LIONEL HEATHCOTE, R.N.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14132, 6 August 1909, Page 3

LIONEL HEATHCOTE, R.N.

■{PUBLISHED; 'BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.]

" BY A. foster BATKES. [COPYEIGHT.3 NO. V.

HOWARD'S PREDICAMENT.

It w;<s in. the officers' mess-room- of the brand new T.S.S. Flint. She was just off the builder's hands., and having run her trials, doing very creditable work therein, was loading for her maiden voyage to Aus- j tralia. The personnel of her officers and engineers was almost precisely the» same as that of the ill-fated Northumberland, all of them being, after a short holiday at home, summoned to join Iho new vessel. Captain Warrington, too, who had commanded the Northumberland, was in command.

"She's not- a bad old tub!" remarked < Heathcote. disrespectfully alluding to the : fourteen thousand ton vessel of which he had the honour to he second officer. '; • " No! She is quite a passable old 'bus !" assented the chief in the same strain. '* Fif- \.. teen point eight on the trials! Gad; if she keeps that up re shall ha putting up ' some record passages!" Heathcote smiled. "We don't need to worry our poor little brains about that we are not paid to do that!" he remarked, a trifle acidly. "They won't give her the ;■ coal to do -well—that is a. certainty: so I'm I afraid there's very little hope of wresting ' the mail contract* from the P. and O. just ' yet. By the way, I've a piece of news for .' | youl'm engaged!" i It's no good, Heathcote ■; you can't have i us!" was the chiefs grinning rejoinder. I" We know you too well! Engaged as • second! officer here—granted. . As anything else—"No!" ".-.;' ; "'Fact, I assure yon!" said Heathcote, ; quietly, his eyes all the while on Howard, the third, whose face was becoming flushed, and the .muscles of Lis jaw working fiercely.- " I'm engaged to be married!" " You can 'asshaw' us all day and all night, if you like!" replied the chief, un-. convinced, "bat you won't get us to swallow it 1" Here the third, who had been behaving in a, curious manner, gulping and choking as, though something had stuck in his throat, found his voice, and almost shouted, "To •whom?" -. ■ Heathcote, who had not taken his eyes off his subordinate since the opening of the question, dropped his monocle and replied quietly, "Miss Hooper The third sprang to his feet, his eyes fairly bloodshot with passion, a noticeable pulse on his forehead beating as though it would hammer its way through, and the. muscles of his throat and jaw -working fast and fiercely, "Liar! Liar!! Liar!!! he thundered, beside himself with impotent fury. "Gentleman!" returned Heathcote calmly, without turning a hair. '■'..'. . "Damn you!" said the third, with a choke in his voice that sounded suspiciously like a sob of a girl in distress, "you're too much of a coward to take an insult in words—perhaps you'll take.that!" And so saying he flung the contents of his cup full in Heathcote's face. The coffee was hot, Heathcote correspondingly cool. As the recipient of such a dreadful insult, he remarked sarcastically, wiping the coffee f rom his face and collar with a clean silk handkerchief, "I suppose the choice of weapons is mine, Sir Fire eater, ne'st ce pas?" Then, rising slowly, he stepped round the table to whersi the third was sitting, looking dazed at hiss own presumption, but still thoroughly angry, and seizing him suddenly by the coat-collar behind, lifted him,,, kicking and struggling, from his chair. , , jT , "You might slip along and open the top of that refrigerating chamber man-hole, Mr,, Woods!' be. gasped. "It is no easy task to hold a biting, kicking, struggling., piece of humanity by the collar of his coat and the seat ol his trousers, even though he be but light, and little more than a boy m development." ■ ■■•,„, The fourth grinned. "Ay, ay, sir! he j said, and was gone. . ■; Heathcote, after some little difficulty, #ot his opponent out of the door and ran him successfully along the deck to the .top. ■ of the refrigerating chamber man-hole, which the fourth, all smiles, was holding invitingly open.. With one lasV huge ef- • fort, Heathcote swung the struggling figure off the deck,, and lowered his opponent s I legs down the man-hole until they rested on the iron rung of the vertical step-ladder ; that ran up the side of the cylindrical man- ! hole " " Put your feet on that ladder and go down, or. by the Lord Harry, I*ll drop you - he threatened. Howard, now ihorough- : lv cowed, obeyed, whining, «« V.ou arc not . going to leave me here, Heathcote . Oh,: 5 ves<" assented Heathcote cheerfully. A little freezing may cool your ardour somel. what- I'll come and pay you a visit, later! b"l aid lie slammed the iron to #-

