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.
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