Alaska (126 page)

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can never tell when that Taku Wind will come roaring out of Canada. We better get them off before sunset.'

So the captain of the new arrival, the captain of the earlier ship and Tom Venn as representative of the Ross & Raglan line decided to approach Captain Binneford by bullhorn, and Tom served as spokesman in offering to pay all costs involved in disembarking the passengers immediately. Binneford refused even to consider the proposal, because in the meantime he had received a second set of instructions from the home office assuring him that the

Ontario Queen

would arrive at the Walrus two hours earlier than previously estimated. The wireless message had ended:

ALL PASSENGERS WILL BE SAFELY ABOARD ONTARIO

BY FOUR FRIDAY AFTERNOON.

Tom, feeling a personal responsibility for Mrs. Ross, remained near the stricken ship, because he still felt that Captain Binneford, whom he had found to be a sensible man during their brief acquaintance on the run from Ketchikan to Totem, would want to ensure his passengers' safety, regardless of instructions which might endanger them, and he wanted to be on hand to protect Mrs. Ross. He therefore sent Sam Bigears back to the cannery in another Totem boat, with instructions to assure Lydia that her mother was going to be all right.

But Sam's craft had barely left the stricken ship when a brisk wind came speeding down the inlet from Canada, and two experienced sailors warned: 'If this continues, we could have a full-scale Taku,' and because Sam was cautious where gales were concerned, he swung his boat in a full circle and headed back to be ready to disembark passengers if the winds worsened.

In her creaking quarters that Thursday night Mrs. Ross, along with quite a few other passengers, penned notes to relatives. Hers was to Lydia: This adventure proves one thing to me, and I hope it does to you too, Lydia. No disaster, and the wrecking of this ship is a disaster, justifies you to act stupidly. In fact, at such times you ought to act with superhuman intelligence, and I trust you will always do so.

It is stupid to keep us passengers trapped on this ship, even if there is a modicum of assurance that the other ship will get here in good time. It is stupid to allow a few dollars to obstruct the operation of ordinary intelli-766

gence. And it is always very stupid, Lydia, to allow one minor consideration to obscure the right decision regarding a major concern. If we get off this pathetic craft alive, which I begin to doubt, I shall want your father, with the most ardent support from me, to see to it that Captain Binneford never again sails in Alaskan waters, for his behavior tonight as the winds begin to rise is indefensible.

Yes, the wind has picked up considerably and the boat is creaking much more loudly than before. I see a dish start to move across my table as I write, and instead of stopping, it picks up speed. But I am glad I made this trip with you, Lydia. I think we both saw young Mr. Venn in new lights, and they were neither favorable nor unfavorable, just new. That Nancy Bigears is a gem, lecturing me before I could offer my help.

See that she does well at the university. And take care of yourself. Make right choices and defend them.

I'm far less apprehensive than this letter sounds. I'm sure we'll be rescued tomorrow.

When she went to the railing to throw her letter, properly weighted, down to Tom, an officer tried to prevent her from doing so, again saying the legal position of the ship would be compromised, but she pushed him away and said harshly: 'For God's sake, young man, don't be a damned fool.'

When Bigears reached the scene he sought Tom's boat, but could not find it among the scores of little craft eager to rescue the passengers, but later he saw Tom talking with Mrs. Ross, who was leaning down from the railing. Not wanting to alarm her with the news he was bringing, he waited till she withdrew, then he climbed into Tom's boat: 'I fear. So do men at cannery.'

'What's up?'

'Taku Wind comes. No doubt about it.'

'Big enough to push the Queen off the rocks?'

'If water rises, maybe.'

'Any chance?'

'Maybe yes.'

So Tom and Bigears moved among the waiting boats till they reassembled the two captains who had consulted with Captain Binneford earlier that day, and Tom told them: 'Sam Bigears here has lived on Taku Inlet all his life. Knows it better than anyone. And he says . . . Tell them, Sam.'

'Big Taku Wind coming. Maybe before sun rise.”

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'For sure.'

'And there'll be a pretty high tide too,' said Tom.

