The Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson | Atmospheric Evening Reading

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]The voice in the night by William Hope Hodgson.

[00:00:04]It was a dark starless night. We were becalmed in the northern Pacific. Our exact position, I do not know, for the sun had been hidden during the course of a weary breathless week by a thin haze which seemed to float above us at about the height of our mastheads and at times descended to shroud the surrounding sea.

[00:00:24]There was no wind.

[00:00:25]We had steadied the tiller and I was the only man on deck.

[00:00:29]The crew, consisting of two men and a boy, were sleeping forward in their den, while Will, my friend and the master of our little craft, was aft in his bunk on the port side of the little cabin.

[00:00:41]Suddenly, from out of the surrounding darkness, there came a hail. Schooner ahoy!

[00:00:46]The cry was so unexpected that for a moment I gave no answer at all. I was too surprised. Then it came again. A voice, curiously throaty and inhuman, calling from somewhere upon the dark sea away on our port broadside. Schooner ahoy!

[00:01:01]Hello, I called out having gathered my wits somewhat. What are you? What do you want?

[00:01:06]You need not be afraid, answered the queer voice. It had probably noticed some trace of confusion in my tone.

[00:01:13]I am only an old man.

[00:01:15]The pause sounded oddly, but it was only afterwards that it came back to me with any significance.

[00:01:21]Why don't you come alongside then? I asked somewhat snappishly, for I did not like his hinting that I had been a trifle shaken.

[00:01:28]I I can't. It wouldn't be safe I The voice broke off. There was silence.

[00:01:33]What do you mean? I asked, growing more and more astonished.

[00:01:37]Why not safe? Where are you?

[00:01:40]I listened for a moment, but no answer came.

[00:01:43]Then suddenly an indefinite suspicion came to me. Of what? I did not know.

[00:01:48]I stepped swiftly to the binnacle and took out the lighted lamp. At the same time, I knocked on the deck with my heel to waken Will. Then I was back at the side, throwing the yellow funnel of light out into the silent immensity beyond our rail. As I did so, I heard a slight muffled cry. Then came the sound of a splash, as though someone had dipped oars abruptly.

[00:02:09]Yet I cannot say that I saw anything with certainty.

[00:02:12]Save that, with the first flash of the light, it seemed to me there had been something upon the waters where now there was nothing.

[00:02:19]"Hello there." I called.

[00:02:21]"What foolery is this?"

[00:02:23]But there came only the indistinct sounds of a boat being pulled away into the night. Then I heard Will's voice from the direction of the after scuttle.

[00:02:31]"What's up, George?"

[00:02:33]"Come here, Will." I said.

[00:02:35]"What is it?" he asked, coming across the deck. I told him the queer thing which had happened. He put several questions.

[00:02:42]Then, after a moment's silence, he raised his hands to his lips and hailed, "Boat ahoy!"

[00:02:48]From a long distance away, there came back to us a faint reply. My companion repeated his call. Presently, after a short period of silence, there grew on our hearing the muffled sound of oars.

[00:02:59]At that, Will hailed again. This time there was a reply, "Put away the light."

[00:03:04]"I'm damned if I will." I muttered. But Will told me to do as the voice bade, and I shoved the lamp down under the bulwarks.

[00:03:11]"Come nearer." he said. The oar strokes continued. Then, when the boat was apparently some half dozen fathoms distant, they ceased again.

[00:03:20]"Come alongside." exclaimed Will.

[00:03:22]"There's nothing to be frightened of aboard here."

[00:03:25]"I am sorry, sorry. I would not have troubled you, only I am hungry and so is she."

[00:03:30]The voice died away. The sound of the oars dipping irregularly was borne to us.

[00:03:36]"Stop." called Will. "I don't want to drive you away. Come back. We'll keep the light hidden if you don't like it."

[00:03:43]He turned to me.

[00:03:44]"It's a damned queer rig this, but I think there's nothing to be afraid of."

[00:03:49]There was a question in his tone. I replied, "No, I think the poor devil's been wrecked around here and gone crazy."

[00:03:56]The sound of the oars drew nearer.

[00:03:58]"Shove that lamp back in the binnacle," said Will. Then he leaned over the rail and listened. I replaced the lamp and came back to his side. The dipping of the oars ceased some dozen yards distant. "Won't you come alongside now?"

