A rich jovial voice at my elbow answered: "Good evening, Pank. Have you come for the ashes?" This was evidently some obscure joke, for the two Skippers laughed heartily together. And Pank asked: "How's the Missis and kids?" Then Morrison gave his position.
"That's our sister ship, east-bound," Pank said to me. "Keep a sharp look-out over our port bow and you'll see her lights. She'll pass in a moment."
I looked out into the darkness and caught a momentary glimpse of a bright white light and a red one. They were gone in a flash.
"That's her," said Pank.
I went below to my cabin and turned in. The next thing I remembered was a steward standing at my elbow with a cup of tea.
"Where are we now?" I asked.
"We'll land in twenty minutes," he replied.
I scrambled into my clothes and went up into the control cockpit, where I found Pank. The daylight was just beginning to creep over the water.
"On time to the minute," said the Skipper.
"There's the Statue of Liberty," I cried.