Page:Off For Hawaii.djvu/49

Rh it was Dan or Oliver I turned—to find myself confronted by Caleb Merkin.

"You've been watching me pretty closely, haven't you?" he hissed into my ear.

"I don't deny it, Merkin," I answered. "We intend to keep it up, too."

"Do you," he sneered.

"Yes, we do."

"I'll bet you won't! " he snarled, and in a twinkle he hurled himself at me and caught me around the breast with his single arm, pinning my own right arm to my side.

"Hi! let up there!" I cried.

"I won't, hang ye," he snarled. "I'm going to heave ye overboard, an' I'll heave your friends over, too—if I get the chance!"

And then he tried his best to lift me over the rail and fling me into the dark and angry ocean.