sfy him. Some
jackies would rather fight nor eat--you know thet as well as I do."

"Well, I shouldn't mind doing some fighting myself. You know I was on a
stand about going with Ben and Gilbert Pennington."

"Where do you reckon they are now?"

"In Manchuria, I suppose, fighting as hard as they can. I thought I
would get a letter from them before we left Manila, but nothing came."

"I suppose the mails are all upset, on account of the war," put in Cal
Vincent, who sat nearby, sewing a button on his shirt. "If you'll
remember, Nagasaki was in a big state of excitement while we were there
last."

"Did they say anything about any Russian warships bein' in these parts?"
questioned Luke.

"No."

"It would be strange if we did fall in with them."

"Which puts me in mind," came from the boatswain, and then he gazed
around to see if any other persons were near. "Semmel says he ain't no
Russian, but it's dollars to doughnuts he is," he continued, in a
lowered tone.

"Have you discovered anything new?" demanded Larry.

"Yes and no. Last night I overheard him and Peterson talking in a
suspicious kind of a way. I didn't catch much, for they talked partly in
English and partly in a foreign language. But I am sure they are
favoring Russia, and Semmel said something about doing something to harm
Japan."

"I don't see how they could do anything on board of this ship," came
from Luke.

"You didn't hear anything definite?"

"Can't say that I did," answered the boatswain.

"We had better watch them closer than ever."

"All right; I'll do my share," responded Vincent, and Luke Striker said
the same.

That very afternoon Larry had another quarrel with the sailor with the
long beard. Semmel had a bucket of dirty water which he was carrying to
the ship's side. As Larry passed he pretended to stub his toe and
allowed some of the dirty water to flow over the young second mate's
foot.

"Semmel, what did you do that for?" cried Larry, indignantly.

"Canno help dat," said the sailor. "I slip."

"You did it on purpose!"

"Oh, no!" And the sailor grinned wickedly.

"I say you did. If you try anything like that again, I'll make it warm
for you. Get a swab and clean the deck up at once!"

As Semmel sauntered off, and while Larry was stamping the water from his
shoe, Captain Ponsberry came up. He had seen the trick played from a
distance.

"What did you tell Semmel?" he questioned, sharply.

"Told him to swab the deck