"Stop that, now. If I come down to you I'll peck your cranky head off, I
will."

And then would follow silence for a quarter of an hour, after which the
whole thing would begin again.




CHAPTER V


Brown and MacShaughnassy came down together on the Saturday afternoon;
and, as soon as they had dried themselves, and had had some tea, we
settled down to work.

Jephson had written that he would not be able to be with us until late in
the evening, and Brown proposed that we should occupy ourselves until his
arrival with plots.

"Let each of us," said he, "sketch out a plot. Afterwards we can compare
them, and select the best."

This we proceeded to do. The plots themselves I forget, but I remember
that at the subsequent judging each man selected his own, and became so
indignant at the bitter criticism to which it was subjected by the other
two, that he tore it up; and, for the next half-hour, we sat and smoked
in silence.