A man came and rapped at my door." "Pardon me one moment." He leaned over the bridge and hailed the watch.

The same hoarse voice that had roused Iris answered his questions, and, in the faint light that came from the binnacle, she caught a flicker of amusement on his face.
"Our excellent skipper's intentions have been defeated," he said.

"He told one of the men to call him at seven bells, but not to wake you until the Cross was visible.

His orders have been obeyed quite literally.

He will be summoned in another hour, and you have been dragged from bed to gaze at the False Cross, which every foremast hand persists in regarding as the real article.