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'.
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