Mellaire agreed.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Oh, just held it up and looked at it, and said 'My goodness
gracious!' and took another drink."
"And you didn't get the cholera afterwards?"
"No, sir. I reckon I was so full of alcohol the germs dropped dead
before they could get to me." He considered a moment. "Candidly,
Mr. Pathurst, I don't know about that alcohol theory. The old man
and the mates died drunk, and so did the third engineer. But the
chief was a teetotaller, and he died, too."
Never again shall I wonder that the sea is hard. I walked apart from
the second mate and stared up at the magnificent fabric of the
Elsinore sweeping and swaying great blotting curves of darkness
across the face of the starry sky.
CHAPTER XXII
Something has happened. But nobody knows, either fore or aft, except
the interested persons, and they will not say anything. Yet the ship
is abuzz with rumours and guesses.
This I do know: Mr. Pike has received a fearful blow on the head.
At table, yesterday, at midday, I arrived late, and, passing behind
his chair, I saw a prodigious lump on top of his head.
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