“How’s that, my lad? Do you know anything about it?” asked Peaks.
“I know the skipper is the ugliest man I ever met in my life,” answered Clyde.
“Won’t you except me, my bold Briton?”
“No; I paid my passage, and haven’t had enough to eat to keep soul and body together. Besides that, he tried to make me work, and I did do some things. If I had been obliged to stay on board another day, I should have jumped overboard,” continued Clyde. “I begin to think I was a fool for leaving the ship.”
“I began to think so at the first of it,” added Peaks.
“Ole is my son; I must have him,” growled the skipper.
“I have nothing to do with Ole; he may go where he pleases,” said the boatswain.
Olaf spoke to his step-son in his own language, and for a few moments the dialogue between them was very violent.
“Cast off, forward, there; give them the Swedish of that, Ole,” shouted Peaks.
“Must I go on board of the Rensdyr?” asked the trembling waif.