Captain Beard had hollow
eyes and sunken cheeks. I had never noticed so much before how twisted
and bowed he was. He and Mahon prowled soberly about hatches and
ventilators, sniffing. It struck me suddenly poor Mahon was a very, very
old chap. As to me, I was as pleased and proud as though I had helped to
win a great naval battle. O! Youth!
"The night was fine. In the morning a homeward-bound ship passed us hull
down,--the first we had seen for months; but we were nearing the land at
last, Java Head being about 190 miles off, and nearly due north.
"Next day it was my watch on deck from eight to twelve. At breakfast the
captain observed, 'It's wonderful how that smell hangs about the cabin.'
About ten, the mate being on the poop, I stepped down on the main-deck
for a moment. The carpenter's bench stood abaft the mainmast: I leaned
against it sucking at my pipe, and the carpenter, a young chap, came to
talk to me. He remarked, 'I think we have done very well, haven't we?'
and then I perceived with annoyance the fool was trying to tilt the
bench. I said curtly, 'Don't, Chips,' and immediately became aware of a
queer sensation, of an absurd delusion,--I seemed somehow to be in
the air. I heard all round me like a pent-up breath released--as if
a thousand giants simultaneously had said Phoo!--and felt a dull
concussion which made my ribs ache suddenly. No doubt about it--I was
in the air, and my body was describing a short parabola.
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