"an' not above a
league off!"

Jeremy, straining his eyes into the night, made out the dim patch of
sail ahead.

"How's she headed?" called the Captain again. "Is she still on her port
tack, or running before the wind?"

"Still beating up to the west!" the sailor replied.

"Good," cried Job. "They think they can outsail us. Keep her in sight
and sing out if you see her fall off the wind!"

Half an hour later the watch was changed and Jeremy scrambled into his
warm bunk for a few hours more sleep.

It was broad daylight when he and Tom reached the deck once more and
went eagerly forward to join the little knot of seamen in the bows. All
eyes were turned toward the horizon, ahead, where the sails of the
fleeing schooner loomed gray in the morning haze.

The wind which had shifted a little to the north was still blowing
stiffly, heeling both sloops over at a sharp angle. The _Tiger_ had
gained somewhat during the morning watch, but the pirates had now
evidently become desperate and put on all the sail their craft would
carry, so that the two vessels sped on, league after league, without
apparent change of position.

Job, who had now taken the tiller again, called to Jeremy after a while.
"Here, lad," he said, when the boy reached the poop, "lend me a hand
with this kicker."

Jeremy laid hold with a will, and found that it took almost all his
strength, along with that of the powerful Captain, to hold the schooner
on her course. At times, when a big beam sea caught her, she would yaw
fearfully, falling off several points, and could only be brought back to
windward by jamming the thrashing rudder hard over.

"We lose headway when she does that, don't we, Job?" panted the boy
after one such effort. "And I reckon we couldn't lash the beam fast to
keep her this way, could we? No, I see, it has to be free so as to move
all the time. Still----"

As he staggered to and fro at the end of the tiller, the boy thought
rapidly. Finally he recommenced: "Job--this may sound foolish to
you--but why couldn't we lash her on both sides, and yet give her
play--look--this way! Rig a little pulley here and one here----" He
indicated places on the deck, close to the rail on either quarter. "Then
reeve a line from the tiller-end through each one, and bring it back
with three or four turns around a windlass drum, a little way for'ard,
there. Then you could keep hold of the arms of the windlass, and only
let the tiller move as much a