The two captains needed no more information. Keeping Tom and Bigears with them, they moved close to the Queen

and shouted: 'We want to talk with Captain Binneford.'

'He's busy.'

One of the captains grew angry: 'You tell that stupid bastard he better get unbusy and come talk with us.”

'He wants no further interference.'

'He's goin' to get it. Because one hell of a big Taku Wind is goin' to blow his ass right off that rock.'

When the young officer refused to interrupt Captain Binneford, the captain grew furious, whipped out a revolver, and fired two quick shots over the Queen.

This brought Captain Binneford on the run: 'What's going on, Mr. Proud fit?”

'Trouble,' the leader in the rescue boat shouted. 'Captain, there's a big wind risin'.

You better get everyone off your ship.'

'The Ontario Queen will be here by four tomorrow afternoon.'

'It may find you missing.'

Captain Binneford started to leave the railing, but now the second captain shouted at him: 'Captain, this man here has lived on Taku Inlet all his life. He knows, and he says there's danger of a real big wind.'

In the darkness Captain Binneford, shaken by these words, stared at the man in the boat below as if he were prepared to listen, but at that moment Tom held a lantern to Bigears' face, and when the Canadian skipper saw that Sam was a Tlingit, he turned on his heel and left.

But Sam was correct in his estimate of this wind, because by midnight it had risen so sharply that most of the really small boats, whose skippers knew these waters, had headed for the safety of a protected cove north of Walrus Glacier. Tom and Sam felt they had to stay close to the Queen

in case the captain came to his senses, but by three in the morning the blasts out of Canada were so powerful that Bigears warned: 'If we not go, we sink too,' so against his will Tom headed his boat toward a cove south of Walrus Glacier.

As they drew away from the Queen, he asked: 'What's going to happen?' and Bigears said: 'I think she go down,' and Tom asked: 'Will those two bigger ships be able to rescue them?' and Sam said: 'They got any sense, they leave now,' and in the darkness Tom saw with horror that the two larger boats were indeed running for shelter, because their captains 768

knew that a gale strong enough to drive them onto the rocks had to strike the Walrus before long.

In her cabin, with the wind roaring and the ship' listing at a more severe angle, Mrs. Ross wrote a final note, which, water stained, would be delivered to her daughter some weeks later:

I am sure, Lydia, that your grandmother must have known moments like this when all seemed lost. Remember the harsh accusations that were made against her and other brave young women. They survived and so shall I. But the wind does grow stronger and we await the dawn in a kind of dumb terror. It is so sad. I can't hold back my tears, because this was all so unnecessary. Your father and I would have solved this problem in three minutes, and I beg you to develop the same kind of character and willingness to assume responsibility, for they are great virtues, maybe the greatest.

I love you. Tonight my hopes must transfer to you.

When dawn broke on Friday morning, with all the rescue ships scattered but watching in horror as the gale increased, raking and churning the water as it swept down the inlet, Tom and Bigears moved out from their sanctuary and, braving the furious chopping swell, tried to approach the foundering Queen.

But when the light was strong enough for them to see the ship listing perilously to port, the wind became so powerful that Tom cried: 'Turn back!' but Bigears shouted: 'We got to get Mrs. Ross!' and he kept their small boat plowing through great swells.

Then suddenly a combination of intense gusting wind and pounding waves much higher than before rocked the

Montreal Queen

loose and turned her over on her gaping side.

Within minutes the beautiful ship disappeared in the dark waters of the inlet, and because of the tremendous sucking action it generated, not a single passenger of the 309 survived. To prevent a financial loss of two thousand dollars, everyone aboard the

Montreal Queen, including the crew, perished.

TOM AND BIGEARS STOOD BY THE SITE OF THE SINKING, hoping along with some dozen other small craft to save at least a few of the passengers, but it soon became obvious that there would not be anyone to rescue. Indeed, the capsizing had come with such a sudden rush that there were hardly any stray bits of wreckage to mark where the ship had been. So at about three in the afternoon, just as Tom was about to start 769

back to Totem, Sam Bigears shouted: 'Look!' and Tom turned and saw the stately Ontario Queen, steaming up an hour early.

