OH, SHOOT! 



along for the rest,' " he quoted, hollowly, then 

 gave a mirthless laugh. ''Say! How do the 

 trains run out of here?" 



That was Bill's last burst of merriment; 

 thereafter he avoided speech or contact with 

 the rest of us. He came up on deck eveiy 

 few days, to be sure, and stood out on the back 

 porch of the Par, doubtless meditating mu- 

 tinously upon the life of ease he had led in the 

 depths of a destroyer, but whenever we dis- 

 covered him so engaged we drove him back 

 into the engine room. 



Another tragedy had marred the southward 

 trip. "Carrots," it seemed, could not cook. 

 Not even in the slightest could he cook. He 

 had practiced a deep deception upon us and 

 he took no shame in it. On the contrary, he 

 derived a selfish pleasure therefrom. 



"This trip has saved me a lot of money," he 

 declared, gratefully, "and I'm glad I came. I 

 was thinking about buying a yacht some day. 

 Now I don't want one." 



"We've got to hire a new galley slave," 

 Crisp declared. ' ' Eddie can't do everything. ' ' 



Eddie appeared at that moment, as smiling 

 and as cheerful as ever. He was dressed in 

 his other overalls and was going ashore to 



236 



