The After House | Page 8

shows good red blood, and as temperate as Turner was
dissipated.
Vail was strong, too. After I had held Williams over the rail I turned to
find him looking on, amused. And when the frightened darky had taken
himself, muttering threats, to the galley, Vail came over to me and ran
his hand down my arm.
"Where did you get it?" he asked.
"Oh, I've always had some muscle," I said. "I'm in bad shape now; just
getting over fever."
"Fever, eh? I thought it was jail. Look here."
He threw out his biceps for me to feel. It was a ball of iron under my
fingers. The man was as strong as an ox. He smiled at my surprise, and,
after looking to see that no one was in sight, offered to mix me a
highball from a decanter and siphon on a table.

I refused.
It was his turn to be surprised.
"I gave it up when I was in train- in the hospital," I corrected myself. "I
find I don't miss it."
He eyed me with some curiosity over his glass, and, sauntering away,
left me to my work of folding rugs. But when I had finished, and was
chalking the deck for shuffle-board, he joined me again, dropping his
voice, for the women had come up by that time and were breakfasting
on the lee side of the after house.
"Have you any idea, Leslie, how much whiskey there is on board?"
"Williams has considerable, I believe. I don't think there is any in the
forward house. The captain is a teetotaler."
"I see. When these decanters go back, Williams takes charge of them?"
"Yes. He locks them away."
He dropped his voice still lower.
"Empty them, Leslie," he said. "Do you understand? Throw what is left
overboard. And, if you get a chance at Williams's key, pitch a dozen or
two quarts overboard."
"And be put in irons!"
"Not necessarily. I think you understand me. I don't trust Williams. In a
week we could have this boat fairly dry."
"There is a great deal of wine."
He scowled. "Damn Williams, anyhow! His instructions were - but
never mind about that. Get rid of the whiskey."
Turner coming up the companionway at that moment, Vail left me. I

had understood him perfectly. It was common talk in the forecastle that
Turner was drinking hard, and that, in fact, the cruise had been
arranged by his family in the hope that, away from his clubs; he would
alter his habits - a fallacy, of course. Taken away from his customary
daily round, given idle days on a summer sea, and aided by Williams,
the butler, he was drinking his head off.
Early as it was, he was somewhat the worse for it that morning. He
made directly for me. It was the first time he had noticed me, although
it was the third day out. He stood in front of me, his red eyes flaming,
and, although I am a tall man, he had an inch perhaps the advantage of
me.
"What's this about Williams?" he demanded furiously. "What do you
mean by a thing like that?"
"He was bullying me. I didn't intend to drop him."
The ship was rolling gently; he made a pass at me with a magazine he
carried, and almost lost his balance. The women had risen, and were
watching from the corner of the after house. I caught him and steadied
him until he could clutch a chair.
"You try any tricks like that again, and you'll go overboard," he
stormed. "Who are you, anyhow? Not one of our men?"
I saw the quick look between Vail and Mrs. Turner, and saw her come
forward. Mrs. Johns followed her, smiling.
"Marsh!" Mrs. Turner protested. "I told you about him - the man who
had been ill."
"Oh, another of your friends!" he sneered, and looked from me to Vail
with his ugly smile.
Vail went rather pale and threw up his head quickly. The next moment
Mrs. Johns had saved the situation with an irrelevant remark, and the
incident was over. They were playing bridge, not without dispute, but

at least without insult. But I had hard a glimpse beneath the surface of
that luxurious cruise, one of many such in the next few days.
That was on Monday, the third day out. Up to that time Miss Lee had
not noticed me, except once, when she found me scrubbing the deck, to
comment on a corner that she thought might be cleaner, and another
time in the evening, when she and Vail sat in chairs until late, when she
had sent me below for a wrap. She looked past me rather than at me,
gave me her orders quietly but briefly, and did