My ribs and one shoulder are sore from it yet. Now how
did he know?
And he never staggers nor seems in danger of being rolled away. On
the contrary, such a surplus of surety of balance has he that time
and again he lent his surplus to me. I begin to have more respect,
not for the sea, but for the men of the sea, and not for the
sweepings of seamen that are as slaves on our decks, but for the real
seamen who are their masters--for Captain West, for Mr. Pike, yes,
and for Mr. Mellaire, dislike him as I do.
As early as three in the afternoon the wind, still a gale, went back
to the south-west. Mr. Mellaire had the deck, and he went below and
reported the change to Captain West.
"We'll wear ship at four, Mr. Pathurst," the second mate told me when
he came back. "You'll find it an interesting manoeuvre."
"But why wait till four?" I asked.
"The Captain's orders, sir. The watches will be changing, and we'll
have the use of both of them, without working a hardship on the watch
below by calling it out now."
And when both watches were on deck Captain West, again in oilskins,
came out of the chart-house.
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