Page:Cornelia Meigs--The island of Appledore.djvu/87

Rh clouds parted just then and the moon came out, just to show that the sea was empty for miles  on every side, and that old Ned Saulsby had  been sleeping on watch. Of course if I had thought two seconds I would have known that  never a ship on earth would have all sail set  in such a wind as that, but I had not stopped to  think.”

“Why,” gasped Billy, “it must have been the .”

“Some of the men whispered around that it might have been just that ship, but the captain knew better and so did I. It was only a  dream and I had been asleep when I had no business to be, and if I had done it once I  would do it again. If I had been young it would have been different, when lads aren’t  used to standing watch such a thing may happen and we know they’ll learn better, but when an old sailor does it he can be sure of just one  thing: his days at sea are near their end. I left the Mary Jameson at the next port, before  the captain could turn me off. I knocked about for nearly a year, trying one berth and  then another, falling lower and lower, and  knowing I was failing in my duty whatever I  tried to do. So at last I came limping into