Mrs. Johnson and her indignant younger son had been, with great difficulty and also at great expense, soothed and appeased.
William had eaten the bread and water considered, in the circumstances, a suitable meal for the prodigal son, with that inward fury, but with that outward appearance of intense enjoyment that he always fondly imagined made his family feel foolish.
He was not to leave the garden again that day. He was to go to bed an hour before his usual time, but that left him now half an hour to dispose of in the garden. Through the window William could see his father reclining in a deck-chair and reading the evening paper. William considered that his father had that evening shown himself conspicuously lacking in tact and sympathy and generosity, but William did not bear malice, and he knew that such qualities are not to be expected in grown-ups. Moreover, his father was the only human being within sight, and William felt disinclined for active pursuits. He went out to his father and sat down on the grass in front of him.
“Oh, about that man wot had his legs bit off by a shark, father, wot I promised to tell you about—well, it begins when he starts out in the Ship of Mystery——”
William’s father tried to continue to read his paper. Finding it impossible, he folded it up.
“One minute, William, how long is there before you go to bed?”
“Only about half an hour,” said William reproachfully. “But I can tell you quite a lot in that time, an’ I can go on to-morrow if I don’t finish it. You’ll like it—Ginger’n me liked it awfully. Well, he starts off in the Ship of Mystery, an’ why it’s called the Ship of Mystery is because every night there’s ghostly moanin’s an’ rattlin’s of chains, an’ one day the man wot the tale’s about went down to get something he’d forgot in the middle of the night, an’ he saw a norful figure dressed in a long black cloak, with gleamin’ eyes, and jus’ as he was runnin’ away it put out a norful skinny hand, an’ said in a norful voice——”
William’s father looked wildly round for escape, and saw none.
Nemesis had overtaken him. With a groan he gave himself up for lost, and William, already thrilled to his very soul by his story, the memories of his exciting day already dim, pursued his ruthless recital.
THE END