Page:At the Fall of Port Arthur.djvu/187

Rh finding it locked, began to pound away lustily, at the same time yelling at the top of his lungs. In a few minutes this brought down Captain Ponsberry, followed by Luke, who had been told to come along, the captain fearing that something had gone wrong.

"What's up here?" demanded Captain Ponsberry as he flung open the door.

"Where are they?" came the counter-question from Larry.

"They? Who?"

"Peterson and Shamhaven?"

"Gone—slid away in the fog."

"They have robbed me! "

"You don't say!" ejaculated the master of the Columbia. "You are sure?" he went on.

"Yes. My money belt is gone. They came while I was asleep, and when I woke up both hit me,—and I don't know what happened after that. I just came to my senses and found myself locked in."

"The villains!" burst in Luke. "Those chaps ought to be swung up to a yardarm!"

The captain listened to Larry's story and then was prompted to take a look around the other staterooms. As a result he speedily discovered that the safe had been tampered with and that his own money was gone.

"They are worse rascals than I thought them,"