ook out for yourselves, boys!" cried the officer, as he saw Tom and
Ned. "This is no plaything!"

"I know it!" gasped Tom. "But we've got to fasten it down."

"That's what we're trying to do," answered the other. "We did get the
bight of a cable over the breech, but the men could not hold it, even
though they took a couple of turns around the bitts."

"Ned, go call Koku!" cried Tom. "We need him up here."

"That's right!" declared his chum. "If anyone can hold the cable with
the weight of the big gun straining on it, the giant can. I'll get him!"

"On deck, Koku, quick!" gasped Ned. "Master's cannon may fall into the
sea."

"But the powder!" asked the big man, simply. "Master told me to guard
the powder. I stay here."

"No, I'll stay!" insisted Ned. "You are needed on deck, I'll take your
place here."

Koku stared uncomprehendingly for a moment, while the loosened gun
continued to thump and pound on the deck as though it would burst
through. Then it filtered through the dull brain of honest Koku what
was wanted.

"I go," he said, and he hurried up the companionway, while Ned, eager
to be with Tom, took up the less exciting work of guarding the powder.

Once more, with the giant strength of Koku to aid in the work, the task
of lashing the gun again to the deck was undertaken. A bight of steel
cable was gotten around the breech, and then passed to a big bitt, or
stanchion, bolted to the deck. Koku, working on the heaving deck, amid
the hurricane, took a turn around the brace.

There came a roll of the ship that threatened to send the gun sliding
against the stanchion, but Koku braced himself. His arms, great bunches
of muscles, strained and fairly cracked with the strain. The wire rope
seemed to give. Then, as the ship rolled the other way, the strain
eased. Koku, aided by the cable, and by the leverage given by the
several turns about the bitts, had held the big gun.

"Quick!" cried Tom. "Now another rope so it can't roll the opposite
way, and we'll have her."

For a moment the ship was on a level keel, and taking advantage of
this, when the weight of the gun would be neutral, another cable was
passed around it. Then it was a comparatively easy matter to put on
more lashings until the giant cannon was once more fast.

"Whew! But that was tough work!" exclaimed Tom, as he once more entered
the stateroom with Ned.

"It must have been," agreed his chum, who had been relieved at the
powder station by the g