Electronic Book page

He made no audible
comment, but stood, his back planted to the two watchers; and Stutter
cleared his throat noisily.
"Th-th-this l-l-lady wants ter s-s-see how we m-m-mine," he explained
in painful embarrassment, "a-an' I th-th-thought I 'd t-take her
d-d-down if you 'd w-work the w-w-windlass a b-bit."
Old Mike turned slowly around and fronted the two, his screwed-up eyes
on the girl, while with great deliberation he drew a match along the
leg of his canvas trousers.
"Onything to oblige ye," he said gruffly. "Always ready to hilp the
ladies--be me sowl, Oi've married three of thim already. An' wus this
Hicks's orthers, Stutter?"
"N-n-no, not exactly," Brown admitted, with evident reluctance. "B-but
ye s-s-see, she's a g-great friend o' B-B-Bill's, an' so I reckon it
'll be all r-right. Don't s-see how n-no harm kin be d-d-done."
The pessimistic Michael slowly blew a cloud of pungent smoke into the
air, sucking hard at his pipe-stem, and laid his rough hands on the
windlass handle.


Pages:
99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123