so chill that I
covered myself with a blanket. The vessel creaked and groaned in every
joint, some of the sounds actually startling me with their resemblance
to cries of human agony. I tossed about, occasionally sitting upright
to peer around in the darkness, my body bathed in cold perspiration,
yet must have dropped finally off into an uneasy sleep. A sharp
rapping of knuckles on the door awoke me with a start.

"Starboard watch, Senor."

"Will be on deck at once."

"Ay, ay, Senor."

I drew on a heavy pea jacket of leather, fastening it securely at the
throat, and donned a wool cap. The lantern in the cabin had been
relighted, and was burning brightly, and my anxious glance about the
interior revealed nothing out of place. The only door open led to the
steward's storeroom. Feeling it best to be prepared for any
eventuality, I selected a pistol from the rack, saw to its loading,
and slipped the weapon into my pocket. Except for one man busily
engaged coiling a rope, the main deck was deserted, and I climbed the
short ladder to the poop, meeting LeVere as I straightened up. The sea
was a gentle swell, the sky clear above, but with a mass of dark
clouds off the port quarter. A glance aloft revealed a full spread of
canvas. The air contained a nip of frost.

"All set, I see, LeVere?"

"Si, Senor, and at that we barely move. The bark needs a gale o' wind
to make any headway."

"You have no fear of the storm yonder?"

He glanced aside at the mass of cloud.

"No, Senor. It hung just there an hour past--not come here, but creep
around."

"Your course?"

"Still to the sou' o' east, Senor." He bent down to glance at the card
and I saw his dark face in the gleam of the binnacle light. He was not
bad looking, but for the continuous gleam of prominent teeth. He
straightened up.

"Who put out the cabin light, Senor?"

"I am sure I don't know; was it out?"

"Yes, Senor. I never knew that to happen before."

"An accident, no doubt. The steward probably left some near-by port
open, and a gust of wind did the business. That's nothing to worry
over."

He shook his head as though far from satisfied by my theory, but went
below without attempting to reply. I watched him through the skylight,
but he merely gulped down a glass of liquor, and entered his
stateroom.

My watch was uneventful. The fellow at the wheel was unfamiliar to me,
and rather surly in his answers, to the few questions I put to him. As
he could sp