Part 9 (1/2)
”You done me dirt. You quit me cold. Git out. Two can play at a dirty game an' every dog must have his day. This is my day, Gib.
Scat!”
”Pers'nally,” McGuffey announced quietly, ”I prefer to die aboard the _Maggie_, if I have to. This ain't movin' day with B.
McGuffey, Esquire.”
”Them's my sentiments, too, Scraggsy.”
”Then defend yourselves. Come on, lads. Bear a hand an' we'll bounce these muckers overboard.” The Squarehead hung back having no intention of waging war upon his late comrades, but the engineer and the new navigating officer stepped briskly forward, for they were about to fight for their jobs. Mr. Gibney halted the advance by lifting both great hands in a deprecatory manner.
”For Heaven's sake, Scraggsy, have a heart. Don't force us to murder you. If we're peaceable, what's to prevent you from givin'
us a pa.s.sage back to San Francisco, where we're known an' where we'll have at least a fightin' chance to git somethin' to eat occasionally.”
”You know mighty well what's to prevent me, Gib. I ain't got no pa.s.senger license, an' I'll be keel-hauled an' skull-dragged if I fall for your cute little game, my son. I ain't layin' myself liable to a fine from the Inspectors an' maybe have my ticket book took away to boot.”
”You could risk your danged old ticket. It ain't no use to you on salt water anyhow,” McGuffey jeered insultingly.
”We can work our pa.s.sage an' who's to know the difference, Scraggsy?”
”You for one an' McGuffey for two. You'd have the bulge on me forever after. You could blackmail me until I da.s.sen't call my s.h.i.+p my own.”
”Don't worry, you snipe. n.o.body else will ever hanker to own her.” Another insult from McGuffey. Having made up his mind that a fight was inevitable, the honest fellow was above pleading for mercy.
”Enough of this gab,” Mr. Gibney roared. ”My patience is exhausted. I'm dog-tired an' I'm goin' to have peace if I have to fight for it. Me an' Bart stays aboard the steamer _Maggie_ until she gets back to Frisco town or until we're hove overboard in the interim by the weight of numbers. An' if any man, or set o' male bipeds that calls theirselves men, is so foolish as to try to evict us from this packet, then all I got to say is that they're triflin' with death.” (Here Mr. Gibney thrust out his superb chest and thumped it with his h.o.r.n.y fists, after the fas.h.i.+on of an enraged gorilla. This was sheer bluff, however, for while there was not a drop of craven blood in the Gibney veins, he realized that his footwork, in the event of battle, would be sadly deficient and he hesitated to wage a losing fight.) ”I got my arms left, even if my feet is on the fritz, Scraggs,” he continued, ”an' if you start anything I'll hug you an' your crew to death. I'm a rip-roarin' grizzly bear once I'm started an'
there's such a thing as drivin' a man to desperation.”
The bluff worked! Captain Scraggs turned to his retainers and with a condescending and paternal smile, said: ”Boys, let's give the dumb fools their own way. If they insist upon takin' forcible possession o' my s.h.i.+p on the high seas, there's only one name for the crime--an' that's piracy, punishable by hangin' from the yard-arm. We'll just let 'em stay aboard an' turn 'em over to the police when we git back to the city.”
He started for his cabin and the crew, vastly relieved, followed him. The pirates once more sat down and permitted their hot feet to loll overboard.
”It's cold down here nights, Gib,” McGuffey opined presently.
”Where're we goin' to sleep?”
”In our old berths, of course.” The success of his bluff had operated on Gibney like a tonic. ”Hop into your shoes, Bart, an'
we'll snake them two scabs out o' their berths in jig time.”
”I'm dodgin' fights to-night, Gib. Let's borrow a blanket or two from The Squarehead an' curl up on deck. It'll be warm over the engine-room gratin'.”
Mr. Gibney yawned. ”I guess you're right, Bart. While you're at it, make Scraggs come through with a blanket an' an overcoat for a pillow. Run up an' threaten him. He'll wilt.”
So McGuffey staggered forward. What arguments he used shall not be recorded here. Suffice it, he returned with what he went after.
CHAPTER XI
The pirates were early astir; so early, in fact, that long before Captain Scraggs and his crew appeared on deck, Messrs. Gibney and McGuffey had quietly cooked breakfast in the galley. They ate six eggs each and consumed the only loaf of bread aboard, for which act of vandalism they were rewarded half an hour later by the sight of Captain Scraggs dancing on a new brown derby.
”It's a wonder that bird wouldn't get him a soft hat to do his jumpin' on,” McGuffey remarked. ”He's ruined enough good hats to have paid for the new boiler. Yes, sir, whenever ol' Scraggsy gets mad he most certainly gets hoppin' mad.”
”It'll soak into his head after a while that us two mean business, Mac, an' he'll get sensible an' fire them outsiders.
I'm lookin' for him to make peace before noon.”