far from being brave; but however that may be, he
replied hotly:

"I do not count on choosin' my words when I speak of such a bag of
wind as Josh Barney has shown himself to be!"

It seemed to me as if the words had not been fully spoken before
Darius launched out, and, in, less time than it takes to tell it, was
in the midst of a hot, one-sided fight, for the Tories all pitched
into him, regardless of the fact that his quarrel was with Elias.

It stands to reason that I could never remain idle while a shipmate
was getting the worst of it, particularly when his adversaries were
men for whom I entertained no friendly feelings, and the scrimmage was
hardly more than begun when I took a hand, standing close by the old
man's side.

As I aimed a blow at Elias I saw, out of the tail of my eye, Jerry
drop his meal as he came forward at full speed, and at almost the same
moment a loud splashing in the water caused me to glance quickly in
the direction of the pungy.

Jim Freeman had jumped overboard to do his share toward teaching
Macomber a lesson, and when he arrived the odds would be even.

Of course it was a disgraceful spectacle; but it could not have been
avoided, so far as I was concerned, and I did my best, fighting as
vigorously as if I had been the one to urge upon my companions the
necessity of joining the fleet.

It is not well that I give too much space to this brawl when there are
so many other adventures, in which a fellow might well take pride, to
be recorded, therefore I will only say that we had no very easy task
to down these admirers of King George and the Prince Regent; but
finally succeeded, thanks to the assistance of Jim Freeman.

It is doubtful which side got the worst drubbing, although we claimed
a victory because the others ran; but positive it is that the four of
us had all the punishment needed, and were forced to wash our faces
more than once before we could look at each other without a certain
feeling of shame.

"What made you tackle the whole of 'em?" Jerry asked the old man. "If
the rest of us hadn't been near at hand, they'd wiped you out."

"I'd tackle twenty if they dared say anything against Joshua Barney!"
Darius cried as he shook his fist in the direction where our
adversaries had last been seen. "I'd rather get the toughest
pummellin' such as them could give, than keep my mouth shut while they
was slurrin' their betters!"

We were actually obliged to use force with him, othe