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1、Unit 12 “Take Over, Bosn! ”Oscar Schisgall 1 Hour after hour I kept the gun pointed at the other nine men. From the lifeboat s stern, where I d sat most of the twenty days of our drifting, I could keep them all covered. If I had to shoot at such close quarters, I wouldn t miss. They realized that. N
2、obody jumped at me. But in the way they all glared I could see how they d come to hate my guts.2 Especially Barrett, who d been bos n s mate; Barrett said in his harsh, cracked voice, You re a fool, Snyder. Y -you can t hold out forever! You re half asleep now!3 I didn t answer. He was right. How lo
3、ng can a man stay awake? I hadn t dared to shut my eyes in maybe seventy- two hours. Very soon now I d doze off, and the instant that happened they d jump on the li ttle water that was left. 4 The last canteen lay under my legs. There wasn t much in it after twenty days. Maybe a pint. Enough to give
4、 each of them a few drops. Yet I could see in their bloodshot eyes that they d gladly kill me for those few drops. As a man I didn t count any more. I was no longer third officer4 of the wrecked Montala. I was just a gun that kept them away from the water they craved. And with their tongue swollen a
5、nd their cheeks sunken, they were half crazy. 5 The way I judged it, we must be some two hundred miles east of Ascension. Now that the storms were over, the Atlantic swells were long and easy, and the morning sun was hot so hot it scorched your skin. My own tongue was thick enough to clog my throat.
6、 I d have given the rest of my life for a single gulp of water. 6 But I was the man with the gun the only authority in the boat and I knew this: once the water was gone we d have nothing to look forward to but death. As long as we could look forward to getting a drink later, there was something to l
7、ive for. We had to make it last as long as possible. If I d given in to the curses, we d have emptied the last canteen days ago. By now we d all be dead.7 The men weren t pulling on the oars. They d stopped that long ago, too weak to go on. The nine of them facing me were a pack of bearded, ragged,
8、half-naked animals, and I probably looked as bad as the rest. Some sprawled over the gunwales, dozing. The rest watched me as Barrett did, ready to spring the instant I relaxed. 8 When they weren t looking at my face they looked at the canteen under my legs.9 Jeff Barrett was the nearest one. A cons
9、tant threat. The bos n s mate was a heavy man, bald, with a scarred and brutal face. He d been in a hundred fights, and they d left their marks on him. 10 Barrett had been able to sleep in fact, he d slept through most of the night and I envied him that. His eyes wouldn t close. They kept watching m
10、e, narrow and dangerous.11 Every now and then he taunted me in that hoarse, broken voice: 12 Why don t you quit? You can t hold out!13 Tonight, I said. We ll ration the rest of the water tonight.14 By tonight some of us ll be dead! We want it now!15 Tonight , I said.16 Couldn t he understand that if
11、 we waited until night the few drops wouldn t be sweated out of us so fast? But Barrett was beyond all reasoning. His mind had already cracked with thirst. I saw him begin to rise, a calculating look in his eyes. I aimed the gun at his chest and he sat down again. 17 I d grabbed my Luger on inst inc
12、t, twenty days ago, just before running for the lifeboat. Nothing else would have kept Barrett and the rest away from the water. 18 These fools couldn t they see I wanted a drink as badly as any of them? But I was in command here that was the difference. I was the man with the gun, the man who had t
13、o think. Each of the others could afford to think only of himself; I had to think of them all. 19 Barrett s eyes kept watching me, waiting. I hated him. I hated him all the more because he d slept. He had that advantage now. He wouldn t keel over.20 And long before noon I knew I couldn t fight any m
14、ore. My eyelids were too heavy to lift. As the boat rose and fell on the long swells, I could feel sleep creeping over me like paralysis. I bent my head. It filled my brain like a cloud. I was going, going 21 Barrett stood over me, and I couldn t even lift the gun. In a vague way I could guess what
15、would happen. He d grab the water first and take his drop. By that time the others would be screaming and tearing at him, and he d have to yield the canteen. Well, there was nothing more I could do about it. 22 I whispered, Take over, bos n. 23 Then I fell face down in the bottom of the boat. I was
16、asleep before I stopped moving 24 When a hand shook my shoulder, I could hardly raise my head. Jeff Barrett s hoarse voice said, Here! Take your share o the water!25 Somehow I propped myself up on my arms, dizzy and weak. I looked at the men, and I thought my eyes were going. Their figures were dim, shadowy; but then I realized it wasn t because of my eyes. It was night. The sea was black; th
