ter, the _Maggie_ fought
valiantly to stick to the beach and even to continue her
interrupted journey overland. She merely succeeded in stretching
both hawsers taut; slowly she was drawn seaward, stern first, and
at the expiration of fifteen minutes' steady pulling, Mr. Gibney
could restrain himself no longer. He rang for full speed
astern--and got it promptly. Then, calling Neils Halvorsen to aid
him, he abandoned the wheel and scrambled aft.

With no one at the wheel the _Maggie_ shot off at a tangent and
the hawsers slacked immediately. In the twinkling of an eye Mr.
Gibney had cast them off, and as the ends disappeared with a
swish over the stern he ran back to the pilot house, rang for
full speed ahead, put his helm hard over, and headed the _Maggie_
in the general direction of China, although as a matter of fact
he cared not what direction he pursued, provided he got away from
the beach and placed distance between the _Maggie_ and two
soon-to-be-furious tugboat skippers.

CHAPTER VII

As the _Maggie_ chugged blithely away, the navigating officer's
soul expanded in song, and in the voice of a bull walrus he
delivered himself of a deep sea chantey more popular than proper.

Presently, away off in the fog, he heard the _Bodega_ whistle.
The _Aphrodite_ answered immediately. Adelbert P. Gibney smiled
and bit a large crescent out of his navy plug, for his soul was
at peace. When The Squarehead came into the pilot house presently
and grinned at him, Mr. Gibney handed Neils an electric torch.
"Prowl around below in the old ruin, Neils," he commanded, "and
see if we're makin' any water."

A quarter of an hour later Neils Halvorsen returned to report the
_Maggie_ apparently undamaged, so Mr. Gibney changed his course
and headed stealthily in the direction of the whistling tugs. He
came up behind them presently--approaching so close under cover
of the fog that he could hear Dan Hicks and Jack Flaherty, both
under a dead-slow bell, felicitating each other through their
megaphones.

"Where d'ye suppose that dirty scoundrel's gone?" Hicks was
demanding.

"Out to sea, of course," Flaherty bellowed. "He'll stand off
until the fog lifts and then come ramping in as proud as Lucifer
and look amazed when we send him in a bill."

"Bill!" Hicks' voice dripped with sarcasm. "The Red Stack Company
will libel him, and if the old man doesn't, me an' my crew will."

"I'll bet a ripe peach he's a Jap, with a scoundrell