“What do you want?” the man demanded sharply. “Keep off! Stay where you are, and let’s settle it.”
“I ’m coming aboard of you,” Captain Nelson said. “I ’m coming to see Cap’n Coffin. There are some matters to be settled between us.”
The Battles was shooting ahead, losing way slowly, and the men in the captain’s boat again began pulling.
“You can’t see Cap’n Coffin,” the man began impatiently. “You ’ve been told that often enough. Damn it,” he added, almost changing his mind, “if I should let you come aboard and see Cap’n Coffin, I ’d warrant you ’d have all the time you wanted to settle any matters that ’re on your mind. It ’d serve you right, and if the consequences ’d be all on your own head, I ’d do it. But they would n’t and I won’t. I never will. Understand?”
We heard the conversation plainly, and I was curious to know what he meant by his remark about consequences. It did not seem to give Captain Nelson any concern. He made no reply, and the boat continued to pull toward the schooner. Mr. Macy had been coming up quietly while the Battles was busy with Captain Nelson, and he was not far astern, his men pulling strongly and easily. We heard the order to trim in the sheets, and at the same time several men took their places at the side, holding spades in their hands. It was their old trick. The captain’s boat was only a few strokes off.
“Keep off!” was the warning.
For answer Starbuck grabbed for the chains with the boathook. A spade smashed down upon it and knocked it out of his hand. The sheets of the Battles had been trimmed in, she heeled to the breeze, began to gather speed, and was slowly passing the bow of the boat. Starbuck leaped, landed on her wales, and had one leg over the rail before the men on the Battles knew what he was after. Before he could get the other leg over, three men seized him; I saw them struggle with him for an instant, break his hold on the rail, and throw him into the sea.
The Battles was now well under way, the boat was fast dropping astern, and Starbuck was in the water. Mr. Macy was not quite up, and it was a hopeless chase from the start, but both boats tried to make a race of it for a quarter of a mile. When they gave it up, and stopped rowing, I saw Wallet come out from behind the quarter boat, where he had been standing, hidden from us, and take his place at the topsail. It was too far to see clearly without a glass what he was doing there, but he seemed to put his thumb to his nose at Mr. Baker and the captain. That was too much for me, and I laughed until I nearly had hysterics, it was so like him.
The boats lay there for some time, the men all watching the Battles fast disappearing in the distance. Then they pulled slowly back to the ship. Starbuck had swum to the ship, and stood dripping beside me, watching the Battles with sober eyes. When I laughed so immoderately, he turned his eyes upon me with disapproval, but he took the contagion, and, much against his will, he was forced to smile.
“But it ’s no laughing matter, Tim,” he said. “I ’d like to know what ’s wrong on that vessel. There ’s something wrong. I know Fred Coffin well. We live only a few doors apart—only two houses between us, and we were at school together. He is n’t so much older than me; three years, about. I hope nothing ’s happened to him.”