port anchor as it lay flat on the forecastle deck. </p> <p> &ldquo;It had been lowered properly into its hardwood beds, but there had been no time to take a turn with it. Anyway, it was quite secure as it was, for going into dock; but I could see directly that the tow-rope would sweep under the fluke in another second. My heart flew up right into my throat, but not before I had time to yell out: &lsquo;Jump clear of that anchor!&rsquo; </p> <p> &ldquo;But I hadn&rsquo;t time to shriek out her name. I don&rsquo;t suppose she heard me at all. The first touch of the hawser against the fluke threw her down; she was up on her feet again quick as lightning, but she was up on the wrong side. I heard a horrid, scraping sound, and then that anchor, tipping over, rose up like something alive; its great, rough iron arm caught Maggie round the waist, seemed to clasp her close with a dreadful hug, and flung itself with her over and down in a terrific clang of iron, followed by heavy ringing blows that shook the ship from stem to stern&mdash;because the ring stopper held!&rdquo; </p> <p> &ldquo;How horrible!&rdquo; I exclaimed. </p> <p> &ldquo;I used to dream for years afterwards of anchors catching hold of girls,&rdquo; said the man in tweeds, a little wildly. He shuddered. &ldquo;With a most pitiful howl Charley was over after her almost on the instant. But, Lord! he didn&rsquo;t see as much as a gleam of her red tam o&rsquo; shanter in the water. Nothing! nothing whatever! In a moment there were half-a-dozen boats around us, and he got pulled into one. I, with the boatswain and the carpenter, let go the other anchor in a hurry and brought the ship up somehow. The pilot had gone silly. He walked up and down the forecastle head wringing his hands and muttering to himself: &lsquo;Killing women, now! Killing women, now!&rsquo; Not another word could you get out of him. </p> <p> &ldquo;Dusk fell, then a night black as pitch; and peering upon the river I heard a low, mournful hail, &lsquo;Ship, ahoy!&rsquo; Two Gravesend watermen came alongside. They had a lantern in their wherry, and looked up the ship&rsquo;s side, holding on to the ladder without a word. I saw in the patch of light a lot of loose, fair hair down there.&rdquo; </p> <p> He shuddered again. </p> <p> &ldquo;After the tide turned poor Maggie&rsquo;s body had floated clear of one of them big mooring buoys,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;I crept aft, feeling half-dead, and managed to send a rocket up&mdash;to let the other searchers know, on the river. And then I slunk away forward like a cur, and spent the night sitting on the heel of the bowsprit so as to be as far as possible out of Charley&rsquo;s way.&rdquo;