Part 24 (2/2)

”There he goes!” cried Jimmie pointing away to the north.

”Where?” inquired Ned looking in the direction indicated. ”Oh, I see him,” the lad went on. ”He's swimming a good stroke, too!”

”Is he crazy or just disgusted with the company on board the 'U-13'?”

”Perhaps he thinks he'll be picked up by that boat!” stated Jimmie again directing the attention of his comrades to a small fis.h.i.+ng craft. ”They seem to be heading a course that will reach Mackinder.”

”He was wise enough to take one of the life preservers,” said Harry indicating a s.p.a.ce from which a buoy was missing.

”Sure enough!” agreed Ned. ”He's no fool at any rate!”

”Let's wait a while to see if they pick him up,” suggested Jimmie.

”If they don't get him, we'll chase over there and take him aboard again.

What do you say?” asked Ned of the others.

There was no dissenting voice raised to this suggestion. Eagerly the lads watched the boat momentarily drawing nearer the swimmer.

In a short time the boat rounded to, losing her way in the water. A sharp skiff was quickly launched over the side. Into this tumbled two men. They soon covered the distance between their vessel and the swimmer. Without difficulty they succeeded in a.s.sisting Mackinder into the skiff, then put quickly back to the sailing vessel.

”Ah, he's safe at any rate!” gladly stated Ned. ”Now we can go on and finish our voyage in peace! I'm glad he's gone!”

”So am I!” declared Jimmie. ”He's a good fellow as one might say, but he's too awfully stuck on getting some information for that bloomin'

Hinglish Harmy, don't you know!”

”That's hardly fair, Jimmie!” laughed Ned. ”He didn't drop his 'H's' and he did only what he considered his duty.”

”He will probably get that fisherman to set him ash.o.r.e on English soil as soon as possible,” conjectured Jack. ”Suppose we follow them.”

”What for?” asked Harry. ”Why should we chase after those chaps?”

”Unless we do something of the sort, we'll have to go at it blindly!”

urged Jack. ”We don't really know where we are!”

”That's so,” admitted Harry reluctantly. ”We haven't a chart nor a course. We don't know how far we are from anywhere at all!”

”We might keep on steering just as we started,” stated Frank. ”I believe southeast was the course we used coming away from Helgoland.”

”That course would surely bring us up somewhere,” put in Ned, ”but it would be much better if we could find out exactly where we are. Then we could steer a course with intelligence.”

”Aw, what do we need of a chart?” scorned Jimmie. ”We know that England lies to the southwest of us. It's big enough so we can't miss it. If we blunder into the coast we can just cruise along a ways until we come to some place or other and then head in.”

”That's a good idea, too,” agreed Frank. ”When we get to a port we can turn the submarine over to the English authorities as a prize of war.

They'll probably be glad enough to get the machine.”

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