that will scale around and come back and hit him.
He wants to be in a position to rasp me the next time I make a mistake
in a gamble."

"All the crew gone ashore--the Bee line men?"

"Sure--bag and baggage. We own her as she stands. That second officer
had 'em shivering every time a wave slapped her. I was glad when he got
away. He pretty nigh stampeded _my_ men. Said she was liable to slide
any minute."

The drawling voice of Captain Dodge broke in above them. "Here comes
the tug _Resolute_" he stated. "Mebbe it's another one of them night
messages from your concern, Titus. May want you to put what you can
carry of her in a paper bag and bring it to Boston."

"You never can tell what they're going to do in Boston," growled the
outside man. "I get discouraged, sometimes, trying to be enterprising."

He began to pace, looking worried, and did not reply to several
questions that Mayo put to him. So the young man accepted Captain
Dodge's invitation and climbed to the tugboat's pilot-house. He had a
very human hankering to know what the coming of that tug from the main
signified, and decided to hang around a little while longer, even at the
risk of making Captain Candage impatient.

The _Resolute_ brought a telegram, and the man in the fur coat slapped
it open, took in its gist at one glance, and began to swear with great
gusto.

He climbed into the _Ransom's_ pilot-house, with the air of a man
seeking comfort from friends, and fanned the sheet of paper wrathfully.

"Orders to resell. Get out from under. Take what I can get. Don't want
the gamble. And here I have cleaned a good profit already."

"Why don't you fire back a message advising 'em to hold on?" asked
Captain Dodge.

"And have a gale come up in a few hours and knock her off'n this rock?
That's what would happen. It would be just my luck. I'm only a hired
man, gents. If my firm won't gamble, it ain't up to me. If I disobey
orders and hold on, I'll be scared to death the first time the wind
begins to blow. There's no use in ruining a fine set of nerves for a
firm that won't appreciate the sacrifice, and I need nerve to keep on
working for 'em. I say it ain't up to me. Me for shore as soon as I
load those lighters. Every dollar I get by reselling is velvet, so let
'ergo!"

"What do they tell you to do about price?" ventured Mayo.

"Take the first offer--and hurry about it. They seem to have an idea
that this steamer is standing on her head on the point