They made out I was in such a
chippy state of health that they'd not let me have any more money unless
I came on some beastly dull sea voyage to recruit a bit, and one of the
conditions was that one of the boys was to come along too and look
after me."
"You'll look pretty foolish when you tell that thin tale to a jury."
"Then let me put something else on to the back of it. I'm not Cranze at
all. I'm Hamilton. I've been in the papers a good deal just recently,
because I'd been flinging my money around, and I didn't want to get
stared at on board here. So Cranze and I swapped names, just to confuse
people. It seems to have worked very well."
"Yes," said Kettle, "it's worked so well that I don't think you'll get a
jury to believe that either. As you don't seem inclined to make a clean
breast of it, you can now retire to your room, and be restored to your
personal comforts. I can't hand you over to the police without
inconvenience to myself till we get to New Orleans, so I shall keep you
in irons till we reach there. Steward--where's a steward? Ah, here you
are. See this man is kept in his room, and see he has no more liquor. I
make you responsible for him."
"Yes, sir," said the steward.
Pages:
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373