The Old Man nodded.
"Have you anything to propose, Mr. Tulipson?" he asked.
"Well, Sir," replied the Second Mate. "I think you ought to have her
snugged down every night, before dark!"
He spoke with considerable emphasis. Then he glanced aloft, and jerked
his head in the direction of the unfurled t'gallants.
"It's a damned good thing, Sir," he said, "that it didn't come on to
blow any harder."
The Old Man nodded again.
"Yes," he remarked. "We shall have to do it; but God knows when we'll
get home!"
"Better late than not at all," I heard the Second mutter, under his
breath.
Out loud, he said:
"And the lights, Sir?"
"Yes," said the Old Man. "I will have lamps in the rigging every night,
after dark."
"Very good, Sir," assented the Second. Then he turned to us.
"It's getting daylight, Jessop," he remarked, with a glance at the sky.
"You'd better take Tammy with you, and shove those lamps back again into
the locker."
"i, i, Sir," I said, and went down off the poop with Tammy.
XIII
_The Shadow in the Sea_
When eight bells went, at four o'clock, and the other watch came on deck
to relieve us, it had been broad daylight for some time.
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