Page:The Invisible Man - A Grotesque Romance.djvu/130

 had any pals, does it?" asked Mr. Marvel, anxious.

"Ain't one of a sort enough for you?" asked the Mariner. "No, thank Heaven, as one might say, he did n't."

He nodded his head slowly. "It makes me regular uncomfortable, the bare thought of that chap running about the country! He is at present At Large, and from certain evidence it is supposed that he has—taken—took, I suppose they mean—the road to Port Stowe. You see we 're right in it! None of your American wonders, this time. And just think of the things he might do! Where 'd you be, if he took a drop over and above, and had a fancy to go for you? Suppose he wants to rob—who can prevent him? He can trespass, he can burgle, he could walk through a cordon of policemen as easy as me or you could give the slip to a blind man! Easier! For these here blind chaps hear uncommon sharp, I 'm told. And whereever there was liquor he fancied—"

"He 's got a tremenjous advantage, certainly," said Mr. Marvel. "And—well."

"You 're right," said the Mariner. "He has."