Phips had compromised, and why not he?
But if Gering was bent on trouble, why, there was the last resource of the peace-lover.

He tapped the rapier at his side.

He ever held that he was peaceful, and it is recorded that at the death of an agitated victim, he begged him to "sit still and not fidget." He laid no plans as to what he should do when Gering came.

Like the true gamester, he waited to see how he should be placed; then he could draw upon his resources.

He was puzzled about Radisson, but Radisson could wait; he was so much the superior of the coarser villain that he gave him little thought.