The ship swung to her cable, and then there seemed deep silence after the even roll and creak of the great sweeps in their rowlocks.

The fog was very dense, and beyond our stem head I could see nothing.
Then to break the silence came to us, over no great stretch of water as it seemed, the sound of a creaking block, the fall of a yard on deck, and a voice raised in some sharp order.

Then I thought I heard an anchor plunge, and there was silence.

Very ghostly it seemed to hear these familiar sounds and to see naught, and it was the more so that we might by no means judge from which side of us, or fore or aft, the noises came, for fog will confuse all things, and save a driving snowstorm, I dread nothing more at sea.
Now the men began to speak in whispers, for the silence and weirdness of the fog quieted us all.

And, moreover, when the fog lifted we had seen no ship, though there must be one close to us now, and we wondered.
But Kenulf came to me presently with a scared face, and waiting till the men had gone forward to find their food, he asked me if I heard the voice that spoke.
"Aye, surely," I answered.