He had stopped close to me for the purpose of profound meditation: his large purple cheeks quivered.

He was biting his thumb, and after a while noticed me with a sidelong vexed look.

The other three chaps that had landed with him made a little group waiting at some distance.

There was a sallow-faced, mean little chap with his arm in a sling, and a long individual in a blue flannel coat, as dry as a chip and no stouter than a broomstick, with drooping grey moustaches, who looked about him with an air of jaunty imbecility.

The third was an upstanding, broad-shouldered youth, with his hands in his pockets, turning his back on the other two who appeared to be talking together earnestly.