“You’re a smart guy, aren’t you?” said the other angrily. “You make me come away over here and then try to hold me up! Well, you can’t do it! You fork over twenty cents and you’ll get this two dollars, you—you red-headed cheat!”
Toby’s grin faded instantly. “What did you call me?” he asked very quietly after a moment’s silence.
“You heard it! Now you find twenty cents and——”
They were standing on the canvas-covered deck at the bow, a precarious place at the best, with the launch rolling a bit, and not at all the sort of place the Frolic’s skipper would have selected for battle had he been allowed a choice. But he wasn’t, for his naughty remarks were rudely interrupted, rudely and unexpectedly! With something between a grunt and a snarl, Toby threw himself upon him.
“Take it back!” he panted. “’Tain’t red, and you know it!”
The older boy gave way before the sudden assault, tried to wrest his arms free from Toby’s grip, failed at that, and, bringing his greater weight to bear, forced the other back across the tiny decking. They struggled and panted, only the rubber soles they wore keeping them from going overboard.
“Let me alone, you silly ass!” grunted the older youth. “We’ll both be in the water in a second.”
“Take it back, then!” panted Toby. “’Tain’t red, is it?”
“Yes, it is! It’s red as—as fire!” He wrenched an arm free and struck out angrily. The blow missed, and Toby caught at the arm, trying now to trip his opponent up. But the law of gravity cannot be trifled with forever, and what was bound to happen sooner or later happened right then. Toby’s leg worked behind the other; he bore back and—over they went, still tightly clasped together, with a splash that awoke the echoes of the Cove!