"You've done enough, boy! You've done enough, Allen!" he exclaimed. "Leave life in the scoundrel so we can get the truth out of him." CHAPTER XVIII A SEA COURT "Mr. Rogers, take the deck!" commanded Captain Hamilton sharply. "You bullies, get forward with you!" he added to the curious men of the watch. "Don't any of you lose sight of the fact that if it were a seaman instead of a passenger who attacked Mr. Ditty, he'd be in the chain-locker now. "Drew, you and Tyke come below with me. When you've washed your face, Mr. Ditty, I want to see you there too. Mr. Rogers!" "Aye, aye, sir!" responded the second officer, smartly. "Pass the word forward. Has anybody seen Mr. Parmalee or does any of them know personally what's happened to him? No second-hand tales, mind you." "Aye, aye, sir." With all his rage and confusion of mind, Drew realized that easy-going, peace-loving Captain Hamilton had suddenly become another and entirely different being. Even Ruth descried no softness in her father's countenance now. She noted that his eye sparkled dangerously. He waved her before him, and she fled down the companionway steps ahead of Drew and Grimshaw. "Now, what's all this about?" the master of the _Bertha Hamilton_ demanded, facing Drew across the cabin table. "Oh, Father!" gasped Ruth. "That--that--Mr. Ditty says Mr. Parmalee is murdered and that Allen did it!" "That's neither here nor there," said the captain sternly. "I don't believe that any more than you do. But what is this between Ditty and Mr. Drew? They went at each other like two bulldogs that have nursed a grudge for a year. "Now, I want to know what it means, Drew. I heard--Ruth told me--of the little run-in you had with Ditty the day you first met my daughter on the Jones Lane pier," pursued Captain Hamilton. "Ruth was carrying a letter to Captain Peters for me. The _Normandy_ is bound for Hong Kong, where I'd just come from, and Peters and I have mutual friends out there. I forgot something I wanted Ruth to tell Captain Peters, and I asked Ditty, who had shore leave, to waylay her and give her my message. She'd never seen Ditty, and he startled her. He isn't a beauty, I admit. But now, what happened after that between you two, Drew?" "Nothing at all that day," said the young man promptly. "But another day I was over there, at the _Normandy_, to see--er--Captain Peters, and this fellow showed up half drunk and gave me the dirty side of his tongue. I knocked him down." "Seems to me you're mighty sudden with your fists," growled Captain Hamilton. "And Mr. Grimshaw can tell you something about Ditty, too," Drew began; but the master of the schooner stopped him. "Never mind about that. We're discussing your affair with Ditty. I've got to judge between you two. I'm judge, jury, and hangman in this case--until we make some port where there's a consul, at least. Now, here's the mate. No more fighting, remember or I'll take a hand in it myself."