The Unexpected - Part 3 (FINALE)

Part 3, and the finale, of Jack London's The Unexpected. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Part three, the conclusion to Jack London's The Unexpected. Hans
tried to conceal his homicidal mania, and he would say
to his wife, by and bye, you will want me
to kill him, and then I will not kill him.
It would make me sick. But more than once, stealing
into the room when it was her watch off, she

(00:32):
would catch the two men glaring ferociously at each gender
wild animals. The pair of them, and Hans faced the
lust to kill in Dennin's, the fierceness and savagery of
the cornered rat Hans. She would cry, wake up, and
he would come to a recollection of himself. He startled
and shamefaced and unrepentant. So Hans became another factor in

(00:55):
the problem The Unexpected had given Edith Nelson to solve.
At first, it had been merely a question of right
conduct in dealing with Denin, and right conduct, as she
conceived it, lay in keeping him a prisoner until he
could be turned over for trial before a proper tribunal.
But now entered Hans, and she saw that his sanity

(01:15):
and his salvation were involved. Nor was she long in
discovering that her own strength and endurance had become part
of the problem. She was breaking down under the strain.
Her left arm had developed involuntary jerkings and twitches. She
spilled her food from her spoon, and she could place
no reliance in her afflicted arm. She judged it to
be a form of Saint Vitus's dance, and she feared

(01:37):
the extent to which its ravages might go. What if
she broke down? And the vision she had of the
possible future when the cabin might contain only Denin and
Hans was an added horror. After the third day, Denan
had begun to talk. His first question had been what
are you going to do with me? And this question

(01:59):
he repeated daily, and many times a day, and always
Edith replied, and always Edith replied that he would assuredly
be dealt with according to law. In turn, she put
a daily question to him, why did you do it?
To this? He never replied. Also, he received the question

(02:20):
with outbursts of anger, raging and straining at the rawhide
that bound him, and threatening her with what he would
do when he got loose, which he said he was
sure to do sooner or later. At such times, she
cocked both triggers of the gun, prepared to meet him
with the leaden death if he should burst, loose herself
trembling and palpitating, dizzy from the tension and shock. But

(02:44):
in time Dennon grew more tractable. It seemed to her
that he was growing weary of his unchanging recumbent position.
He began to beg and plead to be released. He
made wild promises. He would do them no harm. He
would himself go down the coast and give himself up
to the officers of the law. He would give them
his share of the gold. He would go away into

(03:05):
the heart of the wilderness and never appear again in civilization.
He would take his own life if she would only
free him. His pleadings usually culminated an involuntary raving, until
it seemed to her that he was passing into a fit.
But always she shook her head and denied him the
freedom for which he worked himself into a passion. But

(03:25):
the weeks went by, and he continued to grow more tractable,
and through it all the weariness was asserting itself more
and more. I am so tired, so tired, he would murmur,
rolling his head back and forth on the pillow, like
a peevish child. At a little later period, he began
to make impassioned please for death to beg her to

(03:45):
kill him, to beg Hans to put him out of
his misery so that he may at least rest comfortably.
The situation was fast becoming impossible. Edith's nervousness was increasing,
and she knew breakdown might come at any time. She
couldn't even get her proper rest, for she was haunted
by the fear that Hans would yield to his mania
and kill Dennin while she slept. Though January had already come,

(04:10):
months would have to elapse before any trading schooner was
even likely to put into bay. Also, they had not
expected to winter in the cabin, and the food was
running low. Nor could Hans add to the supply by hunting.
They were chained to the cabin by the necessity of
guarding their prisoner. Something must be done, and she knew it.

(04:33):
She forced herself to go back into a reconsideration of
the problem. She could not shake off the legacy of
her race, the law that was of her blood and
that had been trained into her. She knew that whatever
she did, she must do according to the law. And
in the long hours of watching the shotgun on her knees,
the murderer restless beside her, and the storms thundering without,

(04:55):
she made original sociological researches and worked out for her
self the evolution of the law. It came to her
that the law was nothing more than the judgment and
the will of any group of people. It mattered not
how large the group of people. There were little groups,
she reasoned, like Switzerland, and there were big groups, like

(05:17):
the United States. Also, she reasoned, it didn't matter how
small was the group of people. There might only be
ten thousand people in a country, yet the collective judgment
and will would be the law of that country. Why then,
could not one thousand people constitute such a group, she
asked herself. And if one thousand, why not one hundred,

(05:38):
Why not fifty? Why not five? Why not two? She
was frightened at her own conclusion, and she talked it
over with Hans. At first he could not comprehend, and
then when he did, he added convincing evidence. He spoke
of miners meetings, where all the men of locality came

(06:00):
together and made the law and executed the law. There
might be only Tanner, fifteen men altogether, he said, But
the will of the majority became the law for the
whole ten or fifteen, and whoever violated that will was punished.
Edith saw her way clear. At last, Denan must hang.

