Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/33

 Caradoc grunted disapproval of such doubtful table talk, arose and left the rough company and rough fare with supercilious condemnation.

“Your friend's appetite sames as dilicate as his wor-rkin' powers,” observed Hogan as he watched the Englishman stoop and disappear through the doorway.

Madden smiled. “We didn't work any too hard this afternoon, did we?”

Mike and Pierre proved droll companions, ready to jibe at anyone or anything in perfect good nature, so that it was an hour before Leonard strolled outside. As he had no further duty, he climbed a long ladder to the top of the high dock wall and walked forward toward the bridge.

By this time the sun had set and left the world filled with a luminous yellow afterglow. The estuary of the Thames had widened abruptly off Sheerness, and far to the south was the dim line of chalk cliffs that England thrusts toward France. Overhead stretched a translucent yellow-green sky with the long black line of the Vulcan's smoke marking it.

Leonard moved across the bridge slowly.