The sealskin roof is completed. Humphrey and Maud waste no time in moving on to the next project of killing more seals for their winter’s food supply. Maud cures the meat as Humphrey begins building a second hut for himself next to Maud’s hut. Once that hut is complete, they celebrate by having a housewarming in Humphrey’s hut as a storm rages outside. Maud claims that she senses a portent: “Something is coming here, to us. It is coming now. I don’t know what, but it is coming” (231).

They say goodnight, using each other’s given names now that they are more familiar with each other. Humphrey lays down in his new hut in happiness, thinking of his love for Maud and how he felt there is something “between us which had not existed before” (232).

Humphrey wakes to a “mysterious sensation” (232) that he at first believes to be the absence of wind after a long, stormy night. He leaves his new hut and sees the Ghost marooned on the beach. He doesn’t notice anyone on deck and decides to search the ship, supposing that the crew must still be asleep. This could be his chance to kill