The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead
and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over
the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever
alone on the sea.
He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now. But he could see
the prisms in the deep dark water and the line stretching ahead and the
strange undulation of the calm.