he way o' bein' responsible for anything
that has happened or might happen to you. We b'long forrard. There's no
call to shoot at the crew, for there's not a man among 'em but what 'ud
be glad to see you get ashore, and get there himself."

"Silence, bo's'n," bawled the captain. But the voice of authority
seemed pitifully ludicrous and incongruous, coupled with the captain's
position and attitude, and every face on the deck wore a grin. The
leader noticed the silent merriment, and said:

"Laramie, I reckon these men'll stand. You can come up here. I'm
gettin' 'long in years, and kind o' steadyin' down, but I s'pose you
and 'Pache want some fun. Start yer whistle and turn loose."

Up the steps bounded Laramie, and, with a ringing whoop as a prelude,
began whistling a clear, musical trill, while 'Pache, growling out,
"Dance, dance, ye white-livered coyotes," sent a bullet through the
outer edge of the chief mate's boot-heel.

"Dance," repeated Laramie between bars of the music. _Crack, crack_,
went the pistols, while bullets rattled around the feet of the men on
the hatch, and Laramie's whistle rose and fell on the soft morning air.

The sun, who has looked on many scandalous sights, looked on this, and
hid his face under a cloud, refusing to witness. For never before had
the ethics of shipboard life been so outrageously violated. A squat
captain and two six-foot officers, nearly black in the face from rage
and exertion, with hands clasped over their heads, hopped and skipped
around a narrow stage to the accompaniment of pistol reports
harmoniously disposed among the notes of a whistled tune, while bullets
grazed their feet, and an unkempt, disfigured, and sore-headed crew
looked on and chuckled. When the mate, weak from loss of blood, fell
and rolled to the deck, the leader stopped the entertainment.

"Now, gentlemen," he said in his serious voice, "I'm called Pecos Tom,
and I've had considerable experience in my time, but this is my fust
with human creatur's so weak and thoughtless that they'll drug and
steal three men without takin' their guns away from them. And so, on
'count o' this shiftless improvidence, I reckon this boat will have to
turn round and go back."

They bound them, rolled and kicked the two mates to the rail, lifted
the captain to his feet, and then the leader said significantly:

"Give the right and proper order to yer men to turn this boat round."

With his face working convulsively, Captain