“Take the wheel, Hank,” directed the young skipper, seizing the megaphone and stepping to the port rail.
“‘Glide,’ ahoy!” bawled Halstead through the megaphone.
“‘Restless,’ ahoy!” came back from the freighter’s bridge.
“Lie to and let us come alongside, won’t you? We want to put a passenger aboard.”
“Passenger? Where for?”
“Rio, of course. That’s where you’re bound, isn’t it?”
“You’ll have to be mighty quick about it,” came the emphatic answer. “We can’t afford stops on our way.”
“We may want to delay you a few minutes,” began Tom.
“Few minutes, nothing!” came the gruff retort. “We can’t be held up in that fashion.” 185
“We can pay for all the trouble we put you to,” retorted Halstead. Powell Seaton produced and waved a bulky wad of banknotes.