But he had no desire to upset her to-night, nor even to bring the tiller down on his master's head.

There was to be no bungling about the business he had in hand, no mistakes and no wasting of lives.
The mandolin tinkled and the guitar strummed vigorously as they neared Scutari point, vast, black and forbidding in the starlight.

But a gloom had settled upon the party which nothing could dispel.

It was as though the shadow of coming evil had overtaken them and were sweeping along with them across the dark and silent water.

There was something awful in the stillness under the enormous bluff, as Ruggiero gave the order to stop pulling and furl the sails, and he himself brought the skiff alongside by the painter, got in and kept her steady, laying his hand upon the gunwale of the larger boat.