"Yes; I was looking for that tall, broad-shouldered man in buckskin who came aboard with me."
"Well, sir, he's gone!"
"Gone! Where?"
"I don't know, for he can't be found alow nor aloft. He must have jumped overboard."
"O, I hope not!" said Frank anxiously.
"If he has, it is all right, sir, because he'd a done it sooner or later. I'll not stay aboard here much longer, unless there's a great change for the better. Things couldn't be worse."
"Don't do anything desperate," said Frank. "It won't pay. But what made this man of whom we were speaking jump overboard?"
"I don't know, sir. I was busy when he came up. The first thing I knew there was a rumpus; the cap'n and two of the mates were laid out as flat as slap-jacks, and the man hasn't been seen since."
"Were we far from shore?"
"Only about three or four miles."