Page:Weird Tales Volume 02 Number 2 (1937-02).djvu/70

 Old Paris to make permanent grinning jesters for the kings. But the eyes were the most repulsive feature in the face. They were as small as those of a hog, and rheumy rings of inflammation encircled them. For a moment this monstrosity of a man stood and surveyed me as though I were some new species of insect.

"At last he spoke, and his voice was as great a shock to me as his appearance. There was a note of culture in the tone, and he pronounced his words perfectly.

"'My name is Jolly Cauldron,' he said, 'and I'm captain of this ship. You re one of the new hands, and you're going to do as I say.'

"In the tone there was no animosity. He simply took it for granted that I would bow to his wishes. Naturally I rebelled against this.

"'I refuse to be treated like a dog,' I told him.

"He threw back his head and laughed heartily, as though I had told him the rarest joke. But as quickly as the fit of merriment seized him it passed, and his eyes narrowed until they were only points. The next moment his arm shot out, caught me on the tip of the jaw and sent me sprawling in a limp heap a dozen feet away. At that moment, mercifully, darkness closed in again. As consciousness slipped from me I seemed to hear Jolly Cauldron's laugh echoing as from a great distance.

long I remained unconscious I do not know, for the next thing I remember was my head throbbing as though it would burst. My tongue was parched, and my body burned with fever; yet on my brow was not the slightest sign of moisture. My flesh was baked dry. Over my body countless rats scampered. They paid no more attention to me than if I had been part of the flooring. I was stifling. All air seemed to have been sucked from that hold.

"Again the hatch opened and Jolly Cauldron climbed down the rope ladder. He carried a jug of water and a bowl of food. Although it was composed of boiled pork and greenish potatoes, to me it looked appetizing.

"Jolly Cauldron kicked me in the chest. 'Well, how's the dog?' he cried.

"He placed the food and water on the floor a short distance from me. I tried to rise but could not. I was chained to the floor.

"'Until a dog's well trained,' grinned Jolly Cauldron, 'it's a wise precaution to keep him tied up.'

"That hour was one of intense agony. Jolly Cauldron left the hatch open so that I could be a spectator of the events that followed. The rats came out of the darkness in swarms and attacked the food. In their haste and gluttony they even attacked one another. My tongue was hanging out. I'd have committed any crime merely for the privilege of wetting my lips.

"Jolly Cauldron returned and shook his fist at me. 'What do you say, dog?' he cried. 'Are you willing to obey me now?'

"In a voice that was almost a moan I admitted that I was, so he released me and led me up the hatchway to the crew's quarters. A more filthy place could not have been imagined. The cabin was swarming with vermin. The floor was covered with litter, chunks of biscuit, empty beef-tins, bits of decaying pork and wads of tobacco. Yet to me after my confinement in the rat-ridden hold it was not repulsive.

"In the days that followed I learned quite a bit of seamanship. I was on a four-masted schooner, The Poppy Pearl, and we were bound for China. The crew were opium-smugglers Jolly Cauldron