Free The Devil's Cocktail by Alexander Wilson Page B

grey felt hat and bowed.
    â€˜I hope you don’t mind my butting in,’ he said. ‘It kinder got my goat to hear that female letting things rip.’
    â€˜I suppose you mean to be polite,’ said Hugh stiffly, ‘but this is a matter that my sister and I hardly care to discuss with a stranger.’
    â€˜I guess not,’ replied the American, ‘but you see I feel rather an interest in Olive Gregson.’
    â€˜You know her then?’ asked Joan.
    â€˜I reckon I do. She tried the same game with me six months ago travelling from Bombay to Port Said.’
    â€˜Good gracious!’ exclaimed Joan. ‘How awful!’
    â€˜Well, I’ll say it wasn’t nice. All the same I sorter have a sneaking hope that she’ll get a husband one of these days – she deserves one.’
    â€˜Oh! She makes me hate my sex!’ said Joan in disgust, and turned to the contemplation of the Arabian desert.
    â€˜Then she makes a habit of this sort of thing?’ asked Hugh.
    â€˜It kinder looks like it. Say, it wouldn’t be a bad notion if I introduced myself. I’m Oscar J. Miles, an American at a loose end.’ He held out his hand and smiled, and Hugh grasped it with the feeling that he and this man were destined to become staunch friends.
    â€˜My name’s Shannon, Hugh Shannon,’ he said. ‘This is my sister.’
    Joan turned round, and held out her hand. She decided that Mr Oscar Miles was a good sort. He took her hand and held it gently for a second.
    â€˜I’m glad I made up my mind to return to India, Miss Shannon,’ he said. ‘I have not made many friends since I left the States.’
    â€˜Are you travelling round the world?’ she asked.
    His eyes twinkled.
    â€˜I have travelled some,’ he replied. ‘I started off two years ago after a breakdown in health, and there isn’t much of the little old world I haven’t seen since. I spent five months in India and then came toEgypt. During the last six months I guess I’ve seen all there is to be seen in North Africa.’
    â€˜How lovely to travel about like that!’ said the girl.
    â€˜It kinder gets lonesome after a while,’ he smiled, ‘and I half made up my mind to go back home, but I decided to have another look at India first.’
    â€˜What part are you bound for?’ asked Hugh.
    â€˜That’s just what I can’t tell you. I’ll lump my bags ashore at Bombay, but there’s a whole lot of thinking to be done there, before I move on.’
    â€˜We’re going to Lahore,’ said Joan. ‘My brother will be stationed there for three years.’
    â€˜Gee! I thought of seeing a little bit of Northern India myself, and Lahore’s a great place to be in just now.’
    â€˜Why?’ asked Hugh.
    â€˜There’s a whole lot of trouble simmering, I guess, and if a man can butt in without the authorities getting sore, he can have some fun.’
    Hugh looked serious.
    â€˜Do you mean to say that things are as bad as that there?’
    â€˜Well, they might be!’
    Hugh looked at his sister seriously.
    â€˜I’m beginning to be sorry I brought you now, Joan,’ he said.
    â€˜Not a bit of it,’ said Miles. ‘The trouble’s in the native quarter, not in the civil station. Miss Shannon won’t know there’s anything on. Say, what about a drink? Talking is dry work, and I guess there’s a smoking room on this vessel with all the usual appurtenances thereto.’
    â€˜But ladies are not admitted,’ said Hugh.
    â€˜Isn’t that a mighty shame? Well, we’ll find a plate where ladies are admitted!’
    Joan smiled.
    â€˜I’d rather stay on deck, thank you, Mr Miles. You and Hugh go along to the smoking room.’
    â€˜Hugh and I’ll sure find our way there,’ declared the American, then smiled. ‘What do you think of that?’ he said.