Also, he saw that when the captain
was climbing the bank, the boat, in charge of a mate--as the
inspector judged from his brass-bound uniform--backed water to
the end of the jetty, where it swung against one of the
shell-encrusted piles. Hervey finally reached the jetty level,
but refused to come on to the same. He beckoned to Don Pedro and
his companions to walk forward to the ground upon which he was
standing. Also, he seemed exceedingly anxious to take time over
the transaction, as even after he had handed the scroll of
writing to the Peruvian, and had received the gold in exchange,
he engaged in quarrelsome conversation. Pretending that he
doubted if De Gayangos had brought the exact sum, he opened the
canvas bag and insisted on counting the money. Don Pedro
naturally lost his temper at this insult, and swore in Spanish,
upon which Hervey responded with such volubility that anyone
could see he was a pastmaster in Castilian swearing. The row was
considerable, especially as Random and Hope were laughing at the
quarrel. They thought that Hervey was the worse for drink, but
Date--clever for once in his life--did not think so. It
appeared to him that the boat had gone to the end of the jetty
for some reason connected with the same reason which induced the
skipper to spin out the time of the meeting by indulging in an
unnecessary quarrel.
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