Romance by Joseph Conrad;Ford Madox Ford
page 29 of 567 (05%)
page 29 of 567 (05%)
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Rangsley repeated slowly. The grunt answered again. "Here's three men to be set aboard the _Thames_ at a quarter after eleven. . . ." Rangsley said again. "Here's... a-cop... three men to be set aboard _Thames_ at quarter after eleven," a voice hiccoughed back to us. "Well, see you do it," Rangsley said. "He's as drunk as a king," he commented to us; "but when you've said a thing three times, he remembers--hark to him." The drunken voice from below kept up a constant babble of, "Three men to be set aboard _Thames_... three men to be set . . ." "He'll not stop saying that till he has you safe aboard," Rangsley said. He showed a glimmer of light down the ladder--Carlos and Castro descended. I caught sight below me of the silver head and the deep red ears of the drunken uncle of Rangsley. He had been one of the most redoubtable of the family, a man of immense strength and cunning, but a confirmed habit of consuming a pint and a half of gin a night had made him disinclined for the more arduous tasks of the trade. He limited his energies to working the underground passage, to the success of which his fox-like cunning, and intimate knowledge of the passing shipping, were indispensable. I was preparing to follow the others down the ladder when Rangsley touched my arm. |
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