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Figure 3.7 Example of a semantic network —“vacation” view
Figure 3.8 Example of a semantic network—“driving” view
Figure 3.9 Wiig hierarchy of knowledge forms
Figure 3.10 The Boisot I-Space KM model
Figure 3.11 Overview of ICAS knowledge management model
Figure 3.12 The key components of the EFQM model
Figure 3.13 Overview of the inukshuk KM model
Figure 3.14 The McAdams and McCreedy model
Figure 3.15 Stankosky and Baldanza’s KM pillars model
Figure 3.16 The Wang and Noe knowledge sharing model
Figure 3.17 The Skandia IC Navigator intellectual capital model
Figure 4.1 An integrated KM cycle
Figure 4.2 The known-unknown matrix (Frappaolo, 2006)
Figure 4.3 The 4I model of organizational learning (Crossan et
al., 1999)
Figure 4.4 Key knowledge acquisition phases
Figure 4.5 Sample knowledge acquisition session template
Figure 4.6 Example of a concept map
Figure 4.7 Example of a decision tree
Figure 4.8 Example of a knowledge taxonomy
Figure 4.9 Example of multifaceted taxonomy for cyberbullying
Figure 5.1 An integrated KM cycle
Figure 5.2 Mapping the flow of knowledge
Figure 5.3 Knowledge flow analysis example (adapted from
Valdis Krebs)
Figure 5.4 Example of a yellow pages
Figure 5.5 Example of a yellow pages (continued)
Figure 5.6 Common characteristics of CoPs (adapted from
Wenger, 1998)
Figure 5.7 Knowledge sharing example: best practice/lesson

8
learned (adapted from APQC, American Productivity and
Quality Centre, http://www/apqc.org).
Figure 5.8 Making CoP interactions visible (adapted from the
Babble system, Erickson & Kellogg, 2000)
Figure 6.1 An integrated KM cycle
Figure 6.2 Illustration of the personalization concept
Figure 6.3 An alternative approach to personalization
Figure 6.4 Example of a semantic network
Figure 6.5 Example of a semantic network (continued)
Figure 6.6 Dynamic profiling system design
Figure 6.7 Components of an EPSS
Figure 6.8 Chunking in content management
Figure 6.9 Sample user and task model
Figure 6.10 KM organizational architecture
Figure 7.1 The cultural component in an integrated KM Cycle
Figure 8.1 An integrated KM cycle
Figure 8.2 Predictive models
Figure 8.3 Black box models
Figure 9.1 An integrated KM cycle
Figure 9.2 Organizational maturity model
Figure 9.3 Community of practice maturity model
Figure 9.4 Balance between fluidity and institutionalization
(adapted from Klein, 1999)
Figure 10.1 An integrated KM cycle
Figure 10.2 High-level balanced scorecard
Figure 10.3 High-level house of quality matrix
Figure 10.4 High-level RMAF
Figure 11.1 Argote model of organizational learning
Figure 11.2 Lessons learned process
Figure 13.1 The KM team in the integrated KM cycle

9
Figure 14.1 The value of a knowledge asset

10
1 Introduction to Knowledge
Management

The store of wisdom does not consist of hard coins which keep
their shape as they pass from hand to hand; it consists of ideas
and doctrines whose meanings change with the minds that
entertain them.
—John Plamenatz (1912–1975)
This chapter provides an introduction to the study of knowledge
management (KM). The history of knowledge management
concepts is outlined, noting that much of KM existed before the
actual term came into popular use. The lack of consensus over what
constitutes a good definition of KM is addressed and the concept
analysis technique is described as a means of clarifying the
conceptual confusion that still persists over what KM is or is not.
The multidisciplinary roots of KM are enumerated together with
their contributions to the discipline. The two major forms of
knowledge, tacit and explicit, are compared and contrasted. The
importance of KM today, for individuals, knowledge communities
and for organizations are described together with the emerging KM
roles and responsibilities, and practitioner and education standards,
needed to ensure successful KM implementations.

Learning Objectives

1. Use a framework and a clear language for knowledge

management concepts.
2. Define key knowledge management concepts such as intellectual
capital, organizational learning and memory, knowledge
taxonomy, and communities of practice using concept analysis.

11
3. Provide an overview of the history of knowledge management
and identify key milestones.
4. Describe the key roles and responsibilities required for
knowledge management applications.
5. Discuss the key benefits to individuals, groups, and
organizations—the value created by KM.

Introduction

The ability to manage knowledge is becoming increasingly more

crucial in the today’s knowledge economy. The creation and
diffusion of knowledge have become increasingly important factors
in competitiveness. In fact, more and more, knowledge is being
thought of as a valuable commodity that is embedded in products
(especially high-technology products) and embedded in the tacit
knowledge of highly mobile employees. While knowledge is
increasingly being viewed as a commodity or intellectual asset, there
are some paradoxical characteristics of knowledge that are radically
different than other valuable commodities. These knowledge
characteristics include the following:
Using knowledge does not consume it.
Transferring knowledge does not result in losing it.
Knowledge is abundant, but the ability to use it is scarce.
Much of an organization’s valuable knowledge walks out the
door at the end of the day.
The advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web, has made
unlimited sources of knowledge available to us all. Pundits are
heralding the dawn of the Knowledge Age supplanting the
Industrial Era. Over fifty years ago, nearly half of all workers in
industrialized countries were making or helping to make things. By
the year 2000, only 20 percent of workers were devoted to
industrial work—the rest were knowledge workers (Drucker, 1994;
Bart, 2000). Davenport (2005, p. 5) notes that “At a minimum, they
comprise a quarter of the U.S. workforce, and at a maximum about
half.” Labor-intensive manufacturing with a large pool of relatively
cheap, relatively homogenous labor and hierarchical management

12
has given way to knowledge-based organizations. There are fewer
people who need to do more work. Organizational hierarchies are
being put aside as knowledge work calls for more collaboration. The
only sustainable advance a firm has comes from what it collectively
knows, how efficiently it uses what it knows, and how quickly it
acquires and uses new knowledge (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). An
organization in the Knowledge Age is one that learns, remembers,
and acts based on the best available information, knowledge, and
know-how.
The most valuable benefits from KM arise from sharing
knowledge with current fellow employees as well as sharing
knowledge with future (often unknown) employees. The former
focuses on sharing knowledge and ensuring it moves around the
organization so everyone can benefit from best practices (adopt
newer, better ways of doing things) and lessons learned (avoid
repeating things that did not succeed so well). Sharing with present-
day colleagues is called knowledge “use” while preserving
knowledge to be shared with future knowledge workers is called
“reuse.”
In parallel, there are two major goals for KM: improving
organizational efficiency, through knowledge use and reuse, and
increasing the organizational capacity to innovate, through
knowledge use and reuse.
In order to ensure that KM creates value, there is a strong need for
a deliberate and systematic approach to cultivating and sharing a
company’s knowledge base—one populated with valid and valuable
lessons learned and best practices. In other words, in order to be
successful in today’s challenging organizational environment,
companies need to learn from their past errors and not reinvent the
wheel over and over again. Organizational knowledge is not
intended to replace individual knowledge but to complement it by
making it stronger, more coherent, and more broadly applied.
Knowledge management represents a deliberate and systematic
approach to ensure the full utilization of the organization’s
knowledge base, coupled with the potential of individual skills,
competencies, thoughts, innovations, and ideas to create a more
efficient and effective organization.
Increasingly, companies will differentiate themselves on the
basis of what they know. A relevant variation on Sidney
Winter's definition of a business firm as an organization that

