the old woman. An' yoreself, too. What's more, you can stay aft an'
wait on cabin. If they lay a finger on you, I'll lay a fist on them, an'
worse."

"You ain't kiddin' me?"

"I don't kid, my lad. I don't waste time that way."

Sandy stood up, his face lighting. He began to empty his pockets, laying
shells and shotgun cartridges upon the table.

"I couldn't begin to git harf of 'em," he said. "The rest's under the
mattresses. They said they on'y needed a few. I thought you was both
turned in. When you come out of the corridor I was scared nutty."

Between the mattresses, as Lund had guessed, they found the rest of the
shells, laid out in orderly rows save where the lad's scrambling
fingers had disturbed them. Lund stripped off a pillow-case and dumped
them in, together with those on the table.

"You can bunk here," he told the grateful Sandy. "Now I'll have a few
words with Deming, Beale and Company. Want to come along, Rainey?"

Lund strode down the corridor, bag in one hand, his gun in the other.
Rainey threw open the door of the hunters' quarters and discovered them
like a lot of conspirators. Deming was in his bunk; also another man,
whose ribs Lund had cracked when he had kicked him along the deck out of
his way. The bruised faces of the rest showed their effects from the
fight. As Lund entered, covering them with the gun, while he swung down
the heavy slip on the table with a clatter, their looks changed from
eager expectation to consternation.

CHAPTER XIV

PEGGY SIMMS

"Caught with the goods!" said Lund. "Two tries at mutiny in one day, my
lads. You want to git it into your boneheads that I'm runnin' this ship
from now on. I can sail it without ye and, by God, I'll set the bunch of
ye ashore same's you figgered on doin' with me if you don't sit up an'
take notice! The rifles an' guns"--he glanced at the orderly display of
weapons in racks on the wall--"are too vallyble to chuck over, but here
go the shells, ev'ry last one of them. So that nips _that_ little plan,
Deming."

He turned back the slip to display the contents.

"Open a port, Rainey, an' heave the lot out."

Rainey did so while the hunters gazed on in silent chagrin.

"There's one thing more," said Lund, grinning at them. "If enny of you
saw a man hurtin' a dog, you'd probably fetch him a wallop. But you
don't think ennything of scarin' the life out of a half-baked kid an'
markin' up his hide like a patchwork quilt. Thet kid's