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The boys tells me there's one man gives 'em as much as eight pieces; that's what they calls a lumping ha'p'worth. And the liquor's richer when you boils up so many eels. What's my tin pot ag'in' his five-gallon one? There's even some that boils the 'eads, and sells 'em for a farthing a cupful; but I've not come to that. But we're badly off.

Charley exclaimed. "Either that boat is a daisy, or we've got a five-gallon coal-oil can fast to our keel!" It certainly looked it one way or the other. And by the time Demetrios made the Sonoma Hills, on the other side of the Straits, we were so hopelessly outdistanced that Charley told me to slack off the sheet, and we squared away for Benicia.

Many of the boxes gave no hint of what was inside of them; but a good deal of the stuff as the pigs of lead and cans of powder, the many five-gallon kegs of spirits, the boxes of fixed ammunition, the cases of arms, and so on evidently was regular West Coast "trade." And all of it was jumbled together just as it had been tumbled aboard.

There's no end o' them things here as many as ye like to pick; it's only the day before to-morrow that I turned up a nugget of pure goold the size of me head; and the capting got hold o' wan that's only half dug out yet, an' wot's seen o' 't is as big as the head o' a five-gallon cask all pure goold." The Yankee was not to be put off the scent by such a facetious piece of information.

I was glad to see him climb down the steep embankment, carrying in one hand a five-gallon tin, neatly painted, which had opening and cover at the long side, to which a handle was attached. Under the other arm he had the usual outfit of a travelling Malay, a mat, on which he slept at night and in which were wrapped a sheet and a few pieces of light clothing.

The lowing of cattle and the bleating of the goats and sheep were everywhere heard, giving the country a happy, pastoral aspect. The Sultan of Shiza desired me to celebrate my arrival in Unyanyembe, with a five-gallon jar of pombe, which he brought for that purpose.

They gave him one hour to get out, and that is the last I have ever heard of him. We laid in a supply of provisions, and did not forget a five-gallon jug of whisky. We went out to the lake, hired a yacht, and started. Bill was pretty full, so I told him to go below and lay down for a while, and I would look after the boat.

Beer was sold in five-gallon kegs at one dollar a keg, but the purchaser of beer had to pay in addition for the keg, which was refunded when he returned the keg in good condition. The Government manufactured pure liquors and no foreign liquors were admitted into Eurasia.

But I made no reply. I listened, and I listened coldly, and as I listened I knew why the English had blown their mutinous Sepoys from the mouths of cannon in India long years ago. And when, this morning, I saw the steward struggling with a five-gallon carboy of sulphuric acid, I never dreamed the use he intended for it.

Furiously he began scooping out the water. After a long, discouraging fight the boat was bailed clear. "We've got to run before it while I rig another drug," said Spurling. "Keep her as she is." In the stern stood a five-gallon can of gasolene, one of the few things that had not been washed overboard when the dory filled.