If nothing else is doing, I'll go to sea." Vernon's smile was sympathetic and he looked ahead, over the dipping forecastle to the far horizon.

The sea shone with reflected light and an iceberg glimmered against the blue.

He felt the measured throb of engines and the ship leap forward.

Vernon was a young Canadian and sprang from pioneering stock.

The vague distance called; he felt the lure of going somewhere.
"If the thing was possible, I'd go with you," he said.