CHAPTER XXXIV
_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 firmof Armstrong & Son promised well. The following day broke fine; and,early in the morning, the crew of the _Dictator_ was turned out to loadthe "fat" which had been left on the floe over night. About one hundredmen were sent to the ice; the rest were kept on the ship to stow awaythe "tows" as they came aboard. Among the latter was young BillyTopsail, 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 wordspassed 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 thatthe attention of Bill o' Burnt Bay was attracted. He observed theirsuspicious 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 ofcertain of the "tows." The rights of that dispute Bill was not in aposition to determine. So far as he knew--and he was bound to standsquarely upon his own knowledge--there had been no wrong-doing on thepart of his men; and, being a man who never failed in his duty to thefirm, he resolved that not an ounce of "fat" which then lay under aflag of Armstrong & Son should be yielded to the _Lucky Star_ untila higher authority than he gave the word. Needless to say, that isprecisely what Tuttle expected of him.
Moving quietly, lest he should provoke the dispute, Bill warned his mento be on the alert. And it was not long before the crew of the _LuckyStar_, with a stout fellow at their head, advanced threateningly.
"Look here, you, Bill o' Burnt Bay," shouted the leader, "some o' yourmen have been stealin' our tows."
"Oh, come, now, Johnny Tott," Bill replied, good-humouredly, "thatain't our way o' gettin' a cargo."
The men of the _Dictator_ gathered behind Bill. Bill would have beenbetter pleased had they gathered with less haste, had there been lessof the battle-light in their eyes, had they held their gaffs lesstightly--but all that, of course, was beyond his control; he could onlymake sure to have them there to defend the rights of the firm.
"You can't scare _me_!" Johnny Tott flashed, angered by what heunderstood to be a display of force, but still trying to keep histemper. "We left twenty-two tows here last night, an' we find sixteenthis mornin'. Who took the odd six?"
Bill was bent on having the question referred to the captains of theships. _They_ might settle it as they would. As for him--knowing fromexperience how quickly such encounters might come, and how violent theymight be--all he desired was peaceably to protect the interests of hisemployers, and of the men, who had a percentage interest in every sealkilled.
"I don't want t' scare you, Johnny Tott," he replied, quietly. "Ithinks you've counted your flags wrong. Now, why can't we just----"
Then came an unfortunate interruption. It was a long, derisive cat-callfrom one of Bill's men--none other than Tim Tuttle. That was more thancould be borne by men who were confident of their rights.
"Thieves!" half a dozen of the crew of the _Lucky Star_ retorted. "Apack o' thieves!"
It was a critical moment. The _Dictator's_ men, too, believedthemselves 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 torob them of their seals.
Bill turned quickly on his own men. "Stand back!" he cried, knowingwell 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 troubleif you don't."
The _Lucky Star_ men were outnumbered; but not so far outnumbered thattheir case would be hopeless in a hand-to-hand fight. Nevertheless, itwas the part of wisdom for Johnny Tott, who was himself animated by thebest motives, to keep them quiet. He faced them, berated them roundly,and threatened to "knock the first man down" who should dare tocontinue the disturbance. Thus encouraged, Bill o' Burnt Bay addressedhis crew briefly and to the point.
"No nonsense, men!" he growled. "We wants no bloodshed here. The firstman that passes me," he added, in such a way that not a man of themdoubted 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 dealwith; and the responsibility of keeping them from wronging themselvesand their fellows sat heavily upon him. Confident, however, that he hadthem in check, he advanced to parley with Tott. All would doubtlesshave 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, hedetermined 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 quickas a flash to intercept him. He tripped Tuttle up with his gaff, fairlyleaped upon the prostrate form, caught the man by the collar, draggedhim back and flung him at the feet of the crew. And, meantime, the_Lucky Star_ men, who had instantly prepared to meet Tuttle, laugheduproariously. 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. Bothskippers had observed the cessation of the work and the separationof the men into two hostile parties. Familiar as they were with suchdisputes, they needed no message to tell them that their presence wasurgently needed on the floe. They came over the ice at full speed, atthe same time trying to get at the merits of the quarrel from the menwho ran to meet them; and, being fat sea-captains, both of them, andaltogether unused to hurried locomotion afoot, they were quite out ofbreath when they met.
The skipper of the _Lucky Star_ was a florid, peppery little man, muchgiven to standing upon his dignity.
"Cap'n Hand," he puffed, "this is--an out--rage, sir! Is this theway----"
"'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'mwonder--ful s'prised--that----"
Captain Black drew a long breath, and proceeded more easily, but stillwith 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 itevery year. I never knew how before, sir."
"I'd have you t' know, sir," returned Captain Hand, bristlingominously, "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 apouter-pigeon the meanwhile, "you whole crew outnumbers mine nigh twot' one, or I'd load every pound o' fat on the ice on my ship. But Itells you now, sir, that I'll have the law o' you at St. John's. If youtouch them six tows I'll have you sent t' coolie for a thief, sir, ifthere'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 ridiculousfigure for a considerable time (and had found it out), that the crewswere withdrawn to the ships, ostensibly for dinner, but really thatthey might be kept apart while their blood was heated. A conference wasappointed for three o'clock in the afternoon; and in the interval thecaptains were more fully and more accurately to inform themselves byexamining their respective crews. This was a very sensible agreement.So far as it went, Captain Hand was content; but, being a wise andexperienced man, he foresaw that an amicable settlemen
t of thedifficulty was extremely doubtful.
"I hopes, anyhow, that 'twill not come t' blows," he told Archie, asthey trudged along, for his position made it impossible for him toconfide 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 ondeck, 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 fullydetermined to do his duty, and was about to attract Archie Armstrong'sattention--Archie was to be his first confidant--when Tuttle slippedquietly to his side, and laid a hand on his shoulder. Billy had no needto look up; he knew whose hand that was, and what the firm, increasingpressure meant.
"You better go t' the fo'c's'le, lad," Tuttle whispered in his ear.