‘He brings a party of guests from England to Honolulu, buys a boat which he could charter, so that he may sail it himself. That is romance, is it not? And takes it two thousand miles to the Marquesas. To sail off course in the hope of finding an uninhabited tropic island – that surely goes with the rest.’

‘Yes, I suppose it does.’

‘The only thing that does not fit is Sweeney himself.’

‘In what way?’

‘The romantic gesture is for small men. One feels that he is large – not only in body, you understand. One would not expect him to be romantic. Apocalyptic, possibly.’

‘He’s a man who has always been able to indulge his whims.’

‘Yes. That does not make a romantic, though. If anything, the reverse is true.’

Willeway said: ‘How about you? Are you quite happy about a skipper who is sailing off course, in waters he knows nothing of?’

‘Happier than I would have been sailing round the Hawaiian islands. These are deep waters. No shoals or reefs. We have a good crew, and the wireless. There is no danger.’

‘And also, I would guess, you are something of a fatalist.’

Yasha shrugged. ‘Possibly. And Sweeney interests me. He is intelligent and capable. I think he may be purposeful, also.’