“No,” said Cunningham, promptly. “When I turn this yacht back to your father not a single guy rope will be out of order. It would be a fine piece of work to throw all those rare vintages over the rail simply to appease an unsubstantial fear on your part! No!”
“But if the men should break in? And it would be easy, because it is nearer them than us.”
“Thank your father for building the deck like a city flat. But if the boys should break in, there’s the answer,” said Cunningham, laying his regulation revolver on the chart table. “And every mother’s son of them knows it.”
“You refuse?”
“Yes.”
“All right. But if anything happens I’ll be on top of you, and all the bullets in that clip won’t stop me.”
“Captain, you bore me. Your father and the girl are good sports. You ought to be one. I’ve 182 given you the freedom of the yacht for the girl’s sake when caution bids me dump you into the brig. I begin to suspect that your misfortunes are due to a violent temper. Run along with your thunder; I don’t want you hurt.”
“If I come through this alive——”
“You’ll join your dad peeling off my hide—if you can catch me!”
It was with the greatest effort that Dennison crushed down the desire to leap upon his tormentor. He stood tense for a moment, then stepped out upon the bridge. His fury was suffocating him, and he realized that he was utterly helpless.