"
Coke paused to take breath.
"Wot a pity we can't give 'im a leg up," he added confidentially. "It
'ud be worth a pension to every man jack of us. 'Ere 'e is, special
freight, so to speak. W'y _'e'd sign anythink_."
Once the train was laid, it was a simple matter to fire the mine. When
Hozier awoke, to find the launch heading west, he was vastly astonished
by Coke's programme. It was all cut and dried, and there was really
nothing to cavil at. If they met a steamship, and she stopped in
response to their signals, her captain would be asked to take care, not
only of Miss Yorke, but of any other person who shirked further
adventure. As for Coke, and Watts, and the majority of the men, they
were pledged to De Sylva. Even Norrie, the engineer, a hard-headed
Scot, meant to stick to the launch until the President that was and
would be again was safely landed among his expectant people.
Watts let the cat out of the bag later.
"Those of us 'oo don't leave Dom Wot's-'is-name in the lurch are to get
ten years' full pay, extry an' over an' above wot the court allows," he
said. "Just think of it! Don't it make your mouth water? Reminds me
of a chap I wonst read about in a trac'. It tole 'ow 'e took to booze.
One 'ot Sunday, bein' out for a walk, 'e swiped 'arf a pint of ginger
beer, the next 'e tried shandy-gaff, the third 'e went the whole hog,
an' then 'e never stopped for ten years.
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