“Ah!  Er—­huh!” choked the wretch, swallowing hard.  “Have the young gentleman shown up, of course.  And send up any other reporters who may ask for me.”

By the time that the first reporter reached the door Rhinds had carefully removed all traces of the torn newspapers.  The old man was calm.  He even smiled slightly, though he affected to be stung to the soul by the thought that any American could think that he, or any of his party aboard the “Thor” could have been guilty of such a fearful attempt of crime.

“But of course, young man,” urged Rhinds, suavely, “you will be able, through the great power of the press for right, to set all suspicions at rest.  You will, I beg of you, give renewed publicity to the fact that we were found to have our full number of torpedoes aboard.  That one fact, of course, disposes of any suspicion that we could have thought of doing such a fearful thing.”

The reporter was young, but he was not lacking in shrewdness.  This boyish-looking journalist had interviewed smooth-talking scoundrels before.

“There is one little point I would like to inquire about, Mr. Rhinds,” hinted this reporter, chewing at the end of his pencil.

“A dozen—­a hundred points—­anything you want to know!” protested the man who was being interviewed.

“Thank you,” nodded the reporter, coolly.  “Now, it is a well-established fact that you had your full number of torpedoes aboard, when the naval officers searched.  But have you any place on board the ‘Thor’ that would serve as a hiding place for an extra torpedo—­an extra torpedo that might, let us say, have been obtained in any one of a number of ways?”

John C. Rhinds began to feel great waves of chill passing up and down his spine.  Hang this smiling, boyish reporter!  Rhinds began to feel that he hated this young man next to Jack Benson!

“No!” shouted the interviewed one, hoarsely, angrily.  “We have no such hiding place on board.  We have no place that could be used for hiding an extra torpedo.”

The reporter nodded, then continued with a cool smile: 

“Thank you, Mr. Rhinds, for answering so important a question on such a vitally important point.  It is very important to have the suspicion disposed of that such a hiding place might exist.”

“Very important,” confirmed John Rhinds, leaning forward in his most impressive manner.  “And you have my authority for settling the point for good and all.”

“So that, of course, Mr. Rhinds,” pursued the cool, smiling young reporter, “you will be most glad when I suggest to you the importance of allowing a commission composed of, say, an editor and two reporters from the ‘Gazette’ to go aboard the ‘Thor,’ search for such a hiding place, and then be prepared to inform the world that no such hiding place exists on the ‘Thor.’”

That proposition came like a torpedo itself; it struck, too, below the water-line of John Rhinds’s hard-won composure.