Facing the World, Jr. Horatio Alger [free e books to read TXT] 📗
- Author: Jr. Horatio Alger
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One day—it was about a month after they left port—Captain Hill came up on deck in one of his worst fits of intoxication. All the passengers were on deck, it being a fair day. They regarded the captain with alarm, for in his hand he held a pistol, which he carried in such careless style that it might be discharged at any time.
Jack Pendleton had been sent up to the masthead on some duty by the mate. The captain’s roving eyes fell upon him, and the dislike he felt for the boy found vent.
“What are you doing up there, you young lubber?” he shouted.
“Mr. Holdfast sent me,” answered Jack.
“You lie!” roared the captain. “I’ll teach you to lie to me!”
“I’ll come down, sir,” said Jack, “if you say so.”
“I’ll bring you down!” shouted the captain, furiously, as he deliberately pointed the pistol at the cabin boy, and prepared to pull the trigger.
There was a cry of horror on the part of the passengers as they saw the insane act of the captain, and realized the peril of poor Jack. But, in spite of all, the boy would probably have fallen a victim to the drunken fury of Captain Hill. Jack himself fully understood his danger, and his ruddy face turned pale. His life hung in the balance, and was saved only by the courage of his boy friend, Harry.
Of all the passengers, Harry stood nearest to the captain. When he saw the pistol pointed at Jack, he did not stop to think, but made a bound, and dashed the weapon from the captain’s hand. It was discharged but the bullet sped over the rail and dropped into the ocean. Nor did Harry stop here. He seized the fallen pistol, and hurled it over the side of the vessel.
The captain was for the moment stupefied by the suddenness of the act. Then, in a voice of fury, he exclaimed, pointing to Harry: “Put that boy in irons!”
CHAPTER XI A SENSATIONAL SCENE
“Put that boy in irons!” repeated Captain Hill, his eyes blazing with anger.
Not a sailor stirred. There was not one that did not admire Harry’s promptness, which had saved Jack’s life, and prevented the captain from becoming a murderer.
“Here, you two men, seize the boy, and carry him below!” exclaimed the captain, addressing Brown and Higgins, the two sailors nearest.
The two men looked at each other, moved a step forward, and then stopped.
“Is this mutiny?” roared the captain, with a bloodcurdling oath. “Am I master in my own ship or not?”
What might have been the issue is hard to tell, had not the Yankee passenger already referred to, Jonathan Stubbs, come forward and taken up the gauntlet.
“Look here, cap’n,” he commenced, in a drawling tone, “what’s all this fuss you’re kickin’ up? You’re kinder riled, ain’t you?”
“Who are you that dare to bandy words with me? Men, do you hear me? Put that boy in irons, or must I do it myself?”
“Look here, cap’n, let’s argy that matter a little,” said Stubbs. “What’s the boy to be put in irons for?”
“For grossly insulting me, and defying my authority.”
“He has prevented your committing murder, if that’s what you mean. You ought to thank him.”
“Take care, sir!” thundered the captain, “or I may put you in irons, also.”
“I reckon you might find a little opposition,” said the Yankee, quietly. “I’m a passenger on this vessel, Captain Hill, and your authority doesn’t extend to me.”
“We’ll see about that, sir,” said the captain, and he grasped Stubbs by the collar.
Now, the Yankee was not a heavy man, but he was very strong and wiry, and, moreover, in his early days, like Abraham Lincoln, he had been the best wrestler in the Vermont village in which he was born. He was a very quiet, peaceable man, but he was accustomed to resent insult in an effective way. He wrenched himself free by a powerful effort; then, with a dexterous movement of one of his long legs, he tripped up the captain, who fell in a heap upon the deck. The shock, added to the effects of his intoxication, seemed to stupefy the captain, who remained where he fell.
“Boys,” said Stubbs, coolly, to the two sailors, who had been ordered to put Harry in irons, “hadn’t you better help the captain into his cabin? He seems to be unwell.”
Just then the mate came on deck. He didn’t make inquiries, but took in the situation at a glance, and assisted the captain to his feet.
“Shall I help you downstairs, sir?” he asked.
The captain silently acquiesced, and the prime actor in this rather startling scene left the deck.
Jack Pendleton scrambled down from his elevated perch with the agility of a cat. He ran up to Harry, and grasped his hand with evident emotion.
“You have saved my life!” he said. “I will always be your friend. I would lay down my life for you.”
“It’s all right, Jack,” said Harry, rather shyly. “You would have done the same for me.”
“Yes, I would,” answered Jack, heartily, “But there’s no one else who would have done it for me.”
“Are you going to leave me out, my boy?” asked the Yankee, with a smile on his plain but good-natured face.
“No, sir,” responded Jack. “You stood up to the captain like a man. He didn’t frighten you.”
“No, I wasn’t much scared,” drawled Stubbs, contorting his features drolly. “But, I say, young man, I’ve got a piece of advice to give you. You don’t seem to be much of a favorite with the captain.”
“It doesn’t look so,” said Jack, laughing in spite of the danger through which he had passed.
“Just you keep out of his way as much as you can. When a man gets as full as he does, he’s apt to be dangerous.”
“Thank you, sir; I will.”
Among the spectators of the scene just described, the most panic-stricken, probably was Montgomery Clinton, the Brooklyn dude.
After the captain had gone below, he walked up to Harry, whom he regarded with evident admiration.
“I say, you’re
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