you can put it down to the regular expense account," answered
Captain Hadley.

"Humph! It was his fault."

"He says not."

"Did he blame it on me?"

"He did."

"It was his own fault."

"We won't argue the matter, Mr. Polk. Put it down to the regular
expenses and let it go at that," and Captain Hadley turned again to the
magazine he had been reading.

"Sticking up for the boy," muttered the purser, as he walked away.
"Well, I'll get that cub yet, see if I don't!"

A day passed and Randy stuck closely to his duties. He saw but little
of Peter Polk and gave the purser a wide berth. The purser watched the
youth narrowly, but said nothing.

"He has got it in for you," said Jones to Randy. "Take my advice and
keep your eyes open."

"I am watching him."

"He is a man I shouldn't trust nohow. He has got a bad pair of eyes. I
don't see how Mr. Shalley trusts him with all the boat's money
matters."

"Neither do I," answered our hero.

"He could walk off with thousands of dollars if he wanted to," said
Jones, and there the talk was dropped.

CHAPTER XXVII

RANDY MAKES A DISCOVERY

The next day Randy wanted to change some of his underwear and went into
his locker for his things. To his surprise he found in the locker a lot
of wearing apparel that did not belong to him.

"Hullo, what does this mean?" he asked himself but could not answer the
question.

He looked the articles over and made sure they did not belong to any of
the other deckhands. Then as he was folding up an extra-fine outing
shirt, he saw a letter drop to the floor. He picked it up and saw that
it was addressed to Peter Polk.

"Can these things belong to Polk?" he asked himself. "If so, how did
they get here?"

Curiosity prompted him to look into the envelope in his hand. Inside
was a single sheet of paper on which was scrawled in a bold, heavy hand
this brief communication:

"Peter Polk: If you don't pay me that commission of twenty dollars
at once, I will go to old man Shalley and let him know how you are
boosting up the expense account.

G. A. G."

Randy read the letter with great interest. It was postmarked New York
and the date was four days back.

"There is some mystery here," he reasoned. "What can it mean? Can Mr.
Polk be cheating Mr. Shalley in some way?"

Then he remembered how the purser purchased all the supplies for the
steamboat and paid the bills, and gave a low whistle.

"I must see Captai