_In Which Tim Tuttle's Shaft Flies Straight for the Mark.
The Crews of the Dictator and Lucky Star Declare
War, and Captain Hand is Threatened with the Shame
of Dishonour, While Young Billy Topsail, Who Has the
Solution of the Difficulty, is in the Hold of the
Ship_
TIM TUTTLE'S design against the honour of Captain Hand and of the firm
of Armstrong & Son promised well. The following day broke fine; and,
early in the morning, the crew of the _Dictator_ was turned out to load
the "fat" which had been left on the floe over night. About one hundred
men were sent to the ice; the rest were kept on the ship to stow away
the "tows" as they came aboard. Among the latter was young Billy
Topsail, who was ordered to the hold the moment he appeared on deck.
The party under Bill o' Burnt Bay was first on the ground. Presently,
the men from the _Lucky Star_ arrived. For a time, pleasant words
passed between the crews. Soon, however, a group of _Lucky Star_
hunters gathered out of hearing of the _Dictator's_ crew. Their voices,
which had been low at first, rose angrily, and to such a pitch that
the attention of Bill o' Burnt Bay was attracted. He observed their
suspicious glances, their wrathful faces, their threatening gestures;
and he promptly surmised that trouble of a familiar kind was brewing.
It was evident that there was to be a dispute over the possession of
certain of the "tows." The rights of that dispute Bill was not in a
position to determine. So far as he knew--and he was bound to stand
squarely upon his own knowledge--there had been no wrong-doing on the
part of his men; and, being a man who never failed in his duty to the
firm, he resolved that not an ounce of "fat" which then lay under a
flag of Armstrong & Son should be yielded to the _Lucky Star_ until
a higher authority than he gave the word. Needless to say, that is
precisely what Tuttle expected of him.
Moving quietly, lest he should provoke the dispute, Bill warned his men
to be on the alert. And it was not long before the crew of the _Lucky
Star_, with a stout fellow at their head, advanced threateningly.
"Look here, you, Bill o' Burnt Bay," shouted the leader, "some o' your
men have been stealin' our tows."
"Oh, come, now, Johnny Tott," Bill replied, good-humouredly, "that
ain't our way o' gettin' a cargo."
The men of the _Dictator_ gathered behind Bill. Bill would have been
better pleased had they gathered with less haste, had there been less
of the battle-light in their eyes, had they held their gaffs less
tightly--but all that, of course, was beyond his control; he could only
make sure to have them there to defend the rights of the firm.
"You can't scare _me_!" Johnny Tott flashed, angered by what he
understood to be a display of force, but still trying to keep his
temper. "We left twenty-two tows here last night, an' we find sixteen
this mornin'. Who took the odd six?"
Bill was bent on having the question referred to the captains of the
ships. _They_ might settle it as they would. As for him--knowing from
experience how quickly such encounters might come, and how violent they
might be--all he desired was peaceably to protect the interests of his
employers, and of the men, who had a percentage interest in every seal
killed.
"I don't want t' scare you, Johnny Tott," he replied, quietly. "I
thinks you've counted your flags wrong. Now, why can't we just----"
Then came an unfortunate interruption. It was a long, derisive cat-call
from one of Bill's men--none other than Tim Tuttle. That was more than
could be borne by men who were confident of their rights.
"Thieves!" half a dozen of the crew of the _Lucky Star_ retorted. "A
pack o' thieves!"
It was a critical moment. The _Dictator's_ men, too, believed
themselves to be in the right; and there was a limit to what they, too,
could suffer. To be called thieves was perilously near that limit,
already provoked, as they were, by what they thought a bold attempt to
rob them of their seals.
Bill turned quickly on his own men. "Stand back!" he cried, knowing
well that a rush impended.
"Thieves! Thieves!" taunted the crew of the _Lucky Star_.
"Keep your men quiet!" Bill roared to Johnny Tott. "There'll be trouble
if you don't."
The _Lucky Star_ men were outnumbered; but not so far outnumbered that
their case would be hopeless in a hand-to-hand fight. Nevertheless, it
was the part of wisdom for Johnny Tott, who was himself animated by the
best motives, to keep them quiet. He faced them, berated them roundly,
and threatened to "knock the first man down" who should dare to
continue the disturbance. Thus encouraged, Bill o' Burnt Bay addressed
his crew briefly and to the point.
