 Section 1 of Benito Sereno. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Nullifidian. Benito Sereno by Herman Melville. In the year 1799, Captain Amasa Delano of Duxbury in Massachusetts, commending a large sealer and general trader, lay at anchor with a valuable cargo in the harbor of St. Maria, a small desert uninhabited island towards the southern extremity of the long coast of Chile. There he had touched for water. On the second day, not long after dawn, while lying in his berth, his mate came below informing him that a strange sail was coming into the bay. Ships were then not so plenty in those waters as now. He rose, dressed, and went on deck. The morning was one peculiar to that coast. Everything was mute and calm, everything gray. The sea, though undulated into long roots of swells, seemed fixed, and was sleeked at the surface like waved lead that has cooled and set in the smelter's mold. The sky seemed to gray mantle. Flights of troubled gray fowl, kith and kin, with flights of troubled gray vapors among which they were mixed, skimmed low and fitfully over the waters, as swallows over meadows before storms. Shadows present, foreshadowing deeper shadows to come. To Captain Delano's surprise, the stranger viewed through the glass showed no colors, though to do so upon entering a haven, however uninhabited in its shores, where but a single other ship might be lying, was the custom among peaceful seamen of all nations. Considering the lawlessness and loneliness of the spot, and the sort of stories at that day associated with those seas, Captain Delano's surprise might have deepened into some uneasiness, had he not been a person of singularly undistrustful good nature. Not liable, except on extraordinary and repeated excitement, and hardly then, to indulge in personal alarms anyway involving the imputation of malign evil in man. Whether in view of what humanity is capable, such a trait implies, along with a benevolent heart, more than ordinary quickness and accuracy of intellectual perception may be left to the wise to determine. But whatever misgivings might have obtruded on first seeing the stranger, would almost, in any seamen's mind, have been dissipated by observing that the ship, in navigating into the harbor, was drawing too near the land for her own safety's sake, owing to a sunken reef making out off her bow. This seemed to prove her a stranger, indeed, not only to the sealer, but the island. Consequently, she could be no wanted freebooter in that ocean. With no small interest, Captain Delano continued to watch her, a proceeding not much facilitated by the vapours partly mantling the hull, through which the far mattin' light from her cabin streamed equivocally enough. Much like the sun, by this time crescented on the rim of the horizon, and apparently, in company with the strange ship, entering the harbor, which, wimpled by the same low creeping clouds, showed not unlike a Lima Intraguante's one sinister eye peering across the plaza from the Indian loophole of her dusk, Saiya Imantha. It might have been but a deception of the vapours, but the longer the stranger was watched, the more singular appeared her maneuvers. Air Longet seemed hard to decide whether she meant to come in or no, what she wanted or what she was about. The wind, which had breezed up a little during the night, was now extremely light and baffling, which the more increased the apparent uncertainty of her movements. Surmising at last that it might be a ship in distress, Captain Delano ordered his whale boat to be dropped, and, much to the wary opposition of his mate, prepared to board her and, at the least, pilot her in. On the night previous, a fishing party of the seaman had gone a long distance to some detached rocks out of sight from the sealer, and an hour or two before daybreak had returned, having met with no small success. Presuming that the stranger might have been long off soundings, the good captain put several baskets of the fish for presents into his boat, and so pulled away. From her continuing to near the sunken reef, deeming her in danger, calling to his men, he made all haste to apprise those on board of their situation, but sometime ere the boat came up, the wind, light though it was, having shifted, had headed the vessel off, as well as partly broken the vapours from about her. Upon gaining a less remote view, the ship, when made signally visible on the verge of the leadenhude swells, with the shreds of fog here and there, raggedly furring her, appeared like a whitewashed monastery after a thunderstorm, seen perched upon some done cliff among the Pyrenees, but it was no purely fanciful resemblance, which now, for a moment, almost led Captain Delano to think that nothing less than a shipload of monks was before him. Peering over the bold works were what really seemed, in the hazy distance, throngs of dark cows, while fitfully revealed through the open portholes, other dark-moving figures were dimly described, as of black friars pacing the cloisters. Upon a still nigh-her approach, this appearance was modified and the true character of the vessel was plain, a Spanish merchant man of the first class carrying negro sleighs, amongst other valuable freight, from one colonial port to another, a very large and, in its time, a very fine vessel, such as in those days where intervals encountered along that main, sometimes superseded acapulco treasure ships, or retired frigates of the Spanish king's navy, which, like superannuated Italian palaces, still under a decline of masters preserved signs of former state. As the whale boat drew more and more nigh, the cause of the peculiar pipe-clade aspect of the stranger was seen in the slovenly neglect pervading her. The spars, ropes, and great part of the bulwarks looked woolly, from long unequatance with the scraper tar and the brush. Her keels seemed laid, her ribs put together, and she launched from Ezekiel's valley of dry bones. In the present business in which she was engaged, the ship's general model and rig appeared to have undergone no material change from their original warlike and foist-art pattern. However, no guns were seen. The tops were large and were railed about with what had once been octagonal network, all in sad disrepair. The tops hung overhead like three ruinous aviaries, in one of which was seen perched on a ratland, a white knotty, a strange fowl, so-called from its lethargic, some nambulistic character, being frequently caught by hand at sea. Battered in moldy, the castellated forecastle seemed some ancient turret long ago taken by assault and then left to decay. Towards the stern, two high-raised quarter-gallies, the balustrauds here and there covered with dry tindery seamoths, opening out from the unoccupied stake cabin, whose dead lights, for all the mild weather, were hermetically closed and caulked. These tenetless balconies hung over the sea as if it were the grand Venetian canal. But the principal relic of faded grandeur was the ample oval of the shield-like stern piece, intricately carved with the arms of Castile and Leon, medallioned about by groups of mythological or symbolical devices, uppermost and central of which was a dark satyr in a mask, holding his foot on the prostrate neck of a writhing figure, likewise mass. Whether the ship had a figurehead, or only a plain beak, was not quite certain, owing to canvas wrapped about that part, either to protect it while undergoing a refurbishing, or else decently to hide its decay. Rudely painted or chalked, as in a sailor-freak, along the forward side of a sort of pedestal below the canvas, was the sentence Seguid Vestorhete, follow your leader. While upon the tarnished headboards, nearby, appeared instinctly capitals, once gilt, the ship's name, San Dominic. Each letter strickenly corroded with tricklings of copper spike rust, while, like morning weeds, dark festoons of seagrass slimely swept to and fro over the name, with every hearse-like roll of the hull. As it last the boat was hooked from the bow, along toward the gangway a midship, its keel, while yet some inches separated from the hull, harshly grated as on a sunken coral reef, it proved a huge bunch of conglobated barnacles, adhering below the water to the side like a wind, a token of baffling airs and long combs passed to somewhere in those seas. End of Section 1 Section 2 of Benito Sereno by Herman Melville This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Melafidian, Benito Sereno by Herman Melville Climbing the side, the visitor was at once surrounded by a clamorous throng of whites and blacks, but the latter outnumbering the former more than could have been expected, negro-transportationship as the stranger in port was. But in one language, and as with one voice, all poured out a common tale of suffering in which the negroesses, of whom there were not a few, exceeded the others in their dullerous vehemence. The scurvy, together with a fever, had swept off a great part of their number, more especially the Spaniards. Off Cape Horn they had narrowly escaped shipwreck. Then for days together they had lain tranced without wind. Their provisions were low, their water next to none, their lips that moment were baked. While Captain Delano was thus made the mark of all eager tongues, his one eager glance took in all the faces with every other object about him. Always upon first boarding a large and populous ship at sea, especially a foreign one, with a nondescript cruise such as Laskers or Manila Men, the impression varies in a peculiar way from that produced by first entering a strange house with strange inmates in a strange land. Both house and ship, the one by its walls and blinds, the other by its high bulwarks like ramparts, hoard from view their interiors till the last moment. But in the case of the ship there is this addition, that the living spectacle it contains upon its sudden and complete disclosure has, in contrast with the blank ocean which zones it, something of the effect of enchantment. The ship seems unreal. These strange costumes, gestures and faces but a shadowy tableau just emerged from the deep which directly must receive back what it gave. Perhaps it was some such influence as above as attempted to be described which, in Captain Delano's mind, heightened whatever upon a staid scrutiny, might have seemed unusual. Especially the conspicuous figures of four elderly grizzled negroes, their heads like black, dotted willow tops, who, in venerable contrast to the tumult below them, were couched sphinx-like, one on the starboard cat head, another on the larbord, and the remaining pair face to face on the opposite bulwarks above the main chains. They each had bits of unstranded old junk in their hands, and, with the sort of stoical self-content, were picking the junk into oakum, a small heap of which lay by their sides. They accompanied the task with the continuous, low monotonous chant, droning and drooling away like so many gray-headed bagpipers playing a funeral march. The quarter-deck rose into an ample