“Oh, don’t bother about me.  There ’s nobody to miss me.  I ’m strong enough, and know enough about it, to ship to sea as ordinary seaman.  I ’ll go away somewhere over on the other side of the world, and begin all over again.”

“Then we ’ll have to call it off, that ’s all.”

“Call what off?”

“Tying French Pete up and running for it.”

“No, sir.  That ’s decided upon.”

“Now listen here:  I ’ll not have a thing to do with it.  I ’ll go on to Mexico first, if you don’t make me one promise.”

“And what ’s the promise?”

“Just this:  you place yourself in my hands from the moment we get ashore, and trust to me.  You don’t know anything about the land, anyway—­you said so.  And I ’ll fix it with my father—­I know I can—­so that you can get to know people of the right sort, and study and get an education, and be something else than a bay pirate or a sailor.  That ’s what you ’d like, is n’t it?”

Though he said nothing, ’Frisco Kid showed how well he liked it by the expression of his face.

“And it ’ll be no more than your due, either,” Joe continued.  “You will have stood by me, and you ’ll have recovered my father’s money.  He ’ll owe it to you.”

“But I don’t do things that way.  I don’t think much of a man who does a favor just to be paid for it.”

“Now you keep quiet.  How much do you think it would cost my father for detectives and all that to recover that safe?  Give me your promise, that ’s all, and when I ’ve got things arranged, if you don’t like them you can back out.  Come on; that ’s fair.”

They shook hands on the bargain, and proceeded to map out their line of action for the night.

* * * * *

But the storm, yelling down out of the northwest, had something entirely different in store for the Dazzler and her crew.  By the time dinner was over they were forced to put double reefs in mainsail and jib, and still the gale had not reached its height.  The sea, also, had been kicked up till it was a continuous succession of water-mountains, frightful and withal grand to look upon from the low deck of the sloop.  It was only when the sloops were tossed upon the crests of the waves at the same time that they caught sight of each other.  Occasional fragments of seas swashed into the cockpit or dashed aft over the cabin, and Joe was stationed at the small pump to keep the well dry.

At three o’clock, watching his chance, French Pete motioned to the Reindeer that he was going to heave to and get out a sea-anchor.  This latter was of the nature of a large shallow canvas bag, with the mouth held open by triangularly lashed spars.  To this the towing-ropes were attached, on the kite principle, so that the greatest resisting surface was presented to the water.  The sloop, drifting so much faster, would thus be held bow on to both wind and sea—­the safest possible position in a storm.  Red Nelson waved his hand in response that he understood and to go ahead.