ran out to sea in vanishing flatness.  The air was dark
above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed
into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the
biggest, and the greatest, town on earth. 

The Director of Companies was our captain and our
host.  We four affectionately watched his back as he stood
in the bows looking to seaward.  On the whole river there
was nothing that looked half so nautical.  He resembled a
pilot, which to a seaman is trustworthiness personified.
It was difficult to realize his work was not out there in the
luminous estuary, but behind him, within the brooding
gloom. 

Between us there was, as I have already said some-
where, the bond of the sea.  Besides holding our hearts
together through long periods of separation, it had the
effect of making us tolerant of each other's yarns--
and even convictions.  The Lawyer--the best of old fel-
lowys--had, because of his many years and many virtues,