“That’s right, we’ll be there early tomorrow morning. We’ll leave this island around four in the afternoon. We’ll coast along by Ilak for around six hours and then we hit open sea.”
“It’s about a hundred miles of open sea; it’ll take us over nine hours. Then we reach Kulak.”
“I’ll feel O.K. there. Weather’s good from there on.”
“Sure the weather’s always good from there on. It’s always wonderful here.” Bervick went back into his cabin. His watch did not begin until four.
Evans put away the charts. Then he stood by the window and watched the sky. Toward the southwest the clouds were dark, but the wind, which was faint, was from almost the opposite direction. The wind could change, though. When it was not strong and direct anything could happen.
Martin came into the wheelhouse. He looked at the barometer and whistled.
Evans was irritated. “Don’t whistle in the wheelhouse. It’s bad luck.”
“You always do.”
“That’s different.”
Martin chuckled, then, “Barometer’s mighty low. How long she been dropping?”