hold."

"I'll make the towline fast to the mainmast."

"That'll hold, I admit. But has the _Maggie_ got power enough,
what with the load she's totin' now, to tow that big bark in to
San Francisco Bay?"

"Oh, we'll take it easy an' get there some time," Scraggs chipped
in.

"You bet you'll take it easy--easier'n you think. Before you
start towin' that bark, you'll have to clew up her canvas a whole
lot to make the towin' easier, an' who's goin' to do that? An'
you got to have a man at her wheel."

"Neils an' my mate."

"If that new mate dares to leave you in command o' the _Maggie_,
alone an' unprotected on the high seas an' you with a fresh water
license, I'll----"

"Then Neils an' I'll do it."

"You don't know how. Besides, you're afraid to go aboard that
bark. You don't know what kind of a frightful disease she may
have aboard. Do you know a plague ship when you see one?"

Captain Scraggs paled a little, but the prospect of the salvage
heartened him. "I don't give a hoot," he declared. "I'll take a