n Baxter!" came from several.

"Exactly. He tackled me in the dark, and we had it hot and heavy for
a minute. Then he crowded me on the rail, and it gave way. He jumped
back and let me go overboard."

"The rascal! I'll settle with him!" cried Dick. "I'll teach him to
keep his distance after this!"

He knew Baxter was still forward, and ran in that direction. The
bully saw him coming and tried to hide in the forecastle, but Dick
was too quick for him and hauled him back on the deck.

"Take that for shoving my brother overboard, you scoundrel!" he
exclaimed, and hit Baxter a staggering blow straight between the eyes.

"Stop!" roared the bully, and struck out in return. But Dick dodged
the blow, and then hit Baxter in the chin and on the nose. The elder
Rover boy was excited, and hit with all of his force, and the bully
measured his length on the deck.

"Good fer you!" cried old Jerry, who stood looking on. "That's the
way to serve him, the sarpint!"

Slowly Baxter arose to his knees, and then his feet, where he stood
glaring at Dick.

"Don't you hit me again!" he muttered.

"But I will," retorted Dick, and struck out once more. This time his
fist landed on the bully's left eye, and once again Baxter went down,
this time with a thud.

The sailors were collecting, and soon Jack Lesher rushed up. He stepped
between Dick and the bully.

"Stop it!" he ordered harshly. "We don't allow fighting on board of
this craft."

"I wasn't fighting," answered Dick coolly. "I was just teaching a
rascal a lesson."

"It amounts to the same thing. If you have any fault to find tell
the captain, or tell me."

"Well, I'll go to the captain, not you," retorted Dick.

"All right," growled the first mate. "But just remember you can't
boss things when I'm around."

When Captain Blossom understood the situation he was thoroughly angry.

"Baxter certainly ought to be in prison," he said. "I'll clap him in
the brig and feed him on bread and water for three days and see how
he likes that."

"He ought not to be left at large," said Dora, with a shudder. "He
may try to murder somebody next."

"We'll watch him after this," said the captain.

He kept his word about putting Baxter in the ship's jail. But through
Lesher the bully, got much better fare than bread and water. Strange
as it may seem, a warm friendship sprang up between the bully and
the first mate.

"I aint got nothing against you, Baxter," said Jack Lesher. "When we