“About half-past twelve.”
“All right. Haven’t seen a thing yet.”
“Well, I guess you won’t, Tommy, unless it’s a whale. Call Bob at one. Goodnight!”
“Good night, Captain!” answered Tom.
Relieved, Nelson went back to his berth and fell promptly to sleep. He had a hazy idea once that the watch was being changed, but he didn’t really wake up until Dan shook him at a little after five.
“Everything’s all right, I guess,” said Dan softly, “but it’s raining and blowing a good deal, and I thought maybe you’d want to know about it.”
Nelson put his feet to the floor and instantly realized that weather conditions had altered. The launch was pitching endwise and sidewise, and through one or two of the ports, which had been left open, the rain was blowing in.
“It’s after five,” said Dan, “but I thought you fellows might as well sleep awhile longer. We couldn’t see a boat anyhow, unless she bumped into us; it’s as thick as anything outside.”
Nelson drew on his oilskins, closed the ports on the weather side, and followed Dan to the cockpit. The wind had passed around to the southwest, the sea had risen a good deal, and all sight of land was shut off by the rain squalls. It was what the fisherman would have called a “smoky sou’wester.” Nelson went forward and saw that the cable was fast, although it was no easy task to stay on the launch’s plunging bow. The water swept over the forward end of the cabin in spray every moment.
“You go and take a nap,” said Nelson. “I’ll look out for her awhile.”