"'But don't you know I could hang you if I wanted to? Don't you know my word is law here? I am in absolute command. If you don't follow the rules of the ship I'll have to punish you severely.'
"'Nothin' doin', Bo, nothin' doin' at all. Youse kin cut all that sort o' talk out when youse chins wid me—see? Say, Bo, whatcher take me fer, anyways? Er "come on," er what? Whatcher t'ink I am, anyways, hey? Go tell de little choild stories to yer gran'mother—don't spring dem on me, don't try to hand me nothin' funny—I'm a MAN! An' don't youse t'ink youse kin take de call of me, neider, Bo, fer youse makes a mistake mixin' it wid me! I'm a fightin' MAN—me fader'll tell youse dat, an' dat's why he sends me wid youse when I might be goin' to school. De old man is a lulu, an' I am his son, Bo, a son of a dog—nothin' yaller in de breed; 'n if youse t'ink you kin razzle-dazzle me you'll sure fall down. Youse take dat from me, Bo! D'youse git it straight?'
"'I'll turn you loose if you'll promise to do the right thing from now on,' I said.
"'Aw, no, Bo, I don't have to promise nothin'. Youse ain't got me right yet. I ain't no child. What de hell's the matter wid youse, anyhow?'
"'All right, then, you'll stay locked up until the end of the voyage and then I'll turn you over to the police, and——'
"'An' you'll pay like hell fer that 'f I does. Youse see!' he snarled.
"Well, what could I do? What would you have done under the circumstances? The boy was not afraid. I knew his breed too well. I knew his father. He would not suffer the smallest infringement of what he believed to be his rights. He would resist to the death. He had gone with a gang of young ruffians and had developed a certain sense of what he believed to be right. He saw no law but that of absolute equality; and there is no such thing. He was at fault. It was absurd for men who ran a ship whose name was 'hard' to allow a little boy to take charge, a little fellow not weighing a hundred pounds. I decided to give him a real whipping—a whipping that would make a permanent mark in his memory. I hated to think of it—hated to really believe it was necessary, for there is nothing so horrible as whipping a man—and the lad was a man in his own opinion. There is absolutely nothing so soul-killing, so fearfully degrading. I prefer the bloodiest fighting always to the cold-blooded lash. I have seen men lose their self-respect under the degrading stroke of the lash; and a man without self-respect had better be dead. I studied the case and remembered his father. He was a small man physically—I never knew a big man make a good seaman; but he could take charge of a ship, no matter what kind of creatures were forward, and he never spoke but once in giving an order. The father had the same idea in regard to right and wrong—he never forgave one, never forgot. Yet he had been a staunch friend of mine. He had many friends who swore by him—and he was always to be relied upon, you could always count upon him no matter what the cost to himself in any emergency. It was his idea of duty—and he feared nothing at all.
"It was just a week later on a hot day when I had gone below to work the noon sight that I became aware of a pair of eyes looking at me from the top of the companionway, and as I looked up I gazed right into those of Willie; but it was along the blue barrel of my own forty-five caliber six-shooter. The gun had always been hanging close to my bunk head—ready for emergencies.
"'Bang!' The shot came without a second's warning. The bullet tore through my arm. I sprang through the bulkhead into the forward cabin just as the second shot ripped me across the neck. I was rushing for the doorway to the main deck and the third shot threw splinters in my face as it hit the edge of the door. Willie was coming right along behind me, and firing as he came—and I—well, I confess it, I was running for my life. I heard his yell of derision, a shrill scream——
"The mate heard the firing, and as Willie came through the doorway he kicked him in the back and knocked him over. Then he jumped upon him and stamped all but the very life out of him by driving his boot-heels into his face."