“So you think I ought to apologize?” he said, slowly. “Yes, and you’ve got to do it, too!” put in Hockley, growing bolder, now he saw that Professor Strong was, for once, backing him up. “You had no right to play a joke on me.” “I was only asking you a simple question.” “Hum! I know you! But I may have--er--been hasty in hitting you,” went on Captain Sudlip, lamely. “And if I was I--er--apologize.” And with this he walked off, and did not show himself again until the next day. “I reckon we got square,” said Darry, later on, when they talked the matter over. “He’ll be mad over this affair every time he thinks about it.” “It was all right enough for you fellows,” grumbled Hockley, who was nursing a swollen lip. “You didn’t catch what I got.” “Why didn’t you strike back, Glummy?” asked Mark. “I didn’t get the chance, the professor came up so quickly. Otherwise I would have wiped up the deck with him,” blustered the would-be bully. All of the others had their opinion about Hockley’s ability to “wipe up the deck” with anybody, but they said nothing on that point, for certainly he had caught the bitter end of the joke. “And now we’ve got to wait and see how Captain Sudlip treats us for the rest of the trip,” said Mark, when the meeting broke up. “And how he treats January Jones,” said Darry. “Don’t forget that poor fellow. My! what would Captain Sudlip do to him if he knew he was the one who had brought us the news?” As might be expected, Jason Sudlip was in anything but a sweet temper during the days spent in making the run around the western end of Cuba to Havana. But he managed to steer clear of Professor Strong and his party, and the meals furnished, while not particularly good, were still such as to be above complaint. It was on his crew that Captain Sudlip emptied his vials of wrath, and everybody caught it from the first mate down to January Jones and the cabin boy. This led to more than one quarrel, and before the _Chester_ reached Havana half the help on board were on the verge of mutiny. “I won’t stand this,” said the second mate. “If the first mate won’t make a complaint to the owners I will!” “I do not blame you,” answered Professor Strong, to whom he was speaking. “I think you have a clear case. If you wish it, I will write out a letter stating such facts as I know, and I will sign it, and so can the young men with me.” This offer was readily accepted, and when the _Chester_ reached the harbor at Havana the second mate had the paper safe in his possession. He had talked the matter over with the others on the steamer and five men joined in making a complaint, not alone to the owners but also to the authorities. As a result Captain Sudlip was discharged by the owners of the steamer and the first mate became the commander, and the second mate became first. The mate was willing to keep January Jones, but the colored man remembered what Professor Strong had promised and went ashore to stay there. CHAPTER VIII