elevated poop, upon the forward verge of which, lifted, like the oakum pickers, some eight feet above the general throng, sat along in rows separated by regular spaces, the cross-legged figures of six other blacks, each with a rusty hatchet in his hand, which, with a bit of brick and rag, he was engaged like a scullion and scouring. While between each two was a small stack of hatchets, their rusted edges turned forward, waiting alike operation. Though occasionally the four oakum pickers would briefly address some person or persons in the crowd below, yet the six hatchet polishers neither spoke to others nor breathed the whisper among themselves, but sat intent upon their task, except at intervals, when, with the peculiar love in negroes of uniting industry with pastime, two and two they sideways clashed their hatchets together, like symbols with a barbers den. All six, unlike the generality, had the raw aspect of unsophisticated Africans. But the first comprehensive glance which took in these ten figures, with scores less conspicuous, rested but an instant upon them, as, impatient of the hubbub of voices, the visitor turned in quest of whomsoever it might be that commanded the ship. But, as if not unwilling to let nature make known her own case among his suffering charges, or else in despair of restraining it for the time, the Spanish captain, a gentlemanly, reserved looking and rather young man to a stranger's eye, dressed with the singular richness, but bearing plain traces of sleepless cares and disquietudes, stood passively by, leaning against the main mast, at one moment casting a dreary, spiritless look upon his excited people, at the next an unhappy glance toward his visitor. By his side stood a black of small stature, in whose rude face, as occasionally like a shepherd's dog, he mutely turned it up to the Spaniards, sorrow and affection were equally blended. Struggling through the throng, the American advanced to the Spaniard, assuring him of his sympathies and offering to render whatever assistance might be in his power, to which the Spaniard returned, for the present, but grave and ceremonious acknowledgments, his national formality dust by the saturnine mood of ill health. But losing no time and mere compliments, Captain Delano returned to the gangway, had his baskets of fish brought up, and as the wind still continued light, so that some hours at least must elapse ere the ship could be brought to the anchorage, he bade his men return to the sealer, and fetched back as much water as the whale boat could carry, with whatever soft bread the steward might have, all the remaining pumpkins on board, with a box of sugar, and a dozen of his private bottles of cider. Not many minutes after the boats pushing off, to the vexation of all, the wind entirely died away, and the tide turning began drifting back the ship helplessly seaward. But trusting this would not last, Captain Delano sought with good hopes to cheer up the strangers, feeling no small satisfaction that, with persons in their condition he could, thanks to his frequent voyages along the Spanish main, converse with some freedom in their native tongue. While left alone with them, he was not long in observing some things tending to heighten his first impressions, but surprise was lost in pity, both for the Spaniards and blacks. A like evidently reduced from scarcity of water and provisions, while long-continued sufferings seemed to have brought out the less good-natured quality of the Negroes, besides, at the same time, impairing the Spaniards' authority over them. But, under the circumstances, precisely this condition of things was to have been anticipated. In armies, navies, cities, or families, in nature herself, nothing more relaxes good order than misery. Still, Captain Delano was not without the idea that had Benito Sereno been a man of greater energy, misrule could hardly have come to the present pass. But the debility, constitutional or induced by the hardships bodily and mental, of the Spanish captain, was too obvious to be overlooked. A prey to settle dejection, as if long mocked with hope he would not now indulge it, even when it had ceased to be a mock. The prospect of that day or evening at furthest, lying at anchor with plenty of water for his people, and a brother-captain to counsel and befriend, seemed in no perceptible degree to encourage him. His mind appeared unstrung, if not more seriously affected. Shut up in the oaken walls, chained to one dull round of command, whose unconditionality cloyed him, like some hypochondriac abbot he moved slowly about. At times suddenly pausing, starting or staring, biting his lip, biting his fingernail, flushing, paling, twitching his beard, with other symptoms of an absent or moody mind. This distempered spirit was lodged, as before hinted, in as distempered a frame. He was rather tall, but seemed never to have been robust, and now, with nervous suffering, was worn almost to a skeleton. A tendency to some pulmonary complaint appeared to have been lately confirmed. His voice was like that of one with the lungs half gone, horsely suppressed, a husky whisper. No wonder that, as in this state he tottered about, his private servant apprehensively followed him. Sometimes the negro gave his master his arm, or took his handkerchief out of his pocket for him, performing these in similar offices with that affectionate zeal which transmutes into something filial or fraternal, acts in themselves but menial, and which has gained for the negro the repute of making the most pleasing body servant in the world, one, two whom a master need be on no stiffly superior terms with, but may treat with familiar trust, less a servant than a devoted companion. Marking the noisy indecility of the blacks in general, as well as what seemed the sullen inefficiency of the whites, it was not without humane satisfaction that Captain Delano witnessed the steady good conduct of Babbo. But the good conduct of Babbo, hardly more than the ill behavior of others, seemed to withdraw the half lunatic Don Bonito from his cloudy langer. Not that such precisely was the impression made by the Spaniard on the mind of his visitor. The Spaniard's individual unrest was, for the present, but noted as conspicuous a feature in the ship's general fliction. Still, Captain Delano was not a little concerned at what he could not help taking for the time to be Don Bonito's unfriendly indifference towards himself. The Spaniard's manner, too, conveyed a note of sour and gloomy disdain, which he seemed at no pains to disguise. But this the American in charity has scribed to the harassing effects of sickness. Since, in former instances, he had noted that there are peculiar natures on whom prolonged physical suffering seems to cancel every social instinct of kindness. As if forced to blackbread themselves, they deemed it but equity that each person coming nigh them should, indirectly by some slighter affront, be made to partake of their fare. But ere long, Captain Delano bethought him that, indulgent as he was at the first, in judging the Spaniard he might not, after all, have exercised charity enough. At bottom it was Don Bonito's reserve which displeased him. But the same reserve was shown towards all but his personal attendant. Even the formal reports which, according to sea usage, were at stated times made to him by some petty udderling, either a white mulatto or black, he hardly had patience enough to listen to without betraying contemptuous aversion. His manner upon such occasions was in its degree, not unlike that which might be supposed to have been his imperial countrymen's, Charles V, just previous to the anchorite-ish retirement of that monarch from the throne. This splinetic disrelish of his place was evinced in almost every function pertaining to it. Proud as he was moody, he condescended to no personal mandate. Whatever special orders were necessary, their delivery was delegated to his body servant, who in turn transferred them to their alternate destination. Through runners, alert Spanish boys or slave boys, like pages or pilot fish, with an easy call, continually hovering around Don Bonito, so that to have beheld this undemonstrative invalid gliding about apathetic and mute, no landsman could have dreamed that in him was lodged a dictatorship beyond which, while at sea, there was no earthly appeal. Thus the Spaniard, regarded in his reserve, seemed as the involuntary victim of mental disorder, but in fact his reserve might, in some degree, have proceeded from design. If so, then in Don Bonito was invinced the unhealthy climax of that icy, though conscientious policy, more or less adopted by all commanders of large ships, which, except in signal emergencies, obliterates alike the manifestation of sway with every trace of sociality, transforming the man into a block, or rather into a loaded cannon, which, until there is call for thunder, has nothing to say. Viewing him in this light, it seemed but a natural token of the perverse habit induced by a long course of such hard self-restraint that, notwithstanding the present condition of his ship, the Spaniard should still persist in a demeanor which, however harmless or it may be appropriate, in a well-appointed vessel, such as the San Dominic might have been at the outset of the voyage, was anything but judicious now. But the Spaniard perhaps thought that it was with captains as with gods, reserve under all events must still be their cue. But, more probably, this appearance of slumbering dominion might have been but an attempted disguise to conscious imbecility, not deep policy but shallow device. But be all as this might. Whether Don Benito's manner was designed or not, the more Captain Delano noted its pervading reserve, the less he felt uneasiness at any particular manifestation of that reserve towards himself. Neither were his thoughts taken up by the captain alone. Wanted to the quiet orderliness of the sealer's comfortable family of a crew, the noisy confusion of the San Dominic's suffering host repeatedly challenged his eye. Some prominent breaches not only of discipline but of decency were observed. These Captain Delano could not but ascribe, in the main, to the absence of those subordinate deck officers to whom, along with higher duties, is entrusted what may be styled the police department of a populous ship. True, the old oakham pickers appeared at times to act part of monitorial constables to their countrymen, the blacks, but though occasionally succeeding in allaying trifling outbreaks now and then between man and man, they could do little or nothing towards establishing a general quiet. The San Dominic was in the condition of a transatlantic immigrant ship, among whose multitude of living freight are some individuals doubtless, as little troublesome as crates and bales, but the friendly remonstrances of such with their rudor companions are of not so much a veil as the unfriendly arm of the mate. What the San Dominic wanted was, what the immigrant ship has, stern superior