I lay thoughtful, querying. Was I a rich man, or a poor man? Was I a
ruler, or a private man, or a lame man?... I asked myself many
questions, concluding that all my life I had, like most of us all,
been more or less a lame man and a private man after all, and much
like my fellow.... It was a great day for me; since each day I seek to
learn something. And here now was I, blessed by the printed wisdom of
age and philosophy, and yet more blessed by the spoken philosophy of
unthinking Youth.... I lay flat, my arms out on the grass, and looked
up at the leaves. I felt myself a part of the eternal changeless
scheme, and was well content. It has always been impossible for me to
care for the little things of life--such as the amassing of
money--when I am alone in the woods. I pondered now on the wisdom of
my teachers, Epictetus, Jimmy, John and the author of the Book of
Genesis.
I arose at last with less of melancholy and more of resolve than I had
known for years. The world swam true on its axis all around me; and I,
who all my life had been in some way out of balance in the world, now
walked with a strange feeling of poise and certainty.... No, I said to
myself, I would argue no more with Helena. And meantime since the Poet
of the play had assigned me the double rôle of pirate and boy, I was
resolved to act both "naturally and nobly."
I could not have called either of my associates less than natural and
noble in his part, viewed as I found them when at length I sought them
to partake of a cold luncheon. They stood apart, gloom and stern
dignity themselves, offering no speech to the laboring clammers, who,
by this time, were but masses of evil odors and ill-temper in equal
parts.
"I think he's holdin' out on us!" hissed Jean Lafitte, as I
approached. "Time and again I seen the varlet make false moves. Let
him have a care! The eye of Jean Lafitte is upon him!"
For my own part, I cared little for anything beyond the sport in my
pearl venture, but no man likes to be "done," so I joined the guard
over the pearl fishing. I could see little indication of success on
the part of the two clammers, who went on in their work steadily,
exchanging no more than a monosyllable now and then, but who were
animated, it seemed to us, by the same excitement which governs the
miner washing gravel in his pan. They scarce could rest, but went on
from shell to shell, opening each as eagerly as though it meant a
fortune. This of itself seemed to me both natural and yet not wholly
natural; for it was now late in the day's work. Why should they go on
quite so eagerly in what six hours of stooping in the sun should have
made monotonous routine?