“Whenever Cloete looks at the sky he feels comforted; it looks so threatening. George Dunbar follows him about with a white face and saying nothing. Cloete takes him to have a drink or two, and by and by he begins to pick up. . . That’s better, says Cloete; dash me if it wasn’t like walking about with a dead man before. You ought to be throwing up your cap, man. I feel as if I wanted to stand in the street and cheer. Your brother is safe, the ship is lost, and we are made men. “Are you certain she’s lost? asks George. It would be an awful blow after all the agonies I have gone through in my mind, since you first spoke to me, if she were to be got off—and—and—all this temptation to begin over again. . . For we had nothing to do with this; had we? “Of course not, says Cloete. Wasn’t your brother himself in charge? It’s providential. . . Oh! cries George, shocked. . . Well, say it’s the devil, says Cloete, cheerfully. I don’t mind! You had nothing to do with it any more than a baby unborn, you great softy, you. . . Cloete has got so that he almost loved George Dunbar. Well. Yes. That was so. I don’t mean he respected him. He was just fond of his partner. “They go back, you may say fairly skipping, to the hotel, and find the wife of the captain at the open window, with her eyes on the ship as if she wanted to fly across the bay over there. . . Now then, Mrs. Dunbar, cries Cloete, you can’t go, but I am going. Any messages? Don’t be shy. I’ll deliver every word faithfully. And if you would like to give me a kiss for him, I’ll deliver that too, dash me if I don’t. “He makes Mrs. Harry laugh with his patter. . . Oh, dear Mr. Cloete, you are a calm, reasonable man. Make him behave sensibly. He’s a bit obstinate, you know, and he’s so fond of the ship, too. Tell him I am here—looking on. . . Trust me, Mrs. Dunbar. Only shut that window, that’s a good girl. You will be sure to catch cold if you don’t, and the Captain won’t be pleased coming off the wreck to find you coughing and sneezing so that you can’t tell him how happy you are. And now if you can get me a bit of tape to fasten my glasses on good to my ears, I will be going. . .