"Taken, Captain Scraggs. Write out an agreement and I'll sign
it."

With the agreement in his pocket, Scraggs, followed by Gibney,
left the cabin. "One hundred each to you an' Mac if you'll stay
aboard the _Chesapeake_, steer her, an' help the _Maggie_ out
with what sail you can get on her," Scraggs promised.

"Take a long, runnin' jump at yourself, Scraggsy, old sorrowful.
The best me an' Mac'll do is to help you cockbill the anchor, an'
that'll cost you ten bucks for each of us--in advance." The
artful fellow realized that Scraggs knew nothing whatever about a
sailing ship and would have to depend upon The Squarehead for the
information he required.

"All right. Here's your money," Scraggs replied and handed Mr.
Gibney twenty dollars. He and Neils Halvorsen then went forward,
got out the steel towing cable, and fastened a light rope to the
end of it. The skiff floated off the ship at the end of the
painter, so The Squarehead hauled it in, climbed down into the
skiff, and made the light rope fast to a thwart; then, with
Captain Scraggs paying out the hawser, Neils bent manfully to the
oars and started to tow the steel cable back to the _Maggie_.
Half way there, the weight of the cable dragging behind slowed
The Squarehead up and eventually stopped him. Exerting all his
strength he pulled and pulled, but the sole result of his efforts
was to wear himself out, seeing which the _Maggie's_ navigating
officer set the little steamer in toward the perspiring Neils,
while Captain Scraggs, Gibney, and McGuffey cheered lustily.