| 155 | 156 | 157 | 158 | 159 |
| 1 | 50 | 101 | 151 | 201 |
|
murderous intentions, he had walked straight into an ambuscade, and now
stood, with his hands impotently lifted, staring at the verandah.
The party was now broken up. Attwater leaned on a post, and kept Davis
covered with a Winchester. One of the servants was hard by with a
second at the port arms, leaning a little forward, round-eyed with eager
expectancy. In the open space at the head of the stair, Huish was partly
supported by the other native; his face wreathed in meaningless smiles,
his mind seemingly sunk in the contemplation of an unlighted cigar.
'Well,' said Attwater, 'you seem to me to be a very twopenny pirate!'
The captain uttered a sound in his throat for which we have no name;
rage choked him.
'
I am going to give you Mr Whish--or the wine-sop that remains of him,'
continued Attwater. 'He talks a great deal when he drinks, Captain
Davis of the Sea Ranger. But I have quite done with him--and return the
article with thanks. Now,' he cried sharply. 'Another false movement
like that, and your family will have to deplore the loss of an
invaluable parent; keep strictly still, Davis.'
Attwater said a word in the native, his eye still undeviatingly fixed on
the captain; and the servant thrust Huish smartly forward from the
brink of the stair. With an extraordinary simultaneous dispersion of
his members, that gentleman bounded forth into space, struck the earth,
ricocheted, and brought up with his arms about a palm. His mind was
157
Page
Quick Jump
|