They were exchanging jocular reminiscences of the donkeys in Cairo.

A pale anxious youth stepping softly on long legs was being chaffed by a strutting and rubicund globe-trotter about his purchases in the bazaar.

"No, really--do you think I've been done to that extent ?" he inquired very earnest and deliberate.

The band moved away, dropping into chairs as they went; matches flared, illuminating for a second faces without the ghost of an expression and the flat glaze of white shirt-fronts; the hum of many conversations animated with the ardour of feasting sounded to me absurd and infinitely remote.
'"Some of the crew were sleeping on the number one hatch within reach of my arm," began Jim again.
'You must know they kept Kalashee watch in that ship, all hands sleeping through the night, and only the reliefs of quartermasters and look-out men being called.

He was tempted to grip and shake the shoulder of the nearest lascar, but he didn't.