5
IT WAS SEVEN IN THE morning and they were starting breakfast. Half an hour ago Soames had taken over the Control Room watch from Olsen, and the silence from that direction was broken only by his voice as he occasionally gave a quiet order, and by the hiss and thump of the periscope as it was raised and lowered every few minutes for a search of the sea and sky. The soft hum from the motors was scarcely audible; Setter was going slow ahead on one screw only, creeping south at periscope depth.
It was just a matter of waiting, of passing a day.
‘Come on, Chief. Wakey-wakey!’
The figure in the lower bunk rolled over and peered through half-open eyes at the three of them sitting round the wardroom table. He groaned, and his hands came up out of the blankets to cover his face while he yawne
