"Not exactly, but I've told them--and so has the captain--that we intended to stay in the polar regions for at least two years." Winter had passed, and now it was the middle of Spring. The weather was warm and pleasant, just the sort for a cruise, as Andy declared. The boys had had but little to bother them outside of another meeting Andy had with his Uncle Si, who had followed him to Rathley. Josiah Graham had tried to "bulldoze" the youth, and had wanted Andy to give him ten dollars, but the boy had refused, and walked away, leaving his uncle in a more bitter frame of mind than ever. "I don't know how he manages to live," Andy told Chet. "He doesn't seem to work." "If he isn't willing to work, he ought to starve," answered Chet. He had no tender feelings for the man who had called him the son of a thief. "I am sorry he came to Rathley. I don't understand how he found out we were here." "Oh, he'd take more trouble to find you than to hunt up a job," answered Chet. On the day previous to that set for the _Ice King_ to sail, Chet was walking down one of the docks, when he saw two men in earnest conversation. One man was pointing his long forefinger toward the vessel that was bound north, and drawing closer, Chet recognized Josiah Graham. "Now what can he be up to?" the youth asked himself. "He seems to be quite excited." The men were standing near a high board fence that separated one dock from another. Chet ran back through a warehouse, and scaled the fence, coming up quickly on the other side. Through a knothole he could see the two men, and hear all that was being said. At first he could not catch the drift of the talk, but presently discovered that the stranger was some sort of officer of the law. The two were talking about Andy, and at last Josiah Graham said: "I don't want him to run away from me. It's up to you to stop him, an' I want for you to do it." "Are you his guardian?" "O' course I be--I'm his only livin' relative. He's got property, but he'll go to the dogs if he ain't looked after. I want him brung ashore when thet ship sails, an' I understand she's a-goin' to sail to-morrer." "Well, I'll see what can be done," answered the stranger. "Will you come to the office and make some sort of a complaint?" "Have I got to do that?" questioned Josiah Graham, anxiously. "It would be best." "All right then, I'll do it. It's fer his own good," answered the shiftless one. "We'll catch him when he leaves the hotel to go to the ship." Then the two men walked away towards the center of the town. "The mean rascal--to try to keep Andy from going on this trip!" murmured Chet to himself. "I'll soon put a spoke in his wheel!" He started on a hunt for Andy, who had gone uptown to make a small purchase. He looked into several stores, and at last located his chum in a barber shop. "Last haircut for some time to come," announced Andy. "After this, I guess I'll let my hair grow--it will be warmer."