the two seamen took off the hatch, and, as Tommy declined to
help in the proceedings at all, Ned clambered down first to receive
him. Bill took him by the scruff of the neck and lowered him, kicking
strongly, into the hold.

"Have you got him?" he inquired.

"Yes," said Ned in a smothered voice, and, depositing the boy in the
hold, hastily clambered up again, wiping his mouth.

"Been having a swig at the bottle?" inquired Bill.

"Boy's heel," said Ned very shortly. "Get the hatch on."

The hatch was replaced, and Bill and his fellow conspirator, treading
quietly and not without some apprehension for the morrow, went below and
turned in. Tommy, who had been at sea long enough to take things as he
found them, curled up in the corner of the hold, and with his bottle as
a pillow fell asleep.

It was not until eight o'clock next morning that the master of the
_Sunbeam_ discovered that he was a boy short. He questioned the cook as
he sat at breakfast The cook, who was a very nervous man, turned pale,
set the coffee-pot down with a thump which upset some of the liquor, and
bolted up on deck. The skipper, after shouting for him in some of the
most alluring swear words known on the high seas, went raging up on
deck, where he found the men standing in a little knot, looking very ill
at ease.

"Bill," said the skipper uneasily, "what's the matter with that damned
cook?"

"'E's 'ad a shock, sir," said Bill, shaking his head; "we've all 'ad a
shock."

"You'll have another in a minute," said the skipper emotionally.
"Where's the boy?"

For a moment Bill's hardihood forsook him, and he looked helplessly at
his mates. In their anxiety to avoid his gaze they looked over the side,
and a horrible fear came over the skipper. He looked at Bill mutely, and
Bill held out a dirty piece of paper.

The skipper read it through in a state of stupefaction, then he handed
it to the mate, who had followed him on deck. The mate read it and
handed it back.

"It's yours," he said shortly.

"I don't understand it," said the skipper, shaking his head. "Why, only
yesterday he was up on deck here eating his dinner, and saying it was
the best meat he ever tasted. You heard him, Bob?"

"I _heard_ him, pore little devil!" said the mate.

"You all heard him," said the skipper. "Well, there's five witnesses
I've got. He must have been mad. Didn't nobody hear him go overboard?"

"I 'eard a splash, sir, in my watch," said Bill.

"Why didn't