"I'm a passenger on this vessel, Captain Hill, and your
authority doesn't extend to me."
"We'll see about that, sir," said the captain, and he grasped Stubbs
by the collar.
Now, the Yankee was not a heavy man, but he was very strong and wiry,
and, moreover, in his early days, like Abraham Lincoln, he had been
the best wrestler in the Vermont village in which he was born. He was
a very quiet, peaceable man, but he was accustomed to resent insult in
an effective way. He wrenched himself free by a powerful effort; then,
with a dexterous movement of one of his long legs, he tripped up the
captain, who fell in a heap upon the deck. The shock, added to the
effects of his intoxication, seemed to stupefy the captain, who
remained where he fell.
"Boys," said Stubbs, coolly, to the two sailors, who had been ordered
to put Harry in irons, "hadn't you better help the captain into his
cabin? He seems to be unwell."
Just then the mate came on deck. He didn't make inquiries, but took in
the situation at a glance, and assisted the captain to his feet.
"Shall I help you downstairs, sir?" he asked.
The captain silently acquiesced, and the prime actor in this rather
startling scene left the deck.
Jack Pendleton scrambled down from his elevated perch with the agility
of a cat.
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