"
McPhee grinned all over, and lay back to think.
"And then?" said I.
"We were no drunk in ony preceese sense o' the word, but Radley's
showed me the dead men. There were six magnums o' dry champagne an'
maybe a bottle o' whisky."
"Do you mean to tell me that you four got away with a magnum and a
half a piece, besides whisky " I demanded.
McPhee looked down upon me from between his shoulders with toleration.
"Man, we were not settin' down to drink," he said. "They no more
than made us wutty. To be sure, young Bannister laid his head on
the table an' greeted like a bairn, an' Calder was all for callin'
on Steiner at two in the morn an' painting him galley-green; but
they'd been drinkin' the afternoon. Lord, how they twa cursed the
Board, an' the Grotkau, an' the tail-shaft, an' the engines, an' a'!
They didna talk o' superfeecial flaws that night. I mind young
Bannister an' Calder shakin' hands on a bond to be revenged on the
Board at ony reasonable cost this side o' losing their certificates.
Now mark ye how false economy ruins business. The Board fed them
like swine (I have good reason to know it), an' I've obsairved wi'
my ain people that if ye touch his stomach ye wauken the deil in a
Scot.
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