“You see,” the captain was explaining, “we’ll lower this hook and drag it along the bottom.  When it catches anything we’ll just pull it up.  I have the location of the cable.  It ought to be easy to grapple.”

Already, on the shore, at an old deserted shack of a fisherman, two of Del Mar’s men had been waiting since before sun-up, having come in a dirty, dingy fishing smack anchored offshore.

“Is everything ready?” asked Del Mar, coming up.

“Everything, sir,” returned the two, following him along the shore.

“Who’s that?” cautioned one of the men, looking ahead.

They hid hastily, for there was Elaine.  She had seen the three and was about to level her glass in their direction as they hid.  Finally she turned and discovered the steamer.  As she moved toward it, Del Mar and the others came out from behind a rock and stole after her.

Elaine wandered on until she came to the dock.  No one paid any attention to her, apparently, and she made her way along the dock and even aboard the boat without being observed.

No sooner had she got on the boat, however, than Del Mar and his men appeared on the dock and also boarded the steamer.

The captain was still explaining to the men just how the drag-hook worked when Elaine came up quietly on the deck.  She stood spellbound as she heard him outline the details of the plot.  Scarcely knowing what she did, she crouched back of a deckhouse and listened.

Behind her, Del Mar and his men came along, cat-like.  A glance was sufficient to tell them that she had overheard what the captain was saying.

“Confound that girl!” ground out Del Mar.  “Will she always cross my path?  We’ll get her this time!”

The men scattered as he directed them.  Sneaking up quietly, they made a sudden rush and seized her.  As she struggled and screamed, they dragged her off. thrusting her into the captain’s cabin and locking the door.

“Cast off!” ordered Del Mar.

A few moments later, out in the harbor, Del Mar was busy directing the dragging for the Atlantic cable at a spot where it was known to run.  They let the drag-hook down over the side and pulled it along slowly on the bottom.

In the cabin, Elaine beat on the door and shouted in vain for help.

I had decided to do some early morning fishing the day after the party, and knowing that Elaine and the others were usually late risers, I said nothing about it, determined to try my luck alone.

So it happened that only a few minutes after Elaine let herself out quietly, I did the same, carrying my fishing-tackle.  I made my way toward the shore, undecided whether to fish from a dock or boat.  Finally I determined to do some casting from the shore.

I had cast once or twice before I was aware that I was not alone in the immediate neighborhood.  Some distance away I saw a little steamer at a wharf.  A couple of men ran along the deck, apparently cautioning the captain against something.