I think I’ve mentioned it before but what essentially happens is Hornblower spends all day drinking and trying to summon the courage to make a proposition, and Bush spends all day drinking and waiting for said proposition, and he finally gives up and goes off with some woman, which is the catalyst required for Hornblower to act. (I don’t think he consciously intends to spur Hornblower on, but it works.) They end up fighting (or one of them does, the other one is just confused) and only halfway through does Bush put two and two together. And then they have to go find somewhere to hole up in because they’ve been booted out of that particular bordello for causing trouble.