ckling down
upon the collar of his jacket and staining the whole of the left breast
of the garment, and his hands and cuffs were smeared with blood. It was
at once evident to me that there had been a serious scrimmage in the
forecastle; a conjecture that was at once confirmed by the fellow
himself--who, I may mention, was completely sobered by the occurrence,
if indeed he had been the worse for drink at its outbreak.

"Hillo, Misther!" he exclaimed, as he arrived within speaking distance
of me, "are ye left all alone to look afther the hooker? Be jabers,
that's too bad! Where's the shpalpeen that ought to be doin' his thrick
of grindin' wather?"

"I sent him for'ard about three-quarters of an hour ago," said I, "to
tell you that I wished to speak to you; and the loafing blackguard never
returned. But what has been the matter in the forecastle, and how came
you with that wound in your cheek?"

"Oh, begorra, but it's a bad job, intoirely!" he answered. "We was all
havin' a little game of cards together, and to make the game lively we
was stakin' our gims. Dirk got claned out at last--lost every stone of
his share--and then he jumped up and swore that Price had been chatin'
him. Price knocked him down for sayin' it; but he jumped up again--wid
his mouth all bleedin' from Jack's blow--and, in a wink, before anny of
us knew what he was afther, he'd whipped out his knife and drove it
clean through poor Chips heart! That was the beginnin' of the row.
When we saw what had been done, two or three of us attimpted to seize
Dirk and disarm him; but the murthering villain fought like all the
furies, layin' my cheek open, stabbin' poor Tom in the throat so that
he's bleedin' like a stuck pig, and pretty near cuttin' Mike's hand off.
And that's not the worst of it aither. Some of the other chaps took
Dirk's side, swearin' that they'd seen Chips chatin', and in two two's,
sir, all hands had their knives out, and we was cuttin' and slashin' at
each other loike--loike--sodgers on a field of battle!"

"Are there any hurt beside Tom, Mike, and yourself?" I asked, too
completely dazed with the sudden horror of the thing to look at more
than one side of it for the moment.

"Ay, begorra," answered the Irishman; "Dirk's done for, I expect; and
there's others of us that'll want plenty of watchin' if we're ever to
see the other side of the Line again."

"Is that so?" ejaculated I. "Then for Heaven's sake send somebody to
reliev