"I's skeered to touch dat boy; feared he come back and follow me."
The Sheriff swung the gun at the Wildcat.
"Hurry up, before I spatter a hole through you."
"Cap'n, yessuh." The Wildcat made a line fast and threw the end of it into the hull of the fish wheel. He retrieved Mr. Skooglund from his environment of flopping salmon and tied the line under the arms of the inert man. He scrambled back on deck and hauled the Swede after him.
"Get a bucket of water and throw it on him."
Under this ungentle treatment the victim presently opened his eyes. He reached an unsteady hand to his head and inspected a knob thereon the size of an egg.
"Yust ven I hear de little angels iss singing, de earthquake troo de church down on me."
His vision encountered the Sheriff and the Wildcat.
"Was any salmon saved?"
The Sheriff reassured him.