"By the gods! you'll be short-handed, sir. I'll kill 'em!"
That threat was more effective than mere bluster. Captain Downs
instinctively squinted aloft at the scud which was dimming the stars; he
sniffed at the volleying wind.
"One word to you, and you'll understand, sir!" pleaded Mayo. He put the
pins back into the rack and walked straight to the captain.
There was no menace in his action, and the mate did not interfere.
"Just a word or two to you, sir, to show you that I have done more than
throw my hat into the door of the Masters and Mates Association." He
leaned close and whispered. "Now let me tell you something else--in
private?" he urged in low tones.
Captain Downs glanced again at the bared arm and surveyed this sailor
with more careful scrutiny. "You go around and come into the for'ard
cabin through the coach-house door," he commanded, after a little
hesitation.
Mayo bowed and hurried away down the lee alley.
That cabin designated as the place of conference was the dining-saloon
of the schooner. He waited there until Captain Downs, moving his bulk
more deliberately, trudged down the main companionway and came into the
apartment through its after-door which no sailor was allowed to profane.
"Can anybody--in there--hear?" asked Mayo, cautiously. He pointed to the
main saloon.
"She's in her stateroom and he's talking through the door," grunted the
skipper. "Now what's on your mind?"
Mayo reached his hand into an inside pocket of his shirt and drew forth
a document. He laid it in Captain Downs's hand. The skipper sat down at
the table, pulled out his spectacles, and adjusted them on his bulging
nose in leisurely fashion, spread the paper on the red damask cloth, and
studied it. He tipped down his head and stared at Mayo over the edge of
his glasses with true astonishment.
"This your name in these master's papers?" he demanded.
"Yes, sir."
"You're--you claim to be the Captain Mayo who smashed the Montana?"
"I'm the man, sir. I hung on to my papers, even though they have been
canceled."
"How do I know about these papers? How do I know your name is Mayo? You
might have stolen 'em--though, for that matter, you might just as well
carry a dynamite bomb around in your pocket, for all the good they'll do
you."
"That's the point, sir. They merely prove my identity. Nobody else would
want them. Captain Downs, I'm running away from the law. I own up to
you. Let me tell you how it happened."