d of it, an' so, this
morning, I just put him out of his misery. An' what are you goin' to do
about it? The man's dead, ain't he? An' I killed 'm in self-defence. I
know the law. What right'd you to put a ravin' lunatic in with me, an'
me sick an' helpless?"

"By God, Davis!" the mate burst forth. "You'll never draw your pay-day
in Seattle. I'll fix you out for this, killing a crazy lashed down in
his bunk an' harmless. You'll follow 'm overside, my hearty."

"If I do, you'll hang for it, sir," Davis retorted. He turned his cool
eyes on me. "An' I call on you, sir, to witness the threats he's made.
An' you'll testify to them, too, in court. An' he'll hang as sure as I
go over the side. Oh, I know his record. He's afraid to face a court
with it. He's been up too many a time with charges of man-killin' an'
brutality on the high seas. An' a man could retire for life an live off
the interest of the fines he's paid, or his owners paid for him--"

"Shut your mouth or I'll knock it out of your face!" Mr. Pike roared,
springing toward him with clenched, up-raised fist.

Davis involuntarily shrank away. His flesh was weak, but not so his
spirit. He got himself promptly in hand and struck another match.

"You can't get my goat, sir," he sneered, under the shadow of the
impending blow. "I ain't scared to die. A man's got to die once anyway,
an' it's none so hard a trick to do when you can't help it. O'Sullivan
died so easy it was amazin'. Besides, I ain't goin' to die. I'm goin'
to finish this voyage, an' sue the owners when I get to Seattle. I know
my rights an' the law. An' I got witnesses."

Truly, I was divided between admiration for the courage of this wretched
sailor and sympathy for Mr. Pike thus bearded by a sick man he could not
bring himself to strike.

Nevertheless he sprang upon the man with calculated fury, gripped him
between the base of the neck and the shoulders with both gnarled paws,
and shook him back and forth, violently and frightfully, for a full
minute. It was a wonder the man's neck was not dislocated.

"I call on you to witness, sir," Davis gasped at me the instant he was
free.

He coughed and strangled, felt his throat, and made wry neck-movements
indicative of injury.

"The marks'll begin to show in a few minutes," he murmured complacently
as his dizziness left him and his breath came back.

This was too much for Mr. Pike, who turned and left the room, growling
and c