speaking to me so quietly - as if you had expected me - made me
hold on a little longer. It had been a confounded lonely time - I

don't mean while swimming. I was glad to talk a little to somebody
that didn't belong to the Sephora. As to asking for the captain,

that was a mere impulse. It could have been no use, with all the
ship knowing about me and the other people pretty certain to be

round here in the morning. I don't know - I wanted to be seen, to
talk with somebody, before I went on. I don't know what I would

have said. . . . 'Fine night, isn't it?' or something of the sort."
"Do you think they will be round here presently?" I asked with some

incredulity.
"Quite likely," he said, faintly.

He looked extremelyhaggard all of a sudden. His head rolled on
his shoulders.

"H'm. We shall see then. Meantime get into that bed," I
whispered. "Want help? There."

It was a rather high bed-place with a set of drawers underneath.
This amazingswimmer really needed the lift I gave him by seizing

his leg. He tumbled in, rolled over on his back, and flung one arm
across his eyes. And then, with his face nearly hidden, he must

have looked exactly as I used to look in that bed. I gazed upon my
other self for a while before drawing across carefully the two

green serge curtains which ran on a brass rod. I thought for a
moment of pinning them together for greater safety, but I sat down

on the couch, and once there I felt unwilling to rise and hunt for
a pin. I would do it in a moment. I was extremely tired, in a

peculiarly intimate way, by the strain of stealthiness, by the
effort of whispering and the general secrecy of this excitement.

It was three o'clock by now and I had been on my feet since nine,
but I was not sleepy; I could not have gone to sleep. I sat there,

fagged out, looking at the curtains, trying to clear my mind of the
confused sensation of being in two places at once, and greatly

bothered by an exasperating knocking in my head. It was a relief
to discover suddenly that it was not in my head at all, but on the

outside of the door. Before I could collect myself the words "Come
in" were out of my mouth, and the steward entered with a tray,

bringing in my morning coffee. I had slept, after all, and I was
so frightened that I shouted, "This way! I am here, steward," as

though he had been miles away. He put down the tray on the table
next the couch and only then said, very quietly, "I can see you are

here, sir." I felt him give me a keen look, but I dared not meet
his eyes just then. He must have wondered why I had drawn the

curtains of my bed before going to sleep on the couch. He went
out, hooking the door open as usual.

I heard the crew washing decks above me. I knew I would have been
told at once if there had been any wind. Calm, I thought, and I

was doubly vexed. Indeed, I felt dual more than ever. The steward
reappeared suddenly in the doorway. I jumped up from the couch so

quickly that he gave a start.
"What do you want here?"

"Close your port, sir - they are washing decks."
"It is closed," I said, reddening.

"Very well, sir." But he did not move from the doorway and
returned my stare in an extraordinary, equivocal manner for a time.

Then his eyes wavered, all his expression changed, and in a voice
unusually gentle, almost coaxingly:

"May I come in to take the empty cup away, sir?"
"Of course!" I turned my back on him while he popped in and out.

Then I unhooked and closed the door and even pushed the bolt. This
sort of thing could not go on very long. The cabin was as hot as

an oven, too. I took a peep at my double, and discovered that he
had not moved, his arm was still over his eyes; but his chest

heaved; his hair was wet; his chin glistened with perspiration. I
reached over him and opened the port.

"I must show myself on deck," I reflected.
Of course, theoretically, I could do what I liked, with no one to

say nay to me within the whole circle of the horizon; but to lock
my cabin door and take the key away I did not dare. Directly I put

my head out of the companion I saw the group of my two officers,
the second mate barefooted, the chief mate in long india-rubber

boots, near the break of the poop, and the stewardhalf-way down
the poop-ladder talking to them eagerly. He happened to catch

sight of me and dived, the second ran down on the main-deck
shouting some order or other, and the chief mate came to meet me,

touching his cap.
There was a sort of curiosity in his eye that I did not like. I

don't know whether the steward had told them that I was "queer"
only, or downright drunk, but I know the man meant to have a good

look at me. I watched him coming with a smile which, as he got
into point-blank range, took effect and froze his very whiskers. I

did not give him time to open his lips.
"Square the yards by lifts and braces before the hands go to

breakfast."
It was the first particular order I had given on board that ship;

and I stayed on deck to see it executed, too. I had felt the need
of asserting myself without loss of time. That sneering young cub

got taken down a peg or two on that occasion, and I also seized the
opportunity of having a good look at the face of every foremast man

as they filed past me to go to the after braces. At breakfast
time, eating nothing myself, I presided with such frigid dignity

that the two mates were only too glad to escape from the cabin as
soon as decency permitted; and all the time the dual working of my

mind distracted me almost to the point of insanity. I was
constantly watching myself, my secret self, as dependent on my

actions as my own personality, sleeping in that bed, behind that
door which faced me as I sat at the head of the table. It was very

much like being mad, only it was worse because one was aware of it.
I had to shake him for a solid minute, but when at last he opened

his eyes it was in the full possession of his senses, with an
inquiring look.

"All's well so far," I whispered. "Now you must vanish into the
bath-room."

He did so, as noiseless as a ghost, and I then rang for the
steward, and facing him boldly, directed him to tidy up my

stateroom while I was having my bath - "and be quick about it." As
my tone admitted of no excuses, he said, "Yes, sir," and ran off to

fetch his dust-pan and brushes. I took a bath and did most of my
dressing, splashing, and whistling softly for the steward's

edification, while the secret sharer of my life stood drawn up bolt
upright in that little space, his face looking very sunken in

daylight, his eyelids lowered under the stern, dark line of his
eyebrows drawn together by a slight frown.

When I left him there to go back to my room the steward was
finishing dusting. I sent for the mate and engaged him in some

insignificant conversation. It was, as it were, trifling with the
terrific character of his whiskers; but my object was to give him

an opportunity for a good look at my cabin. And then I could at
last shut, with a clear conscience, the door of my stateroom and

get my double back into the recessed part. There was nothing else
for it. He had to sit still on a small folding stool, half

smothered by the heavy coats hanging there. We listened to the
steward going into the bath-room out of the saloon, filling the

water-bottles there, scrubbing the bath, setting things to rights,
whisk, bang, clatter - out again into the saloon - turn the key -

click. Such was my scheme for keeping my second self invisible.
Nothing better could be contrived under the circumstances. And

there we sat; I at my writing-desk ready to appear busy with some
papers, he behind me, out of sight of the door. It would not have