ed, and we looked astern to see what our
prisoners were doing. The boats were strung along at unequal
distances apart, and we saw the four nearest ones bunching together.
This was done by the boat ahead trailing a small rope astern to the
one behind. When this was caught, they would cast off from their net
and heave in on the line till they were brought up to the boat in
front. So great was the speed at which we were travelling, however,
that this was very slow work. Sometimes the men would strain to their
utmost and fail to get in an inch of the rope; at other times they
came ahead more rapidly.

When the four boats were near enough together for a man to pass from
one to another, one Greek from each of three got into the nearest boat
to us, taking his rifle with him. This made five in the foremost boat,
and it was plain that their intention was to board us. This they
undertook to do, by main strength and sweat, running hand over hand
the float-line of a net. And though it was slow, and they stopped
frequently to rest, they gradually drew nearer.

Charley smiled at their efforts, and said, "Give her the topsail,
Ole."

The cap at the mainmast head was broken out, and sheet and downhaul
pulled flat, amid a scattering rifle fire from the boats; and the
_Mary Rebecca_ lay over and sprang ahead faster than ever.

But the Greeks were undaunted. Unable, at the increased speed, to draw
themselves nearer by means of their hands, they rigged from the blocks
of their boat sail what sailors call a "watch-tackle." One of them,
held by the legs by his mates, would lean far over the bow and make
the tackle fast to the float-line. Then they would heave in on the
tackle till the blocks were together, when the manoeuvre would be
repeated.

"Have to give her the staysail," Charley said.

Ole Ericsen looked at the straining _Mary Rebecca_ and shook his head.
"It will take der masts out of her," he said.

"And we'll be taken out of her if you don't," Charley replied.

Ole shot an anxious glance at his masts, another at the boat load of
armed Greeks, and consented.

The five men were in the bow of the boat--a bad place when a craft is
towing. I was watching the behavior of their boat as the great
fisherman's staysail, far, far larger than the topsail and used only
in light breezes, was broken out. As the _Mary Rebecca_ lurched
forward with a tremendous jerk, the nose of the boat ducked down into
the water, and the men tumbled ov