.

.

How did it happen?
And what is that noise of firing ?" Hozier's scattered wits were returning, though neither he nor Iris remembered that the _Andromeda_ was waterless.

He looked up at her, then at the men, and he smiled as his eyes met hers again.
"Funny thing!" he said, with a natural tone that was reassuring.

"I thought the windlass smashed itself into smithereens.