Page:Cruise of the Dry Dock.djvu/236

 the sailor, “No, sir, no, sir, no, sir!” repeated the cockney over and over.

“For I'll shoot the man down like a dog! I'll hang him! I'll—I'll——”

“We—we didn't touch 'im!” cried the sailor in hoarse alarm. “'E done it 'isself, sir. Went clean crazy, kilt hisself—'orrible!” As the sailor gasped out “horrible” they entered the cook's galley where a dim light burned and a group of silent, sobering men stood in a knot over some object.

Madden shoved through to where two men stooped over a long body, dimly seen on the decking. The two men were Hogan and Deschaillon.

With his strange feeling still strong upon him, Madden knelt between the two. Caradoc lay limp and motionless, with a dark stain slowly spreading on the boards under his head.

“Tell me about this,” commanded Leonard, thrusting a hand under the prostrate man's shirt and feeling for his heart. The request set loose a babble.

“'E did it 'isself, sor!” “Split hopen 'is own 'ead, right enough!” “W'ack, 'e took 'isself,