“'You want to cross over to the ocean side,' I called after him. 'The Cut-through's been dredged at the bay end, remember.' “'Be hanged!' he yells, or more emphatic. And off he whizzed. I see him go, and fetched a long breath. Thanks to a merciful Providence, I'd come so fur without bein' buttered on the undercrust of that automobile or scalped with its crazy shover's bowie knife. “Ten minutes later I was beatin' out into the bay in my dory. All around was the fog, thin as poorhouse gruel so fur, but thickenin' every minute. I was worried; not for myself, you understand, but for that cowboy shover. I was afraid he wouldn't fetch t'other side of the Cut-through. There wa'n't much wind, and I had to make long tacks. I took the inshore channel, and kept listenin' all the time. And at last, when 'twas pretty dark and I was cal'latin' to be about abreast of the bay end of the Cut-through, I heard from somewheres ashore a dismal honkin' kind of noise, same as a wild goose might make if 'twas chokin' to death and not resigned to the worst. “'My land!' says I. 'It's happened!' And I come about and headed straight in for the beach. I struck it just alongside the gov'ment shanty. The engineers had knocked off work for the week, waitin' for supplies, but they hadn't took away their dunnage. “'Hi!' I yells, as I hauled up the dory. 'Hi-i-i! Billings, where be you?' “The honkin' stopped and back comes the answer; there was joy in it. “'What? Is that Cap'n Stitt?' “'Yes,' I sings out. 'Where be you?' “'I'm stuck out here in the middle of the crick. And there's a flood on. Help me, can't you?' “Next minute I was aboard the dory, rowin' her against the tide up the channel. Pretty quick I got where I could see him through the fog and dark. The auto was on the flat in the middle of the Cut-through, and the water was hub high already. Billings was standin' up on the for'ard thwart, makin' wet footmarks all over them expensive cushions. “'Lord,' says he, 'I sure am glad to see you, pard! Can we get to land, do you think?' “'Land?' says I, makin' the dory fast alongside and hoppin' out into the drink. ''Course we can land! What's the matter with your old derelict? Sprung a leak, has it?' “He went on to explain that the automobile had broke down when he struck the flat, and he couldn't get no farther. He'd been honkin' and howlin' for ten year at least, so he reckoned. “'Why in time,' says I, 'didn't you mind me and go up the ocean side? And why in nation didn't you go ashore and--But never mind that now. Let me think. Here! You set where you be.' “As I shoved off in the dory again he turned loose a distress signal. “'Where you goin'?' he yells. 'Say, pard, you ain't goin' to leave me here, are you?' “'I'll be back in a shake,' says I, layin' to my oars. 'Don't holler so! You'll have the life-savers down here, and then the joke'll be on us. Hush, can't you? I'll be right back!'