You may suppose into what fury such words as these, spoken in Barnaby’s hearing, not to mention that vile slur set upon himself, must have cast our hero.  To be sure he scarcely knew what he did, but he put his hand against Sir John Malyoe’s breast and thrust him back most violently, crying out upon him at the same time for daring so to threaten a young lady, and that for a farthing he would wrench the stick out of his hand and throw it overboard.

A little farther and Sir John would have fallen flat upon the deck with the push Barnaby gave him.  But he contrived, by catching hold of the rail, to save his balance.  Whereupon, having recovered himself, he came running at our hero like a wild beast, whirling his cane about, and I do believe would have struck him (and God knows then what might have happened) had not his man-servant caught him and held him back.

“Keep back!” cried out our hero, still mighty hoarse.  “Keep back!  If you strike me with that stick I’ll fling you overboard!”

By this time, what with the sound of loud voices and the stamping of feet, some of the crew and others aboard were hurrying up to the scene of action.  At the same time Captain Manly and the first mate, Mr. Freesden, came running out of the cabin.  As for our hero, having got set agoing, he was not to be stopped so easily.

“And who are you, anyhow,” he cries, his voice mightily hoarse even in his own ears, “to threaten to strike me!  You may be a bloody pirate, and you may shoot a man from behind, as you shot poor Captain Brand on the Cobra River, but you won’t dare strike me face to face.  I know who you are and what you are!”

As for Sir John Malyoe, had he been struck of a sudden by palsy, he could not have stopped more dead short in his attack upon our hero.  There he stood, his great, bulging eyes staring like those of a fish, his face as purple as a cherry.  As for Master Informer, Barnaby had the satisfaction of seeing that he had stopped his grinning by now and was holding his master’s arm as though to restrain him from any further act of violence.

By this time Captain Manly had come bustling up and demanded to know what all the disturbance meant.  Whereupon our hero cried out, still in the extremity of passion: 

“The villain insulted me and insulted the young lady; he threatened to strike me with his cane.  But he sha’n’t strike me.  I know who he is and what he is.  I know what he’s got in his cabin in those two trunks, and I know where he found it, and whom it belongs to.”

At this Captain Manly clapped his hand upon our hero’s shoulder and fell to shaking him so that he could hardly stand, crying out to him the while to be silent.  Says he:  “How do you dare, an officer of this ship, to quarrel with a passenger of mine!  Go straight to your cabin, and stay there till I give you leave to come out again.”

At this Master Barnaby came somewhat back to himself.  “But he threatened to strike me with his cane,” he says, “and that I won’t stand from any man!”