enabled any person to see this stranger from the deck of the Swash,
but no one on board her seemed to regard him at all, unless it might
be the master.

"Come, bear a hand, my hearty, and toss that bow-fast clear," cried
the captain, whose impatience to be off seemed to increase as the
time to do so approached nearer and nearer. "Off with it, at once,
and let her go."

The man on the wharf threw the turns of the hawser clear of the
post, and the Swash was released forward. A smaller line, for a
spring, had been run some distance along the wharves, ahead of the
vessel, and brought in aft. Her people clapped on this, and gave way
to their craft, which, being comparatively light, was easily moved,
and was very manageable. As this was done, the distant spectator who
had been leaning on the fence moved toward the wharf with a step a
little quicker than common. Almost at the same instant, a short,
stout, sailor-like looking little person, waddled down the nearest
street, seeming to be in somewhat of a hurry, and presently he
joined the other stranger, and appeared to enter into conversation
with him; pointing toward the Swash as he did so. All this time,
both continued to advance toward the wharf.

In the meanwhile, Spike and his people were not idle. The tide did
not run very strong near the wharves and in the sort of a bight in
which the vessel had lain; but, such as it was, it soon took the
brig on her inner bow, and began to cast her head off shore. The
people at the spring pulled away with all their force, and got
sufficient motion on their vessel to overcome the tide, and to give
the rudder an influence. The latter was put hard a-starboard, and