"You don't mean to use this boat any longer, do you?" asked the new skipper.
"If you can make her go, I can," answered the Topover sourly; "and I'm going to do it."
"We can land at the old wharf," continued Ash, as he looked about him without heeding the remark of the leader of the gang.
"We don't land at the old wharf or any other," added Tom. "I'm going to sail this boat for an hour or two before I go on shore."
"You can't sail her: you don't know any more about a boat than a goose!" exclaimed Sam imprudently, though he spoke the literal truth.
"Say that again, Sam Spottwood!" blustered Tom, doubling his right fist, and looking very savagely at the speaker.
"You are not deaf, and you heard what I said. It's no use for me to say it again," replied Sam.
"You dassent say it again!"
"We took this boat to get ashore in after we had been cast away, and I don't believe in using her any more than is necessary," said Sam, deeming it wise to change the subject.
"I don't let any fellow tell me that I can't handle a boat," replied Tom.