“What do you think became of the men?” cried Tom.
“Do you suppose it was their boat?” demanded Frank.
“How do you think it got so far away, if it’s theirs?” put in Tom.
“We puzzled over it for hours last night and no one can explain it,” declared Frank.
“Easy, boys, easy!” laughed Rawlins. “One
thing at a time. Shorten sails a bit and let me get my bearings. You say the destroyer found a submarine floating just awash and absolutely deserted one hundred miles off the coast? I don’t believe it was that sub!”
“Could you identify it by a description—anything about it?” asked Mr. Pauling.
“Well, I don’t know,” admitted Rawlins. “I know it was a German sub and I’d recognize it if I saw it; but whether I can be sure of it by a description depends upon the description.”
“They’re towing her in,” Mr. Pauling informed him. “She was disabled and unable to come in under her own power. Until she arrives all we know is that she is a German boat—one of the medium-sized craft—that she carries torpedoes and a gun and that she is painted sea-green.”
“Fits her like an Easter bonnet,” declared Rawlins. “Under water I could not be sure of her color, but it was not black or gray—everything takes on a greenish look under water. Did they find anything suspicious on her?”