"But he's a notorious bruiser—liable to kill you."
[pg 192]
"Maybe, but I don't think so. I've trimmed 'em bigger."
"Not bigger, if they could fight at all?"
"Maybe they couldn't, but"—from beneath the grease and soot of his face his teeth and eyes flashed swiftly upward—"they said they could."
Noyes took another turn of the long gangway. The tarpaulin was now clamped tightly to the hatch-combings, rendering it smooth and firm under foot. Camp-stools for the principals were also there, and two buckets of freshly drawn water in opposite corners.
"Mr. Kieran"—Noyes had halted again beside the pump-man—"what is it the captain's got against you?"
"Why"—he hesitated—"I don't think he's got anything against me exactly." His next words came slowly, thoughtfully. "He may have something against my kind, though."
"What do you mean by that?"