BUTLER--[_Takes a pint bottle from the hip-pocket of his pants. It is about half full of water._] He don’t know I’ve got this, remember! He--and the rest--they’d kill me like a dog--and you too, sonny--remember that! ABEL--Sure! I ain’t goin’ to tell ’em, Butts. [_Stretching out his hands frenziedly._] Aw, give it to me, Butts! Give me a drink, for Christ’s sake! BUTLER--No, you don’t! I’ll hold it for you. Only a few drops. You’d have it all down your throat. And we’ve got to be careful. It’s got to last ’til the ship comes past that’ll pick us up. That’s the only hope. [_Holding the bottle at arm’s length from the boy._] Hands down, now--or you don’t get a drop! [_The boy lets his hands drop to his sides._ BUTLER _puts the bottle carefully to his lips, and allows the boy two gulps--then snatches it away_.] That’s all now. More later. [_He takes one gulp himself, and making a tremendous effort of will, jerks the bottle from his lips, and corking it quickly, thrusts it back in his pocket and heaves a shuddering sigh._] ABEL--Aw, more! Just another swaller---- BUTLER--[_Determinedly._] No! ABEL--[_Crying weakly._] Yuh dirty mut! BUTLER--[_Quietly._] There! Don’t get riled. It only makes you hotter--and thirstier. [_The boy sinks back exhausted and closes his eyes._ BUTLER _begins to talk in a more assured voice, as if the sip of water had renewed his courage_.] That’ll save us yet, that bit of water. A lucky notion of mine to think of it--at the last moment. They were just lowering the boots. I could hear you calling to me to hurry and come. They didn’t care if I went down with that stinking whaling ship or not, damn them! What did the dirty cook matter to them? But I thought of filling this bottle. It’d been lying there in the galley for two years almost. I’d had it on my hip, full of whiskey, that night in Oakland when I was shanghied. So I filled it out of a bucket before I ran to the boat. Lucky I did, son--for you and me--not for them--damn ’em! ABEL--[_Struggling to a sitting posture, evidently strengthened by his drink._] Gee if the Old Man was wise you got it---- BUTLER--He won’t know--nor Horne, nor Cates, nor Jimmy Kanaka, neither. [_As if in self-justification._] Why should I tell ’em, eh? Did I ever get anything better than a kick or a curse from one of them? [_Vindictively._] Would they give it to me if they had it? They’d see me in hell first! And besides, it’s too late for them. They’re mad as hatters right now, the four of them. They ain’t had a drop since three nights back, when the water in the cask gave out and we rowed up against this island in the dark. Think of it, and them out walking and roasting in the sun all day, looking for water where there ain’t any. Wouldn’t you be crazy? [_Suddenly he laughs queerly._] Didn’t you hear them shouting and yelling like lunatics just before I came? ABEL--I thought I heard something--on’y maybe I was dreamin’.