An' when they lifted that 'ammick it was one wringin' mess of blood! They
on'y expended one wardroom cock-bird, too. Did you know poultry bled that
extravagant? _I_ never did.
"The old man--so 'Op told me--stayed on the bridge, brought up on a dead
centre. Number One was similarly, though lesser, impressed, but o' course
'is duty was to think of 'is fine white decks an' the blood. 'Arf a mo',
Sir,' he says, when the old man was for leavin'. 'We have to wait for the
burial, which I am informed takes place immejit.'
"'It's beyond me,' says the owner. 'There was general instructions for an
execution, but I never knew I had such a dependable push of mountebanks
aboard,' he says. 'I'm all cold up my back, still.'
"The Marines carried the corpse below. Then the bugle give us some more
'Dead March,' Then we 'eard a splash from a bow six-pounder port, an' the
bugle struck up a cheerful tune. The whole lower deck was complimentin'
Glass, 'oo took it very meek. 'E _is_ a good actor, for all 'e's a
leatherneck.
"'Now,' said the old man, 'we must turn over Antonio. He's in what I have
'eard called one perspirin' funk.'
"Of course, I'm tellin' it slow, but it all 'appened much quicker. We run
down our trampo--without o' course informin' Antonio of 'is 'appy destiny
--an' inquired of 'er if she had any use for a free and gratis stowaway.
Oh, yes? she said she'd be highly grateful, but she seemed a shade puzzled
at our generosity, as you might put it, an' we lay by till she lowered a
boat.
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