The next minute the man had disappeared among the trees, leaving Nic to stand staring after him, thinking of what would be the result if the salmon-poachers met their match.
Chapter Five.
The Captain cannot let it rest.
“Hullo, Nic, my boy; been overboard?”
The young man started, for he had been thinking a good deal on his way back to the house. His anger had cooled down as much as his body from the evaporation going on. For, after all, he thought he could not find much fault with Pete Burge. It would seem only natural to such a rough fellow to serve his assailant as he had himself been served.
“And he did save my life afterwards, instead of letting me drown,” thought Nic, who decided not to try to get Pete punished.
“I’ll give him one more chance,” he said; and he had just arrived at this point as he was walking sharply through the trees by the combe, with the intention of slipping in unseen, when he came suddenly upon his father seated upon a stone, and was saluted with the above question as to having been overboard.
“Yes, father,” he said, glancing down at his drenched garments, “I’ve been in.”