Tales of the Fish Patrol | Page 5

some course of action.
"I think not," I answered shortly.
"I command you," he said in a bullying tone.
"I was commanded to bring these prisoners into San Rafael," was my
reply.
Our voices were raised, and the sound of the altercation brought the
Chinese out of the cabin.
"Now will you head for the beach?"
This from George, and I found myself looking into the muzzle of his
revolver--of the revolver he dared to use on me, but was too cowardly
to use on the prisoners.

My brain seemed smitten with a dazzling brightness. The whole
situation, in all its bearings, was focussed sharply before me--the shame
of losing the prisoners, the worthlessness and cowardice of George, the
meeting with Le Grant and the other patrol men and the lame
explanation; and then there was the fight I had fought so hard, victory
wrenched from me just as I thought I had it within my grasp. And out
of the tail of my eye I could see the Chinese crowding together by the
cabin doors and leering triumphantly. It would never do.
I threw my hand up and my head down. The first act elevated the
muzzle, and the second removed my head from the path of the bullet
which went whistling past. One hand closed on George's wrist, the
other on the revolver. Yellow Handkerchief and his gang sprang toward
me. It was now or never. Putting all my strength into a sudden effort, I
swung George's body forward to meet them. Then I pulled back with
equal suddenness, ripping the revolver out of his fingers and jerking
him off his feet. He fell against Yellow Handkerchief's knees, who
stumbled over him, and the pair wallowed in the bailing hole where the
cockpit floor was torn open. The next instant I was covering them with
my revolver, and the wild shrimp-catchers were cowering and cringing
away.
But I swiftly discovered that there was all the difference in the world
between shooting men who are attacking and men who are doing
nothing more than simply refusing to obey. For obey they would not
when I ordered them into the bailing hole. I threatened them with the
revolver, but they sat stolidly in the flooded cabin and on the roof and
would not move.
Fifteen minutes passed, the Reindeer sinking deeper and deeper, her
mainsail flapping in the calm. But from off the Point Pedro shore I saw
a dark line form on the water and travel toward us. It was the steady
breeze I had been expecting so long. I called to the Chinese and pointed
it out. They hailed it with exclamations. Then I pointed to the sail and
to the water in the Reindeer, and indicated by signs that when the wind
reached the sail, what of the water aboard we would capsize. But they
jeered defiantly, for they knew it was in my power to luff the helm and

let go the main-sheet, so as to spill the wind and escape damage.
But my mind was made up. I hauled in the main-sheet a foot or two,
took a turn with it, and bracing my feet, put my back against the tiller.
This left me one hand for the sheet and one for the revolver. The dark
line drew nearer, and I could see them looking from me to it and back
again with an apprehension they could not successfully conceal. My
brain and will and endurance were pitted against theirs, and the
problem was which could stand the strain of imminent death the longer
and not give in.
Then the wind struck us. The main-sheet tautened with a brisk rattling
of the blocks, the boom uplifted, the sail bellied out, and the Reindeer
heeled over--over, and over, till the lee-rail went under, the cabin
windows went under, and the bay began to pour in over the cockpit rail.
So violently had she heeled over, that the men in the cabin had been
thrown on top of one another into the lee bunk, where they squirmed
and twisted and were washed about, those underneath being perilously
near to drowning.
The wind freshened a bit, and the Reindeer went over farther than ever.
For the moment I thought she was gone, and I knew that another puff
like that and she surely would go. While I pressed her under and
debated whether I should give up or not, the Chinese cried for mercy. I
think it was the sweetest sound I have ever heard. And then, and not
until then, did I luff up and ease out the main-sheet. The Reindeer
righted very slowly, and when she was on an even keel was so much
awash that I doubted if she could be saved.
But the Chinese scrambled madly