Then, through the coarse bag which had been thrown over him, he heard the words, spoken close to his ear,—
“Now we’ll give it to him.”
And almost at the same moment a tremendous blow from a club fell upon his back and shoulder.
The two boat-thieves had been following Chap, intending to throw the bag over his head, and then punish him to their hearts’ content; but, perceiving the approach of Adam, they had hidden themselves behind the roots of a fallen tree, and when the sailor had jumped over the trunk and stood close to them, with his back toward them, they determined to give him the first taste of their revenge.
The instant that Adam felt the blow, he turned upon the fellow who held the bag over his head, and twisted him around in the direction from which the blow had come. But the man with the club skipped around and dealt the sailor another blow. Thereupon, Adam, feeling that he was at a great disadvantage in being blinded, and having an assailant free to whang him with a club, instantly clutched the man he held with a firmer grip, and tripped him up, both falling heavily to the ground.
Adam was a good wrestler, and could easily have thrown himself on his antagonist had he so chosen, but, instead of doing this, he rolled over so that the man he held in his strong arms was above him. In this way it was not easy to strike him without hitting the other fellow.
It is possible that the man who held the bag around Adam’s neck thought that he had, by his own skill, put himself above the sailor. At any rate, he raised his head, and said to his companion,—
“I can hold him here, and you run down and whang that long-legs. He hasn’t heard us, and you can slip up behind him. Be quick, now!”
The other fellow then left, and, being barefooted, he moved silently down toward Chap.
As soon as there had been time for him to get a little distance away, Adam, who had been lying on the ground, as if thoroughly exhausted by his brief struggle, suddenly revived, and, giving himself a vigorous twist, turned the other fellow under him, and grasping him by the throat, tore the bag off his own head with a jerk. Then Adam, giving a great shout, which echoed through the woods, proceeded to pound the miscreant under him as if he desired to punish him not only for the crimes he had done, but for those he intended to commit.