"Ready—catch the line!" sang Ab Perkins. The young executive officer of the "Panther" possessed fine judgment and a straight eye for such work. As the coil left Ab's hand it went whirling, uncoiling, through the air. The line landed fairly across the shoulder of the other boy below. He caught the rope, then sank down to the middle seat of the dory, bracing himself and holding on hard.
As the line became taut the bow of the dory was yanked about. The little craft heeled a bit, then righted, bumping in against the larger hull, then gliding off and riding rather easy.
The seaman at Ab's side now dropped the rope boarding-ladder overboard so that its lower end rested fairly in the dory.
"Swing onto the ladder, and kick the dory loose," directed Ab Perkins, steadily. "I reckon you can do it."
"Don't you want to recover the dory, to pay for my passage to land?" inquired the boy below.
"Not a bit of it," uttered Ab. "Too much truck aboard now."
"Then here comes—not much of anything," laughed the boy, in a clear, cool voice, as he seized the rope ladder, and sprang up onto it. As he left the dory that little craft drifted astern, soon to be lost to sight in the great fog.
In another moment the boy was aboard. No stranger was he to the sea. That much could be told by the neat, seaman-like way in which he came up the rope boarding-ladder.