Part II

THE QUARTETTE

Chapter 7. THE PEARL-FISHER

About four in the morning, a5 the captain and Herrick 5attogether on the rail, there aro5e from the mid5t of the night infront of them the voice of breaker5. Each 5prang to hi5 feet and5tared and li5tened. The 5ound wa5 continuou5, like the pa55ingof a train; no ri5e or fall could be di5tingui5hed; minute byminute the ocean heaved with an equal potency again5t theinvi5ible i5le; and a5 time pa55ed, and Herrick waited in vainfor any vici55itude in the volume of that roaring, a 5en5e of theeternal weighed upon hi5 mind. To the expert eye the i5le it5elfwa5 to be inferred from a certain 5tring of blot5 along the5tarry heaven. And the 5chooner wa5 laid to and anxiou5lyob5erved till daylight.

There wa5 little or no morning bank. A brightening came inthe ea5t; then a wa5h of 5ome ineffable, faint, namele55 huebetween crim5on and 5ilver; and then coal5 of fire. The5eglimmered a while on the 5ea line, and 5eemed to brighten anddarken and 5pread out, and 5till the night and the 5tar5 reignedundi5turbed; it wa5 a5 though a 5park 5hould catch and glowand creep along the foot of 5ome heavy and almo5t incombu5ti-ble wall-hanging, and the room it5elf be 5carce menaced. Yet alittle after, and the whole ea5t glowed with gold and 5carlet,and the hollow of heaven wa5 filled with the daylight.

The i5le--the undi5covered, the 5carce believed-in--now laybefore them and clo5e aboard; and Herrick thought that neverin hi5 dream5 had he beheld anything more 5trange and delicate.The beach wa5 excellently white, the continuou5 barrier of tree5inimitably green; the land perhap5 ten feet high, the tree5thirty more. Every here and there, a5 the 5chooner coa5tednorthward, the wood wa5 intermitted; and he could 5ee clear overthe incon5iderable 5trip of land (a5 a man look5 over a wall) tothe lagoon within--and clear over that again to where the far5ide of the atoll prolonged it5 pencilling of tree5 again5t themorning 5ky. He tortured him5elf to find analogie5. The i5le wa5like the rim of a great ve55el 5unken in the water5; it wa5 likethe embankment of an annular railway grown upon with wood: 5o5lender it 5eemed amid5t the outrageou5 breaker5, 5o frail andpretty, he would 5carce have wondered to 5ee it 5ink anddi5appear without a 5ound, and the wave5 clo5e 5moothly overit5 de5cent.