Captain MacWhirr, closing the book on his forefinger, lowered his arm
and looked completely mystified. "Why are you thinking of the Chinamen,
Mr. Jukes?" he inquired.

Jukes took a plunge, like a man driven to it. "She's rolling her decks
full of water, sir. Thought you might put her head on perhaps--for a
while. Till this goes down a bit--very soon, I dare say. Head to the
eastward. I never knew a ship roll like this."

He held on in the doorway, and Captain MacWhirr, feeling his grip on
the shelf inadequate, made up his mind to let go in a hurry, and fell
heavily on the couch.

"Head to the eastward?" he said, struggling to sit up. "That's more than
four points off her course."

"Yes, sir. Fifty degrees. . . . Would just bring her head far enough
round to meet this. . . ."

Captain MacWhirr was now sitting up. He had not dropped the book, and he
had not lost his place.

"To the eastward?" he repeated, with dawning astonishment. "To the . . .
Where do you think we are bound to? You want me to haul a full-powered
steamship four points off her course to make the Chinamen comfortable!
Now, I've heard more than enough of mad things done in the world--but
this. . . . If I didn't know you, Jukes, I would think you were in
liquor. Steer four points off. . . . And what afterwards? Steer four
points over the other way, I suppose, to make the course good. What put