It came out very easy and with scarce a sound.
''Illo!'said Huish.

''Ere's a bad bottle.' He poured some of the wine into the mug; it was colourless and still.

He smelt and tasted it.
'W'y, wot's this ?' he said.

'It's water!' If the voice of trumpets had suddenly sounded about the ship in the midst of the sea, the three men in the house could scarcely have been more stunned than by this incident.

The mug passed round; each sipped, each smelt of it; each stared at the bottle in its glory of gold paper as Crusoe may have stared at the footprint; and their minds were swift to fix upon a common apprehension.