Leej and the Captain ran up the steps to the Promenade Deck, where the first individual encountered was De Mornay, the lachrymose actor. "Where did it come from?" shouted Leej. The actor turned two heavy lidded eyes to rest on Leej and the Captain. " What alarum is raised here? Where did "what" come from?" Leej gritted his teeth while Catspaugh growled "The noise, man!" De Mornay heaved a sigh in the manner of Romeo beholding the departed Juliet. " Do you mean the 'glug-glug-glug' sound? That, my good shipmaster, would be the plot thickening. If you hurry to the cabin of that funereal-dressed gambler fellow, you might just get to see it reach a rolling boil."

They scrambled past him, and down the companionway where a curious crowd was already assembled.