owly, made his way up the companionway to the rail. The man at the
wheel reported in the forecastle, when he came down at the end of his
watch, that Singleton had seemed dazed, and had stood leaning against
the rail for some time, occasionally cursing to himself; that the
second mate had come on deck, and had sent him to bed; and that the
captain was shut in his cabin with the light going.

There was much discussion of the incident among the crew. Sympathy was
with the captain, and there was a general feeling that the end had not
come. Charlie Jones, reading his Bible on the edge of his bunk, voiced
the general belief.

"Knowin' the Turners, hull and mast," he said, "and having sailed with
Captain Richardson off and on for ten years, the chances is good of our
having a hell of a time. It ain't natural, anyhow, this voyage with no
rats in the hold, and all the insects killed with this here
formaldehyde, and ice-cream sent to the fo'c'sle on Sundays!"

But at first the thing seemed smoothed over. It is true that the
captain did not speak to the first mate except when compelled to, and
that Turner and the captain ignored each other elaborately. The cruise
went on without event. There was no attempt on Turner's part to carry
out his threat of the night before; nor did he, as the crew had
prophesied, order the Ella into the nearest port. He kept much to
himself, spending whole days below, with Williams carrying him
highballs, always appearing at dinner, however, sodden of face but
immaculately dressed, and eating little or nothing.

A week went by in this fashion, luring us all to security. I was still
lean but fairly strong again. Vail, left to himself or to the women of
the party, took to talking with me now and then. I thought he was
uneasy. More than once he expressed a regret that he had taken the
cruise, laying his discontent to the long inaction. But the real reason
was Turner's jealousy of him, the obsession of the dipsomaniac. I knew
it, and Vail knew that I knew.

On the 8th we encountered bad weather, the first wind of the cruise.
All hands were required for tacking, and I was stationed on the
forecastle-head with one other man. Williams, the butler, succumbed to
the weather, and at five o'clock Miss Lee made her way forward through
the driving rain, and asked me if I could take his place.

"If the captain needs you, we can manage," she said. "We have
Henrietta and Karen, the two maids. But Mr