A pretty nurse adjusted his pillow. “Your leg is almost well, Mr. Palmer. You can go home tomorrow if you like.”
She smiled and walked away. The detective lieutenant at the foot of the bed was so engrossed in what he had to say he did not even look at her legs. “I hope everything’s all right, Mr. Palmer. No complaints or anything.”
“No, no complaints,” said Jan.
Alice, sitting in a chair at Jan’s left, looked fondly at her husband. A definite change had taken place in her. She was her composite self, warm and interested, no longer coldly businesslike, the artistic part of her restored and shining in her glance. She patted Jan’s hand.
“Funny about that Commie,” said the lieutenant. “Davies, I mean. The California cops that picked him up said he was in a state of nervous collapse. Scared stiff about something. He confessed to the two robberies and he had a stack of forged papers on him that would convict a saint. No hard feelings?”
“I’m sure he hasn’t,” said an unctuous member of the Bering Steam board of directors, the ringleader of the failed rebellion, very anxious now to gain Jan’s goodwill. “And if you’ll pardon us, Lieutenant, I’d like to tell Mr. Palmer about the highway that we voted to endorse to Alaska. I—”
“Well,” said the lieutenant, twisting his hat, “I just wanted Mr. Palmer to know all about it. That was a bum deal he had. That Lucar that swore out the complaint was a Commie too, part of the same ring. These Commies always try to gang up, but they’re such a bunch of worms they sell each other out any time it’s worth anything to one.”
“I am sure,” said the Bering Steam director, “that Mr. Palmer has quite forgiven the whole thing. Now, if I could go over these papers to change the name of the new ship to the Greg Palmer, Jan—”
“Well, I just wanted him to know he got a bum steer, that’s all,” said the lieutenant, “and we’re sorry we had any part of it. We put the cop that shot you out in the suburbs. We kind of feel to blame, too, about lettin’ that psychiatrist take you away. But how was we to know he’d turn out like he did?”
“I’m sure I can forget about it,” said Jan with a smile. “Thanks for coming to tell me.”
The lieutenant breathed relief and left. The director got his papers signed and he, with many bows and ingratiating smiles, left.
Jan sighed happily, Alice’s hand on his arm. He unfolded the evening papers, looking for the comics.
“What did he mean about the psychiatrist?” said Alice. “Is that Dyhard?”
Jan looked up from reading his favorite strip. “Huh? Oh, Dyhard. Yeah, poor guy. Started telling people he was from another world.”
“Oh? Why, there it is on the back page!”
Jan read it disinterestedly.
PSYCHIATRIST SAVED BY OPERATION
Dr. Felix Dyhard, local psychiatrist, who suffered a nervous breakdown last Tuesday, was operated on yesterday, according to his colleague, Dr. Steining. The operation, the most modern technique of neurosurgery, is called a prefrontal lobotomy, which places the patient completely beyond worry. Dyhard, Steining said, was in excellent condition after the operation and can be expected to experience an uneventful recovery, after which he will be transferred to the state institution until such time as some routine employment which requires little thought can be found for him.
“Poor Tombo!” said Alice.
Jan went back to reading the comics.
Glossary
The words and expressions used in the 1930s and 1940s add a unique flavor and authenticity to this tale. While a character’s speech may often reflect regional origins, it also can convey attitudes common in the day. So that readers can better grasp such cultural and historical terms, uncommon words or expressions of the era, the following glossary has been provided.
abreact: to release (repressed emotions) by acting out, as in words, behavior or the imagination, the situation causing the conflict.→ to text
after house: a square or rectangular cabin built on deck near the middle of a ship, used as a place to get out of the weather.→ to text
Ahriman: the Evil Principle or Being of the ancient Persians; the Prince of Darkness.→ to text
AMA: American Medical Association.→ to text
Arabian Nights’ Entertainment, The: a famous collection of Persian, Indian and Arabian folktales told by Scheherazade to her husband, Shahryar, King of India, a different tale every night for 1,001 nights; therefore the collection is sometimes called The Thousand and One Nights. As the story goes, the king had a wife he loved more than all the world and when he found she was unfaithful, he had her put to death and resolved to take his revenge on all womankind. Night after night he marries a beautiful girl, only to order her beheaded the next morning. At last he meets Scheherazade, the beautiful and clever daughter of his vizier. Knowing that Shahryar loves a good story, she begins on the night of their wedding to spin a bewildering number of yarns which she suspends just as the climax is being reached. Devoured by curiosity to know the end of each story, Shahryar stays the hand of the executioner and after a thousand and one nights is cured of his mania.→ to text
astrolabe: an ancient instrument used widely in medieval times by navigators and astronomers to determine latitude, longitude and time of day. The device employed a disk with 360 degrees marked on its circumference. Users took readings from an indicator that pivoted around the center of the suspended device like the hand of a clock. The astrolabe was replaced by the sextant in the eighteenth century.→ to text
Baal: name used for the chief deity of Canaan (ancient region lying between the Jordan, the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean; the land promised by God to Abraham). Believed to be active in storms, Baal was known as “rider of the clouds” and “lord of heaven and earth”; he also controlled the earth’s fertility.→ to text
