‘And then again,’ he said, after a long pause, ‘I have a damned odd feeling: I do not much care to be home tonight. Strange, because I had looked forward to it – lively as a libertyman this morning – and now I do not care for it so much. Sometimes at sea you have that feeling of a lee-shore. Dirty weather, close-reefed top-sails, not a sight of the sun, not an observation for days, no idea of where you are to within a hundred miles or so, and at night you feel the loom of the shore under your lee: you can see nothing, but you can almost hear the rocks grinding out your bottom.’
Stephen made no reply, but wound his cloak higher against the biting wind.
O’Brien, Patrick. ”Chapter Three.” Post Captain.