Page:Many inventions (IA manyinventions00kipliala).pdf/113

 Wouldst thou,"—so the helmsman answered, "Know the secret of the sea? Only those who brave its dangers Comprehend its mystery."

By gum! Only those who brave its dangers Comprehend its mystery,"'

repeated twenty times, walking up and down the room and forgetting me, 'But I can understand it too,', he said to himself. 'I don't know how to thank you for that fiver. And this; listen—

I remember the black wharves and the slips And the sea-tides tossing free; And the Spanish sailors with bearded lips, And the beauty and mystery of the ships, And the magic of the sea,"

I haven't braved any dangers, but I feel as if I knew I about it.'

'You certainly seem to have a grip of the sea. Have you ever seen it?'

'When I was a little chap I went to Brighton once; we used to live in Coventry, though, before we came to London. I never saw it,

When descends on the Atlantic The gigantic Storm-wind of the Equinox."'

He shook me by the shoulder to make me understand the passion that was shaking himself.

'When that storm comes,' he continued, 'I think that all the oars in the ship that I was talking about get broken, and the rowers have their chests smashed