Howsomever, I can't say which is the best passage.
This city gentleman I've got with me now thinks he's lost his life
siveral times already since he got into this boat."
He pointed to Caius as he ended his invitation to Le Maitre. The men on
the schooner all grinned. It was O'Shea's manner, as well as his words,
that produced their derision.
Caius was wondering what would happen if Le Maitre refused to come in
the boat. Suspicion said that O'Shea would cause the boat to be towed
ashore, and would then take the Captain home by the quicksands. Would
O'Shea make him drunk, and then cast him headfirst into the swallowing
sand? It seemed preposterous to be harbouring such thought against the
cheerful and most respectable farmer at his side. What foundation had he
for it? None but the hearing of an idle boast that the man had made one
day to his wife, and that she in simplicity had taken for earnest.
Le Maitre signified that he would go with O'Shea. Indeed, looked at from
a short distance, the passage through the ice did not look so difficult
as it had proved.
O'Shea and Caius parted without word or glance of farewell. Caius
clambered over the side of the schooner; the one thought in his mind was
to get a nearer view of Le Maitre.
This man was still standing sleepily. He did not bear closer inspection
well. His clothes were dirty, especially about the front of vest and
coat; there was everything to suggest an entire lack of neatness in
personal habits; more than that, the face at the time bore unmistakable
signs that enough alcohol had been drunk to benumb, although not to
stupefy, his faculties: the eye was bloodshot; the face, weather-beaten
as it was, was flabby.
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