"And who was the other?"
"Antonio."
"And where is he now?"
"He has gone below," said Bill, in a significant tone.
"What was the fight about?" inquired Randall, who, in ordinary cases, would not have cared to pursue the subject farther, but had an undefined idea that it was in some way connected with our hero, for whom he felt no peculiar affection.
"The fact is," said Bill Sturdy, "Antonio undertook to abuse that lad there," pointing to Charlie; "and I ain't one to stand by and see a boy abused. Besides," he added, with a latent humor which all understood, though he did not allow it to alter the gravity of his countenance, "I knew he was your nephew, and that made me the more anxious to defend him."
Randall was placed in an awkward predicament. He could not deny that Charlie was his nephew after his express declaration to that effect, while at the same time the relationship which he claimed was far from exciting, in his own mind, any attachment for the boy. Still it closed his mouth for the time. He only muttered, in an undertone, that the boy must fight his own battles, and disappeared from the deck.
"Fight his own battles!" repeated Sturdy, indignantly. "A pretty sort of an uncle he is, to match a boy of fourteen against a grown man, and a strong one at that. However," added Sturdy, complacently, "the lad's got a friend that is a match for Antonio at any time."
"That he has," answered a comrade; "but I say, Bill; I couldn't help laughing to see how you made that old shark shut up his mouth by telling him it was his nephew you were fighting for. It made him mad, but he didn't know what to say against it."
"His nephew! No, Jack, it's well the lad isn't any kith or kin of his. A drop of his blood would be enough to spile a decent lad."