The wind, a whistling gale, cut
off the caps of the waves and filled the air with a dense spray, and
the main deck was all afloat. There were no orders heard, none given,
nothing but the monotonous beat of the paddles and the roar of the
wind, and the crew were all under shelter, for it was no longer a
question of seamanship, but of steam-power; only the commander pacing
the bridge to and fro, like a polar hear in a cage, and the engineers
changing their watch, broke the monotony of the merciless blue day,
for, except a little flying scud, the sky was as blue as on a summer
day.
I walked aft to the engineers' mess-room, on the upper deck, and found
Blair and the two assistants off duty, seated round the table, not
eating, but mute, with their elbows on the table and their heads in
their hands, looking each other in the face in grim silence. We had
made friends on leaving Corfu, and were on easy terms, so that, as I
entered and no one spoke to me, but all looked up as if I were the
shadow of death, I began to rally them for their seamanship, but got
no word of retort from one of them. "What's the matter with you all?"
I said; "you look as if you had had bad news." "The matter is we are
going ashore," said the chief engineer. "This--fool of a mate has got
caught in shore and we can't make steam enough to hold our own against
this wind." I had not thought of this; I was chafing at the delay and
the discomfort to Laura and the children.
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