She had
circled the deck some ten times between her two cavaliers, and the
difficulty of keeping mental step with either in the presence of the
other may have influenced her sudden decision.
"What do you want to do that for?" said Andy, whose weight made him
cautious. "It's a mean climb, and there's nothing to see when you get
up there."
"There's everything to see," said Bobby and she looked at Percival.
Ten days ago nothing could have induced him to do such an unconventional
and conspicuous thing. He remembered the exact phrase he had applied
to it when told by the Scotchman of Bobby's previous adventure.
"Characteristically American," he had remarked, with a disparaging
shrug.
Now, with assumed languor, he said, "I don't mind going with you."
Two sailors were found to tie the ropes around their waists and stand
guard below while they slowly and cautiously climbed from one swaying
rung to another.
"All right?" asked Bobby, looking down over her shoulder.
"Right as rain," called Percival, with suggestion of eagerness in his
voice.
He followed her cautiously as she scrambled like a squirrel from the top
of the ladder to the crow's-nest. Swinging through the clear sky one
hundred feet above the water below, they found themselves in the sudden
intimacy of a vast and magnificent solitude. The sapphire sky met the
sapphire sea in a sharply defined, unbroken line around them, while
shimmers of palpitating light rose from the sparkling waters until they
lost themselves in the zenith above.
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