He turned the boat so that she was fronting the arch of light at the entrance, but he did not row towards it. Instead, he began rocking the boat from side to side in a boyish and larky way that literally brought the heart of Miss Grimshaw into her mouth.
"Stop it!" she cried. "We'll be upset. Oh, I'll tell Mr. French. Stop it! Do, please--please stop it."
"Well, what will you give me if I stop it? Come, now, don't be shy. You know what I mean. What will you give me?"
"Yes, anything! Only take me out of this."
"Two kisses?" asked Mr. Giveen, pulling in his oars and making to come aft.
"Twenty. Only not here. You'll upset the boat. Don't stand up. You'll upset us."
"Well, when we get back, then?" said the amorous one.
The boat, drifting, had drifted up against the wall of the cave, and the swell, which had a rise and fall of eighteen inches or more, was grinding the starboard thwart lovingly against the seaweed and rock.
"I swear by all's blue," shrieked the girl. "Anything! Quick! Push her off, or we'll be over."
"Faith, and that was a near shave," said Mr. Giveen, shoving the boat off with an oar.
He got the sculls in the rowlocks, and a few strokes brought them out under the arch into daylight again.
"Mind, you've sworn," said Mr. Giveen, who evidently had a very present and wholesome dread of his cousin, Michael French.
"Don't speak to me," replied his charge, whose lips were dry, but whose terror had now, on finding herself in comparative safety, turned into burning wrath. "Don't speak to me, you coward! You--you beast--or I'll hit you with this."
A boat-hook of ash and phosphor-bronze lay at her feet, and she seized it.
Mr. Giveen eyed the boat-hook. It did not promise kisses on landing, but it was a very efficient persuader, in its way, to a swift return.
Now, Mr. French, that day after luncheon, had ridden into Drumboyne about some pigs he was anxious to sell. He had failed to come to terms with the pig merchant, and had returned out of temper.
"If you plaze, sorr," said Moriarty, "I've just heard from Doolan that Mr. Giveen has taken the young lady out in the boat."
The contempt which Moriarty had for Mr. Giveen and the dislike were fully expressed in the tone of his words.