“R,” Hi answered.
“Mr. H. and Mr. R. Jones,” the man said. “Where are you stopping, did you say? Because I can get you nice rooms in a boarding-house, which would be cheaper for you than any hotel.”
Here the boatman invited Hi into the boat.
“Where are you stopping?” the man called. “Where did you say you were stopping? I should like to call round in the evening and see you, if you’re not doing anything. They always say that Englishmen ought to stick together.”
Hi was about to answer, but the boom gybed at that instant and knocked his hat into the well. The boat had shoved off.
“Inquisitive beast,” Hi thought. “I never knew a man ask questions like that before. I shouldn’t wonder if he’s a detective put there to stop passengers leaving the city. If that’s the case, I’ll very likely be stopped at La Boca. If that devil telegraphs, I shall very likely be met at the pier and shadowed. However, for the moment I am off. That’s the main thing. But I’ve wasted simply hours.”
His boat passed close beside Giordano. He was bent over his carpentry in deep attention, putting a whipping over the join.
“He doesn’t mean to start for another hour,” Hi thought. “I am glad I tried to find someone starting sooner.”
The master of the boat, Chigo, the boatman, and Luigi, the boy, ran up their new striped sails, so that the boat leaned down and sheered the water. Then they brought out bread, onions, wine and water and some little transparent fish, which were meant to be eaten raw. They invited Hi to their feast and all breakfasted together. After breakfast, while the boat was still moving swiftly to the south, Hi amused himself by looking into the shallow water at the fish and the weeds of all the colours of the rainbow. Presently something, which seemed like a piece of the bottom of the bay, blundered up alongside, turned over and seethed out of the water into a whiteish blunt thing, which had a kind of cat’s mouth that clicked. The click missed by at least two feet, as the thing did not aim very well. It blundered over, rubbed against the side of the boat with a slow rasping movement and disappeared.
“A shark, by George,” Hi said.