lf of the length of the towline beneath the surface.

He was nearly dead and fully blind when he felt air on his face, and had
only time to take a breath when a following sea immersed him again. But
with another breath, he began to climb.

Captain Bolt, aft on the poop, saw men on the _Champion_ waving arms and
pointing a megaphone his way. He could not hear, nor could he hope to
from the bow, yet he ran forward. As he reached the forecastle steps, an
unkempt figure came in over the bow--a big, rawboned man in dripping
rags, with blood streaming from arms and legs, with a red, round, and
sorrowful face bordered by long, matted, gray hair-with the gleam of
incipient insanity in the eyes. He sprang off the forecastle and faced
the captain.

"Cappen Bolt," he stammered, as he tore at a small leather bag with
fingers and teeth. "Cappen--cappen--here it is. I've fetched it t' ye. I
never spent it." From the bag came a stained and oxidized coin, which he
forced into the amazed captain's hand. Then, sinking to his knees, he
lifted his eyes to heaven, muttered a few inarticulate words, and fell
over in a swoon.

"Here!" called the captain, sharply, to two of his men who had drawn
near. "Take him below and strip him. Put him to bed, and I'll get some
brandy. Lord knows who he is, or where he came from, but he's in a bad
way."

Scotty was carried down the forecastle stairs and cared for; but he did
not waken to drink the captain's brandy; the swoon took on the form of
child-like sleep, and the sleep continued until the barges had made port
and moored to the dock. Here, amid the confusion of making fast, opening
hatches, and rigging cargo gear, Captain Bolt had about forgotten the
mysterious stranger in his forecastle, and was only reminded of him when
the captain of the _Champion_ came aboard to inquire.

"He climbed up my bobstays, no doubt; he must have fallen overboard from
that big Englishman that anchored in the Horseshoe. Went crazy in the
water, I suppose. He went out on your towline like a monkey. I wouldn't
ha' believed a man could stand it. He was three minutes under water."

"I can't make it out," said Captain Bolt. "He put this in my hand"--he
held out the blackened dollar--"and then went daffy. He's down below
now. No, here he comes."

Scotty had climbed to the deck. He stood near the hatch, looking about
with a doubtful, bewildered air at the docks and shipping. Then his face
cleared a little, and like a ca