Читать книгу List, Ye Landsmen!. A Romance of Incident онлайн

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I gazed at him intently and sometimes I thought I had seen his face before, and sometimes I believed that he was a perfect stranger to me. He had dark eyes and dark shaggy eyebrows, was smooth shaven and looked about thirty-four years of age, but his fur cap was concealing wear; the hair of it mingled with his own hair and fringed his brow, contracting what had else been visible of the forehead, and it was only when the hammock swung to a heavier roll than usual that I caught a sight of the whole of his face. The brandy-and-water did me a great deal of good. It made me feel as if I could talk.

“You’re beginning to look somewhat lifelike now,” said he; “Can you bear being questioned?”

“Ay, and to ask questions.”

These words I pronounced with some strength of voice.

“Well, you’ll forgive me for beginning?” said he, gazing at me fixedly and very gravely. “I want to know what sort of a man I’ve picked up. Were you ever hanged?”

The sandwich which I was about to bring to my mouth was arrested midway, as though my arm had been withered.