“Make out anything?”
“Can’t see the length of the ship, sir; but I can hear breakers quite plain.”
“Silence!” cried the captain, and, to use the familiar expression, a pin might have been heard to drop on the deck.
“I can hear nothing,” said the captain softly. “Can you, my boy?”
Steve listened for some time.
“No, sir, not a sound.”
“We can hear nothing below. Try once more.”
Again there was silence for a few moments, and then, sounding muffled and strange from the invisible man in the thick cloud, which made even the main-yard look indistinct, came:
“Breakers, sir, quite plain, away on the starboard bow.”
“On ice or rock?”