_ was yanked off his own deck and went along.

All the evening Mayo's collar had been buttoned closely about his neck
to keep out the fog-damp, and when he was picked up by the spikes the
collar gripped tightly about his throat and against his larynx. His cry
for help was only a strangled squawk. His men were scattered along the
side of the yacht, trying to protect her, the night was over all, and no
one noted the mode of the skipper's departure.

The old schooner scrunched her way past the _Olenia_, roweling the
yacht's glossy paint and smearing her with tar and slime. It was as
if the rancorous spirit of the unclean had found sudden opportunity to
defile the clean.

Then the _Polly_ passed on into the night with clear pathway to the open
sea.

VII ~ INTO THE MESS FROM EASTWARD

Farewell to friends, farewell to foes,
Farewell to dear relations.
We're bound across the ocean blue--
Bound for the foreign nations.
Then obey your bo's'n's call,
Walk away with that cat-fall!
And we'll think on those girls when we can no longer stay.
And we'll think on those girls when we're far, far away.
--Unmooring.

For the first few moments, after being snatched up in that fashion, Mayo
hung from the dolphin-striker without motion, like a man paralyzed.
He was astounded by the suddenness of this abduction. He was afraid to
struggle. Momentarily he expected that the fabric would let go and that
he would be rolled under the forefoot of the schooner. Then he began to
grow faint from lack of breath; he was nearly garroted by his collar.
Carefully he raised his hands and set them about a stay above his head
and lifted himself so that he might ease his throat from the throttling
grip of the collar. He dangled there over the water for some time,
feeling that he had not strength enough, after his choking, to lift
himself into the chains or to swing to the foot-rope.

He glanced up and saw the figurehead; it seemed to be simpering at him
with an irritating smile. There was something of bland triumph in that
grin. In the upset of his feelings there was personal and provoking
aggravation in the expression of the figurehead. He swore at it as if it
were something human. His anger helped him, gave him strength. He began
to swing himself, and at last was able to throw a foot over a stay.

He rested for a time and then gave him