' The light from his
open door disappeared with a bang, and I was left alone in a
dripping, yellow darkness. I have been in the Navy for ten years, but
I have never known such a fog as that of last night, not even among
the icebergs of Behring Sea. There one at least could see the light
of the binnacle, but last night I could not even distinguish the hand
by which I guided myself along the barrack-wall. At sea a fog is a
natural phenomenon. It is as familiar as the rainbow which follows a
storm, it is as proper that a fog should spread upon the waters as
that steam shall rise from a kettle. But a fog which springs from the
paved streets, that rolls between solid house-fronts, that forces
cabs to move at half speed, that drowns policemen and extinguishes
the electric lights of the music-hall, that to me is
incomprehensible. It is as out of place as a tidal wave on Broadway.
"As I felt my way along the wall, I encountered other men who were
coming from the opposite direction, and each time when we hailed each
other I stepped away from the wall to make room for them to pass. But
the third time I did this, when I reached out my hand, the wall had
disappeared, and the further I moved to find it the further I seemed
to be sinking into space.
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