“Hear that?” he asked, excitedly, closing the door against the wind.

“Ay,” the skipper admitted; “as I was tellin’ the young feller, it isn’t so very civil.”

“Civil!” cried the doctor.

“No; not so civil that it mightn’t be a bit civiller; but, now——”

“And twelve miles of open sea!”

“No, zur—no; not accordin’ t’ my judgment. Eleven an’ a half, zur, would cover it.”

The doctor laughed.

“An’, as I was sayin’, zur,” the skipper concluded, pointedly, “we just come through it.”

My sister and I exchanged anxious glances: then turned again to the doctor—who continued to stare at the floor.

“Just,” one of the crew repeated, blankly, for the silence was painful, “come through it.”