bad actor: a mean, ill-tempered, troublemaking or evil person.→ to text
beat to quarters: to summon the crew of a sailing man-o’-war to their stations for action against an enemy. From the use of a drum to spread the command throughout the ship.→ to text
Bedlam: popular name for the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem; it became infamous for the brutal ill-treatment meted out to the mentally ill. The word Bedlam has long been used for lunatic asylums in general, and later for a scene of uproar and confusion.→ to text
bells: a system to indicate the hour by means of bells, used aboard a ship to regulate the sailor’s duty watch. Unlike civil bells, the strikes of the bell do not accord to the number of the hour. Instead, there are eight bells, one for each half-hour of a four-hour watch. Eight bells would be rung at 8:00 AM, 12:00 noon, 4:00 PM, 8:00 PM, 12:00 midnight and 4:00 AM.→ to text
binnacle: a built-in housing for a ship’s compass.→ to text
black arts: forms of magical spells that harness occult forces or evil spirits to produce unnatural effects in the world.→ to text
Black Maria: patrol wagon; an enclosed truck or van used by the police to transport prisoners.→ to text
bluff: having a broad or flat bow, like a barge.→ to text
boarding net: a stout netting formerly extended fore and aft from the gunwale to a proper height up the rigging. Its use was to prevent an enemy from jumping on board the ship.→ to text
boat boom: a heavy spar pivoted to a ship’s side and used as a mooring for small boats when the ship is at anchor.→ to text
bone in the teeth: the appearance of a boat sailing with exhilarating speed so as to create a prominent bow wave. The phrase comes from the image of a dog, merrily running with a bone in its teeth.→ to text
bone, picked up a: picked up speed; said of a ship. An expression used in speaking of a ship making considerable speed, from the foam on the bow wave which looks like a bone. The phrase comes from the image of a dog, merrily running with a bone.→ to text
boom: a spar used to hold or extend the foot of a sail.→ to text
bosun: a ship’s officer in charge of supervision and maintenance
of the ship and its equipment.→ to text
bow chasers: a pair of long guns mounted forward in the bow of a sailing warship to fire directly ahead; used when chasing an enemy to shoot away her sails and rigging.→ to text
bowsprit: a spar projecting from the upper end of the bow of a sailing vessel, for holding and supporting a sail.→ to text
brace: on a square-rigged ship, a line rigged to the end of a yard (horizontal timber attached to the mast to support and spread the head of the sail), used to change the angle of a square sail to the wind.→ to text
brail: to haul up the foot of a squaresail using lines. Once brailed up, the sail could then be furled and secured to the yard.→ to text
broadside: 1. all the guns that can be fired from one side of a warship.→ to text
2. a simultaneous discharge of all the guns on one side of a warship.→ to text
Burton: Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890), English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, Orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures. According to one account, he spoke twenty-nine European, Asian and African languages. One of Burton’s best-known achievements includes traveling in disguise to Mecca and making an unabridged translation of The Book of One Thousand Nights and A Night (more commonly known as The Arabian Nights).→ to text
Cabala Sarracenica: treatise written by Father Athanasius Kirker (1602–1680) on the mystic arts of the Saracens (ancient desert people of Syria and Arabia living on the fringes of the Roman Empire).→ to text
cabin sloop: a sailing vessel with a single mast set about one-third of the boat’s length aft of the bow with an enclosed compartment that serves as a shelter or as living quarters.→ to text
capstan: a device used on a ship that consists of an upright, rotatable cylinder around which ropes, chains or cables are wound, either by hand or machine, for hoisting anchors, lifting weights, etc.→ to text
Carib: a member of a group of American Indian peoples whose origins lie in the southern West Indies and the northern coast of South America, after whom the Caribbean Sea was named.→ to text
castle: forecastle; the upper deck of a sailing ship, forward of the foremast.→ to text
cat: a whip, usually having nine knotted lines or cords fastened to a handle, used for flogging. So called from the resemblance of its scars to the scratches of a cat.→ to text
catamaran: a quarrelsome person, especially a woman.→ to text
cave of San Cyprian: crypt of the church of San Cyprian, one of the first churches built in Salamanca, Spain, in the twelfth century. In the sixteenth century the church was torn down and what remains are the twenty-three steps descending into the darkness of the crypt. According to legend, Satan taught black magic here to seven students for seven years. The students’ tuition was one human soul. At the end of the seven years, the students drew lots to see which of them would settle the bill by spending the rest of his life in the cave in the service of Satan. The student who lost, using the tricks he had learned for evil, hid in a vat of waste water and made them believe he had made himself invisible. After the devil left, the student escaped from the cave. But, on leaving, he lost his shadow which could have betrayed his flight, leaving it inside the cave.→ to text
