"That's right; play safe. But I'm talking business now. You're tackling a hard job here. What can I do to help?"
"There's only one thing I want you to do, Garman; that's to keep your hands off this job, and to keep your men from interfering with me and my men and the job, or anything connected with it."
"That's settled. Anything else?"
"That's all. It will save trouble for both of us if you'll do that."
Garman dismissed the matter as settled with a nod, and gathered up his reins.
"Doing anything next Sunday afternoon?"
Payne thought for a moment.
"Yes; next Sunday I'll be going down the river to Gumbo Key. The ditching outfit that I've hired is due to arrive at the Key on Saturday night. I promised to meet it and see it up the river. We'll start up river Monday morning. I'll be on that dredger all the way up, Garman.
"Don't waste your time. There'll be no interference. In fact, if she needs help you can borrow the old Cormorant for a tugboat."
"No, thanks. They do their own towing."