(06:22):
Hans agreed with her. Between them they constituted the majority
of this particular group, and it was the group will
that Denan should be hanged, and the execution of this.
Edith strove earnestly to observe the customary forms, but the
group was so small that Hans and she had to
serve as witnesses jury and as judges, also as executioners.

(06:44):
She formally charged Michael Dennan with the murder of Duchy
and Harkey, and the prisoner lay in his bunk and
listened to the testimony, first of Hans, then of Edith.
He refused to plead guilty or not guilty, and remained
silent when she asked him if he had anything to
say in his own defense. She and Hans, without leaving
their seats, brought in the jury's verdict of guilty. Then,

(07:05):
as judge, she imposed the sentence. Her voice shook, her
eyelids twitched, her left arm jerked, but she carried it out,
Michael Dennan. In three days time, you are to be
hanged by the neck until you're dead. Such was the sentence.
The man breathed an unconscious sigh of relief, then laughed

(07:26):
defiantly and said, then I'm thinking the damn bunk won't
be aching me back any more, and that the consolation.
With the passing of the sentence, a feeling of relief
seemed to communicate itself all over them, especially was it
noticeable in Denin all sullenness and defiance disappeared, and he
talked sociably with his captors, and even with flashes of

(07:49):
his old time wit. Also he found great satisfaction in
Edith's readings to him from the Bible. She read from
the New Testament, and he took keen interest in the
prodigal Son and the thief on the cross. On the
day proceeding that set for execution, when Edith asked her
usual question, why did you do it? Dennan answered, It's

(08:10):
very simple, I was thinking. But she hushed him abruptly
asked him to wait, and hurried to Hans's bedside. It
was his watch off, and he came out of his
sleep rubbing his eyes grumbling go She told him bring
up Niegook and the other Indian. Michael's going to confess.
Make them come. Take the rifle long, bring them up
at the point of it if you have to. Half

(08:31):
an hour later, Neegook and his uncle Hadakwan were ushered
into the death chamber. They came unwillingly, Hans with his
rifle hurting them alongk Edith said, there is to be
no trouble for you and your people. Only is it
for you to sit and do nothing but listen and understand.
Thus did Michael Dennan, under sentence of death, make public

(08:55):
confession of his crime. As he talked, Edith wrote down
his story while the Indians listened and guarded the door
for fear of the witnesses might bolt. He had not
been home to the Old country for fifteen years, Dennan explained,
and it had always been his intention to return with
plenty of money and make his old mother comfortable for
the rest of her days. And how was I to

(09:16):
be doing it? On sixteen hundred, he demanded. What I
was after wanting was all the gold, the whole eight thousand,
Then I could go back in style. Would it be easier,
I think to myself, than to kill all of you
reported to the Skagway for an Indian killing and then
pull out for Ireland. And so I started to kill
all you, but as Harkey was fond of saying, I

(09:36):
cut out too large a chunk and fell down and
swallowing it. And that's me confessing, I did me duty
to the devil, and now God willin' I'll do me
duty to God. Niegook and Hadakwan. You've heard the white
man's words, Edith said to the Indians. His words are
here on this paper, and it is for you to
make a sign thus on the paper, so that white

(09:57):
men to come after will know why you have heard.
The two Seawashes put crosses opposite their signatures, received a
summons to appear on the morrow with all their tribe
for a further witnessing of things, and were allowed to go.
Dennan's hands were released long enough for him to sign
the document. Then a silence fell in the room. Hans

(10:19):
was restless, and Edith felt uncomfortable. Dennan lay on his back,
staring straight up at the moss chinked roof. And now
I'll do my duty to God. He murmured. He turned
his head toward Edith. Read to me, he said, from
the book, then added, with a glint of playfulness, mayhap
twill help me forget the bunk. The day of the

(10:40):
execution broke clear and cold. The thermometer was down twenty
five below zero, and a chill wind was blowing, which
drove frost through the clothes and flesh to the bones.
For the first time in many weeks, Denon stood upon
his feet. His muscles had remained inactive for so long,
and he was so out of practice in maintaining an
erect position he could scarcely stand. He reeled back and forth, staggered,

