With a sudden fierce look that made him more horribly like Snuffy than before, he caught me by my sleeve and a bit of my arm, and shoved me back from the edge of the dock till we stood alone.

"Then where did ye steal your slops ?" he hissed at me with oaths.

"Look here, ye young gallows-bird, if ye don't stand me a liquor, I'll run ye in as a runaway apprentice.

So cash up, and look sharp." I was startled, but I was not quite such a fool as I looked, mind or body.

I had once had a hardish struggle with Snuffy himself when he was savage, and I was strong and agile beyond my seeming.