13
 knows how to do things would define a business firm that
thrives over the next decade as an organization that knows
how to do new things well and quickly. (Davenport & Prusak,
1998, p. 13)
Knowledge management was initially defined as the process of
applying a systematic approach to the capture, structuring,
management, and dissemination of knowledge throughout an
organization to work faster, reuse best practices, and reduce costly
rework from project to project (Nonaka et al, 2000; Pasternack et &
Viscio, 1998; Pfeffer & Sutton, 1999; Ruggles & Holtshouse, 1999).
KM is often characterized by a “pack rat” approach to content: “save
it, it may prove useful sometime in the future.” Many documents
tend to be warehoused, sophisticated search engines are then used
to try to retrieve some of this content, and fairly large-scale and
costly KM systems are built. Knowledge management solutions have
proven to be most successful in the capture, storage. and
subsequent dissemination of knowledge that has been rendered
explicit—particularly lessons learned and best practices.
The focus of Intellectual Capital Management (ICM), on the other
hand, is on those pieces of knowledge that are of business value to
the organization—referred to as intellectual capital or assets.
Stewart (1997) defines intellectual capital as “organized knowledge
that can be used to produce wealth.” While some of these assets are
more visible (e.g., patents, intellectual property), the majority
consists of know-how, know-why, experience, and expertise that
tends to reside within the head of one or a few employees (Klein,
1998; Stewart, 1997). ICM is characterized less by content—because
content is filtered and judged, and only the best are inventoried (the
top ten for example). ICM content tends to be more representative
of peoples’ real thinking (contextual information, opinions, stories)
due to its focus on actionable knowledge and know-how, with the
result that less costly endeavors and a focus on learning (at the
individual, community, and organizational level) results, rather
than on the building of systems.
A good definition of knowledge management would incorporate
both the capturing and storing of knowledge perspective, together
with the valuing of intellectual assets. For example:
Knowledge management is the deliberate and systematic
coordination of an organization’s people, technology, processes,
and organizational structure in order to add value through

14
 reuse and innovation. This is achieved through the promotion
of creating, sharing, and applying knowledge as well as through
the feeding of valuable lessons learned and best practices into
corporate memory in order to foster continued organizational
learning.
When asked, most executives often state that their greatest asset is
the knowledge held by their employees. “When employees walk out
the door, they take valuable organizational knowledge with them”
(Lesser & Prusak, 2001, p. 1). Managers also invariably add that
they have no idea how to manage this knowledge! It is essential to
identify that knowledge which is of value and is also at risk of being
lost to the organization, through retirement, turnover, and
competition using the intellectual capital or asset approach. As
Lesser and Prusak (2001, p. 1) note: “The most knowledgeable
employees often leave first.” In addition, the selective or value-
based knowledge management approach should be a three-tiered
one—that is, it should also be applied to three organizational levels:
the individual, the group or community, and the organization itself.
The best way to retain valuable knowledge is to identify intellectual
assets and then ensure legacy materials are produced, and
subsequently stored in such a way as to make their future retrieval
and reuse as easy as possible (Stewart, 2000). These tangible by-
products need to flow from individual to individual, between
members of a community of practice and, of course, back to the
organization itself, in the form of lessons learned, best practices,
and corporate memory.
Many knowledge management efforts have been largely concerned
with capturing, codifying, and sharing the knowledge held by people
in organizations. Although there is still a lack of consensus over
what constitutes a good definition of KM (see next section), there is
widespread agreement as to the goals of an organization that
undertakes KM. Nickols (2000) summarizes this as the following:
“the basic aim of knowledge management is to leverage knowledge
to the organization’s advantage.” Some of management’s motives
are obvious: the loss of skilled people through turnover, pressures to
avoid reinventing the wheel, pressures for organization-wide
innovations in processes as well as products, managing risk, and the
accelerating rate with which new knowledge is being created. Some
typical knowledge management objectives would be to:
Facilitate a smooth transition from those retiring to their

15
 successors who are recruited to fill their positions.
Minimize loss of corporate memory due to attrition and
retirement.
Identify critical resources and critical areas of knowledge so that
the corporation knows what it knows and does well—and why.
Build up a toolkit of methods that can be used with individuals,
with groups, and with the organization to stem the potential loss
of intellectual capital.

What Is Knowledge Management?

An informal survey conducted by the author identified over 100

published definitions of knowledge management and of these, at
least 72 could be considered to be very good! Girard and Girard
(2015) have compiled a very comprehensive list of more than 100
KM definitions1. What this indicates is that KM is a very
multidisciplinary field of study that covers a lot of ground. This
really should not be surprising as applying knowledge to work is
integral to most business activities. However, the field of KM does
suffer from the “Three Blind Men and an Elephant” syndrome2. In
fact, there are likely more than three distinct perspectives on KM
and each leads to a different extrapolation and a different definition.
Here are a few sample definitions from the business perspective:
Knowledge management is a business activity with two primary
aspects: treating the knowledge component of business
activities as an explicit concern of business reflected in strategy,
policy, and practice at all levels of the organization; and,
making a direct connection between an organization’s
intellectual assets—both explicit (recorded) and tacit (personal
know-how)—and positive business results. (Barclay & Murray,
1997)
Knowledge management is a collaborative and integrated
approach to the creation, capture, organization, access, and use
of an enterprise’s intellectual assets. (Grey, 1996)
Knowledge management is the process by which we manage
human centered assets … the function of knowledge

16
 management is to guard and grow knowledge owned by
individuals, and where possible, transfer the asset into a form
where it can be more readily shared by other employees in the
company. (Brooking, 1999, p. 154)
The knowledge management focus is on obtaining and
synthesizing intellectual capital to maximize decision making
and innovation across diverse functions and disparate
locations, thus enabling the clients to become high-
performance businesses and governments. Far more than a
cluster of simple processes, the KM program is also about
developing and rewarding a culture of knowledge-sharing—
encouraging collaboration among their people to problem solve
and build capabilities, regardless of their location. (Accenture)3
Another two definitions, this time from the intellectual or
knowledge asset perspective:
Knowledge management consists of “leveraging intellectual
assets to enhance organizational performance.” (Stankosky,
2008)
“Knowledge management develops systems and processes to
acquire and share intellectual assets. It increases the generation
of useful, actionable, and meaningful information and seeks to
increase both individual and team learning. In addition, it can
maximize the value of an organization’s intellectual base across
diverse functions and disparate locations. Knowledge
management maintains that successful businesses are a
collection not of products but of distinctive knowledge bases.
This intellectual capital is the key that will give the company a
competitive advantage with its targeted customers. Knowledge
management seeks to accumulate intellectual capital that will
create unique core competencies and lead to superior results.”
(Bain & Company, 2011)
A definition from the cognitive science or knowledge science
perspective:
Knowledge—the insights, understandings, and practical know-
how that we all possess—is the fundamental resource that
allows us to function intelligently. Over time, considerable
knowledge is also transformed to other manifestations—such as
books, technology, practices, and traditions—within
organizations of all kinds and in society in general. These

