The smoker looked up. 'That you, Bill? It's gone six bells.' The other grumbled. 'I heard one bell from the fo'c's'le-head.' 'She rolled bad just now. Tolled the bell herself.' 'Humph!' said the man in the bunk thoughtfully. 'Shut up!' called a voice. 'I want to sleep.' Bill lowered his voice. 'How's the weather?' he inquired, looking down anxiously at the smoker's glistening oilskins. 'Heavy. The Old Man hain't left the deck for a minute.' After that the man in the bunk could not sleep again. He heard the other leave the forecastle, and swear as the flying spray struck his face; he heard a great body of water come over the bows and wash aft; he heard the heavy breathing about him. He lay in his clothing (it was wet and his blankets were wet--'Warm wet, anyhow,' he thought), and shivered at the sound of the water washing about in the darkness below him, and at the thought of the weather outside. He counted the minutes grudgingly, and lay dreading the sound of the opening door. Wide-eyed, he watched the lantern swinging in the gloom, the pendulous clothing on the wall, the starting shadows, until some one beat frantically on the door, and, staggering into the forecastle, turned up the light and called the watch. 'A-a-all hands! Eight bells there! D' ye hear the news, you port watch? Eight bells there!' Men stirred and yawned. Tired men kicked off blankets and sat up, swearing. Cramped men eased themselves from their bunks, and pulled on sodden boots. They stumbled about the heaving deck, cursing their cold oilskins, cursing the ship, cursing the sea. 'Come, shake a leg, bullies!' continued the inexorable voice. 'Weather bad an' goin' to be worse! Get a move on you, or the mate 'll be for'ard with a belayin'-pin!' 'Anything up?' inquired one. 'Heard the Old Man tell the mate to take in the fore-lower tops'l.' Thereupon they fell anew to cursing the captain, his seamanship, and, above all, his want of knowledge of the weather. The watch went out into the tumult of the night, out into a chaos of smashing seas and howling wind, out into a furious abyss of darkness and uproar.