extra high collar. One arm was in the coat and the other was
going down the sleeve when it caught in the lining. At that instant the
shock threw the captain across the deck and almost over the railing. He
caught at the railing with his free hand, but his other hand remained a
prisoner in the coat sleeve, while the garment itself stuck in a bunch
across his shoulders.

"Help!" he roared again. He tried to pull himself up, and to free the
hand in the sleeve, but found both impossible.

Larry did not wait for a second cry for assistance. He knew the captain
so well that he felt the officer would only call when in dire peril. He
ran out on the slippery deck in double-quick order.

"Hullo, where are you?" he yelled.

"Here! Help!"

The young second mate caught sight of the captain not a moment too soon.
Another lurch of the _Columbia_ had thrown him completely over the rail,
and there he clung with one hand, while the spray was flying all over
him.

Not waiting to count the possible cost, Larry slid rather than ran to
the rail. Years before he had learned a trick which now stood him in
good stead. He wound his legs around the under rail, catching the upper
one with his left hand. Then he clutched Captain Ponsberry by the
tangled-up arm.

"On deck there!" he yelled. "Throw a rope this way, and hurry up about
it!"

"What's the trouble?" came from Tom Grandon, who had been in another
part of the ship and had not heard the captain's cry.

"The captain is almost overboard. Throw us a rope."

Tom Grandon was quick to act. The rope came whizzing toward Larry, and
in a twinkling he had it around his body and also around the captain.

"Haul in!" he called, and Grandon and two sailors did so. Over the rail
came Captain Ponsberry, still fighting to release the tangled-up arm. In
a moment more all danger was past.

"Well, how in the world did this happen?" questioned Grandon.

"Tell ye--soon as I can git free o' this consarned coat!" spluttered
Captain Ponsberry, and he gave the garment a jerk that ripped one of the
sleeves completely in half. "Did ye ever see sech foolishness?" he
added. And then he told how the lurch of the ship had carried him over
the rail just when he could use but one hand. "After this I reckon I'll
put on my coat afore I go on deck," he concluded.

"It was a lucky thing that Larry heard you cry out," said the first
mate. "I was at the wheel, helping Groot."

"That's right, Tom." The captain tur