"Captain, you want pilot, sar?"
"Yes; how much do you want to take me to Rotterdam?"
Carew felt how necessary it was to husband his funds, and he suspected that Dutch pilots consider a yacht fair prey for extortion.
The man named an exorbitant sum.
"Nonsense! Too much. I'll sail her in myself."
"Right, captain," replied the Dutchman calmly; "that better for me and my mates. You try and go in alone, you sure to run ashore. Then we help you off, and you give us plenty money for salvage instead of small pilot-fee."
Carew felt that it might happen as the old man had said. The Maas is encumbered with shoals, and the navigation is difficult for a stranger.
"Now, how much you give me, captain?"
The solicitor mentioned a moderate sum.
"Ah, you rich man with yacht to be hard on poor pilot! Now, I pilot you for the middle price."