hatch. Reeve a block and tackle through that cargo gaff
and stand by to heave out the guns."

But Captain Scraggs had repented of his rash suggestion almost
the moment he made it. Only the dire necessity of desperate
measures to save the _Maggie_ had prompted him to put the idea
into Mr. Gibney's head, and when he saw the avidity with which
the latter set to work clearing for action, his terror knew no
bounds.

"Oh, Gib," he wailed, "I'm afraid we better not try to lick that
gunboat after all. They might sink us with all hands."

"Rats!" said Mr. Gibney, as he leaped into the hold. "Bear a
light here until I can root out the wheels of these guns. Here
they are, labelled 'cream separator.' Stand by with that sling
to----"

"But, Gib, my _dear_ boy," protested Captain Scraggs, "this is
_insanity_!"

"I know it," said Mr. Gibney calmly. "Scraggsy, you're perfectly
right. But I'd sooner die fightin' than let them stand me up agin
a wall in Ensenada. We're filibusters, Scraggsy, and we're caught
with the goods. I, for one, am goin' down with the steamer
_Maggie_, but I'm goin' down fightin' like a bear."

"Maybe--maybe we can outrun her, Gib," half sobbed Captain
Scraggs.

"No hope," replied Mr. Gibney. "Fight and die is the last resort.
She's eight miles astern and gainin' every minute, and when she's
within two miles she'll open fire. Of course we won't be hit
unless they've got a Yankee gunner aboard."

"Let's run up the Stars and Stripes and dare 'em to fire on us,"
said Captain Scraggs.

"No," said Mr. Gibney firmly, "my old man died for the flag an'
I've sailed under it too long to hide behind it when I'm in
Dutch. We'll fight. If you was ever navigatin' officer on a
Colombian gunboat, Scraggs, you'd realize what it means to run
from a Mexican."

Captain Scraggs said nothing further. Perhaps he was a little
ashamed of himself in the face of Mr. Gibney's simple faith in
his own ability; perhaps in his veins, all unknown, there flowed
a taint of the heroic blood of some forgotten sea-dog. Be that as
it may, something did swell in his breast when Mr. Gibney spoke
of the flag and his scorning to hide behind it, and Scraggs's
snaggle teeth came together with a snap.

"All right, Gib, my boy," he said solemnly, "I'm with you. Mrs.
Scraggs has slipped her cable and there ain't nobody to mourn for
me. But if we can't fight under the Stars and Stripes, by the
tail of the Great Sacred Bull, we'll have a flag of