Читать книгу Men Against the Sea – Book Set. The Greatest Maritime Adventure Novels: The Bounty Trilogy, Lost Island, The Hurricane, Botany Bay, The Far Lands, Tales of the South Seas… онлайн

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“Damn yer blood, Matt!” McCoy exclaimed anxiously. “Easy, now! There’s but eight quarts for the lot of us!” Quintal held him off with one hand while he drank. “D’ye grudge me a drink, ye hog?” he said, grinning. “Ye’ve another full bottle beside ye. I’ll take that if ye’ll like it better.”

“It’s nae that I grudge ye a drink, Matt, but there’s enough in the bottle wi’ what ye’ve had to make ye mad drunk, and well ye know it.”

“Aye,” said Mills. “Drink slow, Matt, and water it a-plenty. It’ll last the night if ye do that.”

The afternoon was now well advanced, and the shadow of the high ridge to the westward had already crept beyond the little glade where the men were seated. They drank and lolled at their ease. There was no need, now, to urge Prudence to dance. Martin, Quintal, and McCoy slapped their knees and cheered her on as her gestures and postures became more and more wanton and provocative, but the expression on Mills’s face was increasingly sullen. “That’ll do, lass,” he said, at length. “Off wi’ ye, now. Go back wi’ the others.” But the girl laughed without heeding and, as though with intent to enrage him, passed him by without a glance, dancing before Quintal, gazing into his eyes with a sultry smile. Of a sudden Quintal seized her by the arm, pulling her into his lap, and gave her a bearlike hug, kissing her heartily. Mills sprang to his feet.