'No,' he answered stupidly; 'I should be nothing without nerve.'
'Although you never expose yourself to unnecessary danger?...'
She turned suddenly and left him. There was a boat slung high up on the davits, and, passing round it, she went and stood beside the rail with her hands resting on it. The boat hid her from the eyes of anyone on deck.
Trist walked aft, and stood for a moment beside the steersman in an indifferent attitude, with his hands in his pockets, looking aloft.
'I am afraid the wind is dropping,' he said.
'Yessir—it's slackening a bit,' replied the man.
Then Trist slowly followed Brenda.
For a moment or two he stood behind her, and there seemed to be a dull tension in the very atmosphere. Then at last he spoke, in his soft, emotionless way.
'The wind is dropping,' he said; 'and we cannot expect it to rise again before the sun comes up. Let us be practical and have some rest. Go to your stateroom and try to sleep. I will lie down for a couple of hours in the saloon.'
She did not answer at once. Then she turned and passed round the boat in the other direction, so that he did not see her face. Moving towards the companion, she answered him quietly.