" cried the mate.

Suddenly Koku, who was in the crowd of passengers watching the work,
pushed his way to where the anchor lay. With a powerful, but not rough
action, he shoved the sailors aside. Then, stooping over, he took a
firm grip of the big piece of iron, planted his feet well apart on the
deck, and lifted the immense mass in his arms. There was a round of
applause from the group of passengers.

"Where you want him?" Koku calmly asked of the mate, as he stood
holding the anchor.

"Blast my marlin spikes!" cried the mate. "I never see the like of this
afore! Put her over there, shipmate. If I had you on a voyage or two
you'd be running the ship, instead of letting the screw push her along.
Put her over there," and he indicated where he wanted the anchor.

Koku calmly walked along the deck, laid the anchor down as if it was an
ordinary weight, and passed over to where Tom stood looking on in
amused silence. There were murmurs of surprise from the passengers at
the giant's strength, and the sailors went forward much abashed.

"Say, I'd give a good bit to have a bodyguard like that," exclaimed a
well-known millionaire passenger, who, it was reported, was in constant
fear of attacks, though they had never taken place. "I wonder if I
could get him."

He spoke to Tom about it, but our hero would not listen to a
proposition to part with Koku. Besides, it is doubtful if the simple
giant would leave the lad who had brought him away from his South
American home. But, if Koku was wonderfully strong, and, seemingly
afraid of nothing, there were certain things he feared.

One afternoon, for the amusement of the passengers, a net was put
overboard, sunk to a considerable depth, and hauled up with a number of
fishes in it. Some of the finny specimens were good for eating, and
others were freaks, strange and curious.

Koku was in the throng that gathered on deck to look at the haul.
Suddenly a small fish, but very hideous to look at, leaped from the net
and flopped toward the giant. With a scream of fear Koku jumped to one
side, and ran down to his stateroom. He could not be induced to come on
deck until Tom assured him that the fishes had been disposed of. Thus
Koku was a mixture of giant and baby. But he was a general favorite on
the ship, and often gave exhibitions of his strength.

Meanwhile Tom and his friends had been on the lookout for any one who
might be trailing them. But they saw no suspicious characters amon