were amazed at his genial charm. His anecdotes of sea
life were heartily applauded. After dinner he circulated gracefully in
the ladies' lounge, and took coffee there surrounded by a chattering
bevy. He organized a little impromptu concert in the music room, and
when that was well started, slipped away to the smoke-room. Here he
found a pool being organized as to the exact day and hour when the
Pomerania would reach port. Appealed to for his opinion, he advised
caution. On all sides he was in demand, for dancing, for bridge, for
a recitation. At length he slipped away, pleading that he must keep
himself fit in case of fog. The passengers were loud in his praise,
asserting that they had never met so agreeable a sea-captain. One
elderly lady said she remembered crossing with him in the old Caninia,
years ago, and that he was just the same then.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

And so the voyage went on. Gissing was quite content to do a two-hour
trick at the wheel both morning and afternoon, and worked out some new
principles of steering which gave him pleasure. In the first place, he
noticed that the shuffle-board and quoit players, on the boat deck aft,
were occasionally annoyed by cinders from the stacks, so he made it
a general plan to steer so that the smoke blew at right angles to the
ship's course. As the wind was prevailingly west, this meant that his
general trend was southerly. Whenever he saw another vessel, a mass of
floating sea-weed, a porpoise, or even a sea-gull, he steered directly
for it, and passed as close as possible, to have a good look at it. Even
Mr. Pointer admitted (in the mates' mess) that he had never experienced
so eventful a voyage. To keep the quartermasters from being idle,
Gissing had them knit him a rope hammock to be slung in the chart-room.
He felt that this would be more nautical than a plush settee.

There was a marvellous sense of power in standing at the wheel and
feeling the great hull reply to his touch. Occasionally Captain Scottie
would emerge from his cabin, look round with a faint surprise, and
come to the bridge to see what was happening. Mr. Pointer would salute
mutely, and continue to study the skyline with indignant absorption.
The Captain would approach the wheel, where Gissing was deep in thought.
Rubbing his hands, the Captain would say heartily, "Well, I think I've
got it all clear now."

Gissing sighed.

"What is it?" the Captain inquired anxiously.

"I'm bothered about t