Joe was now angry and believed it was time to defend himself.  He edged towards the end of the dock and Sam Cullum followed.  Then, of a sudden the boy ducked under the man’s arm, turned, and gave him a quick shove that sent him with a splash into the lake.

“Hurrah! score one for Joe!”

“That will cool Sam Cullum’s temper.”

“Yes, and perhaps it will sober him a little,” came from a man standing by, who had witnessed the quarrel from the beginning.  “He brought this on himself; the boy had nothing to do with it.”

Sam Cullum floundered around in the water like a whale cast up in the shallows.  The lake at that point was not over four feet deep, but he did not know enough to stand upright.

“Save me!” he bellowed.  “Save me!  I don’t want to drown!”

“Swallow a little water, it will do you good!” said a bystander, with a laugh.

“Walk out and you’ll be all right,” added another.

At last Sam Cullum found his feet and walked around the side of the dock to the shore.  A crowd followed him and kept him from going at Joe again.

“I’ll fix him another time,” growled the intoxicated one, and shuffled off, with some small boys jeering him.

“You treated him as he deserved,” said one of the other boatmen to Joe.

“I suppose he’ll try to square up another time,” answered our hero.

“Well, I wouldn’t take water for him, Joe.”

“I don’t intend to.  If he attacks me I’ll do the best I can to defend myself.”

“He has made a nuisance of himself for a long time.  It’s a wonder to me that Mr. Mallison put up with it so long.”

“He was short of help, that’s why.  It isn’t so easy to get new help in the height of the summer season.”

“That is true.”

Joe expected to have more trouble with Sam Cullum the next day but it did not come.  Then it leaked out that Cullum had gotten into a row with his wife and some of her relatives that night and was under arrest.  When the boatman was brought up for trial the Judge sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment.

“And it serves him right,” said the man who brought the news to Joe.

“It must be hard on his wife.”

“Well, it is, Joe.”

“Have they any children?”

“Four—­a boy of seven and three little girls.”

“Are they well off?”

“What, with such a father?  No, they are very poor.  She used to go out washing, but now she has to stay at home to take care of the baby.  Sam was a brute to strike her.  I don’t wonder the relatives took a hand.”

“Perhaps the relatives can help her.”

“They can’t do much, for they are all as poor as she is, and one of them is just getting over an operation at the hospital.”

“Where do the Cullums live?”

“Down on Railroad Alley, not far from the water tower.  It’s a mite of a cottage.”