The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-01-06

Lou cOulQnC tnlnK OF II! wen,
when did you take command of my
ship?"
You're fiotsam an jetsam, sir, an
practically in the breakers. You're
sick, an, for all / know, delirious, so
for the sake O. protectin' you, the
sick seaman in the fo'castle an the
owners, I'm takin' command"
| The master of the Chesapeake
reached under his pillow and produced
pistol. "Out of my cabin or I'll riddle
you," he barked feebly.
| Mr.. Gibney departed without a word
of protest and proceeded to make his
arrangements, regardless of the mas
ters consent. AS he and McGuffey
busted themselves, laying the leading
blocks along the deck, they glanced
toward the Maggie and observed Cap
tain Scraggs hurting crates of vege-
tables overheard in an effort to get at
| the small boat quickly. Hell die
when the freight claims come in" Mr..
McGuffey chortled "Poor OF Scrag
gsy!"
When Captain Scraggs came aboard,
Mr.. Gibney escorted him around to the
masters cabin, introduced him, and
stood by while they bargained. 'sThe
tow will cost you five thousand, Cap
tain" Scraggs began pompously.
| Me an McGuffey'll sail you in for
four Gibney declared.
Three thousand" snarled ScraggS.
| "Sailin's cheap as dirt at two thous-
and. AS matter of fact, Scraggsy,
me an Mac'll sail her in for nothin
| just to skin you out o. the salvage"
"Two thousand dollars is my lowest
figure" Scraggs declared. Take. it
or leave it, Captain. Under the cir
cumstances, bargaining is useless. Two
thousand is my last bid.'
The figure Scraggs named was prob
ably one fifth of what the master of
the Chesapeake knew court would
award; nevertheless he shook his head
ITS a straight towing job, Captain,
! and not salvage proposition at all.
| A tug would tow me in for two hun
dred and fifty, but I'll give you five
| hundred"
Remembering the vegetables he had
| jettisoned, Scraggs knew he could not
afford to accept that price. ''Tm
through" he bluffed-and his bluff
worked.
"Taken, Captain Scraggs. Write out
an agreement and I'll Sign it."
With the agreement in his pocket,
Scraggs, followed by Gibney, left the
| cabin. "One hundred each to you an
Mac if you'll stay aboard the Chesa-
peake, steer her, an help the Maggie
| out with what sail you can get on
her." Scraggs promised.
"Take long, runnin' jump at your
self, Scraggsy, old sorrowful. The best
me an Mac'll do is to help you cock
bill the anchor, an that'll cost you
| ten bucks for each of us-in advance"
| The artful fellow realized that Scraggs
knew nothing whatever about a sailing
ship and would have to depend upon
| The Squarehead for the information
he required.
."All right. Here's your money"
| Scraggs replied and handed Mr.. Glib
| ney twenty dollars. He and Neils
Halvorsen then went forward, got out
the steel towing cable, and fastened a
| light rope to the end Of 1t. The skiff
fioated off the ship at the end of the
| painter, so The Squarehead hauled it
| in, climbed down into the skiff, and
made the light rope fast to thwart !;
then, with Captain Scraggs paying out
| the hawser, Neils bent manfully to the
| oars and started to tow the steel cable
back to the Maggie. Half way there,
the weight of the cable dragging be-
hind slowed The Squarehead up and
| eventually stopped him. Exerting all
his strength he pulled and pulled. but
| the sole result of his efforts was to
wear himself out, seeing which the
Maggie's navigating officer set the lit
tie steamer In toward the perspiring
Neils, while Captain Scraggs, Gibney,
and McGuffey cheered Justify.
Suddenly an oar snapped. Instantly
Neils unshipped the remaining oar,
sprang to the stern, and attempted, by
sculling, to keep the skiff's head up to
| the waves. But the weight of the
cable whirled the little craft around,
a wave rolled in over her counter, and
| half-filIed her; the succeeding wave
| completed the job and rolled the skiff
over and The Squarehead was forced
to swim back to the Chesapeake. He
climbed up the Jacobs ladder to face
a storm Of abuse from Captain Scraggs
The cable was hauled back, aboard
with difficulty, owing to the submerged
skiff at the end of it. Captain Scraggs
and The Squarehead leaned over the
Chesapeake's rail and tugged furious
! 1y, when the wreck came alongside, but
all of their strength was unequal to
the task of righting the little craft by
hauling up on the light rope attached
to her thwart..
"For ten dollars more each me an
Mac'n tail on to that rope an do our
best to right the skiff. After she's
righted. I'll bail her out, borrow new
oars from this here bark. an help Neils
4 row back to the Maggie with the
| cable" Mr. Gibney volunteered. "Cash
In advance, as per usual"
You're a pair of highway robbers,
but I'll take you,' Scraggs almost
walled, and paid out the money !;
whereupon Gibney and McGuffey
stalled" on to the rope and with rau-
cous cries hauled away. As result
1 of their efforts, the thwart came away
with the rope and the quartet sat down
with exceeding abruptness on the hard
pine deck of the Chesapeake.
/ ST had an idee that thwart would
pull loose" Mr.. Gibney remarked.
'sWell, what're you goin' to do now?'
.I amt licked yet-not by jugful, y