hese men of
yours badly hurt?"

"One of them is," the captain answered. "Have you a doctor in your
party?"

"We've one aboard. Mr. Swift," he continued, turning to Eric, "will you
please take the boat and bring Dr. Fuhrman here?"

Eric saluted and was in his boat almost on the instant. The doctor,
guessing that possibly the call might be for him, was waiting at the
ladder with his instrument-bag in case he should be needed. Formalities
were unnecessary, so that when the boat pulled alongside and Eric,
looking up, saw the doctor at the rail he called,

"Couple of patients for you, Doctor."

"Right you are," was the answer, and the surgeon came down the ladder as
nimbly as Eric could have done himself. On arriving at the wrecked
steamer, it was found that the injuries were knife-wounds, one of them
deep and necessitating an immediate operation.

As there was a good deal of likelihood that the steamer might go to
pieces on the reef if a storm blew up, it was decided to take the two
injured men to the _Miami_, where the doctor could give them better
attention. Owing to the difficulty of the steamer's position on the
reef, with the surf breaking over her to the windward and the rocks to
lee, this trans-shipment of the injured men was not accomplished without
difficulty, but by three o'clock in the afternoon, the men were safely
on board the cutter.

Meantime the lieutenant had been trying to place the responsibility for
the crime, but this was impossible. All that the captain of the steamer
could say was that, during a fight with the wreckers the preceding
night, these two men had been knifed. In response to questions, Captain
Jorgsen expressed the hope that some of the wreckers had got hurt
themselves, but he regretted that his crew had been defenseless, with
nothing but belaying pins and such like weapons for their protection. As
the belaying pins in question were iron and twice as heavy as a
policeman's club, Eric could not help smiling at the suggestion of
inoffensiveness that the captain conveyed.

At the request of the captain of the steamer, the _Miami_ agreed to lie
by her through the night, until the arrival of a wrecking tug from
Havana, a message having been received by the _Miami_ that the tug had
started for the scene of the disaster. Steam had been kept up on the
wrecked steamer for the handling of the winches and so forth.

Suddenly, in the middle of the night, about two bells in the middle
watch,