Ferrier was more useful; his resolute,
cheerful air, the curt, brisk coolness of his chance remarks, were
exactly what were wanted to reassure women, and he did much to make the
dreary day pass tolerably. His services as waiter-general were admirably
performed, and he really did more by resolute helpfulness than could
have been done by any quantity of exhortation. He ventured to take a
long view at sundown, and he found the experience saddening. The
enormous chequered floor of the sea divided with turbulent sweep two
sombre hollow hemispheres. Lurid red, livid blue, cold green shone in
the sky, and were reflected in chance glints of horror from the spume of
the charging seas. Cold, cold it was all round; cold where the lowering
black cloud hung in the east; cold where the west glowed with dull
coppery patches; cold everywhere; and ah! how cold in the dead men's
graves down in the darkling ooze! Ferrier was just thinking, "And the
smacksmen go through this all the winter long!" when the skipper came
up.
"It'll blow itself out now, sir, very soon, and a good job. We've had
one or two very near things, and I never had such an anxious time since
I came to sea."
"I suppose we didn't know the real danger?"
"Not when we shipped that big 'un sir. However, praise the Lord, we're
all safe, and I wish I could say as much for our poor commerades. It'll
take two days to get the fleet together, and then we shall hear more.
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