“It is not dip enough,” said the Portuguese.
“It’s as deep as I mean to make it, with you sittin’ there talkin’ about it.”
And the door stood open.
“Captain!” I screamed. “For Christ’s sake, captain!”
He stood there, trembling, yet even now not looking my way.
“Did you ever see a man hanged ?” asked Santos, with a vile eye for each of us. “I once hanged fifteen in a row; abominable thifs. And I once poisoned nearly a hundred at one banquet; an untrustworthy tribe; but the hanging was the worse
bright moonlight! I would fall so lightly on my stocking soles; a single soft, dull thud; then away under the moon without fear or risk of a false step; away over the stone walls to the main road, and so to the nearest police-station with my tale; and before sunrise the villains would be taken in their beds, and my darling would be safe!