FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  
s head backward, while the Finn's left knee ground into the small of his back. He was held as in a vise, helpless, and Kjellin spoke: "Ven I get fresh young faler like you, an' he quit me cold, I lick him after I pay him off." "I see," Matt replied calmly. "That makes it a plain case of assault and battery, whereas if you lick him before you pay him off, he can sue your owners. You're a fine, smart squarehead!" "You bet!" Kjellin answered, and struck him a stunning blow behind the ear. Matt, realizing his inability to wriggle out of the captain's grasp, kicked backward with his right foot and caught the Finn squarely on the right shin, splintering the bone. The captain cried out with the pain of it and released the pressure on Matt's chin, whereupon the latter whirled, picked the Finn up bodily, and threw him through the stateroom door out onto the deck, where he struck the pipe railing and rebounded. He lay where he fell, and when Matt's brain cleared and he came out on deck the captain was moaning. "Get up, you brute!" Matt ordered. "You got the wrong pig by the ear that time." "My leg ban broken," Kjellin whimpered. "I wish it was your neck," Matt replied with feeling, and bent over to examine his fallen foe. When he grasped Kjellin by the right shoulder, however, the Finn screamed with pain, so Matt called the steward, and together they lifted him and carried him to his berth. "I'll bet a cooky you're a total loss and no accident insurance," Matt soliloquized. "You're not worth it, but for the sake of the owners I'll get a doctor to look you over," and he went ashore at once. When the doctor had looked Thorwald Kjellin over his verdict was a broken tibia, a broken radius and a broken clavicle. Matt was concerned. "I don't think I ever had any of those things to get broken," he declared humorously, "but if mere words mean anything I'll bet this is a hospital job." The doctor nodded, and Matt turned to the captain: "Do you want to go to the hospital in Eureka or in San Francisco?" "I ban vant to go home," the Finn moaned. "Very well, captain; I guess your successor will bring you there. I'm going up to the mill office now to report to the owners by telephone." "Dot ban't none o' your business, Peasley," Kjellin protested. "Dot is der first mate's job. You ban fired." "Yes, I know. Now I'm back-firing," Matt retorted. Fifteen minutes later he had Cappy Ricks on the long-distance telephone.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136  
137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Kjellin

 

broken

 

captain

 

owners

 

doctor

 

hospital

 

struck

 

telephone

 
backward
 

replied


things
 

declared

 

steward

 
lifted
 

carried

 
insurance
 
looked
 

Thorwald

 

ashore

 

humorously


verdict

 

accident

 
concerned
 

soliloquized

 
clavicle
 

radius

 

protested

 

Peasley

 
business
 

report


distance

 

minutes

 

firing

 

retorted

 

Fifteen

 

office

 

Eureka

 

called

 
turned
 
nodded

Francisco

 

successor

 

moaned

 

ordered

 

battery

 

assault

 

squarehead

 

answered

 

kicked

 

caught