"Yes, I see."

"Well, now we are ready. I will sing something like real sailors."

"The boys will hear us."

"No: they are fighting away; they won't notice."

It was a tongue-fight, but that may be as absorbing as a fist-fight.

"You know 'Reuben Ranzo'?"

"Yes."

"Well, sing in a whisper and pull."

The bar was inserted into the capstan, and the boys, as they shoved on the bar, sang softly,--

"O poor Reuben Ranzo!

Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"

"That's the chorus, Johnny. Sing the other part. Shove hard but sing easy."

"Oh, Reuben was no sailor.

_Chorus_--O poor Reuben Ranzo!

Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!

O poor Reuben Ranzo!

Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"

"Sing another verse, Johnny. That shove just took up the slack-line, and the next will pull on the anchor. Hun-now, Johnny! You're a real good sailor. Sing easy, but shove."

"He shipped on board of a whaler.

_Chorus_--O poor Reuben Ranzo!

Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!

O poor Reuben Ranzo!

Ranzo, boys, Ranzo!"

The last tug at the bar came hard, but the boys took it as an encouraging sign that the anchor too was coming. They were not mistaken. Another minute, and Johnny eagerly exclaimed,--

"d.i.c.k, I do believe she's going!"

"Good! That's so. I knew 'Reuben Ranzo' would bring her."

Yes, the _Relentless_ had relented before the fascinating persuasion of "Reuben Ranzo," and without a murmur of resistance was softly slipping through the dark sea water.

"Can you stop her any time, d.i.c.k?" asked Johnny in tones a bit alarmed.

"Easy. Just let the anchor slip back again, you know."

"Shan't we tell the boys?"

"Wait a moment. We want to surprise 'em. They'll find it out pretty soon."

The boys at the stern had been discussing a subject so eagerly that every one had lost his temper, and when that is lost it may not be found again in a moment. It was like starting the _Relentless_--a thing quite easily done; but as for stopping her--however, I will not antic.i.p.ate.

The boys were quarrelling about a light on sh.o.r.e, and wondering why that illumination was started so early, when it did not seem dark enough for a home light. In the course of the discussion a second light, not far from the first, came into view. Over this the controversy waxed hotter than ever, and led to much being said of which all felt heartily ashamed.

No one heard the creak of the capstan-bar at the bow or the devoted wooing of the _Relentless_ by the fascinating "Reuben Ranzo."

"That's funny," said Dave, after a while. "One of those lights has gone. They have been approaching one another, I have noticed. Look here, fellers: I believe this old elephant is moving!"

"She is," exclaimed Jimmy Davis.

They all turned and looked toward the bow. The figures there were growing dim in the thickening twilight, but they could see d.i.c.k and Johnny waving their hats, and of course they could plainly hear them shout, "Hurrah! hurrah!"

"What's the matter?" cried Dave, rushing across the deck.

"Having a sail," said d.i.c.k.

"And without a sail too," cried Johnny triumphantly.

"What do you mean?" asked Dab.

"Why, we just hoisted the anchor, and the tide is taking us along,"

replied d.i.c.k. The party at the stern did not know how to take this announcement.

"But," said Dave, advancing toward the capstan, and remembering his promise to Squire Sylvester that he would be "particular," "we are adrift, man!"

"Oh, we can stop any time--just drop the anchor--and the next tide will drift us back where we were before."

"Y-e-s," said Dave, but reluctantly, "if we don't get in water too deep for our anchor. I like fun, d.i.c.k, but--"

"Oh, well," replied d.i.c.k angrily, "we will stop her now if you think we need to be so fussy.--Just let her go, Johnny."

Johnny, however, did not understand how to "let her go." It seemed to him and the others as if "she" were already going.

"Oh, well, I can show you, if you all are ignorant," said d.i.c.k confidently. "Just shove on this bar--help, won't you?--and then knock up that ratchet that keeps the capstan from slipping back--there!"

The weight of the anchor now drew on the capstan, and round it spun, creaking and groaning, liberating all the cable that had been wound upon it; but when every inch of cable had been paid out, what then?

"There! The anchor must be on bottom, and she holds!" shouted d.i.c.k in triumph.

"No--she--don't," replied Dab. "We are in deep water, and adrift."

"Can't be," a.s.serted d.i.c.k. "All that cable paid out!"

d.i.c.k leaned over the vessel's rail and tried to pierce the shadows on the water and see if he could detect any movement.