"You Ought to Be Clubbed!"
That was exactly what happened, ere Cragthorpe could open his mouth. The seaman had been crouching behind the fellow, a belaying-pin in his right hand. At the word from Halstead the sailor struck, and Cragthorpe fell to the floor, stunned.
Leaving the sailor to attend to Cragthorpe, Mr. Costigan now bounded forward to free the young captain's hands.
"How on earth did this happen, sir?" demanded the third officer, as he cut away the cord from the boy's wrists.
"I dreamed I was fighting the fellow," laughed Tom, "but woke up to find he had slipped my hands into that noose. He had this other noose around my neck, threatening to draw it uncomfortably tight if I tried to make any outcry."
Tom was now able to slip out of bed and pull on his trousers, while Mr. Costigan turned on a stronger light.
"But how on earth did you two happen to come to my relief just at the right time?" the young skipper demanded.
"Why, you sounded the call to the bridge," retorted the third mate.
"I sounded the——wait a second."
Tom bent over the edge of his bed, feeling underneath along the frame.