It seemed the better plan, and Nichols acted on it immediately. Devereux, lost in his own sphere of unreality, didn’t discover that the ship was coming about until the island began to change its position along the rail. He watched it a moment, looked up to see the sails flat aback, then turned in alarm and ran toward the stern. "What are you doing?" he cried "You can make the anchorage on this tack. The cove lies just round that first point" "I know" said Nichols easily "But it’s getting late, and I am afraid of the reefs. The channel is narrow, the wind’s dying, the currents can’t be trusted around that entrance. I’m going to stand off and on all night, and wait for the morning" "Nonsense!" urged Devereux "We could easily make it! Why, Nichols, I know that channel like a book. There’s plenty of daylight left...." "Sorry, old fellow, but I just don’t dare try it" said Nichols decisively, throwing into the words all the power of his normality "You must remember that I have the ship on my hands" Devereux regarded him sourly, in a sort of hostile dejection. His case throughout was marked by a singular docility, as if all things assumed an illogical aspect to him, and were to be met by circumlocutory methods. "Well, I suppose your word is law" he allowed "But its damned hard on me. I’ve waited a good many years, Nichols, for this night" Without deigning to discuss the matter further, he went off down the companion like a sulky child. Following him a few moments later to reconnoitre, I found the door of his stateroom tightly closed. He didn’t appear at the supper table; as the evening passed it seemed evident that he wasn’t coming out again. We began to have hope of getting through the night without another painful scene. When I looked into his room after supper and found him sound asleep in the bunk, it seemed too good to be true. Nichols at once tacked ship again, and we stood back toward Sibutu Passage. Our plan for slipping through under cover of the darkness, however, had failed to reckon with the moonlight; that both of us had forgotten it is a good indication of the state of our minds. For the night, when it settled down, was positively radiant. A great soft moon hung high in the heavens, flooding the sea with a subdued glare, and revealing every detail of the land as we came abreast of the point of the island shortly after midnight. Sleep was out of the question. Nichols, of course, had to navigate the ship through the intricate passage. Thus it became my duty to run below every little while, keeping a watch on Devereux’s door. But no sound or movement came from the closed room.