e had all the pretty virtues, but the
truth was not in him. So soon as he was up, he looked down, and there
was the rifle covering him; and at that he gave a whimper like a dog.
You could bear a pin drop; no more keening now. There they all crouched
upon the ground, with bulging eyes; there was he in the tree top, the
colour of the lead; and between was the dead man, dancing a bit in the
air. He was obedient to the last, recited his crime, recommended his
soul to God. And then...'

Attwater paused, and Herrick, who had been listening attentively, made a
convulsive movement which upset his glass.

'And then?' said the breathless captain.

'Shot,' said Attwater. 'They came to ground together.'

Herrick sprang to his feet with a shriek and an insensate gesture.

'It was a murder,' he screamed. 'A cold-hearted, bloody-minded
murder! You monstrous being! Murderer and hypocrite--murderer and
hypocrite--murderer and hypocrite--' he repeated, and his tongue
stumbled among the words.

The captain was by him in a moment. 'Herrick!' he cried, 'behave
yourself! Here, don't be a blame' fool!'

Herrick struggled in his embrace like a frantic child, and suddenly
bowing his face in his hands, choked into a sob, the first of many,
which now convulsed his body silently, and now jerked from him
indescribable and meaningless sounds.

'Your friend appears over-excited,' remarked Attwater, sitting unmoved
but all alert at table.

'It must be the wine,' replied the captain. 'He ain't no drinking
man, you see. I--I think I'll take him away. A walk'll sober him up, I
guess.'

He led him without resistance out of the verandah and into the night, in
which they soon melted; but still for some time, as they drew away,
his comfortable voice was to be heard soothing and remonstrating, and
Herrick answering, at intervals, with the mechanical noises of hysteria.

''E's like a bloomin' poultry yard!' observed Huish, helping himself to
wine (of which he spilled a good deal) with gentlemanly ease. 'A man
should learn to beyave at table,' he added.

'Rather bad form, is it not?' said Attwater. 'Well, well, we are left
tete-a-tete. A glass of wine with you, Mr Whish!'

Chapter 10. THE OPEN DOOR

The captain and Herrick meanwhile turned their back upon the lights in
Attwater's verandah, and took a direction towards the pier and the beach
of the lagoon.

The isle, at this hour, with its smooth floor of sand, the pillared roof
overhead,