He pulled two pistols from beneath his coat, cocked them deliberately and stared insolently and inquiringly around.
"What d'ye say to it, Bill Brennen?" he asked.
Bill Brennen shuffled his big feet uneasily, and eyed the pistols askance.
"Thank ye kindly, skipper. Ye speaks the truth," said he.
"An' ye, Nick Leary?"
"Ye bes skipper here, sure—aye, and more nor skipper. But for ye we'd all be starved to death wid hunger an' cold," said Nick.
"An' what says the rest o' ye? Who denies me the right to four shares o' the money?"
"Me, Dennis Nolan!" said Dick Lynch. "I denies ye the right."
"Step up an' say it to my face," cried the skipper.
"Aye, step up an' give it to him straight," said one of the men. "Step up, Dick, I bes wid ye."