The Long Voyage Home Page #3

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You think I'm scared?

Don't you be thinking such thoughts.

Don't be leaving me, Drisk.

- Ole? | - Here, Yank.

Don't leave me.

I'm dying, I tell you.

I won't stay here alone.

I'll go out on deck.

There, there, now.

Don't you be worrying, Yank!

I'll not stir a step out of here,

and let that devil of a man | curse his black head off.

I take your watch, Ole.

Get me some water. Quick.

Here, here you are, lad.

There you are.

He's just up and having a fainting spell, | sir.

Isn't this your watch, Driscoll?

Yes, sir, | but Yank was fearing to be alone and...

- Well, that's all right, Driscoll. | - Thank you, sir.

Did he take the medicine I sent?

Yes, sir, but it wouldn't stay down.

I'm afraid he's very weak.

Please, sir. Find some way to help him.

My good man, I'm not a doctor.

You and him been shipmates | a long time, haven't you?

Yes, sir.

Well, keep him quiet, | and we'll hope for the best.

I'll raid the med room | and send some medicine,

something to ease the pain anyhow.

You'll be up tomorrow. | We'll pull you through, all right.

Well, keep your courage up. | Coming, Mister?

Didn't I tell you?

Sure the Captain will have you on deck | chipping rust before the week is out.

Don't lie, Drisk.

I'm gonna die. The sooner, the better.

Oh, by the Holy, you lad. | I'll not let you. I'll not let you.

Give me a drink of water.

My throat's burning up.

How's Yank?

It's asleep, he is.

No, I ain't, Drisk.

I was just dreaming.

I thought I was way in the middle of land,

where you could never smell the sea | or look at a ship.

Prop me up a little, will you?

So I can breathe.

Thanks.

Where's Ole?

Ole?

Here, Yank.

This ain't no life, Ole.

If you don't leave it this trip, | you never will.

Sure. We'll both put him on his way home | soon as we're all paid off.

Remember the times we've had | in Buenos Aires?

- That dance hall in Barracas. Remember? | - I do indeed.

Yeah.

And the stink of the hides in La Plata.

Give me a puff, Drisk.

Remember the night | I went crazy with the heat

in Singapore?

And the time we both got locked up | for fighting in Sydney. I do indeed.

That fight on the dock in Cape Town.

I can see his face in front of me.

That guy that I...

Let you not be thinking of that now. | That's done and gone and forgot.

It was done in fair fight.

In self-defense, wasn't it?

- Wasn't it, Drisk? | - Indeed it was.

Didn't he try to stab you in the back | and you not suspecting?

I wish I had no blackened deed on my soul.

Where's all that fog coming from, Drisk?

Fog?

How'd it get in here?

Of course, lad, it's...

It's just coming in the alleyway.

That's funny.

I thought I could hear the wind | blowing outside.

Yank, lad,

I never asked you,

but have you no relations at all | that you could call your own?

Drisk.

- Drisk? | - Yes, Yank?

Remember that little barmaid

in the Red Stork in Cardiff?

She was a good kid.

Swell kid.

Lent me dough when I was broke.

Buy her something to...

Give me a drink.

Yank?

Yank, speak to me, lad.

Yank!

Captain sent this medicine for Yank.

He say it would take away his pain | where he's hurting.

Yank's gone?

"Before the light of God."

"He that believeth in me, | though he were dead, yet shall he live.

"Our Lord Jesus Christ, | our glorious majesty.

"The seas will give up her dead..."

Thank you, sir.

There's your coffee, Scotty, | if you can call it coffee.

What are you doing?

I just paint windows, Drisk.

Have I no eyes in the front of my head?

Mate's orders, Drisk.

We show no lights. | With the submarines lying about...

You mean, we're in the war zone?

We'll be tonight. | I heard the old man tell the Second.

Wouldn't you think that leg of a Mate | would pass the word?

They ain't pasting up no bulletins | to let the crew know anything.

I don't like this much.

The lifeboats are ready, ain't they?

Sure, lower them in a second.

Next time I ship on windjammer, | Boston to River Plate,

loaded with wood only so she float, | by golly!

Well, I'm... Lord!

They're not half smart, them blighters.

What are you buzzing about?

It's written down here in print, | or I wouldn't believe it.

It's a true confession.

Confession of what, man?

The fifth column.

Fifth column?

It tells here how a German spy in Paris | was writing messages

to a woman spy in Switzerland,

who sent them on to Berlin, Germany.

That's nothing.

Nothing, is it? | Wait till you hear how they done it.

To read their messages, | you wouldn't suspect anything, see.

A lot of mush.

The fellows in the War Office | that opens them

thinks they're nothing but love letters, | you see? But they have a code.

What do you mean, code?

What do I mean? I'll tell you what I mean.

They have a piece of paper | with a lot of little holes cut out in it,

and when they put it on top of the letters,

they see only the words | that tell them what they want to know.

And the Frenchmen get beaten up for it | all on account of one letter.

That's bad.

The conniving, murdering, tricking... | That's the truth.

Here, you can read it for yourself.

No, no, you keep it.

That code, that's no good, by devil!

Come on, Scotty, or the Mate will be down | on our necks. Your wheel, ain't it?

Aye.

Shocking! Outrageous! Preposterous!

Hash, stew, marmalade,

submarines.

Codes, by devil!

East by north. Three quarters north.

East by north. Three quarter north.

Do you smell the land, Smitty?

Aye, a day and a night now.

Don't let it trouble you, Smitty. | Crew don't let on.

But they're always kind of nervous | when they get into the war zone first time.

Thanks for the compliment, Donkeyman.

I hope you won't tell anyone | you saw me shaking with fear.

- Oh, I didn't mean... | - Haven't you ever needed a drink?

Haven't you felt every nerve in your body | demanding whiskey?

Haven't you felt like screaming because... | Oh, what's the use of talking about it?

You don't know what I mean.

Indeed, indeed I do.

Look, take my advice. Don't leave the ship.

I'm staying onboard. You won't be alone.

Couple of days in port, | and then away to sea again. Why not?

What's it going to be, Smitty?

One big drunk or more memories?

No, I'm gonna enlist.

Good. Navy needs you.

Navy?

No, I'm going in the army | if they'll have me.

Skipper wanted his binoculars. | Must've left them in the chart room.

"International Code of Signals, | British Edition."

Why aren't you up there | where you belong?

I see lights from ship.

Right there. | First, I think she's submarine, by golly.

I don't see nothing.

She wink on. She wink off. | Then she wink away. I see it.

Someone is making signals.

No, you're looney.

No, by devil, I see light.

All right, all right. Get up on the topside | before the Mate sees you.

Keep your eyes peeled.

Nearly eight bells, Scotty. | Rise and shine, Ole.

Come on, you guys. Shake a leg. | Get out of there.

- Fog still thick? | - Sure, cut it with a knife.

Bloody hate the fog, | unless you can hear the foghorn.

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