Blow the Man Down - A Romance of the Coast

"I'll get off mighty sudden and be glad to," retorted Mayo.

"Well, I'll be hackmetacked!" exploded Mr. Speed shoving his face over

the wheel. "It's--"

"Shut up!" roared the master. "How comes it you're aboard here as a

stowaway?"

"Don't talk foolishness," snapped Captain Mayo "Your old martingale

spikes hooked me up. Heave to and let me off!"

"Heave to it is!" echoed Oakum Otie, beginning to whirl the tiller.

Captain Candage turned on his mate with the violence of a thunderclap.

"Gad swigger your pelt, who's giving off orders aboard here? Hold on

your course!"

"But this is--"

"Shut up!" It was a blast of vocal effort. "Hold your course!"

"And I say, heave to and let that motor-boat take me off," insisted

Mayo.

Captain Candage leaned close enough to note the yacht skipper's uniform

coat. "Who do you think you're ordering around, you gilt-striped,

monkey-doodle dandy?"

"That motor-boat is coming after me."

"Think you're of all that importance, hey? No, sir! It's a pack of 'em

chasing me to make me go back into port and be sued and libeled and

attached by cheap lawyers."

"You ought to be seized and libeled! You had no business ratching out of

that harbor in the dark."

"Ought to have taken a rising vote of dudes, hey, to find out whether I

had the right to h'ist my mudhook or not?"

"I'm not here to argue. You can do that in court. I tell you to come

into the wind and wait for that boat."

"You'd better, Cap Candage," bleated Oakum Otie. "This is--"

"Shut up! I'm running my own schooner, Mr. Speed."

"But he is one of the--"

"I don't care if he is one of the Apostles. I know my own business. Shut

up! Hold her on her course!"

He took two turns along the quarter-deck, squinting up into the night.

"Look here, Candage, you and I are going to have a lot of trouble with

each other if you don't show some common sense. I must get back to my

yacht."

"Jump overboard and swim back. I ain't preventing. I didn't ask you on

board. You can leave when you get ready. But this schooner is bound for

New York, they're in a hurry for this lumber, and I ain't stopping at

way stations!" He took another look at the weather, licked his thumb,

and held it against the breeze. "Sou'west by sou', and let her run! And

shut up!" he commanded his mate.