"Come hon!" cried Cockney, for the men delayed again. "Come hon!"
"Who do you think you are?" said the man whose eye Cockney caught as he spoke.
Cockney, a mere "straw boss," had no scruples. He leapt at the man, both hands at his neck tight, crashed him to the deck and knelt violently in his stomach.
"Talkin' ter me!" he said, coming erect, and the gang moved forward, while he who had fallen sat up, gasping for breath.
"Shake a leg!" ordered Rafferty, behind, and the last men, at sound of that voice, hastened forward, then delayed again, made a jam. It was Jack and Jack's partner who were the cause of that; and it was intentional on their part. Rafferty's eye sighted an end of wire rope. He lifted it and whirled it down upon the back of the last man.
"He hit me!" yelled the man.
"Get on!" said Rafferty.
A man ahead pushed Jack's partner.
"Gettin' me blimed fer this," he said. "It's you."
"Oh, you coward!" sneered Johnnie.