pier meaning between the lines—there was space enough for any meaning, for she wrote a hand that laughed at pages—and he wondered if he had read right. Right or wrong, an interest had been expressed, and he must make good. He saw himself discounting his birthright by hard work and clean living. "I will be a good man," he said humbly—at that time there was no better man in the world—"and that is worth many fathers."
They left Aden, with its Pullman-car-like buildings and scorched rocks, broiling to starboard and turned the corner into the Red Sea. It was most like sailing down a long sapphire set in raw red gold. The wind followed, so that the heat was no longer swept astern. And the wicked were punished together with the good. The former grew puffy and proud, for it was brought home to them that hell could be no worse. The latter resolved to be bad. Divine justice had been deceived. It is pleasanter to sin and roast, than to be good and roast. It is also easier.
