While this conversation and the objections of the others were going on, H. O. perpetuated an act which nearly wrecked the Benevolent Bar.
Of course Oswald was not an eye or ear witness of what happened, but from what H. O. said in the calmer moments of later life, I think this was about what happened. One of the big disagreeable men said to H. O.—
‘Ain’t got such a thing as a drop o’ spirit, ‘ave yer?’
H. O. said no, we hadn’t, only lemonade and tea.
‘Lemonade and tea! blank’ (bad word I told you about) ‘and blazes,’ replied the bad character, for such he afterwards proved to be. ‘What’s THAT then?’
He pointed to a bottle labelled Dewar’s whisky, which stood on the table near the spirit-kettle.
‘Oh, is THAT what you want?’ said H. O. kindly.
The man is understood to have said he should bloomin’ well think so, but H. O. is not sure about the ‘bloomin’.
He held out his glass with about half the lemonade in it, and H. O. generously filled up the tumbler out of the bottle, labelled Dewar’s whisky. The man took a great drink, and then suddenly he spat out what happened to be left in his mouth just then, and began to swear. It was then that Oswald and Dicky rushed upon the scene.
The man was shaking his fist in H. O.‘s face, and H. O. was still holding on to the bottle we had brought out the methylated spirit in for the lamp, in case of anyone wanting tea, which they hadn’t. ‘If I was Jim,’ said the second ruffian, for such indeed they were, when he had snatched the bottle from H. O. and smelt it, ‘I’d chuck the whole show over the hedge, so I would, and you young gutter-snipes after it, so I wouldn’t.’