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180 of him, if I have to put him in irons and on bread and water to do it," added Captain Barforth.

He at once sent for Walt Wingate. The deck hand who went after the man came back five minutes later to report that the fellow could not be located.

"He must be found!" cried Captain Barforth. "He can't skulk out of this!"

A search was instituted, in which all of the boys, Mr. Rover and Aleck joined. But though the steam yacht was searched from stem to stern, the missing deck hand was not located. Some of the men even went down into the hold, but with no success.

"Do you think he jumped overboard?" asked Fred.

"He might, but it would be a foolish thing to do," answered the captain. "We are at least ten miles from any island."

"He may have had a small boat," said Songbird.

"No, the small boats are all here. He is on this vessel, but where is the question."

To stimulate them in their search, the captain offered a reward of ten dollars to any one of his crew who should bring Wingate to light. But this brought no success, and for a very good reason, as we shall learn later.