She fancied she understood his reticence, and that it became him.
"Take that pork away, and bring more water!" he said, and there was a faint ring in his voice, as he turned to the cook.
The man, who took up the teapot, shook it, and then, as though still incredulous, lifted the lid and gazed inside it.
"More water ?" he said.
"Yes," said Alton, a trifle harshly.

"Get it right now!" The man went away, and there was for almost a minute a somewhat unpleasant silence.

Even Seaforth did not seem to know what to say, though he felt an absurd desire to laugh, and Alice Deringham was at once relieved and somewhat astonished when Alton put an end to it by a whimsical story of a raw Englishman's camp cookery.

Seaforth followed it with a better one, and the whole four were laughing when the cook came back again.

He smiled at them reassuringly as he put the teapot down.
"I guess there's enough this time," he said.