His Second Lieutenant was trying, in vain, to reason with the men, but they threatened and derided him.
Captain Davis threw himself among them, and in a stentorian voice cried:
Silence! men! Silence!
We will silence you! said a burly, brutal, drunken sailor drawing his knife from the sheath and sprang at the Captain, who was neither armed or prepared to defend himself.
The knife was raised and, about to strike him to the heart, when Walter sprang forward, and with one well directed blow under the assassin’s ear, knocked him off the dock, and his body splashed in the water.
Bloody land lubber! exclaimed half-a-dozen voices, as they all rushed upon him.
Single handed he would have been more than a match for any bully on board of the Reindeer. But to contend with a dozen armed monsters, whose every faculty was crazed with rum, rendered his case hopeless. Still he struck right and left, and with each blow a man fell.
Take that! cried one of the drunken demons, aiming his knife to reach his heart.
Up to this time, Sambo had been a silent spectator. But now, seeing his young master in serious danger, he threw himself between them, receiving the blow in his breast that was intended for his master.
I told you so, Massa Walt, I told you so! and fell dead at his feet.