Page:Joan, the curate.djvu/109

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An Ugly Customer.
103

boy hang, smuggler though he may be! Drink, and fear not. But take this warning, not to meddle with the affairs of lawless folk again."

Still the boy maintained the dead silence which had been such a strangely marked characteristic of him during the fight. He gulped down the spirit put to his lips, and then sat, with his head bent upon his hand, as if still half stupid, either from the blow which had wounded him or from consequent loss of blood.

Tregenna thought there was something of despair in his attitude, and in the wild gaze with which he looked about him, staring first at the gray sea, the edge of which was like a roll of white vapor, and then at the frowning cliff above him. He seemed to be listening for some voice, some footstep.

"Come," said the lieutenant, in a cheery tone, "don't lose thy spirit, boy; thou showedst enough and to spare but an hour since. Thy comrades are gone, 'tis true, and thou art left alone. But, give but thy word to refrain from such company for the future, and I'll pardon thee, and see thee on thy way, for the sake