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The Rock
by
“‘Well,’ said the skipper, ‘do so, or I’ll be afraid of my officers.’
“I looked on while the mate called that troublesome malcontent down from aloft, where he had reported the paral seizing of the fore royal yard adrift without saying sir to Mr. Parker. I watched tranquilly, while the big, whiskered first mate, meeting the man as he dropped from the fore-rigging to the deck, received a threshing of fists and kicks that laid him out. We carried him aft, while Red-head retired to the forecastle. And, as we nursed the mate back to self-respect, we heard the profane vows of Red-head to clean us up, all of us.
“The skipper was furious. ‘Have I got to go forrard and lick that fellow?’ he said. ‘Haven’t I got a mate aft able to do his duty?’
“‘Why not put him in irons, captain?’ I asked. ‘I knocked him off the poop once, and made him run next time. That seems to be enough as far as I’m concerned.’
“The skipper glared at me. ‘And do you think,’ he said sneeringly, ‘that he ran because he was afraid of you? He’s afraid of the irons and of the law. But that’s just why we don’t appeal to the irons and the law in these packets. It’s a point of honor with us; and–yes, a matter of policy. We couldn’t get crews after a time if we ironed and jailed ’em for each offense. No, that man must be properly licked, and if you can’t do it, I’ll have to do it myself.’
“‘I can do it,’ I answered quietly, and went forward.
“Mike–for that was the name he gave–was in my watch, and should have remained on deck. I found him in the empty starboard forecastle and called him out. He came, with a bad look in his eyes.
“‘Put your knife on the water tank alongside my gun,’ I said, ‘and come aft where there’s a clear space. We’ll find out who runs this ship, you or the afterguard.’
“‘That sounds fair,’ he said; ‘but how about the after clap? This is not my proposition.’
“‘You mean darbies? There’ll be none. The skipper wants you licked into shape, so you’ll be useful. Come on.’
“We laid our weapons on the tank as we passed it, and faced each other abreast of the main hatch. The skipper looked on from the poop; the carpenter and cook came out of their shops to witness; and of course the watch, working aloft, stopped work to look down on us. The sea was smooth, the wind mild and fair, and the ship slid along with very little pitching or rolling; so it was a fair fight.
“Mike was a game fighter; but I was just a little heavier, just a little more skilled, and had just a little longer reach; so I soon had him going. I backed him completely round the hatch, and when I had him up to windward again, both his eyes were half closed and his nose broken and bleeding. So far I had not been struck, and I decided now to finish him. I put all my strength and the whole weight of my body into that smash, aiming for the point of his chin; but he saw it coming and attempted to duck. My closed fist brought up with a crash on the top of his big bullet head; for he was slow and groggy, and didn’t duck low enough. However, it didn’t hurt him, while the effect upon me was to break every small bone in my hand. It was like slugging a windlass bitt; for he leaned partly forward, and hardly budged under the blow.
“I could not repress a slight grunt of pain, and I simply had to stop, and rub my sore hand with the other. He saw and heard; then he came for me, and the rest of the fight was the other way. I fought as I could, one-handed, for I couldn’t even guard with my right; but it was no use. He soon had me going, and the last I remember of the fight was a sickening smash under the ear. I don’t remember hitting the deck; but when I came to my senses I was laid out in the weather scuppers, and the skipper was down off the poop, talking to Mike.