Chapter 5 CHAPTER FOUR By the schooner's rail

That very evening, after sunset, land was in sight, and our schooner stopped against the wind.That's where he's going, Montgomery hinted.It was too far away to see the details of the land clearly; in this unpredictable blue sea, it seemed to me at that time, just like a hazy blue spot lying low on the ground. in the sea.A plume of blue smoke rises almost vertically, rising into the blue sky from there. The captain was not on deck when land was sighted.After venting his fury on me, he staggered down to the cabin.I knew he had gone to sleep on the floor in his own cabin.The chief mate actually assumes the command task of the whole ship.The first mate in question was the old man we had seen at the wheel, thin and haggard and taciturn.He was clearly angry at Montgomery too.He treated the two of us as if we were nobody, dismissive.At dinner with him, despite my several attempts to induce conversation, he was sullen and silent.I feel that he also has a particularly unfriendly attitude towards my companions and the animals.I found that Montgomery was always half-spoken about what he was going to do with these animals, and where he was going.Although my curiosity continued unabated, I did not push him to tell the truth.

We sat and talked on the back deck until the night sky was filled with stars.Except for an occasional sound from the forecastle below the yellow-lit forecastle, and the occasional movement of animals, the night was silent.In a corner of the cage, the mountain leopards curled up in a pile, lying there, staring at us with blinking eyes.The dogs appeared to be fast asleep.Montgomery produced some cigars. He talked to me about London and asked me all kinds of questions about the changes that had taken place in London, in a voice that was not without a lot of pain in reminiscence.From what he said, he seemed to be nostalgic for a part of his life in London, but he was suddenly and irreparably cut off from London.I babbled, rambling on to the best of my knowledge.The incredible and strange shadow of Montgomery is always floating in my mind.As I spoke, I gazed at his strange, pale face in the dim light of the binnacle lights behind me.Then I looked at the hazy sea, where his small island was hidden in the hazy night.

In my opinion, this man from the vast sea came here to save my life.Tomorrow he will leave the ship and disappear from my life at the same time.Even under normal circumstances, this would make me a little worried, let alone in such a full of doubts!First, an educated man living alone on this unknown island, and then there were his bizarre consignments.I found myself repeating the captain's question: what on earth did he want these animals for?Also, why did he pretend that they weren't his when I started talking about them?Again, there was a strange quality in his entourage, which may be called a man, which made a deep impression on me.A layer of mysterious mist surrounds this person.This not only captured my imagination, but locked my tongue so that I could not even speak.

It was almost midnight, and our chatter about London started to dwindle.We stood side by side against the bulwark, staring dreamily at the calm, steady, star-studded sea, each following his own thoughts.It was an atmosphere suitable for expressing feelings, and I began to express my gratitude. "If I may say so," I said after a pause, "you saved my life." "Coincidentally," he replied, "just by chance." "I should like to express my thanks to you, gentle man, who has done so much for you." "No one is thankful. You have the need, I have the knowledge, and I injected and fed you all I could get from one man. I am bored and looking for something to do, if that day I Tired, or if I don't like the way you look, well—that would be a curious question, who knows where you are now?" This made me feel a little depressed.

"Anyway—" I began. "I tell you, it's a chance," he interrupted me, "like everything that happens to a person in his life. Only a fool can't see this. I—a man banished from modern civilization The man who came out - why is he here now, and not a jovial man enjoying all the pleasures of London? Only because - eleven years ago - in the space of ten minutes on a foggy night , I was impulsive and lost my mind." He stopped. "Go on?" I said. "And that's all." We fell silent again.After a while, he laughed. "Something does loosen people's tongues under such a starlight. I'm a fool, but I don't know why, and I'll tell you."

"No matter what you tell me, you can believe that only I know?? If that's what you're worried about." Seeing that he was about to start narrating, he shook his head suspiciously. "Stop talking," I said. "It's all the same to me anyway. In the end, it's best to keep your secret. If I can gain your confidence, you can confide in me and you'll get nothing out of it but a little consolation. If I can't get the ?? so?" He hesitantly grunted a few times.I felt that I had put him in a difficult position, that he was in a state of mind where a frivolous confession felt imprudent; and to tell the truth, I was not so eager to know what it was that put this young medical student. out of London.I guessed, shrugged, and walked away.A dark figure leaned silently by the taffrail, watching the stars.It was Montgomery's strange squire.Hearing my footsteps, I turned my head and glanced quickly, then looked away again.

Perhaps, this is just a trivial matter to you, but to me, it is like a sudden blow.The only light near us.Just hit the lantern by the wheel.In an instant, the guy's face turned from the darkness of the stern to this bright light, and I saw that the eyes that glanced over me were shining with a pale green light. At the time, I didn't know that reddish light, at least, was not uncommon to the human eye.This thing, like something stiff and inhuman, came towards me.The black figure, with its twinkling eyes, penetrated all my mature thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten fears of my childhood came back to me.Then, this feeling came suddenly, and then went away suddenly.Against the starlight, near the taffrail, it was just a brutish black figure, a figure of no particular significance.I realized that Montgomery was talking to me.

"Well, I'm going to bed," he said, "if you've had enough." I answered him discordantly.We went below deck and he said good night to me at the door of my cabin. That night I had some very unpleasant dreams.The last quarter moon rises very late.The moonlight cast a ghastly twilight beam of white across my cabin, and reflected an ominous blur on the hull-plating beside my berth.Presently the deerhounds woke up again, and began to bark and growl, so that I dreamed intermittently, and hardly slept till the dawn.