At the cannery, Tom was unable to tell the waiting women what had happened. Instead, Bigears climbed onto the dock, walked slowly toward the crowd that had gathered, and embraced Lydia Ross: 'Everyone go down. Everyone. Tom has letter.'

By the time Tom approached the crowd Lydia had herself under control, but when she saw this gallant fellow whom she had once treated so poorly, she ran to him, collapsing in tears and throwing herself into his arms.

Her father, when he met her on her return to Seattle, suspected rightly that she was being overly emotional when she announced that she was marrying Tom Venn, and he begged her to wait until she saw things more clearly, but she said: 'I did see things very clearly during that visit. If Mother had lived, she would have told you that I stayed behind because I did not want Tom to marry that Nancy Bigears, wonderful as you'll find her to be. I wanted him, and I wanted him for the best reason in the world. I love him.' Later she added: 'I saw him in the storm. He performed the way you would have, Father,' and Mr. Ross said: 'Most men behave courageously in a storm,'

but she corrected him: 'Captain Binneford didn't.'

Her father did prevail upon her not to marry immediately: 'I don't give a damn for appearances, as you well know. But there is meaning to that old phrase a decent interval,'

and she said: 'October tenth will be decent. Tom and I have things to do.'

Nancy Bigears, now a student at the university, attended the wedding, and although there was uneasiness between her and Lydia, there was none with Tom. She still loved him, and both Lydia and Tom knew this, and in return they loved her, for she was the first of the Tlingit women to test her luck in the white man's world and they wished her well. When she asked where they would be spending their honeymoon, Lydia said: 'At Ketchikan Cannery. Tom has work to do,' and Nancy kissed them both.

WHEN NERKA THE SALMON LEAPED OVER TOM VENN'S right-hand jigger in order to return to the Pleiades River, he faced the reverse of the problem which had threatened him three years earlier. Now, as a fish acclimated to life in salt water, he must relearn how to live in fresh, and this sharp alteration required two days of slow swimming hi the new

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medium. But gradually he adjusted, and now the excess fat which he had acquired in his hump during his burst of prodigious eating became an asset, keeping him alive and strong enough to ascend the waterfalls of the river, for as we have seen, once he entered fresh water he would never again feed, his entire digestive system having atrophied to the point of nonfunction.

He had nine miles of upstream swimming to negotiate before he reached the lake, and this was a task immeasurably more difficult than swimming down had been, for not only did he have to leap over major obstacles, but he also had to protect himself from the large number of bears that lined the river, knowing that the fat salmon were coming.

At the first rapids he proved his ability, for he swam directly up the middle, breasting the full power of the stream and propelling himself forward with forceful strokes of his tail, but it was when he reached the first waterfall, about eight feet high, that he demonstrated his unusual skill, for after hoarding his strength at the bottom, he suddenly darted at the falling plume of water, lifted himself in the air, and leaped the full eight feet, vibrating his tail furiously. With an effort not often matched in the animal kingdom, he overcame that considerable obstacle.

His outstanding performance came with the third waterfall, not a vertical drop but a long, sliding affair of rapidly rushing, turbulent water some eighteen feet long and with such a sharp drop that it looked as if no fish could master it, and certainly not in a single bound.

Here Nerka used another tactic. He made a furious dash right at the heart of the oncoming flow, and within the waterfall itself he swam and leaped and scrambled until he found a precarious lodging halfway up. There he rested for some moments, gathering energy for the greater trial to come.

Trapped in the middle of the fall, he obviously could not build up forward motion, but rising almost vertically, with his tail thrashing madly, he could resume his attack. Once more he swam, not leaped, right up the heart of the fall, and after a prodigious effort he broke free to reach calm water, in which he rested for a long time.

The most perilous part of his homeward journey, insofar as external agencies were concerned, now loomed, for in his exhausted state he failed to practice the cautions which had kept him alive for six years, and in his drifting he came within range of a group of bears that had gathered at this spot because they had learned, centuries ago, that after the homecoming salmon finished battling that waterfall, they would for some time flop aimlessly about and become easy prey.