"No nonsense, men!" he growled. "We wants no bloodshed here. The first
man that passes me," he added, in such a way that not a man of them
doubted he would make good his word, "may get hurt, an' badly hurt,
afore he knows it."
It was no time for gentle dealing. Bill had strong, angry men to deal
with; and the responsibility of keeping them from wronging themselves
and their fellows sat heavily upon him. Confident, however, that he had
them in check, he advanced to parley with Tott. All would doubtless
have gone smoothly had there not been a designing man on Bill's side.
That man was Tuttle, to whom the course of events was not pleasing.
Perceiving, now, that an encounter was likely to be warded off, he
determined to precipitate it.
"Who called me a thief?" he burst out.
Then he broke away from his fellows, and ran towards the crew of the
_Lucky Star_, with his gaff upraised. But Bill o' Burnt Bay was quick
as a flash to intercept him. He tripped Tuttle up with his gaff, fairly
leaped upon the prostrate form, caught the man by the collar, dragged
him back and flung him at the feet of the crew. And, meantime, the
_Lucky Star_ men, who had instantly prepared to meet Tuttle, laughed
uproariously. That hearty laugh lightened the situation perceptibly.
"An' here comes Cap'n Black!" shouted one of the men.
Captain Hand of the _Dictator_, too, was on his way over the ice. Both
skippers had observed the cessation of the work and the separation
of the men into two hostile parties. Familiar as they were with such
disputes, they needed no message to tell them that their presence was
urgently needed on the floe. They came over the ice at full speed, at
the same time trying to get at the merits of the quarrel from the men
who ran to meet them; and, being fat sea-captains, both of them, and
altogether unused to hurried locomotion afoot, they were quite out of
breath when they met.
The skipper of the _Lucky Star_ was a florid, peppery little man, much
given to standing upon his dignity.
"Cap'n Hand," he puffed, "this is--an out--rage, sir! Is this the
way----"
"'Scuse me--Cap'n B-Black--sir," the skipper of the _Dictator_ panted,
his little red eyes almost hidden by his bushy brows; "but--I'm
wonder--ful s'prised--that----"
Captain Black drew a long breath, and proceeded more easily, but still
with magnificent dignity. "_I'm_ wonderful surprised t' know, sir,"
he said, "that _this_ is the way Cap'n Hand makes a good v'y'ge of it
every year. I never knew how before, sir."
"I'd have you t' know, sir," returned Captain Hand, bristling
ominously, "that I 'lows no man t' call me a thief."
"I'd have you t' know, sir, that your men have stolen my fat."
"An' I'll have you t' know, sir, that that's t' be proved."
"Cap'n Hand, sir," declared Captain Black, swelling like a
pouter-pigeon the meanwhile, "you whole crew outnumbers mine nigh two
t' one, or I'd load every pound o' fat on the ice on my ship. But I
tells you now, sir, that I'll have the law o' you at St. John's. If you
touch them six tows I'll have you sent t' coolie for a thief, sir, if
there's an honest jury in the land! Mark my words, sir, I'll do it!"
The upshot of it all was, when both captains had cut a ridiculous
figure for a considerable time (and had found it out), that the crews
were withdrawn to the ships, ostensibly for dinner, but really that
they might be kept apart while their blood was heated. A conference was
appointed for three o'clock in the afternoon; and in the interval the
captains were more fully and more accurately to inform themselves by
examining their respective crews. This was a very sensible agreement.
So far as it went, Captain Hand was content; but, being a wise and
experienced man, he foresaw that an amicable settlement of the
difficulty was extremely doubtful.
"I hopes, anyhow, that 'twill not come t' blows," he told Archie, as
they trudged along, for his position made it impossible for him to
confide in anybody else. "'Twill be a dreadful disgrace if it comes t'
blows. An' maybe 'twill be something worse."
When the men reached the _Dictator_, Billy Topsail was waiting on
deck, keen as the rest of them to know what had happened on the ice.
He had a wholesome conscience, and a reasonable courage; he had fully
determined to do his duty, and was about to attract Archie Armstrong's
attention--Archie was to be his first confidant--when Tuttle slipped
quietly to his side, and laid a hand on his shoulder. Billy had no need
to look up; he knew whose hand that was, and what the firm, increasing
pressure meant.
"You better go t' the fo'c's'le, lad," Tuttle whispered in his ear.