“Ay, ay, that _was_ a mistake, sure enough!” cried Stump, scrambling quickly through the opening, as soon as the uplifted legs of the prostrate man beneath had been removed from it, “such a mistake as I never made before in my life, and as prudence is the better part of valor, I think I am parfectly justified in getting out of the run!”
He lifted his feet clear of the aperture just in time to escape the hand of the mutineer as the latter, who had by this time risen from his uncomfortable posture, made a furious attempt to clutch the bottoms of his pants.
“You wretched imp of Satan!” roared Lark, in a voice of thunder, as the other eluded his grasp, “you shall suffer for this trick!”
And he thrust a hand into the side-pocket of his Guernsey, to procure his pistol.
Stump saw the movement, and quickly seizing the crow-bar lying at his feet, he dealt the mutineer such a heavy blow upon his head--which projected at least eighteen inches above the combings of the hatch--that he dropped senseless into the run.
“It was all done in self defense!” cried the shipkeeper, as he leaped back into the hold. “Ay, ay--that it was, sure enough. But, bad as the man is--and he’s a parfect shark--it cost me something to give him that blow, seeing as I’m not in the habit of indulging myself in that way. I hope I haven’t committed murder--I hope he isn’t dead!”
“He’s only stunned, I guess,” replied Marline. “He’ll soon come to his senses.”
“You think he will?” cried Stump, twitching his pigtail a little nervously. “You think he’ll broach to again? My eyes! seeing as that’s the case, then I think it would be as well to take time by the forelock--to provide myself with his pistol, and to make him fast, so he can’t do any more harm. He’ll never forgive me--no, never--when he gets over his faint. It’s astonishing how the human family holds grudges!” And, drawing his sheath-knife, he proceeded, with all possible dispatch, to cut from one of the numerous coils of ratlin stuff lying about him, a sufficient number of the twisted strands to secure the arms and legs of the giant.
This task was soon accomplished, after which the mutineer was properly secured, and his pistol transferred from his own to the pocket of his conqueror.