_The Coming of the Mist and That Which It Ushered_
We buried Williams at midday. Poor beggar! It had been so sudden. All
day the men were awed and gloomy, and there was a lot of talk about
there being a Jonah aboard. If they'd only known what Tammy and I, and
perhaps the Second Mate, knew!
And then the next thing came--the mist. I cannot remember now, whether
it was on the day we buried Williams that we first saw it, or the day
after.
When first I noticed it, like everybody else aboard, I took it to be
some form of haze, due to the heat of the sun; for it was broad daylight
when the thing came.
The wind had died away to a light breeze, and I was working at the main
rigging, along with Plummer, putting on seizings.
"Looks as if 'twere middlin' 'ot," he remarked.
"Yes," I said; and, for the time, took no further notice.
Presently he spoke again:
"It's gettin' quite 'azy!" and his tone showed he was surprised.
I glanced up, quickly. At first, I could see nothing. Then, I saw what
he meant. The air had a wavy, strange, unnatural appearance; something
like the heated air over the top of an engine's funnel, that you can
often see when no smoke is coming out.
"Must be the heat," I said. "Though I don't remember ever seeing
anything just like it before."
"Nor me," Plummer agreed.
It could not have been a minute later when I looked up again, and was
astonished to find that the whole ship was surrounded by a thinnish haze
that quite hid the horizon.
"By Jove! Plummer," I said. "How queer!"
"Yes," he said, looking round. "I never seen anythin' like it before--
not in these parts."
"Heat wouldn't do that!" I said.
"N--no," he said, doubtfully.
We went on with our work again--occasionally exchanging an odd word or
two. Presently, after a little time of silence, I bent forward and asked
him to pass me up the spike. He stooped and picked it up from the deck,
where it had tumbled. As he held it out to me, I saw the stolid
expression on his face, change suddenly to a look of complete surprise.
He opened his mouth.
"By gum!" he said. "It's gone."
I turned quickly, and looked. And so it had--the whole sea showing clear
and bright, right away to the horizon.