After some pleading he induced a fish wholesaler to go to the jail with him and inspect Burkett as a risk in the matter of bonds. Mr. Burkett, being a man of guile, controlled his wrath and offered a presentable guise of mildness. “But how am I going to know that he won't be hunting this enemy up as soon as I give bonds?” asked the fishman. “Captain Mayo is tackling a job of wrecking, offcoast,” said Burkett, “and I'm out of work just now and will go with him. I'll be a safe risk, all right, out there.” “Does that go with you, Captain Mayo?” “Yes, sir.” After the matter of bonds had been arranged before the commissioner, and when Burkett walked down the street with Mayo, the latter stopped on a corner. “I'll have to leave you here, Burkett. I'm going aboard the schooner. We're sailing.” “But how about your taking me?” “I was willing to help you lie that much, Burkett. I knew you did not intend to go with me.” “I don't want to put you in bad with anybody after this, Captain Mayo. I need to keep away for a time where I won't be in danger of seeing Fletcher Fogg. If I meet him while I'm frothing like this, I'll kill him, even if it means the chair. Give me a lay aboard that steamer, no matter how bad your prospects are, and I'll be square with you. That's my man's word to you. I realize it isn't much of a word in your estimation--but there are some promises I can keep. I propose to help you get back at Fogg and his gang. That's reason enough for what I'm doing,” he pleaded, earnestly. “You ought to see that yourself. I'm just as good a man with machinery as I am in the pilot-house. I won't set you back any!” “All right, Mr. Burkett, come along,” agreed Mayo, curtly, without enthusiasm. There was a fair wind for their departure and Mayo headed the schooner for Maquoit. The few words which Captain Candage had dropped in regard to Rowley's state of mind worried Mayo. His little edifice of hope was tottering to a fall, but the loss of the _Ethel and May_ meant the last push and utter ruin. He decided that he was in honor bound to preserve the schooner for the uses of the men of Hue and Cry, even if it meant abandonment of the _Conomo_ and going back to fishing. Without that craft they would be paupers once more. The _Ethel and May_ sneaked her way into Maquoit harbor--if a schooner can be said to sneak. A breeze at nightfall fanned her along, and when her killick went down, the rusty chain groaned querulously from her hawse-hole.