He was wondering how he could best favour the Englishman with a delicate left-handed compliment, when Macallister, who was once more very dirty, and wore only a dungaree jacket over his singlet, broke in:
"I would," he said, "like to see him try."
"May I ask who you are?" said the passenger, who regarded him superciliously.
"Ye may," and there was a portentious gleam in Macallister's eyes. "I'm only her chief engineer."
"Ah!" said the other, who did not consider it advisable to mention that he had supposed him to be a fireman. "Well, there are, I believe, means of obtaining a favour from a chief engineer. You naturally don't get many pickings in this kind of boat."
Austin laughed softly, for he knew his man. It is now and then permissible to bestow an honorarium upon a chief engineer over a deal in coals, but it requires to be done tactfully, and when the stranger suggestively thrust his hand into his pocket, Macallister hove his six feet of length upright, and looked down on him, with a big hand clenched and blazing eyes.
"Out o' this before I shake some manners intil ye, ye fifteen-pound-the-round-trip scum!" he said.
The stranger backed away from him, and then bolted incontinently as Macallister made for the door. Austin laughed softly when he heard him falling over things in the dark alleyway, and Macallister sat down fuming.
"A bit doosoor on the coal trade is one thing, but yon was—insultin'," he said, and then looked up with a sudden grin. "I'll fix the waster. Can ye no smell a crank-pin burning?"
"I can't," said Austin. "Still, under the circumstances, I'm quite willing to take your word for it."