reclining on the decks outside, and fears the worst." (Loud
laughter, cheers, and Jimmy Doon's weary voice: "Good-bye-ee.")

Sec.2

So the first afternoon at sea declined into evening. I had been
looking forward all day to the starlight night, in which we should
discuss again with Monty the things that had crept into our
conversation the night before. I had gone to bed, happy in the
thought that the breastworks had been broken down, and the way made
easier for further unburdening. I had fallen asleep, contented in
the conviction that Monty had been sent into my life to help me to
put things straight. In my simple theology, I was pleased to imagine
I saw how God was working. Somewhere in that old world behind the
dockyard lay my shattered ideals, shattered morals, shattered
religion. Monty was to rebuild my faith in humanity and in God. Some
where in that rosy year which was past lay the anchor that I had
cast away. Monty was to find me drifting to the Dardanelles with no
anchor aboard, and to give me one that would hold. Yes, I saw a
ruling Hand. Radley had been the great influence of my schooldays;
and, now that he was fast fading into the memories of a remote past,
Monty, this lean and whimsical priest, had stepped in to fill the
stage. The story of our spiritual development must ever be the story
of other people's influence over us. I could see it all, and went to
sleep lonely but happy.

It is difficult to say why I wanted to set my life aright. The
thought of my mother; the peaceful movement of the ship away from
England; Monty's stories of his lovable boy officers; and the beauty
of the seascape--all had something to do with it. At any rate, I
found myself longing for the time when, after dinner, Doe and I,
with Monty between us, should recline in deck-chairs under the
stars, and speak of intimate things.

When the time came, it was very dark, for deck-lamps were not
allowed, and every port-hole was obscured, so that no chink of light
should betray our whereabouts to a prowling submarine. We began by
star-gazing. Then we brought eyes and faces downwards, and watched
the wide, rippling sea. Monty, having refilled his pipe on his
knees, lit it with some difficulty in the gentle wind, before he
remembered that, after dark, smoking was forbidden on deck. The
match flared up, and illuminated the world alarmingly.... We
listened for the torpedo.

Nothing evil coming from the darkness, Monty knocked out the
fo