Masters must have struck me at almost the same instant my fist landed on Henley, for we went down together, his revolver discharging, the flying bullet gouging my shoulder, burning the flesh like a red-hot wire. Yet I grappled him even as we crashed to the deck, but the fellow lay stunned, motionless as a dead man. Everything happened quicker than I can tell it; with such rapidity, indeed, that not a hand touched me. I could barely struggle up on one knee, dazed still by the stroke which had floored me, and glance about, when the blue-jackets came tumbling over the rail, and leaped at the astounded crew of the Sea Gull. It was a swift, short fight, the assailants having every advantage. I saw the Lieutenant, bare-handed, dash into the group, striking out left and right, his men at his heels. There was a volley of oaths, a thud of falling bodies, a sharp command, and the shrill pipe of a boatswain's whistle. Two men rushed forward, the first disappearing behind the chart-house. The second encountered Broussard stepping off the bridge ladder, and hurled the fellow to the deck with one blow of a sledge-hammer fist. Scarcely pausing to see whether he was alive or not, the assailant ran on toward the forecastle.
The whole affair was over in two minutes, the blue-jackets circling out like a fan, and pressing their enemy into a helpless mass against the rail. For a moment the fight was furious, every man for himself, then the Lieutenant drove like a wedge into the bunch, and it was all over. I struggled to my feet, still viewing all through a mist, and swaying back and forward as I endeavored to steady myself on the rolling deck. There was no one at the wheel, and the bow of the Sea Gull was swinging slowly about.
"On to the bridge there, Coates, and hold up her head," sang out the officer. "Boatswain, take charge of these beauties, and run them into the forecastle. Leave two men on guard, and take a squint into the engine room. Report to me here."
He took off his coat, examined a long slit in its side where a vicious knife had ripped it from shoulder to tail; then slipped it on again, and watched his men drive their prisoners forward.
"I 'd like to know which one of them did that," he growled, glancing toward me. "Say, what 's the matter with you—shot? You 're white as a sheet of paper, man."
"I got one on the head with a belaying pin from the heft of it. The bullet touched me—here. Lord, how it burns."
"Who did the shooting?"
"Henley here," and I touched the fellow with my foot. "He fired just as I hit him."
The Lieutenant stepped forward and looked down into the upturned face.
"So that's the man!" he exclaimed. "We 've done a good day's work. I 've heard stories of that half-breed ever since we 've been on this coast. He must be a natural devil, but he 's played hide and seek with Uncle Sam for the last time. This will be a feather in the 'old man's' cap. He 's waking up."