Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/50

34 Billy opened his mouth to say something in reply, and then shut it again. He realized that the ignorance of which the Captain spoke  was as great as would be the inability to distinguish between a dog and a cat, but he was  unwilling to betray the fact that he was as  much in the dark as Jacky Shute. A few hours ago he would have been quite scornful  of any such knowledge; now he felt a strong  desire to hide his ignorance, a desire which, in  turn, gave way to an even greater wish. He fought against it, reminded himself over and  over again how determined he was to despise  everything that had to do with the sea, how  he hated Appledore and would have no interest in it. But there was something about the rough old sailor’s bent figure, broken by  a hundred tempests yet strong and determined  still, there was something about the tossing  blue water, about the wide, unbroken horizon,  about the fresh, sharp, salt air that made him  feel—well, different in a most indefinable way.

They sat in silence for a little while until the old man’s pipe was smoked out, and Billy  felt that it was time for him to go. He rose, held out his hand to say good-bye, and then