17
 transformations result in cumulated [sic] expertise and, when
used appropriately, increased effectiveness. Knowledge is one,
if not THE, principal factor that makes personal,
organizational, and societal intelligent behavior possible. (Wiig,
1993)
Two diametrically opposed schools of thought arise from the library
and information science perspective: the first sees very little
distinction between information management and knowledge
management:
KM is predominantly seen as information management by
another name (semantic drift). (Davenport & Cronin, 2000, p.
1)
Knowledge management is one of those concepts that librarians
take time to assimilate, only to reflect ultimately “on why other
communities try to colonize our domains.” (Hobohm, 2004, p.
7)
The second school of thought, however, does make a distinction
between the management of information resources and the
management of knowledge resources:
Knowledge management “is understanding the organization’s
information flows and implementing organizational learning
practices which make explicit key aspects of its knowledge base
… It is about enhancing the use of organizational knowledge
through sound practices of information management and
organizational learning. (Broadbent, 1997, pp. 8–9).
Knowledge relates to all the capital owned by people and staff
of a company: know-how and expertise, competencies, market
experiences, etc. Knowledge management helps companies
turn this human capital into intellectual capital by creating
value. Unlike content management, knowledge management is
not only about storing documents. It is about increasing people
skills and expertise thanks to sharing. Knowledge management
enables people collaboration and connects them to expertise.
The ability to quickly find a subject matter expert and get the
answer to a question or assistance in solving a problem is a
priority in knowledge management. Knowledge management
prevents companies from constantly reinventing the wheel,
hence the decreasing supply of talent, the retiring boomers, the
staff turnover etc. (Deloitte)4

18
And, some sample definitions from the process/technology
perspective:
Knowledge management is the concept under which
information is turned into actionable knowledge and made
available effortlessly in a usable form to the people who can
apply it. (Patel & Harty, 1998)
Leveraging collective wisdom to increase responsiveness and
innovation. (Frappaolo, 2006)
A systematic approach to manage the use of information in
order to provide a continuous flow of knowledge to the right
people at the right time enabling efficient and effective decision
making in their everyday business. (Payne & Britton, 2010)
The tools, techniques, and strategies to retain, analyze,
organize, improve, and share business expertise. (Groff &
Jones, 2003, p. 2)
A capability to create, enhance, and share intellectual capital
across the organization … a shorthand covering all the things
that must be put into place, for example, processes, systems,
culture, and roles to build and enhance this capability. (Lank,
1997)
The creation and subsequent management of an environment
that encourages knowledge to be created, shared, learnt,
enhanced, organized, and utilized for the benefit of the
organization and its customers. (Abell & Oxbrow, 2001)
A number of other definitions can be found at
http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/courses/UFIE95-20-
3/week16/knowledge_management_def.html.
Wiig (1993) also emphasizes that given the importance of
knowledge in virtually all areas of daily and commercial life, two
knowledge-related aspects are vital for viability and success at any
level. These are knowledge assets that must be applied, nurtured,
preserved, and used to the largest extent possible by both
individuals and organizations; and knowledge-related processes to
create, build, compile, organize, transform, transfer, pool, apply,
and safeguard knowledge. These knowledge-related aspects must be
carefully and explicitly managed in all affected areas.
Historically, knowledge has always been managed, at least
implicitly. However, effective and active knowledge

19
 management requires new perspectives and techniques and
touches on almost all facets of an organization. We need to
develop a new discipline and prepare a cadre of knowledge
professionals with a blend of expertise that we have not
previously seen. This is our challenge! (Wiig, in Grey, 1996)
Knowledge management is a surprising mix of strategies, tools, and
techniques—some of which are nothing new under the sun:
storytelling, peer-to-peer mentoring, and learning from mistakes,
for example, all have precedents in education, training, and artificial
intelligence practices. Knowledge management makes use of a
mixture of techniques from knowledge-based system design, such as
structured knowledge acquisition strategies from subject matter
experts (McGraw & Harrison-Briggs, 1989) and educational
technology (e.g., task and job analysis to design and develop task
support systems; Gery, 1991).
This makes it both easy and difficult to define what KM is—at one
extreme, KM encompasses everything to do with knowledge. At the
other extreme, KM is narrowly defined as an information
technology system that dispenses organizational know-how. KM is
in fact both of these and many more. One of the few areas of
consensus in the field is that KM is a highly multidisciplinary field.

Multidisciplinary Nature of KM
Knowledge management draws upon a vast number of diverse fields
such as:
Organizational science
Cognitive science
Computer science
Linguistics and computational linguistics
Information technologies
Information and library science
Technical writing and journalism
Anthropology and sociology
Education and training
Storytelling and communication studies
Collaborative technologies such as CSCW and groupware as well

20
 as intranets, extranets, portals and other web technologies
The above is by no means an exhaustive list but serves to show the
extremely varied roots upon which KM grew out of and continues to
be based upon today. Figure 1.1 illustrates some of the diverse
disciplines that have contributed to KM.

Figure 1.1 Multidisciplinary nature of knowledge management

The multidisciplinary nature of KM represents a double-edged
sword: on the one hand, it is an advantage as almost anyone can
find a familiar foundation upon which to base their understanding
and even practice of KM. Someone with a background in
journalism, for example, can quickly adapt their skill set to the
capture of knowledge from experts and reformulate this knowledge
as organizational stories to be stored in corporate memory.
Someone coming from a more technical database background can
easily extrapolate his or her skill set to design and implement
knowledge repositories that will serve as the corporate memory for
that organization. However, the diversity of KM also results in some
challenges with respect to boundaries. Skeptics argue that KM is not
and cannot be said to be a separate discipline with a unique body of
knowledge to draw upon. This attitude is typically represented by
phrases such as “KM is just IM” or “KM is nonsensical—it is just
good business practices.” It becomes very important to be able to
list and describe what set of attributes are necessary and in
themselves sufficient to constitute knowledge management both as
a discipline and as a field of practice that can be distinguished from
others.
One of the major attributes lies in the fact that KM deals with
knowledge as well as information. Knowledge is a more subjective

21
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
of the night, asking a night’s shelter or a dollar to get
up the bay with.”

Henry Burns listened eagerly.

“Are there many that get away when they’re beaten?”

he asked.

Will Adams paused a moment, while his face darkened.

“There’s some that get away,” he answered, “who never

come farther ashore than just beyond the reach of the
tide. Down on that shore yonder there’s eight of the
poor chaps buried. They were washed ashore, and we
found them. Some of them had the marks that showed
they had been knocked overboard—beaten—abused
shamefully. That’s the way some of them escape.

“Others do get away, with never a cent in their pockets,

half starved and half clad. I help a few of them along.

“Sometimes in the still summer nights, I hear a man

crying for mercy out aboard a dredger. I know what’s
happening to him—tied up to the mast and getting a
lashing. Sometimes an entire vessel’s crew is beaten up,
by the captains and mates of four or five vessels that
work together. Hard life? Well, it’s about the hardest I
know of.

“You wouldn’t think a man would swim ashore on a [179]

winter night, half a mile or more, in water you could
hardly bear your hand in? Well, I’ve known them to do
that. Had one come the other night. He was nearly dead
when he got here—say, that was the queerest of all. He
brought a note ashore, in his cap, and lost the cap
down by the shore; and I had to go out with a lantern
and find the cap for him, to keep him from going back,
half dead as he was. I’m going to give that note to the
authorities. I’ll show it to you, if you’ve any curiosity.”

Will Adams arose and went to a desk, took therefrom a

sheet of paper on which he had pasted three other torn
pieces, and handed it to Edward Warren. The latter took
it, ran his eye over it hastily, then sat up and read it
again slowly.