[00:04:11]asked Will in an even voice.

[00:04:13]"I have had the lamp put back in the binnacle."

[00:04:16]"I I cannot," replied the voice. "I dare not come nearer. I dare not even pay you for the the provisions."

[00:04:23]"That's all right," said Will. He hesitated. "You're welcome to as much grub as you can take." Again, he hesitated. "You are very good," exclaimed the voice. "May God who understands everything reward you." It broke off huskily.

[00:04:37]"The the lady," said Will abruptly, "is she "I have left her behind upon the island," came the voice.

[00:04:43]"What island?" I cut in. "I know not its name," returned the voice. "I would to God" It checked itself suddenly. "Could we not send a boat for her?" asked Will.

[00:04:52]"No," said the voice with extraordinary emphasis. "My God, no."

[00:04:57]There was a moment's pause. Then it added, in a tone which seemed a merited reproach, "It was because of our want, I ventured, because her agony tortured me."

[00:05:06]"I am a forgetful brute," exclaimed Will. "Just wait a minute, whoever you are, and I will bring you up something at once."

[00:05:14]In a couple of minutes he was back again, his arms full of various edibles.

[00:05:18]He paused at the rail. "Can't you come alongside for them?" he asked. "No, I dare not," replied the voice. And it seemed to me that in its tones I detected a note of stifled craving, as though the owner hushed a mortal desire.

[00:05:34]It came to me then, in a flash, that the poor old creature out there in the darkness was suffering from actual need of that which Will held in his arms.

[00:05:43]And yet, because of some unintelligible dread, he refrained from dashing to the side of our little schooner and receiving it.

[00:05:50]With that lightning-like conviction, there came also the knowledge that the Invisible Man was not mad. He was sanely facing some intolerable horror.

[00:05:59]"Damn it, Will," I said, full of many feelings over which predominated a vast sympathy.

[00:06:05]"Get a box. We must float the stuff off to him in it."

[00:06:08]This we did, propelling it away from the vessel out into the darkness by means of a boat hook.

[00:06:14]In a minute, a slight cry from the Invisible Man came to us, and we knew that he had secured the box.

[00:06:20]A little later, he called out a farewell to us, and so heartfelt a blessing that I am sure we were the better for it.

[00:06:27]Then, without more ado, we heard the ply of oars across the darkness.

[00:06:31]"Pretty soon off," remarked Will, with perhaps just a little sense of injury.

[00:06:36]"Wait," I replied.

[00:06:37]"I think somehow he'll come back. He must have been badly needing that food."

[00:06:42]"And the lady," said Will. For a moment, he was silent. Then he continued, "It's the queerest thing ever I've tumbled across since I've been fishing." "Yes," I said. And I fell to pondering. So, the time slipped away, an hour, another, and still Will stayed with me, for the queer adventure had knocked all desire for sleep out of him.

[00:07:03]The third hour was three parts through when we heard again the sound of oars across the silent ocean.

[00:07:09]"Listen," said Will, a low note of excitement in his voice.

[00:07:13]"He's coming just as I thought," I muttered. The dipping of the oars grew nearer. I noted that the strokes were firmer and longer.

[00:07:20]The food had been needed. They came to a stop a little distance off the broadside. Then the queer voice came again to us through the darkness.

[00:07:27]"Schooner ahoy!"

[00:07:29]"That you?" asked Will. "Yes," replied the voice. "I left you suddenly, but but there was great need." "The lady?"

[00:07:37]questioned Will.

[00:07:38]"The lady is grateful now on earth. She will be more grateful soon in heaven.

[00:07:43]Will began to make some reply in a puzzled voice, but became confused and broke off short.

[00:07:48]I said nothing. I was wondering at the curious pauses, and apart from my wonder, I was full of a great sympathy.

[00:07:56]The voice continued, "We, she and I, have talked as we shared the result of God's tenderness and yours."

[00:08:02]Will interposed, but without coherence.

[00:08:05]"I beg of you not to belittle your deed of Christian charity this night," said the voice.

[00:08:09]"Be sure that it has not escaped his notice."

[00:08:12]It stopped.

