\"Hewillturnoutthecookandthestewardatfour，\"Iconcluded，\"andthengiveyouacall。Ofcourseattheslightestsignofanysortofwindwe’llhavethehandsupandmakeastartatonce。\"
Heconcealedhisastonishment。\"Verywell，sir。\"Outsidethecuddyheputhisheadinthesecondmate’sdoortoinformhimofmyunheard—ofcapricetotakeafivehours’anchor—watchonmyself。I
heardtheotherraisehisvoiceincredulously—\"What？Thecaptainhimself？\"Thenafewmoremurmurs，adoorclosed，thenanother。A
fewmomentslaterIwentondeck。
Mystrangeness，whichhadmademesleepless，hadpromptedthatunconventionalarrangement，asifIhadexpectedinthosesolitaryhoursofthenighttogetontermswiththeshipofwhichIknewnothing，mannedbymenofwhomIknewverylittlemore。Fastalongsideawharf，litteredlikeanyshipinportwithatangleofunrelatedthings，invadedbyunrelatedshorepeople，Ihadhardlyseenheryetproperly。Now，asshelayclearedforsea，thestretchofhermaindeckseemedtomeveryfineunderthestars。