Part 19 (1/2)
”A nightmare! What in h.e.l.l are you talking about?”
”Weel, I must ha' walked in ma sleep. I thocht ma second--or mebbe 'twas ma thaird--wife was after me....”
McPhulach rambled on till Calamity, losing patience, pulled him up and demanded to know the truth. It came out gradually, and the Captain learnt that, just as the boats were putting off from the _Hawk_, McPhulach had been seized with an irresistible desire to feel dry land under him again. So, un.o.bserved in the darkness, he had slipped into the last boat and been taken ash.o.r.e. There he mingled with the men and advanced with them in the first attack. During the fight which followed, he succeeded in scaling the stockade and had just landed safely on the other side when a soldier sprang forward and clubbed him with the b.u.t.t-end of a rifle. For a time he lay there unconscious, but, on coming to, quickly realised that he was inside the stockade and might be killed at any moment. As this latter contingency did not figure on his programme, he started to crawl away and at last came to an orderly-room which was untenanted. Taking careful observations, he noticed on the table several bottles of spirits, and drew the conclusion that the place was a sort of smoking-room used by the officers of the fort; at any rate, he decided to sample the contents of the bottles.
By the time he had finished what must have been nearly two pints of mixed spirits, he felt equal to taking the fort single-handed; in fact, as he now confessed to Calamity, he would have charged a whole battalion.
”I didna quite ken what to do,” he said, gazing dreamily out of the porthole, ”so I sat doon on the doorstep an' waited for ma temper to rise.”
Apparently it rose pretty quickly, for soon afterwards he wandered out into the dark enclosure--having first placed the remains of a bottle of gin in his pocket--to see what he could do. As a start, he drew his revolver and one of the first shots, fired at random, hit a charge of powder as it was being removed from the magazine.
”An' after that,” concluded the engineer wearily, ”I kenned no mair.”
”I see,” murmured Calamity, for now the mysterious explosion which had resulted in the capture of the fort was explained. ”I suppose,” he added, with unwonted geniality, ”you don't remember trying to kill pink snakes with an empty gin-bottle?”
McPhulach slowly shook his head.
”I ca' to mind seein' a green spider an' a blue centipede creepin'
across yon bulkhead a whiles since,” he replied. ”But ye meet wi' unco'
quare animals in these lat.i.tudes.”
Calamity rose to his feet.
”I've a good mind to log you a week's pay for disobeying orders,” he said.
The threat did not seem to impress the engineer, who suddenly leant over the side of his bunk and stared fixedly at the floor.
”I'll hae to get a rat-trap,” he murmured.
CHAPTER XVI
CALAMITY KEEPS HIS WORD
The next day a number of sampans and canoes loaded with fruit, vegetables, and flowers, came alongside the _Hawk_. Mr. d.y.k.es had been in error when he stated his belief that the Germans had cleared all the natives out. As it was discovered afterwards, the people had fled to the interior on hearing the guns and had only come back that afternoon.
Smith, walking along the deck, caught sight of Dora Fletcher leaning over the taffrail, just below which was a sampan loaded with wonderful tropical flowers. Its owner had been endeavouring to sell these, but without much success, because none of the crew wanted flowers, being chiefly concerned with the eatables.
”How much?” asked the girl of the native in the sampan.
The man did not understand English, but he comprehended the girl's gestures, and made some unintelligible reply.
Miss Fletcher, seeing Smith, asked if he would help her.
”Like a bird,” answered the second-mate cheerfully, and, addressing the owner of the flowers, shouted something in the vernacular.
”Well?” queried the girl, when the man had answered.