The Red Marine turned slightly, speaking with the awful precision of the half-drunk. “’As ’e got any-thin’ in about my ’orrible death an’ execution? Ex_cuse_ me, but if I open my eyes, I shan’t be well. That’s where I’m different from _all_ other men. Ahem!” “What about Glass’s execution?” demanded Pyecroft. “The book’s in French,” I replied. “Then it’s no good to me.” “Precisely. Now I want you to tell your story just as it happened. I’ll check it by this book. Take a cigar. I know about his being dragged out of the cutter. What I want to know is what was the meaning of all the other things, because they’re unusual.” “They were,” said Mr. Pyecroft with emphasis. “Lookin’ back on it as I set here more an’ more I see what an ’ighly unusual affair it was. But it happened. It transpired in the _Archimandrite_—the ship you can trust… Antonio! Ther beggar!” “Take your time, Mr. Pyecroft.” In a few moments we came to it thus— “The old man was displeased. I don’t deny he was quite a little displeased. With the mail-boats trottin’ into Madeira every twenty minutes, he didn’t see why a lop-eared Portugee had to take liberties with a man-o’-war’s first cutter. Any’ow, we couldn’t turn ship round for him. We drew him out and took him out to Number One. ‘Drown ’im,’ ’e says. ‘Drown ’im before ’e dirties my fine new decks.’ But our owner was tenderhearted. ‘Take him to the galley,’ ’e says. ‘Boil ’im! Skin ’im! Cook ’im! Cut ’is bloomin’ hair? Take ’is bloomin’ number! We’ll have him executed at Ascension.’ “Retallick, our chief cook, an’ a Carth’lic, was the on’y one any way near grateful; bein’ short-’anded in the galley. He annexes the blighter by the left ear an’ right foot an’ sets him to work peelin’ potatoes. So then, this Antonio that was avoidin’ the conscription—” “_Sub_scription, you pink-eyed matlow!” said the Marine, with the face of a stone Buddha, and whimpered sadly: “Pye don’t see any fun in it at all.” “_Con_scription—come to his illegitimate sphere in Her Majesty’s Navy, an’ it was just then that Old ’Op, our Yeoman of Signals, an’ a fastidious joker, made remarks to me about ’is hands.