"Come down below and have a brandy-and-soda," I said, and we took him down below, rather glad to get into the noisy glare of the smoking saloon, even though it was so hot. We always slept on deck, the Baron and I, but that night, whether it was the heat or the effects of the gunner’s story, precious little sleep did we get; so, after tossing about restlessly for an hour, we gave up trying, and leant over the deck rails and talked. "I’m sure it would be as easy as winking," my chum said. "One could lash wire or even string round its head, so that the mouth could not open. The fangs couldn’t come out then. "I wonder what became of that man Jassim," he broke in presently. "He’s probably dead, so no one could possibly know that the gunner has it. If he keeps it covered up he will be as safe as anything." He gazed out over the sea, thinking. "And probably what poison is left in it wouldn’t kill a canary now," he burst out again—neither of us could take our minds off the snake. "Thirteen years ago! It must have lost its power by now." We went to our beds after a time and tried to sleep. Baron Popple Opstein was soon snoring, but presently jumped up, shrieking, and I saw him trying to pull something off his arm. I shook him until he woke up, very much ashamed of himself. He was perspiring like a drowned rat, and it made me feel queer and shaky. I did not like the mystery of the beastly thing. I had to live with the gunner and it. If he was going to fill me up with many more such stories, I should soon be frightened of my own shadow. *CHAPTER III* *Skipper of the "Bunder Abbas"* Two days later we arrived at Aden, and found the _Intrepid_ anchored close to Steamer Point, looking cool and comfortable under her white awnings and white paint. The officer of the "guard", coming across for her mails, took the Baron and myself back with him. As skipper of the _Bunder Abbas_ I felt a somewhat important personage, but Commander Duckworth, the captain of the _Intrepid_, a short, red-faced, wiry man, full of energy, soon disabused me about that. It was terrifically hot in his cabin, and he was not in any mood for talking. "Eh, yes, Martin—you are Martin, are you?—so you’ve come to take poor Collingwood’s job. I won’t shake hands—too hot. Well, passages have been booked for you and your gunner in that steamer," pointing to a disreputable little steamer I could see through the gun port. "She leaves to-morrow morning at daylight. You will go aboard her to-night. We lent Wilson, one of our fellows, to the _Bunder Abbas_, until you came. You’ll find him at Jask—only too anxious to see you, I expect. You’ll take her over from him, and the boss at the telegraph station—a kind of political agent—will pass on any orders to you. You are, more or less, lent to the Indian Government, you know." I did not know, but that was nothing.