Ocean's Justice

Part 6

Six

As we headed down the corridor toward the washroom, he tucked my arm under his, laying my fingers across his cotton-clad forearm. "The washroom you know," he said, waving his hand at the empty room. "There's another on the other side of the ship, where most of the crew sleep, for only the captain's quarters have running water. Captain's quarters are two doors down from ours." He pointed at a closed door, then turned into a corridor I hadn't used before and rounded a corner. "Here – crew quarters." William led me into a corridor almost identical to the one where our cabin was, only this had far more doors, much closer together.

I heard the sounds of splashing and raised men's voices, then laughter as a pale, gangly figure burst into the corridor.

"That's not funny! Those are the last pants I have, what with loaning one pair to Maria and all!" Charlie shouted reedily, the muscles in his bare backside clenching as he drew himself up. He turned, caught sight of us, and emitted a very feminine shriek as he tried to cover his genitals with his hands. One hand would have sufficed in the cold morning air.

I burst out laughing, which made Charlie's face turn red.

"Mr McGregor, you could have warned us," Charlie complained, edging back into the washroom. "Miss Maria shouldn't see men when we're…when we're…" His words were drowned out by a wave of loud laughter from inside the washroom.

I advanced, but William grabbed my arm. His cheeks were flushed, too. "Probably not the best place for a lady like yourself. We get pretty rowdy without women present and some of the men are in no fit state to be seen. We'd better start with the hold." His voice sounded uneasy and I wondered what I'd done to unsettle him. Was it my laughter at Charlie's unfortunate shrinkage? Surely he hadn't expected me to admire the modestly endowed boy.

William led the way silently down ladders and corridors until we were in the echoing bowels of the ship. Here, overhead lights provided all the illumination – no natural light percolated to this depth. He fastened his hands on a wheel set in the middle of a metal door and wrenched the wheel around. Several squeaky turns later, William pulled the wheel toward him and the door swung open with a protesting creak. "This is the cargo hold. Some sort of mineral Australia's shipping to Belgium for the factories there. It looks like the mud we pump out of the coal mines back home – not useful at all!" He pulled a tube out of his pocket and a weak beam of light shot out of the end of it, splashing against the far wall of the hold. Beneath the beam was a pool of dark mud, bounded by walls and a metal catwalk that ran around the edges of the large space. The light beam rose to illuminate the hatch in the ceiling. "One of the port inspectors fell through the hatch before they sealed it. He almost drowned before they pulled him out – that stuff is like quicksand. It'll suck you under without a trace if no one hears you scream."

The mud held little interest for me, but William's hand-held light tube was fascinating. I dropped to my knees, reaching for the metal length he held at waist height. He laughed and clicked the device, extinguishing the light before another click blinded me as the bulb glowed to life. "It's a torch, lass."

"Torch?" I ventured, laying my hand on the surprisingly warm metal.

William's hand covered mine, pressing my finger down until a click turned the torch off. "If you want to play with it for a bit, it's all yours."

"Mr McGregor!" Charlie's voice leaped so high it broke. "What are you doing with Miss Maria?"

William stared down at me in shock for a moment before he jumped back, putting several feet between us. He waved the torch. "Showing her the hold and my torch, lad. Nothing…nothing inappropriate. She wanted a closer look at my torch and I didn't realise…if I'd thought how compromising it might look, I wouldn't have…" The front of his pants looked decidedly tight and uncomfortable.

Perhaps William wasn't as immune to my body as I'd thought, I reflected as I accepted Charlie's assistance to rise to my feet. I averted my eyes from the man's frantic, furtive wardrobe adjustments and followed Charlie instead.

The boy's hair was still wet, but he wore clothes as he led the way up the ladder. "You should see the engines, Miss Maria," he said eagerly. "The boiler room where the firemen work is like hell, but when you see how fast they stoke the engines – oh! It's like magic. You won't believe something so huge can go so fast."

William's muffled laugh behind me told me he was following us. "Lad, you have no idea," he muttered so quietly that I barely heard him, "but I think she might."