of the ship.

By this time Hans had managed to scramble from beneath the fallen
door. The German youth had not been hurt very much but his "Dutch
blood" was up, and throwing prudence to the wind he sailed in
vigorously, hitting Pold a blow in the stomach with his fist, and
kicking the mate of the _Dogstar_ in the shin with his heavy shoe.
Then he caught hold of Pold's iron bar and began to wrestle for its
possession.

"You dink I vos noddings put a poy, hey!" he snorted. "I show you,
ain't it! You pig loafer!" And he ran Pold up against a partition
and got the iron bar directly under the rascal's throat so that the
fellow was in danger of strangling.

Sid Jeffers had now turned his attention to Dick, and blows were
given and taken freely between the pair. The noise made was considerable,
and this finally reached the ears of Sam and Tom.

"Something is wrong!" cried Tom. "I'll go and see. If you want me
back whistle as loudly as you can." And he was off like a shot.

The sight that met Tom's gaze at first almost stupefied him. He came
upon Sack Todd and Dan Baxter fighting hand to hand in a passageway
leading to the deck. Sack Todd had fired one shot which had grazed
Dan's left cheek. But now the youth had the man against the wall and
was banging his head against it again and again.

"You will shoot me, eh?" cried Baxter. "You're a villain if ever
there was one, Sack Todd. I am bad enough but I'm not as dirty and
black as you. Take that, and that, and that!"

"Hi! let up! You'll smash my head!" roared the ex-counterfeiter, but
Dan Baxter paid no attention until one blow caused Sack Todd to lose
consciousness and sink down in a heap.

Tom had already passed on and was in time to aid Dick. Coming up to
the side of Sid Jeffers he hit the mate of the _Dogstar_ a stinging
blow in the ear and then another in the chin. Dick at the same time
struck the rascal in the eye, and Jeffers staggered back, tripped
over the fallen door, and landed heavily on the floor. At once Tom
sat down on him, pulling out his pistol as he did so.

"Now keep quiet or something worse will happen," he said, and the
mate of the _Dogstar_ understood and subsided.

With the fall of Sack Todd, Dan Baxter turned back to aid the others.
He saw Sid Jeffers go down and then ran toward Hans.

"You might as well give up," he said to Gasper Pold. "They've got
the best of your crowd."

"Yes, and you helped them," said Pold, sullenly. "Just wait. I'll