Andy dodged the missiles, which, striking the companionway, were scattered over the clean deck, and the infuriated man ran toward him with the evident purpose of inflicting bodily injury.
It so chanced that Captain Mansfield came from the cabin at the same instant the plate was thrown, and, before anything more could be done, he shouted:
“Hold on there! What is the meaning of all this?”
The words were sufficient to cause the man to halt suddenly, and, turning around, he replied, in a sullen, insolent tone:
“I don’t reckon on taking lip from any nigger, no matter who he is.”
The cook was still standing in the companionway, and going forward quickly, the captain asked him what had been said.
The sailor would have given his version of the affair, attempting to prevent the old darky from speaking; but Captain Mansfield said, sternly:
“Hold your tongue, unless you want to be set ashore again, and I’m not certain I should take the trouble of using the boat.”
Andy gave a truthful account of all that had occurred, and concluded by saying, as he pointed to the food on the deck:
“Dere it be, capt’in, de same as I send to de cabin.”