I noticed Mr. Mellaire. He may be afraid of Mr. Pike, and he is a
murderer; but at any rate he has no fear of the supernatural. With
two men above him in authority, although it was his watch, there was
no call for him to do anything. He swayed back and forth in balance
to the violent motions of the Elsinore and looked on with eyes that
were amused and cynical.
"What does the devil look like, my man?" Captain West asked.
Bert Rhine grinned sheepishly.
"Answer the captain!" Mr. Pike snarled at him.
Oh, it was murder, sheer murder, that leapt into the gangster's eyes
for the instant, in acknowledgment of the snarl. Then he replied to
Captain West:
"I didn't wait to see, sir. But it's one whale of a devil."
"He's as big as a elephant, sir," volunteered Bill Quigley. "I
seen'm face to face, sir. He almost got me when I run out of the
fo'c's'le."
"Oh, Lord, sir!" Larry moaned. "The way he hit the house, sir. It
was the call to Judgment."
"Your theology is mixed, my man," Captain West smiled quietly, though
I could not help seeing how tired was his face and how tired were his
wonderful Samurai eyes.
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