to me all the countries of the globe? In all the parts of the world
washed by navigable waters our relation to each other would be the
same--and more intimate than there are words to express in the language.
Apart from that, every scene and episode would be a mere passing show.
The very gang of yellow coolies busy about the main hatch was less
substantial than the stuff dreams are made of. For who on earth would
dream of Chinamen? . . .

I went aft, ascended the poop, where, under the awning, gleamed the
brasses of the yacht-like fittings, the polished surfaces of the rails,
the glass of the skylights. Right aft two seamen, busy cleaning the
steering gear, with the reflected ripples of light running playfully
up their bent backs, went on with their work, unaware of me and of
the almost affectionate glance I threw at them in passing toward the
companion-way of the cabin.

The doors stood wide open, the slide was pushed right back. The
half-turn of the staircase cut off the view of the lobby. A low
humming ascended from below, but it stopped abruptly at the sound of my
descending footsteps.




III

The first thing I saw down there was the upper part of a man's body
projecting backward, as it were, from one of the doors at the foot of
the stairs. His eyes looked at me very wide and still. In one hand he
held a dinner plate, in the other a cloth.