A quarter of an hour later Neils Halvorsen returned to report the _Maggie_ apparently undamaged, so Mr. Gibney changed his course and headed stealthily in the direction of the whistling tugs. He came up behind them presently--approaching so close under cover of the fog that he could hear Dan Hicks and Jack Flaherty, both under a dead-slow bell, felicitating each other through their megaphones. "Where d'ye suppose that dirty scoundrel's gone?" Hicks was demanding. "Out to sea, of course," Flaherty bellowed. "He'll stand off until the fog lifts and then come ramping in as proud as Lucifer and look amazed when we send him in a bill." "Bill!" Hicks' voice dripped with sarcasm. "The Red Stack Company will libel him, and if the old man doesn't, me an' my crew will." "I'll bet a ripe peach he's a Jap, with a scoundrelly white skipper and white mates. They'll all stick together for a five-dollar bill and swear they never was on the beach at all. If they do, how're we goin' to prove it?" "That's logic," the eavesdropping Gibney murmured to the binnacle. "Oh, hell's bells, shut up and let's go home," Dan Hicks cried wearily. "We can catch him when he comes in." "Suppose he doesn't come in. Suppose he's bound for Seattle, Dan." "We can libel him wherever he goes." "I'll bet he gave us a fictitious name, Dan!" "Stow that grief, Jack. Stow it, or I'll go mad. The _Bodega_ has more speed than the _Aphrodite_, so poke ahead there and let's try to get in an hour's sleep before daylight. If you can't feel your way in I can." "I'll just tag along silent and lazy-like after you two misfortunates," Mr. Gibney decided, "an' you'll do my whistlin' for me." He called Scraggs on the howler and explained the situation. "Regular Cook's tour," he exulted. "Personally conducted. Off again, on again, away again, Finnegan--and not a nickel's worth of loss unless you count them vegetables you hove at McGuffey. Ain't you proud o' your navigatin' officer, Scraggsy, old tarpot?" "I am, Gib, but I'll be prouder'n ever if you can follow them towboats in without havin' to claw off Baker's beach or the Point Bonita rocks."