"She's hauled down her rag," shrieked Scraggs. "Be merciful, Gib. There's men dyin' on that boat."
"Lay alongside that craft," Mr. Gibney shouted to the helmsman. The schooner had hove to and when the _Maggie_ also hove to some thirty yards to windward of her Mr. Gibney informed the Mexican, in atrocious Spanish well mixed with English, that if the latter so much as lifted his little finger he might expect to be sunk like a dog. "Down below, everybody but the helmsman, or I'll sweep your decks with another muzzle burst," he thundered.
The Mexican obeyed and Captain Scraggs went up in the pilot house and laid the terribly battered _Maggie_ alongside the schooner. The instant she touched, Mr. Gibney sprang aboard, quickly followed by Captain Scraggs, who had relinquished the helm to his first mate.
Suddenly Captain Scraggs shouted, "Look, Gib, for the love of the Lord, look!" and pointed with his finger. At the head of the little iron-railed companion way leading down into the engine room a man was standing. He had a monkey wrench in one hand and a greasy rag in the other.
"McGuffey, for a thousand," he bellowed, and ran forward with outstretched hand. Captain Scraggs was at Gibney's heels, and between them they came very nearly dislocating Bartholomew McGuffey's arm.
"McGuffey, my _dear_ boy," said Captain Scraggs. "Whatever are you a-doin' on this heathen warship?"
"Me!" ejaculated Mr. McGuffey, with his old-time deliberation. "Why, I'm the chief engineer of this craft. I had a good job, too, but I guess it's all off now, and the Mexican Government'll fire me. Say, who chucked that buckshot down into my engine room?"
"Admiral Gibney did it," said Scraggs. "The old _Maggie's_ alongside and me and Gib's filibusters. Bear a hand, Mac, and help us clap the hatches on our prisoners."
"Thank God," said Mr. Gibney piously, "I didn't kill you. Come to look into the matter, I didn't kill anybody, though I see half a dozen Mexicans around decks more or less cut up. Where you been all these years, Mac?"
"I been chief engineer in the Mexican navy," replied McGuffey. "Have you captured us in the name of the United States or what?"
"We've captured you in the name of Adelbert P. Gibney," was the reply. "I been huntin' all my life for a ship of my own, and now I've got her. Lord, Mac, she's a beauty, ain't she? All hardwood finish, teak rail, well found, and just the ticket for the island trade. Well, well, well! I'm Captain Gibney at last."