Captain Hardy coiled his long, sinewy form in an arm-chair
and, eyeing him calmly, lit his pipe before replying.
[Illustration: "Captain Hardy lit his pipe before replying."]
"Boys will fight," he said, briefly.
"I'm speaking of his running after my daughter," said Nugent, sternly.
Hardy's eyes twinkled. "Young dog," he said, genially; "at his age,
too."
Captain Nugent's face was suffused with wrath at the pleasantry, and he
regarded him with a fixed stare. On board the _Conqueror_ there was a
witchery in that glance more potent than the spoken word, but in his own
parlour the new captain met it calmly.
"I didn't come here to listen to your foolery," said Nugent; "I came to
tell you to punish that boy of yours."
"And I sha'n't do it," replied the other. "I have got something better
to do than interfere in children's quarrels. I haven't got your spare
time, you know."
Captain Nugent turned purple. Such language from his late first officer
was a revelation to him.
"I also came to warn you," he said, furiously, "that I shall take the law
into my own hands if you refuse.
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