(11:05):
and clutched hold of Edith with his bound hands for support.
He said, And it's glad I am that it's over with.
And damn bunk would have been the death of me,
I know. When Edith put his fur cap on his
head and proceeded to pull the flaps down over his ears,
he laughed and said, what are you doing that for?
It's freezing outside, she answered, And in ten minutes time,

(11:27):
what a matter of frozen ear? Or so to poor
Michael Dennan, he asked, she had nerved herself for the
last culminating ordeal, and his remark was like a blow
to her self possession. So far everything had seemed phantom, like,
as in a dream, but the brutal truth of what
he had said had shocked her eyes wide open to

(11:47):
the reality of what was taking place. Nor was her
distress unnoticed by the irishman. I'm sorry to be troubling
you with me foolish spash, he said regretfully. I'man nothing
by It tis a great day for Michael Dennan, and
he's as gay as a lark. He broke out a
merry whistle, which quickly became lugubrious and ceased. I'm wishing

(12:08):
there was a priest, he said wistfully, and then added swiftly,
But Michael Dennon's too old a campaigner to miss the
luxuries when he hits the trail. He was so very
weak and unused to walking that when the door opened
and he passed outside, the wind nearly carried him off
his feet. Edith and Hans walked on either side of
him and supported him while he cracked jokes and tried

(12:29):
to keep them cheerful, breaking off once long enough to
arrange the forwarding of his share of the gold to
his mother in Ireland. They climbed a slight hill and
came out into an open space among the trees. Here
circled solemnly a barrel that stood on end in the snow,
where neegook and had a quan, and all the sea
washes down to the babies and the dogs come to

(12:49):
see the way of white Man's law. Near By was
an open grave, which Hans had burned into the frozen earth.
Dennon cast a practical eye over the preparations, noting the
grave of the barrel, the thickness of the rope, and
the diameter of the limb over which the rope was passed.
Sure I couldn't have done it better myself, Hans, if
it'd been for you, he said. He laughed loudly, and

(13:11):
his own sally, But Hans's face was frozen into a
sullen ghastliness that nothing less than the trump of doom
could have broken. Also, Hans was feeling very sick. He
had not realized the enormousness of the task of putting
a fellow man out of this world. Edith, on the
other hand, had realized, but the realization did not make

(13:32):
the task any easier. She was filled with doubt as
to whether she could hold herself together long enough to
finish it. She felt incessant impulses to scream, to shriek,
to collapse into the snow, to put her hands over
her eyes and turn and run blindly away into the forest,
anywhere away. It was only by a supreme effort of

(13:52):
soul and she was able to keep upright and go
on and do what she had to. And in the
midst of it all, she was grateful to Denan for
the way he helped her. Lend me a hand, he
said to Hans, whose assistance he managed to mount the barrel.
He bent over so that Edith could adjust the rope
around his neck. He stood upright while Hans drew the

(14:14):
rope taught across the overhead branch. Michael Dennan, have you
anything to say, Edith asked, in a clear voice that
shook in spite of her. Dennan shuffled his feet on
the barrel, looked down bashfully like a man making his
maiden speech, and cleared his throat. I'm glad it's over with,
he said. You've treated me like a Christian, and I

(14:37):
am thanking you heartily for your kindness. Then may God
receive you a repentant sinner. She said aye. He answered,
his deep voice as a response to her thin one.
May God receive me of repentance sinner. Good Bye, Michael,
she cried, and her voice sounded desperate. She threw her

(14:59):
way against the barrel, but it did not overturn. Hans,
quick help me, she cried faintly, and she could feel
her last strength going, and the barrel resisted her. Hans
hurried to her, and the barrel went out from under
Michael Dennan. She turned her back, thrusting her fingers into
her ears. Then she began to laugh harshly and sharply, metallically,

(15:24):
and Hans was shocked, as he had not been shocked
through the whole tragedy. Edith Nelson's breakdown had come, even
in her hysteria. She knew it, and she was glad
that she had been able to hold up onto the
strain until everything had been accomplished. She reeled towards Hans,
Take me to the cabin, Hans, she managed to articulate,

(15:44):
and let me rest, she added, just let me rest
and rest and rest. With Hans arms around her, supported
by her weight and directing her helpless steps, she went
off across the snow. But the Indian has remained solemnly
to watch the working of the white man's law that

(16:05):
compelled a man to dance upon the air. The Unexpected
by Jack London