Through
that accident our dinner was not ready till late, but it didn't matter
in the end because Knowles, who went to fetch it, got knocked down by a
sea and the dinner went over the side. Captain Allistoun, looking more
hard and thin-lipped than ever, hung on to full topsails and foresail,
and would not notice that the ship, asked to do too much, appeared to
lose heart altogether for the first time since we knew her. She refused
to rise, and bored her way sullenly through the seas. Twice running,
as though she had been blind or weary of life, she put her nose
deliberately into a big wave and swept the decks from end to end. As the
boatswain observed with marked annoyance, while we were splashing about
in a body to try and save a worthless wash-tub:--"Every blooming thing
in the ship is going overboard this afternoon." Venerable Singleton
broke his habitual silence and said with a glance aloft:--"The old
man's in a temper with the weather, but it's no good bein' angry with
the winds of heaven." Jimmy had shut his door, of course. We knew he was
dry and comfortable within his little cabin, and in our absurd way were
pleased one moment, exasperated the next, by that certitude.
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