The chief met him as he camo along the deck, inquiring, "What have you done with .j that thundering young ass?" ( " Put him whore nc'll cool down a little! _ lauglied Heathcote. "I had an idea that the youngster would be more or less hard hit, and kept my eye on him as 1 made the announcement, but 1 had no idea lie would make such an utter' fool of mmself! Had he : taken it quietly, 1 could have pitied him; but when he introduces melodrama it is quite beyond my scope!" ■"- young ass!" " commented , the chief; then added, "Heartiest congratulations, old man! I really, had no idea you meant it at first; come along to my room and have a drink en the strength of it!" They we a fortnight out, and had cross-ed-the Line during the afternoon preceding the night of the events hereafter related. The new vessel was crowded with passengers, as the latest innovation of a wellknown line usually is, and everything had gone splendidly, all hands "shaking down" to their positions in the new vessel with an ease and rapidity which augured well for the ultimate discipline of the ship. < Captain. Warrington was an excellent disciplinarian —by no means a martinent, but a man wno knew exactly what he wanted and made certain of having it, a trait in a captain which soon leads to both admiration and respect from his subordinates, from chief ; officer downwards. , Howard had taken his punisliment. and ! the subsequent scorn of the fourth, with an | {'equanimity and'absence of rancour surpris- | ing in one who had given • such a violent display of passion in the first place. Heathcote, good natured and forgiving always, never showed by word or deed that he remembered the,existence of any rift in the lute, and things had gone correspondingly slnootb.lv. It was twelve o'clock at night, and Heathcote had just arrived on the, bridge, wide awake and alert as ever to relieve Howard, who had just.. completed his. four-hour watch. " Rotten watch—!" remarked the latter, as he eyed .Heathcote rather curiously. "Do you ever feel tempted to go to sleep— to four are such rotten hours!" . "Oh, dear, no!" returned his superior with a'laugh which betokened an absolutely clear conscience. " I never feel sleepy when I've been up her© five had mv tea, and got my old 'gum bucket' under wav! Besides, the man that sleeps on- the bridge is guilty, in the event of anything happening, of nothing short of murder—manslaughter is far too mild a term I" " You speak strongly !" said the third, still eyeing him closely. - " I feel atronglv !" returned Heathcote. "If I caught a brother-officer asleep on the bridge, I should not hesitate to report him. It is all very well to prate about ' giving away a brother-officer,' and so forth, but it is far worse injustice to everyone aboard to let it go on!" "Yes!" asserted .the other, a strange, sarcastic-looking smile passing quickly over his features- ""The chip's company as well a* the passengers — suppose most of them have sweetheart*,, or wives, or .someone waiting for them at home ! Good-night, sir'.." 'And he turned abruptly and loft the bridge. Instead of going straight to his room, however, he opened the mess-room. door and went into where the' quartermaster was making the second's tea. " Give me, a piece of toast, quartermaster," he said, " I'm hungry to-night." ; "Alright, sir,'* returned the man, turning to cut the crust* and burnt part off a, piece he held, before handing it to his officer. . "What would you do, Williams, if you. caught an officer asleep on the bridge?" queried this seeker for information, as ho '©Drawled lazily over the table, absentmindedly stirring the sugar and condensedmilk ready in a mug for the tea. to be poured on'to it, the whole to be taken on to the bride before it had time to cool. "I should wake the captain, sir, and report the matter to him !" said the quartermaster, without a -second's 1 hesitation. " That kind of game isn't fair to any of .' us." "Quito right, Williams: quite right. Precisely what I should do myself !" said Howard'. " Good night!" Heathcote walked' up and down the bridge musing on the third's latest remark, and the tone in which he had uttered it, until the quartermaster appearing with his tea put a stop to a somewhat unpleasant train of thought. He gulped it down, telling himself that he really didn't much appreciate his midnight tea in the.: tropics. " Keeps one awake, 'though !" hs isoliloquieed : "so I may as well got it down —what queer tasting muck it is tonisht!" He put the mug down and a sudden unaccountable drowsiness seized him. He began walking up and down 'again, but his legs felt like so much lead, and seemed to give at the knees. He kicked himself, but'it felt a, good deal 'more as though he were kicking someone else, and he swore softly to himself. "What the devil is the matter with me to-night," he ruminated*'"' " Never felt like this since my apprentice days. It seems" • but his very thoughts refused to act rationally, and his mind seemed to be trail- , ling of? to somewhere where dreamy music was continually wafted on heavy, ''scent-. • laden air. One bell being struck partially aroused him. He tried to answer the look- :'■ out's cry of "Lights are bright, and all's well, sir l ." but his answering _ "All right" seemed to trail off into space in a most re-

narkable manner.

