the insignificant figure of Huish, where it
grovelled, apparently insensible, at the base of the figure-head.

'Dead?' he asked.

'No, he's not dead,' said Davis.

'And Attwater?' asked Herrick.

'Now you just shut your head!' replied Davis. 'You can do that, I fancy,
and by God, I'll show you how! I'll stand no more of your drivel.'

They waited accordingly in silence till the boat bumped on the furthest
piers; then raised Huish, head and heels, carried him down the gangway,
and flung him summarily in the bottom. On the way out he was heard
murmuring of the loss of his cigar; and after he had been handed up the
side like baggage, and cast down in the alleyway to slumber, his last
audible expression was: 'Splen'l fl' Attwa'!' This the expert construed
into 'Splendid fellow, Attwater'; with so much innocence had this great
spirit issued from the adventures of the evening.

The captain went and walked in the waist with brief, irate turns;
Herrick leaned his arms on the taffrail; the crew had all turned in. The
ship had a gentle, cradling motion; at times a block piped like a bird.
On shore, through the colonnade of palm stems, Attwater's house was to
be seen shining steadily with many lamps. And there was nothing else
visible, whether in the heaven above or in the lagoon below, but the
stars and their reflections. It might have been minutes or it might have
been hours, that Herrick leaned there, looking in the glorified water
and drinking peace. 'A bath of stars,' he was thinking; when a hand was
laid at last on his shoulder.

'Herrick,' said the captain, 'I've been walking off my trouble.'

A sharp jar passed through the young man, but he neither answered nor so
much as turned his head.

'I guess I spoke a little rough to you on shore,' pursued the captain;
'the fact is, I was real mad; but now it's over, and you and me have to
turn to and think.'

'I will NOT think,' said Herrick.

'Here, old man!' said Davis, kindly; 'this won't fight, you know! You've
got to brace up and help me get things straight. You're not going back
on a friend? That's not like you, Herrick!'

'O yes, it is,' said Herrick.

'Come, come!' said the captain, and paused as if quite at a loss. 'Look
here,' he cried, 'you have a glass of champagne. I won't touch it, so
that'll show you if I'm in earnest. But it's just the pick-me-up for
you; it'll put an edge on you at once.'

'O, you leave me alone!' said Herrick, and turned away.