132 THE CALL OF THE SEA 



A Day on the Ocean ^;> -<::> '<;:> 



(From Captains Courageous) 



npHE low-sided schooner was naturally on most 

 intimate terms with her surroundings. They 

 saw little of the horizon save when she topped 

 a swell ; and usually she was elbowing, fidgeting, 

 and coaxing her steadfast way through gray, gray- 

 blue, or black hollows laced across and across 

 with streaks of shivering foam, or rubbing herself 

 caressingly along the flank of some bigger water- 

 hill. It was as if she said, "You wouldn't hurt me, 

 surely? I'm only the little We're Hej-e.^^ Then 

 she would slide away chuckling softly to herself 

 till she was brought up by some fresh obstacle. 

 The dullest of folk cannot see this kind of thing 

 hour after hour through long days without noticing 

 it ; and Harvey, being anything but dull, began to 

 comprehend and enjoy the dry chorus of wave- 

 tops turning over with a sound of incessant tear- 

 ing ; the hurry of the winds working across open 

 spaces and herding the purple-blue cloud shadows ; 

 the splendid upheaval of the red sunrise ; the fold- 

 ing and packing away of the morning mists, wall 

 after wall withdrawn across the white floors ; the 

 salty glare and blaze of noon ; the kiss of rain fall- 

 ing over thousands of dead, flat square miles ; the 

 chilly blackening of everything at the day's end ; 