officers, but on these decks not so much as a fourth mate was to be seen. End of Section 2 Benito Sereno by Herman Melville Yet at first the visitor was loath to ask it, unwilling to provoke some distant rebuff, but plucking up courage, he had last accosted Don Benito, renewing the expression of his benevolent interest, adding that did he, Captain Delano, but know the particulars of the ship's misfortunes, he would perhaps be better able in the end to relieve them. Would Don Benito favor him with the whole story? Don Benito faltered, then, like some somnambulist suddenly interfered with, vacantly stared at his visitor, and ended by looking down on the deck. He maintained this posture so long that Captain Delano, almost equally disconcerted, and involuntarily almost as rude, turned suddenly from him, walking forward to accost one of the spanner's seamen, for the desired information. But he had hardly gone five paces, when with a sort of eagerness Don Benito invited him back, regretting his momentary absence of mind, and professing readiness to gratify him. While most part of the story was being given, the two captains stood on the after part of the main deck, a privileged spot, no one being near but the servant. It is now a hundred and ninety days, began the Spaniard, in his husky whisper, that this ship, well officered and well manned, with several cabin passengers, some fifty Spaniards and all, sailed from Buenos Aires, bound to Lima, with the General Cargo, Paraguay T. and the like, and, pointing forward, that parcel of Negroes, now not more than a hundred and fifty, as you see but then numbering over three hundred souls. Off Cape Horn we had heavy gales, in one moment by night, three of my best officers, with fifteen sailors, were lost, with the main yard, the spars snapping under them in the slings, as they sought, with heavers, to beat down the icy sail. To lighten the hull, the heavier sacks of Mata were thrown into the sea, with most of the water pipes last on deck at the time, and this last necessity it was, combined with the prolonged detentions afterwards experienced, which eventually brought about our chief causes of suffering. When, here there was a sudden feinting attack of his cough, brought on, no doubt by his mental distress, his servants sustained him, and drawing a cordial from his pocket placed it to his lips, he a little revived, but unwilling to leave him unsupported, while yet imperfectly restored, the black with one arm still encircled his master, at the same time keeping his eye fixed on his face. As if to watch for the first sign of complete restoration, or relapse as the event might prove. The Spaniard proceeded, but brokenly and obscurely, as one in a dream. Oh my God, rather than pass through what I have, with joy I would have hailed the most terrible Gales, but his cough returned, and with increased violence, this subsiding with redden lips and closed eyes, he fell heavily against his supporter. His mind wanders, he was thinking of the plague that followed the Gales, plaintively sighed the servant, my poor poor master, ringing one hand, and with the other wiping the mouth, but to be patient, senor, again turning to Captain Delano, these fits do not last long, master will soon be himself. Don Bonita, reviving, went on, but as this portion of the story was very brokenly delivered, the substance only will hear be set down. It appeared that after the ship had been many days tossed in storms off the cape, the scurvy broke out, carrying off numbers of the whites and blacks. When at last they had worked round into the Pacific, their spars and sails were so damaged, and so inadequately handled by the surviving mariners, most of whom were become invalids, that, unable to lay her northerly course by the wind, which was powerful, the unmanageable ship for successive days and nights was blown northwestward, where the breeze suddenly deserted her in unknown waters, to sultry calms. The absence of the water pipes now proved as fatal to life as before their presence had menaced it. Induced, or at least aggravated by the more than scanty allowance of water, a malignant fever followed the scurvy, with the excessive heat of the lengthened comb, making such short work of it as to sweep away, as by billows, whole families of the Africans, and yet a larger number proportionally of the Spaniards, including by a luckless fatality every officer on board. Consequently, in the smart-west winds eventually following the calm, the already-rent sails having to be simply dropped, not furled at need, had been gradually reduced to the beggars' rags they were now. To procure substitutes for his lost sailors, as well as supplies of water and sails, the captain at the earliest opportunity had made for Baldevia, the southernmost civilized port of Chile and South America, but upon nearing the coast, the thick weather had prevented him from so much as siding that harbor. Since which period, almost without a crew, and almost without canvas, and almost without water, and at intervals giving its added dead to the sea, the San Dominic had been battledored about by contrary winds, unveiled by currents, or grown weedy in calms, like a man lost in woods, more than once she had doubled upon her own track. But throughout these calamities, huskily continued Don Benito, painfully turning in the half-embrace of his servant, I have to thank those negroes you see who, though to your inexperienced eyes appearing unruly, have indeed conducted themselves with less of restlessness than even their owner could have thought possible under such circumstances. Here he again fell faintly back, again his mind wandered, but he rallied, and less obscurely proceeded. Yes, their owner was quite right in assuring me that no fetters would be needed with his blacks, so that while, as his want in this transportation, those negroes have always remained upon deck, not thrust below, as in the guinea men, they have also, from the beginning, been freely permitted to range with them given bounds at their pleasure. Once more the faintness returned, his mind roved, but recovering he resumed. But it is Babo here, to whom, under God, I own not only my own preservation, but likewise to him chiefly, the merit is due of pacifying his more ignorant brethren, when at intervals tempted to murmurings. Our master, sighed the black, bowing his face, don't speak of me, Babo is nothing, what Babo has done was but duty. Faithful fellow, cried Captain Delano, Don Benito, I envy you such a friend, slave I cannot call him. For more information or to volunteer, please visit lipovox.org. Benito Sereno by Herman Melville Chapter 4 The Blacks As master and man stood before him, the black upholding the white, Captain Delano could not but but think about the beauty of that relationship, which could present such a spectacle of fidelity on the one hand, and confidence on the other. The scene was heightened by the contrast in dress, denoting their relative positions. The Spaniard wore a loose chili jacket of dark velvet, white small clothes and stockings with silver buckles at the knee and end step. A high crown sombrero, fine grass, a slender sword, silver mounted hung from a nautenous sash, the last being an almost invariable adjunct, more for utility than ornament of a South American gentleman's dress to this hour. Accepting when his occasional nervous contortions brought about disarray, there was a certain precision in his attire, curiously at variance with the unsightly disorder around, especially in the belittled ghetto, forward of the main mast, wholly occupied by the blacks. The servant wore nothing but wide trousers, apparently from their coarseness in patches, made out of some old top sail. They were clean and confined to the waist by a bit of unstranded rope, which with his composed deprecatory air at times made him look something like a begging fryer of St. Francis. However unsuitable for the time and place, at least in the blunt-thinking American's eyes, and however strangely surviving in the midst of all his afflictions, the toilette of Don Benito might not, in fashion at least, have gone beyond the style of the day among South Americans of his class. Though on the present voyage sailing from Buenos Aires, he had avowed himself a native and resident of Chile, whose inhabitants had not so generally adopted the plain coat and once plebeian pantaloons, but with a becoming modification adhered to their provincial costume, picturesque as any in the world. Still, relatively to the pale history of the voyage and his own pale face, there seemed something so incongruous in the Spaniard's apparel, as almost to suggest the image of an invalid courtier tottering about London streets in the time of the plague. The portion of the narrative which perhaps most excited interest, as well as some surprise, considering the latitudes in question, was the long calm, so spoken of, and more particularly the ship so long drifting about. Without communicating the opinion, of course, the American could not but impute at least part of the detentions, both to clumsy seamanship and faulty navigation. I, in Don Benito's small yellow hands, he easily inferred that the young captain had not got into command at the Hall's Hall, but the cabin window, and if so, why wonder it incompetence in youth, sickness, and aristocracy united? Such was his democratic conclusion. But drowning criticism and compassion after a fresh repetition of sympathies, Captain Delano, having heard out his story, not only engaged as in the first place to see Don Benito and his people supplied and their immediate bodily needs, but also, now, further promised to assist him in procuring a large permanent supply of water, as well as some sales and rigging, and though it would involve no small embarrassment to himself, yet he would spare three of his best seamen for temporary deck offices, so that without delay the ship might proceed to Conception, there fully to refit for Lima, her destined port. Such generosity was not without its effect, even upon the invalid, his face lighted up, eager and hectic, he met the honest glance of his visitor, with gratitude he seemed overcome. This excitement is bad for Maestro, whispered the servant, taking his arm, and with soothing words gently drawing him aside. When Don Benito returned, the American was pained to observe that his hopefulness, like the sudden kindling in his cheek, was but febrile and transient. Air long with joyless mean, looking up toward the poop, the host invited his guest to accompany him there, for the benefit of what little breath of wind might be stirring. As during the telling of the story, Captain Delano had once or twice started at the occasional sibling of the hatchet polishes, wondering why such an interruption should be allowed, especially in that part of the ship and in the ears of an invalid. And moreover, as the hatchets had anything but an attractive look, and the handlers of them, still less so, it was therefore to tell the truth, not without some