Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/101

 a fresh start. It's up to you what you do with it.“

The Englishman looked at his friend with a sort of slow surprise on his face. “I hadn't noticed it, but I don't believe I do crave drink as keenly.”

“No, sickness is often not so bad a thing as folks think. It is nature's way of putting us right. Sometimes,” he added thoughtfully, “we crumple up in the process, but we can hardly blame the old lady for that.”

“You're an odd fellow, Madden,” laughed Caradoc, getting slowly out of his chair and stretching his arms. “Well, for some reason or other, I feel fine this morning—let's take a constitutional around the dock.”

The young men walked off, side by side, and began the circuit of the dock's quarter-mile outline. The breeze was such a rarity in the becalmed region that the two paused now and then to take long grateful breaths, and to watch the little wind waves ripple the glassy Sargasso lanes.

As they walked, navvies came out with buckets brushes and set to work painting the maze