Chapter VIII. The Round-House

by Robert Louis Stevenson

　　One night, about eleven o'clock, a man of Mr. Riach's watch(which was on deck) came below for his jacket; and instantlythere began to go a whisper about the forecastle that "Shuan haddone for him at last." There was no need of a name; we all knewwho was meant; but we had scarce time to get the idea rightly inour heads, far less to speak of it, when the scuttle was againflung open, and Captain Hoseason came down the ladder. He lookedsharply round the bunks in the tossing light of the lantern; andthen, walking straight up to me, he addressed me, to my surprise,in tones of kindness."My man," said he, "we want ye to serve in the round-house. Youand Ransome are to change berths. Run away aft with ye."Even as he spoke, two seamen appeared in the scuttle, carryingRansome in their arms; and the ship at that moment giving a greatsheer into the sea, and the lantern swinging, the light felldirect on the boy's face. It was as white as wax, and had a lookupon it like a dreadful smile. The blood in me ran cold, and Idrew in my breath as if I had been struck."Run away aft; run away aft with ye!" cried Hoseason.And at that I brushed by the sailors and the boy (who neitherspoke nor moved), and ran up the ladder on deck.The brig was sheering swiftly and giddily through a long,cresting swell. She was on the starboard tack, and on the lefthand, under the arched foot of the foresail, I could see thesunset still quite bright. This, at such an hour of the night,surprised me greatly; but I was too ignorant to draw the trueconclusion -- that we were going north-about round Scotland, andwere now on the high sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands,having avoided the dangerous currents of the Pentland Firth. Formy part, who had been so long shut in the dark and knew nothingof head-winds, I thought we might be half-way or more across theAtlantic. And indeed (beyond that I wondered a little at thelateness of the sunset light) I gave no heed to it, and pushed onacross the decks, running between the seas, catching at ropes,and only saved from going overboard by one of the hands on deck,who had been always kind to me.The round-house, for which I was bound, and where I was now tosleep and serve, stood some six feet above the decks, andconsidering the size of the brig, was of good dimensions. Insidewere a fixed table and bench, and two berths, one for the captainand the other for the two mates, turn and turn about. It was allfitted with lockers from top to bottom, so as to stow away theofficers' belongings and a part of the ship's stores; there was asecond store-room underneath, which you entered by a hatchway inthe middle of the deck; indeed, all the best of the meat anddrink and the whole of the powder were collected in this place;and all the firearms, except the two pieces of brass ordnance,were set in a rack in the aftermost wall of the round-house. Themost of the cutlasses were in another place.A small window with a shutter on each side, and a skylight in theroof, gave it light by, day; and after dark there was a lampalways burning. It was burning when I entered, not brightly, butenough to show Mr. Shuan sitting at the table, with the brandybottle and a tin pannikin in front of him. He was a tall man,strongly made and very black; and he stared before him on thetable like one stupid.He took no notice of my coming in; nor did he move when thecaptain followed and leant on the berth beside me, looking darklyat the mate. I stood in great fear of Hoseason, and had myreasons for it; but something told me I need not be afraid of himjust then; and I whispered in his ear: "How is he?" He shook hishead like one that does not know and does not wish to think, andhis face was very stern.Presently Mr. Riach came in. He gave the captain a glance thatmeant the boy was dead as plain as speaking, and took his placelike the rest of us; so that we all three stood without a word,staring down at Mr. Shuan, and Mr. Shuan (on his side) satwithout a word, looking hard upon the table.All of a sudden he put out his hand to take the bottle; and atthat Mr. Riach started forward and caught it away from him,rather by surprise than violence, crying out, with an oath, thatthere had been too much of this work altogether, and that ajudgment would fall upon the ship. And as he spoke (the weathersliding-doors standing open) he tossed the bottle into the sea.Mr. Shuan was on his feet in a trice; he still looked dazed, buthe meant murder, ay, and would have done it, for the second timethat night, had not the captain stepped in between him and hisvictim."Sit down!" roars the captain. "Ye sot and swine, do ye knowwhat ye've done? Ye've murdered the boy!"Mr. Shuan seemed to understand; for he sat down again, and put uphis hand to his brow."Well," he