Mark smiled feebly; and at the same instant a chorus of cries arose from the despairing cadets on the shore.
"Tell Mallory we'll leave him alone if he'll come back," was one of them.
"B'gee!" cried Dewey, "did you hear that? What do you say?"
And Mark raised himself with a struggle.
"No, no," he gasped. "Don't! I mean to fight them."
"Fight them! How can you fight with a broken shoulder?"
"I—I won't tell them it's broken!" panted Mark.
"Wow!" roared Texas, wildly. "Ef you don't lick 'em I will! Whoop! An' as fo' them cowards on the shore, let 'em get fired an' bust!"
"Bully, b'gee!" echoed Dewey.
And the battered old Parson chimed in with a feeble and gasping "Yea, by Zeus!" while the schooner sailed on in disdainful triumph.