one of these cigarettes there into the mouth of a poor, harmless cripple. My nerves want soothing—upon my honour, they do.”

‘Davidson complied, with his naturally kind smile. As his outward placidity becomes only more pronounced, if possible, the more reason there is for excitement; and as Davidson’s eyes, when his wits are hard at work, get very still and as if sleepy, the huge Frenchman might have been justified in concluding that the man there was a mere sheep—a sheep ready for slaughter. With a merci bien^* he uplifted his huge carcass to reach the light of the candle with his cigarette and Davidson left the house.

‘Going down to the ship and returning, he had the time to consider his position. At first he was inclined to believe that these men (Niclaus—the white Nakhoda—was the only one he knew by sight before besides Bamtz) were not of the stamp to proceed to extremities. This was partly the reason why he never attempted to take any measures on board. His pacific Kalashes were not to be thought of as against white men. His wretched engineer would have had a fit from fright at the mere idea of any sort of combat. Davidson knew that he would have to depend on himself in this affair if it ever came off.

‘All the four were sitting again round the table when he returned. Bamtz not having the pluck to open his mouth, it was Niclaus who, as a collective voice, called out to him thickly to come out soon and join in a drink.

“‘I think I’ll have to stay some little time in there, to help her look after the boy,” Davidson answered, without stopping.

‘This was a good thing to say to allay a possible suspicion. And, as it was, Davidson felt that he must not stay very long.

‘He sat down on an old empty nail-keg near the improvised cot and looked at the child; while Laughing Anne, moving to and fro, preparing the hot drink, giving it to the boy in spoonfuls, or motionless gazing at the flushed face, whispered disjointed bits of information. She had succeeded in making friends with that French devil. Davy would understand that she knew how to make herself pleasant to a man.

‘And Davidson nodded without looking at her.

‘The big beast had got quite chummy with her. She held his cards for him when they were having a game. Bamtz! Oh! Bamtz in his funk was only too glad to see the Frenchman humoured. And the Frenchman had come to believe that she was a woman who didn’t care what she did. That’s how it came about they got to talk before her openly. For a long time she could not make out what game they were up to. The new arrivals, not expecting to find a woman with Bamtz, had been very startled and annoyed at first.

‘Davidson felt a profound pity for her. She laid her hand on his knee and whispered an earnest warning against the Frenchman. Davy must never let him come to close quarters. Naturally Davidson wanted to know the reason, for a man without hands did not strike him as very formidable under any circumstances.

“‘Mind you don’t let him—that’s all,” she said anxiously, hesitated, and then confessed that the Frenchman had got her away from the others that afternoon and had asked her to tie a seven-pound weight (out of the set of weights Bamtz used in his business) to his right stump. She had to do it for him. She had been afraid of his awful temper. Bamtz was such a craven that he would have let the brute kick her or the child to death. Neither of the men would have cared what was done to her. The Frenchman, however, with many awful threats had warned her not to let the others know what she had done for him.

‘Davidson asked her again if they really meant to do it. It was, he told me, the hardest thing to believe he had run up against, as yet, in his life. Anne nodded. The Frenchman’s heart was set on this robbery. Davy might expect them, about midnight, creeping on board his ship, to steal anyhow—to murder, perhaps. Her voice sounded weary, and her eyes remained fastened on her child.