“So you’ll persecute a helpless woman, will you,” he jeered, as he handed a jolt on the captain’s cheek. “How do you like to face a man? Oh! never mind that eye; you’ve got one left. Don’t worry about your nose; it’ll straighten out again. Here’s one for your solar plexus. Why don’t you guard better? And here’s the end of the show.”
With every ounce of his weight behind it, he drove his left against the point of the captain’s chin, and that individual went down like a pole-axed ox and lay still.
As he fell Gallegher sprang forward, belaying-pin in hand, but shrank back again as Jackson shoved his revolver into his face.
“Hold hard!” cried the policeman. “Fair play, ain’t it, mates?”
For an instant the situation hung in the wind as the sailors hesitated. Then Joyce sang out:
“Fair play!” he cried. “The cap’n said he should have fair play. And hurrah for Lootenant Howard, says I.”
Sailors are like children; a straw will turn them. With one accord they burst into a cheer. “It was a good fight,” they cried. “The lieutenant’s won the girl fair.”
While they had hesitated Howard had acted. He was under no illusions as to the permanency of their mood, and, even as they cheered him, he turned to Dorothy.
“Quick!” he whispered. “Don’t lose a moment. Come, Jackson! Get Miss Fairfax out of this and back to the Queen. I’ll cover your retreat.”
But escape was not to be so easy. As Howard turned to face the sailors, Forbes struggled to his feet. His face was gray with rage and his words came thick.