"Running on the Waves" by Alexander Green, summary Automatic translate

Alexander Grin’s novel, written in 1928, is the story of a search for a spiritual ideal, which the author calls "The Unfulfilled." Its poignant nautical plot harmoniously coexists with the hero’s reflections on the fine line between everyday reality and mystical fiction. The work has been adapted for film twice. In 1967, a Soviet-Bulgarian film of the same name, directed by Pavel Lyubimov, was released, and in 2007, a film by Valeri Pendrakovsky was released.

The Call of the Unfulfilled

Thomas Harvey is recovering from a serious illness in the port city of Liss. Dr. Filatr finds him a comfortable apartment with a huge window overlooking the sea. Harvey frequently converses with the doctor about the power of the Unfulfilled — a nebulous strand of events awaiting its moment. Thomas plays a double game with the ordinary, constantly searching for hidden meaning in chance encounters.

While strolling near the harbor, Harvey notices the arrival of the steamship Granville. A young woman stands out among the bustling crowd of passengers. She sits on worn suitcases, commanding the surrounding chaos with a single, calm gaze. Harvey is captivated by her holistic nature. Through the port hotel, he learns the stranger’s name: Bice Seniel.

Mysterious voice

That evening, Harvey visits the home of Sters, the irrigation secretary. A gambler is playing cards. Thomas hits a strong hand. As he’s about to place his bet, Sters asks, "What do you have?" Harvey clearly hears a female voice inside his head. The invisible interlocutor utters the phrase, "Running on the waves." The sound is very clear, but the other players notice nothing. Filatr explains the hallucination as a strange rift in his subconscious.

A worried Thomas leaves the evening. He wanders to the pier and sees an elegant sailing vessel. On the stern, in raised gold letters, are the words "Running on the Waves." Harvey immediately climbs the gangway. The watchman, who turns out to be Captain William Guez, greets his guest rudely. He refuses to take Thomas on as a passenger.

In the morning, Filatr provides Harvey with a letter of introduction to Brown, the brigantine’s nominal owner. The stern businessman gives his written consent. Brown explains that Guez foisted the vessel on him through a fictitious deal to protect his property from seizure. The captain obeys Brown’s orders but demands two hundred pounds for passage. Thomas is given a luxurious cabin with Venetian mirrors. The décor contrasts sharply with the ship’s cargo-carrying purpose.

Conflict in Dagon

The voyage begins. The crew consists of random sailors, the sullen first mate Butler, and the navigator, Sincright. In the captain’s cabin, Thomas accidentally spots a photograph of Bice Seniel. Butler lets slip that the ship was built by the girl’s ruined father, Ned Seniel. The captain took possession of the brigantine by fraud.

The sailing ship docks at the industrial port of Dagon to load iron crates. Guez invites three promiscuous women on board. That evening, a drunken brawl erupts in the saloon. The captain drags the reluctant guest over and punches her in the face. Harvey intercedes, knocking Guez to the floor with a well-aimed blow. Enraged, the captain orders the sailors to disarm Thomas.

At night, in the open ocean, Harvey is forced into a small boat. He’s abandoned alone, 180 kilometers from shore. Suddenly, a graceful woman in a lace dress appears at the bottom of the gangway. She jumps into the boat. The stranger calls herself Frezi Grant.

Illuminating her face with a lantern, she strikes Harvey with her beauty and her black eyes, piercing with languid intensity. Fresi orders them to set course south, promising rescue at dawn. She asks him not to tell Bicha Seniel about her. Then the woman steps straight into the water. Easily darting across the waves, she leads a school of predatory sharks after her.

Salvation and Carnival

At dawn, Thomas is picked up by the schooner Dive, captained by the calm skipper Phineas Proctor. Proctor’s lively, impetuous niece, Daisy, is preparing the food. Daisy constantly asks questions and showers Harvey with genuine concern. To thank his rescuers, Thomas deliberately loses thirty-eight pounds to the sailor Tobbogan. Proud Daisy notices the giveaway. She returns the money, scolding Thomas for his secret charity.

The "Dive" drops anchor in Gel-Gyu harbor. The town is brightly lit with fireworks. Residents are wildly celebrating the colony’s centennial. Harvey walks out to the square, where the marble statue "Running on the Waves" stands tall. The monument was created by sculptor Georg Gerd. A wealthy man, Grae Paran, attempts to tear down the work of art out of personal hatred for Gerd. Thomas joins a group of local defenders of the statue.

At night, an aggressive mob of mercenaries aims a cast-iron pendulum on a rope at the marble statue. Thomas rushes to intercept it. The pendulum’s fatal blow misses his face, destroying the attackers’ mechanism. The monument remains undamaged.

Two masks

Wandering the city, Harvey stumbles into a theater foyer. He receives a message from a lady in a yellow dress with brown fringe. Thomas finds a mask and pronounces the name Bice Seniel. Beneath the mask is a laughing Daisy. She sewed the outfit herself and decided to play a prank on her friend. Sensing Thomas’s frustration, the girl runs away in embarrassment.

Soon, Harvey meets the true recipient of his thoughts. Bice Seniel is dressed identically. She is accompanied by her nephew, Bothvel. Bice has come to Gel-Gyu to negotiate with Göz about the return of her father’s ship. Thomas describes the captain’s excesses. Driven by an inner impulse, he violates Frezi Grant’s prohibition. Thomas confesses to Bice of a supernatural encounter on the waves. The pragmatic Seniel dismisses the sea legend as fiction.

Shot in the room

In the morning, Harvey hurries to the hotel to demand satisfaction from Göz. Butler catches up with him on the stairs. The men enter the unlocked room and find the captain murdered. A bullet hole gapes in Göz’s forehead. Panic ensues. In the courtyard, the police detain Bice Seniel. The girl refuses to give her name, out of concern for her aging father’s peace.

Butler saves the situation. He loudly declares, "Elias Butler killed Goeze." The sailor details the circumstances. Goeze had cheated him while selling contraband opium hidden in iron bolts. Wanting to incriminate the captain, Butler entered the room and hid in the closet.

Soon, Bice arrived. Göz locked the door and threw himself at the girl, hugging her. Bice jumped out the window. Butler emerged from hiding. The captain lunged at him with a revolver, but the assistant fired first. The police hauled Butler off to jail.

Different roads

Bice Seniel refuses to ransom the brigantine. The ship is stained with dirty contraband and blood. Thomas pays her a farewell visit. The girl bluntly declares her blindness to invisible miracles. They part with mutual respect. Thomas visits the schooner "Dive." Daisy sincerely confesses her love to him, cries, and hugs him tightly goodbye. Harvey leaves Gel-Gew.

Thomas returns to Liss, then lives in San Riol for a long time, working for a tea company. One day, he meets Daisy. Their sincere friendship blossoms into a strong feeling. Harvey realizes that this spontaneous girl has become his true destiny. Thomas and Daisy marry. The couple buys a quiet stone house with a garden in the village of Lege.

Several years pass. One evening, Dr. Filatr visits them. He tells the story of his business trip. In the upper reaches of the Tavassa River, Filatr came across the abandoned "Running on the Waves." The ship lay quietly rotting among the trees. Vines entwined the tall masts.

The doctor hands Thomas a note from Bice. She has married Hector Cavaz and wishes Harvey happiness. Daisy listens to the story with tears of delight. Feeling the beauty of a circle completed, she turns to the invisible patroness of sailors. Daisy calls out into the darkness: "Good evening, Fresi!" Suddenly, a ringing voice comes from the dark waters of the ocean: "Good evening, friends! Aren’t you bored on this dark road? I’m in a hurry, I’m running…"