“Why, here’s Jameson,” greeted Woodward.  “I’m glad you’re so much better.”

“Where’s Elaine?” I interrupted breathlessly.

They began to tell me.

“Aren’t you going to follow?” I cried.

“Follow?  How can we follow?”

Excitedly I told of my discovery of the helmets.

“Just the thing!” exclaimed the hermit.  “Send some one back to get them.”

Woodward quickly detached several soldiers to go with me and I hurried back to the bungalow, while others carried the submarine telescope to the boat.

It was only a few minutes later that in Del Mar’s own car, I drove up to the wharf again and we unloaded the curious submarine helmets and suits.

Quickly Woodward posted several of his men to act as sentries on the beach, then with the rest we climbed into the launch and slipped off down the shore.

The launch which Woodward had commandeered moved along in the general direction which they had seen Del Mar and his men take with Elaine.  With the telescope over the side, we cruised about slowly in a circle, Arnold gazing through the eyepiece.  All of us were by this time in the diving-suits which I had brought from Del Mar’s, except that we had not yet strapped on the helmets.

Suddenly Arnold raised his hand and signalled to stop the launch.

“Look!” he cried, indicating the eyepiece of the submarine telescope which he had let down over the side.

Woodward gazed into the eyepiece and then I did, also.  There we could see the side of a submerged submarine a short distance away, through the cave-like entrance of what appeared to be a great under-water harbor.

“What shall we do?” queried Woodward.

“Attack it now before they are prepared,” replied the hermit decisively.  “Put on the helmets.”

All of us except those who were running the launch buckled on the head-pieces, wrapping our guns in waterproof covers which we had found with the suits.

As soon as we had finished, one after another, we let ourselves over the side of the boat and sank to the bottom.

On the bottom we gathered and slowly, in the heavy unaccustomed helmets and cumbersome suits, we made our way in a body through the entrance of the harbor.

Upward through the archway we went, clinging to rocks, anything, but always upward.

As we emerged a shot rang out.  One of our men threw up his arms and fell back into the water.

On we pressed.

. . . . . . .

Elaine sat in a corner of the office, mute, while the man who was guarding her, heavily armed, paced up and down.

Suddenly an overwhelming desire came over her to attempt an escape.  But no sooner had she made a motion as though to run through the door than the man seized her and drove her back to her corner.

“Take your positions here,” ordered Del Mar to several of the men.  “If you see anybody come up through the water, these hand grenades ought to settle them.”