The Unexpected - Part 2

Part 2 of 3. We continue The Unexpected by Jack London. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
The Unexpected by Jack London, Part two. Hans looked at nothing,
but Edith's eyes wandered wildly from detail the detail of
what had taken place. Dennon lay without movement, the overturned
chair hurled onward, and the mad whirl lay near him.
Partly under him lay the shotgun, still broken open at

(00:32):
the breach, spilling out of his right hand with the
two cartridges which he had failed to put into the gun,
and which he had clutched until consciousness left him. Harkey
lay on the floor, face downward, where he had fallen,
while Duchy rested forward on the table, his yellow mop
of hair buried in his mushplate. The plate itself tilted
at an angle of forty five degrees. This tilted plate

(00:53):
fascinated her. Why did it not fall down? It was ridiculous.
It was not the nature of for a mushplate to
upend itself on the table, even if a man or
so had been killed. She glanced back at Dennon, but
her eyes returned to the tilted plate. It was so
ridiculous she felt a hysterical impulse to laugh. Then she

(01:14):
noticed the silence and forgot the plate. In a desire
for something to happen. The monotonous drip of the coffee
from the table to the floor merely emphasized the silence.
Why did not Hans do something, say something. She looked
at him and was about to speak, when she discovered
that her tongue refused its wonted duty. There was a

(01:38):
peculiar ache in her throat, and her mouth was dry
and furry. She could only look at Hans, who in
turn looked at her. Suddenly, the silence was broken by
a sharp metal clang. She screamed, jerking her eyes back
to the table. The plate had fallen down. Hans sighed,
as though awakening from sleep. The clang of the plate

(02:00):
had aroused them to life in a new world. The
cabin epitomized the new world in which they must thenceforce, live,
and move. The old cabin was gone forever. The horizon
of life was totally new and unfamiliar. The unexpected had
swept its wizardry over the face of things, changing the perspective,

(02:21):
juggling values, and shuffling the real and the unreal into
perplexing confusion. My God, Hans, was Edith's first speech. He
didn't answer, but stared at her with horror. Slowly his
eyes wandered over the room for the first time, taking
in the details. Then he put on his cap and
started for the door. Where are you going, Edith demanded,

(02:45):
in an agony of apprehension. His hand was on the doorknob,
and he half turned it as he answered to dig
some graves. Don't leave me. Hans, with her eyes, swept
the room with this. The grave must be doug sometime,
he said, But you do not know how many, she
objected desperately. She noted his indecision and added, besides, I'll

(03:09):
go with you and help. Hans stepped back to the
table and mechanically snuffed the candle. Then between them they
made the examination. Both Harky and Dutchy were dead, frightfully dead.
Because of the close range of the shotgun. Hans refused
to go near Denon, and Edith was forced to conduct

(03:29):
this portion of the investigation by herself. He isn't dead,
she called to Hans. He walked over looked down at
the murderer. What did you say, Edith demanded, having caught
the rumble of inarticulate speech in her husband's throat. I
said it was a damn shame. That he isn't dead,
came the reply. Edith was bending over the body. Leave

(03:51):
him alone, Hans commanded harshly in a strange voice. She
looked at him and sudden alarm. He had picked up
the shotgun dropped by Denon and was thrusting in shells.
What are you going to do, she cried, rising swiftly
from her bending position. Hans did not answer, but she
saw the shotgun going to his shoulder. She grasped the
muzzle with her hand and brew it up. Leave me alone,

(04:14):
he cried hoarsely. He tried to jerk the weapon away
from her, but she came in closer and clung to him. Hans, Hans,
wake up, she cried, don't be crazy. He killed Duchy
and Harky, was her husband's reply. And I am going
to kill him. But that's wrong, she objected. There's a law.

(04:37):
He sneered, his incredulity of the law's potency in such
a region, but he merely iterated, dispassionately, doggedly, he killed
Duchy and Harky long. She argued it with him, but
the argument was once sided, and for he contented himself
with repeating again and again. He killed duchy and harky,

(04:58):
but she could not escape from her child training, nor
from the blood that was in her. The heritage of
law was hers, and right conduct to her was the
fulfillment of the law. She could see no other righteous
course to pursue. Hans taking the law into his own
hands was no more justifiable than Dennin's deed. Two wrongs
did not make her right, she contended, and there was

(05:20):
only one way to punish Dennon, and that was the
legal way arranged by society. At last, Hans gave in
to her. All right, he said, have it your way,
and tomorrow or next day look to see him kill
you and me. She shook her head and held out
her hand for the shotgun. He started to hand it

(05:40):
to her, then hesitated, better, let me shoot him, he pleaded. Again.
She shook her head, and again he started to pass
her the gun when the door opened and an Indian,
without knocking, came in. A blast of wind and a
flurry of snow came in with him. They turned and
faced him, Hans still holding the shotgun. The intruder took

(06:01):
in the scene without a quiver. His eyes embraced the
dead and wounded in a sweeping glance. No surprise showed
in his face, not even curiosity. Harky lay at his feet,
but he took no notice of him, so far as
he was concerned. Harky's body didn't exist much wind, the

(06:21):
Indian remarked, by way of salutation. All well, very well. Hans,
still grasping the gun, felt sure that the Indian attributed
to him the mangled corpses. He glanced appealingly at his wife.
Good morning, mee gook, she said, her voice betraying her effort. No,
not very well, much trouble, goodbye. I go now, much hurry,

(06:45):
the Indian said, and without semblance of haste, with great deliberation,
Stepping clear of a red pool on the floor, he
opened the door and went out. The man and woman
looked at each other. He thinks we did it, Hans gasped,
I did it. Edith was silent for a space. Then
she said, briefly, in a business like way, never mind