“Well, that’s queer,” he exclaimed. “What does that say?

‘Send word to Benton,’—Benton! Why, that’s where
these youngsters come from. What is this—a joke? Look
at that, Henry. Come around here, George. It’s a joke,
or it’s the oddest thing that ever happened.”

Henry Burns took the sheet and deciphered the

message. He held it for a moment, as though he could
not believe what he read. Then he handed it to George
Warren and said, calmly and deliberately, “It’s from Jack
Harvey, George. He hasn’t gone to Europe. He’s out on
that man Haley’s dredger.”

One unacquainted with Henry Burns might have

thought, by his voice and his deliberation, that he was
strangely unmoved at his astounding discovery. George
Warren, who had known him for years, knew by that
same unusual deliberation, by the set look of his face,
and by his eyes, that something extraordinary had
aroused him.

George Warren gave one glance at the paper, and [180]

uttered a cry that rang through the rooms:—

“Jack Harvey! Carried off on a dredger, Arthur. What do

you think of that? Why, he’s our friend, Mr. Adams. He’s
from Benton, where we live. We’ve got to hunt for him?
What’ll we do?”
“Haley, Haley,” repeated Edward Warren, “where have I
seen him? Why, of course, that fellow that came for the
potatoes. You fellows remember him. His vessel was off
shore. Will, I think we can get that fellow to-night. What
do you say?”

“No, you can’t—not to-night,” said Henry Burns, in a

tone of deep disappointment; “I saw him get under
weigh from Solomon’s Island just as we came back into
the river, not more than two hours ago. He’s gone down
the bay somewhere. I know the craft. I took notice of it
this morning, on account of that trouble at the house
the night before, when Joe ran into him.”

“George,” he added, “don’t things happen queer,

though? Jack out aboard a dredger—and we close by, all
the time he’s been off there. And we thought he was in
Europe! And to think that he’s been trapped by the very
man we fell in with—that brute, Haley.”

Henry Burns turned to Edward Warren and Will Adams.

“What can you do?” he asked. “We’ve got to get Jack
off quick. How are we going to do it?”

“Well, sit down here,” answered Will Adams. “We’ll talk

it over.”

[181]
 CHAPTER XIV
HARVEY MEETS WITH A LOSS

Jack Harvey and Tom Edwards had made good their

escape—escape from their own friends. Alas, they knew
not how near they had been to the end of all their
troubles. As it was, now that they were out of sight and
sound of the farmhouse, the whole adventure seemed
amusing. Harvey leaned against a tree and roared with
laughter.

“You’re a sight!” he exclaimed to his companion. “I’d like

to see you walk into a store now and try to sell a man
some goods. Oh, but I’m winded. How we did scoot.”

Tom Edwards was, indeed, nearly used up, from the

dash across the fields. His shabby garments were
covered with wisps of hay and straw; his very hair was
filled with it. His face was stained with the dust of the
hay-mow and the exertion of running. Altogether, he
looked not unlike some huge fowl, half plucked, with
short feathers sticking out here and there. His shoes,
much worn and breaking through, were miry with the
soil of the corn field. He looked himself over, as Harvey
spoke, and a grim smile overspread his face.

[182]
“I nearly died under all that hay,” he said. “And when
that chap came into the mow and walked toward me, I
had to hold in with might and main to keep from letting
out the biggest yell I ever gave in my life. I expected
that pitchfork to go into my leg every minute. If it had,
there’d have been one scared farmer in Maryland, I tell
you.”

Harvey roared again. Then his face grew serious.

“Poor old Tom!” he exclaimed. “You’ve had the hardest

time of it right along. I thought, one time, you wouldn’t
stand the winter at the dredges. Well, we’re through
now, though. Lucky I saved that money. We’ll get down
to the shore, and find out about the boat. Then, hooray
for Baltimore!”

“And after Haley!” added Tom Edwards, emphatically.

“I’m going to put him where he belongs.”

“And I’m going to put this where it belongs,” remarked

Harvey, drawing forth a biscuit, from his pocket. “I’m
hungry enough to eat some of that hay, back in the
barn. Here’s a piece of corn bread, too. It’s good, if
George Haley did cook it. It wasn’t meant for the crew,
that’s why.”

Tom Edwards producing other of the food taken from

the Brandt, they made a breakfast in the open, without
stopping to build a fire; and they quenched their thirst
from the water of a little stream that trickled down
through the wood.

“This will do well enough for now,” said Tom Edwards, [183]
as he bolted a piece of biscuit, hungrily; “but just you
wait till we get into civilization once more, Jack, old
fellow. I’m going to take you to Boston with me, and
we’ll go to the best hotel there, and I’ll order a big
sirloin steak as thick as your two hands, and we’ll sit
and eat till we choke.”

“Hooray!” mumbled Harvey, biting into a piece of corn

bread; “isn’t it good to be free?”

When they had eaten, they started back into the

country, on a long détour to avoid the farmhouse, to
make their way to the shore in the neighbourhood of
the steamboat landing. They walked across a somewhat
uneven country, broken here and there by little streams
that flowed down into the creeks that cut into the shore
line. Some of these were frozen so as to bear their
weight; others had open water, so they were forced to
walk some distance in order to find a crossing place.
Once they ascended a hill of perhaps a hundred feet,
from which they could see the surrounding country and
the river, plainly.

There were several smaller hills lying to the eastward of

this, between one of which a stream of some
considerable size ran down into a large creek above
Millstone landing. They could see the farmhouse from
this hill; and, with the coming in of the morning, they
saw a sight that thrilled them—that made them burn
with exultation—the bug-eye Brandt, making sail and
going across the harbour to Solomon’s Island. They
watched the craft with satisfaction for a long time. Then
they slowly descended the hill in the direction of the
landing.

Crossing more uneven country, Harvey and Tom [184]

Edwards came finally into a road that trended down
toward the shore. They followed that for about three
quarters of a mile, till another road crossed it at right
angles. At this point, they espied, coming down the road
that intersected the one they were on, a man, carrying
a gunny sack over one shoulder. They halted, and
waited for him to come up.

The man was ill favoured, roughly dressed, stooping

and almost stealthy in his gait, looking about him from
side to side. As he approached, he eyed them slyly out
of the corners of a pair of sharp, black eyes, turning his
head and giving them no direct glance. He would have
passed them without speaking, but Tom Edwards hailed
him.

“Can you tell us what time the boat will go up the river
to-day, sir?” he asked.

The man stopped, lowered his sack to the ground, and

stood, darting glances at them, without replying for a
moment. Then he answered, curtly, “’Twon’t go up at all
to-day.”

Tom Edwards and Harvey looked at each other, with

keenest disappointment on their faces.

“When will it go up?” continued Tom Edwards.

“Day after to-morrow—it will, if the weather’s right. If it

isn’t, it won’t. Where d’yer want to go?”

“We want to go to Baltimore,” replied Tom Edwards; and

added, by way of explanation, “we’ve come ashore from
a vessel.”

“Hmph!” ejaculated the stranger. “Reckon you’ll stay

right here to-day.” He eyed them shrewdly for a
moment, in silence. Then he said, “Off a vessel, eh? You
ain’t flush with money, then. Couldn’t pay for a night’s
lodging, I suppose.”

“Yes, we can,” answered Harvey, promptly. “We haven’t [185]

got much money, but we can pay for that, and for a
dinner, too. Do you know where we can get it?”

