“I came into this cabin,” asserted Harry “and could hear the rush of water.  I thought the leak must be here.  Of course, I thought at first that we had started a butt in the rolling a while back, when our friend Carlos Sneakodorus Madero boarded us and left us.”

“But that seems impossible,” incredulously offered Tom.  “The Fortuna was built at Manitowoc where they have a reputation of doing first class work and she hasn’t had rough handling at all.”

“It was impossible!” cried Harry.  “Just as I knelt to raise the floor board I saw that auger lying there.  Then as I raised the board, I saw a handful of white chips float up through the hole.”

“And then you saw the stream of water?” queried Arnold.

“That’s all there is to it, except the fact that the life-belts are pulled from their places on the ceiling,” answered Harry.

“Sure enough, they’re down in a heap,” declared Arnold.

“And if you count them,” Harry continued, “I’ll wager my next meal that you’ll find one missing.  I can also guess who is wearing it at this moment if he hasn’t thrown it away!”

“Do you mean the man we picked up—­the man who was knocked off the schooner?” breathlessly queried the younger boy.

“That’s the man we want!” announced Harry.  “And maybe I won’t do a thing to him when I lay hands on him.  Boy Scout or not, I’ll put a dent in his dome that’ll hold coffee like a saucer!”

“Will that fid hold?” questioned Tom examining the spot.

“No, I don’t think it will,” was Harry’s reply.  “We’d better get a plug of that soft pine in the lazarette, then when it gets soaked it’ll swell and hold tight.  This fid’s made of hard wood.  It may hold all right for a while, but it’ll work loose just when it should hold.  If you’ll get the pine, Arnold, I’ll make a plug.”

Arnold hastened to bring the wood while Tom looked to the pumps and examined the cabin for further damage.

“He got an automatic or two from the locker in the kitchenette,” he announced returning to the after cabin after his search.

“If he took those two lying on the lower shelf,” announced Harry, “he got only one automatic!  That’s a joke on him.”

“What do you mean by that?” Arnold asked returning with the desired piece of wood.  “If the man took two, he took only one!”

“Because” explained Harry fitting the plug into place, “the other is a flashlight made in the shape of an automatic.”

Laughing over the joke unconsciously played upon himself by their late visitor, the boys repaired to the pilot house where the gravity of the situation was repeated to Jack, who had been at the wheel controlling the movements of the Fortuna and keeping a lookout.

“I was examining the coast a moment ago with the glasses and saw what I took to be a man wading ashore back of our present position,” explained Jack.  “He looked as if he had on a life belt, but I couldn’t be sure because I couldn’t hold the glasses steady and handle the boat, too.  Suppose one of you take the glasses and see what you can make out along the shore line in both directions.”