was with the captain, and there was a general feeling that the end
had not come. Charlie Jones, reading his Bible on the edge of his
bunk, voiced the general belief.

"Knowin' the Turners, hull and mast," he said, "and having sailed
with Captain Richardson off and on for ten years, the chances is
good of our having a hell of a time. It ain't natural, anyhow,
this voyage with no rats in the hold, and all the insects killed
with this here formaldehyde, and ice-cream sent to the fo'c'sle
on Sundays!"

But at first the thing seemed smoothed over. It is true that the
captain did not speak to the first mate except when compelled to,
and that Turner and the captain ignored each other elaborately.
The cruise went on without event. There was no attempt on Turner's
part to carry out his threat of the night before; nor did he, as
the crew had prophesied, order the Ella into the nearest port. He
kept much to himself, spending whole days below, with Williams
carrying him highballs, always appearing at dinner, however, sodden
of face but immaculately dressed, and eating little or nothing.

A week went by in this fashion, luring us all to security. I was
still lean but fairly strong again. Vail, left to himself or to
the women of the party, took to talking with me now and then. I
thought he was uneasy. More than once he expressed a regret that
he had taken the cruise, laying his discontent to the long inaction.
But the real reason was Turner's jealousy of him, the obsession of
the dipsomaniac. I knew it, and Vail knew that I knew.

On the 8th we encountered bad weather, the first wind of the cruise.