The Sea-Wolf

Humphrey wakes to a “mysterious sensation” (232) that he at first believes to be the absence of wind after a long, stormy night. He leaves his new hut and sees the Ghost marooned on the beach. He doesn’t notice anyone on deck and decides to search the ship, supposing that the crew must still be asleep. This could be his chance to kill Wolf Larsen in his sleep before he’s able to sabotage the relative happiness and safety that he and Maud have built on Endeavor Island.

Armed with a knife and shotguns, Humphrey boards the Ghost only to find it deserted of its crew—but Wolf Larsen is there, watching Humphrey. Humphrey levels the shotgun at him but does not fire, noting that Larsen’s eyes look off and his frame weak. Larsen demands to know why Humphrey won’t shoot, citing the lasting influence of gentleman society on Humphrey’s morality: “You are impotent [...] their code has been drummed into your head from the time you lisped” (236). Still, Humphrey can’t shoot without physical provocation.

Larsen explains that his brother, Death Larsen, caught up with the Ghost soon after Humphrey and Maud escaped the ship. Death offered the hunters a larger fee, and they promptly turned on Larsen; the entire crew defected to the Macedonia. Before leaving, Mugridge sabotaged the Ghost’s masts, leaving it unable to sail.

One of Larsen’s headache attacks comes on. Humphrey is free to raid the Ghost’s food stores and collect every weapon on the ship so that Larsen can’t harm him or Maud from a distance. Humphrey returns to the huts and surprises Maud with an extensive breakfast. She notices the Ghost and is terrified.

Maud and Humphrey expect Larsen to eventually leave the Ghost and assail them, so they begin a watch overnight. When Larsen fails to show, Maud worries that he is seriously sick, and she compels Humphrey to check on him. Humphrey thinks this compassion is merely a characteristic of her gender—“the woman of her which compelled a solicitude for Wolf Larsen” (241)—but does what she asks. Larsen calls up to the deck from his cabin that the headache is gone, but he doesn’t show himself.

A week passes in which Maud and Humphrey go about their daily routine while also looking out for any threat from Larsen. Humphrey, largely motivated by Maud’s concern for Larsen, returns to the Ghost to check on the captain. He finds “the spectacle of a strong man in the moment when he is utterly weak and broken” (243), apparently blind and enfeebled. Humphrey steals more food from the stores without Larsen‘s notice.