witness to his habits. He stood and regarded Nick with a fixed and
somewhat aggressive stare.

"Where's the missis?" he said.

"That's just what I want to know," said Nick.

Briggs uttered an uneasy guffaw as if he suspected the existence of a
joke that had somewhat eluded him. His eyes rolled upward to Olga, and
back to Nick.

"Well, she ain't 'ere seemin'ly," he remarked.

"Don't you know where she is?" demanded Nick.

Briggs grinned foolishly. "That's tellin'!" he observed facetiously.

Nick turned from him. "Come along, Olga! They are not here evidently.
It's no use trying to get any sense out of this drunken beast."

"But, Nick--" said Olga in distress.

"We will go down to the shore," he said. "Here, you Briggs! Stand back,
will you?"

Briggs was blocking the narrow passage with his great bull-frame, and
showed no disposition to let them pass. He seemed to think he had a
grievance, and he commenced to state it in a rambling, disjointed
fashion, holding them prisoners on the stairs while he did so.