“Them’s my opinions,” cried a third. “It’s hands off, mates, I say. Schmidt will give us a chance to get clear away and then to blazes with the navy.”
“Shame!” cried Ned in a loud, clear voice. “Shame on you, my man, to abuse a service that is the finest in the world.”
“Oh, stow that gaff,” growled someone, and as if it had been a signal, the attack recommenced. Childs was torn from Ned’s side and the whole press of desperate characters surged about him, shouting and struggling to seize him. Ned fought with all his skill and bravery. But in the nature of things, it was a contest that could not long endure.
A dozen men, with arms developed into Samson-like strength in the fire-rooms of a hundred deep-sea tramps, threw themselves upon him. With all the wiry strength and resource that were his, Ned struggled. But by sheer superiority of numbers and brawn the others were bound to win, and Ned knew that it must be so from the first.
Powerful as he was, the Dreadnought Boy was little more than a puppet in their hands. He gave a good account of himself and then, “with colors flying,” Ned Strong was borne to the ground with a dozen bodies piled on top of him.
In the guttural accents of the fat and flabby Schmidt, some orders were hastily given. Ned was picked up breathless and bruised but still struggling for freedom. He was carried through a rear door. Down a long, dark, ill-smelling hallway he was borne till another portal was reached. Schmidt, who carried a candle stuck in a bottle, kicked this door open.
“In midt him,” he ordered.
Ned was hurled bodily forward and landed on a wooden floor with a hard thud that left him badly shaken. The door was slammed to and then came the “click” of a lock as it was shot.
“I’ve been fooled, badly fooled,” groaned poor Ned, “but,” clenching his fists, “I’ll win out yet. I will! I will!”
He got up on his feet and looked about him. The room was not a large one, and except for the door by which he had been thrust into it, the place had no doors or windows. Over his head, however, was a skylight with dirt-crusted panes which admitted a dim sort of light.