Once he was happy with the trim of the Hornet, Conny took hold of the wheel and started to hum to himself. At first Judas thought that the humming was just a tuneless distraction, but as the waves grew choppier as they headed out of the channel and into the sea, he realised the skipper was singing, softly at first, then louder. He noticed that as the waves advanced on the hull of the Gay Hornet, the singer’s voice grew louder, just for a beat, and whichever wave was nearest would drop under the hull and roll off into the distance. He did this a few times, then suddenly the sea all around started to behave strangely. Captain Conny stopped singing and smiled; even though the waves were choppy for as far as the eye could see, the water that ran along the sides of the Gay Hornet was so flat an
