And he further exasperated me by insisting on
having our bargain in writing. "In the form of a letter," he insisted.
"All right," I acquiesced, "in the form of a letter. Here goes! Get a
light!"
"And the apology," he said, folding up the letter.
"All right," I said; "Apology."
My hand shook with anger as I wrote, and afterwards I could not sleep
for hate of him. At last I got up. I suffered, I found, from an unusual
clumsiness. I struck my toe against my cabin door, and cut myself as I
shaved. I found myself at last pacing the deck under the dawn in a
mood of extreme exasperation. The sun rose abruptly and splashed light
blindingly into my eyes and I swore at the sun. I found myself imagining
fresh obstacles with the men and talking aloud in anticipatory rehearsal
of the consequent row.
The malaria of the quap was already in my blood.
V
Sooner or later the ridiculous embargo that now lies upon all the coast
eastward of Mordet Island will be lifted and the reality of the deposits
of quap ascertained. I am sure that we were merely taking the outcrop
of a stratum of nodulated deposits that dip steeply seaward.
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