out about three hundred feet. With only ten feet of water under
us, this would permit the Coal Tar Maggie to swing in a circle six
hundred feet in diameter, in which circle she would be able to foul
at least half the fleet.

The oyster pirates lay snugly together at short hawsers, the
weather being fine, and they protested loudly at our ignorance in
putting out such an unwarranted length of anchor-chain. And not
only did they protest, for they made us heave it in again, all but
thirty feet.

Having sufficiently impressed them with our general lubberliness,
Nicholas and I went below to congratulate ourselves and to cook
supper. Hardly had we finished the meal and washed the dishes,
when a skiff ground against the Coal Tar Maggie's side, and heavy
feet trampled on deck. Then the Centipede's brutal face appeared
in the companionway, and he descended into the cabin, followed by
the Porpoise. Before they could seat themselves on a bunk, another
skiff came alongside, and another, and another, till the whole
fleet was represented by the gathering in the cabin.

"Where'd you swipe the old tub?" asked a squat and hairy man, with
cruel eyes and Mexican features.

"Didn't swipe it," Nicholas answered, meeting them on their own
ground and encouraging the idea that we had stolen the Coal Tar
Maggie. "And if we did, what of it?"

"Well, I don't admire your taste, that's all," sneered he of the
Mexican features. "I'd rot on the beach first before I'd take a