Whistler turned to the ensign and waved a hand toward the phenomenon in the west.
“What do you think of that out there, Mr. MacMasters?” he asked.
“I am not sure, but I think we are being vouchsafed a sight not often noted at sea—and at this hour. It looks like a mirage.”
“Oi, oi!” murmured Ikey. “I understand now why it looks so funny.”
Whistler said: “Then that is a reflection of the sea up there in the air?”
“Hanging between sea and sky, yes,” said the ensign. “A curious phenomenon. But not, in all probability, a reflection of the sea directly under that cloudlike vision.”
“No, sir.”
“Probably a reflection photographed on the clouds of a piece of the ocean at a distance—just where one could scarcely figure out even by the use of the ‘highest of higher mathematics’,” and the ensign laughed.
“A mirage,” repeated Whistler. “Well, I never saw the like before.”
“It looks just like a piece of the ocean, doesn’t it?” said Ikey eagerly. “But there are no ships——”