down into the water. There was no sign of the mate. By this
time several members of the crew were aroused and were on the deck.

"What's the matter?" cried a voice that Nat recognized as Sam Shaw's.

"Prisoner escaped!" exclaimed the policeman. "Can you see him?" he
asked of Nat, who stood beside him, in the early dawn.

The boy shook his head in disappointment.

"He's got away, I guess," he said.

"Get me a boat!" cried the officer. "I'll find him if it takes all
day. Come on!"

CHAPTER XXIV

IN A COLLISION

With the increase of daylight, objects on and about the freighter
became clearer. But looking over the side Nat and the policeman could
see nothing of the mate. Members of the crew who had hastily leaped
from their bunks began asking what the matter was. Soon the captain
came from his cabin.

"They've killed my uncle!" exclaimed Sam Shaw. "That's what they did!
I heard them throw him overboard. That mean Nat Morton did it! I'll
have him arrested for murder!"

"Oh, dry up!" exclaimed Nat, quite put out with the unexpected turn of
events.

"I'll lick you; that's what I'll do!" cried Sam, advancing on Nat with
outstretched fists.

"Keep away from me!" retorted Nat. "I whipped you once, and I can do
it again!"

"He didn't push your uncle overboard," said one of the crew. "He
jumped."

"That's what he did," added the policeman. "He got away from me, too.
Somebody get me a boat."

"What for?" asked the captain.

"Because I'm an officer of the law, and a prisoner has escaped. I had
him a prisoner, all right, for I had my hand on him, but he went so
sudden he got away."

"There's a boat moored alongside," said the captain, when matters had
been briefly explained. "But you want to hurry. I can't lay here all
day, though how I'm going to sail without a mate is more than I know."

"I'll get him for you, but I'll have to take him right away again,"
said the officer. "He's a criminal and a fugitive from justice."

The mate might have been almost anything, as far as any denial on his
part was concerned, for not a trace of him had been seen since he
jumped overboard. Sam Shaw, mean as he was, had a genuine affection
for his uncle, and he was much distressed about his relative.

"He's drowned! I know he's drowned!" he exclaimed, as he walked about
the deck, half crying.

"Oh, dry up!" advised Nat savagely, for he knew the mate was a good
swimmer, and he had no doubt but that Bumstead had manage