But the fisherman’s wits cleared again. Then for a moment his head rested on the shoulder of his opponent, his mouth temptingly near the great corded neck of the foreman. An instant later the mariner’s mouth opened and his short tobacco-stained teeth sunk into O’Brien’s flesh. He bit and bit deeply and tiny streams of blood trickled out from between his lips and stained the foreman’s shirt.
With a howl of pain O’Brien hurled the man from him and rained crushing blows onto his face. The mariner was no match for the infuriated foreman after that. He dodged this way and that to avoid the terrible punishment, only in the end to plunge headlong into a mighty swing that O’Brien meant to be the finishing blow! [The fight ended there!] The impact was terrible! The bearded one’s body snapped like a spring. He clutched blindly for something to support him! Then he pitched forward into the grass!
A moment the great body quivered, then slowly his knees drew upward almost to his chin, and he lay perfectly still!
O’Brien stood over him, one fist clenched, the other mopping the blood from his neck.
“There, blame him, I guess that finishes his fightin’ fer t’day,” he said laconically. Then to the other swordfisherman who stood near by he said, “There’s yer captain. Lug him out o’ here es fast as ye kin. I don’t want t’ see his ugly face ’round here any more ner yours neither.” And still mopping the blood from the wound in his neck, he elbowed his way through the crowd and disregarding the shouts of applause made his way into Eli Whittaker’s cottage, where he sought the iodine bottle so recently used on Ray’s shoulder.
For several minutes Ray’s Uncle Vance lay unconscious on the grass while the other fisherman worked over him. Finally with the aid of a bucket of cold water, he was revived. Slowly his eyes opened and he looked about. Then without a word he struggled to his feet and assisted by his companion walked slowly down the steep path toward the beach where his dory lay hauled up above the water line. The crowd on the promontory watched him go; in fact, they remained until they saw the small boat reach the yawl. Then O’Brien appeared on the scene again and sent them all back to their task of building houses.
“Say, your uncle is some fighter, Ray. But he wasn’t a match for O’Brien,” said Jack, as the two boys watched the fishermen raise the mainsail of the yawl.
“You bet he wasn’t. That was some of his own medicine applied in a larger quantity. By hookey, I’ll bet a copper he’s raving mad at me. Mark my word, this isn’t the last we hear from him,” said Ray.