This time his
fist landed on the bully's left eye, and once again Baxter went down,
this time with a thud.
The sailors were collecting, and soon Jack Lesher rushed up. He stepped
between Dick and the bully.
"Stop it!" he ordered harshly. "We don't allow fighting on board of
this craft."
"I wasn't fighting," answered Dick coolly. "I was just teaching a
rascal a lesson."
"It amounts to the same thing. If you have any fault to find tell
the captain, or tell me."
"Well, I'll go to the captain, not you," retorted Dick.
"All right," growled the first mate. "But just remember you can't
boss things when I'm around."
When Captain Blossom understood the situation he was thoroughly angry.
"Baxter certainly ought to be in prison," he said. "I'll clap him in
the brig and feed him on bread and water for three days and see how
he likes that."
"He ought not to be left at large," said Dora, with a shudder. "He
may try to murder somebody next."
"We'll watch him after this," said the captain.
He kept his word about putting Baxter in the ship's jail. But through
Lesher the bully, got much better fare than bread and water. Strange
as it may seem, a warm friendship sprang up between the bully and
the first mate.
"I aint got nothing against you, Baxter," said Jack Lesher. "When we
get to Australia perhaps we can work together, eh?" and he closed
one eye suggestively. Baxter had told him of his rich relative, and
the mate thought there might be a chance to get money from Baxter.
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