llars' worth aboard," I
calculated. "I wonder how long it took to get the load?"

"Three or four days," Charley answered. "Not bad wages for two
men--twenty-five dollars a day apiece."

The boat we were discussing, the _Ghost_, lay directly beneath us. Two
men composed its crew. One was a squat, broad-shouldered fellow with
remarkably long and gorilla-like arms, while the other was tall and
well proportioned, with clear blue eyes and a mat of straight black
hair. So unusual and striking was this combination of hair and eyes
that Charley and I remained somewhat longer than we intended.

And it was well that we did. A stout, elderly man, with the dress and
carriage of a successful merchant, came up and stood beside us, looking
down upon the deck of the _Ghost_. He appeared angry, and the longer he
looked the angrier he grew.

"Those are my oysters," he said at last. "I know they are my oysters.
You raided my beds last night and robbed me of them."

The tall man and the short man on the _Ghost_ looked up.

"Hello, Taft," the short man said, with insolent familiarity. (Among
the bayfarers he had gained the nickname of "The Centipede" on account
of his long arms.) "Hello, Taft," he repeated, with the same touch of
insolence. "Wot 'r you growlin' about now?"

"Those are my oysters--that's what I said. You've stolen them from my
beds."

"Yer mighty wise, ain't ye?" was the Centipede's sneering reply. "S'pose
you can tell your oysters wherever you see 'em?"

"Now, in my experience," broke in the tall man, "oysters is oysters
wherever you find 'em, an' they're pretty much alike all the Bay over,
and the world over, too, for that matter. We're not wantin' to quarrel
with you, Mr. Taft, but we jes' wish you wouldn't insinuate that them
oysters is yours an' that we're thieves an' robbers till you can prove
the goods."

"I know they're mine; I'd stake my life on it!" Mr. Taft snorted.

"Prove it," challenged the tall man, who we afterward learned was known
as "The Porpoise" because of his wonderful swimming abilities.

Mr. Taft shrugged his shoulders helplessly. Of course he could not prove
the oysters to be his, no matter how certain he might be.

"I'd give a thousand dollars to have you men behind the bars!" he cried.
"I'll give fifty dollars a head for your arrest and conviction, all of
you!"

A roar of laughter went up from the different boats, for the rest of the
pirates had been listening to the discussion.