l
fill him so full of holes he'll leak straw."

"You don't know him," shuddered the boy. "He's a desperate man. He shot
a nigger once just because the fellow disputed Wyckoff about a match.
He's a bad, bad man. I know him."

"And still he had the nerve to tell us on Petit Bois that his hands were
clean," scornfully declared Jack. "He makes me sick."

"Oh, have you seen him?" questioned Carlos.

"He didn't tell me that! He just told me what I must do."

"What did he tell you to do?" inquired Frank not unkindly.

"He said that in the after cabin of this boat under the floor boards I
would find a plug driven into the skin of the boat to fill an auger
hole.

"He directed me to remove that plug carefully and swim ashore. I was not
to awaken you but to get away quietly."

"Well, you surely were the pussy-footed little sleuth," declared Harry.
"It would have been impossible to hear you more than forty or fifty
miles away. There's nothing the matter with that voice of yours. I know
an auctioneer who could use that noise."

"Don't rub it in, Harry," advised Tom. "The poor lad is having troubles
of his own right now as it is. He's all in."

"He brought it on himself," maintained Harry. "He wasn't invited aboard.
If he'd stayed away, this never would have happened."

"I know," soothed Tom, "and you'll find that most of the troubles we get
into are caused by our own acts. I'm sleepy. Move we postpone this third
degree business until morning."

"Second the motion," declared Harry. "Let's set a guard over the
prisoner and go back to sleep. I'm all in, myself."

The suggestion met with the approval of all the boys. They were tired
after their long and strenuous day and needed rest badly.

Arnold, feeling elated because his crab shell had been the means of
trapping the midnight visitor, volunteered to act as guard during the
first watch. He stoutly maintained that he was not sleepy and would be
only too glad of the chance to watch.

The poisoned meat was thrown overboard and quiet reigned again.

Frank awoke and stretched himself. Then he reached across to the bunk
occupied by Jack and shook that worthy by the arm.

"Let's get up and visit the hospital," he suggested, springing up.

Arnold sat sleeping on the bunk. The prisoner was gone!

CHAPTER XI

AN ELUSIVE BOB WHITE

"Hey," cried Jack grasping Arnold roughly by the shoulder, "Where is
your prisoner? You're a pretty guard, you are."

Sheepish