[00:08:13]There was a full minute silence. Then it came again. "We have spoken together upon that which has befallen us.

[00:08:20]We had thought to go out without telling any of the terror which has come into our lives.

[00:08:25]She is with me in believing that tonight's happenings are under a special ruling, and that it is God's wish that we should tell to you all that we have suffered since since "Yes," said Will softly. "Since the sinking of the Albatross."

[00:08:40]"Ah!" I exclaimed involuntarily.

[00:08:43]"She left Newcastle for San Francisco some six months ago, and hasn't been heard of since."

[00:08:49]"Yes," answered the voice, "but some few degrees to the north of the line, she was caught in a terrible storm and dismasted. When the day came, it was found that she was leaking badly.

[00:09:00]And presently it falling to a calm, the sailors took to the boats, leaving a young lady, my fiance, and myself upon the wreck.

[00:09:08]We were below, gathering together a few of our belongings when they left.

[00:09:12]They were entirely callous through fear, and when we came up upon the deck, we saw them only as small shapes afar off upon the horizon.

[00:09:21]Yet we did not despair.

[00:09:23]We set to work and constructed a small raft.

[00:09:27]Upon this we put such few matters as it would hold, including a quantity of water and some ship's biscuit.

[00:09:33]Then, the vessel being very deep in the water, we got ourselves onto the raft and pushed off.

[00:09:39]It was later when I observed that we seemed to be in the way of some tide or current, which bore us from the ship at an angle.

[00:09:46]So that in the course of 3 hours by my watch, her hull became invisible to our sight.

[00:09:51]Her broken masts remaining in view for a somewhat longer period.

[00:09:55]Then towards evening it grew misty.

[00:09:58]And so through the night.

[00:10:00]The next day, we were still encompassed by the mist, the weather remaining quiet.

[00:10:04]For 4 days we drifted through this strange haze. Until on the evening of the fourth day, there grew upon our ears the murmur of breakers at a distance.

[00:10:14]Gradually, it became plainer.

[00:10:17]And somewhat after midnight it appeared to sound upon either hand at no very great space.

[00:10:23]The raft was raised upon a swell several times.

[00:10:26]Then we were in smooth water.

[00:10:28]And the noise of the breakers was behind.

[00:10:31]When the morning came, we found that we were in a sort of great lagoon.

[00:10:35]But of this we noticed little at the time.

[00:10:37]For close before us through the enshrouding mist loomed the hull of a large sailing vessel.

[00:10:43]With one accord, we fell upon our knees and thanked God.

[00:10:47]For we thought that here was an end to our perils. We had much to learn.

[00:10:51]The voice paused, then went on. The raft drew near to the ship and we shouted to those aboard to take us up.

[00:10:58]But none answered.

[00:11:00]Presently, the raft touched against the side of the vessel.

[00:11:03]And seeing a rope hanging down, I seized it and began to climb.

[00:11:07]Yet I had much ado to make my way up because of a kind of gray lichenous fungus which had seized upon the rope and which blotched the side of the ship lividly.

[00:11:16]I reached the rail and clambered over it onto the deck.

[00:11:20]Here I saw that the decks were covered in great patches with gray masses, some of them rising into nodules several feet in height.

[00:11:28]But at the time, I thought less of this matter than of the possibility of there being people aboard the ship.

[00:11:34]I shouted, but none answered. Then I went to the door below the poop deck. I opened it and peered in.

[00:11:42]There was a great smell of staleness, so that I knew in a moment that nothing living was within.

[00:11:49]And with that knowledge, I shut the door quickly, for I felt suddenly lonely.

[00:11:54]I went back to the side where I had scrambled up. My sweetheart was still sitting quietly upon the raft.

[00:12:00]Seeing me look down, she called up to know whether there were any aboard the ship. I replied that the vessel had the appearance of having been long deserted, but I told her that if she would wait a little, I would see whether there was anything in the shape of a ladder by which she could ascend to the deck.

[00:12:16]Then we would make a search through the vessel together.

[00:12:19]A little later, on the opposite side of the decks, I found a rope side ladder.

[00:12:25]This I carried across, and a minute afterwards, she was beside me.

[00:12:31]Together we explored the cabins and apartments in the after part of the ship, but nowhere was there any sign of life.

