Читать книгу Wrecked on Spider Island; Or, How Ned Rogers Found the Treasure онлайн

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“I only stopped to help set the table, sir,” Ned replied promptly, little thinking there could be any cause for complaint. “I shall be all through before supper-time.”

“How many hours do you want on a job like this?” the captain asked angrily.

“I’m getting along right well, sir; but it was so dirty that a feller couldn’t make his work show till he was almost through.”

“You’ve got too much chin to suit me,” the captain cried, and at that instant Ned was forced to pass very near the man, who appeared as if trying to make himself angry when no reason for a display of temper existed.

Conscious that he had not offended in any way, Ned hardly expected to receive punishment, therefore was wholly unprepared for what followed.

The captain struck him a vicious blow which sent him headlong toward the companion-way at the very instant the cook was descending with a basin of hot soup.

As a matter of course Ned had no control over his own movements, neither had the cook, and the result was that the two came together with a force and suddenness which sent both to the floor, the scalding liquid flowing over their faces and limbs.