chain: chain shot; cannon shot consisting of two balls or half balls connected by a short chain, formerly used in naval artillery to destroy the masts and sails of enemy ships.→ to text
chamberlain: a high-ranking official in various royal courts.→ to text
Circe: in Greek mythology, a sorceress who detained Odysseus, a mythical Greek hero, on her island and turned his men into swine.→ to text
claw up to windward: to make way against the wind by a zigzag course under difficulties.→ to text
coaming: a raised rim or border around an opening in a ship’s deck, designed to keep out water.→ to text
conning: to guide or pilot a ship.→ to text
corbita: Roman merchant ship with square sails, steered by two side rudders connected to each other. The after-castle (a raised structure at the stern, traditionally quarters for the crew or cabins for officers) was often decorated with a large elegant swan’s or goose’s head.→ to text
counter: overhang at the stern of a ship.→ to text
coxswain: a person who is in charge of a ship’s boat and its crew, under an officer, and who steers it.→ to text
cromster: small warship used by the Dutch Republic during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which became increasingly popular as an English trading vessel during the late sixteenth century. They were small, broad in the beam and shallow-draughted and capable of being converted into miniature warships. They carried fore-and-aft rigged sails and spritsails and their sturdy construction allowed them to carry a heavy armament.→ to text
crosstrees: a pair of horizontal rods attached to a sailing ship’s mast to spread the rigging, especially at the head of the topmast.→ to text
cutter: a ship’s boat, powered by a motor or oars and used for transporting stores or passengers.→ to text
demicannon: a large cannon of the sixteenth century, having a bore of about 6½ inches and firing a shot from 30 to 36 pounds (13–16 kg).→ to text
dhow: a long, flat sailing vessel that is lateen rigged (triangle sail set at an angle to a short mast) and found in the Indian Ocean along the east coast of Africa, the Arabian peninsula, Pakistan and India.→ to text
Dianetics: from the Greek words dia, meaning “through” and nous, meaning “soul,” and defined as “what the soul is doing to the body.” Dianetics is a methodology which can help alleviate unwanted sensations and emotions, irrational fears and psychosomatic illnesses (illnesses caused or aggravated by mental stress). It is most accurately described as what the soul is doing to the body through the mind.→ to text
djellaba: a long, loose, hooded garment with full sleeves, worn especially in Muslim countries.→ to text
dog watch: either of two two-hour watches, the first from 4:00 to 6:00 PM and the latter from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. The term comes from a shortening of “dodge watch,” as it dodges the routine watch, which is four hours throughout the rest of the day, to allow sailors to rotate through the watches and to eat the evening meal at about the traditional time.→ to text
drawing: filling with wind, said of sails.→ to text
ease her: reduce the amount of rudder during a turn. Generally, an order given as the ship approaches the desired course.→ to text
fakir: in Arabic-speaking Muslim lands, a religious beggar or member of a religious order that originally relied solely on alms. Many are wanderers who attract attention and alms by performing such acts as lying on beds of nails; others perform menial jobs connected, for example, with burials and the cleaning of mosques.→ to text
fanned: baseball slang for a batter who strikes out on a swung third strike; to put a batter out from play. Used figuratively.→ to text
flattie: 18' Flattie class, an eighteen-foot-long sailing boat. Her racing complement is two, but she can be sailed by one or up to four people. The 18' Flattie class was designed by Ted Geary (1885–1960), a naval architect considered one of the best yacht designers in Seattle’s history. The Flattie was renamed the “Geary 18” in his honor in 1961 and continues to be a popular class with active fleets all along the Pacific coast.→ to text
fo’c’s’le: forecastle; the upper deck of a sailing ship, forward of the foremast.→ to text
fore-and-aft: running along the length of the boat. The more common position of the sail, with its length running along the ship’s length, as opposed to a sail such as a square sail which is mounted across the width of the vessel.→ to text
frigate: a three-masted sailing warship with two full decks, with only one gun deck. A frigate was armed with between 30 and 44 guns located on the gun deck, and possibly some on the
quarter-deck and forecastle, used in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.→ to text
furl: to fold or roll a sail and secure it to its main support.→ to text
galley: long, narrow vessel widely used in ancient and medieval times, propelled principally by oars but also fitted with sails. The earliest type was sometimes 150 feet (46 m) long with 50 oars. Rowers were slaves, prisoners of war or (later) convicts; they were usually chained to benches set along the sides, the center of the vessel being used for cargo. When galleys were employed in war, the sides were so designed that they could be raised to afford protection for the rowers.→ to text
ghoul: an evil spirit or demon from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in burial grounds and deserts. It is a shape-shifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, especially a hyena, and lures unwary travelers into the desert to slay and devour them. It also preys on young children, robs graves and eats the dead.→ to text