"Now, Jake," said he, "will you behave?"
There was no need to ask me. A baby could have held me then.
"Don't you know," said the captain, "that you ortn't to pound a feller
with a horseshoe? Do you always act like this when you fight?"
"I never had a fight before," I sobbed.
"Well, you won't have another with Ace," said the captain. "You damned
near killed him. And next time fight fair!"
That night I drove alone, which I had been doing now for some time,
taking my regular trick; and when we tied up at some place west of
Lockport, I went to my bunk expecting to find Ace ready to renew his
tyrannies, and determined to resist to the death. He was lying in the
lower bunk asleep, and his bandaged head looked rather pitiful. For all
that my anger flamed up again as I looked at him. I shook him roughly by
the shoulder. He awakened with a moan.
"Get out of that bunk!" I commanded.
"Let me alone," he whimpered, but he got out as I told him to do.
"Climb into that upper bunk," I said.
He looked at me a moment, and climbed up. I turned in, in the lower
bunk, but I could not sleep. I was boss! It was Ace now who would be the
underling. It was not a cold night; but pretty soon I thought of the
quilts in the upper berth, and imitating Ace's cruelty, I called up to
him fiercely, awakening him again. "Throw down that quilt," I said,
"I want it."
"You let me alone," whimpered Ace, but the quilt was thrown down on the
deck, where I let it lie.
Pages:
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43