“Thank you. I am not aching for your friendship.”
A sudden frenzy of rage appeared to possess Sharp. He jumped forward and seized Ned, shaking his fist. The other shook him off with a quick movement.
“Are you mad, Sharp? Suppose any of the officers saw you?”
“I don’t care if they did. I’m through with the navy. I’m going to quit it, first chance I get. The service has gone to the dogs when they promote sugar-babies like you to be petty officers.”
Ned leaned over the edge of the top. He didn’t want to make the man more furious by replying to him. It was plain that Sharp was lashing himself into a malevolent rage.
“But before I quit the service, I’ll get even with you!” he roared.
Still Ned made no reply. He turned and walked across the top. He was passing by the open space, which was only railed off by the slender rope previously referred to, when the ship gave a sudden lurch. At the same instant he felt a shove from behind.
Powerless to stop himself, Ned was sent staggering toward the rope. He fell against it with all his weight. The stuff snapped like pack-thread.
Ned plunged through the opening head downward, and it seemed inevitable that he would fall into the boiling, leaping sea more than a hundred feet below!