ng over the main-deck like madmen.

I started up the ladder, bent upon learning what was happening and
watching my chance to slip back to my room through the darkness. Before I
had gone three steps I was halted by a terrific noise between decks in
the direction of the storeroom. Several heavy blows were struck in rapid
succession against a bulkhead, followed by a rending crash and
splintering timbers. An iron bar rang on the deck-plates as it was thrown
down, and there was a rattle of chains.

Going down the ladder again, I crouched in a corner, for I was sure that
the racket below would attract the attention of Riggs and Harris, and
that they would be down to investigate. I would have wagered that some
one had broken into the storeroom containing the mysterious cargo.

Whispers reached my ears from the end of the passage, and then I heard
Petrak yell in his fretful, whining way:

"Hold it down, Bucky! Hold it down, ye beggar! It's my bleedin' hand ye
got, will ye mind?"

"Dry up about the paw," said a voice. "Lucky for ye it's not yer neck in
a rope. Can't break the chain, can I, 'thout givin' ye a twist, ye fool!
There it is now--right aft and on deck, Red, and follow me close! We'll
git 'em off right enough when ye git above decks. What's matter if yer
flippers are clear?"

Something rushed toward me in the dark, and again I heard the musical
tinkle that made me think of chain-armour. I pressed my body against the
boarding to be clear of the ladder, and made out the figure of a man,
crouched down and feeling his way along the passage. He stumbled up the
ladder, and then I heard Petrak close behind him, panting and cursing,
and the broken chains on his hands rasping along the bulkhead.

"Wait for me, can't ye? Bucky, wait for me! Stop a bit and give me a hand
up--"

"Oh, come along and stow the gab," called Buckrow from the head of the
companion, but in suppressed tones. "Keep yer lip shut, the afterguards
are on deck here and I don't know where Thirkle is. Slip along and give
us a hand with a knife or a gun. Looks like we'll settle the business
quick now."

Petrak went up the ladder, his progress over each iron step plain to me
by the jingle of the chains dangling from his wrists, and before I had
settled in my mind what had happened the pair of them were gone. Buckrow
had rescued the little red-headed man from the ship's brig.

I crawled up the ladder, still holding the crucifix, for it was the only
thin