lurking reluctance, or even shrinking it may be, that Captain Delano, with apparent complacence, acquiesced in his host's invitation. The more so, since an untimely caprice of punctilio rendered distressing by his cadaverous aspect, Don Benito, with Castilian bowels solemnly insisted upon his guest, proceeding him up the ladder leading to the elevation, where, one on each side of the last step, sat four armorial supporters and sentries, two of the ominous file. Gingerly enough stepped good Captain Delano between them, and in the instant of leaving them behind, like one running the gauntlet, he felt an apprehensive twitch in the calves of his legs. But when, facing about, he saw the whole file, like so many organ grinders, still stupidly intent on their work, unmindful of everything beside, he could not but smile at his late fidgeting panic. Presently, while standing with Don Benito looking forward upon the decks below, he was struck by one of those instances of insubordination previously alluded to. Three black boys, with two Spanish boys, were sitting together on the hatches, scraping a rude wooden platter in which some scanty mess had recently been cooked. Suddenly, one of the black boys, enraged at a word dropped by one of his white companions, seized a knife, and though called to forebear by one of the ochre-pickers, struck the lad over the head, inflicting a gash from which blood flowed. In amazement, Captain Delano inquired what this meant, to which the payo Benito dully muttered that it was merely the sport of the lad. Pretty serious sport, truly rejoined Captain Delano, had such a thing happen on board the bachelor's delight, instant punishment would have followed. At these words, the Spaniard turned upon the American, one of his sudden, staring, half-lunatic looks. Then, relapsing into his torpor, answered, doubtless, doubtless, senor. Is it, thought Captain Delano, that this helpless man is one of those paper captains I've known, who by policy wink at what by power they cannot put down. I know no sadder sight than a commander who has little of command but the name. I should think, Don Benito, he now said, glancing toward the ochre-picker who had sought to interfere with the boys, that you would find it advantageous to keep all your blacks employed, especially the younger ones, no matter at what useless task, and no matter what happens to the ship, while even with my little band I find such a course indispensable. I once kept a crew on my quarter-deck thrombing mats for my cabin, when for three days I had given up my ship, mats men and all, for speedy loss, owing to the violence of a gale in which we could do nothing but helplessly drive before it. Doubtless, doubtless, muttered Don Benito, but, continued Captain Delano, again glancing upon the ochre-pickers, and then at the hatchet-polishers nearby, I see you keep some, at least, of your host employed. Yes, was again the vacant response. Those old men there, shaking their powers from their pulpits, continued Captain Delano, pointed to the ochre-pickers, seemed to act the part of old dominies to the rest, little heated as their admonitions are at times. Is this voluntary on their part, Don Benito, or have you appointed them shepherds to your flock of black sheep? What post did they feel I appointed them? rejoined the Spaniard in an acrid tone, as if reasoning some supposed satiric reflection. And these others, these are shanty-condras here, continued Captain Delano, rather uneasily eyeing the brandish steel of the hatchet-polishers, where in spots it had been brought to a shine. This seems a curious business, they are at, Don Benito. In the gales we met, answered the Spaniard, what of our general cargo was not thrown overboard was much damaged by the brine. Since coming into calm weather I have had several cases of knives and hatchets daily brought up for overhauling and cleaning. A prudent idea, Don Benito, you are part owner of ship and cargo, I presume, but not of the slaves perhaps. I am owner of all you see, impatiently returned Don Benito, except the main company of blacks who belonged to my late friend Alejandro Aranda. As he mentioned this name, his air was heartbroken, his knees shook, his servants supported him. Thinking he'd divine the cause of such unusual emotion, to confirm his surmise, Captain Delano after a pause said, and may I ask Don Benito whether, since a while ago you spoke of some cabin passengers, the friend who's lost so afflict you at the outset of the voyage accompanied his blacks? Yes, but died of the fever? Died of the fever? Oh, could I but again quivering the Spaniard paused. Pardon me, said Captain Delano slowly, but I think that by a sympathetic experience I conjecture Don Benito what it is that gives the quina edge to your grief. It was once my hard fortune to lose it, see a dear friend, my own brother, then supercargo. A short of the welfare of his spirit its departure I could have borne like a man, but that honest eye, that honest hand, both of which it so often met mine, and that warm heart, all like scraps to the dogs, to throw all to the sharks. It was then I vowed never to have fulfilled a voyage or a man I loved unless, unbeknown to him, I had provided every requisite in case of a fatality for embalming his mortal part for interment on shore. Where your fringe remains now on board this ship, Don Benito, not thus strangely with the mention of his name affect you. On the board this ship echoed the Spaniard, then with horrified gestures as directed against some spectre he unconsciously fell into the ready arms of his attendant, who with a silent appeal toward Captain Delano seemed beseeching him not again to approach a theme so unspeakably distressing to his master. This poor fellow now, thought the pained American, is the victim of that sad superstition which associates goblins with the deserted body of a man, as ghosts with an abandoned house. How unlike are we made? What to me in like case would have been a solemn satisfaction, the bare suggestion even, terrifies the Spaniard into this trance. Poor Alexandro Aranda, what would you say could you see your friend, who on form of voyages, when you for months were left behind, has, I dare say, often longed and longed for one peep at you, now transported with terror at the least thought of having you any way nigh him. At this moment, with a dreary graveyard toll betokening a flaw, the ship's folksal bell, smote by one of the grizzled oakum pickers, proclaimed ten o'clock through the leaden calm. When Captain Delano's attention was caught by the moving figure of a gigantic black emerging from the general crowd below and slowly advancing toward the elevated poop, an iron collar was about his neck, from which depended a chain thrice well round his body, the terminating links padlocked together at a broad band of iron, his girdle. How like a mutato fall moves, murmured the servant. The black mounted the steps of the poop, and like a brave prisoner brought up to receive sentence, stood in unquailing muteness before Don Benito, now recovered from his attack. At the first glimpse of his approach Don Benito had started, a resentful shadow swept over his face, and, as with the sudden memory of bootless rage, his white lips glued together. This is some muleish mutineer, thought Captain Delano, surveying not without a mixture of admiration the colossal form of the negro. See, he waits your question, master, said the servant. Thus reminded Don Benito nervously averting his glance as if shunning by anticipation some rebellious response and a disconcerted voice thus spoke. Art of fall, will you ask my pardon now? The black was silent. Again, master, reported the servant, with bitter, abrading eye in his countrymen. Again, master, he will bend the master yet. And, sir, said Don Benito, still averting his glance, say but the one word pardon, and your chain shall be off. Upon this the black, slowly raising both arms, let them lifelessly fall. His links clanking, his head bowed, as much as to say, no, I am content. Go, said Don Benito, with in-kept and unknown emotion. Deliberately as he had come, the black obeyed. Excuse me, Don Benito, said Captain Delano, but this scene surprises me. What means it, pray? It means that that negro alone of all the band has given me peculiar cause of offence. I have put him in chains, I— Here he paused, his hand to his head, as if there were swimming there, or a sudden bewilderment of memory had come over him, but meeting his servants kindly glancing reassured and proceeded. I could not scourge such a form, but I told him he must ask my pardon, and yet he has not, at my command every two hours he stands before me. And how long has this been, some sixty days? And obedient and all else, and respectful? Yes. Upon my conscience then, exclaimed Captain Delano impulsively, he has a royal spirit in him, this fellow. He may have some right to it, bitterly returned, Don Benito. He says he was king in his own land. Yes, said the servant entering a word, those slits and out-the-falls ears once held wedges of gold, but poor Babo here in his own land was only a poor slave, a black man's slave was Babo, who now is the white. Somewhat annoyed by these conversational familiarities, Captain Delano turned curiously upon the attendant, then glanced inquiringly at his master, but as if long wanted to these little informalities, neither master nor man seemed to understand him. What prey was Attafall's offence, Don Benito, asked Captain Delano, if it was not something very serious, take a fool's advice and in view of his journalic docility, as well as in some natural respect for his spirit, remit his penalty. No, no, master will never do that. Here, remembered the servant to himself, proud Attafall must first ask master's pardon. The slave there carries the padlock, but master here carries the key. His attention thus directed Captain Delano now noticed for the first time that, suspended by a slender, silken cord from Don Benito's neck, hung a key. At once from the servant's muttered syllables, dividing the key's purpose, he smiled and said, so, Don Benito, padlock and key, symbolic symbols, truly. Viting his lip, Don Benito faltered. Though the remark of Captain Delano, a man of such native simplicity as to be incapable of satire or irony, had been dropped in playful illusion to the Spaniard's singularly evidenced lordship over the black, yet the hypo-contriac seemed in some way to have taken it as a malicious reflection upon his confessed inability thus far to break down, at least on a verbal summons, the entrenched will of the slave. Deploring this supposed misconception, yet despairing of correcting it, Captain Delano shifted the subject, but finding his companion more than ever withdrawn, as if still slowly digesting the leaves of the presumed affront above mentioned, by and by Captain Delano likewise became less talkative, oppressed against his own will by what seemed the secret vindictiveness of the morbidly sensitive Spaniard. But the Good-Sailor himself