"Oh, let 'em all come this weather," said Lane agreeably. "'I wish I'd bought ducks'—I mean fires."
He was shivering continuously and I pushed him back. "Don't be a fool," said I. "We want all hands in good form during the next four-and-twenty hours."
I peered out of the door, but the screen of sea fog shut off the view; it was as if I gazed at a blank wall, and the cold was intense.
"What do you guess has happened?" I asked Barraclough.
"He's got her in a narrow gut somewhere and is frightened. I've only been through here twice in my life, and in both cases it was broad daylight. This is where they melt fogs for the world. Oh, hang it, let's have the door shut."
He shut it as he spoke, and I looked round. The Prince sat on a sofa and waited. Lane blew on his fingers and whistled. Ellison stood, the respectful seaman as ever.
"They've been kind about the electric light," observed Barraclough, with a grin at me.
I said nothing, for there was nothing I could rejoin in the circumstances. I retraced my way to the door and opened it.
"Oh! confound it all!" roared Barraclough, as the fog rolled in. "Don't you see the ladies are here?"
I turned back, but only Princess Alix was visible. She moved white and tall under the lights. I shut the door again.