"There are a couple of buckets behind the shed. If I could get down without his seein' me, it wouldn't take long to have 'em up here."
"Go ahead an' get 'em!" Tom whispered excitedly. "I'll see to it that he don't get out from behind the rocks while you're gone!"
Understanding that there was no time to be wasted if he would carry out the plan successfully, Sam made his way softly down the cliff, and in the meanwhile Tom watched anxiously the tiny threads of flame which began to curl up from amid the dried grass, seaweed and driftwood, and were fanned by the wind directly toward the shanty.
"I'll smoke you out, you cubs!" Captain Doak cried triumphantly as he pushed the blazing fragments forward with a short stick. "It won't be many minutes before you'll be glad to make a change of quarters, an' then will come my time!"
At that moment Sam came to the top of the cliff with the two buckets, each more than half full of sea water, and, seizing one, Tom waited until Captain Doak leaned forward to put more fuel on the rapidly increasing fire, when he threw the contents with rare good aim.
The water struck the commander of the "Sally D." full in the face, causing him to leap backward sputtering and choking, while a good deal of the liquid fell on the flames. The second bucket was emptied in the same manner immediately afterward, and all danger of mischief was at an end for the time being.
It would be difficult to describe clearly the exhibition of rage which the commander of the "Sally D." gave on being thus baffled by two lads. He stormed at Sam because the lad had dared to run away from the schooner; at Tom for taking part in a quarrel which was none of his, and at Rube Rowe for "skulking" on the beach when his employer was in need of his services.
The "crew" of the "Sally D." remained silent under the torrent of abuse during a few seconds, and then boldly announced his determination:
"I'm nothin' but a common, every-day fisherman, but I allow to be somewhere nigh honest. I shipped with you for a summer's work, an' never allowed to go 'round burnin' houses. If you give me one more word of abuse, I'll turn to an' help the boys so far as I'm able——"
"You'll finish out the season aboard the 'Sally D.,' or you'll never see a cent of wages!" Captain Doak cried, the words sounding hoarse and indistinct because of his rage.