"
"Do you expect to remain on the wreck?" asked the captain, after a
moment of silence.
"That is our business," answered Lesher.
"I think you will find that you are making a great mistake, men, to
follow Lesher when you ought to follow me. I have always treated you
fairly, and--"
"Hi! none of that!" roared the mate. "We won't listen to it."
"The men shall listen, if they will. I
"Say another word and I'll fire!" cried the mate, and pointed his
pistol at Captain Blossom's head.
"Do-do you mean that?" asked the captain, in as steady a voice as he
could command.
"Of course he means it," said Dan Baxter. "He isn't a fool. We are
all going to stand by him, too," he added.
"That's right," came from part of the crew. Dick noticed that a few
of the others looked doubtful.
"I mean it, and I want you to leave right now," stormed Jack Lesher.
"I'll give you one minute in which to turn your boat around," and he
pulled out his watch.
"Might as well go back," whispered old Jerry. "You can't reason with
a lot of half-drunken men."
"Very well, we'll go back," said Captain Blossom loudly. "But,
remember, you haven't seen the end of this affair."
"And remember another thing," added Dick, in an equally loud voice:
"Don't any of you dare to come anywhere near our house. If you do,
you'll be sorry for it."
Then the three turned the boat around and rowed slowly back whence
they had come.
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