"We'll get some light on that subject after I have you on shore," said
Mayo. "Come on! You're going!"
"Sooner the better!" agreed the stranger. "I'll relish seeing you get
yours!"
Mayo wasted no time. He sent his prisoner down the ladder to the dory
ahead of him, and put out his hand to the old skipper.
"If I can't do better I'll take that devil, whoever he is, by the heels,
and bat out the brains of the other pirates."
"I reckon that they'll back down when they, see that you've caught him
foul," stated the skipper, consolingly. "I've got a lot of confidence
in your grit, sir. But I must say it's a terrible tricky gang we're up
against, so it seems to me."
"This may be just the right string for us to pull," returned Mayo;
"there's no pleading with them, but we may be able to scare 'em."
"I'm afraid I'm too much inclined to look on the dark side," confessed
Captain Candage. "You're going to find 'em all agin' ye ashore, sir.
But the last words my Polly tells me to say to you was to keep up your
courage and not to mind my growling. She thinks We have got a sure thing
here--and that shows how little a girl knows about men's work!"
And yet, that one little message of good cheer from the main so
comforted Mayo that he went on his way with the whimsical thought that
girls who knew just the right time to give a pat and bestow a smile did
understand man's work mighty well.