"Careless dog!" a shrill voice screamed from the inside. "What are you doing?"
"The lises, your Excellency!" The driver's voice was thick; as he spoke he swayed uncertainly.
"Lises—quicksands—"
"There, your Excellency," indicating a gleaming place right in their path; a small bright spot that looked as if it might have been polished, while elsewhere on the surrounding sands tiny rippling parallels caressed the eye with streaks of black and silver. "I saw it in time!"
"In time!" angrily. "Imbecile! Didn't you know it was there?"
"Of course, your Excellency! Only I had misjudged a little, and—" The man's manner showed he was frightened.
"Falsehoods! You have been drinking! Don't answer. You shall hear of this later. Drive around the spot."
"Yes, your Excellency," was the now sober and subdued answer.
Ere he obeyed, however, the carriage door, from which the Governor had been leaning, swung open. "Wait!" he called out impatiently, and tried to close it, but the catch—probably from long disuse—would not hold, and, before the liveried servant perched on the lofty carriage behind had fully perceived the fact and had recovered himself sufficiently to think of his duties, the boy on the beach had sprung forward.
"Slam it!" commanded an irate voice.