- naturoj. U menya byli dlya nee i drugie, eshche bolee laskovye imena, no ya
ni razu ne proiznes ih vsluh.  Slova  lyubvi trepetali u  menya na gubah, no ya
znal, chto  sejchas ne  vremya dlya  priznanij. Mozhno li,  vzyav  na sebya  zadachu
spasti i zashchitit' zhenshchinu, prosit' ee lyubvi? No skol'  ni slozhno  bylo  -- v
silu  etogo i  v  silu  mnogih drugih  obstoyatel'stv  -- moe  polozhenie,  ya,
dumaetsya mne, umel derzhat' sebya  kak dolzhno. Ni vzglyadom, ni zhestom ne vydal
ya svoih chuvstv. My s  Mod byli  dobrymi  tovarishchami, i  s kazhdym  dnem  nasha
druzhba krepla.


     One thing  about  her  which surprised me was her lack  of timidity and
fear. The terrible  sea, the  frail  boat,  the storms,  the  suffering, the
strangeness  and  isolation  of  the  situation,  -  all  that  should  have
frightened a robust woman, - seemed to make no impression  upon her who  had
known life  only in its most sheltered and consummately artificial  aspects,
and who  was herself all fire  and dew and mist, sublimated spirit, all that
was soft and tender and clinging in woman. And yet I am wrong. She WAS timid
and afraid, but she possessed courage. The flesh and the qualms of the flesh
she was heir to, but the  flesh bore heavily only on the  flesh. And she was
spirit,  first and always  spirit, etherealized essence of life, calm as her
calm eyes, and sure of permanence in the changing order of the universe.

     Bol'she vsego porazhalo menya v Mod polnoe otsutstvie robosti i straha. Ni
groznoe more, ni utlaya lodka, ni  shtormy, ni stradaniya, ni nashe odinochestvo,
to est' vse to, chto moglo by ustrashit' dazhe fizicheski zakalennuyu zhenshchinu, ne
proizvodilo, kazalos', nikakogo vpechatleniya na nee.  A ved' ona  znala zhizn'
tol'ko v  ee  naibolee  iznezhivayushchih,  iskusstvenno oblegchennyh formah.  |ta
devushka predstavlyalas' mne vsegda kak by sotkannoj iz zvezdnogo siyaniya, rosy
i  tumannoj dymki. Ona kazalas'  mne  duhom,  prinyavshim telesnuyu obolochku, i
voploshcheniem  vsego,  chto  est'  samogo  nezhnogo,  laskovogo,  doverchivogo  v
zhenshchine.  Odnako  ya byl ne vpolne  prav.  Mod  i robela i  boyalas',  no  ona
obladala muzhestvom. Plot' i muki byli i ee udelom, kak  i vsyakoj zhenshchiny, no
duh  ee byl  vyshe ploti, i stradala tol'ko  ee plot'. Ona byla kak by  duhom
zhizni,  ee  duhovnoj sut'yu, --  vsegda bezmyatezhnaya  s bezmyatezhnym  vzglyadom,
ispolnennaya very v vysshij poryadok sredi neustojchivogo poryadka vselennoj.


     Came days of storm, days and nights of storm, when the ocean menaced us
with its roaring whiteness, and  the  wind smote our struggling  boat with a
Titan's buffets. And  ever we  were flung off, farther and farther,  to  the
north-east. It was in such  a storm, and the  worst that we had experienced,
that  I cast a  weary glance  to leeward, not in quest of anything, but more
from the weariness  of facing  the  elemental  strife,  and in mute  appeal,
almost, to the wrathful powers to  cease and let  us be. What I saw  I could
not  at  first  believe.  Days and nights  of sleeplessness and anxiety  had
doubtless  turned my  head. I looked back at Maud, to identify myself, as it
were, in time and  space. The sight of her dear wet cheeks, her flying hair,
and  her brave  brown eyes convinced  me that my vision  was still  healthy.
Again I  turned my face to leeward, and again I saw the jutting  promontory,
black and high and naked, the raging surf that broke about its base and beat
its  front  high  up  with  spouting  fountains,  the  black  and  forbidden
coast-line running toward the south-east and fringed with a tremendous scarf
of white.

