"I love you, Noni. I am now going to start a fire to warm your
feet. I used to be your nurse, Noni; but you have lost your reason--
that's true. I am a wise man, but I don't understand your conduct at
all. Why did you drop your ship? You will be hanged, Noni, you will
be hanged, and I will dangle by your side. You have lost your
reason, that's true!"

He starts a fire, then prepares food and drink.

"What will you say when you wake up? 'Fire.' And I will answer,
'Here it is.' Then you will say, 'Something to drink.' And I will
answer, 'Here it is.' And then you will drink your fill again, and I
will drink with you, and you will prate nonsense. How long is this
going to last? We have lived this way two months now, or perhaps two
years, or twenty years--I am drowning in gin--I don't understand your
conduct at all, Noni."

He drinks.

"Either I have lost my mind from this gin, or a ship is being
wrecked near by. How they are crying!"

He looks out of the window.

"No, no one is here. It is the wind. The wind feels weary, and it
plays all by itself. It has seen many shipwrecks, and now it is
inventing. The wind itself is crying; the wind itself is scolding
and sobbing; and the wind itself is laughing--the rogue! But if you
think that this rag with which I have covered the window is a sail,