[00:12:38]Here and there, within the cabins themselves, we came across odd patches of that queer fungus, but this, as my sweetheart said, could be cleansed away.

[00:12:48]In the end, having assured ourselves that the after portion of the vessel was empty, we picked our way to the bows between the ugly gray nodules of that strange growth.

[00:12:58]And there, we made a further search, which told us that there was indeed none aboard but ourselves.

[00:13:05]This being now beyond any doubt, we returned to the stern of the ship and proceeded to make ourselves as comfortable as possible.

[00:13:13]Together, we cleared out and cleaned two of the cabins.

[00:13:16]After that, I made examination whether there was anything eatable in the ship.

[00:13:21]This I soon found was so, and thanked God in my heart for his goodness.

[00:13:26]In addition to this, I discovered the whereabouts of the fresh water pump, and having fixed it, I found the water drinkable, though somewhat unpleasant to the taste.

[00:13:37]For several days, we stayed aboard the ship without attempting to get to the shore.

[00:13:41]We were busily engaged in making the place habitable. Yet, even thus early, we became aware that our lot was even less to be desired than might have been imagined.

[00:13:51]For as a first step, we scraped away the odd patches of growth that studded and walls of the cabins and saloon. Yet, they returned almost to their original size within the space of 24 hours. This not only discouraged us.

[00:14:06]It gave us a feeling of vague unease.

[00:14:09]Still, we would not admit ourselves beaten. So, we set to work afresh. And not only scraped away the fungus, but soaked the places where it had been with carbolic, a can full of which I had found in the pantry.

[00:14:22]Yet, by the end of the week, the growth had returned in full strength.

[00:14:26]And in addition, it had spread to other places. As though our touching it had allowed germs from it to travel elsewhere.

[00:14:34]On the seventh morning, my sweetheart woke to find a small patch of it growing on her pillow, close to her face.

[00:14:40]At that, she came to me as soon as she could get her garments upon her.

[00:14:44]I was in the galley at the time lighting the fire for breakfast.

[00:14:48]"Come here, John." She said.

[00:14:50]And she led me aft.

[00:14:52]When I saw the thing upon her pillow, I shuddered.

[00:14:55]And then and there, we agreed to go right out of the ship and see whether we could not fare better ashore.

[00:15:02]Hurriedly, we gathered together our few belongings.

[00:15:06]And even among these, I found that the fungus had been at work.

[00:15:10]For one of her shawls had a little lump of it growing near one edge. I threw the whole thing over the side without saying anything to her.

[00:15:17]The raft was still alongside.

[00:15:19]But it was too clumsy to guide.

[00:15:22]So, I lowered down a small boat that hung across the stern.

[00:15:26]In this we made our way to the shore.

[00:15:29]Yet as we drew near to it, I became gradually aware that here the vile fungus which had driven us from the ship was growing riot.

[00:15:36]In places it rose into horrible fantastic mounds which seemed almost to quiver as with a quiet life when the wind blew across them.

[00:15:44]Here and there it took on the forms of vast fingers and in others it spread out flat and smooth and treacherous.

[00:15:52]In odd places it appeared as grotesque stunted trees extraordinarily kinked and gnarled the whole quaking violently at times.

[00:16:01]At first it seemed to us that there was no single portion of the surrounding shore which was not hidden beneath the masses of the hideous lichen.

[00:16:08]Yet in this we found we were mistaken.

[00:16:11]For somewhat later coasting along the shore at a little distance we described a smooth white patch of what appeared to be fine sand.

[00:16:19]And there we landed.

[00:16:21]It was not sand.

[00:16:23]What it was I do not know. All that I have observed is that upon it the fungus will not grow.

[00:16:29]While everywhere else save where the sand-like earth wanders oddly pathwise amid the gray desolation of the lichen there is nothing but that loathsome grayness.

[00:16:39]It is difficult to make you understand how cheered we were to find one place that was absolutely free from the growth.

[00:16:46]And there we deposited our belongings.

[00:16:49]Then we went back to the ship for such things as it seemed to us we should need.

[00:16:54]Among other matters I managed to bring ashore with me one of the ship's sails with which I constructed two small tents.

