passage?"

"Perhaps. I don't know yet."

"Better make up your mind pretty quick. We have only a few berths
left," went on the clerk.

"We are looking for a certain young man who was bound for Alaska," went
on Dick, producing Tom's photograph. "Have you seen anything of him?"

The clerk gave a glance at the photograph and started.

"Well, that's strange!" tie cried.

"You saw him?" put in Sam, eagerly.

"I sure did. Did you want to meet him?"

"Very much."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't see how you are going to do it. His name
was, let me see--Haverlock, I believe."

"That's the name he was traveling under," answered Dick, giving his
brother a nudge in the ribs.

"Wasn't his own then?" and the clerk became interested.

"No, it's an assumed name. I might as well tell you, the young man
isn't all here," and Dick touched his forehead.

"I thought that might be it--he acted so queerly. But he got his
ticket for the other boat. You see it was this way: He came in here
just as I was talking to a man who had purchased a ticket for the other
boat and wanted to stay in Seattle another week. The man wanted me to
exchange the ticket or give him his money back. While we were
discussing the matter, this Haverlock, or whatever his name is, came
in. He listened for a minute and then said he'd take the ticket and
glad of the chance, for he said he was in a mighty hurry to get some
nuggets of gold. So the man transferred the ticket to him, and that
was the last I saw of the young fellow."

"When did that other boat sail?" asked Sam.

"Last night, at nine o'clock."

"Last night!" cried Dick. "Then he certainly must have rushed
matters!" He looked at Jim Hendricks. "What can we do next, do you
suppose?"

"You might send a wireless to the steamship," was the suggestion. "If
he's under the name of Haverlock they ought to be able to hold him.
Where did the steamer sail for?" Jim went on, to the clerk.

"For Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and all the regular ports."

"She carries a wireless?" asked Sam.

"Certainly. You can send a message from here if you wish. We can
telephone it over to the wireless station."

"Let's do it!" burst out Sam. "The quicker somebody takes charge of
poor Tom the better!"

"You're right," answered Dick. He wiped his forehead with his
handkerchief. "What a pity we didn't get here sooner, or that Tom
wasn't delayed!"

Then he and Sam got a blank and started to write o