He went on deck, to begin smoking and asking questions of the two men left on board; but all the time he had an eye on Glyddyr’s boat, watching it till it reached the pier-steps, and then he was able to see its owner at intervals, till he disappeared among the houses.
After this, Gellow went below and used the binocular, fixing it upon the Fort till he made out Glyddyr approaching the house, where he stood in the entry for a few moments talking to a servant, and then turned away.
Gellow set down the glass, thrust his hands in his pockets, and stood with the cigar in the exact centre of his lips, puffing away rapidly—“For all the world like a steam launch,” said one of the men left on board when talking about it afterwards—till Glyddyr came on board.
“Out,” said the latter laconically.
“Fashionable slang for engaged with another chap,” said Gellow, with a sneer.
Glyddyr turned upon him fiercely.
“Don’t be waxey, dear boy,” said Gellow; “but it was quite time I came down.”
The progress of affairs at the Fort had been business-like meanwhile.
“I beg your pardon, miss.”