I ought to have
had booted you overboard at the start."
"Aw--you--"
"Close your hatch!" ejaculated Tunis. "And keep it closed. I'm
talking, and I won't take any of your slack in return. I am not
married to you, thanks be! I think you've got pretty near enough of
me, and I'm sure I have of you, 'Rion. I give you warning--"
"Oh! You do?" snarled 'Rion, his ugly face aflame.
"Yes. I give you _fair_ warning. When the _Seamew_ gets back here to
Big Wreck Cove again, you're through! You can take your dunnage
ashore now if you like, but you go without pay if you do. Or you can
do your work properly on this trip and return. _Then_ you get
through. Take your choice."
He expected 'Rion would leave the _Seamew_ then and there. Tunis
half hoped, indeed, that he would do so. But to his surprise, Orion
suddenly snatched the book and pencil out of the skipper's hand and,
growling that "he'd stay the voyage out," shuffled away to the rail
and began taking tally of the barrels and cases being hauled aboard.
Working smartly, the new crew got the _Seamew_ under sail and out of
the cove two hours later. The wind held in a favorable quarter, and
they reached Hollis betimes. There they finished the schooner's
loading, and about dark went out to sea on a long tack and got
plenty of sea room before they made the short leg of it.
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