said, "he brought me a dirty pannikin!"At that word, the captain and I and Mr. Riach all looked at eachother for a second with a kind of frightened look; and thenHoseason walked up to his chief officer, took him by theshoulder, led him across to his bunk, and bade him lie down andgo to sleep, as you might speak to a bad child. The murderercried a little, but he took off his sea-boots and obeyed."Ah!" cried Mr. Riach, with a dreadful voice, "ye should haveinterfered long syne. It's too late now.""Mr. Riach," said the captain, "this night's work must never bekennt in Dysart. The boy went overboard, sir; that's what thestory is; and I would give five pounds out of my pocket it wastrue!" He turned to the table. "What made ye throw the goodbottle away?" he added. "There was nae sense in that, sir.Here, David, draw me another. They're in the bottom locker;" andhe tossed me a key. "Ye'll need a glass yourself, sir," he addedto Riach. "Yon was an ugly thing to see."So the pair sat down and hob-a-nobbed; and while they did so, themurderer, who had been lying and whimpering in his berth, raisedhimself upon his elbow and looked at them and at me.That was the first night of my new duties; and in the course ofthe next day I had got well into the run of them. I had to serveat the meals, which the captain took at regular hours, sittingdown with the officer who was off duty; all the day through Iwould be running with a dram to one or other of my three masters;and at night I slept on a blanket thrown on the deck boards atthe aftermost end of the round-house, and right in the draught ofthe two doors. It was a hard and a cold bed; nor was I sufferedto sleep without interruption; for some one would be alwayscoming in from deck to get a dram, and when a fresh watch was tobe set, two and sometimes all three would sit down and brew abowl together. How they kept their health, I know not, any morethan how I kept my own.And yet in other ways it was an easy service. There was no clothto lay; the meals were either of oatmeal porridge or salt junk,except twice a week, when there was duff: and though I was clumsyenough and (not being firm on my sealegs) sometimes fell withwhat I was bringing them, both Mr. Riach and the captain weresingularly patient. I could not but fancy they were making uplee-way with their consciences, and that they would scarce havebeen so good with me if they had not been worse with Ransome.As for Mr. Shuan, the drink or his crime, or the two together,had certainly troubled his mind. I cannot say I ever saw him inhis proper wits. He never grew used to my being there, stared atme continually (sometimes, I could have thought, with terror),and more than once drew back from my hand when I was serving him.I was pretty sure from the first that he had no clear mind ofwhat he had done, and on my second day in the round-house I hadthe proof of it. We were alone, and he had been staring at me along time, when all at once, up he got, as pale as death, andcame close up to me, to my great terror. But I had no cause tobe afraid of him."You were not here before?" he asked."No, sir," said I.""There was another boy?" he asked again; and when I had answeredhim, "Ah!" says he, "I thought that," and went and sat down,without another word, except to call for brandy.You may think it strange, but for all the horror I had, I wasstill sorry for him. He was a married man, with a wife in Leith;but whether or no he had a family, I have now forgotten; I hopenot.Altogether it was no very hard life for the time it lasted, which(as you are to hear) was not long. I was as well fed as the bestof them; even their pickles, which were the great dainty, I wasallowed my share of; and had I liked I might have been drunk frommorning to night, like Mr. Shuan. I had company, too, and goodcompany of its sort. Mr. Riach, who had been to the college,spoke to me like a friend when he was not sulking, and told memany curious things, and some that were informing; and even thecaptain, though he kept me at the stick's end the most part ofthe time, would sometimes unbuckle a bit, and tell me of the finecountries he had visited.The shadow of poor Ransome, to be sure, lay on all four of us,and on me and Mr. Shuan in particular, most heavily. And then Ihad another trouble of my own. Here I was, doing dirty work forthree men that I looked down upon, and one of whom, at least,should have hung upon a gallows; that was for the present; and asfor the future, I could only see myself slaving alongside ofnegroes in the tobacco fields. Mr. Riach, perhaps from caution,would never suffer me to say another word about my story; thecaptain, whom I tried to approach, rebuffed me like a dog andwould not hear a word; and as the days came and went, my heartsank lower and lower, till I was even glad of the work which keptme from thinking.