"I heard it all."
"I'm sorry. He is hardly suitable for a lady's ears."
"I feel myself a terrible burden to you."
"But you are not. Very much the reverse. You are——" he began impulsively, and stopped short. It was too soon to tell all that she was to him.
"I am a bone of contention. I bring you in peril of your life——"
"And I thank God I am here to protect you. Now, take my advice and go to bed. I will bring my blankets and lie at the foot of the stairs here."
XLI
The next day passed without any sign of the mate, beyond the thin blue smoke that floated up from his hatchway.
Wulf surmised that he was making up his leeway in the matter of food and drink, and would probably not be over-eager for battle for the time being. Nevertheless he relaxed no whit of his vigilance, and after watching on deck for half the night slept the rest at the foot of the companion-way as before.
Contrary to his expectations, the gale did not work itself up again, but the sky was still low and dark and full of thin smoky clouds hurrying along towards the north-east, and he was not at all sure that they had done with it yet.