Page:Richard Marsh--The joss, a reversion.djvu/280

268 in question might be even queerer than I supposed. “The first time, Mr. Batters, you show disrespect for any orders I may give, or wishes I may express, the ship goes round—you go back. I fancy your friends will be glad to receive you back among them.”

He glared at me with his one eye in a manner I did not altogether relish. There was an uncanniness about his looks, his ways, his every movement. As he confronted me, squatted on the floor, he was the most repulsive-looking object I had ever seen. It was hard to believe that such a creature could be human. And English! The sight of him filled me with a sense of nausea. I hastened to go on.

“There is another point on which your continuance as a passenger depends. What do you propose to pay for your passage?”

“I’ve told you—halves.”

“That is too indefinite. I want something more definite. Moreover, it is the rule for passage money to be paid in advance.”

“If you prefer that way of doing business you shall have a hundred pounds apiece for us, and I’ll give you the money now.”

“Is that all? Then the ship goes round.”

“You shall have more if you’ll only wait.”

“How long?”

“Till I’ve had time to look about me. You can’t expect me to have everything cut and dried before I’ve been on board ten minutes. You see these things?” I did. They were everywhere. I wondered where Luke and he proposed to sleep. “They’re worth a million pounds.”

“Nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense, you fool.”

The opprobrious epithet was seasoned with a profusion of adjectives.

“Mr. Batters, that is not the way in which to address