ipped Tom
by the arm, demanding hoarsely:

"You brought Clodis ashore? How is he? Where?"

"Still unconscious, sir, and the ship's doctor offered no hope. You
will find your friend in the port stateroom, sir."

Signing to the surgeons to accompany him, Mr. Seaton vanished aft, the
medical men with him. Ten minutes passed before Hank came up, alone.

"What do the doctors say, Hank?" demanded Tom, instantly.

"One chance in about a million," replied Hank, in a very subdued
voice--for him.

Five minutes later Mr. Seaton, hat in hand, also came up on deck.

"Mr. Seaton," murmured Tom, eagerly, "I've been waiting for you.
I--we've something to tell you." Then the young skipper detailed the
affair of taking Arthur Hilton from the "Constant" and transferring
him to the Beaufort-bound schooner.

"Describe the fellow!" commanded Powell Seaton, suddenly, hoarsely.

Captain Tom did so.

"Arthur Hilton he called himself, did he?" cried Mr. Seaton, in a
rage. "Anson Dalton is the scoundrel's real name!"

"Who is he, sir?" Tom asked, anxiously.

"Who is Anson Dalton?" cried Mr. Seaton, his voice sounding as though
he were choking. "Who, but the scoundrel who has engineered this whole
desperate plot against me! The dastard who struck down Allan Clodis!
The knave who has striven for the badge of Cain!"

CHAPTER III

INVISIBLE HANDS AT THE WIRELESS

In a rear bedroom, the furthest apartment from the wireless room of
the bungalow, Allan Clodis, barely alive, was placed when they bore
him up from the boat. Then the three surgeons, retaining only Hank
Butts, drove the others from the room.

"Back to the wireless!" breathed Seaton, tensely. "Dawson, get
Beaufort on the jump."

"I have the Beaufort operator," reported Joe, after a few moments.

"Then rush this message, and ask the operator to get it in the hands
of the chief of police without an instant's loss of time," directed
Mr. Seaton, speaking in jerky haste.

The message described Anson Dalton, also the black schooner on which
he had last been seen. The police chief was asked to arrest Dalton on
sight, on the authority of Powell Seaton, and hold him for the United
States authorities, for an attempt at homicide on an American ship on
the high seas.

Within ten minutes back came the reply from Beaufort to this effect:

"I have men out watching for the schooner. Man Dalton will be arrested
as you request. Will notify you."

"Good!" cried Mr. Seaton, r