Puzzled and alarmed--not knowing what to make of the strange actions of Widdy, yet vaguely fearing, the lad turned from the cabin, and hastened toward the companionway down which he had come. As he sprang up it he saw the young sailor who had told him to go below shoving the hatch cover over. "Quit that!" cried Dick. With a quick motion he caught up a coil of rope that had dropped on the steps, and thrust this into the crack as the man pushed the cover forward. This prevented it from being closed. [Illustration: WITH A QUICK MOTION HE CAUGHT UP A COIL OF ROPE, AND THRUST THIS INTO THE CRACK.--_Page 67._ _Dick Hamilton's Steam Yacht._] A moment later Widdy was at Dick's side. The old sailor thrust his gnarled hands into the crack, and, with a wrench, sent the companionway cover sliding back. "Hop out!" he called to Dick. "I'll follow." As the lad reached the deck he saw, disappearing over the side, the young sailor, and the big one whom Widdy had called Shrouder. They seemed to be descending into some boat. Dick rushed to the rail. In a small barge were two men, and it needed but a glance to disclose to the young millionaire that they were the same two who had stared at him so persistently the day before, and though Dick did not then know it, they were the same pair who had followed him in the taxicab. Shrouder and the other sailor dropped into the barge with them. "Grab him, Mr. Dick! Grab him!" cried Widdy, as he saw his old enemy escaping, but Dick did not think it wise to attempt to hold back the desperate men. A few seconds later the four were pulling away from the _Princess_ for dear life. "Well," remarked Dick, drawing a long breath, as though he had just taken part in a desperate race, "what's this all about, Widdy?" "About? It's about villainy, that's what it's about, Mr. Dick! Villainy, and scheming, and black tricks and underhand work and shanghai-games, and looting and scuttling ships and anything else that's bad--that's what it is," growled the old seaman, as he stumped to the side, and shook his fist at the craft containing the four men. Then he filled his pipe, and began to smoke more calmly. "We could chase them in the motorboat," suggested Dick, hardly yet understanding what it was all about. "What's the use? Shrouder is as slippery as a greased sheet in a hail storm. Let him go--he won't sleep any the easier to-night from having met me. But I wish I could have laid my hooks on him," and Widdy opened and shut his gnarled hands suggestively. "But I don't understand," said the lad. "Where is Mr. Blake? Why should those fellows disappear so suddenly? I was to meet the lawyer here, and look over this boat----" "Mr. Blake never came here," said Widdy, bluntly. "It's a plant--a game--to get you on board. I'll wager that note sent to your hotel was forged." "But why should they want to get me here?" "To rob you, most likely. They know you're rich."