[00:17:01]Though exceedingly rough shaped they served the purpose for which they were intended.

[00:17:05]In these we lived and stored our various necessities.

[00:17:09]And thus for a matter of some four weeks all went smoothly and without particular unhappiness.

[00:17:15]Indeed I may say with much of happiness.

[00:17:18]For we were together. It was on the thumb of her right hand that the growth first showed. It was only a small circular spot, much like a little gray mole. My God, how the fear leaped to my heart when she showed me the place.

[00:17:33]We cleansed it between us, washing it with carbolic and water. In the morning of the following day, she showed her hand to me again. The gray warty thing had returned.

[00:17:43]For a little while, we looked at one another in silence. Then, still wordless, we started again to remove it.

[00:17:50]In the midst of the operation, she spoke suddenly, "What's that on the side of your face, dear?"

[00:17:55]Her voice was sharp with anxiety. I put my hand up to feel.

[00:17:59]"There, under the hair by your ear, a little to the front."

[00:18:03]My finger rested upon the place, and then I knew. "Let us get your thumb done first," I said. And she submitted, only because she was afraid to touch me until it was cleansed.

[00:18:14]I finished washing and disinfecting her thumb. And then she turned to my face.

[00:18:20]After it was finished, we sat together and talked a while of many things.

[00:18:24]For there had come into our lives sudden, very terrible thoughts.

[00:18:29]We were all at once afraid of something worse than death.

[00:18:32]We spoke of loading the boat with provisions and water, and making our way out onto the sea.

[00:18:37]Yet we were helpless for many causes, and the growth had attacked us already.

[00:18:42]We decided to stay. God would do with us what was his will. We would wait. A month passed, two months, three months, and the places grew somewhat. And there had come others.

[00:18:55]Yet we fought so strenuously with the fear that its headway was but slow, comparatively speaking. Occasionally, we ventured off to the ship for such stores as we needed. There we found that the fungus grew persistently. One of the nodules on the main deck became soon as high as my head. We had now given up all thought or hope of leaving the island.

[00:19:15]We had realized that it would be unallowable to go among healthy humans with the things from which we were suffering.

[00:19:21]With this determination and knowledge in our minds, we knew that we should have to husband our food and water.

[00:19:28]For we did not know at that time but that we should possibly live for many years.

[00:19:32]This reminds me that I have told you that I am an old man.

[00:19:36]Judged by the years, this is not so.

[00:19:39]But But he broke off. Then continued somewhat abruptly.

[00:19:44]As I was saying, we knew that we should have to use care in the matter of food.

[00:19:49]But we had no idea then how little food there was left of which to take care.

[00:19:54]It was a week later that I made the discovery that all the other bread tanks, which I had supposed full, were empty.

[00:20:01]And that, beyond odd tins of vegetables and meat and some other matters, we had nothing on which to depend but the bread in the tank which I had already opened.

[00:20:11]After learning this, I bestirred myself to do what I could and set to work at fishing in the lagoon, but with no success.

[00:20:19]At this, I was somewhat inclined to feel desperate until the thought came to me to try outside the lagoon in the open sea.

[00:20:28]There at times I caught odd fish, but so infrequently that they proved of little help in keeping us from the hunger which threatened.

[00:20:35]It seemed to me that our deaths were likely to come by hunger and not by the growth of the thing which had seized upon our bodies. We were in this state of mind when the fourth month wore out.

[00:20:46]And then I made a very horrible discovery.

[00:20:49]One morning, a little before midday, I came off from the ship with a portion of the biscuits which were left.

[00:20:56]In the mouth of her tent, I saw my sweetheart sitting eating something.

[00:21:00]"What is it, my dear?"

[00:21:02]I called out as I leapt ashore.

[00:21:04]Yet on hearing my voice, she seemed confused, and turning slowly threw something towards the edge of the little clearing.

[00:21:12]It fell short, and a vague suspicion having arisen within me, I walked across and picked it up.

[00:21:18]It was a piece of the grey fungus.

[00:21:20]As I went to her with it in my hand, she turned deadly pale, then rose red. I felt strangely dazed and frightened. "My dear, my dear," I said, and could say no more. Yet at my words, she broke down and cried bitterly.