of a quite contrary disposition, had no idea of what he had to say to the Spaniard. But the Good-Sailor himself of a quite contrary disposition, refrained on his part, a light from the appearances from the feeling of resentment, and if silent was only so from contagion. Presently the Spaniard, assisted by a servant, somewhat discertiously crossed over from Captain Delano, a procedure which sensibly enough might have been allowed to pass for idle caprice of ill humour, had not master and man lingering round the corner of pleasing. And more the moody air of the Spaniard, which at times had not been without a sort of valitudinarian stateliness, now seemed anything but dignified, while the menial familiarity of the servant lost its original charm of simple-hearted attachment. End of Chapter 4 Recording by A.L.W.P.O.E. on February 6, 2011. A.L.W.P.O.E. dot com. Chapter 5 of Benito Sereno Benito Sereno, by Herman Melville. Questions. In his embarrassment, the visitor turned his face to the other side of the ship. By so doing, his glance accidentally fell to the ground, and the man who was in the other side of the ship, the man who was in the other side of the ship, the man who was in the other side of the ship, fell on a young Spanish sailor, a coil of rope in his hand, just stepped from the deck to the first round of the mizzen rigging. Perhaps the man would not have been particularly noticed were it not that during his ascent to one of the yards he with a sort of covert intentness kept his eye fixed on Captain Delano, from whom presently it passed as if by a natural sequence to the two whispers. His own attention, thus redirected to that quarter, Captain Delano gave a slight start. From something in Don Benito's manner just then, it seemed as if the visitor had, at least partly, been the subject of the withdrawn consultation going on. A conjecture as little agreeable to the guest as it was little flattering to the host. The singular alternations of courtesy and ill-breeding each Captain were unaccountable, except on one of two suppositions, Innocent Lunacy or Wicked Imposter. But the first idea, though it might naturally have occurred to an indifferent observer and, in some respects, had not hitherto been wholly a stranger to Captain Delano's mind, yet now that, in an incipient way, he began to regard the strangers conduct something in the light and, of course, the idea of lunacy was virtually vacated. But if not a lunatic, what then? Under the circumstances, would a gentleman, nay, any honest boor act the part now acted by his host? The man was an imposter, some low-born adventurer masquerading as an oceanic grandeur, yet so ignorant of the first requisites of mere gentlemanhood of the present remarkable Indecorum. That strange ceremoniousness, too, at other times evens seemed not uncharacteristic of one playing a part above his real level. Benito Sereno Don Benito Sereno a sounding name, one, two at that period, not unknown in the surname to supercargos and sea captains trading along the Spanish Maine as belonging to one of the massive mercantile families in all those provinces, several members of it having titles, a sort of Castilian Rothchild with a noble brother or cousin in every great trading town of South America. The alleged Don Benito was in early manhood about twenty-nine or thirty to assume a sort of roving cadetship in the maritime affairs of such a house what more likely scheme of talent and spirit but the Spaniard was a pale invalid, never mind for even to the degree of simulating mortal disease the craft of some tricksters had been known to attain to think that under the aspect of infantile weakness the most savage energies might be couched those velvets of the Spaniard but the velvet paw to his fangs. From no train of thought from without suddenly to and in one throng like whore frost yet as soon to vanish as the mild sun of Captain Delano's good nature regained its meridian glancing over once again toward Don Benito whose side face revealed above the skylight was now turned toward him Captain Delano was struck by the profile whose clearness of cut to ill health as well as ennobled about the chin by the beard away with suspicion he was a true offshoot of a true Hidalgo Sereno Relieved by these and other better thoughts the visitor, lightly humming a tune now began indifferently pacing the poop so as not to betray to Don Benito that he had it all mistrusted in civility much less duplicity would yet be proved illusory and by the event though for the present the circumstance which had provoked that distrust remained unexplained but when that little mystery should have been cleared up Captain Delano thought he might extremely regretted that he allowed Don Benito to become aware that he had indulged in ungenerous surmises in short to the Spaniards black letter text for a while to leave open margin presently his pale face twitching and overcast the Spaniards still supported by his attendant moved over toward his guest when with even more than unusual embarrassment and a strange sort of intriguing intonation in his husky whisper the following conversation began Señor may I ask how long you have been at this isle oh but a day or two Don Benito and from what port are you last canton and there Señor you exchanged your seal skins for tees and silks I think you said yes silks mostly and the balance you took in specie perhaps Captain Delano fidgeting a little answered yes some silver not a very great deal though ah well may I ask how many men have you on board Señor Captain Delano slightly started but answered about five and twenty all told and at present Señor all on board I suppose all on board Don Benito replied the Captain now with satisfaction and will be tonight Señor at this last question following so many questions for the soul of him Captain Delano could not but look very earnestly at the questioner who instead of meeting the glance with every token of Craven discomposure dropped his eyes to the deck presenting an unworthy contrast to his servant who just then was kneeling at his feet adjusting a loose shoe buckle his disengaged face meantime with humble curiosity turned openly up the Spaniard still with a guilty shuffle repeated his question and and will be tonight Señor yes for ought I know returned Captain Delano but nay rallying himself into fearless truth some of them talked of going off on another fishing party about midnight your ships generally go go more or less armed I believe Señor oh a six pounder or two in case of emergency was the intrepidly indifferent reply with a small stock of muskets ceiling spears and cutlaces you know as he thus responded Captain Delano again glanced at Don Benito but the latter's eyes were averted while abruptly and awkwardly shifting the subject he made some peevish illusion to the calm and then without apology once more his attendant withdrew to the opposite bulwarks with a whispering was resumed at this moment and Air Captain Delano could cast a cool thought upon what had just passed the young Spanish sailor before mentioned was seen descending from the rigging in act of stooping over to spring inboard to the deck his voluminous unconfined frock or shirt of coarse woollen much spotted with tar far down the chest revealing a soiled undergarment of what seemed the finest linen edged about the neck with a narrow blue ribbon sadly faded and worn at this moment the young sailor's eye was again fixed on the whispers and Captain Delano thought he observed a lurking significance in it as if silent signs of some freemason sort had that instant been interchanged this once more impelled his own glance in the direction of Don Benito and as before he could not but infer that himself formed the subject of the conference he paused the sound of the hatchet polishing fell on his ears he cast another swift side look at the two they had the air of conspirators in connection with the late questionings and the incident of the young sailor these things now begat such return of involuntary suspicion that the singular guilelessness of the American could not endure it plucking up a gay and humorous expression he crossed over to the two rapidly saying Don Benito your black hair seems high in your trust a sort of privy counselor in fact upon this the servant looked up with a good-natured grin from a venomous bite it was a moment or two before the Spaniard sufficiently recovered himself to reply which he did at last with cold constraint yes senor I have trust in Bobo here Bobo changing his previous grin of mere animal humor into an intelligent smile not ungratefully eyed his master finding that the Spaniard now stood silent and reserved as if involuntarily or purposely giving hint that his guest's proximity was inconvenient just then Captain Delano unwilling to appear uncivil even to incivility itself made some trivial remark and moved off again and again turning over in his mind the mysterious demeanor of Don Benito Sereno he had descended from the poop and wrapped in thought was passing near a dark hatchway leading down into the steerage when perceiving motion there he looked to see what moved the same instant there was a sparkle in the shadowy hatchway and he saw one of the Spanish sailors prowling there hurriedly placing his hand in the bosom of his frock as if hiding something before the man could have been certain who it was that was passing he slunked below out of sight but enough was seen of him before noticed in the rigging what was that which so sparkled thought Captain Delano it was no lamp no match no live coal could it have been a jewel but how come sailors with jewels or with silk-trimmed undershirts either has he been robbing the trunks of the dead cabin passengers but if so he would hardly wear one of the stolen articles on board ship here ah if now that was indeed a secret sign I saw passing between this suspicious fellow and his captain a while since if I could only be certain that in my uneasiness my senses did not deceive me then here passing from one suspicious thing to another his mind revolved the point of the strange questions put to him concerning his ship by a curious coincidence as each point was recalled would strike up with their hatchets as an ominous comment on the white stranger's thoughts pressed by such enigmas and portents it would have been almost against nature had not even into the least distrustful heart some ugly misgivings obtruded observing the ship now helplessly fallen into a current with enchanted sails drifting with increased rapidity seaward and noting that from a lately intercepted projection of the land the sealer was hidden the stout mariner began to quake at thoughts which he barely durst confessed to himself above all he began to feel a ghostly dread of Don Benito and yet when he roused himself dilated his chest felt himself strong on his legs and coolly considered it what did all these phantoms amount to had the Spaniard any sinister scheme he must have referenced not so much to him Captain Delano as to his ship the bachelor's