FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   >>  
rifying depth. And there was no way of leaving that little old steamer ... not for a man who couldn't swim a stroke. So he suffered for long miserable hours. Light broke through the little round windows, and outside he could see the appalling waste of water, foaming, seething, rising to engulf him. He couldn't recall mounting to that high place where he had slept. He wondered if the callous steward would sometime come to take him down. Perhaps the steward would forget. The man from Hartford bestirred himself and was presently shaving before the small glass. Bean looked sullenly down at him. The man was running a wicked-looking razor perilously about his restless Adam's apple. He was also lightly humming "The Holy City." "Watkins," said Bean distinctly, recalling the name that had revealed the fictitious and Hartford origin of It. "Adams," said the man, breaking off his song and tightening a leathery cheek for the razor. "Adam's apple," said Bean, scornfully. "Watkins!" The man glanced at him and painfully twisted up a corner of his mouth while he applied the razor to the other corner. But he did not speak. "Think there's a doctor on this little old steamer?" demanded Bean. The man from Hartford laid down his weapon and began to lave his face. "I believe," he spluttered, "that medical attendance is provided for those still in mortal error." "'S'at _so_?" demanded Bean, sullenly. The man achieved another bar of "The Holy City," and fondly dusted his face with talcum powder, critically observing the effect. "If you will go into the silence," he at length said, "and there hold the thought of the all-good, you will be freed from your delusion." "Humph!" said Bean and turned his face from the Hartford man. The latter locked his razor into a toilet-case, locked the toilet-case into a suit-case, and seemed to debate locking the suit-case into a little old steamer trunk. Deciding, however, that his valuables were sufficiently protected, and that nothing was left out to excite the cupidity of a man to whom he had not been properly introduced, the person from Hartford went forth with a final retort. "'As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!'" "'S'at _so_?" said Bean insolently to the closed door. He roused himself and descended precariously from his shelf. Once upon his feet he was convinced that the ship was foundering. He hurriedly dressed and adjusted a life-belt from one of a number he saw
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   >>  



Top keywords:
Hartford
 

steamer

 

couldn

 

steward

 
Watkins
 

locked

 
demanded
 

toilet

 
sullenly
 
corner

spluttered

 

delusion

 

silence

 

fondly

 

dusted

 
talcum
 
achieved
 

provided

 

mortal

 
powder

critically

 

attendance

 

length

 

thought

 

medical

 

observing

 

effect

 

closed

 
roused
 
descended

insolently

 
retort
 

thinketh

 

precariously

 

hurriedly

 

dressed

 

foundering

 
convinced
 

valuables

 
sufficiently

Deciding

 

adjusted

 

debate

 
locking
 
protected
 

properly

 

introduced

 

person

 

number

 

excite