“The very scoundrel that I set ashore from the Chimo for trying to blow her up!” cried Phil. “You remember, Serge?”
“I should rather say I did!” replied the young Russo-American, his honest face flushing with anger.
“But what are they going up the river for, Mr. Coombs?”
“To spile Cap’n Hamer’s chance of doing any trading at Forty Mile, as fur as I could make out,” replied the mate.
“Oh, the villains!” exclaimed Phil. “And they have got two days’ start of us, too, while you are almost unfit for travel. Hold on, though! I have it! We can do the trick yet, and give them a lesson in minding their own business. Hurrah for our side, after all! Serge, hurrah! quick, before I fling something at you.”
[CHAPTER XVII]
JALAP COOMBS’S FOURTEEN PAIR OF FEET
“Of course, Mr. Coombs, you can’t expect us to go back to St. Michaels now,” began Phil, as a preliminary to unfolding his scheme for the discomfiture of Simon Goldollar and his unprincipled companion.
“Why not?” demanded the sailor, who had not for a moment expected anything else. “As soon as I found ye I were to bring ye to St. Michaels, and keep ye there till your father comes. Them’s orders, and to disobey ’em would be mutiny, nigh as I kin make out.”