[Illustration: At this the enraged officer whipped out a revolver.]
After the exciting incident was ended, and the little "Sea Bee" had
gained the safety of open water, Cabot grasped the young skipper's hand
and shook it heartily.
"It was fine!" he cried, "though I don't see how you dared do it.
Weren't you afraid they would fire at us?"
"Not a bit," laughed White. "They didn't realise what we were up to
until we were well past them, and then they hadn't time to get ready
before we were out of range. I don't believe they would dare fire on
the British flag, anyway; especially as we hadn't done a thing to them.
I almost wish they had, though; for I would be willing to lose this
schooner and a good deal besides for the sake of bringing on a war that
should drive the French from Newfoundland."
"But what did they want of you, and what would have happened if you had
not given them the slip?"
"I expect they wanted to hold me here until they heard how our case had
gone, so that I couldn't get back to the factory before they had a
chance to run up there and seize it. Like as not they would have kept
us on one excuse or another--lack of papers or something of that
sort--for a week or two, and by the time they let us go some one else
would have owned the Pretty Harbour lobster factory."
"Would they really have dared do such a thing?" asked Cabot, to whom
the idea of foreign interference in the local affairs of Newfoundland
was entirely new.
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