Dodd!" Nor was this all: for when the affair was
settled at thirty dollars a pound--a shrewd stroke of
business for my creditors--and our friends had got on
board their whaleboat and shoved off, it appeared they
were imperfectly acquainted with the conveyance of
sound upon still water, and I had the joy to overhear
the following testimonial.
"Deep man that Dodd," said Sharpe.
And the bass-toned Fowler echoed, "Damned if I
understand his game."
Thus we were left once more alone upon the NORAH
CREINA; and the news of the night, and the
lamentations of Pinkerton, and the thought of my own
harsh decision, returned and besieged me in the dark.
According to all the rubbish I had read, I should have
been sustained by the warm consciousness of virtue.
Alas, I had but the one feeling: that I had sacrificed
my sick friend to the fear of prison-cells and stupid
starers. And no moralist has yet advanced so far as to
number cowardice amongst the things that are their own
reward.
CHAPTER XVII
LIGHT FROM THE MAN OF WAR
IN the early sunlight of the next day we tossed close
off the buoy, and saw the city sparkle in its groves
about the foot of the Punch Bowl, and the masts
clustering thick in the small harbour.
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