Rawlins was the first to recover from the shock. “I’ll say that was a close shave!” he cried. “The dirty skunks! Missed us though and a miss is as good as a mile.”
Then, before any one had time to speak, he sprang towards the open hatchway. “Quick!” he shouted, as he leaped down the ladder. “Down below! Everybody! Hurry!”
Without stopping to question and only realizing that he must have good reasons for his orders, the others rushed after him and scarcely was the last one at the foot of the stairs when the hatch slid into place, men sprang to levers and wheels and the submarine was diving.
“Jiminy!” exclaimed Tom. “What on earth’s the matter? What do you mean by saying they missed us and then hustling us down below?”
“Don’t you understand?” snapped Rawlins. “It’s clear as glass. They tried to get us—knew we or the destroyer were trailing them and towed that schooner along as bait. Had it loaded with explosives and figured on touching them off when we or the destroyer sighted her and ran alongside. But they failed by about a minute. Probably timed the blamed infernal machine for the destroyer and didn’t allow for our speed—darned lucky for us! I don’t wonder they cleared out as fast as they could leg it.”
“Then if we’d been nearer we’d have been sunk!” cried Frank.
“Sunk!” exclaimed Rawlins. “Sunk! Why we’d have been blown to bits! But by crickey we’ll fool ’em and give 'em the jolt of their lives! Get busy with that detector, boys, and see if we can hear her screw again.”
The two boys sprang to their instruments and clapped the receivers to their ears.
“But what do you mean about surprising them?” asked Tom, still confused and puzzled.
“Why they’re down at the bottom now waiting, but they’ll be up having a look around to see if they made a good job of us,” explained Rawlins, “and while they’re squinting at the water and patting themselves on the back for their cleverness we’ll just bob up alongside.”