“It won’t hurt anything, that’s sure, sir,” was Lieutenant Hetherton’s comment.

In this the other officers agreed.

“Very well then,” said Jack.  “It shall be as I suggested.  Mr. Chadwick, will you shape your course for the point I have mentioned.”

“But the boy, sir?” said Frank.  “Shall we not put him over the side first?”

“No; we’ll take him with us,” Jack decided.

As the destroyer began to forge ahead, the Cutlip boy grew alarmed and hurried to Jack’s side.

“You are not taking me away, are you, sir?” he asked fearfully.

“No,” replied Jack, and outlined the situation as fully as he deemed wise.

Young Cutlip was plainly eager to help in the capture of the German submarine crew.

“And you feel sure they will come back to-night?” Jack questioned.

“Yes, sir.  They must be very hungry.  If you could have seen those three men devour what little food I gave them!  They seemed to be half starved.”

“Strange, too,” Jack muttered, “considering the number of ships they have sunk in these waters recently.  They should have replenished their stores.”

“It may be that this was one of the less fortunate submarines,” said Frank.  “The sinkings may have been done by other U-Boats.”

“That’s true, too,” said Jack.  “I hadn’t thought of that.  I guess that must be the answer.”

Less than an hour later, the Essex passed behind the shelter of the reef Jack had mentioned.  There Jack ordered her stopped, and anchor dropped.

“We should be out of sight here,” he said, “unless, as you suggested, Frank, the enemy should come to the surface at this point.  And we’ll have to trust to luck that they don’t.”

“And now what, sir?” asked Frank.

“I’ll let you select a hundred men of the crew for shore duty,” said Jack.

This task did not take long, and Frank had picked and armed his men within half an hour.

“Now,” said Jack, “I’m going to put you in command of the party, Frank.  Lieutenant Hetherton shall go along as your immediate subordinate.  Two officers are enough.  The rest of us will wait here.  But if you have not returned soon after daylight, we’ll start a search for you.”

“I can see no reason why we should be longer,” said Frank.  “We’ll do the best we can.”

“Then I would suggest that you go ashore at once,” said Jack.  “You must reach the Cutlip home while it is yet daylight in order to lay your plans.”

“Right, sir,” said Frank, saluting.  “We shall go ashore at once.”

They put off over the side in small boats and rowed toward the shore, where they landed less than an hour after the Essex dropped anchor.  Jack waved a hand to his chum from the bridge.

“Good luck!” he called.

Frank waved back at him, then addressed his men.

“By fours!  Forward march!” he commanded.