s.

By a titanic mental effort, the others connected this explosion with
Billy Fairfax's last remark. It was the first expression of an emotion
so small as ill-humor. It was, moreover, the first excursion out of the
beaten path of their egotisms. It cleared the atmosphere a little of
that murky cloud of horror which blurred the sunlight. Three of the
other four men--Honey Smith, Frank Merrill, Pete Murphy--actually turned
and looked at Ralph Addington. Perhaps that movement served to break the
hideous, hypnotic spell of the sea.

"Right-o!" Honey Smith agreed weakly. It was audible in his voice, the
effort to talk sanely of sane things, and in the slang of every day.
"Addington's on. Let's can it! Here we are and here we're likely to stay
for a few days. In the meantime we've got to live. How are we going to
pull it off?"

Everybody considered his brief harangue; for an instant, it looked
as though this consideration was taking them all back into aimless
meditation. Then, "That's right," Billy Fairfax took it up heroically.
"Say, Merrill," he added in almost a conversational tone, "what are our
chances? I mean how soon do we get off?"

This was the first question anybody had asked. It added its
infinitesimal weight to the wave of normality which was settling over
them all. Everybody visibly concentrated, listening for the answer.

It came after an instant, although Frank Merrill palpably pulled himself
together to attack the problem. "I was talking that matter over with
Miner just yesterday," he said. "Miner said God, I wonder where he is
now--and a dependent blind mother in Nebraska."

"Cut that out," Honey Smith ordered crisply.

"We--we--were trying to figure our chances in case of a wreck," Frank
Merrill continued slowly. "You see, we're out of the beaten path--way
out. Those days of drifting cooked our goose. You can never tell, of
course, what will happen in the Pacific where there are so many tramp
craft. On the other hand--" he paused and hesitated. It was evident, now
that he had something to expound, that Merrill had himself almost under
command, that his hesitation arose from another cause. "Well, we're all
men. I guess it's up to me to tell you the truth. The sooner you all
know the worst, the sooner you'll pull yourselves together. I shouldn't
be surprised if we didn't see a ship for several weeks--perhaps months."

Another of their mute intervals fell upon them. Dozens of waves flashed
and crashed