Part 13 (2/2)

Davies had his bearings, and struck on his course confidently 'Now for the lead,' he said; 'the coe of the sands till we pick up ht?' I asked

'Under the Hohenhorn,' said Davies, 'for auld lang syne!'

Partly by sight and mostly by touch we crept round the outermost alley of the hidden less to roups One we followed for soan another beat to ard

Dusk was falling The Hanover coast-line, never very distinct, had utterly vanished; an o the short sea I ceased to attend to Davies iht to stifle in hard manual labour the dread that had been latent in e at sea

'Sound, like blazes now!' he said at last I came to a fathoive it a bit of a berth and then let go'

'Let go noas the order after a -drawn moan The 'Dulcibella' snubbed up to it and jauntily faced the North Sea and the growing night

'There we are!' said Davies, as we finished stowing the nificent sand-harbour, with no one to bother us and the whole of it to ourselves No dues, no stinks, no traffic, no worries of any sort It's better than a Baltic cove even, less beastly civilization about We're seven miles from the nearest coast, and five even fro up' There was a tiny spark in the east

'I suppose it's all right,' I said, 'but I'd rather see a solid breakwater soht, and I don't like this swell'

'The swell's nothing,' said Davies; 'it's only a stray drain froot them all round you, only they're hidden Ahead and to starboard is the West Hohenhorn, curling round to the sou'-west for all the world like a stone pier You can hear the surf battering on its outside over to the north That's where I was nearly wrecked that day, and the little channel I stumbled into must be quite near us somewhere Half a ht up, after dashi+ng across this lake we're in Anotherof your fork So you see we're shut in--practically Surely you remember the chart? Why, it's--'

'Oh, confound the chart!' I broke out, finding this flow of plausible coestive forhappens--supposing it blows a gale! But it's no good shi+vering here and staring at the view I' below'

There was a _ which, I aot the quest

'Which soup do you feel inclined for?' said Davies, timidly, after a black silence of some minutes

That simple reuments, saved the situation

'I say, Davies,' I said, 'I'm a white-livered cur at the best, and you mustn't spare me But you're not like any yachtsman I ever met before, or any sailor of any sort You're so casual and quiet in the extraordinary things you do I believe I should like you better if you let fly a volley of deep-sea oaths sometimes, or threatened to put me in irons'

Davies opened wide eyes, and said it was all his fault for forgetting that I was not as used to such anchorages as he was 'And, by the way,' he added, 'as to its blowing a gale, I shouldn't wonder if it did; the glass is falling hard; but it can't hurt us You see, even at high water the drift of the sea--'

'Oh, for Heaven's sake, don't begin again You'll prove soon that we're safer here than in an hotel Let's have dinner, and a thundering good one!'

Dinner ran a s brewed the hull, froan to roll

'I knew she would,' said Davies 'I was going to warn you, only--the ebb has set in _against_ the wind It's quite safe--'

'I thought you said it would get calmer when the tide fell?'

'So it will, but it s,' he added, as though in defence of some not very respectable acquaintances

He busied hi easily to the motion of the boat; and I for my part tried to write up my diary, but I could not fix my attention Every loose article in the boat became audibly restless Cans clinked, cupboards rattled, lockers uttered hollow groans Srotesque drunken figures on the floor, like goblins in a haunted glade The mast whined dolorously at every heel, and the centre-board hiccoughed and choked Overhead another horde of demons seemed to have been let loose The deck and nified every sound and made the tap-tap of every rope's end rese of the halyards against the un The whole tu

'We ht turn in now,' said Davies; 'it's half-past ten'

'What, sleep through this?' I exclaio for another walk?'

I spoke in bitter, half-delirious jest