He lost no time in making his way northwards.
But some one else had come upon the scene.

It was Luke Tarboe.

He had arrived at a moment when the Belloc river crowd had almost wrecked Bunder's Boom, and when a collision between the two gangs seemed inevitable.

What he did remained a river legend.

By good temper and adroitness, he reconciled the leaders of the two gangs; he bought the freedom of the river by a present to Bunder's daughter; he won Bunder by four bottles of "Three Star" brandy.