'Blamed if I thought I should taste pea soup again!' Herrick sat inert and silent.

It was impossible after these months of hopeless want to smell the rough, high-spiced sea victuals without lust, and his mouth watered with desire of the champagne.

It was no less impossible to have assisted at the scene between Huish and the captain, and not to perceive, with sudden bluntness, the gulf where he had fallen.

He was a thief among thieves.

He said it to himself.