"It seems straight enough," assented Carter with an air of reserve; "I
will work with you so far anyhow."
"Mrs. Travers trusts me," remarked Lingard again.
"By the Lord Harry!" cried Carter, giving way suddenly to some latent
conviction. "I was warning her against you. Say, Captain, you are a
devil of a man. How did you manage it?"
"I trusted her," said Lingard.
"Did you?" cried the amazed Carter. "When? How? Where--"
"You know too much already," retorted Lingard, quietly. "Waste no time.
I will be after you."
Carter whistled low.
"There's a pair of you I can't make out," he called back, hurrying over
the side.
Shaw took this opportunity to approach. Beginning with hesitation: "A
word with you, sir," the mate went on to say he was a respectable man.
He delivered himself in a ringing, unsteady voice. He was married, he
had children, he abhorred illegality. The light played about his obese
figure, he had flung his mushroom hat on the deck, he was not afraid to
speak the truth. The grey moustache stood out aggressively, his glances
were uneasy; he pressed his hands to his stomach convulsively, opened
his thick, short arms wide, wished it to be understood he had been
chief-officer of home ships, with a spotless character and he hoped
"quite up to his work.
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