(07:07):
what he thinks that will come after. At present, we
have two graves to dig. But first of all we've
got to tie up Dennon so he can't escape. Hans
refused to touch Denin, but Edith lashed him securely hand
and foot, and then she and Hans went out into
the snow. The ground was frozen, it was impervious to
a blow of the pick. They first gathered wood, then

(07:29):
scraped the snow away on the frozen surface to build
a fire. When the fire had burned for an hour,
several inches of dirt had thawed. This they shoveled out,
then built a fresh fire. The descent into the earth
progressed at a rate of two or three inches an hour.
It was hard and bitter work. The flurrying snow did
not permit the fire to burn any too well. While

(07:51):
the wind cut through their clothes and chilled their bodies,
they held but little conversation. The wind interfered with speech.
Beyond wondering at what could have been Dennin's motive, they
remained silent, oppressed by the horror of the tragedy. At
one o'clock, looking toward the cabin, Hans announced that he
was hungry. No not now, Hans, Edith answered, I couldn't

(08:14):
go back alone into that cabin the way it is
and cook a meal. At two o'clock, Hans volunteered to
go with her, but she held him to his work.
And at four o'clock found the two graves completed. They
were shallow, not more than two feet deep, but they
would serve the purpose. Night had fallen. Hans got the sled,
and the two dead men were dragged through the darkness

(08:35):
and stormed to their frozen sepulcher. The funeral procession was
anything but a pageant. The sled sank deep into the
drifted snow and pulled hard. The man and the woman
had eaten nothing since the previous day, and were weak
from hunger and exhaustion. They had not the strength to
resist the wind, and at times and at times its

(08:57):
buffets hurled them off their feet. On seven occasions the
sled was overturned and they were compelled to reloaded with
its somber freight. The last one hundred feet to the
graves was up a steep slope, and this they took
on all fours like sled dogs, making legs of their
arms and thrusting their hands into the snow. Even so,
they were twice dragged backwards by the weight of the sled,

(09:17):
and slid and fell down the hill. The living and
the dead, the hauling ropes and the sled in a
ghastly entanglement. Tomorrow, I will put up headboards with their names,
Hans said. When the graves were filled in, Edith was sobbing.
A few broken sentences had been all she was capable of,
and the way of a funeral service, and now her

(09:39):
husband was compelled to half carry her back to the cabin.
Dennin was conscious he had rolled over and over on
the floor in vain efforts to free himself. He watched
Hans and Edith with glittering eyes, but made no attempt
to speak. Hans still refused to touch the murderer, and
sullenly wanted to. Edith drag him across the floor to

(10:02):
the men's bunk room, but try as she would, she
could not lift him from the floor into his bunk.
Better let me shoot him and we'll have no more trouble,
Hans sad na final appeal. Edith shook her head, bent
again to her task. To her surprise, the body rose easily,
and she knew Hans had relented and was helping her.

(10:25):
Then came the cleansing of the kitchen, but the floor
still shrieked the tragedy until Hans plamed the surface of
the stained wood away and with the shavings, made a
fire in the stove. The days came and went. There
was much of darkness and silence, broken only by the
storms and the thunder on the beach of the freezing surf.

(10:46):
Hans was obedient to Edith's slightest order. All his splendid
initiative had vanished. She had elected to deal with Dennon
in her way, and so he left the whole matter
in her hands. Murderer was a constant menace. At all
times there was the chance he might free himself from
his bonds, and they were compelled to guard him day

(11:07):
and night. The man or the woman sat always beside
him holding the loaded shotgun. At first, Edith tried eight
hour watches, but the continuous strain was too great, and
afterwards she and Hans relieved each other every four hours
as they had to sleep, and as the watches extended
through the night, their whole waking time was expended in

(11:29):
guarding Denin. They had barely time left over for the
preparation of meals and the getting of firewood. Since Meegok's
inopportune visit, the Indians had avoided the cabin. Edith sent
Hans into their cabins to get them to take Denon
down the coast in a canoe to the nearest white
settlement or trading post. But the errand was fruitless. Then

(11:52):
Edith herself. Then Edith went herself and interviewed Meegok. He
was headman of the little village, keenly aware of his responsibility,
and he elucidated his policy thoroughly in few words. It
is white man's trouble, he said, not seawash trouble. My
people help you. Then will it be seawash trouble too?

(12:16):
When white man's troubles and seawash troubles come together and
make a trouble, it is a great trouble, beyond understanding
and without end. Trouble no good. My people do no wrong,
what for they help you and have trouble. So Edith
Nelson went back to the terrible cabin with its endless

(12:38):
alternating four hour watches. Sometimes, when it was her turn
and she sat by the prisoner, the loaded shotgun in
her lap, her eyes would close and she would doze.
Always she aroused with a start, snatching up the gun
swiftly looking at him. There were distinct nervous shocks, and
their effect was not good on her. She was her

(12:59):
fear of the man that, even though she were wide awake,
if he moved under the bedclothes, she could not repress
the start and the quick reach for the gun. She
was preparing herself for a nervous breakdown, and she knew it.
First came a fluttering of the eyeballs, so that she
was compelled to close her eyes for relief. A little later,
the eyelids were afflicted by a nervous twitchingman she could

(13:20):
not control. To add to the strain, she could not
forget the tragedy. She remained as close to the horror
as on the first morning, when the Unexpected stalked into
the cabin and took possession. In her daily ministrations upon
the prisoner, she was forced to grit her teeth and
steel herself body and spirit. Hans was affected differently. He

(13:43):
became obsessed by the idea that it was his duty
to kill Dennin end part two The Unexpected by Jack
London and its conclusion in part three tomorrow, first ever
weekend edition of the Girly Show, We'll talk to you then,