The speaker was Lieutenant Strang, who stood on the deck of G2, which had risen again and was lying alongside the launch.

‘It was your fellows who won the battle for us,’ answered Captain Carrington cheerfully.  ’I wish to congratulate you on the possession of two such men as Williams and Johnston.’  Williams stepped forward and touched his cap.

’If you please, sir, the captain here and his son and Horan, they did as much as any.  But all on ’em fought like good ‘uns.’

‘What are your losses, sir?’ asked the lieutenant of Captain Garrington.

‘Two killed, three rather badly wounded.’

‘You got off lightly.  There don’t seem to be many Turks left.’

‘Only nine alive, and of those four are wounded.’

‘Are the launch’s engines all right?’

‘Nothing wrong with them,’ answered the captain, ‘so Williams tells me.’

’Well, it’s getting late and very thick.  You had better follow me, and I will escort you to the place we spoke of.  The Turks who are sound can take the boat and be towed until we are off one of the islands, when we can cast them off and they can land.’

Ken stepped up to his father, and said something in a low voice.  A slightly startled expression appeared on the captain’s face.

‘You think it possible, Ken?’ he said sharply.

‘I do.  I believe we could get through.’

’Then I will suggest it to Lieutenant Strang.

‘Lieutenant Strang,’ he called.  ’Before we start I have a suggestion to make.  I will come across if you will permit me.’

‘Certainly, sir.’

The launch lay so close to the submarine that it was easy for the Captain to spring across.  Strang met him, and for some moments the two talked in whispers.

At first the commander of the submarine seemed unwilling to agree to the captain’s proposal, but presently Ken, who was watching breathlessly, saw him nod his head.

Then the captain smiled, and turning leaped lightly back on to the launch.

‘It’s all right, Ken,’ he said.  ‘We are going to try it.’

‘Hurrah!’ cried Ken in high delight.

‘Try what?’ demanded Roy.  ’Hang it all!  Don’t keep us in the dark.  What’s all the mystery about?’ Ken glanced at his father.

‘All right,’ said the latter.  ’Every one must know and agree before we start.’

‘Gentlemen,’ he said, addressing the anxious crowd who surrounded him, ’my son has suggested that we might do something better than go and lie up for an indefinite time in the hiding-place which would be our only possible refuge on these shores, and where we should be in constant danger from the enemy.  His idea is that we might make a dash back down the Straits.’

‘Mais, it would be ze madness!’ exclaimed an elderly Frenchman, with a gray imperial and a blood-stained bandage around his head.  ’Zey would sink us.’

‘So they would under ordinary circumstances,’ agreed the captain.  ’But the night and—­more than that—­the fog are in our favour.  Besides this launch is Turkish, and we have several people aboard who can speak the language.’