STO'B 6-10

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Philip nodded. “You’ve been very busy, Mister Horrace. I dare say you haven’t had a chance to enter this powder in your log, yet?”

“No, sir, not yet. I usually leaves the fine copy till the beginning of the following day, sir, to allow for all that might happen. It also helps me to get up to speed for the day to come, like, looking over the last day.”

“Well, perhaps the carpenter can spare you some green paint to mark the casks with,” said Philip, who had given the matter some thought over the preceding hours.

“Green, sir?”

“Come, Mister Horrace. It certainly doesn’t qualify for red markings, does it?”

“Cylinder powder? No, sir, not at all.”

“And blue would be ordinary powder, while white is recycled, neither of which apply here, though I understand that the ordinance board keeps close track of both?”

“Yes, sir, that they do,” said the gunner, nodding but still clearly confused.

“But green powder?”

“Oh,” said the gunner, cottoning on at last. “No, I don’t suppose they’d give a rat’s ass about green powder, begging your pardon. In fact, recording it might be more trouble and confusion than it’s worth, from the board’s point of view.”

Author's Note|First Post|Previous|Next| last episode with Dr M’Mullen GLOSSARY