"If I had any matches you shouldn't have 'em to use on that shanty!" Rube Rowe cried angrily. "I know what it means to set a house on fire!"
"This ain't a house, you bloomin' idjut; it's nothin' but a fisherman's shanty, an' the law won't be troubled 'bout it. Besides who's to know we did the job, if we get under way lively—I can come back after Sam to-morrow."
"You'll get no matches from me," Rube growled as he walked rapidly up the shore, and Captain Doak, seemingly incited to yet greater anger by the opposition of his "crew," said hoarsely as he ran toward the "Sally D.'s" boat:
"I'll go aboard an' get what I want. When that's been done, you an' I'll have a settlement!"
"I reckon here's where we've got our work cut out for us," Tom whispered as he crept slowly to the top of the cliff. "That cap'en of yours won't set any shanty afire while I've got life enough to roll a lot of these rocks down on his head!"
CHAPTER VI
A PITCHED BATTLE
In strict justice to Sam Cushing it must be set down that he was not a coward in any sense of the word, and certainly he proved himself to be brave when he saved the life of Tom Falonna at risk of his own, yet the idea of opposing the commander of the "Sally D." to the extent of provoking a personal encounter frightened him. More than once since the death of his mother had he attempted to resist when his stepfather was unusually cruel, and on each occasion had he suffered severely.
Therefore, it was that Tom's preparations to defend Uncle Tom's shanty against Captain Doak seemed to him an extra hazardous undertaking, more particularly since the chances of his being captured by his angry stepfather would, apparently, be increased, and, following Tom up the side of the cliff, he whispered entreatingly:
"Don't get us both into the worst kind of a muss! The cap'en an' Rube Rowe can surely get the best of us if it comes to a fight, an' then I'll be carried off on board the 'Sally'!"