'Anyway, they probably didn't touch at any of the landing stages,' Curtis said. 'They probably slipped him in at night on a deserted stretch of the shore.'
'Probably,' I said. 'If only we could make the little diver fellow tell us what he knows.'
Jill pressed my hand. 'Don't worry about it,' she said. 'I'll have another session with him in the morning.'
Curtis got to his feet and stretched. 'By God, I'm sleepy,' he said, rubbing his eyes. 'Think I'll make some coffee.'
At that moment Dick's voice hailed us. 'There's a breeze springing up, skipper,' he called down. 'What about setting some sail?'
I remembered then that I had forgotten all about relieving him. 'Coming,' I called back. 'Curtis. Give Wilson a shout, will you. We'll be getting sail on her.'
Jill caught my arm as I turned towards the companionway. 'Thanks for what you did to-day,' she said. She was smiling. Her lips were very red against the pallor of her skin. 'It made me feel I wasn't alone any more — that I had good friends.'
'I didn't do anything,' I said and turned away from her quickly. But as I climbed the ladder to the deck I realised again how much more important this was to her than to me — how much more important emotion was than the hard financial gain of the thing.
I felt the breeze as soon as I poked my head out through the hatch. It was icy cold and refreshing. 'Sorry, Dick,' I said. 'Losing my grip. Completely forgot you hadn't been relieved.'
'It's all right,' he answered. The moon had disappeared behind cloud and he was just a dark bundle of duffle coat humped over the wheel and outlined against the slight phosphorescence of our wake. 'I came to remind you once, but I could hear you grilling the poor devil, so I left you to it. What luck?'