"Oh, don't, Isabel!" murmured Alice, in a low voice. "He--he never
thinks of me."
"You idiot! He never thinks of any of us," breathed Isabel through her
teeth. "That's why he gets such a hold of one; we're just a parcel of
helpless, miserable wretches, who've got on his nerves and forced him to
help us. Do you suppose, if this beastly old tramp went down this
minute, that he'd shed a tear for any of us? Not he!" She paused a
moment; then she said, with a kind of snarl, "He's got his girl. He's
left her behind there, and his heart with her. Oh, don't cry! But, yes,
do; your sort of woman can always find relief in tears. I can't."
An hour later, when Derrick returned to the group with a big can of
soup, he found Alice asleep, with her head pillowed on the bosom of
Isabel.
"Don't wake her," said Derrick.
Instantly Isabel, with a flash of the eyes, pushed the other's girl's
head away from her.
"Here, wake up!" she said, roughly. "You want as much petting as a
baby."
Derrick dealt out the soup, waited for a minute or two to see the
children start on it, then went down below to feed the elephants. One of
the huge beasts was troublesome, and as Derrick came up the man who was
the cause of it gave the animal a jab on the trunk with a hay-fork.
Derrick had already warned the fellow, one of the men-swine of whom
Isabel had spoken; consequently Derrick wasted no further words, but
dropped the truss of hay and gave the man a blow which sent him
sprawling. He got up, seized the hay-fork, and with murder in his eyes
lunged at Derrick; but Derrick, too quick for him, struck up the fork,
snatched it from the man's grasp, and hit him on the head with it.
"Get out of my sight," said Derrick, without raising his voice. "Let me
see you, or let me hear you, ill-treating one of the animals again, and
I'll lay you up for the rest of the voyage. You may take that as a
promise, and I've a knack of keeping my promises."
The man swore vilely, but suddenly stopped and slunk away, wiping the
blood from his face, and Mr. Bloxford's voice, from behind Derrick,
demanded shrilly: "Who appointed you general chucker-out of the establishment?"
"I've no direct appointment," said Derrick, coolly, patting the
elephant's soft trunk, which was wandering caressingly and gratefully
over his body. "But, unfortunately for me, I'm so made that I can't
stand by and see any animal ill-treated. It's a weakness of mine that
has caused me no end of trouble."