J. Allan Dunn

“ Romance and poetry to the contrary, your deep-sea diver does not take in much of the sub-surface life while he’s at work. There are too many things to look out for: life-line, air-pipe, signals, currents, to say nothing of the actual work in hand. Then too the helmet-glasses get misty in spite of the vinegar film used to keep them clear. Like, as not, the water is roily, and it is ten to one the diver is working in a place that more nearly resembles a neglected backyard than a sea-garden aglow with color.
But there was a streak of romance, and not a narrow one, in the composition of Manning. ”

“ I’ve always had a notion to own a schooner myself. I’ve put in so much of my life under the surface I like to sail on top by contrast for the joy of it. Sail—not steam. A beauty, that schooner. She’s not with you? ”

“ He was pretty certain that the man was both hungry and broke. He knew that the stranger had glanced at him more than once with a look that was a part of the puzzle. It had held a hint of entreaty. Only a hint, tempered by pride that showed in the tilt of the well-shaped jaw, the carriage of the well-shaped head. ”