“Where you going?” demanded the commander of the Hildegarde, curtly.
“I wanted to take a look at my motor boat to see if it was all right,” answered Ralph.
“The motor boat is all O. K., and I’m claimin’ it,” came from Bill Ferguson. “I’m goin’ to keep it for the damage done to my auto and the liquor I was carryin’.”
“I had nothing to do with that accident, and the motor boat belongs to my father,” answered Ralph.
“See here! You keep a civil tongue in your head, or there’ll be trouble on this schooner,” bellowed Ferguson. “All of you fellows are in this together, and I guess one is about as responsible as another. Better make ’em go forward, Cap’n, and behave themselves,” he added to his partner.
“I want the motor boat, and I want it right now,” answered Ralph. “The storm has cleared away, and we want to go ashore.”
“You talk like that to me, and the next thing you know you’ll be in the ship’s brig!” roared Captain Gilsen. “We’re on the high seas now, and I’m in command here. Every one of you get forward, and be quick about it! I’ll let you know when you can go ashore.”
“All right, we’ll go forward,” answered Ralph, stiffly. “Just the same, I want you to understand that you’re laying up a lot of trouble for yourself.”
Another war of words followed, several of the hands, and likewise the mate, coming to the scene to look on. In the end, there was almost a pitched battle, the captain shaking his fist in the boys’ faces and threatening them with all sorts of punishment if they did not behave themselves and do exactly as he ordered. Ferguson also took part in the argument, and even grabbed Jack by the arm.