is Dick Rover?" he asked.
"None of your business," growled Jack Lesher. "See here, Tolman, are you going to obey me after this?"
"I want to know where Dick is?" said old Jerry stubbornly.
"I put him in the brig to cool off. He's too hot-headed for his own good."
"You had no right to lock him up, Mr. Lesher. You must let him out at once."
"Git out of here, quick!" roared Lesher. "On deck, or I'll flog you well!"
"Ye won't tech me!" cried Jerry, his temper rising. "I aint under orders no more, mind that. Now you let him out, or I'll do it. You was a fool to lock him up in the first place."
He moved toward the brig, but Lesher caught him by the arm.
"Let's teach this chap a lesson, too!" came from Baxter, and, like a flash, he struck old Jerry in the back of the head. The first blow was followed by a second, and down went the tar, the blood oozing from one of his wounds.
"Don't hit him again!" cried Lesher hastily. "He's out already."
Baxter grew pale, thinking he had gone too far. But he soon discovered that Jerry still breathed, and then he felt relieved.
It was decided by the pair that they should place old Jerry beside Dick in the brig, and this was quickly done. Then they put into the prison a bucket of drinking water and a can of ship's biscuits, and another of baked beans.
"They won't starve on that," said Lesher. "And when they get out they'll understand that I am as much of a master here as anybody."
"It serves Dick Rover right," said Baxter. "He's the kind that ought to be kept under foot all the time."
CHAPTER XXII
A HEAVY TROPICAL STORM
"THOSE girls will ask some awkward questions, I reckon," said Jack Lesher, as the two prepared to leave the wreck.
"We had better not say too much," answered Baxter.
They were soon over the side and in the rowboat, which contained the bundle of clothing and a number of other articles. Then an idea struck the mate.
"Wait; I am going back," he said, and disappeared on the deck one more.
Dan Baxter imagined that Lesher had gone for more liquor. But he was mistaken. When the mate reappeared, he carried a box containing half a dozen pistols, two guns, and a quantity of ammunition.
"I am going to hide this in the woods on the other side of this island," he said. "The firearms may come in handy before long."
"A good idea," replied Baxter, and helped him place the case in a desirable spot, under some rocks, where the rain could not touch it.
"We are going to have a storm before long," said the mate, as they started to row back to the camp. "And if it is a heavy one we'll have to wait till it clears off before we rejoin the rest of our crowd."
The sky was growing dark, and by the time the beach in front of the house was gained the rain was falling.
"Where are Dick and old Jerry?" asked Dora in quick alarm. She had noted long before that only Baxter and the mate were in the rowboat.
"They stayed behind on the wreck," answered Lesher. "Come, help get the bundles out of the wet," he added to his companion.
"Why did they stay?" asked Nellie.
"Don't ask me," growled Lesher.
He and Baxter took the bundle to the house and dumped it on the floor of the living room. Then they brought in the other things from the boat. By this time it was raining in torrents, and from a distance came the rumble of thunder and occasionally the faint flash of lightning.
Not wishing to remain out in the storm, the three girls came into the house. Dora was very much disturbed, and Nellie and Grace were also anxious.
"It is queer that Dick and old Jerry remained behind," whispered Dora to her cousins. "They were so anxious to protect us before."
"I cannot understand it, Dora," returned Nellie.
"There has been foul play somewhere," came from Grace.
"Oh, do you think —— " Dora could not finish.
"See here!" burst in the voice of Jack Lesher. "We want some dinner. Don't be all day getting it for us."
The liquor he had imbibed was beginning to tell upon him. He looked ugly, and the girls trembled before him.
"Dinner will be ready in a quarter of an hour," said Grace, who had been doing the cooking.
"All right." Lesher turned to the bully: "Baxter, join me in a glass of rum for luck."
"Thanks, I will," answered Dan Baxter, who did not particularly want the liquor, but did not dream of offending the mate.
Lesher produced a bottle he had brought away from the wreck, prepared two glasses of rum, and drank with great relish. Then he threw himself into a chair at the rude dining-table.
"I am the master here, and I want everybody to know it!" he exclaimed, banging his fist savagely.
"There is dinner," said Grace, and brought it in. "You can help yourself." And she went into the next room to join Nellie and Dora.
"Aint going to wait on us, eh?" grumbled Lesher, with a hiccough. "All right, my fine ladies. But I am master, don't you forget that!"
He began to eat leisurely, while Dan Baxter began to bolt his food. In the meantime the sky grew darker and the flashes of lightning more vivid. The girls were greatly frightened, and huddled together, while tears stood on Grace's cheeks.
"Oh, if only somebody was with us," sighed Nellie.
By the time Lesher and Baxter had finished eating the storm was on them in all of its vio lence. The wind shrieked and tore through the jungle behind them, and often they could hear some tall tree go down with a crash.
"This will tear our flag of distress to shreds," said Nellie. "And just when we need it so much, too!"
"I am thinking of the future as well as the present," said Dora. "What a rough time there will be if Lesher brings those other sailors here. Some of them were heavy drinkers like himself, and only two or three were Americans."
The storm had whipped the waters of the bay into a fury, and the rain was so thick that to see even the island on which the wreck rested was impossible.
"Dick can't come now," said Dora. "A boat on the bay would surely go down."
Having finished the meal, Lesher and Baxter sat down in the living room to smoke and to talk over the situation. The mate continued to drink, and half an hour later he fell asleep,
