you
mean by 'he'? What do you know about the crew of the boat?"

"I've heard of Mr. Ned Nestor," was the calm reply, "and was hoping to
meet him here. However, you seem to be cheerful young fellows, and a
cruise with you may not result in lost time. You are Jack Bosworth and
Frank Shaw. Which one is Shaw, and which one is Bosworth?"

"I'm Shaw," answered Frank, somewhat amused at the cool impudence of the
man. "What is your name?"

"I'm French," was the reply. "Not French tribally but just French. One
of the sort of Frenchmen who are born of Irish parents in the city of
Chicago! Anyway, you may call me French. That is near enough."

"You seem to be an amusing sort of a character," observed Frank. "What
are you going to do with the _Manhattan_?"

"Why," was the smiling reply, "there is a sort of a political convention
called for that hill over there, and some of the delegates are slow in
coming. So I thought I'd borrow your boat and go and fetch them. They
are not far away. Some of them, in fact, live on islands, not more than
four or five hundred miles off."

"That will be nice!" Frank said, falling into the mood of the other.
"Only you can't carry many native chiefs in this boat, not if they
insist on bringing their wives and attendants along. Suppose one should
insist on appearing before the convention riding in state on the back of
a white elephant?"

"Never thought of that," replied the other with a grin, "but how did you
learn that the delegates were to be native chiefs?"

"I guess most everybody knows what kind of a game you're playing," Frank
said with a grin which he intended to be provoking. "When you get your
delegates assembled, Uncle Sam will give you an imitation of a man
shooting up traitors."

"We'll have to take our chances on that," replied French, with apparent
good nature. "In the meantime, we'll have to ask you to vacate the boat
while we make our collection of delegates. I presume that you can get
along very well on shore. Only be careful that the little brown men
don't pot you with their funny little guns."

"Oh, we'll get along with the little brown men, all right," growled
Jack. "When are you going to put us ashore?"

"Well," was the cool reply, "I want to wait here until I form the
acquaintance of Mr. Ned Nestor and Mr. James McGraw. I have long felt a
desire to meet them!"

"They'll feel proud, I know!" Jack said, provokingly. "Pirates and
traitors are not so thick that it is not