Wade was not a fellow to neglect an opportunity of this kind: he went down to the galley, where Pollish gave him all he could eat. While he was at his breakfast, he heard a pounding on the door of the captain’s state-room. Lon and Matt had stood the monotony of the state-room as long as they could, and the former had put his plan into execution. He was going to break down the door if no one let them out. “Pollish!” shouted the captain. “Here, sir,” replied the steward, hastening to the cabin by the door through the pantry, which was between the cabin and the kitchen. “What is that noise?” asked Capt. Bendig, when the steward appeared. “The two boys in your state-room, sir,” replied Pollish. “They want to get out, I suppose.” “Let them out, and then give them some breakfast,” added the captain. He was very considerate of the ship’s stowaways,--more so than of his own; but one of the former was the son of a rich man, and that made all the difference in the world. As the skipper of the “Moonlight” was on the make, it is not unlikely that he thought he might turn the presence of the boys on board his vessel to account. He judged that the father of one of them would be glad to give something handsome to get him back to his home. It might even pay to take them up the river in the yacht to their residence; or he could go on shore at Staten Island, and telegraph to the boy’s father, and then present his bill. But, if the captain made any such calculations as these, they were upset by his own folly and breach of faith. Pollish obeyed his order, and released Lon and Matt by the door at which they had been admitted to their temporary prison. “Why were we locked up in that room?” demanded Lon, as he confronted the steward at the open door. “I don’t know. You must ask the captain: he did it himself, and he don’t tell his crew what he does things for,” replied Pollish. “We want some breakfast,” growled Lon. “You shall have some at once. Come into the kitchen,” said Pollish. Lon and Matt followed him. Wade was seated at a table, picking the meat from the bone of a mutton-chop. Lon looked at him as though he had been a ghost; and Wade looked at the two runaways with a similar expression of surprise. “By hokey! how came you here, Matt?” demanded Wade, almost overwhelmed by the sight of him. “How came you here?” repeated Matt. “I believe you are an evil spirit, Wade Brooks,” added Lon: “you follow us wherever we go.” Pollish deemed it best to inform the captain that the boys knew each other. CHAPTER XXVII. ESCAPED OVERBOARD. “How in creation came you on board of this vessel, Wade Brooks?” repeated Matt, when he had found a tongue. “How in creation came you on board of this vessel, Matt Swikes?” demanded Wade. “I thought you meant to stop at that big hotel a while. Did you spend all your money, and then have to go to sea?”