Part 19 (1/2)

Spencer tumbled helter-skelter down the steps, followed by Tom and Bob.

But Dan held his ground, although his face paled.

On the _Scout_ everybody seemed for a moment paralyzed. Then the tugboat captain turned and ran clumsily toward the deck-house door, and the sailor who had been holding the two boats together with a boat hook fixed around the after cleat of the launch dropped the haft and disappeared quickly around the other side of the cabin. Probably he thought he was too near the scene of action. Captain Sander must have known where to look for a weapon, for before the tugboat captain had reached the door he was back again with a formidable revolver in his hand and his face convulsed with pa.s.sion.

”Stop that!” cried the captain of the tug. ”You can't shoot folks on my boat! You haven't hired me for a wars.h.i.+p!” And hurrying to the other, he seized the arm that held the revolver.

”Let go o' me!” bellowed Captain Sauder.

”You give me my pistol and I will,” panted the other. There was a struggle, in which one sought to wrest away the weapon and the other to keep possession of it and throw off his adversary. Bob, viewing the conflict from the cabin doorway, called to Dan.

”Come down here, Dan!” he commanded. ”Don't be a fool! He'll shoot you, sure!”

But Dan held his ground, revolver in hand.

Then several things happened simultaneously. Tom pushed Bob aside, hurled himself across the c.o.c.kpit, locked his arms around Dan's legs and brought him cras.h.i.+ng to the deck; Captain Sauder broke away from his opponent, raised his revolver and fired; and the _Vagabond_ churned the water under her stern and darted away at full speed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”Captain Sauder ... raised his revolver and fired.”]

The captain's aim had been hurried and the bullet sped singing through the air several feet above the launch, and before he could pull the trigger the second time the captain and mate of the tug had borne him back against the side of the deck house and wrested the revolver from his hand. The _Vagabond_, with no one at the wheel, charged across the tug's bow and headed for the west. On the floor of the c.o.c.kpit Dan was fighting and struggling to regain both his feet and the revolver which he had dropped under the suddenness of the attack, and which now lay beyond his reach.

”Let me up!” he panted.

”In a mu-mu-mu-minute!” gasped Tom, still holding on as though for dear life. Then Bob sprang to the wheel, brought the _Vagabond's_ head again into the course for Provincetown, and looked back at the tug, already a couple of hundred yards astern. The two captains were still arguing it out near the cabin door, but the mate was on his way to the wheelhouse.

A deck hand was trying to recover the boat hook, which had fallen into the water when the _Vagabond_ started up. In a moment he had succeeded, and the tug's nose swung around and pointed toward Sanstable. A minute later she was on her way home, billowing smoke from her stack and evidently resolved to make up for lost time. Bob called to Tom.

”Let him up, Tommy,” he said.

Nelson, rubbing the oil and grease from his hands with a bunch of waste, appeared at the door.

”Wh-what the d.i.c.kens!” he cried in amazement as he looked.

”Oh, Tommy and Dan have been having a little football!” answered Bob.

Dan climbed to his feet and observed Tom disgustedly.

”You think you're mighty smart, I suppose!” he growled. ”For two cents I'd b.u.mp your silly fat head against--”

”Cut it out!” said Bob sharply. ”You've made a fool of yourself long enough, Dan. You came near getting yourself plugged full of holes, and Tommy did just right. You think yourself a b.l.o.o.d.y hero, I dare say, but you ought to be kicked. Nice mess you'd made of it if that old terror had put a bullet into you! Next time I go cruising, I'll bet there'll be no red-headed lunatics aboard! Hand me my revolver!”

Dan, abashed, picked up the pistol and gave it to its owner.

”You needn't be so blamed grouchy,” he muttered.

”You'd make anyone grouchy,” answered Bob. ”And I want you to understand that you're to let my things alone after this.” He broke the revolver to extract the cartridges. Then he looked in surprise at Dan.

”Why,” he cried, ”it isn't loaded!”

”I suppose I know it, don't I?” growled Dan. ”I couldn't find your silly old cartridges!”