ee the door to the cabin alleyway, that he had just closed, though he
had stepped but a couple of paces away from it. Nor could he see
Sails, though the latter stood but an arm's length distant. Sails's
hoarse whisper came through the gloom:

"Ye see the night, lad? _Och_, 'tis a night for evil!"

Martin shivered at the sound of Sails' dismal croaking. See the night!
He could see nothing. The other's voice came out of an impenetrable
void. Above him, beneath him, all about him, was nothing but
blackness, thick, clinging gloom. The Stygian, fog-filled night
crushed, like a heavy, intangible weight; one choked for breath.

Martin felt like an atom lost in back immensity. He wanted to shout at
the top of his voice. But what he did do was lift his voice gently, so
the words would not arouse the sleepers in the cabin.

"Little Billy! Billy!" he called.

His call was swallowed up, smothered, by the night. He strained his
ears. But the only answer was the eery cry of a night-flying gull and
the deep moaning of the sea upon the rocks--that and the hoarse, uneasy
breathing of the invisible MacLean.

Martin was more than disturbed by that silence.

"Sails, who are the foc'sle hands who have this watch?" he said.

"Rimoa and Oomak," came MacLean's voice. "They were for'rd when I came
aft for you."

Martin called again, along the decks.

"Rimoa! Oomak! For'rd there--speak up!"

The wailing voices of the night replied; not a word, not a footfall
came out of the gloom to tell of stirring human life.

"Good Lord, they must all be asleep!" exclaimed Martin testily.
"Sails, where is that lantern you spoke of?"

"In the galley--I left it there," answered the sailmaker. "I will go
fetch it."

He heard MacLean's retreating footsteps, uncertain and uneven, as the
man felt his way forward. The diminishing sounds affected him
strangely; he was suddenly like a little child affrighted by the dark.
The sinister night contained a nameless threat. The black wall that
encompassed him, flouting his straining gaze, seemed peopled by
rustlings and leering eyes. Abruptly, Martin decided to follow
MacLean, instead of waiting for him.

He stepped out in the other's wake, as he thought. After a blundering
moment, he fetched up against the ship's rail. He tacked away and
bumped into the after capstan, which stood in the middle of the deck.
He barked his shins there and swore aloud to relieve his surcharged
feelings.