s you needed to, either way----"

"By the Great Bull Whale," Job laughed, as he grasped the boy's plan, "I
wonder if that wouldn't work! Jeremy, boy, we'll find out, anyhow.
Braisted!" he called to the ship's carpenter, "up with some lumber and a
good stout line and a pair of spare blocks if you've got them. Lively,
now!"

In a jiffy the carpenter had tumbled the tackle out on the deck, and
under the direction of Job, began to rig it according to Jeremy's
scheme. It was a matter of a few moments only, once he caught the idea.
When at length the final stout knot had been tied, Job, still keeping
his mighty clutch on the tiller beam, motioned to Jeremy to take hold of
the windlass. The boy jumped forward eagerly and seized two of the rude
spokes that radiated horizontally from the hub. The position was an
awkward one, but with a slight pull he found that he could swing the
windlass rapidly in either direction.

"Avast there--avast!" came Job's bass bellow, and looking over his
shoulder, Jeremy saw the big skipper flung from side to side in spite of
himself as the windlass was turned. The seamen who had gathered to watch
were roaring with laughter, and Job himself was chuckling as he let go
the tiller and hurried to Jeremy's side. Taking a grip on the spokes, he
spun them back and forth once or twice, to feel how the vessel answered
her helm under this new contraption, and in a moment had it working
handsomely. He was using the first ship's steering-wheel.

The sloop, which had yawed and lost some headway during this interlude,
now struck her stride again, and drove along with her nose held steady,
a full half-point closer to the wind than had been possible before. Job
perceived this and loosed one hand long enough to strike Jeremy a mighty
blow on the back.

"She works, boy!" he cried. "And at this gait we'll catch them before
noon!"

Indeed, the crew had already noticed the difference in their sailing,
and were lining the bows, waving their caps in the air and yelling with
excitement as they watched the distance between the two craft slowly
shorten.

An hour passed, and the gunners were sent below to make ready their
pieces, for the lead of the pirate sloop had been cut to a bare mile.

Job had turned the wheel over to Hawkes, and now, with three picked men
to help him, was ramming home a heavy charge of powder in the long
"nine." On top of it he drove down the round-shot, then bent above the
swivel-breach, swi