he line a great deal, went to Captain Hadley.

"What is it, Mr. DeLong?" asked the master of the vessel, kindly.

"I wish to speak to you about that trunk that was broken open."

"What of it?"

"I saw the accident. I was standing quite near at the time."

"Well?"

"I take an interest in that young deckhand of yours--he has done me
several small favors from time to time. It was not his fault that the
trunk was smashed, and I wanted you to know it."

"How did it happen?"

"Your purser got in the way and made the boy stumble. To me it looked
as if the purser did it on purpose."

"This is interesting, Mr. DeLong. But I don't see why the purser should
do such a thing."

"Neither do I, excepting he may have a grudge against the boy."

"Humph!" The captain grew thoughtful. "I will investigate this."

"Do so, and believe me, the boy is not to blame," said the elderly
passenger, and withdrew.

As soon as the end of the trip came, and the work on deck was finished,
Randy was called to the captain's office.

"Now what have you to say about that smashed trunk, Thompson?"

"I am not to blame, Captain Hadley," answered our hero, and told
exactly how the incident had occurred.

"Do you mean to say Mr. Polk tripped you up?"

"He ran into me and made me drop the trunk. If I hadn't dropped the
trunk I would have fallen down with the box on the top of me, and
gotten hurt."

"This is a strange statement, Thompson. Why should Mr. Polk run into
you?"

"He hates me, because through me your family learned how he had treated
Mrs. Clare when he helped to settle her husband's affairs."

This threw a new light on the matter and the captain nodded slowly and
thoughtfully.

"I did not think this of Mr. Polk."

"I think he hopes I'll lose my job," went on our hero. "He continually
calls me a blockhead, just to get me mad. I think he'd like to see me
lose my temper and pitch into him, and then he could get me my walking
papers."

"I think I will have to put the damage to the trunk down to the regular
expense account," said the captain at last. "In the future be more
careful, and keep out of Mr. Polk's way."

"I will certainly be careful, and I'll watch him, too," answered Randy.

Evidently Peter Polk was surprised to see our hero go to his work
whistling after his interview with the captain. He went to the master
of the vessel himself a little later.

"Is that boy going to pay for the trunk?" he asked, sourly.

"No,