of here!" cried the captain of the steamer, in a rage, as he
booted the fellow not once, but half a dozen times. "Get out, I say! If
we were down in San Francisco I'd have you locked up in a minute. It's a
pity I didn't find you out when we were on the trip--I'd a-made you work
your passage, and more! Go, before I heave you overboard!"

And with a final kick the stowaway was run off the gang-plank, to fall
in a heap on the dock, too weak from the confinement and want of proper
food to stand.

"It's Fred Dobson!" ejaculated Randy. "Oh, Earl, look!"

"It is Fred, true enough!" replied Earl, as much surprised as his
brother. Forgetful of their outfits for the time being, both ran forward
and picked up the son of the squire of Basco. Fred's eyes were closed,
his face was as white as chalk, and they saw at a glance that he had
fainted.

[Illustration: "WITH A FINAL KICK THE STOWAWAY WAS RUN OFF THE
GANG-PLANK."--_Page 72._]

"Get some water, Randy," said Earl, as he began to work over the
prostrate figure. "I wonder if there is a doctor handy. He looks as if
he was half starved to death."

As Randy ran off, a crowd began to collect, a few to sympathize, but the
majority to look on merely in curiosity or to make audible comments that
it served the boy right, since he had no business to steal a trip.

"Got a crazy notion to go to the gold fields, I reckon," said one
bystander. "He ought to be home where his mamma could spank him."

At this there was a coarse laugh, which was quickly hushed when another
man, a young fellow of not more than twenty-three, stepped forward, and
announced that he was a doctor. He soon succeeded in bringing Fred
around.

"He wants something to eat as much as anything," said the newcomer.
"There is a restaurant over yonder. Better take him there and get him
some soup and stale bread--his stomach isn't strong enough to bear a
regular meal."

Randy and Earl thanked the doctor and did as advised, while the crowd
gradually melted away to tend to its own affairs. Fred was ravenously
hungry, yet he ate with difficulty when the food was set before him.

"I've had nothing to eat for about forty hours," he said, when he felt
strong enough to talk. "I spent that four dollars you two gave me in
buying provisions, crackers, cheese, and the like, but on the second day
out the rats got at the crackers and cheese and ate nearly the whole of
them. Then one of my bottles of water was smashed during that s