"Right before you, Captain."

"You?"

"Yes, sir."

"Who are your owners?" demanded Captain Hampton, much astonished by
Tom's quiet assurance.

"I'm captain and half-owner of the 'Restless,' sir," Halstead
continued, still smiling at the other captain's very evident
astonishment. "The other owner is the engineer, Joe Dawson, my chum."

Captain Hampton swallowed something very hard. Several of the
passengers were smiling. A man who has followed the sea for years
knows the capacity and efficiency that boys often display on
shipboard, but it is unusual to find a boy acting as master of a
yacht.

However, there was the "Restless," and there was Tom Halstead in the
captain's uniform. These were facts that could not be disputed.

"You have a passenger, a Mr. Clodis, that you want to have me take
off?" resumed Tom.

"Yes; you have come for him, then?"

"Not only that, but Mr. Seaton, the gentleman who has our boat in
charter, has very urgently ordered us to bring Mr. Clodis ashore; also
his baggage complete, and any and all papers that he may have brought
aboard."

"You have a comfortable berth on your boat?"

"Several of them," Tom answered.

"Then I'll have some of my men make the transfer at once. Our ship's
surgeon, Dr. Burke, will also go over the side and see that Mr. Clodis
is made as comfortable as possible for his trip ashore."

"Steward Butts will show your men to the port stateroom, aft, sir."

A mate hurried away to give the order to Dr. Burke. A boatswain was
directed to attend to having all of Mr. Clodis's baggage go over the
side.

"Come to my stateroom, sir, if you please," requested Captain Hampton,
and Tom followed.

"When you take a man with a fractured skull ashore, the authorities
may want some explanation," declared the 'Constant's' sailing master,
opening his desk. "Here is a statement, therefore, that I have
prepared and signed. Take it with you, Captain----"

"Halstead," supplied Tom.

The motor boat boy glanced hurriedly through the document.

"I see you state it was an accident, Captain Hampton," went on
Halstead, lowering his voice. "Our charter-man, Mr. Seaton, intimated
that he believed it might have been a deliberate assault. Have you
anything that you wish to say on this point, sir?"

"I don't believe it was an assault," replied the ship's master,
musingly. Halstead's quick eye noted that Hampton appeared to be a
sturdy, honest sea-dog. "Still, Captain Halstead, if