“That’s rather a large order, gentlemen, aren’t it? That there Don will be wanting to make me his chief naval constructor, perhaps. But that wouldn’t do. I say, though, Mr Burnett, sir, can you give a poor fellow a tip or two?”
“What about?” said Fitz.
“What about, sir? Oh, I say, come! I like that! How am I going to get off that there gunboat? She’s a harmoured vessel, you know.”
“Oh, you’ll do it, Chips. You could always do anything, even when you hadn’t got any stuff. What about pulling up the hacienda floor?”
“To make fortifications, sir? Yes, we did work that to rights. But iron’s iron, and wood’s wood. You can drive one into t’other, but you can’t drive t’other into one.”
“No, Chips,” said Fitz, laughing. “But there are more ways of killing a cat than hanging.”
“So there are, sir; toe be sure. Making up your mind to do a thing is half the battle. I should like to have the help of you two young gents, though, all the same. A word from a young officer as knows how to disable a Armstrong gun, and from another who thinks nothing of tying a screw-propeller up in a knot, is worth having.”
“Oh, I’ll help you,” said Fitz. “But I am afraid my help won’t be of much use.”
“The same here,” said Poole. “Ditto and ditto.”
“Then I shall do it, sir,” cried the carpenter confidently. “Of course,” cried Fitz. “But that gunboat must be very heavy. How shall you go to work?”