Then I saw them run to one side and drag out a girl, screaming and struggling as they hurried her below.  I could scarcely believe my eyes.  It was Elaine!

Only a second I looked.  They were certainly too many for me.  I dropped my rod and line and ran toward the dock, however.  As I came down it, I saw that I was too late.  The little steamer had cast off and was now some distance from the dock.  I looked about for a motor-boat in desperation—­anything to follow them in.  But there was nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a rowboat.

I ran back along the dock as I had come and struck out down the shore.

. . . . . . .

Out at the parade grounds at Fort Dale, in spite of the early hour, there was some activity, for the army is composed of early risers.

Lieutenant Woodward and Professor Arnold left the house in which the Lieutenant was quartered, where he had invited Arnold to spend the night.  Already an orderly had brought around two horses.  They mounted for an early morning ride through the country.

Off they clattered, naturally bending their course toward the shore.  They came soon to a point in the road where it emerged from the hills and gave them a panoramic view of the harbor and sound.

“Wait a minute,” called the professor.

Woodward reined up and they gazed off over the water.

“What’s that—­an oyster boat?” asked Woodward, looking in the direction Arnold indicated.

“I don’t think so, so early,” replied Arnold, pulling out his pocket glass and looking carefully.

Through it he could see that something like a hook was being cast over the steamer’s side and drawn back again.

“They’re dragging for something,” he remarked as they brought up an object dark and covered with seagrowth, then threw it overboard as though it was not what they wanted.  “By George—­the Atlantic cable lands here—­they’re going to cut it!”

Woodward took the glasses himself and looked in in surprise.  “That’s right,” he cried, his surprise changed to alarm in an instant.  “Here, take the glass again and watch.  I must get back to the Fort.”

He swung his horse about and galloped off, leaving Arnold sitting in the saddle gazing at the strange boat through his glass.

By the time Woodward reached the parade ground again, a field-gun and its company were at drill.  He dashed furiously across the field.

“What’s the trouble?” demanded the officer in charge of the gun.

Woodward blurted out what he had just seen.  “We must stop it—­at any cost,” he added, breathlessly.

The officer turned to the company.  A moment later the order to follow Woodward rang out, the horses were wheeled about, and off the party galloped.  On they went, along the road which Woodward and Arnold had already traversed.

Arnold was still gazing, impatiently now, through the glass.  He could see the fore-deck of the ship where Del Mar, muffled up, and his men had succeeded in dragging the cable to the proper position on the deck.  They laid it down and Del Mar was directing the preparations for cutting it.  Arnold lowered his glass and looked about helplessly.