Bring him alive if you can--but bring
him."
No one made a move to enter the forecastle.
"Go on now, move quickly," commanded Skipper Simms
sharply.
"Thought he said 'we'," remarked one of the sailors.
Skipper Simms, livid with rage, turned to search out the
offender from the several men behind him.
"Who was that?" he roared. "Show me the blitherin' swab.
Jes' show him to me, I tell you, an I'll learn him. Now you,"
he yelled at the top of his voice, turning again to the men he
had ordered into the forecastle after Billy Byrne, "you cowardly
landlubbers you, get below there quick afore I kick you
below."
Still no one moved to obey him. From white he went to
red, and then back to white again. He fairly frothed at the
mouth as he jumped up and down, cursing the men, and
threatening. But all to no avail. They would not go.
"Why, Skipper," spoke up Bony Sawyer, "it's sure death for
any man as goes below there. It's easier, an' safer, to starve
him out."
"Starve nothin'," shrieked Skipper Simms. "Do you reckon
I'm a-goin' to sit quiet here for a week an' let any blanked
wharf rat own that there fo'c's'le just because I got a lot o'
white-livered cowards aboard? No sir! You're a-goin' down
after that would-be bad man an' fetch him up dead or alive,"
and with that he started menacingly toward the three who
stood near the hatch, holding their firearms safely out of range
of Billy Byrne below.
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