Brander looked around. "Yes, sir."
"When a man can't do his own work here, we don't want him. Keep your hands off Mauger's tasks."
Brander said respectfully: "I helped him without thinking, sir. Thought the thing was to do the work, no matter who...."
Noll Wing stepped toward him; and his eyes were blazing, not so much with anger as with sheer exuberance of strength. He roared: "Don't talk back to me, you...."
And struck.
Now Noll Wing was proud of his fists, and proud of his eye; and for fifteen years he had not failed to down his man with a single blow. But when he struck at Brander, a curious thing happened....
Brander's head moved a little to one side, his shoulders shifted.... And Noll's big fist shot over Brander's right shoulder. The captain's weight threw him forward; Brander stepped under Noll's arm. The two men met, face to face, their eyes not six inches apart. Noll's were blazing ferociously; but in Brander's a blue light flickered and played....
The men waited, not breathing; the officers stepped a little nearer. Dan'l Tobey licked his lips. This would be the end of Brander.... It was not etiquette to dodge the Old Man's blows....
But, amazingly, after seconds of silence, Noll Wing's grim face relaxed; he chuckled.... He laughed aloud, and clapped Brander on the shoulder. "Good man.... Good man!"
Mr. Ham called: "We'll gally the sparm...."