"Take care of my boy," said the shipowner, as he shook hands with Dave. "Oh, we'll take care of him, Mr. Lawrence, don't fear," answered our hero. And then, leaving Mr. Lawrence to look after matters concerning his various vessels, the boys hurried to the Grand Central Terminal, and were soon on a train which was to take them to their various destinations. As my old readers know, Crumville was rather a small town; the only industry of importance being Mr. Wadsworth's jewelry works. The Wadsworth mansion stood on the outskirts, a large and well-constructed building, set among a number of trees and bushes. When Dave, Phil, and Ben alighted at the railroad depot, they found the Wadsworth touring-car awaiting them. Dunston Porter, Dave's uncle, was driving the car, and he had with him Dave's sister Laura, and Jessie Wadsworth. "Oh, here they are!" cried Laura, and leaped out to embrace her brother and to shake hands with the others. Then Jessie shook hands, giving Dave an extra bright smile as she did so. "Back from the salt, salt sea!" cried Laura, merrily. "I'll wager you were all dreadfully seasick." "Nothing doing on that score, Laura," answered her brother. "We didn't have time to get seasick; we had too much fun." "And too many adventures," added Phil. "Oh, I can tell you, girls, we are heroes!" and he stuck his thumbs in the armholes of his vest, and began to strut around. "Adventures, eh?" queried Dunston Porter. "What sort of adventures--a shipwreck?" "Oh, Mr. Porter, please don't talk about a shipwreck!" pleaded Jessie, agitatedly. "Why, you don't want anybody to be drowned, do you?" "They don't look very much as if they had been in a shipwreck," responded Dave's uncle, dryly. "I was only fooling." "We weren't in any shipwreck. But we saw a fire at sea, and we helped to pull some folks out of the water," said Ben. "You did!" burst from both of the girls. "Do tell us all about it," added Laura. "Was anybody lost?" asked Jessie. And now even Dunston Porter looked much interested. "Nobody was lost, and not even hurt, so far as I could find out," answered Dave; and then he and the others gave a few details concerning the conflagration aboard the steam yacht. "And to think those poor people had to jump overboard!" came from Jessie, sympathetically. "Oh, Dave, wasn't that dreadful!" "Jessie, you ought to have seen Dave playing the really-and-truly hero act!" burst out Ben. "Now, Ben, quit it!" interrupted Dave. "Not much, Dave! You deserve some credit, and I want the girls to know what a real, genuine, dyed-in-the-wool hero you are." "What did he do, Ben?" asked Laura. "He jumped into the briny deep, and rescued the beautiful heroine of the moving-picture company," was the answer. "Oh, you just ought to have seen it, Jessie. The poor girl was going down for the last time when Dave, with a do-or-die look on his handsome face, leaped into the flying spume, and struck out boldly----"