"Excited, ain't he?" said Jan. "But maybe we better go below too. But let's go round by the lee side—this way."
In passing the pilot-house a window above them was thrown open and a man's face thrust through, and a man's voice said:
"We'll never make Port Rock to-night, not against this gale and snow. And no use trying to see anything ahead."
Jan peered up through the dark and the snow to see who it might be. Against the light in the pilot-house he could distinguish the head and shoulders of the captain.
[pg 249]
"Then we'd better put in somewhere for the night, hadn't we?" Jan knew that for the mate's voice.
"Put in where?"
"I don't know—Gloucester, maybe?"
"Gloucester? And how does Gloucester bear now?—tell me that. And how does any port bear now?—tell me that, too. Suppose we did know, would you try to take her into Gloucester harbor on a night like this? Gloucester!"