and
trim a yacht.

Hilton followed the young skipper down over the side. Tom turned to
help him to the deck of the "Restless," but Hilton lightly leaped
across, holding his bag before him. Tom Halstead, as he turned, got a
good look at that bag. It was one that he was likely to remember for
many a day. The article was of dark red leather, and on one side the
surface for a space as large as a man's hand had been torn away,
probably in some accident.

"Here's the passage money, Captain," said Hilton, passing over a
ten-dollar bill. Murmuring his thanks, the young skipper crumpled up
the bill, shoving it into a trousers pocket, then hurried aft.

Clodis was a short, almost undersized man of perhaps forty-five, stout
and well dressed. His head was so bandaged, as he lay in the lower
berth of the port stateroom, that not much of his face was visible.

"He's unconscious, and probably will be for hours," stated Dr. Burke,
as Captain Tom appeared in the doorway. "If he comes to, I've left
some medicine with your steward, to be given the patient. Of course
you'll get him ashore and under medical care as promptly as possible,
Captain."

"Surgeons are on the way from Beaufort to meet us," the young skipper
nodded.

"Then I'll return to my ship," declared Dr. Burke, rising. "But I'm
glad to know that Mr. Clodis is going to be met by a friend."

As the doctor hurried over the side, Hilton turned to walk aft.

"Stay forward, if you please, sir," interposed Captain Tom. "No one is
to go into the cabin until the patient has been removed under a
doctor's orders."

There was a frown on Hilton's face, which, however, almost instantly
vanished. Joe brought a deck arm chair and placed it for Mr. Hilton on
the bridge deck.

"Good luck for you and your patient, sir," called down Captain Hampton
over the rail, as he prepared to get under headway.

"Thank you, sir," Tom acknowledged. "We'll take the best care of Mr.
Clodis that we know how."

With Hank on duty in the cabin, Tom Halstead had to cast off and make
his own start as best he could. He managed the double task neatly,
however, and, as he fell away the "Constant's" engine-room bell could
be heard for half-speed-ahead.

The little auto-whistle of the "Restless" sounded shrilly, to be
answered with a long, deep-throated blast from the liner's steam
whistle. With this brief interchange of sea courtesies the two craft
fell apart, going on their respective ways.

"Full s