I don't know how we should have managed if there had been such another
last week."
"That was a strongish sea, and we're sure of more."
You never can get a North Sea man to own that any weather is very bad.
Years after a really bad gale he may give the wind credit for being in
earnest, but usually he talks in a patronizing way of the elements,
using diminutives, and trying to make light of the trouble so long as it
lasts. There had been hard weather since Lewis came out, and, though he
had ample stores and appliances now, he found that he was hampered by
the limitations of space as he was on board the schooner. Life had been
very rough for the young fellow and his burly worshipper since they came
out, and they only kept each other up by a mutual sham of the most
elaborate character. After breakfast, Lewis gave orders to run as close
as might be safe to the thick of the fleet; the smack was practically
under his command, and he took her where he thought he might be most
needed. One of his patients in the after-cabin was muttering uneasily,
for there was some feverishness; the other man had come down with a
crash on the icy deck, and the shock had apparently caused concussion of
the spine, for he could not move, and he was fed as if he were a child.
Lewis bent over the helpless seaman, and spoke kindly. The man sighed,
"Thank God I am where I am, sir. That long plaister begins to burn a
bit, but I a'most like it.
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