At the same moment she made an instinctive
movement towards him. Jim was staring at her, very pale. I saw him
half-open his lips and then close them. Frightened as I was, I can
swear that Jim was thinking only of his wife and what he could read
upon her face. Thorpe was quite impassive, but his fingers were
twitching. Then I heard Jim's voice curiously distinct--
"What are you going to do?"
"The valve may work loose. Anyways, she leaks a bit. Guess we're all
right."
Once more his confidence diffused itself subtly, and again a phrase
shattered it.
"How far is San Lorenzy from the ocean?"
"Eleven miles," said Ajax.
"We're sailin' plumb into the fog."
In late October the sea fog generally begins to roll up about four
o'clock. If the breeze is from the land, the fog is kept at bay for an
hour or two. As a rule, the breeze fails, and then the fog asserts its
dominion over all things on land and sea. Without knowing much of
aerial navigation, I grasped the fact that we were being swept into
the fog, and that if we intended to descend on land there was not a
minute to be lost. Thorpe, I fancy, had arrived at the same
conclusion.
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