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242 "Then keep still. Sam, guard him, will you? I want to see how matters are on deck."

"Yes, I'll guard him," answered the youngest Rover.

The fight on deck had been short and fierce, but our friends had had the best of it from the very start, and when Dick came up he found but little for him to do. Arnold Baxter lay where he had fallen, moaning piteously, while Buddy Girk and Bill Goss were in irons. Mrs. Goss still stood at bay, flourishing her stewpan over her head, while Mumps remained at a distance, his arms folded over his breast and an anxious look in his eyes.

"I won't go to prison!" shrieked Mrs. Goss. "You let me and my husband go."

"Mrs. Goss, you had best give in" began Sergeant Brown, when Tom, sneaking up behind her, snatched the stewpan from her grasp. As she turned on the boy, Carter ran in, and in a twinkle she was held and her hands were bound behind her. Then the crowd turned to Mumps.

"I submit," said the misguided boy. "Didn't I tell you in the note that I would help you?"

"Yes, he has tried to do better," put in Dora. "If it hadn't been for him I wouldn't have had a mouthful to eat to-day."