"The seaman Martinez, kneeling in water, was asking, rather
helplessly, for someone to pass him a baler or invent one--our
regulation dipper having gone overboard in the gale. It was a silly,
useless question: but Grimalson, already rattled, swung round upon a
man he knew to be weak. 'Damn me!' cried he in a gust of rage, 'if I
can't teach it to doctors, I'll teach _seamen_ who gives orders
here!' and snatching out a marling-spike from a sheath in his belt,
hurled it full at the seaman's head.

"The act was brutal enough in itself; for the iron, though a light
one, was full heavy enough, flung with that force, to lay a man out.
It did worse: for Martinez, instead of ducking his head, made a
spring to his feet, putting out his hands much as if fielding a
cricket-ball. The marling-spike, miss-aimed, struck the thwart in
front of him, turned point up with the ricochet, and plunged into his
thigh. As I splashed forward to his help, blood came creeping,
staining the water around my ankles. The steel point had pierced
slantwise through his femoral artery.

"Well, I was quick: and Santa was quick, too--tearing in strips the
damp pillow-case on which her head rested of nights when it wasn't
resting against Farrell's shoulder. (But not _this_ night, I thought
as I worked--not this blessed night just passed!) With the
pillow-case and the very spike that had done the mischief I made a
good firm tourniquet and saved Martinez's life for the time.

"But he had lost a lot of blood. All the drinking water awash in the
boat was foul with it, and this bloodied flood was running, as the
boat rocked, in and out among our small bags of pork and ship-bread.
My job ended, I looked aft. Farrell was leaning over the gunwale in
uncontrollable nausea. The face of Prout at the tiller, was dogged
but inexpressive. Grimalson stood like a man dazed.

"'Will he live?' he asked, his eyes meeting mine. 'Of course I never
intended--'

"'It wasn't a very pretty thing to do, was it?' I answered quietly.

"'Well, this settles it,' said he, staring down at the water.
'We must clean out this filthy mess and overhaul the stores.'

"'And _then_?' I asked.

"'Oh, it'll rain,' said he, affecting confidence. 'It rained for a
hundred last night, didn't it? We've run south of the dry latitudes
and soon we'll be getting more rain than we've any use for.
There's the small keg of rum, too. . . . Great thing as we're
situated,' the fool conti