All was sky and water around the "Pilgrim." The young novice knew only too well that he was beyond the routes followed by the ships of commerce, and that the other whalers were cruising still farther away at the fishing-grounds.
However, the question was, to look the situation in the face, to see things as they were.

That is what Dick Sand did, asking God, from the depths of his heart, for aid and succor.

What resolution was he going to take?
At that moment Negoro appeared on the deck, which he had left after the catastrophe.

What had been felt in the presence of this irreparable misfortune by a being so enigmatical, no one could tell.

He had contemplated the disaster without making a gesture, without departing from his speechlessness.