"Keep away from this tiller," Tom called out angrily, seeing that their
boat had now entirely changed its course. "I am sailing this boat."

"You are not sailing her, if you don't take her in where I say," the
intruder declared fiercely. His eyes were bloodshot and his teeth
closed together with a snap. He stood by as if he were going to spring
at Tom Curtis.

Madge's cheeks were burning. She was so angry that her throat felt dry
and parched. "Don't pay any attention to him," she called indignantly.
Tom Curtis hesitated.

"I don't fight when I have a woman guest on board the boat," he
declared doggedly. "Once I run my boat in to the pier, you will answer
for this."

"Never mind threatening me: I'm not afraid of you. You know you have
got to land me where I say. What do you care about where you land? It
is where _I_ land that is important." Again the stranger made a rush
for the tiller.

Tom sprang upon him. The two were evenly matched, and Madge held her
breath as she watched them struggle. Brownie, Tom's setter dog, sprang
for the stranger's leg, then retreated to one end of the boat howling
with pain. The intruder had swung back his foot and dealt the dog a
savage kick.

The rain had now begun to fall heavily, and the deck soon became
slippery as glass. The two young men continued to struggle. Tom
realized that he was endangering Madge's life, as well as his own, in