“But at the time, though I could not help observing symptoms of suppressed excitement, the Cove behaved with an outward calm which struck me as highly creditable.  To be sure, the men seemed to spend an extravagant amount of their time in the tap-room of the inn, which happened to be immediately beneath my sitting-room.  Hour after hour the sound of their muffled conversation ascended to me through the planching, as I sat and studied—­Dumas, I think.  Low, monotonous, untiring, it lasted from breakfast-time until nine o’clock at night, when it ceased abruptly, the company dispersed, and each man went home to reassure and protect his wife.  I suppose some liquor was required to start this conversation and keep it going, just as seamen use a bucketful of water to start a ship’s pump; but I must admit that during my whole stay at Polreen I never saw an inhabitant who could be described as the worse for drink.

“I did not know that this assemblage in the tap-room was unusual and clean contrary to the men’s habits, and therefore may be excused for not guessing its significance.  Nor was I familiar enough with Polreen to note an even more frequent change in the atmosphere and routine of its daily life.  When the weather is fine, down there, the men put out to sea and the women go about their work with smiles.  When it blows, the women go about their work, but resignedly and in a temper, which the men avoid by ranging up shoulder to shoulder along the wall by the lifeboat house, and gazing with approval at the weather; with approval, because it relieves them of the fatigue of argument.  But should the day break doubtfully, and the men incline to give themselves the benefit of the doubt, then, indeed, you will learn who are masters of the Cove.  For in extreme cases the women will even invade the ‘randivoo,’ and shrill is the noise of battle until the weather declares unmistakably for one side or the other.  Does it refuse to declare itself?  Then I can promise you that half an hour will see the men routed and straggling down the beach to their boats, arching their backs and ducking their heads, may be, under the parting volley.

“But, as I say, I did not know Polreen and its ways.  It awoke no wonder in me to see the bulk of its male population ranged like statues, day after day, and from dawn till eve, against the wall by the lifeboat house, talking little (or ceasing, at any rate, to talk when I approached), smoking much, conning a serene sky, and the dimples spread on the sea by a gentle nor’-westerly breeze.  At intervals one or two would leisurely fall out of the line and saunter towards the inn, leaving their places to others as leisurely sauntering from the inn.  It did, indeed, occur to me to wonder how they earned their living, for during the first fortnight, beyond the occasional hauling of a crab-pot, I saw no evidence at all of labour.  It was on the tip of my tongue, once or twice, to question them; but, though polite, they clearly had no wish to be communicative.