cobs."

"You can prove that, can you?"

"To my own satisfaction; yes."

"Well, I suppose you are aware that there are over a thousand
passengers aboard this boat, and several hundred have knives just like
that one. You can prove nothing. I told you in the beginning that you
occupied this boat at your own risk. So don't bring your complaints
forward. But if any damage is done to this boat you'll be held
responsible."

So speaking, the first mate turned on his heel and left. Charley saw
his father flush angrily, but Mr. Grigsby only laughed.

"Let him go," he said. "We can do our own fighting."

A passenger standing near evidently had overheard the conversation, for
he asked, quietly:

"Do I understand somebody tried to cut your boat down, last night?"

"Yes, sir."

"His name was Jacobs, wasn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

"I heard that scuffle, and I've been wondering about it. So the ship
won't do anything about it, according to the mate?"

"No, sir."

"Then I know who will," asserted the man--a quick, erect, middle-aged
man with grayish moustache and goatee. He wore miner's costume, but he
looked like a gentleman, nevertheless. "Wait a bit."

He, too, left. Gazing after him as he passed along the deck under the
awning, they noted him pause and speak with several other men, who
glanced back at the stern as if he was telling them about the boat. A
little group of them accompanied him, and disappeared with him.

Soon they all came up on deck again, and with them was Mr. Jacobs
himself. Charley thought that he looked rather frightened, as in their
midst he moved aft. The group was swelled, en route, until when they
halted before the Adams party they numbered about twenty--a sober,
stern lot, standing in a determined manner with Mr. Jacobs pushed to
the fore.

The man with the goatee acted as spokesman.

"This is the man, is it?" he asked, of Mr. Grigsby.

"I wouldn't call him a man," said Mr. Grigsby, contemptuously. "But
he's the critter I referred to."

Mr. Jacobs scowled blackly at Charley, and his father, and Mr. Grigsby,
and tried to brazen it out. However, 'twas plain to be seen that he
was ill at ease.

"What's the meaning of this?" he demanded, all around. "What did you
bring me up here for?"

"You're accused of attempting to cut that boat down, last night, along
with the persons who were in it," answered the man with the goatee.

"Who accuses me?"

"I do," said Mr. Grigsby, sh