delight hence the present drifting away of the one ship from the other instead of favoring any such possible scheme was for the time at least opposed to it clearly any suspicion combining such contradictions must need be delusive beside was it not absurd to think this almost disband of her crew a vessel whose inmates were parched for water was it not a thousand times absurd that such a craft should at present be of a piratical character or her commander either for himself or those under him cherish any desire but for speedy relief and refreshment but then should it be affected and might not that same undiminished Spanish crew alleged to have perished off to a remnant be at that very moment lurking in the hold on heartbroken pretense of entreating a cup of cold water fiends in human form had got into lonely dwellings nor retired until a dark deed had been done and among the Malay pirates it was no unusual thing to lure ships after them entice borders from a declared enemy at sea by the spectacle of thinly man or vacant decks beneath which prowled a hundred spears with yellow arms ready to upthrust them through the mats not that Captain Delano had entirely credited such things he had heard of them and now as stories they recurred the present destination of the ship was the anchorage there she would be near might not the Sand Dominic like a slumbering volcano suddenly let loose energies now hid he recalled the Spaniards' manner while telling his story there was a gloomy hesitancy and subterfuge about it it was just the manner of one making up his tale for evil purposes as he goes but if that story was not true what was the truth that the ship had unlawfully come into the Spaniards' possession but in many of its details especially in reference to the more calamitous parts such as the fatalities among the semen the consequent prolonged beating about the past sufferings from obstinate calms and still continued suffering from thirst in all these points as well as others Don Benito's story had been corroborated not only by the wailing ejaculations of the indiscriminate multitude white and black but also by what seemed impossible to be counterfeit by the very expression and play of every human feature which Captain Delano saw if Don Benito's story was throughout an invention then every soul on board down to the youngest Negris was his carefully drilled recruit in the plot an incredible inference and yet if there was ground for mistrusting the Spanish Captain's veracity that inference was a legitimate one In short scarce and uneasiness entered the honest sailor's mind but by a subsequent spontaneous act of good sense it was ejected at last he began to laugh at these forebodings and laugh at the strange ship for in its aspect some way siding with them as it were and laugh too at the odd looking blacks particularly those old scissors grinders the ashantes the wooden old knitting women the oakum pickers and in a human way he almost began to laugh at the dark Spaniard himself the central hobgoblin of all for the rest whatever in a serious way seemed enigmatic was now good naturedly explained away by the thought that for the most part the poor invalids scarcely knew what he was about either sulking in black vapours evidently for the present the man was not fit to be entrusted with the ship on some benevolent plea withdrawing the command from him Captain Delano would yet have to send her to Concepcion in charge of his second mate a worthy person and good navigator a plan which would prove no wiser for the San Dominic than for Don Benito for relieved from all anxiety keeping holy to his cabin the sick man would probably by the end of the passage be in a measure restored to health and with that he should also be restored to authority end of chapter 5 recording by James K. White Chula Vista chapter 6 of Benito Sereno this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer LibriVox.org recording by James K. White Benito Sereno by Herman Melville the boat appears such were the American's thoughts they were tranquilizing there was a difference between the idea of Don Benito's darkly preordaining Captain Delano's fate and Captain Delano's lightly arranging Don Benito's nevertheless not without something of relief that the good seaman presently perceived his whale boat in the distance its absence had been prolonged by unexpected detention at the sealer's side as well as its returning trip lengthened by the continual recession of the goal the advancing speck was observed by the blacks their shouts attracted the attention of Don Benito who with a return of courtesy Captain Delano expressed satisfaction at the coming of some supplies slight and temporary as they must necessarily prove Captain Delano responded but while doing so his attention was drawn to something passing on the deck below among the crowd climbing the landward bulwarks anxiously watching the coming boat two blacks to all appearances accidentally flew out against him with horrible curses which the sailor some way resenting the two blacks dashed him to the deck and jumped upon him despite the earnest cries of the oakum pickers Don Benito said Captain Delano quickly do you see what is going on there look but seized by his cough the Spaniard staggered with both hands to his face on the point of falling at him but the servant was more alert who with one hand sustaining his master with the other applied the cordial Don Benito restored the black withdrew his support slipping aside a little but dutifully remaining within call of a whisper such discretion was here evinced as quite wiped away in the visitors eyes any blemish of impropriety which might have attached to the attendant the endic chorus conferences before mentioned showing too that if the servant were to blame it might be more the master's fault than his own since when left to himself he could conduct thus well his glance thus called away from the spectacle of disorder to the more pleasing one before him Captain Delano could not avoid again congratulating Don Benito upon possessing such a servant who though perhaps must upon the whole be invaluable to one in the invalids situation tell me Don Benito he added with a smile I should like to have your man here myself what will you take for him would fifty doubloons be any object master wouldn't part with Babo for a thousand doubloons murmured the black overhearing the offer and taking it in earnest and with the strange vanity by his master scorning to hear so paltry evaluation put upon him by a stranger but Don Benito apparently hardly yet completely restored and again interrupted by his cough made but some broken reply soon his physical distress became so great affecting his mind to apparently that as if to screen the sad spectacle the servant gently conducted his master below and left to himself the American to while away the time till his boat should arrive would have pleasantly accosted some one of the few Spanish semen he saw but recalling something that Don Benito had said touching their ill conduct he refrained as a ship master in disposed to countenance cowardice or unfaithfulness in semen forward toward that handful of sailors suddenly he thought that some of them returned the glance and with a sort of meaning he rubbed his eyes and looked again but again seemed to see the same thing under a new form but more obscure than any previous one the old suspicions recurred but in the absence of Don Benito with less of panic than before despite the bad account given of the sailors Captain Delano resolved forthwith to accost one of them descending the poop he made his way through the blacks his movement drawing a queer cry from the oakum pickers prompted by whom the negroes twitching each other aside divided before him but as if curious to see what was the object of this deliberate visit to their ghetto closing in behind in tolerable order followed the white stranger up his progress thus proclaimed as by mounted kings at arms and escorted as by a caffer guard of honor Captain Delano assuming a good humored offhand air continued to advance now and then saying a blithe word to the negroes and his eye curiously surveying the white faces here and there sparsely mixed in with the blacks like stray white pawns venturously involved with them to select for his purpose he chanced to observe a sailor seated on the deck engaged in tearing the strap of a large block with a circle of blacks squatted round him inquisitively eyeing the process the mean employment of the man was in contrast with something superior in his figure his hand black with continually thrusting it into the tar pot held for him by a negro a face which would have been a very fine one but for its haggardness whether this haggardness had ought to do with criminality could not be determined since as intense heat and cold though unlike produce like sensations so innocence and guilt when through casual association with mental pain stamping any visible impress use one seal a hacked one then that this reflection occurred to Captain Delano at the time charitable man as he was rather another idea because observing so singular a haggardness to be combined with a dark eye averted as in trouble and shame and then however illogically uniting in his mind his own private suspicions of the crew with the confessed ill opinion on the part of their captain he was insensibly operated upon by certain general notions which while disconnecting pain and abatement from virtue as invariably linked them with vice if indeed there be any wickedness on board this ship thought Captain Delano be sure that man there has fouled his hand in it even as now he fouls it in the pitch I don't like to accost him I will speak to this other this old jack here he advanced to an old Barcelona tar in ragged red britches and dirty nightcap cheeks trenched and bronzed whiskers dense as thorn hedges seated between two sleepy looking Africans this mariner like his younger shipmate was employed upon some rigging splicing a cable the sleepy looking blacks performing the inferior function of holding the outer parts of the ropes for him in Delano's approach the man at once hung his head below its previous level the one necessary for business it appeared as if he desired to be thought absorbed with more than common fidelity in his task being addressed he glanced up but with what seemed a furtive, diffident air which sat strangely enough on his weather beaten visage much as if a grizzly bear and cast sheep's eyes he was asked several questions concerning the voyage questions purposely referring to several particulars in Don Benito's narrative not previously corroborated by those impulsive cries greeting the visitor on first coming on board the questions were briefly answered confirming all that remained to be confirmed of the story the negroes about the windlass joined in with the old sailor he became talkative he by degrees became mute and at length quite glum seemed morosely unwilling to answer more questions and yet all the while this ursine