“Go on,” said Tubb, shaking his head dubiously.
“And when I looked up, I saw a book come flying down to me out of heaven, and I held up my hands to receive it, but it went by me into the water hard by where I was.”
“Somebody chucked it at you,” exclaimed the practical Tubb.
“I tell you, it came down out of heaven,” said Saltren, impatiently. “You have no faith. I saw the book, and before I could lay hold of it, it went under the raft—I mean, it went down, down in the water, and I beheld it no more.”
“What sort of a book was it?”
“I saw it but for a moment, as it floated with the back upwards, before it disappeared. There was a head on it and a title. I could not make out whose head, but I read the title, and the title was clear.”
“What was it?”
“‘The Gilded Clique.’”
“Clique! what was that?”
“A society, a party, and I know what was meant.”