"Where's Mr. Kelley?"
The captain shouted the question to the first mate who was standing at the foot of the stairway.
"Haven't seen him this mornin' sir," was the reply.
"Any you men seen him?"
No one had seen the second mate since the night before and the captain ordered one of the hands to go to his room and call him.
"Never knew him to oversleep before," he said to Bob who had mounted to the bridge.
"He ain't there, sir," the sailor called a moment later from the deck.
"What you mean, he isn't there?" the captain demanded. "Did you look in his room?"
"Yes, sir."
"And he wasn't there?"