nd Pete, whose eyesight was not as good as it once was,
had failed to see any sign of him. Now, when he heard Jim and the rest
go on deck, he decided that it was time to get out of his
uncomfortable prison, which was much too cramped.

What was his dismay to find that he was indeed a prisoner, for when
old Pete had shut down the top of the chest it had fastened shut. Tom
began to feel stifled for air, partly imagination on his part, and
partly fact. It was true that some air could get in, through where the
rope handles went, but not much. Tom struggled till he got his hand in
his pocket, hoping to find his knife with which he would cut the rope
handles and push the pieces through the holes and thus get enough air
to sustain life, but as luck would have it, his knife was not there.

He began to pant now, and gasp and think of all the horrible tales he
had ever read of people being buried alive and of similar tragedies,
until he was almost hysterical. He yelled for help, but his voice was
muffled, and besides there was none to hear. He tried to attract
attention by beating with his hands against the top of the chest.

After what seemed an interminable time, the half-fainting Tom heard
feet clattering down the steep ladder into the forecastle, and this
brought him partially to.

"Jim, get me out," he cried, and his voice came feebly to the ears of
the searchers.

"I heard Tom," cried Juarez.

[Illustration: "TOM DID NOT TRY TO MAKE HIS ESCAPE."--P. 119.]

"Sounded like a cat mewing," remarked the unfeeling Jim. "Listen."
Again they heard it and a faint pounding inside the sea-chest.

"He's in that chest," cried Jim, and he tried to open it.

"Locked in," said Juarez. "Let Pete open it."

Pete came forward, after fishing a key out of the depths of his
pocket.

"Lucky I could find it," he said. Then he flung the top of the chest
back. Tom did not try to make his escape, or put up a fight of any
kind, for he was all in, and was only too glad to be captured, for, as
he figured, and quite correctly, that even the captain could not put
him in a worse place than he had put himself.

"You look more like a ghost than the other one," said Jim with a grin.

After he was sufficiently revived, he, too, was locked up, and further
proceedings were put off until the morrow. In the meantime it was
decided to have a little fun with these practical jokers on the next
day, so as to teach them the seriousness of life on the oce