A BROKEN HAWSER
Dolphin shot forward perceptibly, and Grummitt edged in nearer the Swedish ship.
The cable had parted.
"Slip down on deck," Grummitt said sharply to Dave. "This ain't going to be no picnic."
Steering with consummate skill, Grummitt brought the tug close alongside the Swede, and the boy heard fragments of a conversation between the two captains, from which he gathered that that was the second cable that had broken. A young giant stood by the rail of the Mary Ellen, poised ready to hurl a coiled lanyard across. It was a hazardous moment, for the slightest error in steering would have brought about a collision. At exactly the right second the rope flew out. The wind carried it aside, but some one on the sailing ship managed to grab the end. Eager hands drew the end of the Mary Ellen's finest hawser across, and a moment later the tug was moving ahead. While this operation was in progress the Mary Ellen was plunging wildly, and
183
