“Oh, very well,” was the reply, and the sailor approached the basin. “What’s good for you’s good for me, mate. Who’s afraid? Well, I am!”
He was now kneeling, and was in the act of plunging in his hands, when there was a low gurgling noise, and, as if by magic, the water in the basin was sucked rapidly down the round central hole that had been almost invisible, leaving the basin perfectly empty.
“Nearly lost the soap,” said Billy Wriggs.
“And I ain’t got the wash,” cried Smith, in an ill-used tone.
“Beg pardon, sir, what time’ll it be high water again?”
Bang! Roosh!
“Murder!” yelled Smith, throwing himself backward and rolling over, for with an explosion like that of steam, the water gushed up from the central hole, playing some twenty feet up in the air, filling the basin and deluging Wriggs before he could escape, and then dragging him back towards the central hole, down which it began to run, while the man roared lustily for help.