screamed
through the air.

"Gawd-a-mighty! She'll bang the mast out of her!" clamored Captain
Downs. "Get some men to those halyards, Mr. Dodge! Catch that boom!"

The mate ran and kicked at a sailor, shouting profane orders. He seized
the fellow and thrust him toward the pins where the halyards were
belayed. But at that instant the rushing boom came hurtling overhead
with its slung-shot, and the iron banged the rail almost exactly where
the fouled line was secured. The mate and the sailor fell flat on their
faces and crawled back from the zone of danger.

"Get some rope and noose that boom! Lassoo it!" commanded the master,
touching up his orders with some lurid sea oaths.

But the men who stepped forward did so timidly and slowly, and dodged
back when the boom threatened. The flying bar was a terrible weapon. Now
it swung in toward the mast--now swept in wider radius. Just where it
would next sweep the deck between the masts depended on the vagary of
wave and wind. It was perfectly apparent that anybody who got in its
path would meet death as instantly as a fly under a housewife's spanker.

Life is sweet, even if a man is black and is toiling for a dollar-a-day
wage.

And even if a man is a mate, at a higher wage and with more
responsibility, he is inclined to think of himself before he figures on
saving a mast and gear for a schooner's owners.

"What kind of a gor-rammed crew have I got aboard here?" shrieked the
master.

"About the kind that all wind-jammers carry these days," said a voice at
his elbow.

Captain Downs whirled and found Mayo there. "How do you dare to speak to
me, you tin-kettle sailor?" demanded the master. In his passion he went
on: "You're aboard here under false pretenses. You can't even do your
work. You have made this vessel liable by assaulting a passenger. You're
no good! With you aboard here I'm just the same as one man short." But
he had no time to devote to this person.

He turned away and began to revile his mates and his sailors, his voice
rising higher each time the rampaging boom crashed from side to side.
One or two of the backstays had parted, and it was plain that before
long the mast would go by the board.

"If that mast comes out it's apt to smash us clear to the water-line,"
lamented the captain.

"If you can make your herd of sheep give me a hand at the right time,
I'll show you that a tin-kettle sailor is as good as a wind-jammer
swab," said Mayo, retaliating w