ere highly pleased.

"I didn't want to see you do the work of a common sailor," said Dora
to Dick.

"Oh, it wouldn't kill me," he returned lightly. "Even as it is, I'll
give a hand if it is necessary."

"It's a wonder Captain Blossom took to your offer so quickly."

"He loves money, that's why, Dora. He would rather have that two
hundred dollars than our services," and with this remark Dick hit
the nail squarely on the head.

CHAPTER X

A BLOW IN THE DARKNESS

It would be hard to describe Dan Baxter's feelings after Captain
Blossom and the Rover boys left him alone in his stateroom. At one
instant he was fairly shaking with rage, and at the next quaking with
fear over what the future might hold in store for him.

"They have got the best of me again!" he muttered, clenching his
fists. "And after I felt sure I had escaped them. It must have been
Fate that made Captain Blossom pick them up. Now I've either got to
work as a common sailor or submit to being locked up in some dark,
foul-smelling hole on the ship. And when we get to Australia, unless
I watch my chance to skip out, they'll turn me over to the police."

He could not sleep that night for thinking over the situation and
was up and dressed before daylight. Strolling on deck, he came face
to face with Sam, who had come up to get the morning air.

"I suppose you think you have got the best of me," growled Baxter.

"It looks like it, doesn't it?" returned Sam briefly.

"The game isn't ended yet."

"No, but it will be when you land in prison, Baxter."

"I'll get square."

"You have promised to get square times without number--and you have
failed every time."

"I won't fail the next time."

"Yes, you will. Wrong never yet triumphed over right."

"Oh, don't preach, Sam Rover."

"I am not preaching, I am simply trying to show you how foolish it
is to do wrong. Why don't you turn over a new leaf?"

"Oh, such talk makes me sick!" growled the bully, and turned away.

A little while later Captain Blossom appeared and hunted up Dan
Baxter, who sat in his state-room, packing up his few belongings.

"Well, have you decided on your course, young man?" demanded the
master of the _Golden Wave_.

"Do you mean to lock me up if I refuse to become a sailor?" asked
Dan Baxter,

"I do, and I won't argue with you, either. Is it yes or no?"

"I don't want to be locked up in some dark hole on your ship."

"Then you are willing to become a sailor?"