     Opyat' nastupila polosa shtormov. Dni i nochi  revela burya,  rukoj  titana
shvyryaya nashe sudenyshko  po volnam,  i  okean  shcherilsya  na  nas svoej penistoj
past'yu.  Vse dal'she i dal'she  otnosilo  nas na severo-vostok. I vot odnazhdy,
kogda  shtorm  svirepstvoval vovsyu, ya  brosil  ustalyj vzglyad  v podvetrennuyu
storonu. YA uzhe nichego ne iskal, a skoree, izmuchennyj bor'boj so stihiej, kak
by bezmolvno molil raz®yarennye hlyabi morskie unyat' svoj gnev i poshchadit' nas.
No, vzglyanuv,  ya ne poveril svoim glazam. U menya mel'knula mysl', chto  dni i
nochi, provedennye  bez  sna, v neprestannoj trevoge, pomrachili moj  razum. YA
perevel vzglyad na  Mod, i vid  ee yasnyh karih glaz,  ee milyh  mokryh  shchek i
razvevayushchihsya volos skazal mne, chto  rassudok moj cel. Povernuvshis' snova  v
podvetrennuyu  storonu,  ya snova  uvidel  vystupayushchij  daleko v  more mys  --
chernyj, vysokij i golyj,  uvidel burnyj priboj, razbivayushchijsya u ego podnozhiya
fontanom belyh bryzg, i mrachnyj, neprivetlivyj bereg, uhodyashchij na yugo-vostok
i okajmlennyj groznoj polosoj burunov.


     "Maud," I said. "Maud." She turned her head and beheld the sight.

     -- Mod,  --  voskliknul ya, -- Mod! Ona povernula golovu i  tozhe uvidela
zemlyu.


     "It cannot be Alaska!" she cried.

     -- Neuzheli eto Alyaska? -- vskrichala ona.


     "Alas, no," I answered, and asked, "Can you swim?"

     -- Uvy, net! -- otvetil ya i tut zhe sprosil: -- Vy umeete plavat'?


     She shook her head.

     Ona otricatel'no pokachala golovoj.


     "Neither can I," I  said.  "So we must get  ashore without swimming, in
some  opening between  the  rocks through which we can  drive the  boat  and
clamber out. But we must be quick, most quick - and sure."

     -- I ya  ne umeyu,  -- skazal ya. -- Znachit, dobirat'sya do berega pridetsya
ne vplav', a na shlyupke, pridetsya najti kakoj-nibud' prohod mezhdu pribrezhnymi
skalami. No vremya teryat' nel'zya... I prisutstviya duha tozhe.


     I spoke with a confidence she knew I did not feel, for she looked at me
with that unfaltering gaze of hers and said:

     YA  govoril uverenno,  no  na dushe  u  menya bylo daleko ne spokojno. Mod
ponyala eto i, pristal'no posmotrev na menya, skazala:


     "I have not thanked you yet for all you have done for me but - "

     -- YA eshche ne poblagodarila vas za vse, chto vy sdelali dlya menya, i...


     She hesitated, as if in doubt how best to word her gratitude.

     Ona  zapnulas',  kak  by  podbiraya  slova,  chtoby luchshe  vyrazit'  svoyu
blagodarnost'.


     "Well?" I said, brutally, for I was not quite pleased with her thanking
me.

     -- I chto zhe dal'she? -- sprosil ya dovol'no grubo, tak kak mne sovsem  ne
ponravilos', chto ona vdrug vzdumala blagodarit' menya.


     "You might help me," she smiled.

     -- Pomogite zhe mne! -- ulybnulas' ona.


     "To acknowledge your obligations before you die? Not at all. We are not
going to  die.  We shall land on  that island, and  we  shall  be  snug  and
sheltered before the day is done."

     -- Pomoch' vam vyskazat' mne svoyu  priznatel'nost' pered  smert'yu?  I ne
podumayu.  My  ne umrem. My  vysadimsya  na etot  ostrov  i  ustroimsya na  nem
nailuchshim obrazom eshche do temnoty.


     I spoke  stoutly, but  I did not believe a word. Nor  was I prompted to
lie through fear. I felt no fear, though I was sure of death in that boiling
surge amongst the rocks which was rapidly growing  nearer. It was impossible
to hoist sail and claw off that  shore. The wind would instantly capsize the
boat;  the  seas would  swamp  it the  moment it  fell into the trough; and,
besides, the sail, lashed to the spare oars, dragged in the sea ahead of us.

