casks filled with water I'll get 'em ready and go back to the ship to spread the glad tidings."
Keith had barely spoken. For one thing his head was playing him ridiculous tricks. Occasionally the world spun round dizzily like a tee-to-tum, and when it stopped with a nauseating jerk the figure of the naval officer assumed grotesque proportions. He stretched to an impossible height—a perfectly ludicrous height—and then contracted to a blur, all of which was head. Keith was afraid to trust himself to speech, lest he should make comments on these peculiarities on the part of the lieutenant, because, though his eyes showed him absurd things he still had sufficient common sense left to know that it was a mere delusion, for which he had to thank the malarial germ. Also he was fervently anxious to know whether the lieutenant's visit had a direct bearing on certain incidents which occurred on the tramp steamer Four Winds. It became an obsession with him to settle that problem by putting the question direct. And yet that wouldn't do. No, it would be lacking in diplomacy, he reflected. Somehow it would be wrong to raise the point now, after keeping his silence so long. And yet it would be vitally interesting to know. If only the world would stand still for a few minutes he would be able to think sanely.
Then the attack passed away for a while, leaving him childishly weak, for his knees would only just
