{"product_id":"2940013740341","title":"The Shadow of the Wolf","description":"ABOUT half-past eight on a fine, sunny June morning a small yacht crept\u003cbr\u003eout of Sennen Cove, near the Land's End, and headed for the open sea. On\u003cbr\u003ethe shelving beach of the Cove two women and a man, evidently visitors\u003cbr\u003e(or \"foreigners,\" to use the local term), stood watching her departure\u003cbr\u003ewith valedictory waving of cap or handkerchief; and the boatman who had\u003cbr\u003eput the crew on board, aided by two of his comrades, was hauling his boat\u003cbr\u003eup above the tide-mark.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA light northerly breeze filled the yacht's sails and drew her gradually\u003cbr\u003eseaward. The figures of her crew dwindled to the size of a doll's, shrank\u003cbr\u003ewith the increasing distance to the magnitude of insects, and at last,\u003cbr\u003elosing all individuality, became mere specks merged in the form of the\u003cbr\u003efabric that bore them. At this point the visitors turned their faces\u003cbr\u003einland and walked away up the beach, and the boatman, having opined that\u003cbr\u003e\"she be fetchin' a tidy offing,\" dismissed the yacht from his mind and\u003cbr\u003ereverted to the consideration of a heap of netting and some invalid\u003cbr\u003elobster-pots.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn board the receding craft two men sat in the little cockpit. They\u003cbr\u003eformed the entire crew, for the Sandhopper was only a ship's lifeboat,\u003cbr\u003etimber and decked, of light draught, and, in the matter of spars and\u003cbr\u003ecanvas, what the art critics would call \"reticent.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBoth men, despite the fineness of the weather, wore yellow oilskins and\u003cbr\u003esou'westers, and that was about all they had in common. In other respects\u003cbr\u003ethey made a curious contrast: the one small, slender, sharp-featured,\u003cbr\u003edark almost to swarthiness, and restless and quick in his movements; the\u003cbr\u003eother large, massive, red-faced, blue-eyed, with the rounded outlines\u003cbr\u003esuggestive of ponderous strength--a great ox of a man, heavy, stolid,\u003cbr\u003ebut much less unwieldy than he looked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe conversation incidental to getting the yacht under way had ceased,\u003cbr\u003eand silence had fallen on the occupants of the cockpit. The big man\u003cbr\u003egrasped the tiller and looked sulky, which was probably his usual aspect,\u003cbr\u003eand the small man watched him furtively. The land was nearly two miles\u003cbr\u003edistant when the latter broke the silence with a remark very similar to\u003cbr\u003ethat of the boatman on the beach.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're not going to take the shore on board, Purcell. Where are we\u003cbr\u003esupposed to be going to?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I am going outside the Longships,\" was the stolid answer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"So I see,\" rejoined the other. \"It's hardly the shortest course for\u003cbr\u003ePenzance, though.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I like to keep an offing on this coast,\" said Purcell; and once more the\u003cbr\u003econversation languished.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePresently the smaller man spoke again, this time in a more cheerful and\u003cbr\u003efriendly tone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Joan Haygarth has come on wonderfully the last few months; getting quite\u003cbr\u003ea fine-looking girl. Don't you think so?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes,\" answered Purcell, \"and so does Phil Rodney.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're right,\" agreed the other. \"But she isn't a patch on her sister,\u003cbr\u003ethough, and never will be. I was looking at Maggie as we came down the\u003cbr\u003ebeach this morning and thinking what a handsome girl she is. Don't you\u003cbr\u003eagree with me?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePurcell stooped to look under the boom, and answered without turning his\u003cbr\u003ehead:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Yes, she's all right.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"All right!\" exclaimed the other. \"Is that the way – \"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Look here, Varney,\" interrupted Purcell, \"I don't want to discuss my\u003cbr\u003ewife's looks with you or any other man. She'll do for me, or I shouldn't\u003cbr\u003ehave married her.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA deep coppery flush stole into Varney's cheeks. But he had brought the\u003cbr\u003erather brutal snub on himself, and apparently had the fairness to\u003cbr\u003erecognize the fact, for he mumbled an apology and relapsed into silence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen he next spoke he did so with a manner diffident and uneasy, as\u003cbr\u003ethough approaching a disagreeable or difficult subject.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"There's a little matter, Dan, that I've been wanting to speak to you\u003cbr\u003eabout when we got a chance of a private talk.\" He glanced a little\u003cbr\u003eanxiously at his stolid companion, who grunted, and then, without\u003cbr\u003eremoving his gaze from the horizon ahead, replied: \"You've a pretty fair\u003cbr\u003echance now, seeing that we shall be bottled up together for another five\u003cbr\u003eor six hours. And it's private enough, unless you bawl loud enough to be\u003cbr\u003eheard at the Longships.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not a gracious invitation. But that Varney had hardly expected;\u003cbr\u003eand if he resented the rebuff he showed no signs of annoyance, for\u003cbr\u003ereasons which appeared when he opened his subject.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What I wanted to say,\" he resumed, \"was this. We're both doing pretty\u003cbr\u003ewell now on the square. You must be positively piling up the shekels, and\u003cbr\u003eI can earn a decent living, which is all I want. Why shouldn't we drop\u003cbr\u003ethis flash note business?\"","brand":"William Stockert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47070258430192,"sku":"2940013740341","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013740341_p0.jpg?v=1763598210","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013740341","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}