Dawson laid it on the floor carefully. "It's a curio," he explained.
"I was fetching it for a lady. An idol, you know."
The fat man burst into a hoarse laugh, and the other man spoke to
Dawson.
"An' you?" he queried. "What you doing 'ere, so late an' so wet?"
"I was trying to take a short cut to the landing-stage," Dawson replied. "Like a silly fool, I thought I could find my way through here. But I got lost somehow."
The fat man laughed again.
"You come off the German steamer?" suggested the woman.
Dawson nodded. "I came ashore with some friends," he answered, "from the second-class. But I left them to go back and fetch this idol, and here I am."
The tall man who had opened the door turned to the woman.
"So we must wait a leetle longer for your frien's," he said.
She tossed her head sharply.