"Thanks," smiled Dick, when they had finished; and the way the cook spoke made Alec feel that he had won a friend.
"If a little thing like drying the dishes will win friends for a fellow," said Alec to himself, "I'll wipe them every time I get a chance. I never realized until the last few weeks how much friends mean to a fellow."
To the cook he said, "Will it be all right for me to go on deck?"
"Sure," said the cook. "But put this on." And from a bunk he pulled a heavy reefing-jacket.
Gratefully Alec pulled on the coat and stepped out on deck. By this time the eastern sky was aglow. The fog-bank had dissipated. The sun was not yet up, but there was sufficient light for Alec to see.
The first thing to catch his attention was the ship that had fouled the Bertha B and the boats alongside of her. These craft, as close together as the fingers of one's hand, lay with their noses pointing up-stream. Across the bows of the outermost was jammed the offending vessel, the rushing ebb-tide holding her fast. The end of her bowsprit dangled helplessly and a broken jib-stay was waving about in the wind. Jammed tight in her rigging was the bowsprit of one of the ships she had fouled, holding her tight, like an apple spitted on a stick. But no damage had been done excepting to the offending vessel herself. Men were pushing against the ship with boat-hooks, while Captain Hardy's own crew were pumping at a capstan from which a hawser, stretched tight as a fiddle string, ran to an up-stream pier.
The master of the boat was an evil-looking fellow, as burly as he was hard-featured. In a great, roaring voice he was cursing his crew, blaming them for the mishap he was responsible for himself. With angry impatience Captain Bagley watched the efforts that were making to free the boat.
"The old fool," he muttered, and to Alec he said, "That fellow ought to be doing time at Trenton. He's always up to something crooked. The last time they caught him, he was dredging illegally in the natural beds. He got off with a fine, but I reckon the next time he gets caught in any crooked business, he'll go to prison."
For a few moments Alec watched the sailors pumping at the capstan. Then his gaze shifted to other interesting sights about him.