'I'll 'ave a shy,' and he retired a little distance to the shade of a canoe.
The others remained under the purao.

Now they would write a word or two, now scribble it out; now they would sit biting at the pencil end and staring seaward; now their eyes would rest on the clerk, where he sat propped on the canoe, leering and coughing, his pencil racing glibly on the paper.
'I can't do it,' said Herrick suddenly.

'I haven't got the heart.' 'See here,' said the captain, speaking with unwonted gravity; 'it may be hard to write, and to write lies at that; and God knows it is; but it's the square thing.

It don't cost anything to say you're well and happy, and sorry you can't make a remittance this mail; and if you don't, I'll tell you what I think it is--I think it's about the high-water mark of being a brute beast.' 'It's easy to talk,' said Herrick.

'You don't seem to have written much yourself, I notice.' 'What do you bring in me for ?' broke from the captain.