"Not a bit of it. They'd be sure to sight us, but if we can keep our distance half an hour longer, it'll be so dark that they can't see an inch before their noses."
Sam literally flattened himself against the cliff, in his effort to hide, and hardly dared to breathe when the two men approached the shanty directly beneath him.
"If it wasn't so late I'd have that miserable cub out of this!" Captain Doak cried angrily as he kicked open the door of Uncle Ben's home, "an' even as it is he hasn't given me the slip, for the 'Sally' shall stay where she is till I've put him aboard."
"If that's the way you're feelin', I'm allowin' that we won't wet another line this season," Rube Rowe said with a laugh which caused Captain Doak to turn with upraised hand as if to strike a blow, and the sailor cried warningly as he put himself in a posture of defense:
"None of that, Eliakim, or you an' I'll part company mighty sudden! I ain't so fond of the 'Sally D.,' an' it wouldn't take much of your funny business to give me my discharge."
"Don't talk crazy, Rube! What we're after is that young cub, an' this ain't the time to cut up rough."
"You're doin' the rough part of it, 'cordin' to my way of thinkin', an' I want you to understand that it won't take much to put me out of the job altogether. I ain't so certain that you've got the law on your side, an' then ag'in, I've allers felt sorry for the little chap, 'cause there's no denyin' but that you've led him the toughest kind of a life, an' he savin' you the wages of a cook."
"Hold your tongue! I know more 'bout law than that drivelin' old lobster catcher can tell me, so don't get the idee that I'm leadin' you inter any trouble. The boy is my stepson, an' he's bound to dance to my pipin' till he's twenty-one, or I'll know the reason why. Got any matches?"
"What do you want of 'em?"
"I'm goin' to set this shack on fire. Ben Johnson shall be made to understand what it means to buck agin me. If he was here, I'd give him a lesson that wouldn't soon be forgot; but seein's he ain't, I'll let him have a taste of what's comin'."