?"

"I'm his nephew, Sam Shaw, and I'm going to make the rest of the trip
with him. He invited me, and I'm going to be a passenger."

"Oh, so you're his nephew, eh?" asked the second mate.

"That's what I am, and when I tell him how that fellow treated me
he'll make it hot for him," boasted Sam Shaw. "Now will you show me
where Mr. Bumstead's cabin is?" he asked of Nat insolently.

"No," replied our hero. "You can ask one of the stewards. I'll have
nothing to do with you," for Sam's threat to tell his uncle had roused
all the spirit that Nat possessed.

"There's your uncle now," said the second mate as Mr. Bumstead came up
the companionway.

"Hello, Uncle Joe!" called Sam; and as he went forward to meet his
relative Nat went below. In spite of his bold words he was not a
little worried lest Sam Shaw had come to supplant him in his position
aboard the freighter.

CHAPTER XI

CAPTAIN MARSHALL IS ANGRY

News circulates quickly on a ship, and it was not long ere Nat heard
from some of the crew that the mate's nephew had come aboard to finish
out the voyage with his uncle. Sam Shaw was installed in a small
stateroom near the mate's, and when the _Jessie Drew_ resumed her way
that afternoon the red-haired youth stood about with a supercilious
air, watching Nat and the others at work.

"Is that all you've got to do?" asked Mr. Dunn, the purser, of Sam, as
he saw the youth standing idly at the rail, when every one else was
busy.

"Sure," replied Sam, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "I'm a
passenger, I am. I'm making this voyage for my health. Maybe after a
while I'll be an assistant to you."

"Not if I know it," murmured Mr. Dunn. "I like Nat, and I hope I can
keep him. He's doing good work."

He passed on, for he had considerable to do on account of taking on a
new cargo, while Nat, too, was kept busy.

"This just suits me," said Sam Shaw to himself as he leaned over the
rail and looked down into the blue waters of the lake. "I'm glad Uncle
Joe sent for me to join him. He said in his letter there might be a
chance for me, after all, to get a place in the purser's office. I
thought by that he must mean that Nat Morton was out, but he isn't.
However, I'll leave it to Uncle Joe. He generally manages to get his
own way. I guess I'll take that fellow Nat down a few pegs before I
get through with him."

Sam had received a letter at his home in Chicago from his uncle, the
mate, telling him to mee