Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/249

  and they possessed the natural instincts which result from generations of these things.

"Left to himself at just that moment, Claud would, I believe, have attempted to condone Deshay's behavior and to go to the rescue of his strangled decency, but it seemed to me that the psychological moment had arrived for placing matters in their due proportion. You see, Doctor, I had about concluded that we were all going to die, and I disliked the idea of letting Claud die without the opportunity of redeeming such manhood as he might possess, and with this in mind I reached out and dragged the veil rather roughly from his eyes.

" 'And to think,' said I, 'that yonder object should be your master—you, a gentleman and a white man!'

"Claud leaped as if I had lashed him across the face.

" 'What!' he cried. 'What—what—what's that you say?'

" 'It seems to me to be plain enough,' said I. 'Haven't you kow-towed and groveled and [ 233 ]