The man’s appearance bespoke poor hospitality that he

might have to offer; but they had met with ill success,
in seeking shelter, and anything would be better than a
night in the fields.

“Hm! What might you be willing to pay for keeping you

over a night, with meals?” inquired the man, casting
doubtful glances at their shabby, mud-stained clothing.

Harvey looked at Tom Edwards. The latter made answer.

“We’ll give you a dollar for dinner, supper, night’s

lodging and a breakfast to-morrow,” he said. “Then we’ll
see about what we’ll do.”

The man’s eyes twinkled shrewdly.

“Make it two, and it’s a bargain,” he said.

“All right,” said Harvey.

“Well, I’m going down to the shore,” said the man, “and
I’ll be back this way. You can come along, or wait for
me here. I won’t be gone long.”

“We’ll wait for you,” replied Tom Edwards.

The man shambled off down the road toward the

landing.
“It doesn’t look very inviting,” said Tom Edwards, as
their new-found host went on his way, “but we’ve got to
take what we can get. We’ll make up for it when we get
to Baltimore.”

The man’s promise to be back soon was not fulfilled, for [186]
it was more than an hour before they saw him
returning. He was burdened, however, with the weight
of the sack, which he had evidently been to the
warehouse to fill. He set it down as he came up to
them, and Harvey offered to carry it a way for him—an
offer which was accepted promptly.

“I’m not so spry as I used to be,” he remarked; “and

you’re young and rugged.”

He started up along the road he had first come, and the

two followed, Harvey carrying the sack, which proved to
be filled with potatoes. They proceeded for about half a
mile, when Harvey, wearied with his load, inquired how
much farther they had to go.

“Oh, just a leetle piece,” responded the man, cheerfully.

He did not offer to relieve Harvey of the sack, however.
The “leetle piece” proved to be fully a half mile more,
when the man turned from the road and followed a
wheel track through the fields. They proceeded along
that for about a quarter of a mile.

“I guess I’ll stop and rest for a minute,” said Harvey

presently. “This sack is pretty heavy.”

“Sho!” exclaimed the man. “You’ve been carrying it a

long way, haven’t you? I’ll take it the rest of the way.”

He gave a grin, as he spoke, the reason for which was

soon apparent. They had gone on for only a rod or two
more when they espied, in a clump of trees, a dingy,
weather-beaten house. It was of one story in height,
leaning over at an angle that threatened its complete
collapse at no distant day. The hearts of Tom Edwards
and Jack Harvey sank. It was not a pleasant prospect
for Christmas.

Throwing open the door, the man invited them to enter. [187]
They found themselves within a shabby room, bare of
furnishing, save a wooden table, some chairs,
strengthened with pieces of board, and a horse hair
sofa in one corner, the springs of which had broken
through and were touching the floor.

“You’re welcome, misters,” said the man, “to such as it

is. It ain’t nothing to boast of, but it’s a sight better than
some dredgers I’ve seen. Had breakfast?”

Harvey nodded. The place left him little appetite.

It was some time before the man spoke again. He

seemed to be considering something. Then he said,
somewhat hesitatingly, “Misters, I know as how you are
all right, by the looks of you—sailors, eh, but not such
as would take advantage of a poor man. But bein’ as
you are strangers, why it will have to be pay in advance
—and no offence intended. Besides, I don’t keep much
on hand, as I live alone; and I’ll have to go along up the
road a piece, and buy a bit of meat.”

Harvey was prepared for it. In the absence of the man

on his errand to the warehouse, he had carefully
withdrawn four one dollar bills from the money pinned
into his clothing, and now he had the two dollars ready.
He handed them over.
The man snatched the money greedily, while his eyes
twinkled. He took down his slouch hat from a peg, and
prepared to be off again.

“Will you make yourselves at home, misters,” he said,

more deferentially than before. “I’ll be after a bit of
meat for dinner. The old house isn’t much to look at, but
it don’t leak rain, and it’s warm. You keep the fire going,
and I’ll promise you’ll have a dinner that beats dredgin’
grub by a long sight.”

He went out and left them alone. They sat for a [188]
moment in silence. Then Harvey laughed, as he
surveyed the dingy room.

“Merry Christmas! Tom,” he said.

It was Tom Edwards’s turn to smile now.

“The same to you, Jack, old boy,” he exclaimed, heartily.

“I guess the old cove is right, after all. It does beat
Haley’s dredger—but not by such a big margin.”

They explored the ramshackle house, together. There

was a room opening off the one they were in, a sleeping
room, with a rough cot in it that might accommodate
two, on a pinch. A wood-shed led off from the first
room, also. That was the extent of the cabin. They
returned to the living room, which, with a small cook-
stove set up in it, answered for dining-room, parlour,
and kitchen in one. They replenished the fire-pot with
wood, from a box, and stretched themselves out at
length on the floor beside the fire. The room was at
least warm, and they were still weary from lack of sleep.

The hours passed, and it was near noon when they

heard the returning footsteps of their host. He came in
and busied himself with preparations for dinner, setting
out a coffee pot on top of the stove and cutting some
strips of bacon to fry in a pan. He took from a closet a
few cold boiled potatoes, and sliced these into the pan,
with the bacon.

That was their Christmas dinner; but they were hungry,

and ate heartily. Toward the end of the meal, their host
eyed them slyly, but critically. He noted their clothing,
their shoes, even the wisps of hay still clinging to their
hair. He arose and pretended to be busy about the fire,
but cast sidelong glances at them.

“I heard that there were tramps got into Warren’s barn, [189]
over yonder, last night,” he said, in a matter-of-fact
tone. “We don’t have much of that around here.
Neighbour Darrell says Warren would give a dollar, and
perhaps more, to catch them. But I says, ‘Probably the
poor fellows didn’t have nowheres else to go, and I
wouldn’t tell on ’em, if I knew where they were.’”

Again the man stole a stealthy glance at his guests.

“I wouldn’t take money for that,” he added, “though I

reckon it would be worth a dollar to the chaps,
themselves, to keep out of the lock-up.”

Harvey, and Tom Edwards exchanged significant

glances. It was only too clear what their host was
driving at. But Harvey waited for some time before he
yielded. It was half an hour later, when they had
finished dinner and were sitting by the fire, that he met
the sly demand.

“Look here,” he said, suddenly, as though the thought

had just struck him, “you’re giving us the best you can,
and we haven’t paid you enough. Here’s another dollar.
I’d give more than that, if we could afford it.”

He held out the dollar. The man took it, eyed it

avariciously and stuffed it into a pocket.

“I wouldn’t take it if I wasn’t as poor as poverty,” he

said.

Late that afternoon, he took down his hat and said he

would go “up the road” again, and be back shortly. They
watched him till he was out of sight. Then Tom Edwards
turned to Harvey, his face clouded with anger.

“Jack,” he said, “we’ve got to get out of here, and now’s [190]
our chance. I wouldn’t trust that old rascal another
minute. He may be lying about the lock-up he spoke of
—I don’t believe there’s one for miles around. But he’d
sell us to the first captain that came along. What do you
think?”

Jack Harvey nodded, wearily.

“You’re right,” he said. “It’s a beastly shame, though. I

want a night’s sleep. But we can’t get away from here
any too soon, I’m thinking. Come on. Let’s bolt.”

