CHAPTER FIFTEEN

And so the voyage went on. Gissing was quite content to do a
two-hour trick at the wheel both morning and afternoon, and
worked out some new principles of steering which gave him
pleasure. In the first place, he noticed that the shuffle-board
and quoit players, on the boat deck aft, were occasionally
annoyed by cinders from the stacks, so he made it a general plan
to steer so that the smoke blew at right angles to the ship's
course. As the wind was prevailingly west, this meant that his
general trend was southerly. Whenever he saw another vessel, a
mass of floating sea-weed, a porpoise, or even a sea-gull, he
steered directly for it, and passed as close as possible, to have
a good look at it. Even Mr. Pointer admitted (in the mates' mess)
that he had never experienced so eventful a voyage. To keep the
quartermasters from being idle, Gissing had them knit him a rope
hammock to be slung in the chart-room. He felt that this would be
more nautical than a plush settee.

There was a marvellous sense of power in standing at the wheel
and feeling the great hull reply to his touch. Occasionally
Captain Scottie would emerge from his cabin, look round with a
faint surprise, and come to the bridge to see what was happening.
Mr. Pointer would salute mutely, and continue to study the
skyline with indignant absorption. The Captain would approach the
wheel, where Gissing was deep in thought. Rubbing his hands, the
Captain would say heartily, "Well, I think I've got it all clear
now."