Something like a minute later I was climbing the pilot-house steps with some of my clothes on and the rest in my arms.

Mr.Bixby was close behind, commenting.

Here was something fresh--this thing of getting up in the middle of the night to go to work.

It was a detail in piloting that had never occurred to me at all.

I knew that boats ran all night, but somehow I had never happened to reflect that somebody had to get up out of a warm bed to run them.