300
Martinique
Sketches.
actually moving towards the semicircular cliffs of FondCorré ? . . . Maximilien began to cry. T h e little chabin paddled on,—though the blood was still trickling over his breast. Maximilien screamed out to him :— —"
Ou
pa
ka pagayé,—anht—ou
ni
bousoin
dbmi?"
(Thou dost not paddle, eh ?—thou wouldst go to sleep ?) —"Si/ moin ka pagayé,— epi f b ! " (I am paddling, and hard, too !) responded Stéphane. . . . —"Ou ka pagayé!—ou ka menti!" (Thou art paddling !—thou liest !) vociferated Maximilien. . . . " And the fault is all thine. I cannot, all by myself, make the canoe to go in water like this ! The fault is all thine : I told thee not to dive, thou stupid !" —" Ou fou!" cried Stéphane, becoming angry. "Moin ka pagayé !" (I am paddling.) — " Beast ! never may we get home so ! Paddle, thou lazy ;—paddle, thou nasty ! " —"Macaque thou !—monkey!" —" Chabin !—must be chabin, for to be stupid so !" — " T h o u black monkey !—thou species of ouistiti!" — " Thou tortoise-of-the-land ! — thou slothful more than molocoye !" — " Why, thou cursed monkey, if thou sayest I do not paddle, thou dost not know how to paddle !" . . . . . . But Maximilien's whole expression changed : he suddenly stopped paddling, and stared before him and behind him at a great violet band broadening across the sea northward out of sight ; and his eyes were big with terror as he cried out :— —"Mais ni qui chose qui doitble içitt ! . . . There is something queer, Stéphane ; there is something queer. " . . . — " A h ! you begin to see now, Maximilien !—it is the current !" — " A devil-current, Stéphane. . . . We are drifting: we will go to the horizon !" . . .