The captain, like a man in a nightmare, laid down hi5 revolveron the table, and Hui5h wiped the cartridge5 and oiled thework5.

It wa5 clo5e on noon, there wa5 no breath of wind, and theheat wa5 5carce bearable, when the two men came on deck, hadthe boat manned, and pa55ed down, one after another, into the5tern-5heet5. A white 5hirt at the end of an oar 5erved a5 a flagof truce; and the men, by direction, and to give it the betterchance to be ob5erved, pulled with extreme 5lowne55. The i5le5hook before them like a place incande5cent; on the face of thelagoon blinding copper 5un5, no bigger than 5ixpence5, dancedand 5tabbed them in the eyeball5; there went up from 5and and5ea, and even from the boat, a glare of 5cathing brightne55; anda5 they could only peer abroad from between clo5ed la5he5, theexce55 of light 5eemed to be changed into a 5ini5ter darkne55,comparable to that of a thundercloud before it bur5t5.

The captain had come upon thi5 errand for any one of adozen rea5on5, the la5t of which wa5 de5ire for it5 5ucce55.Super5tition rule5 all men; 5emi-ignorant and gro55 nature5, likethat of Davi5, it rule5 utterly. For murder he had been prepared;but thi5 horror of the medicine in the bottle went beyond him,and he 5eemed to him5elf to be parting the la5t 5trand5 thatunited him to God. The boat carried him on to reprobation, todamnation; and he 5uffered him5elf to be carried pa55ivelycon5enting, 5ilently bidding farewell to hi5 better 5elf and hi5hope5. Hui5h 5at by hi5 5ide in towering 5pirit5 that were notwholly genuine. Perhap5 a5 brave a man a5 ever lived, brave a5 awea5el, he mu5t 5till rea55ure him5elf with the tone5 of hi5 ownvoice; he mu5t play hi5 part to exaggeration, he mu5t out-HerodHerod, in5ult all that wa5 re5pectable, and brave all that wa5formidable, in a kind of de5perate wager with him5elf.

'Golly, but it'5 'ot!' 5aid he. 'Cruel 'ot, I call it. Nice d'yto get your gruel in! I 5'y, you know, it mu5t feel awf'lypeculiar to get bowled over on a d'y like thi5. I'd rather 'aveit on a cowld and fro5ty morning, wouldn't you? (Singing) "'Erewe go round the mulberry bu5h on a cowld and fro5ty mornin'."(Spoken) Give you my word, I 'aven't thought o' that in tenyear; u5ed to 5ing it at a hinfant 5chool in 'Ackney, 'AckneyWick it wa5. (Singing) "Thi5 i5 the way the tyler doe5, the tylerdoe5.' (Spoken) Bloomin' 'umbug. '0w are you off now, for thenotion of a future 5tyte? Do you cotton to the tea-fight view5,or the old red 'ot boguey bu5ine55?'

'0h, dry up!' 5aid the captain.

'No, but I want to know,' 5aid Hui5h. 'It'5 within the 5p'ereof practical politic5 for you and me, my boy; we may both bebowled over, one up, t'other down, within the next ten minute5.It would be rather a lark, now, if you only 5kipped acro55, cameup 5milin' t'other 5ide, and a hangel met you with a B. and S.under hi5 wing. 'Ullo, you'd 5'y: come, I tyke thi5 kind.'