With a lafiifc effort of self-control he walked, or, rather, stumbled, down the bridge ladder and fumbled at the handle of the

captain's door. ' Opening it -with'-.eome difficulty, he stumbled over the step and eaid thickly, " Captain Warrington !" In a. moment the room was flooded with light, as the captain awoke and switched, oh the light, making

poor Heathcote blink more than ever. "What is it!" he asked, looking curiously at the half-veiled eyes and swaying figure of the man before him. " Very sorry, sir!" replied Heathcote, his voice seeming to be tuned unnaturally with a sing-song intonation which sounded like an exaggerated burlesque on his ■usual drawl, "But I'm "fraid must—ask —you — take —bridge! Impossible 'wake longer I" Then suddenly hie swaying form collapsed utterly, and he fell an inert, senseless heap on the carpet. "The* devil'." exclaimed Captain Warrington, springing from hie bunk and bending over the prostrate form. Then as he caught a whiff of the other's breath, Good Lord he eaid, and then gave vent to a prolonged whistle of surprise and dimay. Taking up his cap, he strode on to the bridge, seized the mug which he saw standing in the weather corner, and whistled twice for the quartermaster. That worthy hurriedly appearing, he said sharply, " Go and wake the surgeon ; present my compliments to him, and- ask him to be good enough to step up to my room immedi-' ately. Then come up here and stay on the bride, reporting to.yne the moment you see anything !'' "Ay, ay, sir!" said the man, admirably concealing his astonishment at seeing the "Old Man" up there in his pyjamas and no second. The doctor hurriedly appeared, thoroughly mystified at this midnight call, and together they went down to the captain's room, leaving the quarter-master on the bridge, with instructions to let the captain j know as soon as anything hove in sight. J Once inside the room the captain switched on the light, pointed to the prostrate | figure on the floor, and said laconically, ! "Look at that!" Then to the mug held, "And that, please, and examine both !" The doctor, a young man whose range of practising experience was nob very great, knelt beside the figure on the carpet, raised the eyelids, felt the pulse, smelt' the breath, and rose, satisfied. "Well?" was the captain's laconic query. " "Drugged!" returned the doctor, "and devilishlv cleverly drugged, too] It is only bv a luckv fluke that I can recognise it—had it shown me by a friend returned fro the East. It's «alled hyocene, and is almost, tasteless, though easily smelt. Won't do him a very great deal of harmonly make him sleep like a good chap for awhile. Who the deuce could have done it, and with what object?" " Object is plain enough. I only wish the perpetrator of the whole business was as -, easily discovered,'' said : the captain. " It is evidently someone intent on ruining him, and someone who knows the ins and outs of the game, too ! You say it -is an. Eastern drug,?"-

" Yes !" assented the doctor."And who the devil has been Iwiet, l wonder!" mused Captain Warrington "The quarter-master looked—by bad. i have it! I say, doctor, have you heard that vara that was going round about that young aee Howard's action on Heathcote, announcing his cngugemnt and the Bubseouent proceedings V , "I was wondering when you. would think of that!" observed the doctor, eroding;. " I know who it was as soon aat discovered the nature of the drug—he showed me some of this stuff when we were aboard the old Northumberland, telling me a curious yarn of how _he obtained it from an old Indian fakir !'* • „■ ■".,".','. "The deuced young villain; -eaid the captain; then apostrophising the silent figure at his feet, " I wonder what you will say to this!" ~ ■ '■.'■■. "We can't do much, except make him as comfortable as possible, captain, and let him sleep it off !" said the doctor, evidently itching to'get back to his comfortable bunk. "Will you leave him m here?" ■■■ . ■ : ■ , "Oh. yes! He'll be alright here, and 1 there will be less talk. Give mo a hand !to lift him on to the settee!" And toI gather they lifted the inert form .-arufc pil- | lowed it comfortably on the settee. ;. " You will oblige me by saying nothing of tide matter,-, doctor!" said the captain. "I should not like it to get round the j ship.'" "Trust the discretion of a medical man, captain," was the reply. " Good night, sir!" The following day, when Heathcote awoke at last, Captain Warrington told him all they had discovered, and ended by saving, "1 have done nothing until I should be able to tell yon, Heathoofev I leave the matter entirely in your hands!" "Thank you, sir!" drawled Heathcote. " And I shall be much obliged if you will continue to do so, as I believe .myself fully capable of defiling with the gentleman alone." "I don't doubt it," chuckled the captain. "Don't let him down too easily, Heathcote." Heathcote went straight to the doctor. " Doctor," he petitioned, " give me some pills— will do—make them of sawdust, lyddite, or anything that comes handiest, and is likely to cause a little 'tummy ache' without doing any permanent harm." "Ay, ay, sir," grinned the doctor, then added, "let m© see the fun, Heathcote. What are you going to do?" "That is my palaver," returned Heathcote. "As for these pills, doctor, they are for catching fish!" " You »ire as close as an oyster, man," laughed the doctor. " Any relation to the fish a, certain drug caught the other nightV"

