"There is no proof!" he snarled. "No one can swear I attacked this fellow and threw him into the stoke-hole!"
"Oh, yes!" said the stoker who had come up from below. "I saw the whole business. By the light from the furnaces, I plainly saw the man who did it, and you are the man!"
"That settles it!" declared the engineer. "You'll make the rest of the voyage in irons, Mr. Harris!"
"Then I'll give you something to iron me for!" shouted the furious young villain.
He leaped on Frank Merriwell with the fierceness of a wounded tiger.
Frank was not expecting the assault, and, for the moment, he was taken off his guard.
They were close to the moving machinery. Within four feet of them a huge plunging rod was playing up and down, moved by a steel bar that weighed many tons. Harris attempted to fling Frank beneath this bar, where he would be struck and crushed.
The villain nearly succeeded, so swift and savage was his attack.
Frank realized that the purpose of the wretch was to fling him into the machinery, and he braced himself to resist as quickly as possible.
Shouts of consternation broke from the engineer and his assistant. They sprang forward to seize Harris and help Frank.