omen who were born to be possessed by men, but the men
who possess them can possess nothing else. They are the destroyers, not
of morals, but of ideals. They render the imagination futile because
they possess the powerful arts of the enchantresses, the daughters of
Helios. They demand the chastity of an anchorite and the devotion of a
knight of the Grail. While the virtuous and generous bend under the
weight of their self-appointed travails, these pass by in swift
palanquins of silk and fine gold, and are adored by the valiant and the
wise.

And he was going to marry her.

He slept heavily on the engineer's settee. He had told that obliging
person to give him a call at midnight--he wanted to see what the Old Man
was up to. The Old Man, however, later gave Mr. Cassar explicit orders
to let the mate sleep--he would remain on duty himself. The chief felt
it incumbent upon him to oblige the captain, and Mr. Spokesly slept on,
much disturbed none the less by grotesque and laboured forebodings of
his subconscious being, so that he moved restlessly at times, as though
some occult power within was striving to rouse him. Indeed, it was the
spirit of duty struggling with wearied tissues. It was past three when
the former was so far successful as to wrench his eyes open. He started
up, stretched, looked at the engineer's clock, and muttered that he must
have fallen asleep again. He put on his coat and cap, and taking a
hurried glance at the engineer, who was sprawling on his back in his
bunk with his mouth open and his fingers clutching the matted growth of
black hair on his chest, he hurried out on deck.

The fog was gone, and a high, level canopy of thin clouds gave the night
the character of an enormous and perfectly dark chamber. The _Kalkis_
was moving so slowly, Mr. Spokesly could with difficulty keep tally of
the beat of the engines. Yet she was moving. He could hear the sough of
water, and there was a faint phosphorescence along the ship's side. And
a change in the air, an indefinable modification of temperature and
possibly smell, led him to examine the near horizon for the deeper
blackness of a high shore. He listened intently, trying to detect the
sound of waves on the rocks. He tried to figure out what the position
would be now, if they had made the course he suspected. They ought to be
under the southern shores of Lesbos by now. But if that were the case
the cool breeze coming off shore would be on the port side. He