Was the skipper, then, in league with nature herself to perplex him?
And Watts, too?
Why did Coke hint so coarsely that he was drunk?
He was on the bridge while he, Philip, was attending to the lead, and at that time the chief officer was perfectly sober.
Iris, once again, was deeply incensed by Coke's brutality.
"Horrid man!" she murmured, but she had no breath left for louder protest.

It was hot as a furnace in this narrow ravine; each upward step demanded an effort.

She would have slipped and hurt herself many times were it not for Hozier's firm grasp, nor did she realize the sheer exhaustion that forced him to seek support from the neighboring wall with his disengaged hand.

The man in front, however, was alive to their dangerous plight.

He said something in his own language--for his English had the precise staccato accent of the well-educated foreigner--and another man appeared.