d, quite solemn. 'So many poor fellows. I am glad
the voyage is nearly over. I won't have a moment's peace about Charley
now.'

"I assured her Charley was all right. It took more than that ship knew
to get over a seaman like Charley. And she agreed with me.

"Next day we got the tug off Dungeness; and when the tow-rope was fast
Charley rubbed his hands and said to me in an undertone--

"'We've baffled her, Ned.'

"'Looks like it,' I said, with a grin at him. It was beautiful weather,
and the sea as smooth as a millpond. We went up the river without a
shadow of trouble except once, when off Hole Haven, the brute took a
sudden sheer and nearly had a barge anchored just clear of the fairway.
But I was aft, looking after the steering, and she did not catch me
napping that time. Charley came up on the poop, looking very concerned.
'Close shave,' says he.

"'Never mind, Charley,' I answered, cheerily. 'You've tamed her.'

"We were to tow right up to the dock. The river pilot boarded us below
Gravesend, and the first words I heard him say were: 'You may just as
well take your port anchor inboard at once, Mr. Mate.'

"This had been done when I went forward. I saw Maggie on the forecastle
head enjoying the bustle and I begged her to go aft, but she took no
notice of me, of course. Then Charley, who was very busy with the head
gear, caught sight of her and shouted in his biggest voice: 'Get off
the forecastle head, Maggie. You're in the way here.' For all answer
she made a funny face at him, and I saw poor Charley turn away, hiding
a smile. She was flushed with the excitement of getting home again, and
her blue eyes seemed to snap electric sparks as she looked at the river.
A collier brig had gone round just ahead of us, and our tug had to stop
her engines in a hurry to avoid running into her.

"In a moment, as is usually the case, all the shipping in the reach
seemed to get into a hopeless tangle. A schooner and a ketch got up a
small collision all to themselves right in the middle of the river.
It was exciting to watch, and, meantime, our tug remained stopped. Any
other ship than that brute could have been coaxed to keep straight for a
couple of minutes--but not she! Her head fell off at once, and she began
to drift down, taking her tug along with her. I noticed a cluster of
coasters at anchor within a quarter of a mile of us, and I thought I
had better speak to the pilot. 'If you let her get amongst that lot,'
I said,