booze-fighter, an' small thanks he gets. But wait, an'
you'll see somethin' in a minute."

Dan's temper, however, was not yet at fighting heat. He glared a moment
longer at Larry, then turned sullenly to his boiler. He was none too
steady on his legs, and this, with the lurching of the ship, made his
work ragged. After a few slipshod passes he struck the door-frame
squarely with his scoop, spilling the coal to the floor.

"Damn your squint eyes!" he yelled. "You done that, Mouse! You shoved
ag'in' me. Now scrape it all up, an' be quick about it!"

Without a word, while his tormentor jeered and cursed him, Larry did as
he was told.

"Ain't you got no fight at all in your shriveled-up body?" Dan taunted
as Larry finished. "You're a disgrace to Ireland, that's what you are."

Larry, still patient, turned away. Dan sprang to him and spun the little
man about.

"Where's the tongue in your ugly mouth?" Dan was shaking with rage.
"I'll not be havin' the likes of you followin' me from ship to ship, an'
sniffin' at my heels ashore. I won't stand for it no longer, do you
hear? Do you think I need a nurse? Now say you'll leave this ship when
we makes port, or I'll break every bone in you."

Dan towered above Larry, his arm drawn back ready to strike. Every man
in the room stopped work to watch the outcome of the row.

At the beginning of the tirade Larry's thin shoulders had straightened;
he raised his head; his lower jaw, undershot, was set hard. The light
from the boiler showed his near-sighted eyes steady on Sullivan,
unafraid.

"Get on with your work, an' don't be a fool, Dan," he said quietly.

"A fool, am I!"

Dan's knotted fist flashed to within an inch of Larry's jaw. The Bunker
Mouse did not flinch. For a moment the big stoker's arm quivered to
strike, then slowly fell.

"You ain't worth smashin'," Sullivan snarled, and turned away.

"Well, what d'yer know about that!" the new stoker cried.

"It's that way all the time," he was answered; "there ain't a trip Dan
don't ball the Mouse out to a fare-you-well; but he never lays hand to
'im. None of us knows why."

"You don't? Well, I do. The big slob's yeller, an' I'll show 'im up."
The stoker crossed to Sullivan. "See here, Bo, why don't you take on a
man your size?" He thrust his face close to Dan's and shouted the answer
to his question: "I'll tell you why. You ain't got sand enough."

Dan's teeth snapped closed, then parted to grin at his challenger.