it was obvious , too , that several of martins fellow travellers had noticed his worsening physical condition and were making themselves conspicuous by their absence from his immediate vicinity : whereas when he had first stepped aboard the ferry it had been difficult to find so much as a clear foot of plank of deck space on which to sit , amidst the chaos of life heading upstream , suddenly martin was conscious that he was now lying , alone , in a virtual oasis of calm .