A huge, gnarled fist, knotted and twisted by many a battle, shook under Ned's nose.
The undismayed boy gave a low laugh of contempt.
"You'd better put that hand to work, instead of going round trying to scare people with it," he said stingingly.
"I will put it to work. SO!"
Wh-oo-oo-f!
The fist fairly whistled as it shot out with the force of a torpedo speeding on its destructive way.
But Ned was not in its path. Thrown off his balance by the boy's quick avoidance of the sledge-hammer blow, Kennell stumbled forward.
Quick as a whip snap, Ned stepped under his guard and planted a crushing blow in the fighter's ribs.
But delivered as it was, with the full force of the Dreadnought Boy's well-trained muscle, it seemed hardly to sway the bullock-like frame of the ship's blusterer.
"I've got the fight of my life on my hands," was Ned's quick thought, as Kennell, recovering himself, prepared, with a confident grin, to annihilate his young opponent.