"Here you are, and good luck to you," he said, cheerily. "Do you think you can get aboard the tug now, my man?"
The other had gripped the several bank bills eagerly; but at the same time a look of caution came into his eyes.
"Say, mister, can't you manage to drop me ashore somewhere below here?" he asked, in a hoarse whisper.
"Well, it wouldn't be altogether convenient," replied Jack, hesitating; and then as he saw the pilot of the tugboat watching them, with a grin on his face, a sudden realization as to what the rescued man feared broke in upon him.
"They might make me give it back again, ye see, after I got dried off," continued the poor fellow, who evidently had not held so much money in his hand for many a long day.
"By George! that's so!" Nick was heard to exclaim; for the Wireless had crept up, and now lay right alongside the Tramp.
Jack was quick to make a decision, and as a rule his first thought was the right one, too.
"I'll land you myself!" he declared, sturdily; "it won't take much time. And I guess a good deed done in the beginning of the voyage ought to bring us luck to pull out of many a bad hole."
Then raising his voice and addressing the man at the wheel of the tug, Jack continued:
"We'll set him ashore below, Captain. You see, he doesn't want to ride up to the city; neither do you prefer to have him go. It's all right; we'll say nothing of what we saw to anybody. So long, Captain!"