For I was only joking." "I felt, perhaps it was only a fancy, that this second sitting of ours brought some event a stage nearer, a stage nearer on its journey." "To what ?" "I felt--to us." "Fancy." "Probably.

You didn't feel it ?" "I?
Oh, I scarcely know what I felt.

I must say, though, that squatting in the dark, and saying nothing for such an age, and--and all the rest of it, doesn't exactly toughen one's nerves.

That little demon of a Rip quite gave me the horrors when he started barking.

What fools we are! I should think nothing of mounting a dangerous horse, or sailing a boat in rough weather, or risking my life as we all do half our time in one way or another.