Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/269

  I heard a rustling from the shore-boat lying at the staging. The crew were softly picking up their oars.

"They are getting restless, those fellows below. They cannot stand it long, this night and that noise. Ho! they are shoving off without their fares." He leaned over the rail and hailed the boatman in Créole.

"Ou ça v'aller?" he called, with a trace of irony. They paid no attention.

"Attention, mon cher! Ou ça v'aller??" he called, peremptorily.

"Ca ou dit!" growled one of the men, sulkiiy.

"Côté bamboula la?" called Leyden. They began to row again, without answering, but it seemed to me that I caught a mutter which sounded like "nère vous écrasse!"

Leyden chuckled. "Like master, like man in this savage country," he remarked, absently. "But I was telling you about Fouchère. When I had got my snails and a beetle or two I remembered my promise to [ 253 ]