even might be held until he could clear the matter up.

So, rather than be suspected and detained, he determined to make his
appearance by land, instead of by water, and ran the boat on shore, some
way below the town.

Jumping out, he was about to give her a shove out into the stream, when
he reflected that the tide was still flood and an empty boat would be
sure to be seen and secured and his sudden appearance connected with her
in some way; so he hauled her under a clump of bushes, made her well
fast and walked up a marshy cattle-path toward the town.

In about twenty minutes he came out close to a wharf, where the work of
the day was in full blast. A large schooner lay there, with "Traveler,
of Boston," on her broad stern. She was taking, as a deck-load, some
large, squared timbers, and just then had a big one hung by chains from
a patent crane, which stood upon the dock.

A number of negroes were at work lowering it down, when suddenly
something cracked and the most of them let go the winch.

The great timber must have come down on the deck with damaging effect if
Lee, who had often seen such cranes used before, had not jumped to the
safety-break, at the risk of being killed by the whirling winch-handles,
and brought the beam to a stand before it could do any damage.

"Well done, my lad!" shouted a stout, bronzed man, from the vessel. "You
just stay there and work those other three timbers down on deck, and
I'll pay you for it. I'm short handed. But, stop; maybe you belong to
some of these other vessels? No? Well, I'll be as good as my word. My