They started off, running along the wheel track, and

thence down the road they had come before. It was
already growing dark, and their hearts sank, as they
hurried on, wondering anxiously where they should
spend the night.

They followed the road down to the landing, because

they knew not where else to go. They came finally to
the wharf, with its warehouse at the farther end. This
was shut fast, and no sign of life about it. They sat
down for a moment, to rest.

“Well?” queried Harvey, “what do you think?”

“Try another farmhouse?” suggested Tom Edwards.

“I’m scared to do it,” replied Harvey. “There’s an old

barn, or factory of some sort over yonder, however, that
looks deserted. Anything will do for a night. Let’s go and
see.”

They made their way over to the eastward of the wharf,

for a distance of several rods, and came up to an old
canning factory, which had been some time out of use
and was closed. They forced the shutter of a window
and entered, finding themselves almost in darkness.

What sort of a place they were in, what it consisted of, [191]
and whatever accommodations it might afford them for
a night’s lodging, they had no means of finding out.
They had only a few matches, and these would serve
them but little. They feared to wander about, lest some
rotten timbers should let them through to the cellar, or
whatever might be beneath. The single match they
lighted sufficed to show them all they needed.

The little patch of light fell upon a litter of old straw, as

though from packing boxes of some sort. Tired and
sleepy, they crept into this, devoured the remaining
biscuits they had in their pockets from the Brandt’s
cabin, and fell sound asleep.

Both awoke shivering, the following morning, for there

had been scant covering to their bed, and the building
was cold. They hastened out into the sunshine, going
around to the southern exposure of the cannery, where
the warmth was greatest. Again, Harvey took the
precaution of dividing the money in his small and very
private bank, drawing on the account pinned to his
undershirt, for three dollars, leaving fourteen thus
secured.

He had hardly accomplished this transfer when they

heard voices, and three men came past the corner of
the old cannery, going off to the right in the direction of
a great creek. Harvey halted them, with a call, and they
turned in surprise. They were negroes, and evidently
oystermen of some sort.

“Hello, what be you two doing here?” inquired one of

them, who seemed by his manner to be the leader of
the three.

“We want to get to Baltimore,” replied Harvey.

The man shook his head.

“Boat don’t go to-day,” he said.

“We want something to eat,” said Tom Edwards. “You [192]

fellows got anything to sell?”

“Mebbe a little bread, and sure enough some oysters,”

answered the man. “They’s down ’board the boat,
though. You’ll have to come and get ’em.”

The three negroes started on again, Tom Edwards and

Harvey following. The three apparently paid no more
attention to Harvey and his companion—at least, they
did not arouse the suspicion of the two. Nevertheless,
one by one, as they walked along, the three turned and
looked the strangers over. Then they conversed
together, softly, but with more than ordinary interest.
Arrived at the creek, there appeared a great canoe
drawn up to shore, with perhaps a bushel of oysters
lying in a heap in the bottom. It was a canoe of unusual
size, at least twenty-four feet long, and broad of beam.
The man who had spoken handed over to Tom Edwards
half a loaf of bread, while another of the men began
shucking some of the oysters. He passed these to them,
and they devoured them hungrily.

“You want to go to Baltimore right away?” asked the

negro, suddenly, turning to Tom Edwards.

“Quick as we can get there.”

“Jim,” said the man, addressing one of his companions,

“what time this afternoon does that Potomac river
steamer get ’round to Otter Point?”

“About five o’clock,” answered the man promptly.

“You know Otter Point?” asked the first man, of Tom

Edwards.

The latter shook his head.

“I know,” said Harvey. “It’s a long way down.”

“’Bout eighteen miles,” said the negro. “Good offshore [193]

wind this fo’noon; take you down in ’bout three hours,
you catch the afternoon steamer, get you into Baltimore
to-morrow mo’ning.”

“How much will you charge?”

“Guess it’s worth ’bout a dollar.”

“What do you say, Tom?” asked Harvey.

“I say, let’s go,” answered Tom Edwards.

“All right,” said Harvey. “When will you start?”

“Jes’ as soon as you get aboard,” replied the negro.

Harvey handed a dollar to the man, and they stepped

into the canoe. The men shoved off, the sails were set
and the canoe glided out of the creek, through a narrow
opening, into the bay. There was a smart breeze coming
up, off the land; and the canoe, with the wind about
abeam, headed down along shore. It was fast, and they
made good time. Some three hours later, at about
eleven o’clock in the forenoon, they ran between two
points of land, into a creek that spread out broadly for
over a mile in width, and extended northward for some
three miles.

They ran for something like a mile northwesterly, and

turned into one of the numberless coves, to where a
small cabin stood, a little way back from shore. The
country round about was desolate. There was not
another sign of habitation in sight.

They went up to the cabin, with the three negroes, and

entered. It was a mere fisherman’s shack, with some
bunks on two sides, filled with hay for bedding. A cook
stove warmed it. There was a table in the middle of the
floor, with some empty boxes to serve as seats.

Despite the barrenness of it, however, Harvey and Tom [194]

Edwards made a good dinner, about two hours later, of
fried fish and bread and hot coffee.

They were in good spirits, when they stood, at a quarter

to five that afternoon, at Otter Point, awaiting the
steamer.
But there was no wharf there—nothing but a rude
framework of poles, at which a small boat might moor.

Harvey turned to their one companion, in surprise.

“A steamer can’t land here,” he exclaimed.

The leader of the three negroes, who had accompanied

them from the cabin, answered, with assurance.

“The landing was over yonder,” he said. “It was carried

away, and they just puts folks ashore and takes them on
here. We has to send a boat off.” He took out a pipe and
began smoking stolidly.

Five o’clock came—and six—and there was no steamer.

Night had settled down. The negro answered their
questions by asserting that “something mus’ have
hap’nd; that boat was always on time befo’.”

They waited a little while longer, with fast dying hopes.

It was all guesswork to them. They could not know that,
at six o’clock in the evening, by its schedule, the
Potomac river steamer bound for Baltimore was twenty
miles back on its course, coming out of St. Mary River,
into the Potomac; that it never did stop at the creek
where they were anxiously waiting, and that it would go
by sometime in the night. At half-past six o’clock they
gave it up and rowed back with the negro, in a skiff, to
the cabin.

“Jack,” said Tom Edwards, as they turned in for the

night, in bunks, one above the other, “I’m afraid they’ve
played a trick on us, though I don’t know what for. I
don’t like the looks of this place.”
“Nor I,” said Harvey. “I’m going to keep awake for an [195]
hour or two, and watch. I’ve got Haley’s revolver.” He
took it from his pocket and hid it in the straw under his
head. “We’ll be ready for them, anyway,” he muttered.

But they had reckoned without their weariness. In less

than an hour, they were both fast asleep.

Nothing evil befell throughout the night, however. The

morning found them undisturbed. The negroes were
stirring, and the odour of cooking brought them to their
feet, hungry and refreshed.

That day seemed endless. There would be no boat up

river until to-morrow, they were now assured. They
could only wait. They were suspicious—alarmed. The
place was so out of the way, and so dreary. But they
decided to wait the one more day, and then, if no boat
came, to strike off across country for themselves.

Harvey slept soundly that next night, for several hours.

Then something—he knew not what—roused him. He
stirred sleepily, half awoke and turned in his bunk. A
figure stole away from him, in the darkness, toward the
door. It is probable that Harvey would have relapsed
into sound slumber once more had he not felt cold. He
awoke, shivering, and felt a draft of cold night air
blowing in on him. Then he saw a patch of moonlight
streaming in through the half-opened door.

