"D'ye hear me?" bawled the strident voice again.
Norton looked about desperately for some weapon of defense. He saw an engineer's spanner on the floor by the bunk across the way, and with no small physical effort he succeeded in obtaining it. He stood up, his hand behind his back.
"All right, me bucko! I'll come down an' git ye!"
A pair of enormous boots began to appear down the companionway, and there gradually rose up from them a man as wide as a church door and as deep as a well.
"Wait a moment," said Norton, gripping the spanner. "Let us have a perfect understanding right off the bat."
"We're going to have it, matey. Don't ye worry none."
Norton raised the spanner, and, dizzy as he was, faced this seafaring Hercules courageously.
"I've been shanghaied, and you know it. Where are we bound?"
"Copenhagen."
"Well, for a month or more you'll beat me up whenever the opportunity offers. But I merely wish to warn you that if you do you'll find a heap of trouble waiting for you the next time you drop your mudhook in North America."