air was somehow mixed with his sheepish one despairing of getting into unembarrassed talk with such a centaur captain Delano after glancing round for a more promising countenance to the blacks to make way for him and so amid various grins and grimaces returned to the poop feeling a little strange at first he could hardly tell why but upon the whole with regained confidence in Benito Sereno how plainly thought he did that old whisk-a-rondo yonder betray a consciousness of ill desert no doubt when he saw me coming with sharp words for him and so down with his head and yet and yet now that I think of it that very old fellow if I air not was one of those who seem so earnestly eyeing me here a while since ah these currents spin one's head round almost as much as they do the ship huh there now is a pleasant sort of sunny sight quite sociable too his attention had been drawn to a slumbering negrous partly disclosed through the lacework of some rigging lying with youthful limbs carelessly disposed under the lee of the bulwarks like a doe in the shade of a woodland rock sprawling at her lapped breasts was her wide-awake fawn stark-naked its black little body half lifted from the deck crosswise with its dams up on her its mouth and nose ineffectually rooting to get at the mark and meantime giving a vexatious half grunt blending with the composed snore of the negrous the uncommon vigor of the child at length roused the mother she started up at distance facing Captain Delano but as if not at all concerned at the attitude in which she had been caught delightedly she caught the child up with maternal transports covering it with kisses there's naked nature now pure tenderness and love thought Captain Delano well pleased this incident prompted him to remark the other negroses more particularly than before he was gratified with their manners like most uncivilized women they seemed at once tender of heart and tough of constitution equally ready to die for their infants or fight for them unsophisticated as leperdises loving as doves ah thought Captain Delano these perhaps are some of the very women whom Mungo Park saw in Africa and gave such a noble account of these natural sights somehow insensibly deepened his confidence and ease at last he looked to see how his boat was getting on but it was still pretty remote he seemed to see if Don Benito had returned but he had not to change the scene as well as to please himself with a leisurely observation of the coming boat stepping over into the mizzen chains he clambered his way into the starboard quarter galley one of those abandoned Venetian looking water balconies previously mentioned retreats cut off from the deck as his foot pressed the half damp half dry sea mosses matting the place and a chance phantom cat's paw an islet of breeze unheralded, unfollowed as this ghostly cat's paw came fanning his cheek his glance fell upon the row of small round dead lights all closed like coppered eyes of the coffin and the state cabin door once connecting with the gallery even as the dead lights had once looked out upon it dressed like a sarcophagus lid to a purple-black tarred-over panel threshold and post and he but thought him of the time when that state cabin and the state balcony had heard the voices of the Spanish king's officers and the forms of the Lima viceroy's daughters had perhaps leaned where he stood as these and other images flitted through his mind gradually he felt rising a dreamy inquiitude like that of one who alone on the prairie feels unrest from the repose of the noon he leaned against the carved balustrade again looking off toward his boat but found his eye falling upon the ribbon grass trailing along the ship's waterline straight as a border of green box and parters of seaweed about ovals and crescents floating nigh and far with what seemed long formal alleys between crossing the terraces of swells and sweeping round as if leading to the grottoes below and overhanging all was the balustrade by his arm which partly stained with pitch and partly embossed with moss seemed the charred ruin of some summer house in a grand garden beginning to waste trying to break one charm he was but be charmed anew though upon the wide sea he seemed in some far inland country prisoner in some deserted chateau left to stare at empty grounds and peer out at vague roads where never wagon or wayfarer passed but these enchantments were a little disenchanted as his eye fell on the corroded main chains an ancient style massy and rusty in link shackle and bolt they seemed even more fit for the ship's present business than the one for which probably she had been built presently he thought something moved nigh the chains he rubbed his eyes and looked hard groves of rigging were about the chains and there peering from behind a great stay like an indian from behind a hemlock a spanish sailor a marling spike in his hand was seen who made what seemed an imperfect gesture toward the balcony but immediately as if alarmed by some advancing step along the deck within vanished into the recesses of the hempen forest like a poacher what meant this something the man had sought to communicate unbeknown to anyone even to his captain were those previous misgivings of Captain Delano's about to be verified or in his haunted mood at the moment had some random unintentional motion of the man while busy with the stay as if repairing it been mistaken for a significant beckoning not unbewildered again he gazed off for his boat but it was temporarily hidden by a rocky spur of the isle as with some more eagerness he bent forward watching for the first shooting view of its beak the balustrade gave way before him like charcoal had he not clutched an outreaching rope he would have fallen into the sea the crash though feeble and the fall though hollow of the rotten fragments must have been overheard he glanced up with sober curiosity peering down upon him was one of the old oakum pickers slipped from his perch to an outside boom while below the old negro and invisible to him reconordering from a porthole like a fox from the mouth of its den crouched the Spanish sailor again from something suddenly suggested by the man's air the mad idea now darted into Captain Delano's mind that Don Benito's plea of indisposition and withdrawing below was but a pretense that he was engaged there maturing some plot of which the sailor by some means gaining an inkling had a mind to warn the stranger against incited it may be by gratitude for a kind word on first boarding the ship was it from foreseeing some possible interference like this that Don Benito had beforehand given such a bad character of his sailors while praising the negro's though indeed the former seemed as docile as the latter the contrary the whites too by nature were the shooter race a man with some evil design would not he be likely to speak well of that stupidity which was blind to his depravity and blind that intelligence from which it might not be hidden not unlikely perhaps but if the whites had dark secrets concerning Don Benito could then Don Benito be any way in complicity with the blacks but they were too stupid besides whoever heard of a white so far a renegade as to apostatize from his very species almost by leaking in against it with negro's these difficulties recalled former ones lost in their mazes Captain Delano who had now regained the deck was uneasily advancing along it when he observed a new face an aged sailor seated cross-legged near the main hatchway his skin was shrunk up with wrinkles like a pelicans empty pouch his hair frosted his countenance grave and composed his hands were full of ropes which he was working into a large knot some blacks were about him obligingly dipping the strands for him here and there as the exigencies of the operation demanded Captain Delano crossed over to him and stood in silence surveying the knot his mind by a not uncongenial transition passing from its own entanglements to those of the hemp for intricacy such a knot he had never seen in an american ship or indeed any other the old man looked like an egyptian priest making gordian knots for the temple of iman the knot seemed a combination of double bowline knot treble crown knot backhanded well knot knot in and out knot and jamming knot at last puzzled to comprehend the meaning of such a knot Captain Delano addressed the knotter what are you knotting there my man the knot was the brief reply without looking up so it seems but what is it for for someone else to undo muttered back the old man plying his fingers harder than ever the knot being now nearly completed while Captain Delano stood watching him suddenly the old man threw the knot toward him and said in broken english the first hurt in the ship something to this effect undo it cut it quick it was said lowly but with such condensation of rapidity that the long slow words in spanish which had preceded and followed almost operated as covers to the brief english between for a moment knot in hand and knot in head Captain Delano stood mute while without further heeding him the old man was now intent upon other ropes presently there was a slight stir behind Captain Delano turning he saw the chain negro atu fall standing quietly there the next moment the old sailor rose muttering and followed by his subordinate negroes removed to the forward part of the ship where in the crowd he disappeared an elderly negro in a clout like an infant and with a pepper and salt head and a kind of attorney air now approached Captain Delano intolerable spanish and with a good nature knowing wink he informed him that the old knotter was simple-witted but harmless often playing his old tricks the negro concluded by begging the knot for of course the stranger would not care to be troubled with it unconsciously it was handed to him with a sort of conga the negro received it and turning his back ferreted into it like a detective custom house officer after smuggled laces soon with some african word equivalent to he tossed the knot overboard end of chapter 6 recording by James K. White Chula Vista chapter 7 of Benito Sereno this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by James K. White Benito Sereno by Herman Melville the boat arrives all this is very queer now thought Captain Delano with a qualmish sort of emotion but as one feeling incipient seasickness he strove by ignoring the symptoms to get rid of the malady once more he looked off for his boat to his delight it was now again in view leaving the rocky spur a stern the sensation here experienced after at first relieving his uneasiness with unforeseen efficiency soon began to remove it the less distant sight of that well-known boat showing it not as before half blended with the haze but with outline defined so that its individuality like a man's was manifest that boat, rover by name which though now in strange seas had often pressed the beach of Captain Delano's home and brought to its threshold for repairs had familiarly lain there as a Newfoundland dog the sight of that