He paused, without apparent exasperation, then continued evenly—­

“. . .  With the boilers worn out and the survey hanging over my head, Captain Whalley—­Captain Whalley, I say, what do you do with your money?  You must have stacks of money somewhere—­a man like you must.  It stands to reason.  I am not a fool, you know, Captain Whalley—­partner.”

Again he paused, as though he had done for good.  He passed his tongue over his lips, gave a backward glance at the Serang conning the ship with quiet whispers and slight signs of the hand.  The wash of the propeller sent a swift ripple, crested with dark froth, upon a long flat spit of black slime.  The Sofala had entered the river; the trail she had stirred up over the bar was a mile astern of her now, out of sight, had disappeared utterly; and the smooth, empty sea along the coast was left behind in the glittering desolation of sunshine.  On each side of her, low down, the growth of somber twisted mangroves covered the semi-liquid banks; and Massy continued in his old tone, with an abrupt start, as if his speech had been ground out of him, like the tune of a music-box, by turning a handle.

“Though if anybody ever got the best of me, it is you.  I don’t mind saying this.  I’ve said it—­there!  What more can you want?  Isn’t that enough for your pride, Captain Whalley.  You got over me from the first.  It’s all of a piece, when I look back at it.  You allowed me to insert that clause about intemperance without saying anything, only looking very sick when I made a point of it going in black on white.  How could I tell what was wrong about you.  There’s generally something wrong somewhere.  And, lo and behold! when you come on board it turns out that you’ve been in the habit of drinking nothing but water for years and years.”

His dogmatic reproachful whine stopped.  He brooded profoundly, after the manner of crafty and unintelligent men.  It seemed inconceivable that Captain Whalley should not laugh at the expression of disgust that overspread the heavy, yellow countenance.  But Captain Whalley never raised his eyes—­sitting in his arm-chair, outraged, dignified, and motionless.

“Much good it was to me,” Massy remonstrated monotonously, “to insert a clause for dismissal for intemperance against a man who drinks nothing but water.  And you looked so upset, too, when I read my draft in the lawyer’s office that morning, Captain Whalley,—­you looked so crestfallen, that I made sure I had gone home on your weak spot.  A shipowner can’t be too careful as to the sort of skipper he gets.  You must have been laughing at me in your sleeve all the blessed time. . . .  Eh?  What are you going to say?”

Captain Whalley had only shuffled his feet slightly.  A dull animosity became apparent in Massy’s sideways stare.