huntin' for
something to eat, and no thought above it, and there ain't one of
'em come to a reelizin' sense yet that they committed a State Prison
offence last night when they mutinied and locked me into my own cabin
like a cat in a coop. Now I don't want to have any more trouble over
it with you, Hiram, for we've been too good friends, and will try
to continner so after this thing is over and done with, but if you
or that gang of up-country sparrer-hawks stick your fingers or your
noses into this business that I'm in now, I'll give the lobsters and
cunners round this island just six good hearty meals. Now, that's
the business end, and it's whittled pickid, and you want to let alone
of it!"

He struggled up and strode away across the little valley between the
stronghold of Colonel Ward and his own hillock.

Colonel Ward stood up when he saw him approaching, and Butts, after
getting busy with something on the ground, stood up, also. When the
Cap'n got nearer he noted that Butts had his arms full of rocks.

"Dunk," called Cap'n Sproul, placatingly, pausing at a hostile
movement, "you've had quite a long yarn with that critter there,
who's been fillin' you up with lies about me, and now it's only fair
that as an old shipmate you should listen to my side. I--"

"You bear off!" blustered Mr. Butts. "You hold your own course,
'cause the minute you get under my bows I'll give you a broadside
that will put your colors down. You've kicked me the last time you're
ever goin' to."

"I was thinkin' it was a belayin'-pin that time aboard the _Benn_,"
muttered the Cap'n. "I guess I must have forgot and kicked him." Then
once again he raised his voice in appeal. "You're the first seafarin'
man I know of that left your own kind to take sides with a land-pirut."

"You ain't seafarin' no more," retorted Mr. Butts, insolently. "Talk
to me of bein' seafarin' with that crowd of jays you've got round
you! You ain't northin' but moss-backs and bunko-men." Cap'n Sproul
glanced over his shoulder at the men of Smyrna and groaned under his
breath. "I never knowed a seafarin' man to grow to any good after
he settled ashore. Havin' it in ye all the time, you've turned out
a little worse than the others, that's all."

Mr. Butts continued on in this strain of insult, having the advantage
of position and ammunition and the mind to square old scores. And
after a time Cap'n Sproul turned and trudged back across the valley.

There was such fero