These swung back and forth with every roll of the vessel, giving rise to a brushing sound, as of trees against a roof or wall. Somewhere a boot thumped loudly and at irregular periods against the wall; and, though it was a mild night on the sea, there was a continual chorus of the creaking timbers and bulkheads, and of abysmal noises beneath the flooring.
? ? ? ? The sleepers did not mind. There were eight of them,- the two watches below,- and the air was thick with the warmth and odor of their breathing, and the ear was filled with the noise of their snoring, and of their sighs and half-groans- tokens plain of the rest of the animal-man. But were they sleeping- all of them? Or had they been sleeping? This was evidently Wolf Larsen's quest- to find the men who appeared to be asleep, and who were not asleep or who had not been asleep very recently. And he went about it in a way that reminded me of a story out of Boccaccio.
? ? ? ? He took the sea-lamp from its swinging frame and handed it to me. He began at the first bunks forward on the starboard side.
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