Page:Harry Castlemon - The Steel Horse.djvu/215

 his aid. "In five minutes more that lightship will be so far out of reach—"

Just then something took him full in the eye, and Roy, who had bent over while working at the boat's painter, straightened up with a jerk, and flopped down upon his back. Scarcely realizing what had happened to him, the boy scrambled to his feet only to receive a blow in the other eye, and to hear the mate shout at him, in tones of suppressed fury:

"Going to desert, were you? I expected it, and have had my gaze fastened on you all along. Take that and that, and see if it will do you until I can get a better chance at you."

Did the enraged officer intend to kill him where he lay? Roy wondered, as he raised his arm to ward off the heavy blows from the rope's end that were aimed at his head. It is quite possible that the brute would have disabled him had not the captain, who had witnessed the whole proceeding, called out:

"Cast the boat adrift, Mr. Crawford. That will put an end to all such nonsense."

The officer turned to obey the order, and in an instant Roy was on his feet. At the same