s of the hand. The wash of the
propeller sent a swift ripple, crested with dark froth, upon a long flat
spit of black slime. The Sofala had entered the river; the trail she had
stirred up over the bar was a mile astern of her now, out of sight, had
disappeared utterly; and the smooth, empty sea along the coast was left
behind in the glittering desolation of sunshine. On each side of her,
low down, the growth of somber twisted mangroves covered the semi-liquid
banks; and Massy continued in his old tone, with an abrupt start, as if
his speech had been ground out of him, like the tune of a music-box, by
turning a handle.

"Though if anybody ever got the best of me, it is you. I don't mind
saying this. I've said it--there! What more can you want? Isn't that
enough for your pride, Captain Whalley. You got over me from the first.
It's all of a piece, when I look back at it. You allowed me to insert
that clause about intemperance without saying anything, only looking
very sick when I made a point of it going in black on white. How could
I tell what was wrong about you. There's generally something wrong
somewhere. And, lo and behold! when you come on board it turns out that
you've been in the habit of drinking nothing but water for years and
years."

His dogmatic reproachful whine stopped. He brooded profoundly, after
the manner of crafty and unintelligent men. It seemed inconceivable
that Captain Whalley should not laugh at the expression of disgust that
overspread the heavy, yellow countenance. But Captain Whalley never
raised his eyes--sitting in his arm-chair, outraged, dignified, and
motionless.

"Much good it was to me," Massy remonstrated monotonously, "to insert a
clause for dismissal for intemperance against a man who drinks nothing
but water. And you looked so upset, too, when I read my draft in
the lawyer's office that morning, Captain Whalley,--you looked so
crestfallen, that I made sure I had gone home on your weak spot. A
shipowner can't be too careful as to the sort of skipper he gets. You
must have been laughing at me in your sleeve all the blessed time. . . .
Eh? What are you going to say?"

Captain Whalley had only shuffled his feet slightly. A dull animosity
became apparent in Massy's sideways stare.

"But recollect that there are other grounds of dismissal. There's
habitual carelessness, amounting to incompetence--there's gross and
persistent neglect of duty. I am not quite as big a fool as you try to