Bee, still fascinated by his glimpses of the sunken ship, readily agreed, to the surprise of the others, and Jack pulled up the anchor and headed the Corsair’s nose straight up the coast. Bee demanded the wheel presently and Jack relinquished it to him, and he and Hal settled themselves comfortably on the seats abaft the engine and proceeded to enjoy the cruise. There was enough air stirring to mitigate the heat of the sun and the radiation from the engine and it was very pleasant there in the launch. Hal, keeping one ear open, so to speak, for sounds of trouble from the engine, closed his eyes and relapsed into condition of half-slumber in which he was vaguely conscious of the rhythmic rise and fall of the boat, the steady jar and click of the engine and the pop, pop, pop of the exhaust. Also he was vaguely conscious of some disturbing factor which eventually resolved itself into a monotonous chant from the bow. It was Bee, again pouring out his soul to the ocean.
“O Sea! O Sea! O Sea!
O beautiful, beautiful Sea!
You’re calm enough just now, all right,
You’re blue and tum-ti-tum—ti bright,
But you can’t fool me, O Sea, O Sea;
You can be just as mean as mean can be
And toss little boats all over the shop,
And no one knows when you’re going to stop.