On the floor around it were fragments of smashed glasses and
bloody stains. A cut glass decanter, half full of wine, sat on the
table, and in a corner of the cabin shrank the figure of a man.
CHAPTER IX
A MODERN COLUMBUS
Hardly knowing what to expect the two advanced into the cabin, when the
figure turned and looked at them with pallid countenance.
"It's Caradoc!" cried Madden in great astonishment and relief. "Scots,
Smith, you gave us a jolt! We thought--what's the matter, old chap? Heat
again?"
The Englishman's long face was strained. "Would you--take that decanter
away, please!" he begged unsteadily.
Instantly Leonard understood the temptation into which Caradoc had
unwittingly wandered. A strong odor of wine pervaded the cabin, and
Smith's knock-out had given his nerves a great craving for a stimulant.
Without a word, Leonard walked to the table, took the wine bottle by its
neck and heaved it through the open port. The three men in their half
costumes stood listening intently until it chucked into the sea below.
All three seemed to feel relief at the sound.
"That's all right, Caradoc," said Madden with a note of comfort in his
voice, "all right, old chap. It won't be like this always."
"I was unstrung--rotten heat," grumbled the Englishman in acute
self-disgust.
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