affair, an' as a member o' the crew o' the _Maggie_ I got to take
a hand an' defend my skipper agin youse two. Fact is, gentlemen,
I got a date to lick him first for what he done to me last night.
Howsumever, that's a private grouch. The fact remains that you
two jumped my pal Bert Gibney an' licked him somethin' scandalous.
Hicks, I'll take you on first. Come up out of there, you swab,
and fight. Flaherty, you stay below until I send for you; if you
try to climb up an' horn in on my fight with Hicks, Gibney'll brain
you."

A faint cheer came from the shaft alley. "Good old Mac.
At-a-boy!"

"You're on, McGuffey. Nobody ever had to beg me to fight him,"
Dan Hicks replied cordially, and climbed to the deck. To his
great surprise, Mr. McGuffey winked at him and drew him off to
the stern of the _Maggie_.

"There'll be no fight," he declared, "although we'll thud around
on deck an' yell a couple o' times to make Scraggs think we're
goin' to it. He figgers that by the time I've fought you an'
Flaherty I won't be fit for combat with him, even if I lick you
both; he's got it all figgered out that I'll wait a couple o'
days before tacklin' him, an' he thinks my temper'll cool by that
time an' he can argy me out o' my revenge. Savey?"

"I twig."

Mr. Gibney had returned to the _Maggie_ by this time and he now
took his station at the engine-room hatch and growled at Flaherty