Philip Van Doren Stern (ed) (227 page)

"How
did
you
come
here,
Judd?
With
the
others?"

Judd
eyed
him
swiftly.
For
one
second
Patterson
imagined
that
he detected
in
the
merry
greenish
eyes
of
his
companion
the
fixed,
almost petrified
expression
that
had
so
much
perplexed
him
in
the
gaze
of Heywood.
If
he
was
right,
this
expression
vanished
in
a
flash,
yet Judd
seemed
to
withdraw
himself,
to
become
curiously
remote,
as
he answered
coolly:

"Not
I.
I
came
here
after
them—some
time
after."

"Do
you
mean
that,
like
me,
you
were
the
only
survivor
from
your ship?"

"That's
about
it,"
Judd
answered,
with
his
mouth
full. "Tell
me
about
it."

"Oh
.
.
.
there's
nothing
much
to
tell.
She
was
a
great
liner—I
had a
berth
aboard
her—and
she
struck
an
iceberg
in
mid-Atlantic.
There was
not
room
for
me
in
the
boats,
so
I
jumped.
.
.
.
But
she
was
a lovely
ship,
and
big
as
a
city.
Titanic,
they
called
her."

"You're
pulling
my
leg.
And
for
Heaven's
sake
chuck
it—I've
had about
enough
for
one
day."

"S'trewth,
I'm
not!"
Judd
told
him
energetically.
"But
no
matter. You
don't
have
to
believe
it."

And
he
whistled,
picking
his
teeth.

Patterson
asked
with
a
shiver:

"Look
here,
joking
apart,
do
you
mean
to
tell
me
that
you
honestly
believe
you
were
cast
ashore
here
from
the
wreck
of
the
Titanic?"

SMITH: NO SHIPS PASS

"On
my
oath,"
said
Judd.
He
added,
jumping
up:
"Bugs
is
bad here
to-night.
Wait
while
I
swat
a
few."

"Just
answer
this,"
Patterson
interrupted.
"Why
in
Heaven's
name, when
you
think
you
were
wrecked
in
mid-Atlantic,
should
you
have landed
here
on
a
tropical
island
off
the
African
coast?
Bit
of
a
miracle that,
wasn't
it?"

Judd
was
silent
for
a
moment,
flicking
at
the
mosquitoes
with
a palm-leaf
fan.
He
said
at
length,
sucking
his
teeth:

"Not
being
a
seafaring
man,
I
take
it,
you
don't
happen
to
have heard
a
fairy-story
told
among
sailor-boys
all
the
world
over—story
of a
mirage
island
that
floats
about
the
seas
near
wrecks
bent
on
collecting
castaways?"

Patterson
thought
desperately:

"This
man's
as
mad
as
Heywood,
and
that's
saying
a
lot.
.
.
.
And I've
got
to
live
with
them.
.
.
."
Aloud
he
said:
"No,
I've
never heard
that
one.
But
there's
one
other
thing
I
want
to
ask
you.
.
.
. Who's
this
Captain
that
Heywood
was
talking
about?
Has
he
been here
for
many
years?"

"I'll
give
you
this
goatskin
for
a
blanket,"
said
Judd,
"and
you
can doss
near
the
doorway,
where
it's
cooler.
So
you
know
about
the Captain?"

"I've
only
heard
his
name.
I
asked
you,
has
he
been
here
for
very long?"