Beat a Guy Up, Then Save His Life

 

Read/Watch  'em In Order #132

Cap'n Bob is the newly minted commander of the whale ship Stormy Petrel and, by golly, if someone is going to talk smack about the whaling profession in a bar, the Captain is going to do something about it!

"A Cupid in Sea Boots," by James K. Waterman, is the next-to-last work of fiction in the May 1927 issue of Frontier Stories. And we meet Cap'n Bob just before he gets into a bar fight with a guy wearing unseasonally heavy sea boots. The guy has been demanding a whaler fight him. Cap'n Bob, after putting a bet down on himself, obliges. 

The ensuing fisticuffs happens off-screen, but Waterman handles this well and still makes it clear to the readers that it is an epic battle. Cap'n Bob is the victor, collecting his winnings and heading back to his ship to leave port before there's any legal trouble.

But his winnings include a watch. And when the lady Cap'n Bob wants to marry pays him a surprise visit (she just arrived from New Bedford on another ship), she recognizes that watch as belonging to her father.

Well, that puts a damper on Cap'n Bob's wedding plans.

In a predictable but still fun twist, Cap'n Bob does run into his perspective father-in-law once again during the middle of a whale hunt. And perhaps a chance to save the father's life might repair his relationship with the daughter.

It is indeed predictable, but the whale hunt is described in vivid prose and we can't help but feel sympathy for the put-upon Cap'n Bob. A likeable hero and some dangerous whales can make a contrived ending more palatable. 

If you'd like to read this one yourself, you can find it online HERE.