You can kill the body, Mr. Hands, but not the spirit; you must know
that already, I replied. O Brien there is in another world, and may be
watching us.
Ah! says he. Well, that s unfort nate--appears as if killing parties
was a waste of time. Howsomever, sperrits don t reckon for much, by what
I ve seen. I ll chance it with the sperrits, Jim. And now, you ve spoke
up free, and I ll take it kind if you d step down into that there cabin
and get me a--well, a--shiver my timbers! I can t hit the name on t;
well, you get me a bottle of wine, Jim--this here brandy s too strong
for my head.
Now, the coxswain s hesitation seemed to be unnatural, and as for the
notion of his preferring wine to brandy, I entirely disbelieved it. The
whole story was a pretext. He wanted me to leave the deck--so much was
plain; but with what purpose I could in no way imagine. His eyes never
met mine; they kept wandering to and fro, up and down, now with a look
to the sky, now with a flitting glance upon the dead O Brien. All the
time he kept smiling and putting his tongue out in the most guilty,
embarrassed manner, so that a child could have told that he was bent on
some deception. I was prompt with my answer, however, for I saw where
my advantage lay and that with a fellow so densely stupid I could easily
conceal my suspicions to the end.
Some wine? I said. Far better. Will you have white or red?
Well, I reckon it s about the blessed same to me, shipmate, he
replied; so it s strong, and plenty of it, what s the odds?
All right, I answered. I ll bring you port, Mr. Hands. But I ll have
to dig for it.
With that I scuttled down the companion with all the noise I could,
slipped off my shoes, ran quietly along the sparred gallery, mounted the
forecastle ladder, and popped my head out of the fore companion. I
knew he would not expect to see me there, yet I took every precaution
possible, and certainly the worst of my suspicions proved too true.
He had risen from his position to his hands and knees, and though his
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