"I winked off just this very minute, sir.

I'm sorry, sir.

It won't happen again." "Did you hear or see anything on deck ?" "No, sir, I--" But Wolf Larsen had turned away with a snort of disgust, leaving the sailor rubbing his eyes with surprise at having been let of so easily.
"Softly, now," Wolf Larsen warned me in a whisper, as he doubled his body into the forecastle scuttle and prepared to descend.
I followed with a quaking heart.

What was to happen I knew no more than did I know what had happened.

But blood had been shed, and it was through no whim of Wolf Larsen that he had gone over the side with his scalp laid open.