Electronic Books

He clasped my hand and spake and
greeted me. 'Whither away now, wretched wight, amid these
mountain-summits alone and astray? And yonder in the styes of
Circe, transformed to swine, thy comrades lie penned and make
their lairs!'"--_Odyssey, bk. X_.
"Prosper," said my father, seriously, "we must return to the ship."
"I suppose so," I admitted; but with a rising temper, so that my tone
contradicted him.
"It is most necessary. We are no longer an army, or even a
legation."
"Nothing could be more evident. You may add, sir, that we are badly
scared, the both of us. Yet I don't stomach sailing away, at any
rate, until we have discovered what has happened to the others."
I cast a vicious glance up at the forest.
"Good Lord, child!" my father exclaimed. "Who was suggesting it?"
"You spoke of returning to the ship."
"To be sure I did. She can work round to Ajaccio and repair.
She will arrive evidently from the verge of total wreck, an ordinary
trader in ballast, with nothing suspicious about her. No questions
will be asked that Pomery cannot invent an answer for off-hand.


Pages:
265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289