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The Drum of Saccharine
by William Hope Hodgson
[1917]
S.S. Adriatic,
May 23.
MR. ARMES, my First Mate, and Mr. James, the Second, had a row to-day. They clubbed together in port and bought a hundred pounds of saccharine.
The duty on it, going into England, is considerable -- sevenpence an ounce, upwards. In this case the duty will amount to about fifteen shillings a pound, as the stuff is over "proof," as I might say, and the duty varies according to strength. I think the two of them are rather aghast at their own daring; they've been planning, all the way home, how they're going to get the "goods" through the Customs.
Mr. Armes mentioned to me the proposition he and the Second Mate had in mind. This was after they'd bought the stuff, and I told him it would not interfere with anything I was doing, and they could go ahead. Only, if the Customs dropped on the saccharine, they must own up and pay the fine themselves. For I was not going to have the ship fined.
This was on the bridge, and he grinned at me, warningly.
"Sst! Remember the man at the wheel, Sir!" he said.
The row they had to-day came about through Mr. Armes proposing to hide the stuff in a big, empty paint-drum, which was to be made water-tight and then lowered over the side before the searchers came aboard. They would sink it on the end of a line and buoy the end with a casual bit of cork. Then, when the search was over, they would only have to get hold of the inconspicuous little float and haul the stuff up again.
The Second Mate's notion was to hang the stuff down inside the hollow steel mainmast with a thin wire, the end of which could