“What do you want, you scoundrel?” asked Mr. De Vere angrily. “What do you mean by following me?”
“Rather strong language, my dear partner,” was the taunting answer from Blowitz. “Besides I don’t know that I am following you. The ocean is big enough for two boats, I guess.”
“Do you deny that you are following me, and seeking to find the derelict Rockhaven?” demanded Mr. De Vere.
“I deny nothing—I admit nothing, my dear partner.”
“I am no longer in partnership with you, since you tried to cheat me,” was the answer. “I consider our relations at an end.”
“Very well. But I am sorry to see that you are hurt. I hope it is nothing serious.”
“No thanks to you that I was not killed! You meant to end my life when you pushed me over the cliff, and, as soon as this business is settled I intend to see that you are punished for your crimes. You have gone too far, Carson Blowitz.”
“Not as far as I intend to go!” suddenly exclaimed the other, with a change in his manner. The two boats were now side by side, not twenty feet away. “You have guessed it,” he went on. “I am after the derelict brig, and I intend to get her. I am going to finish you before I am through. That ship is mine, and all the cargo on her. If you attempt to touch it I shall have to take stringent measures to prevent you. I warn you not to interfere with my property!”
“Your property!” cried Maurice De Vere. “That brig and all on it is mine, by every legal claim, and I shall maintain my rights to the uttermost.”
“Very well then, it is to be a fight!” answered Blowitz. “We are to be rival seekers after the derelict. Possession is nine points of the law, and I intend to take possession.”