How high Del Mar stood in their counsels could have been seen at a glance from the instant deference exhibited at the mere mention of his name by the sentry who entered with the submarine suit while Del Mar got himself together after his remarkable trip.

The men at the council table rose and saluted as Del Mar himself entered.  He returned the salute and quietly made his way to the head of the table where he took a seat, naturally.

“This is the area in which we must work first of all,” he began, drawing toward him a book and opening it.  “And we must strike quickly, for if they heed the advice in this book, it may be too late for us to take advantage of their foolish unpreparedness.”

It was a book entitled “Defenseless America”, written by a great American inventor, Hudson Maxim.

Del Mar turned the pages until he came to and pointed out a map.  The others gathered about him, leaning forward eagerly as he talked to them.  There, on the map, with a radius of some one hundred and seventy miles, was drawn a big segment of a circle, with Peekskill, New York, as a centre.

“That is the heart of America,” said Del Mar, earnestly.  “It embraces New York, Boston, Philadelphia.  But that is not the point.  Here are the great majority of the gun and armor factories, the powder and cartridge works, together with the principal coal fields of Pennsylvania.”

He brought his fist down decisively on the table.  “If we hold this section,” he declared, “we practically hold America!”

Eagerly the other emissaries listened as Del Mar laid before them the detailed facts which he was collecting, the greater mission than the mere capture of Kennedy’s wireless torpedo which had brought him into the country.  Detail after detail of their plans they discussed as they worked out the gigantic scheme.

It was a war council of a secret advance guard of the enemies of America!

. . . . . . .

Meanwhile, Del Mar’s man in his boat, cutting a wide circle and avoiding the Dodge boat carrying the naturalist, made his way across the harbor until he came to the shore.

There he landed and proceeded up the beach to the foot of a rocky cliff, where he turned and followed a trail up it to the top.  It was the same path already travelled by my captors with me and later followed by Elaine.

As he came stealthily out from under cover, Del Mar’s man gazed down the stairway.  He drew back at what he saw.  Slowly he pulled a gun from his pocket, watching down the steps with tense interest.  There he could see Elaine and myself wearily climbing toward the top, our backs toward him, as we covered the men in the cave.

So surprised was he at what he saw that he forgot that his boat below had been followed by the mysterious naturalist, who, the moment Del Mar’s man had landed, put on the last burst of speed and ran the Dodge boat close to the spot where the aide had left Del Mar’s.