Chapter Four

James was about ready to wear a hole in the floor due to his pacing. He half listened to Will, Charles, and Harold still in their argument when there was a shout from the chest.

"I see nothing! I see nothing!" Herbert's voice shouted.

A pair of hands stretched out from the chest and latched onto the edges. Almost immediately the men gathered around to pull Mayda O'Brian out of the chest. They could see that she was standing on Herbert's shoulders and her long skirt was hitting him in the head and about the face. True to his word he kept his face looking down and to the ground.

"We got you!" Charles said as he grabbed her around the waist before helping pull her out of the chest. As Will and Charles helped Mayda get to her feet James and Harold latched onto Herbert and began to pull. He kept his face tilted downward as he continued to shout that he saw nothing.

"So, what was it like?" James asked once Herbert had regained his bearings.

"The phrase 'tone it down' does not apply there. I met some girl with silver shoes skipping down some yellow brick road and something about a wizard. The flowers are alive there too. They tried to talk and kiss me! I'll never look at flowers the same way again! I think they might even be listening!"

"Did you get to meet the fairy folk?" Will asked.

"Oh yes, that I did."

"Are you their king?"

Herbert made a face and shook his head, "They don't have kings! I'm their prime minister! Miss O'Brian is their queen!"

The other men all looked as if the wheels inside their heads suddenly stopped.

Finally Will asked, "How are you their queen?"

"It's a woman thing, Mister Murdoch," Mayda replied and took the silver tray before departing the bridge.

"I'll never understand women," James said. "Let alone Irish women."

"I've given up a long time ago."

Harold paused, "Elephant in the room. What do we do about the chest?"

"I think we should leave it so we don't anger the fairy folk," Herbert said. "They've got a way of using mind control on people and I think they've got to Mister Ismay."

For the life of him Bruce Ismay couldn't understand why the deck officers were tripping over themselves to avoid him. It wasn't like the fairy folk had told him to harm anyone, but rather to steal all the milk on Titanic so they could have a feast.

Humans!

End.