Harvey, fully dressed, as he had turned in, rolled out of

the bunk and stepped to the door. Some distance away,
two men were going down to the shore. The next thing
he saw sent the blood leaping through his veins. Out in
the creek, the moonlight was reflected on the sail of a
bug-eye. It was rounding to, coming up into the wind.
Harvey darted back into the cabin and awoke Tom
Edwards, shaking him vigorously.

“Tom, get up, quick!” he said; and dragged him from [196]
where he lay.

“There’s a vessel coming in, Tom,” he cried, “and the

men from here are going down to meet it. They’re after
us—that’s what. Tom, we’ll be sold again to a dredger if
we don’t get out of here. That’s what they got us down
for.”

They had, fortunately, no clothing to put on, for they

had turned in dressed, even to their shoes. They waited
only for a moment, snatching up some pieces of dry
bread that remained on the table from the supper. Then
they hurried out of the door.

They were not a moment too soon. Perhaps the third

man had been about the cabin somewhere and had
given the alarm. As they stepped outside, the three
negroes came plainly into sight, in the moonlight, armed
with short poles which they brandished as clubs,
running back toward them and crying out for them to
halt.

There was a sharp surprise for the three, however. Tom

Edwards, made desperate by the crisis, had drawn a fish
knife that he had taken from the cabin of the Brandt;
Jack Harvey stood coolly in his tracks, holding Haley’s
revolver.

“Stand back there, or I’ll shoot,” he cried.

“‘STAND BACK THERE, OR I’ll SHOOT,’ HE CRIED.”
The negroes stopped short and stood, holding their
clubs in hand. They were clearly taken all by surprise.
The leader, balked of his prize money for two able-
bodied men for the dredger, was not to be beaten, off-
hand, however. His eyes flashed with anger, as he
advanced a step.

“That thing isn’t loaded,” he asserted. “You can’t fool us. [197]
It won’t shoot.”

“Won’t it?” said Harvey. “Let’s see.” He raised the

weapon, aiming it over the man’s head, and pulled the
trigger. The report of the weapon sounded afar in the
still night air, ringing out across the water. The man
sprang back, in terror, and, the next moment, the three
started running for the shore toward the vessel.

“Tom,” cried Jack Harvey, “get your wind for a run now.
We’ve got to get out of here before they bring the
captain and mate and his men after us. We’ll have to
run and trust to luck.”

They started off across country, away from the shore, as

hard as they could run. The moonlight, fortunately,
showed them the ground over which they ran—though
they knew not whither they were travelling.

All that night they proceeded, coming to a road, after a

time, that went northward. They followed along that.
Not until daybreak did they pause to rest.

Poor Tom Edwards was groaning, and gasping like a fish

out of water.

“The luck’s against us, Jack, old boy,” he murmured.

“Here we are, twenty miles worse off than we were
before—and, only to think, that other boat goes up to-
morrow from Millstone, and we won’t be there in time.”

“Never mind,” said Jack Harvey, stout-heartedly, “we’ll

get out of it some way. We’ll follow the road, and we
won’t starve. I’ve got the money to pay for food along
the way.”

He thrust his hand under his waistcoat, as he spoke— [198]

and uttered a cry as he did so.

“Tom,” he shouted, “I haven’t got the money. I’ve been

robbed! It’s gone!”

He felt through his clothing, feverishly. He drew forth

from one pocket a single dollar bill and a small amount
of change. It was all he had left. The money that had
been pinned to his clothing had been taken, pin and all,
while he slept. The dollar left to him had been in the
trousers pocket, protected by his body.

They were too poor now to pay their fare up the river.
They were worse off than before against the cold or any
storm that might arise; for they had left their oil-skins
back in the cabin, in their flight.

[199]
 CHAPTER XV
HENRY BURNS IN TROUBLE

Will Adams, stirring the coals in the fireplace of his

cheery dining-room, added two sticks of oak to the
blaze, resumed his seat and addressed his guests.

“I’ve been wishing for years,” he said, “that I could have

a chance to catch one of these dredging pirates that
misuse their men so. Why, I’ve lain in bed on summer
nights and heard those poor fellows out aboard begging
for mercy—and I couldn’t do anything to help them. It’s
hard to catch a captain in the act of beating a man, and
they have all kinds of tricks to escape; the worst ones
stand together and help one another out. But we’ll get
this man, Haley, because he comes into the river, you
say. I don’t remember him, at all, but I think I know the
boat, as you describe it.”

“We’ll get a warrant for him, the first thing,” said

Edward Warren.

“Well, that’s what we’ll have to depend on,” replied Will

Adams; “but that’s a slow process, and we may be able
to do better, in the meantime, ourselves. We want to
get young Harvey, right off, before he has any more of
Haley’s rough handling.
“I’ll tell you what we’ll do, Ed. You take the boat, day [200]
after to-morrow, for Baltimore, swear out the warrant,
and get back here as quick as ever you can. That will
start the authorities after the fellow. But I warn you,
they’re rather slow. They’ll have to put a steamer on
Haley’s trail, to make sure.

“You see, news has a way of leaking out up in

Baltimore. I don’t know how they do it—politics, I
suppose. But as soon as a warrant is out, somebody
gets word of it on the water-front and then the news
travels down the bay like wildfire. One captain passes it
along to another. Why, the chances are, Haley might
have young Harvey out of the way aboard some other
craft, or set ashore down in the Eastern shore swamps,
before any police captain came up with him.

“That’s why I say I hope we can get the boy off,

ourselves, in the meantime. Now I’ve got a sloop up in
the creek back of Solomon’s Island, that I can fit out
and have ready by to-morrow afternoon. She’s a good
one, too, is the old Mollie. She’s fast, and she can go
across the bay in anything that ever blew; thirty-seven
feet long; a good, roomy cabin that will sleep six of us
easy, and seven on a pinch, by making up some beds
on the cabin floor. She’ll carry sail, too, and if it comes
to a brush between us and Haley’s craft, why the Mollie
will show up surprisingly. He’d have hard work to give
us the slip, altogether, unless night came on.

“Yes, sir,” exclaimed Will Adams, arising and squaring his

broad shoulders, “we’ll fit out the Mollie like a regular
sloop-of-war. I’ve got three shot-guns and any number
of revolvers, and you’ve got a good rifle, Ed. Why, we
could show enough force to capture a Malay pirate, let
alone Haley. We may get him easier than that, right
here in the river—and then again we may not. We’ll be
ready for anything. What do you say?”

“Well,” said Edward Warren, “I’m for capturing the man [201]
wherever he shows himself, if we can; but I’m not so
sure that I ought to let these youngsters run the risk of
getting into a fight like that.”

Will Adams smiled.

“Perhaps I put it a little bit strong,” he said. “I don’t

really think there would be very much fight about it.
Haley is a coward, I’ll venture to say, if it comes to a
pinch. Most bull-dozing men like that are. We won’t give
him a chance to fight, if we can help it; just take him of
a sudden, and he’ll give up.”

“Don’t you worry about us, Cousin Ed,” said George

Warren. “We are old enough to take care of ourselves.
We don’t mind running some risk, if we can only get
Jack out of his scrape.”

“Well,” replied Edward Warren, “you fit up the Mollie,

Will, and wait till I get back from Baltimore before you
start off anywhere. Then we’ll see.”

