Of course, he, Zephas, whose ancestors were Cape Cod Quakers and had always been sailors, couldn't understand.

She did not know what he meant by saying "what a long tail our cat's got," but if he meant to call her a cat, and was going to use such language to her, he had better have stayed in San Francisco with his Vigilance friends.

And perhaps it would have been better if he had stayed there before he took her away from her parents at Martinez.

Then she wouldn't have been left on a desert rock without any chance of seeing the world, or ever making any friends or acquaintances! It was their first quarrel.

Discreetly made up by Mrs.Bunker in some alarm at betraying herself; honestly forgiven by Zephas in a rude, remorseful consciousness of her limited life.