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“The old man makes a great show o’ wakin’ up from sweet slumbers. ‘Mistah Ducane,’ he says, ‘what is this painful interregnum?’ or words to that effect. Ducane takes one step to the front, an’ salutes: ‘Only ‘nother case of attempted assassination, Sir,’ he says.

“‘Is that all?’ says the old man, while Maclean sits on Glass’s collar button. ‘Take him away,’ ‘e says, ‘he knows the penalty.'”

“Ah! I suppose that is the ‘invincible morgue Britannic in the presence of brutally provoked mutiny,'” I muttered, as I turned over the pages of M. de C.

“So, Glass, ‘e was led off kickin’ an’ squealin’, an’ hove down the ladder into ‘is Sergeant’s volupshus arms. ‘E run Glass forward, an’ was all for puttin’ ‘im in irons as a maniac.

“‘You refill your waterjacket and cool off!’ says Glass, sittin’ down rather winded. ‘The trouble with you is you haven’t any imagination.’

“‘Haven’t I? I’ve got the remnants of a little poor authority though,’ ‘e says, lookin’ pretty vicious.

“‘You ‘ave?’ says Glass. ‘Then for pity’s sake ‘ave some proper feelin’ too. I’m goin’ to be shot this evenin’. You’ll take charge o’ the firin’- party.’

“Some’ow or other, that made the Sergeant froth at the mouth. ‘E ‘ad no more play to his intellects than a spit-kid. ‘E just took everything as it come. Well, that was about all, I think…. Unless you’d care to have me resume my narrative.”

We resumed on the old terms, but with rather less hot water. The marine on the floor breathed evenly, and Mr. Pyecroft nodded.

“I may have omitted to inform you that our Number One took a general row round the situation while the small-arm party was at work, an’ o’ course he supplied the outlines; but the details we coloured in by ourselves. These were our tattics to baffle Antonio. It occurs to the Carpenter to ‘ave the steam-cutter down for repairs. ‘E gets ‘is cheero-party together, an’ down she comes. You’ve never seen a steam-cutter let down on the deck, ‘ave you? It’s not usual, an’ she takes a lot o’ humourin’. Thus we ‘ave the starboard side completely blocked an’ the general traffic tricklin’ over’ead along the fore-an’-aft bridge. Then Chips gets into her an’ begins balin’ out a mess o’ small reckonin’s on the deck. Simultaneous there come up three o’ those dirty engine-room objects which we call ‘tiffies,’ an’ a stoker or two with orders to repair her steamin’-gadgets. They get into her an’ bale out another young Christmas-treeful of small reckonin’s–brass mostly. Simultaneous it hits the Pusser that ‘e’d better serve out mess pork for the poor matlow. These things half shifted Retallick, our chief cook, off ‘is bed-plate. Yes, you might say they broke ‘im wide open. ‘E wasn’t at all used to ’em.

“Number One tells off five or six prime, able-bodied seamen-gunners to the pork barrels. You never see pork fisted out of its receptacle, ‘ave you? Simultaneous, it hits the Gunner that now’s the day an’ now’s the hour for a non-continuous class in Maxim instruction. So they all give way together, and the general effect was non plus ultra. There was the cutter’s innards spread out like a Fratton pawnbroker’s shop; there was the ‘tiffies’ hammerin’ in the stern of ‘er, an’ they ain’t antiseptic; there was the Maxim class in light skirmishin’ order among the pork, an’ forrard the blacksmith had ‘is forge in full blast, makin’ ‘orse-shoes, I suppose. Well, that accounts for the starboard side. The on’y warrant officer ‘oo hadn’t a look in so far was the Bosun. So ‘e stated, all out of ‘is own ‘ead, that Chips’s reserve o’ wood an’ timber, which Chips ‘ad stole at our last refit, needed restowin’. It was on the port booms–a young an’ healthy forest of it, for Charley Peace wasn’t to be named ‘longside o’ Chips for burglary.

“‘All right,’ says our Number One. ‘You can ‘ave the whole port watch if you like. Hell’s Hell,’ ‘e says, ‘an when there study to improve.’