“I know, I know—but how much?”
“Me to leave right away?”
“Well, maybe not at once—say in a few hours. But I’m ready to engage you at once.”
“Well——”
“But wait—it isn’t exactly a tow from anchorage.”
“No. You see, it’s this way. I’m interested in this bark, and there’s a desperate sort of captain aboard, and she’s leaking, and I’m afraid that despite all instructions he’ll try and beat her around the Cape. And he mayn’t make it. And if he tries it and anything goes wrong—if he has to get help—say her sails blow off and she leaking— I’d like to be right there and pick her up.”
“Why, that’s salvage, and a towboat could claim salvage—if she really needed help.”
“The towboat could claim? You mean the owners of the towboat could claim the salvage?”
“Why, of course, the owners.”