“I gave them what food there was in the house, but they said it wasn’t enough.  About this time my father came in unexpectedly.  The strangers drew revolvers and covered him.  They told him they would be back to-night and that they required him to have a certain amount of food on hand.  They threatened to kill him if he gave the alarm—­and they threatened to kill me too.”

“By George!” exclaimed Frank.  “It looks as though we had come to the right spot, Jack.”

“It certainly does,” agreed Jack.  “Now tell us the rest of your tale, son.”

“That’s about all,” said the boy.  “They devoured what food I gave them and then disappeared.”

“And your father sent you for help, I suppose,” added Frank.

“No,” said the boy.  “I came of my own accord.  My father is badly frightened.  He has gone to find the food for the strangers.  I slipped away and ran toward the sea.  Then I saw your ship, sir, and I hurried to tell you.”

“You have done well,” said Jack, laying a hand on the lad’s shoulder.  “And now you will be willing to help us further, will you not?”

“Of course I shall, sir.”

“Very good.  Now you look around the ship to your heart’s content, while I hold a conference with my officers.”

“Very well, sir.”

The boy walked away.  Jack held a consultation with his officers on the bridge.

“If the boy is telling the truth,” he said, “and I have no doubt of it, we are in luck.  It may be that we can capture this German crew ashore and then take possession of the submarine.”

“But, sir,” protested Lieutenant Hetherton, “if the submarine were to come to the surface now and catch sight of the Essex it would never come back again.”

“I had thought of that,” replied Jack, “and I have a plan that will offset it.  You see that projecting reef there?” and Jack pointed to the north.  The others signified that they did.  “Well,” Jack continued, “back of that is as cosy a little harbor as you would care to see.  I noticed it as we came by.  We’ll take the Essex there, and she will be hidden well enough.”

“Unless the submarine should chance to come to the surface there,” was Frank’s objection.

“We’ll have to leave something to chance,” declared Jack.

“In which event your plan is as good as any I can conceive,” said Frank.  “But after we get the Essex there, then what?”

“Why,” said Jack, “I’ll take a party of half a hundred men or so and surround the house of this Cutlip boy.  When the Germans arrive we’ll nab ’em.  After that we can find the submarine.”

“Hasn’t it struck you, sir,” Frank asked of Jack, “that maybe the men who accosted this boy and his father were merely bluffing?  That they may not return to-night?”

“It has,” Jack replied, “but at the same time there is a chance that they will.  Therefore, in lieu of any other clue as to the whereabouts of the submarine, I deem it well to act on what information, we have.”