The Cruise of the Snark

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Джек Лондон. The Cruise of the Snark

CHAPTER I. FOREWORD

CHAPTER II. THE INCONCEIVABLE AND MONSTROUS

CHAPTER III. ADVENTURE

CHAPTER IV. FINDING ONE’S WAY ABOUT

CHAPTER V. THE FIRST LANDFALL

CHAPTER VI. A ROYAL SPORT

CHAPTER VII. THE LEPERS OF MOLOKAI

CHAPTER VIII. THE HOUSE OF THE SUN

CHAPTER IX. A PACIFIC TRAVERSE

CHAPTER X. TYPEE

CHAPTER XI. THE NATURE MAN

CHAPTER XII. THE HIGH SEAT OF ABUNDANCE

CHAPTER XIII. THE STONE-FISHING OF BORA BORA

CHAPTER XIV. THE AMATEUR NAVIGATOR

CHAPTER XV. CRUISING IN THE SOLOMONS

CHAPTER XVI. BÊCHE DE MER ENGLISH

CHAPTER XVII. THE AMATEUR M.D

BACKWORD

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“Spare no money,” I said to Roscoe. “Let everything on the Snark be of the best. And never mind decoration. Plain pine boards is good enough finishing for me. But put the money into the construction. Let the Snark be as staunch and strong as any boat afloat. Never mind what it costs to make her staunch and strong; you see that she is made staunch and strong, and I’ll go on writing and earning the money to pay for it.”

And I did.. as well as I could; for the Snark ate up money faster than I could earn it. In fact, every little while I had to borrow money with which to supplement my earnings. Now I borrowed one thousand dollars, now I borrowed two thousand dollars, and now I borrowed five thousand dollars. And all the time I went on working every day and sinking the earnings in the venture. I worked Sundays as well, and I took no holidays. But it was worth it. Every time I thought of the Snark I knew she was worth it.

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So we took heart and went at it again. The ruined engine was lashed down on its rotten foundation; the smashed castings and cogs of the power transmission were taken down and stored away – all for the purpose of taking them to Honolulu where repairs and new castings could be made. Somewhere in the dim past the Snark had received on the outside one coat of white paint. The intention of the colour was still evident, however, when one got it in the right light. The Snark had never received any paint on the inside. On the contrary, she was coated inches thick with the grease and tobacco-juice of the multitudinous mechanics who had toiled upon her. Never mind, we said; the grease and filth could be planed off, and later, when we fetched Honolulu, the Snark could be painted at the same time as she was being rebuilt.

By main strength and sweat we dragged the Snark off from the wrecked ways and laid her alongside the Oakland City Wharf. The drays brought all the outfit from home, the books and blankets and personal luggage. Along with this, everything else came on board in a torrent of confusion – wood and coal, water and water-tanks, vegetables, provisions, oil, the life-boat and the launch, all our friends, all the friends of our friends and those who claimed to be their friends, to say nothing of some of the friends of the friends of the friends of our crew. Also there were reporters, and photographers, and strangers, and cranks, and finally, and over all, clouds of coal-dust from the wharf.

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