"I told 'em,
though, that if they got funny with me or you, I'd show 'em what was what."
"Who are they?" I asked, suddenly remembering Roger Hamlin's warning.
"Davie Paine is one."
"But I thought he didn't like Kipping or Mr. Falk!"
"He didn't for a while; but there was something happened that turned his
mind about them."
I worked away with the tar-bucket and reflected on this unexpected change
in the attitude of the deep-voiced seaman who, on our first day aboard
ship, had seen Kipping wink at the second mate. It was all so trivial that
I was ready to laugh at myself for thinking of it twice, and yet stupid
old Bill Hayden had noticed it. A new suspicion startled me. "Bill, did
any one say anything to you about any plan or scheme that Kipping is
concerned in?" I asked.
"Why, yes. Didn't they speak to you about it?"
"About what?"
"Why, about a voyage that all the men was to have a venture in. I thought
they talked to every one. I didn't want anything to do with it if Kipping
was to have a finger in the pie. I told 'em 'No!' and they swore at me
something awful, and said that if ever I blabbed I'd never see my little
wee girl at Newburyport again. So I never said nothing.
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