At seven o'clock that night Heathcote rapped at the third's doftiv and said., "Are you there, Mr. Howard " Come in," was the response. "To what lucky circumstance am I indebted for the pleasure of this visit? lb really isn't often I see you nowadays, Heathcote." "No*" returned hie superior; " Ido not visit a great deal as a, rule. But I have , com« oii a little matter. of business tonight." ; "Business!" queried the other, looking a shade worried. . " What earthly business can you have with, a man in the middle of a long sea trip, Heathcote? You speak in riddles." "■■-■' " Oh," drawled Heathcote, producing a pill box,, "I merely want you to sample: these pills— a kind -of idea that they may prove good for your health." "What are they!'"' asked Howard, curiously and unwarily. -...'. "I'm not quite certain," was the reply; "that is why 1 want you to sample,them. I am really quite anxious to note their effect, and see if they are are efficient as the doctor proclaims them." A,cold sweat broke out on. the forehead of the young man before him, as he realised—" thought he " realised—what ; . was meant, and "the full importance of it. ''.""'.This is preposterous," he blustered. "You'come to me with some filthy, un;known drug, .and,-want to try ■ your . beastly experiments on me. I shouldn't dream of talcing them l !'' _ '"Oh! I heard that you were quite an authority on obscure drugs," said Heathcote sweetly, smiling innocently at j>he other through his monocle; "and' ll I've really quite a. conviction that they would prove good for your health. Indeed," with a very solicitous air, " I'm much afraid your .health ie in considerable danger if .yon don't take them." "You can't prove anything," snapped the other, throwing caution to the winds. "Perhaps not," said Heathcote, still-smil-ing blandly, '' but I've enough circumstantial evidence to get you into a very nasty hole, friend Howard." "Do your worst, ,then," said Howard rulkily. '"I'd rather Ice my 'ticket' and get put- in gaol than take-' an unknown poison, anyhow," " Oh, come {" - said Heathcote, .blandly, "that is confoundedly ungrateful of you. Here am I giving you every chance of dying like a gentleman, while you persist in dragging your name through the mire. Perhaps I can still persuade you, though." And he produced his great revolver from a hip pocket, and .pointed it carelessly in Howard's -direction, hie finger on the trigger. He was sifting on Howard's desk, swinging his legs and looking the picture of gay bonhommie, as he smilingly spoke. "Heathcote! You dare not!" said Howard, with a catch in his voice. "Yea," returned the person addressed, gaily, "though I swing as high as Hainan!" "Think of her, though," said the other, playing his trump card with dry lips. The revolver came up flush with his eyes, with an ugly little jerk, but Heathcote still smiled urbarily. "If I hear you mention her name again, my friend," he-re-turned evenly, "I sha'n't wait for you to decide whether to take the pills or not." Howard groaned. Being an arrant coward ] at heart he took the .burlesque that was causing- the other such keen enjoyment perfectly seriously. Seeing Heathcote smile told'him nothing. He had eeen him knock a man down with just that self-same smile on his face, and believed him capable of anything. His white forehead was damp with a cold perspiration as he reached a trembling hand out for the box. • " Give it to me," he said hoarsely. "Murderer!" "With pleasure," said Heathcote cheerfully. "I thought you would see reason in the - 'Saint!" With two huge gulps Howard took down the pills. Heathcote handed him the water bottle, "just.to make sure of their going all the way," he eaid meaningly, as he watched the third drink greedily, as though the water might prove an antidote. " Good night"—putting up his revolver —" and sweet dreams." Howard sank on to his settee.. "Sweet dreams!" he soliloquised. " And lie knows I'm due on the bridge in half an hour. Oh ! he has killed me. 1 might have known he would not let it pass altogether." Half an hour later the fourth burst into Heathcote's room, saying, "What the devil have you done to Howard? He is rolling round the bridge doubled up, yelling that you are his murderer; and the ' Old Man' 'is laughing fit to kill himself?" Heathcote smiled serenely, swung his legs over his bunk board, reached out for his monocle, and drawled, "Gad!.-Is he that bad? Deuced funny—what?"

No. VI. of these interesting series, entitled " CAPTAIN WARRINGTON'S MISTAKE," will be published in a future issue.