Page:Rover Boys Down East.djvu/238

226 The steam tug was headed in the direction of the incoming schooner, and before long the two craft were within hailing distance of each other.

"Aboard the schooner!" cried Dick.

"Aboard the tug!" was the answering hail.

"I want to talk to the captain."

"I'm the captain. What do you want?"

"I want you to lay-to and let me come on board."

"What for?"

"Business."

"I'm in a hurry," snapped the captain of the Mary Delaway, and the Rovers saw that he was a hard looking individual.

"You can suit yourself, Captain. But if you don't let me come on board I'll have you placed under arrest as soon as you reach your dock," said Dick, in the sternest voice he could command.

"Arrest!" roared the master of the schooner. "Don't you talk like that to me, you young whipper-snapper."

"I will talk like that to you and I'll do just what I said."

"Have me arrested! You must be joking."

"I am not."

'What for?"

"You know well enough."