[00:21:34]Gradually as she calmed, I got from her the news that she had tried it the preceding day, and liked it.

[00:21:41]I got her to promise, [music] on her knees, not to touch it again, however great our hunger.

[00:21:47]After she had promised, she told me that the desire for it had come suddenly, and that until that moment, she had experienced nothing towards it but the most extreme repulsion.

[00:21:57]Later in the day, feeling strangely restless, and much shaken by the thing which I had discovered, I made my way along one of the twisted paths formed by the white sand-like substance which led among the fungoid growth.

[00:22:10]I had once before ventured along there, but not to any great distance.

[00:22:15]This time, being involved in perplexing thought, I went much farther than hitherto.

[00:22:21]Suddenly, I was called to myself by a queer hoarse sound on my left.

[00:22:26]Turning quickly, I saw that there was movement among an extraordinarily shaped mass of fungus close to my elbow. It was swaying uneasily, as though it possessed life of its own.

[00:22:37]Abruptly, as I stared, the thought came to me that the thing had a grotesque resemblance to the figure of a distorted human creature.

[00:22:45]Even as that fancy flashed into my brain, there was a slight sickening noise of tearing, and I saw that one of the branch-like arms was detaching itself from the surrounding grey masses and coming towards me.

[00:22:57]The head of the thing, a shapeless grey ball, inclined in my direction.

[00:23:03]I stood stupidly, and the vile arm brushed across my face.

[00:23:07]I gave out a frightened cry and ran back a few paces. There was a sweetish taste upon my lips where the thing had touched me. I licked them and was immediately filled with an inhuman desire. I turned and seized a mass of the fungus, then more and more.

[00:23:22]I was insatiable.

[00:23:24]In the midst of devouring, the remembrance of the morning's discovery swept into my amazed brain. It was sent by God.

[00:23:32]I dashed the fragment I held to the ground.

[00:23:35]Then, utterly wretched and feeling a dreadful guiltiness, I made my way back to the little encampment. I think she knew by some marvelous intuition which love must have given, as soon as she set eyes on me.

[00:23:47]Her quiet sympathy made it easier for me, and I told her of my sudden weakness.

[00:23:52]Yet I omitted to mention the extraordinary thing which had gone before.

[00:23:56]I desired to spare her all unnecessary terror, but for myself, I had added an intolerable knowledge to breed an incessant terror in my brain.

[00:24:06]For I doubted not but that I had seen the end of one of those men who had come to the island in the ship in the lagoon.

[00:24:12]And in that monstrous ending, I had seen our own. Thereafter, we kept from the abominable food, though the desire for it had entered into our blood.

[00:24:21]Yet our dire punishment was upon us.

[00:24:24]For day by day, with monstrous rapidity, the fungoid growth took hold of our poor bodies.

[00:24:30]Nothing we could do would check it materially.

[00:24:33]And so, and so we who had been human became, well, it matters less each day.

[00:24:38]Only Only we had been man and maid, and day by day the fight is more dreadful to withstand the hunger lust for the terrible lichen.

[00:24:46]A week ago we ate the last of the biscuit, and since that time I've caught three fish.

[00:24:52]I was out here fishing tonight when your schooner drifted upon me out of the mist.

[00:24:56]I hailed you. You know the rest. And may God out of his great heart bless you for your goodness to a couple of poor outcast souls.

[00:25:04]There was the dip of an oar. Another.

[00:25:07]Then the voice came again. And for the last time sounding through the slight surrounding mist, ghostly and mournful, "God bless you. Goodbye."

[00:25:16]"Goodbye." We shouted together hoarsely, our hearts full of many emotions. I glanced about me. I became aware that the dawn was upon us.

[00:25:25]The sun flung a stray beam across the hidden sea, pierced the mist dully, and lit up the receding boat with a gloomy fire.

[00:25:32]Indistinctly I saw something nodding between the oars. I thought of a sponge, a great gray nodding sponge. The oars continued to ply. They were gray as was the boat, and my eyes searched a moment vainly for the conjunction of hand and oar. My gaze flashed back to the head.

[00:25:49]It nodded forward as the oars went backward for the stroke. Then the oars were dipped. The boat shot out of the patch of light, and the thing went nodding into the mist.