     Odnako,  nesmotrya  na vsyu reshitel'nost' moego  tona, ya sam ne veril  ni
edinomu svoemu slovu.  No ne strah zastavlyal menya lgat'. Straha za sebya ya ne
ispytyval, hotya  i  zhdal,  chto najdu  smert'  v kipyashchem  priboe  sredi skal,
kotorye bystro nadvigalis' na nas. Nechego bylo i dumat' o tom, chtoby podnyat'
parus i popytat'sya otojti ot berega;  veter mgnovenno oprokinul by shlyupku, i
volny zahlestnuli by ee; da k tomu zhe i parus vmeste s zapasnymi veslami byl
u nas spushchen za kormu.


     As I say, I was not afraid to  meet  my own death, there, a few hundred
yards to  leeward;  but I was appalled at the thought that Maud must die. My
cursed imagination saw her beaten and mangled against the rocks,  and it was
too terrible.  I strove to compel myself to  think we would make the landing
safely, and  so  I  spoke,  not  what I believed,  but what  I preferred  to
believe.

     Kak ya uzhe  skazal,  sam ya ne strashilsya smerti, kotoraya podsteregala nas
gde-to tam, v kakih-nibud' sotnyah  yardov, no mysl' o tom, chto dolzhna umeret'
Mod,  privodila  menya v  uzhas.  Proklyatoe  voobrazhenie uzhe  risovalo  mne ee
izurodovannoe  telo  v kipyashchem vodovorote sredi pribrezhnyh skal, i  ya ne mog
etogo  vynesti:  ya zastavlyal sebya  dumat', chto my  blagopoluchno vysadimsya na
bereg, i govoril ne to, chemu veril, a to, chemu hotel by verit'.


     I recoiled  before contemplation of that frightful  death,  and  for  a
moment I  entertained the wild idea  of  seizing Maud in my arms and leaping
overboard. Then I resolved to wait, and  at the last moment, when we entered
on the final stretch, to take her in my arms and proclaim my love, and, with
her in my embrace, to make the desperate struggle and die.

     Vstavshaya  pered  moimi  glazami kartina stol' strashnoj  gibeli uzhasnula
menya, i na mig mel'knula bezumnaya mysl': shvatit' Mod v ob®yatiya i prygnut' s
neyu  za  bort.  |tu  mysl'  smenila  drugaya: kogda  shlyupka  dostignet polosy
burunov,  obnyat'  Mod, skazat'  ej o svoej lyubvi i, podhvativ  ee  na  ruki,
brosit'sya v poslednyuyu otchayannuyu shvatku so smert'yu.


     Instinctively we drew closer together in the bottom of the boat. I felt
her mittened hand come out  to mine. And thus, without speech, we waited the
end. We were not far off the line the wind made with the western edge of the
promontory,  and I  watched in the hope that some set of the current or send
of the sea would drift us past before we reached the surf.

     My  instinktivno  pridvinulis'  drug  k  Drugu.  Ruka  Mod  v  rukavice
potyanulas' k moej. I tak, bez slov, my  ZHdali konca.  My byli uzhe  blizko ot
polosy priboya u zapadnogo kraya mysa, i ya napryazhenno smotrel vpered  v slaboj
nadezhde, chto sluchajnoe techenie ili  sil'naya  volna podhvatit i  proneset nas
mimo burunov.


     "We  shall go clear," I said, with a  confidence which I knew  deceived
neither of us.

     --  My proskochim!  --  zayavil ya  s  napusknoj uverennost'yu, kotoraya  ne
obmanula  ni  Mod,  ni  menya  samogo.  No  cherez  neskol'ko  minut  ya  snova
voskliknul:


     "By God, we WILL  go clear!" I cried, five minutes later. The oath left
my  lips  in my excitement  - the first, I  do believe,  in my life,  unless
"trouble it," an expletive of my youth, be accounted an oath.

     -- My  proskochim,  chert poberiYA byl  tak  vzvolnovan, chto vybranilsya --
chut' li ne vpervye v zhizni.


     "I beg your pardon," I said.

     -- Proshu proshcheniya... -- probormotal ya.


     "You  have  convinced me of your sincerity,"  she  said,  with a  faint
smile. "I do know, now, that we shall go clear."

     -- Vot teper' vy ubedili menya!  -