"That exposure will sound fine!" sneered the commissioner. "Exposing a
state officer for doing what the Governor and Council have ordered!"
"Yes, ordered on your advice!"
"Well, it has been ordered! And I'll be backed up! As soon as I can get
to a justice I shall swear out a warrant against you for interfering
with a state officer." He flung down the stub of his cigar. "Listen, you
people! Get off this island. Anybody who is here at sunset--man, woman,
or child--will be arrested and put in jail for trespassing on state
land. Now you'd all better give three cheers for your meddling friend,
here!"
"They have allus let us stay, even when they have threated us before
now," whimpered a man. "He has poured the fat into the fire for us,
that's what he has done!" He pointed his finger at Mayo.
"It's wicked!" gasped the girl. "These poor folks don't know any better,
they are not responsible!"
"Say, look here, you folks!" shouted Mr. Speed, who had been holding
himself in with great difficulty. "It's about time for you to wake up!"
The plutocrat of the house-boat had come up from the beach and had been
listening. The whimpering man started to speak again, and the magnate of
the island cuffed him soundly; it was plain that this man, who had lived
in the best house, had been a personage of authority in the tribe.
"I'm ashamed of the whole caboodle of ye," he vociferated. "Here's a
gent that's been standing up for us. He's the only man I ever heard say
a good word for us or try to help us! Nobody else in the world ever done
it! Take off your hats and thank him!"
"I'm in it!" whispered Mayo to the girl. "For heaven's sake, what am I
going to do?"
"Do all you can--please, Captain Mayo!"
He stepped forward. The agent began to shout.
"Hold on, sir!" broke in the captain with quarter-deck air that made for
obedience and attention. "You have had your say! Now I'm going to
have mine. Listen to me, folks! I'm not the man to get my friends into
trouble and then run off and leave 'em. All of you who are kicked out
by the state--all men, women, and children who are ready to go to
work--come over to me on the main at Maquoit with what stuff you can
bring in your dories. I'll be waiting for you there. My name is Boyd
Mayo."