“Pretty!” cried Jack. “By jiminy, it was wonderful, and—say, but that fellow is no little boy either. Look at the size of him! Oh, but what a full-back he would make! Why, he’s bigger than Jim Hanson ever thought of being. Guess I’ll go and meet him,” and Jack started down the path to greet the dripping figure, who came stumbling toward him.
CHAPTER IV
BIG O’BRIEN GETS HIS BICEPS INTO ACTION
“By jiminy, old man, you certainly can swim,” exclaimed Jack as he reached the lad from the Fish Hawk. But the newcomer to Hood Island made no reply. Instead, he stood still and eyed Jack suspiciously.
“Oh, that’s all right. You needn’t mistrust me. Here’s my hand on it. My name is John Strawbridge—Jack Straw for short, you know,” said the lad from Drueryville, extending his hand toward the big fellow.
“Mine’s Raymond Carroll. Call me Ray; it sounds better.”
“Glad to meet you, Ray. What’s all the fuss about, anyway? What are you quitting the fisherman for? Had trouble with the master?”
“Trouble? Huh, I never am out of trouble. Yes, I’ve had a row with the captain. He’s my uncle and I guess a day hasn’t passed in the last ten years that we haven’t had some sort of a run in. But I’ve left him for good this time. I’d swim clean from here to the mainland before I’d go back on board his old vessel. By hookey, I’ve done nothing but fight with him and his men ever since I started on this cruise. He said he’d knock the inventive bug out of me or crack my head trying. He’s thrashed me with rope ends and even mauled me with a belaying pin now and then when I got my dander up. Look here.”
Ray threw back his wet shirt and exhibited a deep, ragged wound across his shoulder.
“And you swam ashore with that!” cried Jack incredulously.