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 Dave, having taken a message to the captain, happened to be on the bridge as they ran alongside. Hundreds of passengers leaned over the rail looking at the small steamer, which dipped her flag and received the same polite salutation.

Captain Phelps, recognizing the grey-whiskered skipper of the liner, waved his hand.

"Want a tow?" he called out laughingly.

"Not to-day, thanks," replied the skipper of the liner. "You 're a bit too fast for us. Where 're you bound?"

"China to Japan with hot water," replied Captain Phelps, as the little Neptune waddled out of earshot. Dave and Tempest had only signed on the tramp for the trip as far as Sydney, and the boy was sorry when the run was drawing to a finish, for the Neptune was a comfortable ship, as tramps go, and the weather had been almost perfect.

"I suppose you 'll join a vessel bound from Sydney to New York," Tempest said as they sat