re you ill?"

"No, sir, but I'm sore upset. Please come a bit more aft, sir."

Taking a few steps till we were abaft the traveler, he turned and
whispered:

"Mr. Jack, someone's been trying to blow us up!"

CHAPTER VII

A BOMB AND A DISCOVERY

It seemed that either Gates or I must be out of our senses.

"Blow us up!" I gasped, staring at him.

"As sure as you're born, sir! 'Twas about the time you called over the
rail. A little before that, as you gentlemen were talking, I heard a
small boat. She came near, and she came up sneaking. First I thought it
might be a sponge fisher with more curiosity than manners, but as she
didn't start on again I begun to cock my ear. Then something gave a rub
against our rudder post. I didn't like it. I was sitting back there,
anyhow, so just got to my hands and knees, and peeped over."

"Why didn't you challenge?"

"Because there's been strange doings these twenty-four hours parst, and
I knew your affairs might be taking a serious turn. I thought you'd be
wanting to know their play, 'stead of scaring 'em off. So I peeped and
listened. With my eyes getting fair used to the dark I made out a dinghy
with four men, and think they'd bent a line about our rudder post, for
the for'ard man seemed to be working at us silent and farst. The middle
one had the oars, ready to pull away. In the stern sheets sat the one I
guessed was boss and, kind of squatting down in front of him, was a lad.
To tell the truth, sir, I felt squirmy, for those night-hawks were up to
something mysterious."

"Wait a minute, Gates--did you recognize them?"

"Not me, sir. As I was saying, the fellow aft now parssed up a bundle to
the for'ard chap, who took it gingerly and began farstening it on to us
somewhere--I couldn't see. The young lad leaned over and looked at it,
then he up and sings out: 'It ain't fair!'"

"Yes, yes," I caught him by the shoulders. "Go on, Gates!"

"Mind out this thing under my coat," he warned. "Well, sir, the one that
was boss made a grab for him--Lor', how he did jerk him!--and the others
froze like stone. They stayed that way while you were calling, then the
dinghy glided off--the one aft still holding his hand over the lad's
mouth and kind of choking him with the other."

My blood was fairly steaming, and I cried out what was uppermost in my
mind:

"That wasn't a lad, Gates! It was a girl!"

His jaw dropped and he stared at me, but slowly shook his head.

"No, sir