Frederick R. Bechdolt

“ And says he: ‘Mates, the lass is right. It is the only way. Come on. We’ll go shanghai that lad back agin.’
“‘Hold hard,’ says I. ‘This is easy talking. But what ye say is no more nor less than piracy.’
“Black Scotty, he looked me between the eyes, and says he: ‘Piracy,’ says he; ‘name it if ye want to. What odds does that make, the name ye give it? I’m going to get that lad back fer his girl.’
“‘Well,’ says I, ‘no need to make so much noise about it if ye are. So am I, too, fer the matter of that.’
“‘And the rest of us goes,’ says Red Larson. ”

“ They did not look fer the likes of us. We met them head on, right amidships. Me and Manuel had one of the runners by the throat and down in less time than it takes to tell; and Red Larson and Olaf Hansen was settling his mate. But Black Scotty, he made fer Jim White alone. By the time the others of us was on our feet and ready to make fer the boat, them two was at it hard and heavy—as pretty a fight as any man would want to watch. But there was no time fer pleasure then; and so I jumped Jim White from behind and got my arm under his chin. ”

“ An almighty smash they made when they hit the planks. I stumbled over them and I felt Red Larson a-shoving me from behind; and back of him I heard Olaf Hansen a-swearing in Swede, and Manuel’s piping v’ice sputtering out sailors’ oaths in Portugee. And, ‘Do ye make for the fo’c’stle,’ I says over my shoulder to Red. Then I run on aft.
“A man or two was coming from forard; I could hear them as I run. And I could hear the balance of our crew swearing and thumping their boots agin the timbers as they piled overside. I went fer the cabin with all sail on. ”

“ And that big man is Jim White.’
“I felt something like a shiver a-going up my back, for I knowed he had spoken the truth. And I knowed that by this minute Larry would be laid hard and fast in the fo’castle of that blood-ship.
“And Red Larson was a-saying something to Olaf Hansen, and in it I heard him cursing quiet like. And Manuel piped up: ‘A hundred dollars blood, they’re paying to-night fer her crew. I got it in the Bells of Shandon.’
“What was there to do? There was no law in them days fer a sailor. Onct aboard that craft, a man was as good as out to sea. ”

“ So we two stopped on the deck, and I was in half a mind that the pair of us should go back agin and help my mates out when Red Larson come up, and then Black Scotty, a-wiping his face with his sleeve. And hard on his heels come Manuel.
“‘Get them out,’ I told Scotty; and he bellered down to the rest. I heard them a-coming as fast as they could cast loose from them that held on. And Larry and I made fer the boat. And as we went a-running, I heard a racket aft; and some one was a-coming towards us. It was Nellie. ”

“ A pair of half-caste Portuguese boat-steerers had drifted in, their pockets heavy with whaler’s money earned during two years in the Arctic.
Big men, these, with hard, resolute faces, with loose shirts open above their chests ”

“ Is that the name ye give it? Not in that bunch, lad. They’re good enough to man a windlass; and, even at that, donkey engines does it fer them now. I’ve seen the crew in this here room that could of stood their own agin anyone. ”