The rain-swept Kittiwake rounded the red-light buoy and checked down.
“There’s no light in the house. She has milked the cow, and eaten her
supper, and gone to bed like a good girl.”
“Doctor, she doesn’t expect you home tonight. My tent is waterproof.
Come and sleep on the ground.”
So they crept into the harbor and thence into the tent. The doctor
stripped to the skin, nibbed his wiry old muscles dry, and suspended his
dripping weeds, uttering an appropriate remark from Horace.
He clad himself in Marvin’s other pyjamas and wrapped himself with a
blanket, but not till he had taken from his wet coat a precious little
amulet to dry it. It was a perfect thing of its sort—a tiny gunboat done
in pine and colored.
Meantime Marvin had kindled a fire of pine cones under the projection of
the tent-fly. He got out some pilot bread, and made some hot chocolate.
He spread his little feast on her totem board, and they ate with Homeric
gusto.
Later they crept under the blankets.
“This makes me think of old times. My father sometimes took me with him
on his prospecting trips.”
“Marvin, it makes me think of old times, too. But Horatio often came to
bed half crying with the fatigue of the day. When you have children of
your own you will know more about paternal love. Sometimes a little boy
needs to be comforted. Think of it! For a time you stand like a god,
your knowledge unquestioned, and comfort comes by comforting. For sheer
earthly joy, I could wish to have Horatio sobbing on my breast once
more.”
There was silence in the darkness, while the rain fell drowsily on the
tent.
“Father Rich, I must let you sleep.”
“And I must let you sleep. You will have a busy day tomorrow. I do not
envy you your transactions with Ojeeg. You will discover that you are
attempting to bridge centuries. It’s a long way from hunting to
power-farming. He hates us all—especially the churchmen. Which reminds
me that the only Black Robe whom he ever tolerated was a priest named La
Hogue.”
“La Hogue?”
“Even so. He was a vigorous old chap, named from the French cape whence
his family came, and you should not confuse him with Hogg. Some Hoggs
are Hugos, which means intellectual, but some are La Hogues.”
The next thing that Marvin knew was odor. He smelled coffee. So he sat
up and rubbed his eyes.
“Well, captain, will you have a cup, with canned milk? Little did
Agricola imagine the possibilities of the stannum he saw in Britain. I
like canned milk first rate.”
“Then I’ll leave you some. And I’ll leave you my skiff to take it home
in, and cache all my gasoline except one can. I’ll be back on Monday
after seeing what effect haircloth has on Indians.”
After the coffee and hardtack, Marvin tidied up his camp ready to
depart.
“May I leave you fifty dollars to bind that option?”
“Not a dollar. Hidden in my hollow log are pieces of gold that Jean
knows nothing of. They were sent to my children by a friend of their
mother’s down in Connecticut.”
“Doctor, do you think I’ve sold my conscience?”
“Marvin, don’t talk like an ass.”
“But she thinks I’m too obedient.”
“Obedience saves most men, as Sophocles long ago remarked. But we see
her point, and I’ll talk to her about it.”