The middy was a merry little boy, and this is the polite way he showed the gentleman aft.
"Luff, you lubber," he cried, "and if ye dare to back sail or heave to before you stand before the captain of this ship, I'll stick a pin in your hip right up to the hilt. March!"
"Now, Mr. Goddard, I hope for your own sake you will not give trouble, else it will be your own fault if anything occurs. You came to look for a sunken treasure ship?" began Captain Breezy.
"Yes, Cap'n, and yonder is the treasure island on which I was landed for fruit. I was therefore first owner, and there I dredged up this bar of gold, therefore the rest of it is mine by rights."
The two stood now in the waist of the ship, confronting each other, with the rest of the officers near, and Goddard's own surly men looking on.
"Mr. Keppel Drummond!"
Kep was by the captain's side in two bounds.
"I'd be sorry," he said, "to use an ugly word on the deck of the King's ship, so I shall speak in the mildest and calmest language possible."
Goddard had turned pale.
Kep raised his fist and his voice at the same time. "Goddard," he yelled, "you are not only a liar, but a thief. Hand me the gold."