“We’re bursting with curiosity,” said Grantham and West. “Can’t we be told anything?”
“Oh, Lord!” groaned the chief officer. “Any more of you?”
“No, I think not,” West said. “I happened to be awake, and heard your sounds of revelry; so, apparently, did Grantham. We thought of butting in, but when we heard your voice in explaining to the old lady, we came to the conclusion that we weren’t exactly wanted. But there is a limit to one’s forbearance. Can’t we be told?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Dixon answered. “Only keep it quiet. Also, these boys can tell you, for I’m off to the captain.”
“I guess you’d better let us see to that arm of yours first,” Jim put in. “I’m a first-aid man; let me tie it up, unless you’d rather go straight to the doctor.”
“Well, we’ll have a look at it,” said Dixon. “Come along to my cabin—there’s room there and we can speak out—I’m sick of whispering!”
The arm was found to be bruised and grazed only, and the patient declined to disturb the doctor’s slumbers. Jim tied it up in his best style, while West and Grantham, sitting on the victim’s bunk, heard with unconcealed envy the story of the night.
“Some chaps have all the luck,” West said, sadly. “Why shouldn’t we be in it?—and we sleeping next door! And who’d have thought it of meek little Smith!”
“I expect his name’s Schmidt if every one had his due,” said the chief officer, rising. “Thanks, Jim. Now I guess you youngsters had better turn in—there’s nothing more for you to do. I’ve got to see that that battered cabin door is fixed before curious passengers get asking questions in the morning.”
Mr. Smith was officially reported as ill next day, and his absence caused no comment; a hint that his ailment might be infectious kept any benevolent people from offering to visit him. The nervous old lady was inclined to be garrulous about the midnight disturbance, but as she was known to be a person of hysterical tendencies, curiosity was not excited. Mr. Dixon, appealed to, spoke vaguely of a wave dashing in at the port-hole and making “no end of a row.”