SAILORS' KNOTS

By W.W. Jacobs


1909



DOUBLE DEALING


Mr. Fred Carter stood on the spacious common, inhaling with all the joy of
the holiday-making Londoner the salt smell of the sea below, and
regarding with some interest the movements of a couple of men who had
come to a stop a short distance away. As he looked they came on again,
eying him closely as they approached--a strongly built, shambling man of
fifty, and a younger man, evidently his son.

[Illustration: "Stood on the spacious common, inhaling the salt smell of
the sea below."]

"Good-evening," said the former, as they came abreast of Mr. Carter.

"Good-evening," he replied.

"That's him," said both together.

They stood regarding him in a fashion unmistakably hostile. Mr. Carter,
with an uneasy smile, awaited developments.