“I wish we could start to-night,” said Henry Burns.

It was surprising, the change that had come over this

usually coolest and most deliberate of the boys. He and
Jack Harvey had not always been friends; but now that
circumstances had brought them together, and they had
cemented their friendship by a summer together and a
partnership in a fishing enterprise, they were loyal
comrades. Henry Burns would have set out on the
moment, for Solomon’s Island and the sloop Mollie, and
have worked all night to get her ready, if Will Adams
had only said the word.

But there was, plainly, nothing to be done until [202]

morning; and so, with a hearty handshake all round, the
boys and Edward Warren left the big house on Drum
Point and headed homeward across the river in the
canoe.

There was no time lost, on the following morning,

however. They were up and across the river at an early
hour; and, taking Will Adams into the canoe, they all
went along by the shore into the creek where the Mollie
lay at her mooring. She was stripped of her sails and
some of her rigging, out of commission for the winter
season.

The young yachtsmen recognized her for what she was,

a smart sea boat; and they went to work with a will to
assist in getting her ready for cruising. From a loft on
Solomon’s Island they carried down the big main-sail
and the jibs and a single topsail. They lugged the big
anchor-rode and two anchors, including a spare one,
carried for emergency, down to the shore, and rowed
the stuff out aboard. They assisted in bending on the
sails; lacing them to boom and gaff; in reeving rigging;
splicing a rope here and there; trying the pump and
putting on a fresh leather to the sucker rod; greasing
the foot of the mast, where the hoops chafed; putting
aboard water jugs and spare rigging—in short, the score
and more things that went to make the craft fit and safe
for winter cruising.

By early afternoon, the sloop, Mollie, was spick and [203]

clean and ship-shape, with a brand new main-sheet and
topping-lift, that would stand a winter’s squall; her
ballast stowed in, as some of it had been taken ashore.
Everything was in readiness for the cruise, even to the
starboard and port lights, for use at night, and some
charts of the bay provided by Will Adams. They locked
the cabin, and went back in the canoe, first to Will
Adams’s landing and then across to the other shore.
George Warren held the tiller, in the absence of Edward
Warren, who had remained at home, preparing for his
trip to Baltimore the following morning.

Through all that afternoon and until darkness settled

over the river, there was not a half hour that did not
find Henry Burns either at a window or out in the
dooryard, gazing off through Edward Warren’s spy-
glass. He looked longingly for the sight of a craft, the
image of which, with its exact lines and the cut of its
sails, was clear and distinct in his mind.

George Warren pointed out at him, once, and called

Edward Warren to look.

“He’s all cut up about poor Jack,” he said. “I never saw

him so worked up about anything. You’d better hurry
back from Baltimore, Cousin Ed, or he’ll be sailing off
alone in the Mollie after Haley’s bug-eye.”

Edward Warren laughed.

“I’ll risk that,” he said. “Don’t you boys worry; we’ll get
Haley, all right. We’ll have young Harvey ashore here
before many days, or I miss my guess.”

That very afternoon, the bug-eye, Z. B. Brandt, was

coming slowly up the coast, heading for Cedar Point,
the lighthouse on which marked the turning-point for
vessels bound into the Patuxent. Hamilton Haley, sitting
gloomily at the wheel, turned a sour face upon the
mate, as the latter stepped near.

“I never did see such all-fired mean luck since I took to [204]
dredging!” he burst out, glowering at the mate, as
though Jim Adams were in some way at fault. “First it’s
that sneaking foreigner, that we took to help Bill out,
that gets away. Who’d have thought he’d ever swum for
it, a night like that, and all that way from shore? I hope
he drowned! I hope he drowned and the dog-fish ate
him. That’s what.”

“He’d make pow’ful bad eatin’, I reckon,” suggested Jim

Adams.

“Yes, but he could have turned a handle of the winch

like a soldier,” said Haley. “And he’s a dead loss, being
as I’m bound by the law as we make ourselves, and
swear to, to leave Sam Black aboard Bill’s boat, so long
as I’ve gone and lost Bill’s man.”

“I didn’t think that youngster, Harvey, and that business

chap, Edwards, had the nerve to do what they did,” said
Jim Adams.

Hamilton Haley snorted. The subject was like a match to

gun-powder.

“’Twas that young rascal, Harvey, that did it!” he cried.

“I didn’t beat him up enough. I wish as how I had him
lashed up for’ard there now. ’Tother chap wouldn’t have
gone and done it. ’Twas the youngster’s work. And
p’raps it didn’t cost me a penny!”

Haley pointed, with high indignation, to a new hatch

which replaced the one on which Harvey and Tom
Edwards had floated to shore.
“Seven dollars for that!” he exclaimed, “to say nothing [205]
of the time it took to make it. And ten dollars apiece to
Artie Jenkins for the two of ’em that’s gone. And Sam
Black worth as much more. I tell you it ain’t right for a
poor dredger, as earns his money by hard work and
tends to business, to get such luck as that dealt out to
him.”

Haley was half whining. From his view-point, the fates

had, indeed, been unkind.

“There’s someone coming down,” remarked the mate.

Haley took a long look ahead, at a craft visible nearly a

mile away.

“It’s Tom Noyes’s boat,” he said, finally. “I’d know his

masts anywhere.”

The other craft, a bug-eye somewhat smaller than the

Brandt, came dead on toward them. The distance
between them rapidly diminished, and they came
presently within hailing distance. The other craft did not
merely hail, however. It came up into the wind and
lowered a boat. Haley brought the Brandt into the wind,
also, and the small boat came alongside. A man stepped
aboard and said something to Haley. The latter jumped
as though a shot had been fired at him. A grin of
satisfaction overspread his dull face.

“You don’t mean it, Tom!” he cried. “Hooray! I’d rather

get him than ten bushels of oysters in one heap. Come
below. Jim, you take the wheel.”

The two captains descended into the cabin, leaving Jim

Adams to hold the bug-eye into the wind. They
remained below some minutes, conversing earnestly;
and when they reappeared Haley was in a good humour
that made Jim Adams stare.

“Jim,” he said, slapping the mate on the shoulder with a [206]

jocularity all unusual to him, “you’re a right good mate.
We’re going up the river to-night—away up. We’re going
to ship a good man—a right good man, Jim. You never
saw such a rare fellow at a winder as he’ll be. Ho! Ho! I
reckon the rest of ’em won’t have to work at all with
him aboard. Good-bye, Cap’n Tom. I’ll see you down on
the Eastern shore. We’re going to quit around here. The
reefs seem all played out. Good luck!”

Haley, seeing his guest off, turned to Jim Adams and

proceeded to impart to him a piece of information that
brought a broad smile to his features, also. The two had
emerged thus suddenly from the depths of gloom and
discouragement into a feeling almost of hilarity. The
bug-eye was brought by the wind once more, and they
went on up the bay.

The night falling, Henry Burns, up at the old farmhouse,

gave over looking for any sail and went in to supper. It
was a serious looking party at table that night. The next
few days might mean much to them, or little, according
as fortune favoured. The boys urged upon Edward
Warren to lose no time in returning to them.

“And you look out for yourselves, while I’m away,” he

cautioned. “If you see anything of Haley, just take the
canoe and scoot for Drum Point. Then let Will Adams
handle the thing. He’s careful and he knows everybody
around here, and just what to do.”

“We will,” replied George Warren. “We’ll be all right.

Don’t you worry.”
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