Then, fearlessly he went up to the discredited Father Christmas and extended his hand.
“Put it there, mate!” he invited, using an expression he had learned from his elders.
Emboldened by the boy’s example, the other children, first singly and then in groups, made friends with the now perspiring Father Christmas, who was soon distributing oranges from his sack as fast as he could. They swarmed round him, tugging at his crimson robe in their eagerness, until an over-excited lad jerked the leading stoker’s false beard from its insecure anchorage.
Amidst shouts of laughter from his messmates and the elder guests, Brown beat a hasty retreat to discard his transparent disguise.
After that things went with a go. The forehold was filled almost to overflowing, Wilson and the bowman carved, while Kenneth, who was thoroughly enjoying himself, handed round plates with the deftness of a conjurer. A tot of rum apiece loosened the tongues of the men, and soon the guests young and old were chattering—when they weren’t eating and drinking—to their hearts’ content.
After dinner games were organized, Leading Stoker Brown, now thoroughly and willingly resigned, taking the rôle of elephant and giving the children rides up and down the hold.
At one end of the hold the men foregathered, smoking tobacco that had never paid and would never pay excise duty, while the womenfolk sipped tea “mellowed” with something stronger.
The atmosphere grew so thick that it could almost be cut with a knife; but the youngsters, accustomed to playing in hovels heated by peat fires, continued their games with unabated zest. They insisted on their hosts joining in until sheer fatigue compelled the brawny seamen to desist.
When, at four o’clock, Kenneth announced that it was time for his guests to pack up, the children and the elders reluctantly took their departure, voting that the party was the most successful ever participated in by the inhabitants of the Mutches.
“Thank ‘ee kindly, sir!” exclaimed the man to whom the midshipman had originally given the invitation. “The kiddies have enjoyed themselves no end. Now, I suppose, you’ve got to take the schooner away. It’ll hit us hard—there’s no saying that it won’t—but we knows that dooty is dooty, and we can’t bear you no ill-will for carrying out orders.”