Seeing the dapper Leej, his Army revolver in full view, passing out of sight through the cargo hatch, the tan, lithe deckhand, clad only in his ragged levis, grabbed a capstan bar from the foredeck, and padded after him. Moments later, he stuck his head around the storage-hold entry and saw Leej standing there baffled; in a moment it was clear what was happening, and from the look of the wick, there were less than thirty seconds to do anything about. His heart stalled for an instant; then a flush of youthful adrenalin shook his whole body as he stepped forward, the capstan bar heavy in his arm.

"We've got one chance to stop this, sir -- stand a bit over there and keep your eyes peeledf for whoever tarted this!"

He drew the capstan bar, its crude hardened-iron mounting end forward, and in a single fluid movement through it as hard as he could straight toward the furthest forward whiskey barrel. With a slamming and cracking the barrel cracked from the powerful impact, tottering and falling from the barrel below it, spraying a thin stream of golden Kentucky whiskey from its cracked staves. The pool of whiskey grew rapidly until it reached the sputtering cordite fuse. For a moment it appeared as though the alcohol would only worsen things, as it sputtered in a bluish glow of alcoholic flames; but in another moment the impact of the liquid had overcome the sparking fumes, and dampened the wick to its very root. With a sighing hiss, the sparks of the wicked cordite died and gave way to the overwhelming stench of raw Kentucky whiskey.

The deckhand started to turn to Leej when he saw a shadow leap from behind a line of cargo cases, scuttling toward the hatch, and in the same moment saw Leej turn and fire. in the confined space below deck, the sound was overwhelming and his hearing was lost to an overpowering ringing sound, his eyes blurred by black powder smoke; as he recovered he saw Leej stride across the hold and stand over the inert form of a black-suited stranger, blood pooling from under his prone body, and twinkling on his outstretched hand, the red-jeweled signet ring of the Red Heron guild.