What they thought is easily explained. Phil Boldrick, speaking for all, said: “Yes, you had better go—quick; but on the hop like a cur, mind you: on your hands and knees, jumping all the way.”
And, with weapons menacing him, this visitor to Viking departed, swallowing as he went the red dust disturbed by his hands and feet.
This established Roscoe’s position finally. Yet, with all his popularity and the solid success of his work, he showed no vanity or egotism, nor ever traded on the position he held in Viking and Sunburst. He seemed to have no ambition further than to do good work; no desire to be known beyond his own district; no fancy, indeed, for the communications of his labours to mission papers and benevolent ladies in England—so much the habit of his order. He was free from professional mannerisms.
One evening we were sitting in the accustomed spot—that is, the coping. We had been silent for a long time. At last Roscoe rose, and walked up and down the verandah nervously.
“Marmion,” said he, “I am disturbed to-day, I cannot tell you how: a sense of impending evil, an anxiety.”
I looked up at him inquiringly, and, of purpose, a little sceptically.
He smiled something sadly and continued: “Oh, I know you think it foolishness. But remember that all sailors are more or less superstitious: it is bred in them; it is constitutional, and I am afraid there’s a good deal of the sailor in me yet.”
Remembering Hungerford, I said: “I know that sailors are superstitious, the most seasoned of them are that. But it means nothing. I may think or feel that there is going to be a plague, but I should not enlarge the insurance on my life because of it.”
He put his hand on my shoulder and looked down at me earnestly. “But, Marmion, these things, I assure you, are not matters of will, nor yet morbidness. They occur at the most unexpected times. I have had such sensations before, and they were followed by strange matters.”
I nodded, but said nothing. I was still thinking of Hungerford. After a slight pause he continued somewhat hesitatingly: