Toilers of the Sea

PREFACE

Religion, Society, and Nature! these are the three struggles of man. They constitute at the same time his three needs. He has need of a faith; hence the temple. He must create; hence the city. He must live; hence the plough and the ship. But these three solutions comprise three perpetual conflicts. The mysterious difficulty of life results from all three. Man strives with obstacles under the form of superstition, under the form of prejudice, and under the form of the elements. A triple ἁναγκη weighs upon us. There is the fatality of dogmas, the oppression of human laws, the inexorability of nature. In Notre Dame de Paris the author denounced the first; in the Misérables he exemplified the second; in this book he indicates the third. With these three fatalities mingles that inward fatality—the supreme ἁναγκη, the human heart.

Hauteville House,

March, 1866.

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO THE
ROCK OF HOSPITALITY AND LIBERTY
TO THAT PORTION OF OLD NORMAN GROUND
INHABITED BY
THE NOBLE LITTLE NATION OF THE SEA
TO THE ISLAND OF GUERNSEY
SEVERE YET KIND, MY PRESENT ASYLUM
PERHAPS MY TOMB

V.H.

PART I
SIEUR CLUBIN
Book I.—The History of a Bad Reputation
CHAP.		PAGE
I.	A Word written on a White Page	1
II.	The Bû de la Rue	3
III.	For your Wife: when you Marry	7
IV.	An Unpopular Man	9
V.	More Suspicious Facts about Gilliatt	18
VI.	The Dutch Sloop	20
VII.	A Fit Tenant for a Haunted House	25
VIII.	The Gild-Holm-'Ur Seat	27
Book II.—Mess Lethierry
I.	A Troubled Life, but a Quiet Conscience	30
II.	A Certain Predilection	32
III.	The Old Sea Language	33
IV.	One is Vulnerable where one Loves	35
Book III.—Durande and Déruchette
I.	Prattle and Smoke	37
II.	The Old Story of Utopia	39
III.	Rantaine	41
IV.	Continuation of the Story of Utopia	44
V.	The Devil Boat	46
VI.	Lethierry's Exaltation	50
VII.	The same Godfather and the same Patron Saint	52
VIII.	"Bonnie Dundee"	54
IX.	The Man who discovered Rantaine's Character	57
X.	Long Yarns	58
XI.	Matrimonial Prospects	60
XII.	An Anomaly in the Character of Lethierry	61
XIII.	Thoughtlessness adds a Grace to Beauty	65
Book IV.—The Bagpipe
I.	Streaks of Fire on the Horizon	67
II.	The Unknown unfolds itself by Degrees	69
III.	The Air "Bonnie Dundee" finds an Echo on the Hill	71
IV.	"A serenade by night may please a lady fair, But of uncle and of guardian let the troubadour beware." Unpublished Comedy	72
V.	A Deserved Success has always its Detractors	74
VI.	The Sloop Cashmere saves a Shipwrecked Crew	75
VII.	How an Idler had the Good Fortune to be seen by a Fisherman	77
Book V.—The Revolver
I.	Conversations at the Jean Auberge	80
II.	Clubin observes Someone	86
III.	Clubin carries away Something and brings back Nothing	88
IV.	Pleinmont	91
V.	The Birds'-nesters	96
VI.	The Jacressade	108
VII.	Nocturnal Buyers and Mysterious Sellers	114
VIII.	A "Cannon" off the Red Ball and the Black	117
IX.	Useful Information for Persons who expect or fear the Arrival of Letters from beyond Sea	125
Book VI.—The Drunken Steersman and the Sober Captain
I.	The Douvres	130
II.	An Unexpected Flask of Brandy	132
III.	Conversations interrupted	135
IV.	Captain Clubin displays all his great Qualities	142
V.	Clubin reaches the Crowning-point of Glory	147
VI.	The Interior of an Abyss suddenly revealed	151
VII.	An Unexpected Dénouement	158
Book VII.—The Danger of Opening a Book at Random
I.	The Pearl at the Foot of a Precipice	162
II.	Much Astonishment on the Western Coast	169
III.	A Quotation from the Bible	173
PART II
MALICIOUS GILLIATT
Book I.—The Rock
I.	The Place which is difficult to reach, and difficult to leave	181
II.	A Catalogue of Disasters	186
III.	Sound; but not Safe	188
IV.	A Preliminary Survey	190
V.	A Word upon the Secret Co-operations of the Elements	192
VI.	A Stable for the Horse	196
VII.	A Chamber for the Voyager	198
VIII.	Importunæque Volucres	205
IX.	The Rock, and how Gilliatt used it	207
X.	The Forge	210
XI.	Discovery	214
XII.	The Interior of an Edifice under the Sea	217
XIII.	What was seen there; and what perceived dimly	219
Book II.—The Labour
I.	The Resources of one who has nothing	225
II.	Wherein Shakespeare and Æschylus meet	227
III.	Gilliatt's Masterpiece comes to the Rescue of that of Lethierry	229
IV.	Sub Re	232
V.	Sub Umbra	237
VI.	Gilliatt places the Sloop in readiness	242
VII.	Sudden Danger	244
VIII.	Movement rather than Progress	247
IX.	A Slip between Cup and Lip	250
X.	Sea-warnings	252
XI.	A Word to the Wise is enough	255
Book III.—The Struggle
I.	Extremes meet	258
II.	The Ocean Winds	259
III.	The Noises explained	262
IV.	Turba Turma	265
V.	Gilliatt's Alternatives	267
VI.	The Combat	268
Book IV.—Pitfalls in the Way
I.	He who is Hungry is not Alone	280
II.	The Monster	296
III.	Another Kind of Sea-combat	297
IV.	Nothing is hidden; Nothing lost	299
V.	The Fatal Difference between Six Inches and Two Feet	302
VI.	De Profundis ad Altum	306
VII.	The Appeal is heard	311
PART III
DÉRUCHETTE
Book I.—Night and the Moon
I.	The Harbour Bell	315
II.	The Harbour Bell again	327
Book II.—Gratitude and Despotism
I.	Joy surrounded by Tortures	335
II.	The Leathern Trunk	343
Book III.—The Departure of the "Cashmere"
I.	The Havelet near the Church	346
II.	Despair confronts Despair	348
III.	The Forethought of Self-sacrifice	355
IV.	For your Wife: when you Marry	359
V.	The Great Tomb	362

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