old jan, who alone knew it, told me the rest of the story—but speaking slowly and unwillingly, as though it all still were fresh before him and very horribly real.
he said that when the boat lifted as that first sea struck her it was plain enough what was likely to happen to them—for they could not put about to make the shore again without swamping, and with such a sea running they were pretty certain to swamp quickly if they went on. but krelis was not the sort to give in, and he shouted over his shoulder: "i've got you into a scrape, jan; but if we can pull up under the lee of the graveyard there's a chance for us still." and then he called to geert: "now you can show what stuff you're made of, geert. steer for the graveyard—and for god's sake hold her straight to the sea!" as for geert, she was as cool as the best man could have been, and she steered as well as any man could have steered. the light from the lantern shone full[58] in her face, and old jan said that her eyes kept on sparkling and that her colour never changed.
with that tremendous wind sweeping down on them, and with the waves butting against the boat, and throwing her head up every instant, even jan and krelis—and they were the best oarsmen on marken—could make only snail's way. but it heartened them to find that they made any way at all—as they could tell that they were doing by seeing the lights ashore crawling past them—and so they lashed away with their oars and found a little hope growing again. presently krelis called out: "the water's getting smoother, jan. another fifty yards and we'll be all right!"
that was true. they were creeping up steadily under the lee of the graveyard, and the closer they got to it the more would it break the force of the waves. if they could reach it they would be safe.
just as krelis spoke, the boat struck against something so sharply that she quivered all over and lost way. neither of the men dared to turn even for an instant; nor could their turning have done any good—all that they could do was to row on. but geert could look ahead, and the lantern in the bows cast a little circle[59] of light upon the furious sea. as she peered over their shoulders a strange look came into her face, jan said, and then she spoke in a voice strained and strange: "it's a coffin," she said, "and i see another one a little farther on. the sea is washing away the graveyard—as it did that time long ago!" and then the coffin went past them, so close that it struck against and nearly unshipped krelis's oar.
jan said that he trembled all over, and that a cold sweat broke out on him. he felt himself going sick and giddy, and fell to wondering what would happen should he be unable to keep on pulling—and how long it took a man to drown. then—but because of a ringing in his ears the voice seemed to come faintly from very far away—he heard krelis cry out cheerily: "pull, jan! if we're getting among the coffins we'll be safe in a dozen strokes more!"
it was at that instant that a great wave lifted the bow of the boat high out of the water, and as she fell away into the trough of the sea she struck again—but that time with a crash that had in it the sound of breaking boards. jan knew that they must have struck the other coffin that geert had seen, and he was sure that[60] the boat was stove in and in another moment would fill and sink from under them.
for what seemed a whole age to him there was a grinding and a crunching beneath the keel; and then, as the boat swung free again, he saw geert go chalk-pale suddenly—as she stood peering eagerly forward—and heard her give a great wild cry. and then her color rushed back into her cheeks and her eyes glittered as she called out in a strong voice resolutely: "it's marretje come to take you from me, krelis—but she sha'n't, she sha'n't! you never really were her lover—and you always were and always shall be mine! and i hate her and i'll get the better of her dead just as i hated her and got the better of her alive!" and with that geert let go her hold upon the tiller and sprang forward and clasped krelis in her arms.
jan could not tell clearly what happened after that. all that he was sure of was the sight for an instant, tossing beside the boat in the circle of light cast by the lantern, of a lidless coffin in which lay wrapped in her white shroud the dead golden-haired marretje—and then the boat broached to and went over, and there was nothing about him but blackness and[61] the tumultuous waves. as he went down into a hollow of the sea he felt the ground beneath his feet, and that put courage into him to make a fight for life. struggling against the gale, and against waves which grew smaller as he battled on through them, he went forward with a heart-breaking slowness; and the strength was clean gone out of him when he won his way at last up the lee side of the little mound—and dropped down at full length there, in safe shelter amidst the graves.
"and geert and krelis?" i asked.
"with her arms tight about him there was no chance for either of them," he answered. and then he went on, speaking very solemnly: "the word that was truth had been spoken against them. they perished in the wrath of the zuyder zee!"