household boat evoked a thousand trustful associations which contrasted with previous suspicions filled him not only with light some confidence but somehow with half humorous self-reproaches at his former lack of it what I, Amasa Delano Jack of the beach as they called me when a lad I, Amasa, the same that duck satchel in hand used to paddle along the water side to the school house made from the old hulk I, little Jack of the beach that used to go burying with cousin Nat and the rest I to be murdered here at the ends of the earth too nonsensical to think of who would murder Amasa Delano his conscience is clean there is someone above Fi, Fi, Jack of the beach you are a child indeed a child of the second childhood, old boy you are beginning to doat and drool, I'm afraid light of heart and foot he stepped aft and there was met by Don Benito's servant who with a pleasing expression his own present feelings informed him that his master had recovered from the effects of his coughing fit and had just ordered him to go present his compliments to his good guest Don Amasa and say that he, Don Benito would soon have the happiness to rejoin him there now do you mark that again thought Captain Delano walking the poop what a donkey I was three but ten minutes ago dark lantern in hand was dodging round some old grindstone in the hold sharpening a hatchet for me I thought well well these long calms have a morbid effect on the mind I've often heard though I never believed it before glancing toward the boat there's Rover a good dog a white bone in her mouth a pretty big bone though she's fallen afoul of the bubbling tide rip there it sets her the other way too for the time patience it was now about noon though from the greyness of everything it seemed to be getting toward dusk the calm was confirmed in the far distance away from the influence of land the leaden ocean seemed laid out and leaded up its course finished soul gone the current from landward where the ship was increased silently sweeping her further and further toward the tranced waters beyond still from his knowledge of those latitudes cherishing hopes of a breeze and a fair and fresh one at any moment Captain Delano despite present prospects buoyantly counted upon bringing the San Dominic safely to anchor as the ship swept over was nothing since with a good wind ten minutes sailing would retrace more than 60 minutes drifting meantime one moment turning to mark Rover fighting the tide rip and the next to see Don Benito approaching he continued walking the poop gradually he felt a vexation arising from the delay of his boat this soon merged into uneasiness and at last his eye falling continually as from a stage box into the pit upon the strange crowd before and below him and by and by recognizing there the face now composed to indifference of the Spanish sailor who had seemed to beckon from the main chains something of his old trepidations returned ah thought he gravely enough this is like the Agu because it went off it follows not that it won't come back though ashamed of the relapse he could not altogether subdue it and so exerting his good nature to the utmost insensibly he came to a compromise yes this is a strange craft a strange history too and strange folks on board but nothing more by way of keeping his mind out of mischief till the boat should arrive he tried to occupy it with turning over and over in a relative sort of way some lesser peculiarities of the captain and crew among others four curious points recurred first the affair of the Spanish lad assailed with a knife by the slave boy and act winked at by Don Benito second the tyranny in Don Benito's treatment of Atufal the black as if a child should lead a bull of the Nile by the ring in his nose third the trampling of the sailor by the two Negroes a piece of insolence passed over without so much as a reprimand fourth the cringing submission to their master of all the ships underlings mostly blacks as if by the least inadvertence they fear to draw down his despotic displeasure coupling these points they seem somewhat contradictory but what then thought captain Delano glancing toward his now nearing boat then why this Don Benito is a very capricious commander but he is not the first of the sort I have seen though it's true he rather exceeds any other but as a nation continued he in his reveries these Spaniards are all an odd set the very word Spaniard has a curious conspirator guy fuckish twang to it and yet I dare say Spaniards in the main are as good folks as any in the United States ah good at last rovers come as with its welcome freight the boat touched the side the oakum pickers with venerable gestures sought to restrain the blacks who at the sight of three gurried water casks in its bottom and a pile of wilted pumpkins in its bow hung over the bulwarks in disorderly raptures Don Benito with his servant now appeared his coming perhaps hastened by hearing the noise of him Captain Delano sought permission to serve out the water so that all might share alike and none injure themselves by unfair excess but sensible and on Don Benito's account kind as this offer was it was received with what seemed impatience as if aware that he lacked energy as a commander Don Benito with the true jealousy of weakness as an affront any interference so at least Captain Delano inferred in another moment the casks were being hoisted in when some of the eager Negroes accidentally jostled Captain Delano where he stood by the gangway so that unmindful of Don Benito yielding to the impulse of the moment with good nature to authority he bade the blacks stand back to enforce his words making use of a half mirthful half menacing gesture instantly the blacks paused just where they were each Negro and Negroes suspended in his or her posture exactly as the word had found them for a few seconds continuing so while as between the responsive posts of a telegraph an unknown syllable ran from man to man among the perched Okham Pickers while Captain Delano's attention was fixed by this scene suddenly the hatchet polishers the rapid cry came from Don Benito thinking that at the signal of the Spaniard he was about to be massacred Captain Delano would have sprung for his boat but paused as the Okham Pickers dropping down into the crowd with earnest exclamations forced every white and every Negro back at the same moment with gestures friendly and familiar almost jacuz bidding him in substance not be a fool simultaneously the hatchet polishers resumed their seats quietly as so many tailors and at once as if nothing had happened the work of hoisting in the casks was resumed whites and blacks singing at the tackle Captain Delano glanced toward Don Benito as he saw his meager form in the act of recovering itself from reclining in the servants arms into which the agitated invalid had fallen he could not but marvel at the panic by which himself had been surprised by the darting supposition that such a commander who upon a legitimate occasion so trivial too as it now appeared could lose all self command was with energetic iniquity going to bring about his murder the casks being on deck Captain Delano was handed a number of jars and cups by one of the stewards aids who in the name of Don Benito entreated him to do as he had proposed dole out the water he complied with Republican impartiality as to this Republican element which always seeks one level serving the oldest white no better than the youngest black accepting indeed poor Don Benito whose condition if not rank demanded an extra allowance to him in the first place Captain Delano presented a fair picture of the fluid but thirsting as he was for fresh water Don Benito quaffed not a drop until after several grave bowels and salutes a reciprocation of courtesies which the sight loving Africans hailed with clapping of hands two of the less wilted pumpkins being reserved for the cabin table the residue were minced up on the spot for the general regalement but the soft bread sugar and bottled cider Captain Delano would have given the Spaniards alone and in chief Don Benito but the latter objected which disinterestedness on his part not a little pleased the American and so mouthfuls all around were given a like to whites and blacks accepting one bottle of cider which Babo insisted upon setting aside for his master here it may be observed that as on the first visit of the boat the American had not permitted his men to board the ship neither did he now being unwilling to add to the confusion of the decks not uninfluenced by the peculiar good humor at present prevailing and for the time oblivious of any but benevolent thoughts Captain Delano who from recent indications counted upon a breeze within an hour or two at furthest dispatched the boat back to the sealer with orders for all the hands that could be spared immediately to set about rafting casks to the watering place and filling them likewise he bade word be carried to his chief officer that if against present expectation the ship was not brought to anchor by sunset he need be under no concern for as there was to be a full moon that night he Captain Delano would remain on board ready to play the pilot should the when come soon or late as the two captains stood together observing the departing boat the servant as it happened having just spied a spot on his master's velvet sleeve and silently engaged rubbing it out the American expressed his regrets that the Sand Dominic had no boats none at least but the unseaworthy old hulk of the long boat which warped as a camel skeleton in the desert and almost as bleached lay pot-wise inverted a midships one side a little tipped furnishing a subterranean sort of den for family groups of the blacks mostly women and small children who squatting on old mats below or perched above in the dark dome on the elevated seats were described some distance within like a social circle of bats sheltering in some friendly cave at intervals Evan flights of naked boys and girls three or four years old darting in and out of the den's mouth had you three or four boats now Don Benito said Captain Delano I think that by tugging at the oars your negroes here might help along matters some did you sail from port without boats Don Benito they were stove in the gales Señor that was bad many men too you lost then boats and men those must have been hard gales Don Benito passed all speech cringe the Spaniard tell me Don Benito continued his companion with increased interest tell me were these gales immediately off the pitch of Cape Horn Cape Horn who spoke of Cape Horn yourself did when giving me an account of your voyage answered Captain Delano with almost equal astonishment at this eating of his own words even as he ever seemed eating his own heart on the part of the Spaniard himself Don Benito spoke of Cape Horn he emphatically repeated the Spaniard turned in a sort of stooping posture pausing an instant as one about to make a plunging exchange of elements as from air to water end of chapter 7 recording by James K. White Chula Vista