Chapter II: Preface

Religion, Society, and Nature! these are the three struggles of man. They constitute at the same time his three needs. He has need of a faith; hence the temple. He must create; hence the city. He must live; hence the plough and the ship. But these three solutions comprise three perpetual conflicts. The mysterious difficulty of life results from all three. Man strives with obstacles under the form of superstition, under the form of prejudice, and under the form of the elements. A triple [Greek: anagkê] weighs upon us. There is the fatality of dogmas, the oppression of human laws, the inexorability of nature. In _Notre Dame de Paris_ the author denounced the first; in the _Misérables_ he exemplified the second; in this book he indicates the third. With these three fatalities mingles that inward fatality--the supreme [Greek: anagkê], the human heart.

HAUTEVILLE HOUSE,
_March, 1866_.

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO THE
ROCK OF HOSPITALITY AND LIBERTY
TO THAT PORTION OF OLD NORMAN GROUND
INHABITED BY
THE NOBLE LITTLE NATION OF THE SEA
TO THE ISLAND OF GUERNSEY
SEVERE YET KIND, MY PRESENT ASYLUM
PERHAPS MY TOMB.

V.H.

CONTENTS

PART I

SIEUR CLUBIN

Book I.--THE HISTORY OF A BAD REPUTATION

CHAP. PAGE

I. A Word written on a White Page 1

II. The Bû de la Rue 3

III. For your Wife: when you Marry 7

IV. An Unpopular Man 9

V. More Suspicious Facts about Gilliatt 18

VI. The Dutch Sloop 20

VII. A Fit Tenant for a Haunted House 25

VIII. The Gild-Holm-'Ur Seat 27

Book II.--MESS LETHIERRY

I. A Troubled Life, but a Quiet Conscience 30

II. A Certain Predilection 32

III. The Old Sea Language 33

IV. One is Vulnerable where one Loves 35

Book III.--DURANDE AND DÉRUCHETTE

I. Prattle and Smoke 37

II. The Old Story of Utopia 39

III. Rantaine 41

IV. Continuation of the Story of Utopia 44

V. The Devil Boat 46

VI. Lethierry's Exaltation 50

VII. The same Godfather and the same Patron Saint 52

VIII. "Bonnie Dundee" 54

IX. The Man who discovered Rantaine's Character 57

X. Long Yarns 58

XI. Matrimonial Prospects 60

XII. An Anomaly in the Character of Lethierry 61

XIII. Thoughtlessness adds a Grace to Beauty 65

Book IV.--THE BAGPIPE

I. Streaks of Fire on the Horizon 67

II. The Unknown unfolds itself by Degrees 69

III. The Air "Bonnie Dundee" finds an Echo on the Hill 71

IV. "A serenade by night may please a lady fair, 72
But of uncle and of guardian let the troubadour
beware." _Unpublished Comedy_

V. A Deserved Success has always its Detractors 74

VI. The Sloop _Cashmere_ saves a Shipwrecked Crew 75

VII. How an Idler had the Good Fortune to be seen 77
by a Fisherman

Book V.--THE REVOLVER

I. Conversations at the Jean Auberge 80

II. Clubin observes Someone 86

III. Clubin carries away Something and brings back 88
Nothing

IV. Pleinmont 91

V. The Birds'-nesters 96

VI. The Jacressade 108

VII. Nocturnal Buyers and Mysterious Sellers 114

VIII. A "Cannon" off the Red Ball and the Black 117

IX. Useful Information for Persons who expect or 125
fear the Arrival of Letters from beyond Sea

Book VI.--THE DRUNKEN STEERSMAN AND THE SOBER CAPTAIN

I. The Douvres 130

II. An Unexpected Flask of Brandy 132

III. Conversations interrupted 135

IV. Captain Clubin displays all his great Qualities 142

V. Clubin reaches the Crowning-point of Glory 147

VI. The Interior of an Abyss suddenly revealed 151

VII. An Unexpected Dénouement 158

Book VII.--THE DANGER OF OPENING A BOOK AT RANDOM

I. The Pearl at the Foot of a Precipice 162

II. Much Astonishment on the Western Coast 169

III. A Quotation from the Bible 173

PART II

MALICIOUS GILLIATT

BOOK I.--THE ROCK

CHAP. PAGE

I. The Place which is difficult to reach, and 181
difficult to leave

II. A Catalogue of Disasters 186

III. Sound; but not Safe 188

IV. A Preliminary Survey 190

V. A Word upon the Secret Co-operations of 192
the Elements

VI. A Stable for the Horse 196

VII. A Chamber for the Voyager 198

VIII. Importunæque Volucres 205

IX. The Rock, and how Gilliatt used it 207

X. The Forge 210

XI. Discovery 214

XII. The Interior of an Edifice under the Sea 217

XIII. What was seen there; and what perceived dimly 219

BOOK II.--THE LABOUR

I. The Resources of one who has nothing 225

II. Wherein Shakespeare and Æschylus meet 227

III. Gilliatt's Masterpiece comes to the Rescue 229
of that of Lethierry

IV. Sub Re 232

V. Sub Umbra 237

VI. Gilliatt places the Sloop in readiness 242

VII. Sudden Danger 244

VIII. Movement rather than Progress 247

IX. A Slip between Cup and Lip 250

X. Sea-warnings 252

XI. A Word to the Wise is enough 255

BOOK III.--THE STRUGGLE

I. Extremes meet 258

II. The Ocean Winds 259

III. The Noises explained 262

IV. Turba Turma 265

V. Gilliatt's Alternatives 267

VI. The Combat 268

BOOK IV.--PITFALLS IN THE WAY

I. He who is Hungry is not Alone 280

II. The Monster 296

III. Another Kind of Sea-combat 297

IV. Nothing is hidden; Nothing lost 299

V. The Fatal Difference between Six Inches and 302
Two Feet

VI. De Profundis ad Altum 306

VII. The Appeal is heard 311

PART III

DÉRUCHETTE

Book I.--NIGHT AND THE MOON

CHAP. PAGE

I. The Harbour Bell 315

II. The Harbour Bell again 327

Book II.--GRATITUDE AND DESPOTISM

I. Joy surrounded by Tortures 335

II. The Leathern Trunk 343

Book III.--THE DEPARTURE OF THE "CASHMERE"

I. The Havelet near the Church 346

II. Despair confronts Despair 348

III. The Forethought of Self-sacrifice 355

IV. For your Wife: when you Marry 359

V. The Great Tomb 362

TOILERS OF THE SEA