STO'B 6-9

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He descended into the maw of the magazine, trying as always to ignore the near panic of being surrounded by those deadly copper-hooped barrels. He deliberately counted the kegs in order to spend a reasonable amount of time in his inspection, then he entered the filling room and looked over the copper tools hanging from the overhead beams, already aware that he had no idea how many barrels he had counted. Then he complimented the gunner and escaped back up the ladder, taking some comfort in the knowledge that he had the gunner’s report in his cabin, and feeling immediate shame that he might need such a crutch.

The felt-lined hatch cover to the magazine fell shut with a muffled thump. Mister Horrace turned the brass key in its lock, and handed the key back to Philip. “Thank you, Mister Horrace,” said Philip, “very ship shape.” He realized that he was speaking somewhat at random and paused a moment to think of something intelligent to say. “Remind me how much powder we received from the prize?”

“Four barrels of red powder, sir, three full and nine half-barrels of white. Much of the white is rotten, sir, I mean no disrespect, but it looks like they neglected to turn the barrels. I’ve recovered it some but I don’t know that it’s fighting powder, so to speak.”

“But it should be good for practice, yes?”

“Oh, yes, sir,” said that gunner. “Yes indeed. I would say that’s the best use for it, and the sooner the better. I mean, for the sake of the powder, against further spoilage. I suppose you could use it for salutes, but you wouldn’t get that rich sound, sir.”

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