'Yes,' said the girl; 'you, bred in dishonesty, a sneaking, night-prowling smuggler, who would have been kicking his heels in prison at this present hour but for me, one such as you thinks that none can have money which has not been crookedly hooked in.' 'Have done, Winefred, I owe you something.' 'We are quits. You helped me out of the cave, but I could have scratched my way forth without your aid, and I warned you and helped you to slip out of the net spread to take you. You owe me nothing, and I owe you nothing. The account is settled between us. I do not desire to be indebted to a smuggler. You, like all the rest, wonder that your father left nothing when he died. But ill-gotten gold makes itself wings.' 'In that case all my father's gold will come swarming out of your mother's pocket, like ants on an August day when they get their wings and desert their heap.' 'You are a coward, to insult a defenceless woman,' said Winefred passionately. Her face paled with anger, and she turned sharply and ran away. Jack swung himself after her, caught her by the arm and flung her back into an elder-bush. 'You little fool,' he said, 'you were dashing right over the brink. You see, whether you will or no, you must owe something to me.' It was a fact. He had rescued her from plunging over the precipice concealed only by some bushes. She looked, saw that what he said was the truth, and without thanking him went sullenly away. But Jack, as he sauntered from the spot, was dissatisfied with himself. 'I have been too sharp with her,' he said. 'If there be a fault it lies with her mother, not with Winnie. I did wrong. With a girl one should not attempt a passage of arms.' CHAPTER XXIV REVERSED POSITIONS A fit of depression came over Jack. Happily in youth such fits are not of long duration. The excitement of the funeral and sale was over, and a sense of solitariness weighed on the lad. He had no relatives. There were connections at Beer, but these were all more or less closely implicated in the contraband trade upon which Beer flourished, though ostensibly it occupied itself with fishing. Jack considered it expedient that he should keep clear of them, and it was for this reason especially that he had accepted Olver Dench's offer to lodge and board him. But he did not like the ferryman. There were in him a rancour and a low cunning that revolted him, and Jack resolved not to take the man into his confidence, nor ask his opinion on any matter of consequence.