"Though, from what I saw, it's evident that
_we're_ quite visible; so that it would be easy for them to see us, and
steer clear of us, even though we couldn't see them."
"And we might run into something, and never see it?" he asked me,
following up the train of thought.
"Yes," I said. "Only there's nothing to stop the other ship from getting
out of our way."
"But if it wasn't a vessel?" he persisted. "It might be an iceberg, or a
rock, or even a derelict."
"In that case," I said, putting it a bit flippantly, naturally, "we'd
probably damage it."
He made no answer to this and for a few moments, we were quiet.
Then he spoke abruptly, as though the idea had come suddenly to him.
"Those lights the other night!" he said. "Were they a ship's lights?"
"Yes," I replied. "Why?"
"Why," he answered. "Don't you see, if they were really lights, we
_could_ see them?"
"Well, I should think I ought to know that," I replied. "You seem to
forget that the Second Mate slung me off the look-out for daring to do
that very thing.
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