Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/229

  which he tried to make cold and assertive, but would have been only contemptible if one had not been sorry for him—and then as he looked at our faces and saw scant sympathy in either, he crumbled.

" 'To tell the truth, Captain,' he continued, with a rather nervous laugh, 'I'm afraid that I've lost my nerve; I'm sick of the voyage already and want to get back home. Of course, I'll defray any additional expense due to taking you out of your course,' he concluded, with a sort of shy eagerness.

" 'Oh, come, old fellow,' said Deshay, coaxingly, and clapped him on the shoulder. 'The first twenty-four hours'

" 'Look out for your dog!' I cried suddenly, for as Deshay's hand fell upon Claud's shoulder I had happened to glance at Dixie. The dog was standing quietly enough at his master's heel, and at Deshay's action had made none of the usual canine expressions of displeasure, and it was this absence which made him so alarming, for as I glanced at his great, [ 213 ]