information he required.

"All right. Here's your money," Scraggs replied and handed Mr.
Gibney twenty dollars. He and Neils Halvorsen then went forward,
got out the steel towing cable, and fastened a light rope to the
end of it. The skiff floated off the ship at the end of the
painter, so The Squarehead hauled it in, climbed down into the
skiff, and made the light rope fast to a thwart; then, with
Captain Scraggs paying out the hawser, Neils bent manfully to the
oars and started to tow the steel cable back to the _Maggie_.
Half way there, the weight of the cable dragging behind slowed
The Squarehead up and eventually stopped him. Exerting all his
strength he pulled and pulled, but the sole result of his efforts
was to wear himself out, seeing which the _Maggie's_ navigating
officer set the little steamer in toward the perspiring Neils,
while Captain Scraggs, Gibney, and McGuffey cheered lustily.

Suddenly an oar snapped. Instantly Neils unshipped the remaining
oar, sprang to the stern, and attempted, by sculling, to keep the
skiff's head up to the waves. But the weight of the cable whirled
the little craft around, a wave rolled in over her counter, and
half-filled her; the succeeding wave completed the job and rolled
the skiff over and The Squarehead was forced to swim back to the
_Chesapeake_. He climbed up the Jacob's ladder to face a storm of
abuse from Captain Scraggs.

The cable was hauled back aboard with difficulty, owing to the
submerged skiff at the end of it. Captain Scraggs and The
Squarehead leaned over the _Chesapeake's_ rail and tugged
furiously, when the wreck came alongside, but all of their
strength was unequal to the task of righting the little craft by
hauling up on the light rope attached to her thwart.

"For ten dollars more each me an' Mac'll tail on to that rope an'
do our best to right the skiff. After she's righted, I'll bail
her out, borrow new oars from this here bark, an' help Neils row
back to the _Maggie_ with the cable," Mr. Gibney volunteered.
"Cash in advance, as per usual."

"You're a pair of highway robbers, but I'll take you," Scraggs
almost wailed, and paid out the money; whereupon Gibney and
McGuffey "tailed" on to the rope and with raucous cries hauled
away. As a result of their efforts, the thwart came away with the
rope and the quartet sat down with exceeding abruptness on the
hard pine deck of the _Chesapeake_.

"I had an idee that thwart would pull loose," Mr. Gibney