The Dark Canoe by Scott O’Dell Page B

scorched it and seas tumbled it about, pickling it in brine.”
    My brother said no more and fell into a deep silence from which I made no effort to arouse him. I must confess that standing there as the moon cast shadows upon the deck and upon his white face, and the waves lapped softly at the ship, with a sound like that of people talking far away, I felt a cold hand upon my spine. And afterward while I lay reading in my bunk, the pages blurred and I could see only Caleb and not Ahab, and hear him talk, using words from the book I held before me.

13
    We awakened to a cloudless sky and a breeze that drifted in from the west. Blue dolphins played around the ship. A flight of pelicans skimmed the bay, searching for small fish. Sea hawks searched the waters, too, and along the shore great turtles sunned themselves.
    â€œA pretty day,” Captain Troll said at breakfast, “the finest I’ve seen since we sailed to Magdalena.”
    Everyone agreed, glad to be alive, I suppose, after the storm, and thinking, no doubt, of the barrels of precious ambergris that still lay in the hold of the Amy Foster .
    The Indians had survived the chubasco and sat waiting for us in their three canoes, beside the marker. To show good will, Caleb allowed the little chief to take a short turn at the pump. The chief appeared to be thankful for this gift, although the work was hard and each time the heavy handle rose he rose with it and dangled in the air. He seemed happier, however, with the wheezing, whumping noises than with anything else. Caleb had been down for about five minutes when I noticed something that made my blood run cold. I had pushed on my end of the handle and the chief, clinging to his end, was in the air, a foot or so above the deck of the platform. As he came down, the breeze lifted his long hair and blew it from his face. I caught a glimpse of a bright gold ring fastened to his ear. I saw the ring for only an instant, but the band was broad and set with a large, green stone. It was the ring that had belonged to my brother Jeremy.
    Saying nothing to the chief, I called Old Man Judd to help at the pump and when the chief had crawled back into his canoe, told him what I had seen.
    Judd went on pumping for a time. “We’d better wait until Caleb’s here,” he said at last. “If we start a fight, there’s no telling what will happen. The air hose might get fouled or the pump pushed overboard.”
    Caleb came to the surface at midmorning and as soon as he was out of his diving helmet, I told him about the ring. He took the news calmly.
    â€œâ€™Tis ten of us against twenty of the savages,” he said. “A poor bargain, they being armed with spears and heathenish arrows and we with nothing. Let’s wait the morning. We’ll meet them then with a brace of pistols.”
    â€œWhat if they disappear?” I said.
    â€œSmall chance of this,” Caleb said, “while still there’s treasure to be found. Aye, I recall the ring. ’Tis made of Inca gold and green turquoise mined by Aztecs. We shalt have it back.”
    We bolted on Caleb’s helmet and he was ready to dive when a school of killer whales swam in. They came to prey upon the seals that were frolicking around our boats, watching us with their beautiful eyes as if there only to keep us company.
    These mammoth black and white fish are shaped like fat torpedoes and weigh almost a ton, but they swim with great speed and slash about, using their teeth like razors. Their first rush drove the playful seals together, much as a herder herds his flock of sheep. With the gnashing of a thousand teeth, the killers set about the slaughter. As they left, the sharks sneaked in and began to cruise around, scavenging all that remained. Caleb, therefore, decided to quit for the day and sent all of the crew back to the ship, except Captain Troll, Judd, and me.
    â€œHast seen the chest-coffin-canoe?” he said to Troll.
    It